Keiran Nugent (and Brendan Hughes) has been returned to the left-most spot on the International Wall.
This new board is closely based on the mural which was painted over in October in advance of the November 9th non-binding referendum in Catalonia (see Votes About Votes; the yellow background and some of the lettering from the Catalonia mural can still be seen in the image above).
Nugent and Maıréad Farrell were then included in the hunger-strikers mural further down the wall: see I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform.
The Somme memorial Garden Of Reflection (between the Shankill graveyard and the Mountainview Tavern) has two new pieces. The first places two headstones (both reading “A soldier of the great war”) in a flower-bed in front of the mural, which shows a soldier, presumably from the Ulster division, on the fields of Flanders: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 1914-2014”
In the second, three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: “Take up our quarrel with the foe; to you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields.”
“Many suffer so that someday future generations may live in justice and peace.”
Portraits of Nelson Mandela and Bobby Sands are presented side by side, both smiling, in front of the flags of (post-apartheid) South Africa and the Republic of Ireland.
Tomás [Thomas] Ashe Mellon was recently (June, 2014) charged with directing the activities of the New IRA (which was formed in 2012 from the Real IRA and Republican Action Against Drugs) via a letter that was being smuggled into Maghaberry by William McDonnell and denied bail; in March (2015) he admitted possession of the note (and received 40 months) but pleaded not guilty to the charge of directing terrorism (Derry Daily | BBC | Derry Daily).
This board protesting Mellon’s “intern[ment] by Britain” is in Westland Street, in Derry’s Bogside.
Update: In July, Mellon was acquitted of directing terrorism (Irish News).
This is a new board at the Crumlin end of Brompton Park – launched on August 6th by Gerry Kelly and members of the Cliftonville football team – in support of Palestine and Gaza, and in particular protesting the deaths of the four Bakr children on the beach at the port of Gaza on July 16th (see Child Killers). The image of the man carrying the boy is from Reuters.
This is an interesting set of images from Main Road, Moygashel.
The first three employ familiar imagery of the UVF and the 36th Division (the Home-Rule era “Deserted! Well – I Can Stand Alone” is less familiar but goes back to at least 1988; the UVF flag also references the anti-Home Rule movement in the “1912” date of the founding of the Ulster Volunteers).
The stencil (“It is not racist to protect your own community”) and hand-painted board (“Don’t be DUPed”) indicate a recent change in attitudes.
In the May elections for the European Parliament, UKIP received the most votes and the most seats (24), campaigning on an anti-immigrant and Euro-skeptical message; this is its best electoral performance to date (WP). Perhaps in response to UKIP’s increasing popularity, Conservative leader David Cameron last year (2013) promised (gov.uk) a referendum on EU membership, should the Conservatives be elected in next year’s (2015) general election.
The source of dissatisfaction with the DUP is less clear. The party won the largest number of seats in the local elections in May (WP).
These are perhaps the first appearance in the Peter Moloney Collection of both sentiments.
Cut-out boards in the shapes of the red hand of Ulster (both left and right hands!), the five-pointed orange star (usually purple) of the Williamites, the crown of the British monarch, and King Billy on his steed line the fence along Bute Park in Ballybeen, Dundonald.
Also included are images of the nearby bonfire on Davarr Avenue, festooned with election posters for Martina Anderson, Nuala Toman, and (from Alliance) Anna Lo.
Peter Moloney Collection 