Bobby Sands

Bobby Sands – Che Guevara

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Like the “Heroico” image of Che Guevara – see the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick – the smiling Bobby Sands would become the standard one. They differ in that Che is in his uniform (attending a funeral service) while Sands is in civilian clothes, and the attire indicates that Che is a military hero while Sands, who was an IRA volunteer, would become an icon primarily as a hunger-striker. (See the Visual History page on the Sevastopol Street mural of Sands.)

In this mural, which pre-dates the refinement of Sands’s image, the two portraits are combined. Sands is accompanied by flag-bearing Irish volunteers and Che by a Soviet orator (Lenin?) on a tank. perhaps to emphasise the socialist dimension of the republican (and particularly INLA) struggle.

Westland Street, Bogside, Derry

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Copyright © 1988 Peter Moloney
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Vote Sınn Féın 1 2 3 4

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“Vote Sınn Féın 1 2 3 4” and “Tıocfaıdh ár lá!” have been painted on top of a 1981 mural based on a poster sent by the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini, which featured the head of Bobby Sands against a backdrop of skeletal bodies, one of which can still be seen in the top middle of the wall. Somewhat ironically, the original mural also included the quote to the right: “The Irish Republican Army is right: The British government does not listen to the ballot box in Ireland and the only thing they will listen to in Ireland is what they listened to in other colonies: agitation, rebellion, and armed forces”.

(An image of the original mural can be found in the Paddy Duffy Collection – T00048)

Oakman Street, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1986 Peter Moloney
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The Destructive Talents Of The RUC

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The plaque in the rop corner (shown in the final image) reads: “This mural was designed & painted by the creative talents of Derry republicans. … It was vandalised by the destructive talents of the RUC & British Army”. The mural showed six raised arms, carrying (from left to right) a paintbrush, a spanner, coloured pencils, an armalite, a book, and a placard reading “Tıocfaıd[h] ár lá” and a full version of Bobby Sands’s quote is on the side wall: “Everyone, republican or otherwise, has his or her own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small. No one is too old or too young to do something.” A number of paint bombs have been thrown at the mural and graffiti added, describing Sands as “slimmer of the year, ha ha” and saying “Fuck the IRA”.

Westland Street, Derry.

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Copyright © 1985 Peter Moloney
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I Refuse To Change

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On the main gable wall, a funeral volley of three volunteers fires over the coffin of Bobby Sands, with the beginning of a quote from Sands: “I refuse to change to sui[t people who oppress, torture and imprison me. They have suppressed my body and attacked my dignity, but I have the spirit of freedom that cannot be quenched by even the most horrendous treatment.]”

On the side wall, a prisoner is crucified, with the words “St Peter, let these men enter heaven, for they have served their time in hell.” – a variation on James Donahue’s WWII Soldier’s Poem (WP).

Westland Street, Derry

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Copyright © 1982 Peter Moloney
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