tricoloured green-white-orange

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

Mandela, Father Of Freedom

1988-06-012025-08-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Happy birthday, comrade”. ANC leader Nelson Mandela turned 70 on July 18, 1988. He spent the day, like every birthday since 1963, in prison; he would not be released until 1990, after which apartheid would be dismantled and Mandela become the first President of South Africa. “The future belongs to you.” The colours of the ANC join the colours of the Irish Tricolour as a background to Mandela’s portrait. Painted by Mo Chara Kelly, with the help of “Sınn Féın Youth”.

Leeson Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00080 [T00079]

We Aim To Be Free

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

The death by hanging of African National Congress supporter Benjamin Moloise on 18 October, 1985, for the alleged murder of a South African policeman, drew international condemnation and led to widespread rioting in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. (ExecutedToday | Jet)

Moloise’s words, “tell the world, freedom is at hand”, originally appeared on the right of this ANC-IRA mural, paired with a phrase from Bobby Sands, “we aim to be free” on the left of the assault rifle and a zulu shield and spear. The quote and signature have been painted out due to paint-bombing. (There was (at least) one other paint-bombing of the mural – see the Peter Moloney Collection.)

The boards above the mural (“erected by Sınn Féın April 1986”) declare west Belfast an “apartheid free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd”. Note the “A/A” [anti-aparteid] emblem in bottom-left of the left-hand board.

“Beır bua” [seize victory] along the bottom is partly obscured by the skip.

Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00072

Revolution

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

“Armed struggle, people’s politics – revolution.” A volunteer with rocket-propelled grenade launcher on “RPG Avenue” (Beechmount Avenue), west Belfast.

According to Rolston (1991 p. 100), the silhouettes of at the bottom are based on the movie poster for Reds.

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00071 [T00077]

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.

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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00145 T00144 T00140

Victory To The IRA

1981-10-012025-12-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“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

(unattributed IRA photograph. Also appears in this 1974 poster at CAIN.)

Break Thatcher’s Back

1981-10-012025-07-23Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A Long Kesh/H-Block blanketman is on his knees, protesting for (political) “status now”, surrounded by barbed wire and two flags on halberds: the Irish Tricolour and the Starry Plough.

The quote on the left (in the wide-shot, below) is from Sean O’Casey, not “Bobby Sands MP”: “You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell that your slaves could ever build.”

(The quote is reportedly from O’Casey’s prose lament for Thomas Ashe, either the initial pamphlet in November 1917 (?entitled “The Story Of Thomas Ashe”?) or the expanded version of 1918 (entitled “The Sacrifice Of Thomas Ashe” (auction site)), though no copy of this can be found on-line, only two poems ‘Thomas Ashe’ and ‘Lament For Thomas Ashe’ (eastwallforall).

Rockmore Road, west Belfast

Struggle For Freedom

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

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.

Paddy Duffy Collection

Murals From Belfast (And Round-About)