physical force

An Phoblacht/Republican News

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“An Phoblacht/Republican News – official organ of the republican movement. Contents include war news, features, IRA statements, prison news from Ireland & England, news from throughout the 32 counties, solidarity news from abroad.”

Workers read the 1982-04-08 edition of the paper, the cover of which is reproduced behind them (and included below): a masked volunteer fires a funeral volley next to the 1916 Proclamation.

The Maid Of Erin harp, with a “cap of liberty” rather than a crown (WP), together the slogan “It is new strung and it shall be heard” is the emblem of the Society of United Irishmen (WP).

“Painted by Beechmount & Iveagh Sınn Féın youth.”

Sevastopol Street, west Belfast

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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
T00014

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.)

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger For Justice

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This Whiterock Road mural shows a blanketman/hunger-striker being watched over by a uniformed volunteer, on a large tricoloured bunting/drape at the feet of an angel holding a banner reading “blessed are those who hunger for justice“. Above are the words “Their hunger, their pain, our struggle“. The shields of the four provinces of Ireland and two shamrocks complete the mural.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
T00017 T00044 [T00016]

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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British Repression

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depicting (from left to right) Ireland in the grip of a fist with a Union Flag cufflink, a prison guard whose mouth holds prison bars and the arm of a bleeding prisoner, and a naked figure in a tricoloured scarf crucified on a Union Flag.

There is a fourth panel to the right, of the island of Ireland bearing a cross “Made in Britain”.

At least three of the original images are by Jack Clafferty, a founder member of the Troops Out Movement (see the Peter Moloney Collection).

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
[T00021] T00036

The Shape Of Things To Come

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This is the second version of this mural, both from 1981. In the original – which can be seen in the Homer Sykes collection – the main panel was a large white rectangle with three volunteers with assault rifles and an RPG (and the signature in the bottom left, reading “Done by Beechmount youth against H Block”).

This version removes the gunmen and uses more of the main panel, describing “the shape of things to come” in a series of images showing of people rallying to the Irish tricolour, attacking a British soldier who falls among rubble. In the gable, the sunburst and Tricolour, with automatic rifle, remain. The words to the left read “I lie at night and try to think why / our lads in jail are prepared to die. // The British government sit back and laugh / but the people know that they are daft. // Four of our comrades have passed away / is there call for more to die[?] // O, British government use your sights / and give our lads their 5 just rights.”

Oakman St, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
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The Training Ground

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Jeff Perks’s 1979 linotype “The Training Ground” was reproduced on Beechmount Avenue in 1981. It depicts the history of the British Army in Ireland. Rolston (“Politics, Painting and Popular Culture: the Political Wall Murals of Northern Ireland”, Media, Culture and Society 9.1, 1987) claims (p. 19) that the image would have been familiar to nationalists from the cover of “Ireland: Voices For Withdrawal” (shown below). The baton-wielding policeman on the right was also reproduced in a famous 1996 Derry mural (“68-96 Nothing Has Changed” M01279).

Missing on the far left are four Cromwellian soldiers (see M00123); on the right, the arrested are loaded onto The Conveyor Belt.

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Copyright © 1981 Paddy Duffy
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