international

Mandela Father Of Freedom

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“Happy birthday, comrade”. ANC leader Nelson Mandela turned 70 on July 18, 1988. He spent the day, like every birthday since 1963, in prison; he would not be released until 1990, after which apartheid would be dismantled and Mandela become the first President of South Africa. “The future belongs to you.” The colours of the ANC join the colours of the Irish Tricolour as a background to Mandela’s portrait. Painted by Mo Chara Kelly, with the help of “Sınn Féın Youth”.

Leeson Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1988 Peter Moloney
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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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Tell The World, Freedom Is At Hand

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1987 version of the ANC-IRA mural on Beechmount Avenue, Belfast. Benjamin Moloise’s words on the right and the letters “IRA” below the shield have been painted out (perhaps to repair the paint-bombing visible in the 1986 version Tell The World Freedom Is At Hand) but more paint has been thrown over the mural and “UVF” has been spray-painted on.

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Copyright © 1987 Peter Moloney
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Tell The World, Freedom Is At Hand

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The death by hanging of African National Congress supporter Benjamin Moloise on 18 October, 1985, for the alleged murder of a South African policeman, drew international condemnation and led to widespread rioting in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. (ExecutedToday | Jet) His words, “tell the world, freedom is at hand”, are paired with a phrase from Bobby Sands, “we aim to be free”, in this ANC-IRA mural featuring an armalite and a zulu shield and spear. In the second and third images the boards (above the mural) declaring west Belfast an “apartheid free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd” can be seen.

“Beır bua” [seize victory]; “erected by Sınn Féın April 1986”

Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1986 Peter Moloney
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Maggie Lured Hurd To Be A Turd

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There’s lot going on in this image of Kells Walk, Derry. On the left-hand wall there’s “Maggie [Thatcher] lured [Northern Ireland secretary Douglas] Hurd to be a turd” on top of an old “Smash H Block” graffito and next to what appears to be a (whitewashed) appeal for confidential tips about terrorist activity (see previously Incomplete Confidence). On the right we have both “Basques OK” and “E.T.A. OK”, and finally “IRA got [UUP M.P. Robert] Bradford Ha Ha”.

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Copyright © 1985 Peter Moloney
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