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Bobby Sands – Che Guevara

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Like the “Heroico” image of Che Guevara – see the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick – the smiling Bobby Sands would become the standard one. They differ in that Che is in his uniform (attending a funeral service) while Sands is in civilian clothes, and the attire indicates that Che is a military hero while Sands, who was an IRA volunteer, would become an icon primarily as a hunger-striker. (See the Visual History page on the Sevastopol Street mural of Sands.)

In this mural, which pre-dates the refinement of Sands’s image, the two portraits are combined. Sands is accompanied by flag-bearing Irish volunteers and Che by a Soviet orator (Lenin?) on a tank. perhaps to emphasise the socialist dimension of the republican (and particularly INLA) struggle.

Westland Street, Bogside, Derry

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Copyright © 1988 Peter Moloney
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Sans Peur

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The four fields of an Ulster banner shield bear the emblems (clockwise from top left) of the UFF (a red fist), the UDA (red hand), the UDF (Ulster Defence Force, golden wings with the motto “sans peur”, the French for “fearless”), and the LPA (Loyalist Prisoners Association, a red hand in barbed wire).

“UDF” is the “Ulster Defence Force”, a sub-group of the UDA with additional training in firearms and tactics, formed in 1985. According to Andy Tyrie, it was some of these gunmen who “restored to the UFF’s West Belfast C Company its ferocious reputation.” (Crimes Of Loyalty, p. 125).

Hawkin Street, Londonderry

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Copyright © 1988 Peter Moloney
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1916 – 1969

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The volunteers on the left (from 1916) and right (from 1969) each hold a rifle, and the blanket man in the middle also appears to be holding a staff of some sort. Get in touch if you know exactly what it is, and if you can identify the Twinbrook street (Gardenmore Road?) where the mural was.

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Copyright © 1987 Peter Moloney
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Teaċ Ṡeosaıṁ Ṁıc Gıollaḃuí

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Or, with h-lenition, Teach Sheosaımh Mhıc Gıollabhuí. The Sınn Féın press centre on the Falls Road, Belfast, is named for anti-Treaty IRA man Joe McKelvey, who was also the founder of the O’Donovan Rossa GAA club in Belfast. The mural features the shields of the four provinces and Sınn Féın in Celtic-style lettering.

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Copyright © 1987 Peter Moloney
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Is É Seo Nuadha, Rí Tuatha Dé Danann

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Two images of an almost complete Nuada mural by Mo Chara in Springhill Avenue, Belfast. The only thing that seems to be missing is the (titular) lettering, which would go in the red circle – “This is Nuada, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann.” The mural is based on the illustrations of Jim Fitzpatrick.

Click here for the completed mural.

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Copyright © 1987 Peter Moloney
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