Same Story, Same Bigotry

Londoner Stephen Lawrence was murdered by stabbing in 1993 and, although arrests were made, no charges were brought. A 1998 public inquiry found that the London Metropolitan Police Service was “institutionally racist”. (In 2012, two of the original suspects would be found guilty of the murder (WP).)

Catholic Robert Hamill was beaten to death by loyalists in Portadown in 1997 while police in an RUC land-rover looked on (WP).

Brompton Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Martin Luther King

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere …” “If colour, religion or political opinions do make us different, misery, oppression, unemployment and exploitation make us the same – Martin Luther King” The first quote comes from Martin Luther King’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail; the source of the quote is unknown.

Hillman Street, New Lodge, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Leonard Peltier

“Leonard Peltier, Native American US political prisoner. “We must stand together to protect the rights of others. No child to go hungry, no woman denied the right to earn a living, no person denied health care or education, no prisoner held for political reasons.”” (The quote appears in a letter on Peltier’s web site.) Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was convicted of the shooting of two FBI agents in a shootout at Pine Ridge in 1975 and sentenced to two life terms (WP).

Hillman Street, New Lodge, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Out Of The Ashes Of 1798

“I ndıl chuımhne – this plaque is dedicated to all those from the greater Newington area who lost their lives as a result of the conflict in this country.” Pikemen from the 1798 uprising stand on either side of a phoenix, with portraits above of Wolfe Tone, James Connolly, Henry Joy McCracken, and Mary Ann McCracken.

Newington Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Looking For Lasting Peace!

“Disband the RUC.” A fortune-teller sees the path to peace in an Irish News headline in her crystal ball: “RUC disbanded. New community peace force established”. Reform or replacement of the RUC is one of the top nationalist concerns in the peace process, after the release of POWs.

Market Street, Markets, south Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Leana An Dúın Unbowed Unbroken

The dying Cú Chulaınn (as portrayed in bronze by Oliver Sheppard, in a statue installed in the GPO in 1935) is used as a symbol for the locals from Lenadoon area of west Belfast who fought for freedom (“saoırse”): Tony Henderson, John Finucane, Brendan O’Callaghan, Joe McDonnell, Laura Crawford, Maıréad Farrell, Patricia Black, Bridie O’Neill (subsequently changed to Bridie Quinn).

There were originally portraits of all nine people in the apex when the mural was launched in 1996, but only three remain.

See also the Cú Chulaınn Visual History page.

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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Remember Our Gibraltar Martyrs

The Gibraltar Three are IRA volunteers Maıréad Farrell, Seán Savage, and Dan McCann, who were executed by British crown forces in Gibraltar on March 6th, 1988.

Along the top is written a variation on the second half of Terence MacSwiney’s famous phrase: “[It is not those who can inflict the most but] “Those that endure the most will conquer in the end”

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Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
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Cuba – Ireland

Jim Fitzpatrick’s Che (Visual History) is the linchpin of this mural in Shiels Street, Beechmount, expressing solidarity between Irish republicanism and the Cuban revolutionaries. Fidel Castro appears on the right (and in the poster on the left), and Bobby Sands is seen on the right reading a collection of Che’s speeches and writings published in English in 1969 as Venceremos! (pdf).

Shiels Street, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
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