Letter to Editors/Presenters-Civil Rights' Memories -- Stormont Watch

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Date Posted: Sun, May 04 2008, 23:25:37 PDT
Author: 1968-Civil Rights-2008
Subject: Letter to Editors/Presenters-Civil Rights' Memories

40th Anniversary Commemoration Committee
C/o �Knockavoe�,Derry BT48 7HR

LETTER TO THE MEDIA:

A Chara, Civil Rights� Memories

This year marks the transformation of the N. Ireland Civil Rights Association [NICRA] from a mere lobby group into a mass movement as a result of the dramatic and violent events on Duke Street on October 5th 1968. Late last year a commemoration committee of prominent activists during that era was established in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.

In recent weeks an introductory website has been created which can be located at www.civilrights1968.com However, since many people are not on the Internet, I wish to cordially request the publication of this Letter to the Editor.

There were many events which occurred before, during and after October 5th 1968, until the �Long March� and the �Burntollet Ambush�, which is our commemoration�s cut-off date in early January, 2009. Those of us who have been extremely fortunate enough to have survived so long, have I feel, a moral, public and historic duty to record our personal memories, not only for our own, but later and future generations to come.

For example, before October 5th many activists were involved in issues such as the need for proper housing, best illustrated by campaigns associated with Springtown Camp and local Housing Action Committees, as well as Housing Associations, such as that led by the late Fr. Mulvey, and others across the North. There were several families which occupied Derry Guildhall over an extended period in a bid to highlight their plight and lack of positive action by local and central government. Their experiences, and many others, including those who opposed evictions, are worthy of placing on the public record, otherwise such may be lost forever.

After October 5th QUB students, in the main, organised around People�s Democracy and within four days the Derry Citizens� Action Committee [DCAC] emerged. It attracted massive popular support and had at its heart an organisation of more than 700 stewards, many of whom have their own individual stories to record. The DCAC organised many major sit-downs and marches which these undoubtedly heroic stewards ensured were in keeping with the passive resistance and non-violent philosophy of our civil rights� ideology and strategy.

Thousands of Dockers and shirt factory �girls�, and more besides, defied and made a nonsense of William Craig�s ban on marches in Derry city centre. There again, their experiences should be recorded for posterity.

So also should the memories of those who suffered as a result of a �police invasion� of St. Colm�s Wells on the night of the �Burntollet Ambush�, and the scores who flew on a DCAC-hired plane to London to protest both at Westminster Hall and to deliver personally a letter to the door of No. 10 Downing Street. Our warm welcome as guests of the management of the Irish Club and our exile community, at London�s Eason Square, is something few of us could ever forget.

Very soon a number of TV & radio documentary crews will record the events of those days. Our local Commemoration Committee also intend to A/V record as many other individual memories of that era as possible, if need in the homes of those too ill or house-bound to attend our local office. Due to considerations of space, there is much that can�t be put into a Letter to the Editor. However, on behalf of the 1968 Commemoration Committee, I cordially invite readers interested in marking this anniversary, in Derry and elsewhere, to contact us via rights.civil@googlemail.com or ring 028-71-286369 any afternoon or evening.

Is Mise,
Le Meas Mor,

Name & Address Supplied,
Co-founder, NICRA, 1967
Executive Member, 1968-2008 Commemoration Committees

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