These republican graffiti (and one 1916 Societies board) come from Creggan, Derry. From top to bottom: “UK no way”, “Join police, face death”, “PSNI/RUC not welcome”, “Join [New] IRA”.
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).
“Donegall Pass UVF 1913-2013” Visible from the Ormeau Road, this large union flag greets visitors to Donegall Pass in the south of the city. It asserts the presence of the UVF and connects the original Ulster Volunteers of 1913 to the present-day Ulster Volunteer Force one hundred years later: the aim of the original Ulster Volunteers was to resist the impending rule by Catholics under Home Rule.
South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. Taking place in late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes). The board immediately above replaces an earlier mural to Bradford on the gable wall that now hosts the large board shown above, commemorating the Siege Of Derry and specifically the “Apprentice Boys Of Derry No Surrender Club” of south Belfast.
The first panel of “Freedom Corner” on the Newtownards Road, is repainted for the 40th anniversary of the UFF [Ulster Freedom Fighters], 1973-2013. For the previous (or at least, a 2005) version, see M02370. “Feriens tego” is Latin for “In striking, I defend”.
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George Best mural that had “re-imaged” a UVF emblem has now (controversially – BBC | Guardian | U.tv video | Slugger) been replaced by an armed gunman.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.
This board on Rossville Street, Derry, originally named only “Colin Duffy”. It was then modified for Marian Price and again for Martin Corey. It now reads “End internment by remand and release the Duffy 3 now!” The “Duffy 3” are Colin’s brothers Paul and Damien and cousin Shane, who are charged with collecting information of use to terrorists (BelTel).
The South Belfast UDA/UFF commander John McMichael (1948-1987) was killed by an IRA car bomb. In addition to organising a team of assassins in the 70s and 80s, he founded a Political Research Group and wrote two documents proposing an independent Northern Ireland, 1979’s Beyond the Religious Divide and 1987’s Common Sense (available at CAIN), promoting the philosophy of ‘Ulster nationalism’. The quote on the board comes from the end of the Introduction to Common Sense:
“There is no section of this divided Ulster community which is totally innocent or indeed totally guilty, totally right or totally wrong. We all share the responsibility for creating the situation, either by deed or by acquiescence. Therefore we must share the responsibility for finding a settlement and then share the responsibility of maintaining good government.”
“One man, one love, one country. Commonsense. In loving memory. Quis separabit.” “A Coy” “Old Warren”
The Smallwoods plaque is the same but the trio of boards is new, as compared to 2010.
This small board is not far from the upper entrance to Old Warren in Lisburn. There’s no trace on-line of a ‘Moira Road Young Loyalists’. So, it might have been painted by an individual or family along the road. Neither the old UDA A Coy or B Coy boards mention a youth division.