The Easter Rising Centennial Banner Project
Introduction
The National Irish Freedom Committee (NIFC) commemorated the 100th
anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising on Sunday April 24, 2016 at
Rory Dolan’s restaurant in Yonkers, New York.
The focus of the commemoration was the reading of the names of the
men and women of 1916 depicted on the recently completed
1916–Easter Rising Centennial – 2016 banner.
The Centennial Banner Project is intended to honor those patriots
who took part in the 1916 Easter Rising in pursuit of a Gaelic,
inclusive, gender-equal, and sovereign 32-county Irish Republic.
The duration of the project will span a period of five years from
2016 thru 2021, a period that corresponds to a similar period a
hundred years ago when the brave men and women of 1916 through 1921
took on the might of the British Empire to wrest control of their
native land, Ireland, from its’ clutches. Suffice to say that
struggle was betrayed by the gombeen men who supported the infamous
British drafted Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
The Sponsorship Program
To encourage participation in this project, the NIFC will offer
individuals and groups the opportunity to sponsor a Volunteer whose
name appears on the Banner. Each sponsorship will receive a
certificate acknowledging their participation. A copy of each
sponsorship certificate will be included in a leather-bound book
which will be on view wherever the banner is displayed.
Sponsorship Requirements are included in the Centennial Banner
Information Pack.
Disbursement of funds will go to, 1) cover the cost of the banner,
2) support the dependents of political prisoners through Cabhair in
Ireland, and 3) promote the Irish authored Éıre Nua federal
proposals.
International Participation
International based organizations wishing to participate in this
Centennial Commemoration will be asked to provide video of their
members reading the names of the patriotic volunteer men and women
shown on the banner. These videos will be projected on a large
screen during the above described commemoration in New York.
Detailed requirements will be sent to participating organizations.
Sponsorship funds originating outside the Unites States will be
handled by the participating organizations
Contact Information
For additional information email:
1916easterbanner@gmail.com
For updated information visit: www.irishfreedom.net
or
visit facebook: https://www.facebook.com/banner1916/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
or
write:
NIFC, PO. Box358, Bronx NY10470
Historic Background
Cumann na Saoırse Náısıúnta has
designed an ‘Easter Rising Centennial Banner’ to commemorate
the Easter Rising of 1916 and honor the brave patriots who gave
their lives for the Irish Republic proclaimed by Pádraıc Pearse on
the steps of the General Post Office in Dublin on April 24, 1916 at
the onset of the Rising.
The men and women who took up arms and
manned the garrisons throughout Dublin during that fateful week did
so willingly and in full knowledge of the cause and subsequent
consequence of their participation as exemplified in the following
excerpt taken from the body of the Proclamation:
In every
generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national
freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred
years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that
fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the
world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign
Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our
comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of
its exaltation among the nations.
The
Centennial Banner
includes portraits of the seven executed Proclamation signatories
and the nine other executed leaders who took part in the Rising or
in its planning or preparation. The Banner also includes the names
of the volunteers who gave their lives as well as the organizations
that participated.
Unfortunately the promise of 1916, a
Gaelic, inclusive, gender-equal and sovereign 32-county Irish
Republic, remains unfulfilled. The claim by proponents of the
British-drafted Treaty of 1921 or the British-drafted “Good Friday
Agreement” of 1998 fulfills the promise of 1916, is untrue, sinister
and self-serving. The partition of Ireland into two sectarian
entities by an Act of the English Parliament in 1920 and
subsequently incorporated into the aforementioned British-drafted
Treaty of 1921 and Good Friday Agreement of 1998 belies such a
claim.
The sundering of the all-Ireland
Republic proclaimed in 1916, declared and instituted by Dail Eireann
in 1919 and functioned as a sovereign Republic through 1921, was
brought about by the cowardice, acquiescence and greed of third-tier
political opportunists donning the Irish Republican mantle as
subterfuge.
Cumann na
Saoırse Náısıúnta, in keeping with its guiding principles, will
continue to pursue the all-Ireland Republic epitomized so eloquently
by Pádraıc Pearse at the grave of O’Donovan Rossa in August 1915
with these words:
“And we
know only one definition of freedom: it is Tone’s definition, it is
Mitchel’s definition, it is Rossa’s definition. Let no man blaspheme
the cause that the dead generations of Ireland served by giving it
any other name and definition than their name and their definition”.
Sponsorship Instructions
In order to ensure that the names of
all the Volunteers shown on the Centennial Banner are chosen, we
suggest that a Sponsor(s) submit at least three names from the list
provided in this package indicating their first, second and third
preference. If their preferences are already taken the Sponsor
will be contacted and asked to select a volunteer not yet selected.
-
Sponsorship fee is $500.00 that can
be paid in increments of $100.00 over a five year period through
2021.
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A Sponsorship may consist of one to
five individuals. A deposit of $100.00 is required in
order to process a request.
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A sponsorship consisting of
one individual who pays the sponsorship fee in full will be
allowed to select one of the Executed Leaders while their names
are available.
-
A sponsorship consisting of
more than one individual will be considered a group sponsorship.
Each group must select a member who will be responsible for
ensuring that the fee is paid in full within the allotted time
period.
-
A copy
of a Certificate of Sponsorship will be awarded to each
Sponsorship upon receipt of the final payment. The original
certificate will be placed in a leather bound book and placed in
the care of a responsible institution.
The names on the Centennial
Banner are shown on the attached list.
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The certificate will include the
name and photo (if available) of the Volunteer selected with a
short tribute in the form of a short biography or a poem. The
tribute will be provided by the sponsor.
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The name of the sponsor(s) will
also be shown on the certificate.
Proceeds from this project will be distributed as follows;
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To cover all costs --
relating to the production, promotion and implementation of the
Centennial Banner project.
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To fulfill the promise of the
32- county Irish Republic of 1916 through the Eire Nua Program.
--
Eire Nua (New Ireland) is a comprehensive Irish proposal for
a just and lasting peace in Ireland in the context of a British
withdrawal. It provides for a new all-Ireland constitution
incorporating provisions for a Bill of Rights, New Government
Structures, Separation of Church and State and an Independent
Judiciary.
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To Support
Republican Prisoner Dependents through Cabhair
–
Cabhair is a charitable organization that has been in
existence for many years in Ireland supporting the dependents of
true Republican prisoners and ensnared political activists
throughout Ireland -- north and south of the border.
-
Cumann na Saoirse Náisiúnta will continue to support,
through Cabhair, the dependents of those brave Republican
prisoners who strive to reconstitute the 32-county Irish
Republic proclaimed in 1916, declared and instituted in 1919 and
functioned as a sovereign Republic through 1921
1916 Centennial Banner
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