Video: Eamonn McCann says October 5, 1968, 'still inspires me and hundreds of thousands' globally

Former civil rights leader Eamonn McCann has said the civil rights movement of the late 1960s provided a glimpse of how a fair and just world might one day be achieved.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Oct 2018, 20:27 BST
Updated 6th Oct 2018, 21:29 BST
President Michael D. Higgins with Eamonn McCann in the Guildhall.President Michael D. Higgins with Eamonn McCann in the Guildhall.
President Michael D. Higgins with Eamonn McCann in the Guildhall.

Addressing a rally outside the Guildhall this afternoon to mark the anniversary of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) march of October 5, 1968, he said the civil rights movement did not "deliver a revolutionary change of society" but provided a "glimpse of the way the world and our part of the world might look if we did have justice for all".

One of the organisers of the march of 50 years ago, Mr. McCann said the movement still inspired him and he knew it inspired "hundreds of thousands of people around the world."

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The People Before Profit Alliance activist and writer said the struggle for justice and a fairer society needed to continue and that October 5, 1968, showed the way to deliver change was through the "sound of marching feet on the streets", not that of bombs and gunfire.