Fifty year’s ago this year, the north’s Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) attack in Duke Street on people marching for houses, jobs and votes, dramatically brought the lack of civil rights in Northern Ireland to the attention of the world.
This open forum discussion event will explore the state of civil rights today in these islands and what we might do to address them. It will do this firstly through contributions from a number of invited speakers before opening to contributions from the floor. It will be facilitated around three simple “rules of engagement”:
- any view can be expressed here
- every speaker is treated with respect here
- every view can be challenged here
Contributors from Derry, Belfast, London and Dublin, will address the Irish housing crisis, both north and south of the border and the crisis across Great Britain, along with issues of zero hours contracts, health and social service cuts, universal social credit (USC) and the scale and impact of economic austerity and its resulting poverty on communities. Contributions will draw on the experience of the Grenfell Tower disaster (London), the Apollo House occupation (Dublin), the Practice and Participation of Rights Group (Belfast) and Derry’s healthcare workers, users and support organisations.
Invited speakers include:
Dean Scurry and Dave Gibney, HomeSweetHome (Apollo House Occupation), Dublin
Sean Brady, Participation and the Practice Of Rights (Housing rights and other social justice issues), Belfast
Joe Delaney, Grenfell Action Group & Justice4Grenfell, London
Fiona Gallagher, Nurse in the NHS and Trade Union Activist, Derry
Rosie Barrett, Disability Activist for the health rights of disabled children, Derry
Ronan Moyne, Welfare Rights Worker, Derry
The event will be facilitated by Jim Keys, Bloody Sunday March Committee.