Remember The Hunger Strikers

Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan are included alongside the deceased 1981 hunger strikers in a gallery of portraits that has been updated annually since (at least) 2006. The large panel shows blanket-men Hugh Rooney and Freddie Toal, and Bobby Sands, the first to die in 1981.

See also: 27th anniversary | 25th anniversary

Twinbrook Road, Twinbrook

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Copyright © 2010 Paddy Duffy
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Colin Area Remembers

“Colin area remembers with pride and honour, [IRA] Vol. Maıréad Farrell, Vol. Sean Savage, Vol. Dan McCann.” The Gibraltar 3 were killed by SAS soldiers in 1988.

There was originally a board below the portraits with a quote from Farrell “Everyone tells me I’m a feminist. All I know is that I’m just as good as others, and that especially means men. I am definitely a socialist and I’m definitely a Republican. I believe in a united socialist country, definitely socialist. Capitalism can offer our people nothing and yet that’s the main interest of the British in Ireland – Oglach [sic] Maıréad Farrell.”

Painted by Rısteard Ó Murchú.

Jasmine Corner, Twinbrook

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Copyright © 2010 Paddy Duffy
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Bobby Sands

“Our laughter will be the joy of our victory + [the] joy of the people; our revenge will be the liberation of all.” This is perhaps the only appearance of this quote from Bobby Sands’s hunger strike diary, from Thursday March 12th. In the background are the towers of Long Kesh; in the foreground is Sands’s funeral procession (RTÉ | youtube).

Jasmine Corner, Twinbrook, Dunmurry

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
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Carol Ann Kelly

12-year-old Carol Ann Kelly was shot by the British Army on May 22nd, 1981, and died three days later. Eight other children are remembered in this mural: Tobias Molloy, Frances Rowntree, Seamus Duffy, Paul Whitters, Stephen McConomy, Brian Stewart, Stephan Geddis, and Julie Livingstone. Molloy and Rowntree were killed by rubber bullets, the rest by plastic bullets. 

The mural, by Andrea Redmond, is in Twinbrook Road, Dunmurry, near where Kelly was shot.

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
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War Or Peace?

“War or peace, north or south.” A hooded gunman from “Seymour Hill UFF” stands with his back to an explosion on O’Connell Street, Dublin.

“To the politicians: words are not enough for the peace and freedom of the children and the people of Ulster – “deeds and actions”. To our freedom-fighters: the supreme sacrifice is to lay down your life for your country. Some have given everything, others have yet to give.” The same wording (with “volunteers” instead of “freedom-fighters”) appears in a UVF mural in east Belfast.

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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
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