assault rifle

Loyalist Westwinds

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Here is a gallery of images from Westwinds estate in Newtownards, featuring (East Belfast) UVF murals and memorial gardens.

The newest one shows Carson signing the 1912 Covenant beneath a UVF emblem reading “Armed and ready”.

The one with some damage reads, “Our only crime was to serve you, the community and protect ‘our country’. Now times have changed. As a force, our belief is not only ‘for God and Ulster’ but to you, the community, ‘help us to help you’.”

The central stone in the memorial garden is dedicated to “all our fallen comrades both in the Battle Of The Somme and fight against republicanism”.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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No 4 Platoon

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“This memorial is dedicated to the memory of the fallen Officers, NCOs and Volunteers of Number 4 Platoon, A Company, 1st Belfast Battalion, Ulster Volunteer Force. It serves as a tribute to those who fell while actively engaging the enemy from service having fulfilled their duties to the end. Their names and deeds are eternally venerated by their comrades in arms who continue to serve humbly in their honour. ‘They went with songs to battle, they were young,/Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow,/They remained staunch to the end against odds uncounted,/They fell with their faces to the foe.’ [Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’]”

In the top left Carson is shown reviewing the Ulster Volunteers (and on top of the weapons beneath it, a cloth cap and WWI helmet) and in the top right are an old show of strength photograph and the former mural in this spot (with paramilitary cap and balaclava beneath).

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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The Dogs

Extramural Activity1 Comment

Above is a new board (on painted background) at the Falls Road Garden of Remembrance for IRA volunteers in D company (the ‘Dogs’) of the 2nd battalion Belfast Brigade and local civilians from the lower Falls who died in the 20s, 70s and 90s. The main board shows a map of the area from Dunville Park to the Divis flats with lilies marking the spots of various deaths. Surrounding it are the portraits of fourteen of the volunteers listed on the marble – Maguire, O’Rawe, McKelney, Donaghy, Quigley, McAreavey, Hughes, Loughran, MacBride, Kelly, Carson, Campbell, Skillen, Marley.

The text in the close-up gives a history of the birth of the Provisionals and D company’s defense of the area in the Falls Curfew of 1970. Also mentioned is the 1972 hunger strike by Billy McKee and others in the Crumlin Road Gaol (NYTimes).

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Freedom Must Be Demanded By The Oppressed

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Hooded gunmen return to Sydenham, in east Belfast. The George Best mural that had “re-imaged” a UVF emblem has now (controversially – BBC | Guardian | U.tv video | Slugger) been replaced by an armed gunman.

The quote on the right – “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” – comes from the section of Martin Luther King’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail in which he considers the merits of civil disobedience or direct action.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Political Hostage

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“Release Martin Corey, political prisoner. End internment now” with an unusual use of a dove rather than a lark. For background, see Release Martin Corey. With various other anti-Agreement graffiti and stencils in the area, including a “Join RSF [Republican Sınn Féın] – Éıre Nua” stencil, “SF” in a cross-hairs, and a “CIRA” “RIRA” cross-word.

Levin Road, Deeny Drive, Drumnahoe Avenue, Lurgan

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Derry City INLA

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This IRSP (web) board in Rossville Street, Derry, includes colour photographs of local INLA volunteers Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, along with a gallery of all ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers.

The same board was also mounted in William Street.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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The Loyal People Of Loughmacrory

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“Dedicated to the memory of those who died, their families, and indeed all the loyal people of Loughmacrory and surrounding areas, who despite all, remained faithful to Ireland and the republican ideal. ‘I have no prouder boast than to say I am Irish and have been privileged to fight for the Irish people and for Ireland. If I have a duty, I will perform it to the full in the unshakeable belief that we are a noble race and that chains and bonds have no part in us.’ Vol. Francis Hughes.”

“Comrádaıthe na n-arm. This plaque is dedicated to IRA volunteers Gerard Harte, Martin Harte, Brian Mullin who were killed in action at Drumnakilty on Tuesday 30th August 1988. Go luı cré arsa Thír Eoghaın go héadrom ar láthaır scíthe ár laochra uaısle. [May the ancient Tyrone clay lie lightly on the resting place of our noble heroes]”

Skeboy Road, Loughmacrory.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Impunity

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Line drawing in Derry by Carlos Latuff showing an army soldier, with “impunity” across his shoulders, taking aim at a blindfolded woman, representing martyrs’ families.

Latuff is a Brazilian political cartoonist (web site). This piece is outside the Free Museum of Derry. Just out of shot (to the right) is an actual bullet-hole from Bloody Sunday. He also added a drawing to Free Derry corner (M08306). On the same visit (July 2012), he worked in Belfast on a mural expressing solidarity between Palestinian and republican POWs and also did a line drawing on a café wall.

(See also: Latuff cartoon used in a flyer for a rally to End Impunity.)

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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