Each year the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration programme of events seeks to breathe life into the inscription on the monument to the victims of that day: “Their epitaph is in the ongoing struggle for democracy”. So while remembering the 14 local people murdered on Bloody Sunday and their families’ continuing struggle for truth and justice we also consider the consequences this act of state terrorism, continues to have on events right up to this day.
Had Lord Widgery in 1972 acknowledged the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday, it may not of itself have fundamentally changed the nature of the British State or its role in Ireland. It would however have made it harder for that state to continue to sell the lie that its army was an impartial ‘peacekeeping’ force. In turn this would have made it more difficult for its soldiers to continue to literally get away with murder here and for the same unwritten institutional policy to be now claiming the lives of uncounted victims in Iraq.
So as this year’s programme creates space for a local assessment of ‘The Truth of Bloody Sunday’ in the wake of Lord Saville’s inquiry and we wait to see if he has the courage to tell that truth, we will not just reflect on our experience of British Army occupation here but use it to better understand the plight of the peoples of the Middle East.
‘From Bogside to Basra’ will discuss the illegal US/UK occupation of Iraq through the lens of Fallujah and Bloody Sunday. ‘An Fhirinne’ will remember the many victims of state collusion here, and it is appropriate that this year’s ‘Memorial Lecture’ will be delivered by Geraldine Finucane, wife of the murdered solicitor Pat Finucane. ‘Conflicts of Remembrance’ will explore the difficulty in finding ways to remember all the dead of a conflict when the truth of what it was is still disputed. ‘At a Crossroads’ will compare and contrast the prospects of building a just and lasting peace in Ireland and in Palestine. For the duration of the week’s events, Free Derry Wall will be painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag as an act of solidarity.
More generally these events create a space to come and reflect with others on the importance of democracy here and throughout the world and to stand shoulder to shoulder, in solidarity with the families of the victims of Bloody Sunday and victims of injustice everywhere.
Programme Film Strand
There is a crucial connection between justice and journalism. How can we build the solidarity needed to create justice if facts are distorted and the context that generates the facts is seldom if ever reported? And there is always the ultimate sanction of the powerful, where journalists who seek to report the full picture, themselves become a target.
All screenings 8pm at the Gasyard Centre (except Divine Intervention, see below), Admission Free
Free Derry Tours/ Bloody Sunday Tour.
Tours at 2.00pm Monday to Friday, departing from the Bloody Sunday Centre in Foyle Street. Tours at 12noon and 3.00pm Saturday will depart from Pilots Row. Family members or some of those wounded will accompany each tour. Tours cost £4.00 per person Mon-Fri (Saturdays free). For bookings contact Ruairi on 07793 285972.
(EXHIBITION) ‘Murder on a Sunday’, AOH Hall, Foyle Street.
An exhibition of Charlie McLaughlin’s paintings about Bloody Sunday will be on display in the AOH in Foyle Street from 24 January.
(EXHIBITION) An Fhirinne Exhibition Launch, Pilots Row, 7.30pm.
The Mayor Councillor Gearoid O hEara, will launch this powerful photographic exhibition of over 200 victims of state collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, followed by speakers from An Fhirinne Campaign and the Pat Finucane Centre. Exhibition runs each day until Saturday 30th January. All Welcome.
(FILM) News from the Holy Land (UK, 2004, 50 mins, Documentary) Gasyard Centre, 8.00pm.
Written/Directed by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick this is an illustrated call for a change in the way the Palestine-Israeli conflict is reported.
Museum of Free Derry Exhibition launch, Bloody Sunday Centre, Foyle Street, 7.30pm.
An exhibition detailing the Bloody Sunday Trust's plans for the Museum of Free Derry in Glenfada Park. Exhibition open Tuesday 25 January to Tuesday 1 February.
(FILM) Death in Gaza (UK, 2004, 80 mins, Documentary), Gasyard Centre, 8.00pm.
Written/Reported by Saira Shah, Filmed/Directed by James Millar, this is his poignant and unflinching look at the lives of three Palestinian children caught up in the cycle of violence, dramatically culminating in the director’s own death at the hands of the Israeli Security Forces.
(FILM) Bi Dam (With Blood) (US, Work in Progress, 50 mins, Documentary), Gasyard Centre, 8.00 pm.
By Dan O'Reilly Rowe and Juliana Friedman. Using personal situations to demonstrate the spirit crushing impact of the occupation on health care, Bi Dam gives insight into a crucial aspect of life in the cities, rural villages, and refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Introduced on the night by Juliana Friedman (producer/director)
Bloody Sunday Memorial Quiz, Sean Dolan’s GAA Club, Creggan, 9.00pm.
All welcome, £10.00 per team.
(PANEL DISCUSSION) From Bogside to Basra, Gasyard Centre, 7.00pm
Ironically the 30th January is the date the US Government chose for ‘their’ elections in Iraq. From three very different perspectives the panel will discuss the US/British illegal occupation of Iraq through the lens of Fallujah (where 13 civilians where shot dead by US Marines at a peaceful protest on 30th April 2003) and Derry’s Bloody Sunday.
Speakers: Eddy Cherry, a former British Soldier, stationed in Derry, now a leading member of ‘Ex Soldiers Against The War’, Dr Abdul Al-Jibouri an Iraqi scientist, living in Derry and Paul O’Connor, Coordinator of The Pat Finucane Centre, Derry. Chair: Jim Keys
(FILM) Divine Intervention (Yadon Ilaheyya) Gasyard Centre, 8.30pm (2002, Fr/Ger/Morocco/Neth/US, 93 mins, Feature)
Divine Intervention (Yadon Ilaheyya) reeled in the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festive and went on to win the Screen International Award at the European Film Awards. However the US Academy Of Motion Pictures told the producers of the film that it was not eligible to compete in the Academy Awards (The Oscars) ‘as Palestine is not a state we recognise in our rules’. So it’s with great pleasure that we have this opportunity to screen this feature as part of this year’s programme. It’s an engagingly offbeat Palestinian response to how Israeli checkpoints disrupt and frustrate the lives of ordinary individuals. The film begins with a deadpan comic sequence involving neighbourly neuroses, rivalries and rage in Nazareth. There is intelligence and freshness in the film’s mostly wordless comic style.
Bloody Sunday Memorial Mass, St Mary’s, Creggan, 7.30pm.
All Welcome.
(MEMORIAL LECTURE) Annual Bloody Sunday Lecture, Guildhall, 8.15pm.
The Annual Bloody Sunday Lecture, delivered this year by Geraldine Finucane, widow of the murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Event sponsored by the Bloody Sunday trust and the Pat Finucane Centre. Admission by donation.
(PANEL DISCUSSION) Conflicts of Remembrance, Pilots Row, 12noon – 2.00pm.
Panel discussion and question and answer session where guest speakers will explore how and why we remember victims of conflict.
(PANEL DISCUSSION) The Truth of Bloody Sunday: Perspectives, Pilots Row, 2.00pm – 3.30pm.
Speakers: John Kelly, brother of Michael, shot dead on Bloody Sunday, legal academic Angela Hegarty, Writer/academic Niall O Dochartaigh. The panel will present their perspectives on Bloody Sunday as people who have followed the Saville Inquiry, before the event is opened up for a Q & A with the audience. The event will close with the launch of an updated edition of Niall O’Dochartaigh’s book ‘From Civil Rights to Armalites’ which includes a new chapter on Bloody Sunday.
(PANEL DISCUSSION) Holy Cross in Context: Communities in Conflict over Shared Space in North Belfast, Pilots Row 3.30 – 5.00pm.
Was the horror at Holy Cross School in 2001, as loyalists attacked the school, the result of a breakdown of relations between two communities? Or just naked sectarianism? What was the damage and were any lessons learned? Anne Cadwallader, author of "Holy Cross - The Untold Story", Tom Holland, republican community activist and Louanne Martin, who interviewed the children, try to answer these questions.
(FILM) Film Screenings, Pilots Row, 12noon – 5.00pm
‘Dangerous Liaisons’ (BBC Spotlight documentary on collusion); ‘Lifting a Dark Cloud’ (PFC produced documentary on Kathleen Thompson) & ‘Bloody Sunday: Massacre of the Innocents’ (Canada, documentary)
(PANEL DISCUSSION) At A Crossroads: Palestine & Ireland, Road Maps & Road Blocks to Peace, Calgach Centre, 7.30pm.
Speakers: Dr Jamal Zahalka and Mitchel McLaughlin.
Dr Jamal Zahalka, a Palestinian MP who sits in the Israeli Knesset and Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, Sinn Fein Chairperson and senior negotiator, will discuss the Irish and Palestinian peace processes, state repression and violence. Dr Zahalka has been centrally involved in the struggle for truth and justice around Israel’s own ‘Bloody Sunday’ against the Palestinian people. As Palestinians living inside Israel came out onto the streets in support of their comrades staging of a second intifada in the occupied territories, the Israeli police force opened fire, shooting 13 people dead. Since that day in October 2000 Jamal Zahalka has been working closely with the families of the dead in their efforts to take a legal case against the Israeli police force and its government. Dr Zahalka will speak on life as a Palestinian living inside Israel, on Israel’s murderous occupation of Palestinian land and its ruthless response to Palestinian resistance through its intifada. He will also speak on the current situation and the future direction for the peace process following the tragic death of President Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as the new leader of the Palestinian people.
Traditional Music Night, Solas Arts Centre, Great James Street.
Traditional music, Adm £3.00, BYO.
Bloody Sunday Fundraiser, Gasyard Centre, 9.00pm – 1.00am
Live music and DJs – Cruncher, Gary Og, Declan McLaughlin, Eileen Webster, DJ One-Shot, Eamonn McCann, Joe Mulheron, Paul McCartney and Robbie McVeigh. Adm £5.00, BYO.
Memorial Service at the Bloody Sunday Monument, Rossville Street, 11.30am sharp.
All welcome.
(MARCH & RALLY) Bloody Sunday March and Rally, Creggan shops, 2.30pm.
Speakers from the Bloody Sunday Families, an Fhirinne, Guest International Speaker, Palestinian MP, Dr Jamal Zahalka, Sinn Fein and the SDLP.