Saoırse Don Phalaıstín

Here is an INLA/IRSP/RSYM pro-Palestine mural from Derry (see also يومنا قادم). “PFLP” stands for “Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine” (WP). A very similar PFLP-INLA board was seen in west Belfast: Peoples United. There was PFLP graffiti in Creggan: Victory To The PFLP.

The first two are from William Street and the Bogside; the small INLA nail-up in the final image is in Creggan.

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Peoples United

The slogan “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty” has been used in loyalist responses to Brexit and the NI Protocol, in Lurgan, Ballyclare, and Moygashel (one | two). It is used here in reference to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. PFLP (in the bottom-left corner) is the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (WP) (seen previously in The Popular Front | Solidarity With Palestine | Resistance Is Not Terrorism and murals showing Leila Khaled); in the bottom-right is the emblem of the INLA – starry plough, red star of socialism, Tricolour, and fist holding an assault rifle.

Falls Road, west Belfast

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McGerrigan – Hughes 50th

Jake McGerrigan and Tony Hughes of the OIRA were both shot and killed by British forces in the Windmill Hill area of Armagh in a 48-hour period spanning April 7th and 9th, 1973. (Lost Lives #791 incorrectly gives March 7th for McGerrigan.) The board shown above was mounted in Navan Street for the 40th anniversary of their deaths, in 2013, and the lower date has now been updated for the 50th anniversary.

The larger portraits on either side are of McGerrigan and Hughes; between them are (left) Peadar McElvanna, Roddy Carroll, Gerard Mallon, Martin Corrigan, (middle) Peter Corrigan, (right) Tony McClelland, Seamus Grew, Sean McIlvanna [McIlvenna], Dessie Grew.

There is an individual plaque to Hughes (shown immediately below) at the spot where he was shot and a stone (shown below; for text see McGerrigan – Hughes) to both of them in the same alley; there is also a stone (not shown) to McGerrigan in Windmill Avenue. (Video of Jake McGerrigan’s funeral.)

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Saoırse Go Deo

“Saoırse go deo.” INLA volunteer Kevin Lynch went on hunger strike on May 23rd, 1981. He would die 71 days later, on August 1st. His funeral is depicted in the top part of this IRSP/IRSM board commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger-strikes. The Tricolour (for the IRA) and Starry Plough (for the INLA) are used as blankets on the prison beds. 

Shaws Road and Norglen Gardens, west Belfast

The same board appeared on the Falls Road and in Galliagh, Derry.

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Socialism Is Neither Protestant Nor Catholic

“Socialism is neither Protestant nor Catholic, Christian nor Freethinker, Buddhist, Mahometan, nor Jews [sic]. It is only human. We of the Socialist working class realise that as we suffer together we must work together that we may enjoy together. We reject the firebrand of capitalist warfare and offer you the olive leaf of brotherhood and justice to and for all.” From part 6 of Connolly’s Labour, Nationality And Religion in 1910.

The mural is in Beechview Park, across the street from Áras Uí Chonghaile/James Connolly Visitor Centre.

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James Connolly House

“A free Ireland will control its own destiny from the plough to the stars.” So James Connolly is said to have explained the significance of “the plough in the stars” (Ursa Major) as a symbol of Irish revolutionary socialism. (Though no source is given for the remark. See From The Plough To The Stars for more.)

Connolly and Seamus Costello, heroes of the IRSP (web) are painted on James Connolly house in Chamberlain Street, Derry, which is also home to Teach Na Fáılte, the Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners group.

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The Cause Of Labour

“”The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour” – James Connolly”. From The Irish Flag, 1916.

The renovation and expansion of Áras Uí Chonghaile (web) was officially opened in 2019 and included “a bespoke corten steel extension that has an intricate perforated image of Connolly’s face” (RIBAJ).

Falls Road, west Belfast, a short distance from the house in which Connolly lived for a time – see the Peter Moloney collection.

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INLA Roll Of Honour

“Irish National Liberation Army, Belfast Brigade, roll of honour. For national liberation and socialism in Ireland.” With the named of 22 volunteers who died between 1975 and 2021: Ferguson, Loughran, McNamee, Daly, Bunting, Little, Power, McLarnon, Craven, McCann, Power, O’Reilly, Kearney, Gargan, Gallagher, McColgan, Campbell, McWilliams, O’Hara, McMullan, McElkerney, McWilliams.

This is an extension, to the right, of the yellow-backgrounded panels seen in For A Socialist Republic (2021-05), Defund The Police (2022-09), and Bap McGreevy (2022-11).

Falls Road, Belfast.

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Mac Dıarmada

This board to Seán Mac Dıarmada in Ardoyne details his exploits leading up to and including the 1916 uprising and his earlier connection with the local area.

Painted by Rısteard ÓMurchú.

Previously: Mac Dıarmada also appears in the Bone Staır Na Gaeılge mural.

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