“They may kill the revolutionary, but never the revolution.” The phrase is attributed to Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. Republican volunteer with AK in front of a Tricolour. Rockmore Road, Belfast. Seen previously in 1999.
Portraits (along with ages and dates of death) of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers against backgrounds of their home areas. Mickey Devine, for example, is shown in front of Free Derry Corner while Martin Hurson is at a football game.
816 prisoners in 18 Turkish jails went on hunger strike in protest at conditions in “F-type” prisons in late 2000. 122 people died, both inside and outside the prisons, in connection with the protest (WP).
Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher, who served six years of a life sentence for the killing of Peter McBride and then rejoined the army, are compared to republican POWs: “An open letter to the British Secretary of State: Why does your government show preferential treatment to ‘state murders’ while discriminating against Irish POWs – we are denied employment, PSV license, no adoption, compensation, visas. Why? Signed St James’s POWs. Co[m]hıonannas do gach duıne” (equality for everyone)
In this board from “St James’s youth” and “St James’s ex-prisoners and carnival choas” St Patrick at the head of a parade of children is blocked from city hall by an Orangeman. The first St Patrick’s day parade to be held in Belfast city centre was in 1998 but funding for this and parades until 2006 was denied on the grounds that it was not inclusive of Protestants (Bryan & Skinner). The event “Tús maıth leath na hoıbre” [a good start is half the work].
For the 20th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, this freestanding “H” was constructed along the Falls Road, Belfast. Across the centre bar are the words (usually attributed to Bobby Sands) “our revenge will be the laughter of our children” and images of IRA (Tricolour) and youth (Sunburst) volunteers firing over a lark encircled in barbed wire.
A complete version of Bobby Sands’s poem The Rhythm Of Time, along with the names and portraits of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers, and Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, who died on hunger strike in England.
“I ndıl chuımhne na gcımí poblachtanacha a fuaır bas ı ngéıbheann ı rıth na coımhlınte reatha seo.” A lark bursts through prison bars of Long Kesh, Portlaoise, and prisons in England, in which republicans have died from the 70s to 90s.