Posted by Jim on March 15, 2019
PLAQUE DEDICATION
On Friday, March 15, 2019 at 1100 hours, a Plaque Dedication will be held honoring the memory of Fire Marshal Christopher T. Zanetis, who died on March 15, 2018. The dedication will take place in the quarters of E-28 and L-11, 222 East 2nd Street, New York, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
FDNY BOXING
Come and enjoy a night of USA Sanctioned Boxing with New York’s Bravest on March 15th, 2019, at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater(The Old Felt Forum). Doors open at 7:00 PM, with the first bout scheduled for 7:30 PM. The Beast of the East Boxing will feature FDNY Boxing vs Police and Firefighters from Boston to Baltimore. Proceeds benefit Building Homes for Heroes. Tickets cost $30-$65 and can be purchased by clicking HERE, or visiting FDNYBoxing.com.
2019 VIETNAM VETERANS DAY
The United War Veterans Council welcomes you to attend the 2019 Vietnam Veterans Day on Saturday, March 23, from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM. The day will include a Tribute March from Korean War Veterans Plaza/Cadman Plaza (Brooklyn) to Vietnam Veterans Plaza (Lower Manhattan), reading the names of the fallen at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary – Seton Shrine, 7 State Street, New York, NY 10004, and a wreath laying ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, 55 Water Street, New York, NY 10041. For more information, how to volunteer and attend the events of the day, please visit https://uwvc.org/vietnam-veterans-day-2019/ or call 212.693.1476.
FDNY BASEBALL TRYOUTS
FDNY Baseball Tryouts will be held March 27 and April 2 at 10:00 AM at Victory Field Forest Park, (Woodhaven Blvd and Myrtle Ave) in Queens. If you have any questions, please email smiller@fdnybaseball.com.
2019 FUN CITY BOWL
The annual FDNY vs NYPD football game will be held on Saturday, June 1, at 5:00 PM at MCU Park in Brooklyn. Tickets cost $20, and a free Cyclones ticket is included with purchase. Deadline to purchase tickets is May 16. Checks should be made payable to Bravest Football. Payment can be mailed to 101 Bevy Court, Brooklyn NY 11229. To send payments electronically, Venmo @John-Mooney -FDNYL154. For questions or more information, contact John Mooney at JEMFDNY74@gmail.com.
Posted by Jim on March 14, 2019
Families of the victims have been left angry and upset after Crown
Prosecutors claimed today there is sufficient evidence to prosecute
only one one the seventeen soldiers known to have been involved in the
Bloody Sunday massacre.
Fourteen people, half of them teenage boys, were taking part in a civil
rights march in Derry when they were shot dead by British paratroopers
on January 30, 1972. A further 22 innocent civilians were injured.
Many of the families who emerged from this morning’s meeting with the
prosecutors were visibly upset.
Earlier the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday gathered at the
memorial in the Bogside to walk together to the city centre, where the
meeting took place. They carried before them placards bearing the names
and faces of their loved ones, and a single word: Justice.
Nine years ago, they made that same walk ahead of the publication of the
Saville Report, which found none of the victims had posed a threat when
they were shot. British Prime Minister David Cameron then issued a
famous apology for the slaughter.
While some families backed away from campaigning at that point, others
continued the annual march for justice. A breakthrough finally came when
a murder investigation was launched in 2012.
John Kelly is among the majority of families who wanted to see all of
the soldiers involved in shootings prosecuted.
“My view is they are all guilty of murder,” says Kelly. “Any soldier who
fired a shot that day should be charged with murder.”
He added: “It’s not just about Bloody Sunday, it’s about all the other
killings. If they can get away with Bloody Sunday, they can get away
with anything.”
British army veterans’ representatives and many MPs had been lobbying
for a complete amnesty for the British military in Ireland. Last week,
British Direct Ruler Karen Bradley said any killing carried out by a
British soldier in the north of Ireland is “not a crime”. She later
withdrew the remark.
Amid immense media attention, it ha been confirmed that only one former
paratrooper – soldier F – is to be charged with two murders and four
attempted murders.
Kate Nash, who lost her brother William on Bloody Sunday, said her
stomach had been “in knots” waiting for today’s news on prosecutions.
She has dedicated her entire life to being a voice for her brother and
says the families “just want justice”.
“I hear politicians talking about jailing this one and that one, but not
soldiers, because they shouldn’t have to face that. What makes them
special that they shouldn’t have to face it?”
Posted by Jim on
Museum of Free Derry1 hr
‘Justice for one family is justice for all of us’, say Bloody Sunday families
“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”, said Nelson Mandela.
We have walked a long journey since our fathers and brothers were brutally slaughtered on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday. Over that passage of time all of the parents of the deceased have died. We are here to take their place.
Bloody Sunday was not just a wanton act carried out by a trained army against defenceless civil rights activists. It also created a deep legacy of hurt and injustice and deepened and prolonged a bloody conflict unimaginable even in those dark winter days of 1972.
The full cost of Bloody Sunday cannot be measured just in terms of those who suffered that day but must also be measured in terms of those who suffered because of that terrible day.
We have just been informed of this series of charges:
We, the families of those murdered and wounded in Derry on Bloody Sunday, today heard the decision by the PPS to charge just one British paratrooper for his murderous actions on 30 January 1972.
This announcement is vindication of our decades-long campaign to clear the names of our loved ones and to bring those responsible for their deaths and injuries to justice.
When the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign was launched in 1992 we had three clear demands – to have the Widgery whitewash overturned and replaced by an independent inquiry; to gain a formal acknowledgement of the innocence of all our loved ones, and to prosecute those responsible.
With today’s news, we now achieve our third aim.
However, we have also faced the disappointing news that in some cases there will not be prosecutions, and we are mindful of those families who received that news today.
We would like to remind everyone that no prosecution, or if it comes to it, no conviction, does not mean not guilty. It does not mean that no crime was committed. It does not mean that those soldiers acted “in a dignified and appropriate way.”
It simply means that if these crimes had been investigated properly when they happened, and evidence gathered at the time, then the outcome would have been different.
We note the Saville Report’s findings on the actions of soldiers that day, that all the casualties were either “the intended targets of the soldiers or the result of shots fired indiscriminately at people”; that no soldiers “fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks”; that no soldiers fired “in a state of fear or panic” and that soldiers opened fire “either in the belief that no-one in the areas towards which they respectively fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat”. These are not the sort of comments levelled at innocent people.
The passage of time has made charges difficult in this case, and in other cases. But the passage of time should not be used as a form of blanket immunity to block proper investigations. Everyone deserves justice, including those whose loved ones were murdered by the British state. There can be no statute of limitations used to deny justice, no new laws to protect state killers.
But, for us here today, it is important to point out that justice for one family is justice for all of us. We stand in full solidarity with those of us whose loved-one’s death or injury has not been included in the announcement of prosecutions. We also stand in complete solidarity with the hundreds of families who have had to endure decades without an inquest, without a criminal investigation and who have been left to struggle for their basic human right to justice. We hope our campaign continues to be an inspiration to them.
Today’s decision, although 47 years overdue, was necessary if we are to uphold the rule of law and hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
However, we also say that the scope of the new police investigation was not wide enough, and we assert that the repeated failure to properly investigate the actions of those who planted nail bombs on the body of my uncle, 17-year-old Gerald Donaghey is unacceptable. The Saville Report left a stain on Gerald’s innocence that this investigation could have removed, but it did not do so. We repeat our call for this injustice to be addressed.
And while we as a group of families and individuals may have differing views on whether or not the soldiers who carried out the shootings should face jail, or how long they should spend in jail, we are all agreed that they should face the due process of the law.
And they should do so in public. The very few British soldiers that were charged during the conflict here were named, and the same should apply to those being charged now. Killers should not benefit from anonymity.
We maintain that key individuals in the army, in politics and beyond, should also be held to account for their actions on that day and afterwards. This affront must also be rectified if justice is to be truly done, and seen to be done.
If the police officer in charge on the day of the Hillsborough tragedy can face prosecution then so too can those who were in charge on Bloody Sunday. There cannot be one law for the military and political elite and one law for others.
Finally, there should be no further delay in dealing with the outstanding demand of the families of Bloody Sunday and the people of Derry. We call on all of those who will administer the next stage to move with all speed to bring this to a conclusion. We call on all involved to cooperate fully and not indulge in any more delaying tactics.
We call on the Crown Prosecution Service to complete its process and reach a decision on whether or not anyone is to be charged with perjury in relation to their evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
We call on the Attorney General to investigate recent comments about these prosecutions made by prominent politicians, including the British Minister of Defence, and decide if they too broke the law. If they have, they should be charged. They cannot attempt to interfere in a judicial process just because they don’t like it, or because their voters don’t like it.
The dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them. We have cried out for them for many years, and now we have succeeded for them.
Do not deny us justice any longer.
Posted by Jim on
The Voice of the Irish in America
FREEDOM for ALL IRELAND
BULLETIN
March 2019
A chairde:
FFAI CHRISTMAS APPEAL APPLICANTS
1-Relatives for
Justice-supports the relatives of those killed or injured in the
conflict-fights for legacy justice-provides counseling and support services
with offices in Belfast and Dungannon-involved with campaigns like Ballymurphy
inquest-, headed by Mark Thompson, and Carmel Quinn is one of the trustees.
2-Pat Finucane Centre-Human
Rights Advocacy group-based in Derry named after slain civil rights lawyer Pat
Finucane- headed by Paul O’Connor, and connected to campaigns like Bloody
Sunday.
3-Holy Cross Ardoyne-headed
by Fr. Gary Donegan, is actually the Houben Centre dedicated to peace with
justice in the sectarian flashpoint of Ardoyne.
4- EALU-(means Escape in
Irish)is a center for Republican ex-political prisoners located in Dungannon,
East Tyrone, we visited their offices and they provide an array of services
including job training ,counseling for ex-prisoners and families, legacy
issues, education classes in Irish culture, language and history.
5-Greater New Lodge
Commemoration Committee-maintains a memorial garden and commemorations for IRA
Volunteers and Republicans who were killed by the British in the New Lodge area
of Belfast.
6-Conway Mill Trust-located
in Pittsburgh funds 8 community based organizations in the north including one
in the Garvaghy Road, four in Belfast and three in Derry.
7-Tyrone AOH- foster Irish
history ,culture, language and issues in
an area of Tyrone where all things Irish were suppressed-they hold a special
memorial for a local Hibernian killed in 1916,campaign against the
environmental destruction of the Mass Rock and Sperrins area and also assist on
legacy issues and other issues.
8-Cairde Strabane-serves
Republican ex-political prisoners in West Tyrone which provides job training,
education, counseling, and a historical museum.
9-St. Patrick Centre-cross
community charity and exhibition, and cultural centre about St. Patrick in
Downpatrick.
10-Duchas Oiriall-South
Armagh organization promoting and studying the unique culture and history of
South Armagh.
11-Bridges beyond
Boxing-cross-community boxing club based in Belfast.
12-Down Patriot
Graves-maintains graves, organizes commemorations and promotes history of Irish
patriots in South Down.
13-Green Cross-provides
money and help to the families who lost loved ones during the conflict.
14- Belfast National
Graves-to commemorate and maintain the graves of those who gave their lives for
Irish freedom.
15-Omagh
Basketball-cross-community basketball team in Omagh.
16-Omagh
Choir-cross-community choir
e
Posted by Jim on March 13, 2019
In a day of dramatic developments, the Westminster parliament has
rejected leaving the European Union without a deal under any
circumstances. It is a heavy defeat for British Prime Minister Theresa
May, just as her government sought to threaten Ireland and the EU with
that very scenario.
In a surprise move, the Commons voted 312 to 308 — a majority of just
four — in favour of an amendment blocking a no-deal Brexit. The vote
was later confirmed when the Tory government opposed its its own
amended motion with a three-line whip, and incredibly lost by an even
more emphatic 321 votes to 278.
There is still considerable uncertainty, however, as the Withdrawal
Agreement as currently negotiated was voted down yesterday by a large
majority of 149 MPs. That rejection came despite May securing a
last-minute dilution of the ‘backstop’, the policy intended to prevent
a remilitarisation of the border through Ireland. That is still opposed
by hardline Tories and the unionist DUP, on whom May’s government
depends for support.
MPs are expected to vote tomorrow to delay Brexit until mid-May,
although the situation at Westminster remain fluid and unpredictable,
and tonight’s votes are not considered to be legally binding on the
government.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition British Labour party, said that
the parliament must now take full control of the Brexit process. He
said his party will work across the House of Commons to seek a
compromise solution, which would see Britain and the north of Ireland
remain in the EU Customs Union and without new controls at the border
through Ireland.
But if no cross-party deal can be reached, Labour has said a proposal
for a second Brexit referendum also remains a very strong possibility.
Tonight’s votes took place shortly after Britain threatened proposals
for heavy tariffs on trade with Ireland in a no-deal scenario. Business
leaders in the North said the plan would lead to economic chaos and
create a black-market economy around the Border.
The proposals claimed that there were would be no “new checks or
controls on goods at the land border”, including no customs
requirements for “nearly all goods”. This would leave the EU and Dublin
to take the wrath of border residents for imposing their border checks,
at least initially.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Ireland’s Phil Hogan, condemned the “draconian regime” of tariffs,
which he said were intended to “frighten Ireland” into further
concessions ahead of a no-deal Brexit on March 29.
The Irish Farmers Association said the tariffs, if implemented, would
destroy Ireland’s beef industry and would decimate Ireland’s
agribusiness generally.
Incredibly, the plans also indicated Britain would treat trade across
the border substantially differently to trade across the Irish Sea,
despite this being a key factor in the DUP’s opposition to the
negotiated deal.
Hogan said the contradictions of the proposal “beggars belief”.
“We don’t even know if it’s legal, if it’s compatible with the World
Trade Organisation rules,” Mr Hogan said. “I think this is an
ill-thought out proposal to change the news cycle in London.”
Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy described the proposal as the latest example of
‘game-playing’ on the part of Theresa May’s government.
Separately, British Minister Michael Gove threatened his government
would impose full Direct Rule on the north of Ireland in the event of a
no-deal Brexit. Sinn Fein said this showed the British government had
abandoned any pretence of commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.
Sinn Fein’s leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill, said the comments,
coming on the back of what she said were “blatant attempts” by Tories
to defend the “illegal actions” of British Crown Forces during the
conflict, were conclusive evidence that the London government had
“turned its back on the principles underpinning the Good Friday
Agreement”.
But the Tory strategy appears to have been compromised by the votes
tonight at Westminster.
Speaking from the US, where he has begun the traditional meetings and
engagements for St Patrick’s Day, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said
tonight the situation was “brighter”. But he was also highly critical
of the British approach.
“There is a supreme irony in that the proposals produced by the British
government today propose to treat Northern Ireland differently from the
United Kingdom when it comes to customs,” he said.
He also insisted the tariff proposals would not put his government
under pressure.
“I think that it’s evident from events across the water that its the UK
that’s under pressure. The UK government in particular is under
pressure with members of the governing party and many cabinet ministers
not voting with the government so I think they’re the ones that are
under pressure, not us.”