assault rifle

UVF And UDA

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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
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Women In Armed Struggle

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“Solidarity between women in armed struggle” would be added in the bottom right (or is perhaps obscured by the burnt-out lorry. The imagery shows female members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Cumann Na mBan, and the Southwest African People’s Organisation (from Namibia) drawn within the symbol for woman (also the planet Venus in astrology).

Painted by Kes and “Improved by Sınn Féın Youth” (added to the bottom left) at the top of Fallswater Street. (Compare with the Peter Moloney Collection’s image from 1985.)

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Copyright © 1983 Paddy Duffy
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We Are Here To Stay

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This mural celebrates the IRA (“Óglaigh Na hÉıreann” at the top) from 1919 (the army of the independent Dáıl Éıreann) to the “present” day of 1982. In the centre, a lark flies against a Tricolour, with the word “Saoırse” (“freedom”) beneath.

This is a repainted version of the original, which was one of several murals in Beechmount and the Rock streets that were paint-bombed by “marauding Coldstream Guards” (according to AP/RN of 1982-04-29) – for the damaged mural, see the Peter Moloney Collection. The “1919” date would be changed to “1916”.

Islandbawn Street, west Belfast, replacing The Right Hon. Bobby Sands.

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Copyright © 1982 Paddy Duffy
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We Must Grow Tough

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Three female activists, one with a rifle, proclaim “Resistance” on the Falls Road, Belfast. The phrase is attributed to Che Guevara. The mural was commissioned by Sınn Féın’s Department Of Women’s Affairs for International Women’s Day, 1982 (March 6th). This is probably a work-in-progress image, as the words “We must grow tough, but without ever losing our tenderness” are missing from the top part of the wall and a signature – “painted by Sınn Féın Youth” – in the bottom left. Compare to the images in the Peter Moloney Collection.

This is the second mural on this wall – the first was a tribute to the first four hunger strikers to die in 1981 (see the Peter Moloney Collection). That mural was only head-high, whereas this one attempts to cover the entire wall, all the way up to the chimney – for the development of CNR muraling at this time, see Visual History 03.

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Copyright © 1982 Paddy Duffy
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Victory To The IRA

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“Victory [to the] IRA”. Volunteers with RPGs and armalites in Rossnareen, kneeling over an outline of Ireland in green, white, and gold. The central trio comes from an IRA publicity photograph, included below.

Rossnareen Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
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(unattributed IRA photograph. Also appears in this 1974 poster at CAIN.)

Incident At Narrow Water

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This mural depicts (one part of) the IRA’s 1979 ambush of the British Army at Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint (WP), on the same day that Louis Mountbatten was killed (see 13 Gone But Not Forgotten).

For interpretation of the piece and its role in the history of CNR muraling, see Visual History 4 – Paramilitary Murals (1981-1982).

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
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Struggle For Freedom

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This two-part mural in Forest Street features (left) Sunburst and Starry Plough flags on pikes, on either side of two volunteers who are watching the sun rise/set and (right) “Struggle for freedom” below an outline of the island against the green-white-and-gold stripes of the tricolour.

Forest St, west Belfast. For images from 1985, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
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