physical force

Herbie McCallum

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“In loving memory of Brian (Herbie) McCallum. We will remember him. The officers and members of Sweeneys ‘A’ company, 1st Belfast battalion, Ulster Volunteer Force.” Brian “Herbie” McCallum was a 29 year-old attending a contentious loyalist parade to Whiterock Orange Hall, being re-routed by the RUC, when the grenade he was carrying exploded prematurely, killing him instantly. The mural and memorial shown above is at the top of Ainsworth Avenue, close to the spot of the incident. He died in hospital three days later (CAIN | Border & Border Politics | Irish News article at Nuzhound | Independent).

Ainsworth Avenue, Belfast

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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90 Years Of Resistance

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“The People’s Army 1912-2002 – 90 years of resistance.” The top two panels show the “newly-formed Shankill Volunteers” “train[ing] at Fernhill estate, Glencairn” and then in 1916 the “9th RIR (West Belfast UVF) go over the top at the Somme.” Below, “volunteers defend the Shankill community from republican attack” in the 1969 riots in Bombay Street and environs, leading to the “crossroads” of 2002, with David Ervine holding a copy of the “Good Friday Agreement” on the road to “peace”.

Previously seen in 2005.

Canmore Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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Weary People, What Reap Ye?

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“Weary people, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger.
What sow ye? human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, hunger–stricken, what see you in the offing?
Stately ships to bear our food away, [amid the stranger’s scoffing].
There’s a proud array of soldiers — what do they round your door?
They guard our masters’ granaries from the thin hands of the poor. – Speranza”

The poetry is the first few lines of The Famine Year by “Speranza”, i.e. Lady Jane Wilde, mother of Oscar.

In the centre an aboriginal figure holds the flags of Ireland and of the Native Australians.

This is one of about nine murals painted in 1995 on the Great Hunger (Visual History).

“Painted by Síle Na Gıg & St James Youth Aug 95” in St James’s Crescent/Donegall Road, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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[M01893] Copyright © 2000 Sınn Féın

Saoırse

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The frame of this mural in St James’s was originally painted in 1994 for a mural showing local pensioners remonstrating with a British Army soldier, under the title “The Spirit Of Freedom”. The central circle was repainted (again by Andrea Redmond) for the 1995 “green ribbon” campaign: the dove holds the keys that will set free the republican prisoners (symbolised by the barbed wire and a lark in the apex that cannot be seen).

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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