physical force

On The Brink Of Sectarian Disaster

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Dissatisfaction with Billy McMillen’s leadership of the Belfast OIRA led to the Provisionals splitting off in 1969, after the outbreak of the Troubles in August. The PIRA made two attempts on his life. He was killed, however, by a member of the INLA – the result of the second (1974) split from the Officials – in 1975. Here is a pamphlet of his writings, including the 1973 Bodenstown speech from which the quotation comes. The board features a famous image of Markets OIRA leader Joe McCann.

Clondara St, Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01468

Comhıonannas Do Gach Duıne

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Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher, who served six years of a life sentence for the killing of Peter McBride and then rejoined the army, are compared to republican POWs: “An open letter to the British Secretary of State: Why does your government show preferential treatment to ‘state murders’ while discriminating against Irish POWs – we are denied employment, PSV license, no adoption, compensation, visas. Why? Signed St James’s POWs. Co[m]hıonannas do gach duıne” (equality for everyone)

Donegall Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01464

Our Revenge Will Be The Laughter Of Our Children

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For the 20th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, this freestanding “H” was constructed along the Falls Road, Belfast. Across the centre bar are the words (usually attributed to Bobby Sands) “our revenge will be the laughter of our children” and images of IRA (Tricolour) and youth (Sunburst) volunteers firing over a lark encircled in barbed wire.

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01461

Na Cımí Poblachtánacha

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“I ndıl chuımhne na gcımí poblachtanacha a fuaır bas ı ngéıbheann ı rıth na coımhlınte reatha seo.” A lark bursts through prison bars of Long Kesh, Portlaoise, and prisons in England, in which republicans have died from the 70s to 90s.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01459

The Gibraltar Three

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The Gibraltar Three (Maıréad Farrell, Sean Savage, Dan McCann) – “executed by British crown forces in Gibraltar 6th March 1988” – are memorialised with a plaque and the last three verses of Bobby Sands’s Rhythm Of Time: “It is found in every light of hope/It knows no bounds nor space/It has risen in red and black and white/It is there in every race.//It lies in the hearts of heroes dead/It screams in tyrants’ eyes/It has reached the peak of mountains high/It comes searing ‘cross the skies.//It lights the dark of this prison cell/It thunders forth its might/It is the undauntable thought, my friend/That thought that says ‘I’m right!'”

Hawthorn Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01455

The Women Of 1916

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“This mural is dedicated to the Women of Cumann Na mBan, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann & Sınn Féın.” Image “from R[uth] Taillon’s book The Women Of 1916.” Taillon is a Canadian who moved to Belfast in 1980 and has been doing work with the women’s movement in the north and on women’s history – see NVTv.w

Hawthorn Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01451