‘There is No British Justice’ - 50th anniversary programme launched

The theme of this year’s march and programme is ‘There is No British Justice’.

A range of exhibitions, debates and discussions will be held before the annual rally which will be addressed by both Eamonn McCann and this year’s guest speaker, Clare Daly, MEP. The provisional programme with more events to be confirmed includes the following:

The Day Innocence Died

The opening event will be an exhibition of photographic images, newspapers of the day, posters and activist art depicting the tragic events of that day and the subsequent years of struggle for truth and justice. As part of the exhibition, Derry artist ‘Squarebear’ will unveil a new artwork, marking 50 years since the events of that day.

Date: January 24, 2022 6:45 pm – 7:30 pm

Venue: Eden Place Arts Centre

War On Nature, War On Community

A discussion that will hear from local and international campaigns to explore why states across the world, in spite of their pledges at COP 26, are predisposed to take the side of extractivism against community, and how people might campaign and organise to change that. The event will be chaired by Maeve O’Neill (Zero Waste NW) with speakers including Barney Morrison (Save Our Sperrins), Tom White (Belcoo Frack-Free) and Brian Cuthbert (Not Here Not Anywhere).

Date: January 24, 2022 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Venue: Echo Echo Dance Theatre

‘A University of Free Derry’ – Decolonising Regional Economic Development

Universities are often sites of deeply contested knowledge and power. In this pivotal moment, constitutionally for the island and globally in terms of a just transition, this event will open a space for far reaching questions about the politics of knowledge production. Speakers include Eóin Ó Cuinneagáin (Swedish University, De-colonial Scholar), Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh: (Glór na Móna, Belfast), Mary McManus (Community Wealth Building), John Barry (PCAN & QUB) and Daniel Wahl (Writer & author of Regenerative Economics).

Date: January 25, 2022 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Venue: City Hotel

Díchoilíniú Praiticiúil i Saol an Bhéarla – Practical Decolonisation in an English Speaking World

Úsáideann an gníomhaí teanga as Béal Feirste Fearghal Mac Ionnrachtaigh scríbhneoireacht réabhlóideach Frantz Fanon chun athbheochan na Gaeilge i dtuaisceart na hÉireann a chur i gcroílár phróiseas díchoilínithe leanúnaigh.

Belfast language activist Fearghal Mac Ionnrachtaigh draws on the revolutionary writing of Frantz Fanon to place the Irish language revival in the north of Ireland at the centre of an ongoing decolonisation process. Dr. Mac Ionnrachtaigh is the Director of the Irish Language youth and community organisation Glór na Móna (www.glornamona.com) and is a prominent member of the An Dream Dearg Irish language network. His thesis was published as Language, Resistance and Revival: Republican Prisoners and the Irish Language in the North of Ireland (Pluto, 2013).

Date: January 26, 2022 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Venue: Online via Zoom.

Visions of a New Ireland

How can we resolve the differences we’re facing into as a people on this island divided by history, identity and politics? ‘Visions of a New Ireland’ will give voice to different perspectives on what a new Ireland could and might look like in the context of a post ‘Brexit’ future and the possibilities and implications resulting from this for the island, Britain and the wider continent of Europe. Confirmed speakers include: Mary Lou McDonald (TD & Sinn Féin President), Clare Daly (MEP for Dublin), Tommy McKearney (Trade Unionist/Activist) and Colin Harvey (Human Rights Law QUB).

Date: January 27, 2022 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Venue: City Hotel

We Shall Overcome

An eclectic gathering of musicians and artists who have come together to respectfully mark 50 years of struggle since the events of Bloody Sunday.

As part of this year’s 50th Anniversary event there is a special performance of Michael Nagle’s dramatisation of Thomas Kinsella’s acclaimed epic poem, ‘The Butcher’s Dozen: A Lesson For The Octave of Widgery’. It will be performed with members of the Bloody Sunday families.

The event is a fund raiser to support of the work of the Bloody Sunday March Committee.

Artists: Rosie Stewart, Fiona Gallagher, Vincent Doherty, Gerry Jones, Harry Bradley, Jason O’Rourke, Dougal McPartland, Loinnir McAliskey and Michael Nagle

Entry Fee: £8 (£5 concession)

Date: January 27, 2022 9:30 pm – 28, 2022 1:30 am

Venue: Sandino’s Bar

Sunday’ screening

A rare chance to see Channel 4 and Jimmy McGovern’s award-winning Drama Documentary film, ‘SUNDAY’ on the big screen. ‘SUNDAY’ tells the story of 30th January 1972 through the eyes of the people and community who suffered it. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the writer, local producer and some of the people whose stories were dramatised on screen. Speakers include Jimmy McGovern (writer), Leo Young (brother of John Young), Geraldine McBride (eye witness), Stephen Gargan (co-producer) and Marty Melarkey (Nerve Centre).

Admission: £6.00 (Tickets: Brunswick Cinema, from 10th Jan 2022)

Date: January 28, 2022 6:30 pm – 9:15 pm

Venue: Brunswick Moviebowl

Eamonn McCann in conversation with Jeremy Corbyn

The BSMC can confirm, working in partnership with Creggan Enterprises, that former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will take part in a public conversation with leading BSMC member, journalist and long time Bloody Sunday campaigner, Eamonn McCann.

Date: January 28, 2022 - time to be confirmed.

Venue: Hive Studios, Ráth Mór

Radical Book Fair

A key part of the Programme of events marking the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday is the Annual Radical Book Fair. This event gets stronger year on year and 2022 will mark its 6th birthday, the first since the global pandemic closed most public gatherings.

Date: January 29, 2022 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Venue: Pilots Row

‘The Enemy Within’ – How the State Targets ‘Suspect’ Communities

In 1983 Margaret Thatcher delivered a speech to the Tory back bench 1922 Committee in which she identified Britain’s mining communities as being as dangerous an enemy as Argentinian General Galtieri had been over the Falklands.

The Tory PM went on to infamously crush mining communities in Britain. Today the State continues to target communities it deems ‘suspect’ and uses all its apparatus to do so. Speakers include Seán MacBradaigh(Participation & Practice of Rights, Belfast), Shane O’Curry (European Anti-Racist Network, Dublin), Stafford Scott (Monitoring Group, London) and Sheila Coleman (Hillsborough Justice Campaign).

Date: January 29, 2022 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Venue: Pilots Row.

There Is No British Justice - discussion

Speakers will address the current British Government’s raft of proposals in respect of its plans to implement a statute of limitations for all conflict related deaths. Speakers include Liam Wray (Bloody Sunday Relative), Eugene Reavey (Truth and Reconciliation Platform), Gráinne Teggart (Amnesty International).

Date: January 29, 2022 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Venue: Pilots Row

There Is No British Justice - 50th anniversary march

The Bloody Sunday March Committee is honoured to announce that given this is the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday the rally will be addressed by both Eamonn McCann and this year’s guest speaker, Clare Daly. Clare is an MEP for Dublin.

As ever Kate Nash, sister of William Nash murdered on the day and daughter of Alexander Nash who was wounded, will chair the platform.

Date: January 30, 2022 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Venue: Creggan Shops to Free Derry Wall

In a statement accompanying the launch the BSMC stated: “The ‘Troubles’ have taken more than 3,500 lives over the past 50 years. Every death has diminished us all. The grief of the Bloody Sunday families is no different from the heartbreak inflicted on the families of other victims. To demand clear sight of the truth about Bloody Sunday is not to ignore the fog of lies obscuring other crimes against our common humanity. The truth of what happened in Derry illuminates the role of the State in a myriad of murders. Violence didn’t erupt here because people here have a propensity for violence. Looming in the background at all stages has been the British State.”

The committee vowed to resist attempts to introduce an amnesty for soldiers.

“The current Conservative Government under Boris Johnson wants to draw a line under the past and its proposal to introduce a statute of limitations on all conflict related deaths here is nothing but a thinly disguised amnesty for the actions of its military.

“Should Johnson’s Conservatives succeed in pushing these proposals through, every single family who has lost a loved one as a result of the conflict will effectively have no legal route or redress left open to them in their pursuit of truth and justice on behalf of their loved one. So on Sunday, January 30, when we mark 50 years since the massacre of 14 of our fellow citizens, we are asking you to join with us in Derry in protest at what they are trying to do. As to the deeper and more challenging question of where we go to from there? This programme of events, together with others we will shape in the months ahead in this 50th anniversary year, may open up possibilities.”