International Civil Rights Conference

Saturday 04 October 2008

Sunday 05 October 2008

9.30am Registration

5.00pm

Guidhall Derry

£10 donation

Event

Forty years ago, in 1968, a series of events took place here which changed the face of Northern Ireland irrevocably. These events were the culmination of attempts since the early 1960s, by a number of different organisations and individuals, to highlight injustices in Northern Ireland. The Campaign for Social Justice, the Derry Housing Action Committee and the Campaign for Democracy in Ulster were examples of this. Their concern was not with the great constitutional issues which had dominated political debate thereto, but with the everyday issues which dominated people's lives. In 1967, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was founded to address all these issues. The following year, inspired by the courage of Civil Rights leaders in the United States, and by their example of peaceful non-violent protest, Civil Rights protesters began to take to the streets of Northern Ireland. Their objective was to bring an end to injustice in the system of public authority housing provision, injustice in public and private employment practices, injustice in voting and representational rights, and the arbitrary and oppressive powers available to the state to suppress dissent.

The things that happened during that pivotal year had a profound effect upon our society, and precipitated an avalanche of change which left no part of our community untouched. Such was the importance of these events, and what they led to, that it is appropriate and even necessary, 40 years later, to commemorate them in a sober and reflective way, to seek to learn from what happened, to consider the significance of the Civil Rights Movement for our society today and the continuing resonance of the issues which it addressed, and the ideals which underpinned it.

A number of those who were active in leadership positions in the Civil Rights Movement, have established a broadly based Civil Rights 1968 Commemoration Committee to commemorate the events of 1968 in such a way as to serve the historical record as best we can, and to generate a balanced and inclusive reflection upon that year.