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Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee |
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Testimonial Dinner |
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In Memory of the 25th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike |
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Speech by Seoirse McLaughlin: MP3 file RealAudio file 13441.26KB |
On Saturday August 12, 2006 the Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee, a diverse group of Irish Republicans from the Midwest and across America, gathered in Chicago to respectfully commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1981 Long Kesh Hunger Strike; and to remember that today’s Irish Republican Political Prisoners still struggle for the same rights that Bobby Sands and his nine comrades died for in a British prison on hunger strike in 1981. Three Irish Republican organizations, including the Chicago Cumann of the Irish Freedom Committee, participated in the Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee Testimonial Dinner event as a united front effort to acknowledge the different political backgrounds that the Long Kesh Hunger Strikers came from. The other co-sponsoring organizations were the Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners, based in Ireland and the United States; and the Irish Republican Socialist Committee of North America. The Irish Freedom Committee made a very strong showing at the event with many dedicated and active IFC Members traveling across the United States including from Maine, Rhode Island, New York, New Mexico and Minnesota to participate and to lend support to the dependants and families of today’s Irish Republican political prisoners. One IFC Member arriving from New York City brought a stunning display of framed POW-made framed hankies to the event– many of which are now available on the CHSCC website-- with all proceeds to be donated to the dependants of Irish Republican POWs. Veteran Chicago Republican Frank O’Neill, rallying from a sudden illness, made a surprise appearance at the dinner and while declining to speak at the podium, regaled his many well-wishers and long time friends with his notorious self-deprecating humor and undying revolutionary spirit. New friends left the event with the awareness of the major role that Frank has played in keeping the flame of Irish Republicanism alive in Chicago. Seoirse McLaughlin, founder and chairman of the New York H-Block/Armagh Committee, gave a powerful and emotional speech recalling his work as a spokesperson and prisoners’ rights activist during the Blanket protests and the Hunger Strike. George spoke of the role of memory and history, and the need to restore immediacy to collective memories that perhaps no-one is listening to any more. He spoke about the Five Demands, which he traveled the United States and Ireland endlessly repeating and pressuring for, and asked the question how a man could sacrifice his own life to gain such basic rights for his comrades. He said that the ten who died were connected to a history that came before them, that their identity was Irish and political, not criminal. “Today is a sad day.... a day we talk with the dead and we cry out to let them know we have not forgotten them. The short lives they had ended in what now seems like a rushed dream. A flurry of activity, and inactivity, failed efforts, and great hopes. New possibility, and old impossibility, unshakeable faith, and cynical resignation. The ten men who died, and their comrades who suffered physically and mentally in Long Kesh and Armagh jails, had a rare thing inside of them, a severe and binding sense of purpose, of intent, of identity, individually and collectively…. Today we celebrate this desire for freedom and the courage that it spurs, the commitment it creates, the passion it fuels. For Ireland, many have died, and many have been exiled, tortured, abandoned, and defiled. But the desire for Irish freedom has not gone away.” Seoirse’s speech can be downloaded here or listened to here Many guests praised the beautiful journal pressed for the event, with testaments and greetings from event supporters across the United States. Statements from POWs in Ireland and Britain, reprinted here, were also included in the journal. An action sheet was also passed to each person at the event calling for continued phone calls to US Senators to oppose the US/UK Extradition Treaty, slated for new hearings on September 7th. Leonard Peltier, an American Lakota Indian POW, also included a full page message of solidarity, explaining how he joined the H-Block hunger strikers in 1981, and went without food for nearly 40 days in his American prison cell; he did so in support the H-Block Hunger Strikers.
Well known Chicago balladeer and long time IFC supporter Joe Monahan entertained the crowd for several hours with rebel ballads and tributes to the hunger strikers. The evening closed with a very successful raffle for handcrafted POW artwork, made by Irish Republican POWs for the event in Chicago, with all proceeds going to the assistance of their families and loved ones. |
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