international – Page 12 – Paddy Duffy Collection

The Silent Unseen

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Stanislaw Sosabowski — who appears in the apex of this mural in east Belfast — survived the first World War (fighting for Austria-Hungary), the occupation of Poland in 1939, and escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp before crossing Europe and taking command, in Britain, of the 1st Polish Paras. The unit fought in Operation Market Garden at the Battle Of Arnhem. (WP | Polish Heritage Society for a booklet of text and images)

His memoirs have been published as Freely I Served and interviews about his service were collected for a film called A Debt Of Dishonour (youtube) – the title comes from the fact that Sosabowski was blamed for the failure of the Operation, perhaps as a bargaining tactic in negotiations between Britain, Russia, and Poland.

Across the middle of the mural are airmen from the 303 Polish Squadron, which was celebrated in a Shankill mural: Love Demands Sacrifice. In the foreground is a modern British paratrooper in field gear.

For images of the launch, see WWIIPolesNI.

A post at (the blog) We In Coming Days May Be has a report on the East Belfast electoral constituency. Here is a report on Polish Residents In Belfast from the Belfast Interface Project. Attacks on Poles in east Belfast reached a peak in the first few months of 2014; see previously Romanian Housebreakers Beware and e.g. this Telegraph article. See also: Multiculturalism Is Genocide | Never Actually Existed | Belfast You’re Melting My Head.

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Operation Lion

2022-09-132024-07-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

John Henry Patterson went from Ireland to Kenya, where he killed several lions after months of hunting. He wrote an account of the hunt entitled The Man-Eaters of Tsavo which has inspired three movies; the lions, named The Ghost and The Darkness, were both over nine feet in length. Back in Ireland he commanded a battalion of the UVF and was involved in the Larne gun-running of 1914: Operation Lion.

The final panel (on the right) shows the star of David and a quote from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “In all of Jewish history we have never had a Christian friend as understanding and devoted.” The interim panels described Patterson’s raising and leading of the Jewish battalions of the Royal Fusiliers in WWI. After dying in obscurity in Los Angeles in 1947, his remains were transported to Israel in December 2014 and reinterred (video). For more, including a recording of Patterson’s voice, see this BBC Magazine article.

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Freedom For Öcalan

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“Peace is more difficult than war. We were not scared as we resisted; we will not be scared when we make peace.” Turkish-born Kurdistan Workers’ Party founder Abdullah Öcalan has been in prison since 1999, during which time he has changed from advocating violence to advocating a political solution to the Kurdish situation in Turkey. (WP) The conflict has resulted in a minimum of 45,000 deaths. (WP)

The mural dates back to 2014.

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Tamil Eelam

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“Eelam” is the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka and “Tamil Eelam” is the name of a proposed Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka (shown on the right of the mural) that the Tigers were fighting for. After 26 years of war, the Tamil Tigers were defeated in 2009 but independence (from the majority Sinhalese) is “inevitable” according to this new mural. For an account of commemorations in both Belfast and Derry, see this TamilNet article.

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Join The IRNC

2022-09-132024-07-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Irish Republican National Congress (Fb | web) board in Northumberland Street. This one features assault rifles and some nasty barbed wire; the one in Beechmount featured a Maid Of Erin harp.

With a small “Support the Palestinians” tarp below.

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RNU Stands With Palestine

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The Republican Network For Unity (RNU) affirm their solidarity with Palestine over the recent deaths during the March Of Return (see also His Land, His Legs, His Life) with a board showing an Israeli hand smothering a Palestinian face. Here is the RNU’s statement on the deaths in Gaza at the time.

Our Struggle Continues

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Óglach Charlie Hughes was O.C. of PIRA D Company (“the dogs”) in west Belfast. He was killed in March 1971 as part of the feud between the OIRA and the Provisionals. PIRA volunteers, including Charlie and cousin Brendan Hughes (“The Dark”), had burned down OIRA drinking den The Burning Embers, across from Charlie’s house on Balkan Street, and were moving on to The Cracked Cup on Leeson Street, but were met with gunfire. Hughes was killed later that night, after a ceasefire had been agreed, by a single shot (WP | a 2002 account by The Dark). The mural replaces the small ‘1921’ tarp (see Do Not Touch).

The other figure shown (on the right) is Palestinian skyjacker Leila Khaled (see also Oppression Breeds Resistance).

Below is James Connolly in a Lasaır Dhearg stencil: “Empires and tyranny perish. We will rise again.”

His Land, His Legs, His Life

2022-09-132024-07-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Great March Of Return was a six-week protest by Palestinians in Gaza. Most protestors at the border fence with Israel were non-violent but there are reports of some with rocks, burning tyres, Molotov cocktails on a kite, and an AK-47 (WP). It ended (officially – incidents have continued) on May 15th, Nakba Day, the “day of the catastrophe”, meaning the displacement of Palestinians in the 1948 war. The protest demanded that refugees be allowed to return home – there are 1.1 million living in Gaza. During the protest more than 100 Palestinians died, many by live fire by Israeli forces, and more than 13,000 were injured. According to the mural above, “It’s time the Irish Government show some humanity and act for the Palestinian people. 1. Officially recognise the state of Palestine. 2. Impose economic sanctions on Israel. 3. End all diplomatic ties with the apartheid state. Boycott Israel, an apartheid state.”

The wheelchair protester shown on the right is double amputee Saber Al-Ashkar. He has not, however, been reported dead, as the text below the image (and reports on Twitter and elsewhere) suggests: “They took his land, his legs, and finally his life.” The death might refer to another such protestor Fadi Abu Salah, who was killed in May (Alaraby) (or Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, who was shot in December 2017 – Independent obituary). The UN Commissioner for Human Rights called the killing “incomprehensible” (Guardian); an internal IDF investigation found that Abu Thuraya was not shot by Israeli snipers (Times Of Israel).

The mural was was originally painted without the carton of Cookie Dough ice-cream in Al-Ashkar’s sling. Vermont-based ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would no longer sell its products in the Occupied Palestinian Territory which it says is subject to an “internationally recognised illegal occupation”. In response, Israel threatened parent company Unilever with “extreme consequences” (Reuters).