CNR

Soldiers Of The Republic

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“In our hearts your memory lives on”: the sixteen republicans executed in connection with the Easter Rising (in 1916) and the ten hunger strikers who died in the second (1981) hunger strike are remembered in a new board on Northumberland Street, west Belfast (Visual History).

64 republicans died during the Rising (An Phoblacht) and 3,500 arrested. 187 people were tried by court martial and 90 were found guilty and sentenced to death. Of these, 14 were executed over a period of ten days in May, 1916, including all seven of the signatories to the Proclamation (WP). Tomás Ceannt did not take part in the Rising; he was executed in Cork for shooting dead one of the RIC officers who were sent to round up the brothers Ceannt (WP). Roger Casement was executed in August, convicted of treason for attempting to smuggle weapons from Germany for use in the Rising. (Irish Times)

The sixteen are: Pádraıg Pearse, Thomas Clarke, Thomas McDonagh, Joseph Plunkett, Edward Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan, Willie Pearse, John Mac Bride, Eamonn Ceannt, Seán Heuston, Michael Mallin, Con Colbert, Tomás Ceannt, Seán Mac Dıarmada, James Connolly, Roger Casement.

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An Attitude Of Rebellion

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“”As long as Ireland is unfree the only honourable attitude for Irish men and women is an attitude of rebellion” – Pádraıg Pearse”. Pearse wrote the lines in July 1913, in an essay for Irish Freedom (Cartlann), though with “revolt” rather than “rebellion”.

They appear here on an RNU gravestone in Milltown. The quote was also used in a 1980s mural in Ardoyne and on a 2018 plaque to Tommy Roberts in Derry.

The stone features the phoenix and the lily, and the crests of the four provinces of Ireland. It was unveiled in 2023 and an image of it was used in an RNU board on the Falls Road.

Among the volunteers listed are the four Ardoyne Fıanna who died in 1972 (commemorated in Ardoyne) and Michael McKevitt, founder and (alleged) chief of staff of the RIRA/Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann (WP) who died in 2021.

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Remember The Hunger Strikers

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In a classic image from the period, a blanketman/hunger striker looks down over the towers of Long Kesh. The image has appeared in a number of murals, going back at least to the mid-1980s in Ardoyne (Belfast); see also New Lodge (Belfast) in 1993 | Letterkenny in 1996 | Derry in 1998 | Springfield (Belfast) in 2004 | Divis St (Belfast) in 2006 | a portable board in Bellaghy in 2010 | this same spot in 2012.

Melvin Road, Strabane, close to the giant Proclamation.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Poblacht Na hÉıreann

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On April 24th, 1916, Patrick Pearse stood on the steps of Dublin’s General Post Office and read out a proclamation declaring an Irish republic; the proclamation had been prepared by the military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood – Thomas Clarke, Seán Mac Dıarmada, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt, Joseph Plunkett – and their (printed) signatures were included at its end.

Copies of the proclamation were handed out on O’Connell Street and perhaps as many as 2,500 were printed in total (NMI) but now only about fifty copies remain (Irish Central). This giant copy of the proclamation was mounted in Melvin Road, Strabane, for the centenary of the Rising, reproducing (as the note at the bottom says) “a reproduction of the poster”. (For a discussion of attempts to recreate the Proclamation, as well as images of originals, see Type Foundry.)

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Inár gCroí Go Deo

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“West Tyrone Brigade, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Vol. Charles Breslin, Vol, David Devine, Vol. Michael Devine”. The three were killed on February 23rd, 1985, in a hail of 100-200 SAS bullets, as they returned arms for an aborted mission to a dump near the Fountain area of Strabane; their families were later (2002) awarded compensation. (An Phoblacht | WP | UTv)

The board shown above is in the Fountain Street memorial garden, which centrally features a stone-wall enclosure to the trio. Individual stones have also been added to the garden, to Danny McCauley (TPQ | An Phoblacht), Tobias Molloy (An Phoblacht), and Eugene Devlin (An Phoblacht) (shown below). The local SF cumann is named after Molloy/Devlin/McCauley (Fb).

For the gravestones of many of the volunteers, see Strabane’s Republican Graves.

Fountain Street, Strabane

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Anocht a théam sa Bhearna Bhaoıl

Republican Solidarity With Palestine

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Since the October 7th attack by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza, the number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has gone up from about 5,000 to about 9,000, including about 3,500 prisoners held under what is called “administrative detention” or what would be known here as “internment without trial”. (Figures for the last fifteen years are available at HaMoked and at B’Tselem.) Prisoners recently released from Israeli detention have described the beatings and degrading treatment they received (Amnesty | Reuters | Haaretz).

During the peace process of the mid-1990s, a green ribbon was used as a symbol of republican political prisoners, whose release was one of the major goals in a peace settlement – see this large example from Shantallow, Derry, from 1998. It is still used post-Agreement by physical-force republicans, e.g. End Brit Brutality and Maghaberry Concentration Camp.

The board is on the Meenan Square construction site in the Bogside, Derry. For the INLA board in the background of the wide shot, see Serious Trouble.

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Revolutionaries

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Bobby Sands and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, together in Fountain Street, Strabane. The image of Che is Jim Fitzpatrick’s iconic interpretation of Alberto Korda’s “Guerrillero Heroico” photograph of Che – see the Visual History page on The Influence Of Jim Fitzpatrick.

This mural has been in place since (at least) 2008 – see Bobby & Che in the Peter Moloney Collection.

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