assault rifle

Our British Identity

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“[Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous.] In war you can only be killed once. In politics, many times. [ – Winston Churchill, 1903] Our British identity is non-negotiable! UVF East Belfast Battalion.” Hooded UVF volunteers are shown in active poses (as compared to the cradled rifles in The Erosion Of Our Identity) ready to resist any compromise in the still-unresolved tension between Brexit and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998.

The second board, on a similar theme, is in Belvoir Street, in east Belfast: “The prevention of the erosion of our identity is now our priority”.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Cumann Na mBan

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This mural is at the bottom of Teach Na bhFıann/Fianna House (formerly Dill House) in the New Lodge. “Cumann Na mban” in Irish is “the women’s organization/council/society” in English. The organization in question is the republican paramilitary group which was founded on April 2, 1914 and celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Ballymurphy Massacre

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The inquest into the Ballymurphy Massacre – the killings of 11 people from August 9th to 11th, continues, with testimony this past week from former Paratrooper Henry Gow (Irish News | BBC-NI). The image above shows Hugh Mullan being shot from Springmartin while going to the aid of a neigbour, Bobby Clarke; he is waving a white Babygro (BallymurphyMassacre.com). The Paratrooper is distinguished by his red beret.

The mural was originally painted by Rısteard Ó Murchú in 2008 and displayed first on the Whiterock Road then around the corner on the Springfield Road; the location of the repainted board is at the Glenalina Road entrance to the area, in the spot of the former 1916 GPO mural (which had lasted seventeen years before the wall was re-plastered and whitewashed in 2017).

The plaque on the fence reads, “This plaque is dedicated to the 11 innocent civilians murdered by members of the British Parachute regiment in August 1971. Fr Hugh Mullan, Frank Quinn, Noel Phillips, Joan Connolly,

Danny Teggart, Joseph Murphy, Eddie Doherty, John Laverty, Joseph Corr, Paddy McCarthy, John McKerr. Donated by the Frank McCann Cumann, Hamilton [Scotland] (Fb).”

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Decolonisation

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“In memory of our fallen INLA volunteers, upper Springfield area: Hugh Ferguson, Ronnie Bunting, Noel Little, Hugh O’Neill, Micky Kearney, John McColgan, Paddy “Paddybo” Campbell. Comrades: Barry “Baz” McMullan, Sean “Shanto” fleming, Harry O’Hara, Paul Collins, Bernado Brownlee, Emmanuel Kelly, Michael Conlon, Billy Lynch, James “Harpo” Murray, John Kennaway. Saoırse go deo [freedom forever].” Ferguson was the first member of the INLA to die, in 1975 in the feud with the OIRA. Bunting and Little/Lyttle (both Protestants) were shot dead in 1980 in Bunting’s Andersonstown home by masked gunmen from the UDA or SAS with RUC complicity.

Whiterock Road, Belfast, next to the Kevin Lynch – Marian Price – Kevin Lynch wall.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Her Old Tradition Of Nationhood

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“Saoradh salute the men and women of violence,” namely the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation, the women of the 1970s IRA, and modern “dissidents” with home-made weapons.

The plaque on the left is to the IRA’s Pearse Jordan, next to the centenary celebration of the Proclamation, Ag Fíorú Na Poblachta. The board was been moved to this Falls Road location from Ardoyne; it replaces an anti-RUC/PSNI mural.

Hugo Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Buster Keenan

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This mural to William “Buster” Keenan was unveiled on July 8th (2017), coincidentally the anniversary of wife Eileen’s death. Both are listed on the UVF memorial stone in front of the mural, along with David Ervine and the Long-Cordner-Bennett-Seymour quartet.

According to ACT, Keenan was involved in the Battle Of St. Matthew’s (in which Bobby Neill and James McCurrie were killed, along with Henry McIlhone). To the left is another “Ulster Volunteers” stone, a “Sydenham roll of honour – to those who gave their lives in the Great War”.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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The Right To Defend Yourself

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“We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man: the right if you are attacked, to defend yourself.” Re-imaging took a decisive turn into re-re-imaging with the return of hooded gunmen to east Belfast, at the junction of Newtownards Road and Dee Street (at the old Bright Street), replacing a mural for the Glentoran Community Trust. It’s not clear who the UVF felt attacked by in 2011; it is possible that this mural is also about local muscle-flexing in addition to sectarian politics or attention from the police. Eleven years later, the mural is still standing, though somewhat the worse for wear.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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