“I ndíl [sic] chuımhne ar Eamon McGrotty 1911-1927, republican, socialist, anti-fascist. Killed fighting fascism in the Jarama Valley. Eamon attended the Brow Of The Hill school. ¡No Pasarán!” Derry man Eamon McGrotty was honoured with a plaque and a tree-planting during this year’s (2026) féıle (Derry Journal). McGrotty was one of about 320 Irishmen who fought with the International Brigades – specifically the Connolly Column of the XV brigade (DIB) – against Franco during the Spanish Civil War; there were also about 700 Irishmen fighting on Franco’s side during the war, in a brigade led by Eoin O’Duffy.
The new plaque is next to the memorials to “An Chéad Chathlán/1st Battalion Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann – Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street”.
“You are now entering Derry, an apartheid-free zone.”
Placards like this one have been mounted in Derry by the Pat Finucane Centre (web) and the Bloody Sunday Trust (web) – whose emblems are the top corners – in connection with their work with local businesses and organisations in conducting a “BDS audit” to ensure that they are not working with Israeli companies (Bloody Sunday Trust | Fb).
The words are in the triangular shape of Free Derry Corner (Visual History), though the word “free” is missing”.
A rally took place in Belfast on Saturday (September 5th) (reddit) to call for the cancellation of Ireland’s pair of Nations’ League soccer matches against Israel, which are due to be played on September 27th and October 4th. Rather than taking place in Dublin, the Ireland “home” game will in fact be in Serbia, and the other game will be played in Hungary, where Israel has played most of its “home” games since late 2023 (Irish Times), and both games will be mostly without any fans (RTÉ).
This tarp, which features an image of Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu, is in Marquis Street, Belfast city centre, next to Madden’s.
The car-door riddled with holes is a tribute to five-year old Gazan Hind Rajab (Guardian), who called emergency services for three hours after her family car with struck by 335 bullets with the loss of everyone inside, including, eventually, Hind herself; the ambulance had also been attacked and its two paramedics killed. She told the emergency operator, “I’m afraid of the dark” (Guardian) and the words appear on the door in Arabic. The piece is by Spicebag (ig) and Council Baby (ig) and was originally displayed as part of the Dlúthphaırtíocht (solidarity) exhibition.
The same slogan – “We exist! We resist! We rise!” – has been used by Saoradh (web) in connection with Palestinian prisoners in west Belfast (see Springfield | Andersonstown) but here the accompanying image shows the sun rising on a native American in full headdress holding a spear, mirroring the Gal Gréıne and the pike that are part of the Saoradh emblem. It’s not clear if there is a current campaign around Native rights; in the past Saoradh has expressed support for Leonard Peltier.
Here are two anti-Agreement boards in Creggan, Derry.
On the east side of Central Drive, along with the boards seen in Stand Up And Speak Out, is a new IRPWA (web) board in support of Niall Sheerin. For background, see Our Present Fight.
The ‘Republican Solidarity With Palestine’ board was previously next to the waste-ground created when the Bogside shops were knocked down. The ‘No RUC’ circle goes back to 2022.
The Irish men’s soccer team is scheduled to play Israel in the Nations’ League, on September 27th and – at home – on October 4th, 2026. A campaign was launched to “Stop the game” in Dublin as a form of protest and disengagement, most prominently in the form of an open letter (instagram) sent to the FAI signed by footballers and various musicians.
The FAI instead appealed to UEFA to have the game played behind closed doors in a neutral country, saying that while it was “deeply conscious” of the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, it did not want to forfeit the points or be disqualified from the competition (FAI).
The large tarp shown above has been added (on June 18th) on top of the long Painting For Palestine mural on Divis Street.
The various placards reading “No to hate”, “Fight racism”, and “Yes to all!” were added last week (June 17th) in response to the rioting in east Belfast and elsewhere – see McMaster Street Remembers. (These additions are reminiscent of the ‘Free Marian Price’ additions in 2013 – see Scaoıl Saor Marian Price in the Peter Moloney Collection.)
Until now, whenever the United States has been placed along side the Union Flag or the Flag Of Zion, is has been in the form of some sort of Confederate Flag (2014 | 2016 | 2025). This has indicated that the contemporary USA as a whole has not been perceived as a supporter of (Northern Irish) loyalism or in a similar position to loyalists, but that the spirit of the Confederate South is akin to that of loyalism: a once-dominant ethnos, which held its position by institutionalised violence, besieged by the forces of expanded suffrage and mediocrity (as they would see it).
Donald Trump’s rhetoric and agenda found favour with Northern Irish loyalists, and a few Trump flags and graffiti were seen previously – see Take America Back for an example and further references.
Trump’s victory in November, 2024, gave him a second term as President of the United States Of America. Freeing himself from anyone associated with the conservative/neoliberal Republican party that restrained him in his first term and instead installing (Trump) loyalists in the cabinet and other key positions, Trump has been able to erode the USA’s character as a liberal democracy and move it instead towards authoritarianism (Guardian).
Although Trump’s current term is only fifteen months old, the shift has been sufficiently profound that the USA is now seen as simpatico with (NI) loyalism, and the Flag Of The United States – not a Trump flag or a Confederate flag – now flies alongside the flags of the United Kingdom and Israel.
“Echoes of the Ulster-Scots across the United States Of America”, “The Ulster-Scots … their footprints and songs graced the Appalachian Trails.”
These four panels are the first stage of a longer “pioneers to presidents”-style mural (Visual History) on Ulster-Scots (or, Scotch-Irish) emigration in the 1700s to the British colonies that in time became the United States.
Upon arrival at eastern sea-ports, many of the Scotch-Irish headed west across the Allegheny mountains and down into the Appalachians. By 1790, it is estimated, 6% of the population (or almost 200,000 people) of the recently-created United States Of America were (ultimately) from (nine-county) Ulster, a combination of Scotch-Irish, Celtic-Irish, and English-Irish (American Historical Association).
These four panels are in North Howard Street, west Belfast. As can be seen from the wide shot below, the mural will soon be extended around the corner into Fifth Street. (Update: see We Lead Across Time And Space.)
Here are three banners/posters spotted along the Falls Road during the Easter Rising parade on April 5th:
Above: “Sainsbury’s supports Israel! Don’t shop there. Easter Sat 4th [April, 2026].” For background see the post and reel on the BDS Belfast Fb page.
Below: “U.S. military not welcome in Ireland! Not in Shannon, not in Aldergrove.” For background, see Al-Jazeera | ShannonWatch. April 13th: a person was arrested for taking a hatchet to a C-120 Hercules (Democracy Now).
Last below: “PSNI target Catholics at much higher rate for stop-and-search. Source: PSNI stop-and-search data. Do not join the RUC/PSNI. Same aim, different name. IRSP [web] – the party of Connolly & Costello.” The data in question might be from the 2020-2021 period (PSNI | TheDetail) as the current (2025) data do not appear to report on sectional identification.
Paddy Duffy Collection 