Read the RFJ press release about this event here.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams will host the second of two US United Ireland forums in San Francisco today at St. Anne's Hall on Funston Ave in San Francisco from 2 to 5pm.  The event is free and open to the public, and all are encouraged to attend.

The keynote speakers for the San Francisco event include actress Fionnula Flanigan;  Robert Ballagh, Irish artist and political activist; John Burton, California chair of the Democratic Party; and Professor Ruan O'Donnel, head of the history department at the University of Limerick.

George Trainor, Fundraising Chair and National Board member, will be making a presentation on behalf of the IAUC.

From Relatives for Justice:

Speaking at the vigil Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said, "It is important that we gather here today in a dignified way to remember our loved ones who were murdered by the British army, those who were injured, interned without trial, those brutalised and tortured - in our own country.
 
"Of course tomorrow the City Hall will fly a flag to the British armed forces as part of an 'Armed Forces Day'. Under unionist domination the council has bestowed the freedom of the city on various regiments and individual members of the British army and the RUC. Within City Hall and other civic spaces throughout our city there exists numerous commemorative plaques, art, dedicated windows, and commissioned sculptures to the British armed forces. All this has been created without any recognition of the impact, illegality and impunity of the violence perpetrated by British armed forces.
 
"The only people not officially commemorated within civic spaces are those citizens of Belfast affected by the actions of British armed forces.
 
"In this context the flying of the flag is insensitive and provocative and we must make our voice heard in a positive, constructive and inclusive way - which we always do.
 
"The stark reality is that unionism refuses to acknowledge our experience instead preferring to vilify us. Of course this is something that, as a section of people who have suffered disproportionately, we have never did nor wish to do on any other section of our society. We acknowledge all those who have been affected by the conflict no matter their circumstances, religion or politics. Inclusive and equal recognition is the only way forward. That is our strength.
 
"Yesterday we led a delegation of people bereaved by the British State violence to meet with Belfast Mayor Naomi Long. We conveyed the deep sense of exclusion of our experience within civic spaces including City Hall.
 
"Belfast must reflect equally the breadth of experience of the conflict of all of its citizens.
 
"We are hopeful that over the coming months ahead that the process of change in terms of our experience being officially recognised within our city can begin.
 
"At today's vigil over 70 black balloons were released by children who had relatives killed by the British armed forces in Ireland. Each balloon representing a life taken by these same forces.
 
"This experience cannot be airbrushed out of our history. It must and will be reflected."

From Relatives for Justice:

Following their meeting with Belfast Mayor Naomi Long the relatives for people killed by State forces have released the following statement through Relatives for Justice;
 
Speaking after the meeting Relatives for Justice Chairperson Clara Reilly said:
 
''This was an important and constructive meeting which we very much welcome and whereby the Mayor listened fully to the views expressed by the delegation of relatives and understood fully the exclusion of people affected by State violence in civic spaces from across the community.
 
'We believe that today has begun a dialogue whereby the Mayor, the Council and the Good relations Unit within it, can begin a positive dialogue aimed at addressing the issues we raised around equality of recognition, memorialisation and importantly addressing the deficit in terms of our particular experience being actively excluded.
 
Concluding Pat Quinn, whose 19 year-old brother Frank Quinn was murdered on August 9th 1971 along with 10 other civilians, added;
 
'There was agreement that City Hall and other civic spaces need to more accurately reflect the breadth of experience of the citizens of Belfast affected by the conflict rather than being a cold house for the bereaved and injured of British army and State violence. The task now is about taking that work forward to conclusion.' ENDS
 
Editors Notes
Pictures above - Belfast Mayor receiving a letter on behalf of Jean McBride, mother of Peter McBride murdered by the British army, and of delegation who met the Mayor including Cllr. Paul Maskey who facilitated the meeting with Belfast's Deputy Mayor Cllr. Danny Lavery.
 
A copy of the letter from Jean McBride can be obtained via the Pat Finucane Centre Derry.

From Relatives for Justice:

Decommissioning welcomed but emphasis now needs to be on truth and dealing with the legacy of the conflict

Speaking on news that the UVF have begun a process of decommissioning Relatives for Justice Director Mark Thompson said:

'Obviously this is breaking news in which there is, as yet, very little detail of the extent of weapons and armaments decommissioned. Nonetheless any move towards decommissioning of weapons is to be welcomed and encouraged.

'For families affected by loyalist violence, especially concerning the issue of collusion, truth, acknowledgement and recognition surrounding the killings of their loved ones remains the central focus as it also is for many families across our society affected by all the groupings to the conflict. Emphasis now needs to be on truth and dealing with the legacy of the conflict in an independent way.

'Equally so are the ongoing issues of sectarianism and racism that are essentially the same sides of the one coin. Decommissioning mindsets and prejudice must be part of the overall process of
decommissioning and this can only be achieved by a greater exploration and understanding of our collective past.

'The Eames/Bradley Report, and in particular the Legacy Commission, if fully implemented contains the potential to address these issues independently and we would call on all groups to the conflict, including all State actors and those intelligence agencies that initially armed loyalists, to apply equal energy to this strand of the report.

We would especially urge the British Secretary of State Shaun Woodward MP to announce the British Government's intentions to implement the recommendations of the Eames/Bradley Report in
full.

'Families across the community now want truth.Truth and dealing with the legacy of the conflict should be pursued by the media in the same vigorous way they have pursued the issue of decommissioning'

The National Board would like to thank all of the IAUC members who turned out for Saturday's United Ireland forum hosted by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams (photo to the left by IAUC National Secretary Jackie Quinn). The conference was both informative and inspiring.  IAUC National President Kate McCabe made a brief presentation at the event. 

For those of you who were unable to attend, Ray O'Hanlon of the Irish Echo has written a very thorough account of the afternoon in this week's edition, which may now be read online. The full conference was also videotaped, and should be made available by Sinn Féin shortly.

To see a slideshow of Jackie's photos from the event, please go here.

The IAUC is proud to participate in this weekend's United Ireland Forum hosted by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams in New York. All of those interested in the Irish peace process and the cause of Irish unity must come out and support Sinn Féin's United Ireland Forum in New York this weekend.

The forum aims to open a dialogue among Irish Americans about how best to unite Ireland and will be held this Saturday, June 13, 2009 starting at 12:30 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel, 1335 Avenue of the Americas at West 53rd Street in midtown
Manhattan. Adams will address a press conference at 11:30am.

"Irish America has played a significant role in securing the peace process," Adams said. "The next important task is unity."

Adams said he hoped the ideas, proposals and plans presented at the forum propel the issue of Irish unification into the forefront of discussion in Irish America and the Irish diaspora across the world. "We wish to raise awareness among Irish Americans that the time has come to end the partition of Ireland and construct a new national democracy, a new republic on the island of Ireland," Adams said. "We seek a united, sovereign nation that reconciles nationalists and unionists and guarantees equal rights and equal opportunities for all. We want to bring people together and change their lives for the better."

Joining Adams at the forum will be four keynote speakers. They include: author Pete Hamill, former Lebanon hostage and broadcaster Brian Keenan, University of Pennsylvania professor Brendan O'Leary and the president of the Laborers International Union of North America Terence O'Sullivan.

From Relatives for Justice:
Translink are currently carrying large recruitment adverts on the exterior of their buses for the British army's RAF. Relatives for Justice, which represents the injured and families bereaved by the British army have released the following statement.

Speaking on the Translink adverts on bus routes throughout republican and nationalist Belfast Relatives for Justice Director Mark Thompson said,"Obviously this is a commercial decision for Translink rather than support for British armed forces. Nonetheless Translink have displayed a disregard for the legacy of British armed occupation on our streets that resulted in brutality, torture and murder carried out almost exclusively against the nationalist and republican population with impunity.

"In this context the adverts are at best insensitive especially to those injured and bereaved by the British army many of whom have contacted our offices requesting that we publicly raise the matter with Translink. The vast majority of people within West Belfast, and other republican and nationalist areas in the North, find the adverts unwelcome whilst others rightly see them as offensive and provocative.

"Additionally the ads seek to portray the abnormal condition of warfare as somehow normal which is equally offensive given our experience in West Belfast. War crimes like the Ballymurphy Massacre during Internment 1971 are being repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan today by these very same military forces. This is totally unacceptable to our community.

"We would appeal to Translink to reconsider their use of buses carrying these averts throughout nationalist and republican areas in which the British army wreaked havoc and murdered people including children.

Editors' Notes: For information the British army officially killed 367 people during the course of the conflict that included over 70 children. Approximately 200 were civilians, of those combatants killed many were unarmed, others were killed in pre-meditated and pre-planned military operations in which safe and effective arrests were possible yet political and military decisions were taken to execute people. This contravened international law and the Geneva Convention. The British army's intelligence agencies controlled and directed colluded with illegal loyalist paramilitary groups claiming hundreds of lives across the community.

Check out our photo gallery for pictures of the Florida chapter's commemoration of An Gorta Mór on May 17th.  Close to 400 people attended a commemorative Mass and the Soup Kitchen. A special thanks to Marie Smith for organizing the event and to Mickey Walshe for taking photos.