Conference tallis::celt

1242.0. "Finucane Center" by KOALA::HOLOHAN () Wed Jul 14 1993 17:26

  Pulled from usenet:


                     THE PAT FINUCANE CENTRE, DERRY
                 (formerly the Bloody Sunday Initiative)

The group that is now known as the Patrick Finucane Centre for Human
Rights and Social Change first came into existence in 1989 as a result
of discussions involving a number of political and community activists
in Derry. It was agreed to establish an organization which would focus 
on human rights and link that concern to a wider political agenda. The
group shared the widespread perception that the annual commemoration for
Bloody Sunday was relatively unimaginative and that attendance at the
march was effectively confined to supporters of the Republican struggle.
It was also agreed that the organizational space needed to be created
for people who wanted to be politically active but who were unhappy
with the available options.

The initial name of the group was the Bloody Sunday Committee. The
suggestion that the group be called the Bloody Sunday Trust was quickly
discounted. The group formally adopted the name the Bloody Sunday
Initiative in early 1990, reflecting its ongoing concern with the
events of Bloody Sunday and its determination that those killed on that
day (January 30, 1972) should be properly honored and vindicated. The
name of the group was changed to *The Patrick Finucane Centre for
Human Rights and Social Change* on May 1, 1993.

The first meetings of the Centre were held in the offices of the now
defunct 20/20 Vision organization a 5 Sackville Street and then in the
homes of members. The group acquired an office on the first floor of
1 Westend Park in early 1990.

The following is a brief description of the projects which have
been or ar currently being carried out by the Pat Finucane Centre:

1. Bloody Sunday Weekend:

The Centre first took responsibility for organizing the annual Bloody
Sunday commemoration in January 1990. As well as organizing the march
on a broad front basis (with considerable help from the previous march
organizers), the Centre has organized a number of workshops and 
visiting speakers as part of the commemoration weekend. Speakers at these
events have included Paul Hill (Guildford 4), John Walker and Paddy
Joe Hill (Birmingham Six), Judith Ward, Fr. Des Wilson, Canon Brian 
Smeaton (Col.), Rob Fairmichael (INNATE), Maire Fitzduff (Dir. CRC),
Prof. Desmond Bell (UU), Matin O'Brien and Mike Ritchie (both CAJ)
Michael Farrell (ICCL), Margaret Caraher (Cullyhanna Justice Group),
Robert Ballagh (INC), Caitriona Ruane (CDR), David Miller (Glasgow Media
Research Group), Denis Goldberg (ANC), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein), Mark
Durkham (SDLP), Eamon Dunphy and Vincent Brown (journalists), Bernadette
McAliskey, Chuck Turner (community activist, Boston, USA), Oliver Kearney
(Equality Campaign), Noelle Ryan (Springhill Community House, Belfast)
Naomi Wayne (Terrence Higgins Trust), Michael Finucane (son of Pat
Finucane), George Johnstone (BBC), Betty Purcell (RTE), Donal O Ceallaigh
(playwright and actor). The Centre organized the twentieth anniversary
commemorations for Bloody Sunday under the theme "One World...One
Struggle."

2. Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign:

After the twentieth anniversary commemorations, the Centre organized
two public meetings in Pilots Row Community Centre. This led to the
establishment of the Bloody Sunday Justice Group as a separate and
independent group campaigning to clear the names of those killed on
Bloody Sunday and to have those guilty of their deaths prosecuted. The\BSJC
is based in the Pat Finucane Centre and has the support of the families
of all 14 men who were killed. Three Centre members are active in the 
BSJC.

3. The Friends of Patrick McLaughlin:

Patrick McLaughlin is a 34-year old Derry man currently serving a life
sentence in a British prison for alleged involvement in the 1985 INLA 
Chelsea Barracks bomb. The group, which includes Patrick's sister and which
has the support of the rest of the family, was set up in 1991 and was
given some prominence in the 1993 Bloody Sunday commemoration. The
group is campaigning to demonstrate Patrick's innocence and secure
his early release.

4. Relatives for Justice:

The Relatives for Justice group was set up following a meeting in
Dungannon in 1991. Its membership is made up of relatives of civilians
killed by members of the British Security forces or by pro-British
paramilitary organizations. Though this organization has a membership
throughout Ireland, its Chair is a voluntary worker in the Centre
and the Centre provides secretarial and administrative support.

5. Rossville Trust:

The Rossville Trust is in the process of being formally set up as
a charitable trust. The aims of the trust will be educational and
will focus on furthering knowledge and understanding of human rights.
Several people have already agreed to act as trustees and a constitution
has been broadly agreed upon with NICVA, who are advising the Centre
in this matter. We are waiting on the outcome of some discussions
with the CAJ and then the constitution will be submitted to the Inland
Revenue. The Rossville Trust will seek grant aid from the Derry City
Council and various sympathetic charities.

6. Publications:

In 1991 the Centre published "The Political Guide to Derry", and a
multilingual second edition was published in 1992. A third edition
is in preparation. The Guide represents a significant source of
income, as do the several postcards published. The Centre was
responsible for securing the book by Eamon McCann (with Maureen
Sheils and Bridie Hannigan) "Bloody Sunday in Derry: What Really
Happened", published in 1992 by Brandon Publishers. This book has
gone into a second printing, royalties coming to benefit the Centre.
A card entitled "Know Your Rights" has also been published by the Centre 
for the benefit of young people.

7. Submissions:

In April 1992 the Centre made a submission to the Northern Ireland
Human Rights Assembly in London on Bloody Sunday. In January 1993
it presented a submission to the Opsahl Commission (Initiative '92)
which was widely reported in the local and national areas.

8. Human Rights Casework:

The Centre has been asked to focus public attention on several
important human rights case involving Derry men. The first involved
a Derry man charged as part of the Casement Park Accused. He was
subsequently acquitted. More recently there has been the case of
Miller, McFadden and McMonagle, who were convicted on the basis of clear
and acknowledged perjured evidence by RUC officers. The Centre is also
helping John Matthews and his family. John was charged in May 1993 in 
London with bomb-related offenses.

9. Border Roads Campaign:

In August 1992 the Centre proposed to the Irish National Congress (INC)
and the Campaign to Reopen Border Roads that there should be s series
of nonviolent demonstrations against border road closures and military
checkpoints to coincide with the introduction of the Single European
Act on December 31, 1992. The first planning meeting for this event
took place in Derry at the invitation of the Centre and was attended
by representatives from Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and
Leitrim. The Centre subsequently participated in all further planning
meetings in Clones, Co. Monaghan and took responsibility for 6
County publicity, international contacts, drafting the publicity
leaflet and planning the two events in Derry on January 1, 1993. These
events, which coincided with 10 other planned happenings from Newry
and Crossmaglen through Strabane and Derry, involved a 12 person
bicycle ride through the Muff checkpoint and merged with a colorful
and lively procession through the Coshquin checkpoint. The Centre 
continues to be involved in the Border Roads Campaign.

10. Watchtower Campaign:

Members of the Centre organized various street theatre events in the
city to highlight the growing militarization of Derry as evidenced
by the number of high surveillance watchtowers and cameras being built.
This included some theatre at an event organized by the Peace Train
organization. Members of the Centre are active in the campaign
focused specifically against the massive Rossville watchtower.

11. Birmingham Six Campaign:

The Centre took responsibility for organizing events to highlight
the innocence of the Birmingham Six from its inception in 1989 until 
their release in March 1991. This included focusing the 1990 Bloody
Sunday march and rally on the Birmingham Six and a day of events on
that St. Patrick's Day, including card-signing, balloon releases and
a social evening at which Peggy Seeger sang and at which members
of John Walker's family were guests of honor. Subsequently the Centre
was asked by the Walker family to make arrangements for Johnny's
homecoming to Derry in March 1991, the day after the Birmingham
Six were released. Johnny Walker was the first of the Six to
return to Ireland.

12. Peace 2000:

In May 1992 the Centre published a discussion paper about how to create
an effective and radical peace process in Ireland to end armed conflict.
It argued that there was a need for a peace movement that actually 
addressed the issue of how to end violence rather than one which merely
reacted to violence. It argued for an inclusive peace process at which
all issues should be brought up for negotiation, including Section 75
of the Government of Ireland Act. The discussion paper was widely
distributed and a meeting was called in Derry in October 1992 to
discuss how to progress with these ideas. The paper has been widely 
published ('Fortnight' magazine, 'Troops Out of Ireland' magazine,
and the newsletter of Doors of Hope, U.S.A) and it is likely that
Peace 200 will make up a significant part of the Centre's political
work in the coming year.

13. Delegations and Visitors:

Since 1989, the Centre has received visits from many individual visitors
as well as delegations. Some of the delegations have included Troops
Out (Britain), Leicester Troops Out, Birmingham Six Campaign (Britain)
students from Edge Hill College (Liverpool), Voice of the Innocent (USA),
Cor Cochion Caerdydd, students from University College, Cork. The Centre
facilitated the production of one of several television programmes on
Bloody Sunday at the time of the twentieth anniversary. Speakers
from the Center have addressed the annual Bloody Sunday rallies in
London and Glasgow and have spoken at meetings in University College,
Cork; the AGM of the Irish National Congress, the Northern Ireland
Human Rights Assembly and the Annual Conference of the NUS in
Blackpool.

14. Workshops:

These have become a feature of the Bloody Sunday Commemoration. However,
the Centre has organized several human rights workshops in Derry under
the title of 'Issue of Justice', including those on the 1991
Emergency Provisions Act and the Casement Park Accused (twice).

15. Human Rights Network:

In January 1993, the Centre arranged a meeting of all the human rights
and campaign groups attending the Bloody Sunday weekend at which it
was agreed to establish a human rights support network to facilitate
cooperation between groups working on a human rights agenda. A
subsequent meeting was organized by the Centre in March at Conway Mill
in Belfast at which it was agreed to publish a multi-language booklet
giving basic information on all the groups involved in the network
and to organize a Human Rights Roadshow, i.e. a travelling exhibition.

16. Archives:

The Centre is putting together an archival collection covering current
human rights, political and social issues, as well as an historic archive
which would bring together the records and artifacts produced
over the past twenty five years of community and political struggle.

17. Bogside/Brandywell Development Association:

An early suggestion of the Centre was for the establishment of a
permanent People's Centre in which groups committed to radical social
change would be based or have access to. It was suggested that such
a Centre, based in the old Gasyard site, could become a more suitable
memorial to the dead of Bloody Sunday. The Pat Finucane Centre facilitated
bringing together all of the community and tenant groups in the Brandywell
and Bogside areas to form a Development Association to move on this
proposal. This remains an ongoing priority of the Centre.

18. Censorship and Oppression:

On SUnday, May 5, 1991, during a BBC radio report on a weekly religious
programme of a conference organized by the Community of the Administration
of Justice in Belfast, a member representing the Pat Finucane Centre was
banned from having her interview broadcast under British government
censorship legislation. On Wednesday, December 9, 1992, armed RUC officers
raided the Centre, at which time they committed a number of serious physical
assaults, resulting in one person being hospitalized. All five Centre
members in the building were arrested, as well as two other people in the
building. A substantial amount of material relating to human rights work
of the Centre, including a computer, computer discs, and various
legal documents were seized. All those arrested were held for between
three and five days in Gough Barracks, Armagh. Substantial physical 
damage was done to the building. The CAJ in Belfast, Amnesty International,
and the British-Irish Rights Watch were informed and made strong
representations to the Government. A dossier on the raid and
arrests has been prepared for these groups by the Centre.

                                  *****

                         The Pat Finucane Centre
                             1 Westend Park
                                  Derry
                                BT48 9JF
                                 Ireland

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