Belfast west

Recognition, Appreciation, Remembrance

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This pair of murals was launched in September last year (2014).

On the left A. E. Housman’s 1919 poem “Here dead we lie” is featured, together with the poppies that grew on the Western Front in WWI, in a UVF commemorative mural. The 36th (Ulster) Division is not mentioned specifically. “Here dead we lie, because we did not choose,/to live and shame the land, from which we sprung.//Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose,/but young men think it is, and we were young.”

The plaque on the right-hand side (which pre-dates the murals) lists the names of five UVF members killed in the 70s who are depicted in the second mural.

They are (l-r) Thomas Chapman, James McGregor, Robert McIntyre, William Hannah, and Robert Wadsworth, who were killed between 1973 and 1978. The mural is unusual in that it shows bare-faced full figures; loyalist murals sometimes include head-shots (at the top of the mural, in the apex of a gable wall) but only masked men appear as full figures. There is a similarity in composition and style (and perhaps even palette) to existing republican murals such as this one of five B. Coy IRA volunteers in Ballymurphy.

Carnan (or “C. Coy”) Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Frizzell’s Fish Shop 1993

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The memorial marker for what was Frizzell’s fish shop has been expanded with a (metal) cross of poppies. For the tablet alone (in 2011) see Frizzell’s; for the tablet and engraved medallion (in 2013) see Shankill Bombings.

“This Poppy Cross is in memory of the nine victims murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on Frizzell’s Fish Shop on 23rd October 1993. The 9 victims included men, women and children.”

“This tablet marks the site of Frizzel[l]’s Fish shop where at 1.05 p.m. on Saturday 23rd October 1993 a terrorist bomb exploded. 9 innocent souls lost their lives and many more were injured.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Whiterock Flute Band

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This is the post-launch version of the Whiterock flute band’s history wall (as compared to the partially completed wall from last year, before the launch). At the top, we now have a gold disc and orange lily, and, around the doorway on the far right, a list of members, photographs from years gone by, and an account of the launch, which took place on June 14th, 2014.

The final image is from July, by which time “Whiterock F.B.” in bold, white, lettering along the top right had been added.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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We Shall Not Sleep

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The Somme memorial Garden Of Reflection (between the Shankill graveyard and the Mountainview Tavern) has two new pieces. The first places two headstones (both reading “A soldier of the great war”) in a flower-bed in front of the mural, which shows a soldier, presumably from the Ulster division, on the fields of Flanders: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 1914-2014”

In the second, three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: “Take up our quarrel with the foe; to you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Mountainview Tavern 1975

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“This Poppy Cross is in memory of the five men murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on the Mountainview Tavern on 5th April 1975.” According to WP, the pub was full of punters who had been watching the 1975 Grand National (youtube) which Red Rum was attempting to win for a third consecutive time.

For a close-up of the engraved medallion, see Shankill Bombings.

Shankill Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Let Them Home

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This graffiti on the hoardings around the building-site at the top of Woodvale Road, at the junction with Twaddell Avenue, where each night Orange bands march up to the police line, attempting to march past the Ardoyne shops and finish a parade from the Twelfth (of July) 2013.

A camp was established on the site on Twaddell Avenue with signs using the language of “civil rights” and “equality”: “Established to campaign for Equality. Civil Rights. Welcome to all who support the campaign. The two main objectives are to see the Ligoniel lodges, bands and supporters complete their 12th july parade; to have the current parades commission removed. Please note the camp and the surrounding area is an alcohol free zone. All music must finish by 9 p.m. and the wishes of the local residents fully respected. Thank you for your support. United we stand – divided we fall.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Republican Prisoners

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“Attempted criminalisation of republican prisoners is alive and well”: Above is a recent board (erected 2015-01-23) by Republican Network For Unity (RNU)’s Cogús committee in support of “Republican prisoner welfare and support”: “End controlled movement [and] forced strip searches now.”

Rockmore Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Ceartas Anoıs/Time For Justice

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Three different campaigns for inquiries into deaths at the hands of British paratroopers are brought together into a single board on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station (Visual History): the Ballymurphy Massacre of August, 1971, in which 11 were killed; the Springhill Massacre of July 1972, in which 5 were killed, and the killing of IRA volunteer Pearse Jordan, who, like the others, lived in the greater Ballymurphy area.

Pearse Jordan is commemorated by a plaque in Hugo Street and a mural in Ballymurphy. For recent (2014-12) news about the Ballymurphy inquest, see The Guardian.

See also Uncovering The Past | Our Truth | #TimeForTruth.

Here is a (youtube) video of the launch, 2014-09-24, produced by Sınn Féın.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Palestine Abú

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This is a large mural is by Gerard “Mo Chara” Kelly‘s (video) new work at the top of Springhill Avenue, where it is blocked off from the Springfield Road.

On the left, a figure in a black-and white keffiyeh give the two-finger ‘V for victory’ sign beneath the Terence McSwiney (WP) quote: “It is not those who can inflict the most but those that can suffer the most who will conquer.”

In the middle, a protestor stands up to an Israeli tank with a swastika. (See the adjacent mural in Palestinian Territory.)

On the right, an Israeli Apache helicopter fires a Hellfire missile at a young Gazan boy carrying a teddy-bear (originally a Carlos Latuff (ig) poster).

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Belfast’s Bloody Sunday

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“Belfast’s Bloody Sunday. On the 9th July 1972 the British Army murdered 5 Irish citizens and severely wounded 2 others. It’s time for the truth.”

This is a mural by Mo Chara Kelly (with DD Walker, Michael Kelly, and Ta Heath) commemorating the deaths of five people shot by British Army snipers in 1972: Paddy Butler (39), David McCafferty (15), Margaret Gargan (13), John Dougal (16), Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (40). The snipers fired from JP Corry’s timber yard (shown on the right) and at the time the Westrock bungalows were still standing (shown lower left).

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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