physical force

Twinbrook & Poleglass IRA

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“This monument has been re-dedicated by the people of Twinbrook and Poleglass in honour of those volunteers of Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann who gave their lives for Irish freedom.” Gerard Fennell, John Rooney, Bobby Sands, Frankie Ryan. “Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann”. “[Like the lark,] I too have fought for my freedom not only in captivity [where I now languish] but also [while on the] outside where my country is held captive … I have the spirit of freedom that cannot be quenched.” (Bobby Sands, The Lark And The Freedom Fighter, 1979)

The final image is of the adjacent hunger strikers stone. It will later be moved and repositioned inside the (extended) fencing.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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100 Years Of Revolution

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A Sınn Féın centenary (1905-2005) mural is added to the Éıre Nua Flute Band board (seen in 2004). Above them is a Sınn Féın board with Mao’s statement that “If there is to be a revolution, there must be a revolutionary party.” Both the flute band and Sınn Féın have internet addresses.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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The Usual Suspects

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The 1995 film The Usual Suspects (which takes its title from Casablanca‘s “Round up the usual suspects”) was such a hit that – even nine years later – it (and its “line-up” scene – youtube) could be used as the basis for this “Collusion = state murder” mural on the Springfield Road, Belfast.

The spider in the bottom left was the central image in an Andersonstown Road mural. “Murder = murder = murder” (at the bottom) imitates Margaret Thatcher’s statement on the 1981 hunger strike: “Crime is crime is crime” (youtube).

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Dedicated To All The Unsung Heroes

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The scale of the Ballymurphy memorial garden can be seen in the final image. The central panels (images 1 and 2) are to IRA volunteers. Jimmy Steele was OC of the IRA’s Belfast battalion and founding editor of Republican News. “The seed which on Cave Hill was sown/O’er Belfast town its fruit has grown/And they who served, suffered and died/Their blood, our cause has sanctified//Be proud of them our martyred dead/And in their footsteps let us tread/They died for us that we might see/Ireland, united, Gaelic, and free.” To the left and right are lists of civilian dead and on the far right is a brief list of activists who survived the Troubles but have died since.

For the mural, see this 2005 image.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Ulster’s Defenders

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Ulster’s defenders, past and present, from Cuchulainn “Ancient defender of Ulster from Gael attacks”, via the 1893 UDU and WWI soldiers memorialised in the towers at Messines and Thiepval, to the modern UDA/UFF: “In memory of the officers and volunteers of A. Coy. UDA/UFF West Belfast Brigade who unselfishly dedicated their lives in defence of their country.”

There was also a Cuchulainn mural on Newtownards Road in 1992 (updated in 2005), as well as ‘past defenders’ in the form of B Specials and UDR (1992 | 2005).

Among the volunteers listed on the stone, 19 year old Alan Simpson was shot in his home in nearby Highfield Drive.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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