physical force

Plastic Death

Extramural Activity2 Comments
M00148+

Civil Order, Plastic Death: “in memory of those murdered by plastic bullets”. A British Army soldier stands to the right of mural in (the old) Linden Street, next to the spot where Nora McCabe was shot in the back of the head by a plastic bullet by the RUC at 7:45 a.m. on July 9th, 1981, the day after hunger striker Joe McDonnell died. The poster on which the mural is based is below.

The soldier on the left was originally painted with boots on both feet (X05495) but repainted with a peg-leg after the IRA blew up the car of the Marine’s Commandant General Steuart Pringle on October 17th, 1981 – he lost his right leg (WP).

“Done by Springfield Youth [Against H-Block & Armagh]”

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00148

The Training Ground

Extramural Activity1 Comment
M00123+

M00124+

M00125+

Jeff Perks’s 1979 linotype “The Training Ground” was reproduced on Beechmount Avenue circa 1981. It depicts the history of the British Army in Ireland. Rolston (“Politics, Painting and Popular Culture: the Political Wall Murals of Northern Ireland”, Media, Culture and Society 9.1, 1987) claims (p. 19) that the image would have been familiar to nationalists from the cover of “Ireland: Voices For Withdrawal” (shown below). The baton-wielding policeman on the right was also reproduced in a famous 1996 Derry mural (“68-96 Nothing Has Changed” M01279).

PerksVoicesForWithdrawal

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00123 M00124 M00125

Let Us Rise

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M00135+

“The great only appear great because we are on our knees – let us rise”. The quote – also used by Jim Larkin – appeared in Connolly’s article on Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee visit to Ireland. His portrait is flanked by the tricolour and the starry plough.

“Sponsored by trade union group”, painted by Digger.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00135
Rolston 1991 p. 95 gives 1982.

Incident At Narrow Water — In Progress

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M00103+

M00102+

M00101+

Here are three images of a Rockville Street (CNR west Belfast) mural being painted in 1981, depicting (one part of) the IRA’s 1979 ambush of the British Army at Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint (WP), on the same day that Louis Mountbatten was killed (see previously: 13 Gone But Not Forgotten).

Images of the completed mural are in a separate entry.

For interpretation of the piece, see Visual History 4 – Paramilitary Murals (1981-1982).

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00103 M00102 M00101

The Final Salute

Extramural Activity1 Comment
M00116+

The first names of six hunger-strikers — Bobby, Francis, Patsy, Raymond, Joe, Martin — on a ribbon held by a tricoloured phoenix against a sunburst, flanked by Starry Plough and Tricolour and volunteers firing a final salute. The ribbon would be expanded to include the first names of all ten 1981 hunger strikers – see the Paddy Duffy Collection.

Painted by Con in Rockdale Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00116

Venceremos

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M00115+

“Venceremos” is a Spanish Civil War slogan meaning “we will win (or: overcome)”, here alongside Irish revolutionaries armed with rifles and machine guns against a background of tricolour and sunburst.

Slemish Way/Andersonstown Road, Belfast

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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00115