Union Flag – Page 13 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Oppose Censorship

1990-07-012025-08-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A Cormac cartoon protesting British censorship of Sınn Féın is rendered as a mural by Mo Chara Kelly. The broadcasting Ban was put in place in 1988, disallowing Sınn Féın representatives from speaking in their own voice on television and radio. But if the gag of British censorship were removed, the talk is of peace (in the form of a dove) – suggesting that there is some for negotiation on the violent removal of British forces and administration.

Out of frame to the left are written “Oppose censorship” and (in red) “Vote Richard May”. Richard May ran (unsuccessfully) for election to Belfast City Council in 1989.

Springhill Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00083

Behind The Mask

1990-07-012025-07-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is an instance of the ‘masked skull’ design produced by prisoners in Long Kesh (according to Mo Chara Kelly), seen also in Britains Death Squads. This version is simpler: it does not have any writing and there is no UDR emblem on the UDA-style hat.

The small boards above the mural declaring west Belfast an “apartheid-free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd” were mounted in 1986 along with the ANC mural.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast – this wall has its own Visual History page as it is the most-often painted wall in Belfast.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00040

Tiger’s Bay UVF

1988-05-012025-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

UVF volunteers in balaclavas take aim other across a free-floating Northern Ireland with an Uzi and an assault rifle. The emblem supported by flags on the right is unusual for its inclusion of a ?large daisy? and pink ribbon.

The location of this wall is unknown, which suggests the site of the Community Centre – please get in touch if you know where it was.

Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00226 T00125

Notes For A History Of Ireland

1988-04-012025-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These two pieces are both by cartoonist “Cormac” (Brian Moore), as reproduced on the wall of Corry’s Timber at the top of Springhill Avenue, west Belfast, by Mo Chara Kelly.

Cormac produced cartoons for Resistance Comics, Republican News (and then An Phoblacht/Republican News), Socialist Challenge (and then Socialist Action), and Fortnight. His “Notes (For A History Of Ireland)” appeared in RN and AP/RN for about 30 years.

The mural on the left reproduces a cartoon from February 1979, combining hatred of the “Britz” and RUC with criticism of a left-leaning London bookshop that no longer stocks the paper because “violence is only acceptable if it doesn’t happen here”.

The other is an eleven-panel version of the nine-panel image that appeared on the cover of the 1982 collection Cormac Strikes Back, showing the Union Flag crumbling and the Starry Plough rising from its ashes.

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00070

UDA A Battalion South Belfast

1988-04-012025-07-31Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“UDA “A” batt. South Belfast. RSD [Roden Street Defenders (private Fb)] UFF”

This is the mural that greets travellers moving west along Donegall Road to the Village. The houses in Beit Street have been knocked down and their replacements, which face directly onto Roden Street, no longer reach all the way to Donegall Road, leaving this gable as a prime painting space.

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00239

UVF And UDA

1988-04-012025-08-11Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These are murals from completing organisations, the UVF (above) represented by an Uzi above various flags and the emblem of the UVF, and the UDA (below) represented additionally by hooded volunteers on manoeuvres. They were together on the Crumlin Road, on waste-ground at the top of Queensland Street and at the top of Tasmania Street. On the gable next to the UVF flags large YCV and 36th Division emblems would be added – see the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00143 [T00238]
T00142

Cemented With Love

1988-04-012025-07-31Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In loving memory of Rev Robert Bradford.” Bradford was killed in 1981 (see To Bathe The Sharp Sword Of My Word In Heaven) and the mural dates back to (at least) 1983. It perhaps shows the Lindsay Street arch, which was first mounted in 1964. On either side of the arch are written “Honour all men, love the brethren” and “Fear God, honour the King”.

The King Billy mural survived until 1988 and was reproduced on the other side of Donegall Pass in 1989 – see the Peter Moloney Collection. King Billy is subtly coloured red-white-and-blue, while the dying Jacobite is in green-white-and-gold.

At the junction of Apsley Street and Howard Street South, at what is now the entrance to Reverend Robert Bradford Memorial Park.

Colonial Child

1981-10-012025-10-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a difficult mural to interpret and might be incomplete. It appears to show an indigenous child, whose skin is marked with a Union Flag, feasting on the bloody arm of a human adult whose skull sits behind the child. It is perhaps a reference to the colonial exploits of the British in Kenya or in the Putumayo – please comment/get in touch if you can shed any light on the mural.

The mural is in the bricked-up display-window of a shop between Spinner Street and Leeson Street (on the eastern/Dunville Park side of the Falls Road).

Falls Road, west Belfast

British Repression

1981-10-012025-07-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

depicting (from left to right) Ireland in the grip of a fist with a Union Flag cufflink, a prison guard whose mouth holds prison bars and the arm of a bleeding prisoner, and a naked figure in a tricoloured scarf crucified on a Union Flag.

There is a fourth panel to the right, of the island of Ireland bearing a cross “Made in Britain”.

At least three of the original images are by Jack Clafferty, a founder member of the Troops Out Movement (see the Peter Moloney Collection).

The Shape Of Things To Come

1981-10-012025-07-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is the second version of this mural, both from 1981. In the original – which can be seen in the Homer Sykes collection – the main panel was a large white rectangle with three volunteers with assault rifles and an RPG (and the signature in the bottom left, reading “Done by Beechmount youth against H Block”).

This version removes the gunmen and uses more of the main panel, describing “the shape of things to come” in a series of images showing of people rallying to the Irish tricolour, attacking a British soldier who falls among rubble. In the gable, the sunburst and Tricolour, with automatic rifle, remain. The words to the left read “I lie at night and try to think why / our lads in jail are prepared to die. // The British government sit back and laugh / but the people know that they are daft. // Four of our comrades have passed away / is there call for more to die[?] // O, British government use your sights / and give our lads their 5 just rights.”

Oakman St, Beechmount, west Belfast