These graffiti are on the building below Kildrum Gardens. “Not a bullet, not an ounce” is a comment on (Provisional) IRA disarmament and continued physical-force resistance; “End British internment” is a comment on the fate of prisoners from anti-Agreement organisation; “Free Gaza!!” and “Israel scum” are comments on the 2014 Gaza War (WP).
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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“Internment! Speak out! Maghaberry, Portlaoise, Hydebank. Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association [web]”. This painted board is on the roundabout at the top of Eastway, Derry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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These two boards are on either side of the Fıanna Éıreann roll of honour in Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry.
First (left): the Derry branch of the 1916 Societies (Fb) is named after Sean Dolan, an IRA volunteer interned at the outbreak of WWII on the prison ship Al Rawdah (WP | saoırse32) before being moved to Crumlin Road gaol. He was released on grounds of ill health shortly before dying in 1941 at age 28 in Derry. The title of today’s post comes from Dolan’s gravestone, which is in Ardmore (findagrave).
It was the 1916 Societies that hoisted an Irish tricolour from the roof of Stormont in June 2015 (BBC).
Second (right): two hunger-strikers from Derry, Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, were both members of the INLA; the third INLA hunger-striker was Kevin Lynch, from nearby Dungiven. The seven others who died were members of the IRA, whose political wing was Sınn Féın, while the IRSP (web), who sponsored this board, serve as the political face of the INLA.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The dilapidated Rebel’s Rest is being used as a notice-board, first by Sınn Féın and their campaign to extend voting in the Irish Presidential election to the north – “Vótaí do gach saoránach Éireannach”, “Paul Maskey supports #pres4all – Uachtarán do chách/President for all” – and secondly by the IRPWA (web) and their campaign to “End British internment! End Maghaberry torture”.
Falls Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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“#PrayForGaza” graffiti in Bishop Street, Derry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Here is a close-up of the the middle of the Hunger Strike board above the Clowney Street phoenix (which is the Oldest Mural in Belfast) seen previously in 2013.
For an image of the writing – “Bobby Sands murdered 1.17 am. 5th May 1981. ‘My position is in total contrast to that of an ordinary prisoner: I am a political prisoner.”” – see the Homer Sykes collection. The quotation is from Sands’s ‘The Lark And The Freedom Fighter’ (pdf).
For “Thirty thousand can’t be wrong” see this episode of Thames TV’s ‘TV Eye’ (youtube).
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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A week before he was assassinated and his government overthrown, Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara asserted: “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” Sankara gained power of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) in a 1983 coup and launched an ambitious programme of literacy, feminism, public health, and agricultural self-sufficiency, in addition to launching a drive against corruption and of nationalizing natural resources. He attempted this all without the assistance of foreign aid or the IMF or World Bank. However, he wielded power outside the jurisdiction of the courts and controlled the press. He and twelve colleagues were killed in October 1987.
Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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For a second year, Free Derry Corner is painted yellow as part of “Paul’s Campaign” for “Sarcoma awareness” – named after Paul Coyle who died of the disease at age 26 in 2011.
In the bottom left is a short poem: “Wear the colour yellow/Wear it proudly on your breast/Brightly show the bystanders/Our campaign it will not rest//Our fight is to highlight a disease/So harmful and so vile/To ignore it is to encourage it/To rid our face of smiles//So brightly wear that yellow/Don’t turn your face away/Raise awareness of sarcoma/Consign it to yesterday!”
Free Derry Corner has its own Visual History page.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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“End the torture in Maghaberry Gaol – Smash Stormont – www.irpwa.com – Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare Association – strip searching – isolation – controlled movement.”
IRPWA board on the rear of Free Derry Corner.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Patrick Pearse urges Bogside passers-by to “Sign the petition” for “One Ireland, One Vote” (Pensive Quill) from the 1916societies.com [1916societies.ie]
Rossville Street, Derry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 