Photocall Notice
Opening of the Book of Solidarity for Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday 17th August 2009 at City Hall:
- Date: 17th August 2009
- Time: 1.00 p.m.
- Venue: Rotunda, City Hall, Dame Street
Photo opportunities:
- Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Emer Costello formally opening Book of Solidarity;
- Cllr. Mary Freehill (former Lord Mayor who awarded Freedom of City on 18th March 2000);
- Gearoid Kilgallen, Chairperson, Burma Action Ireland;
- Niamh Rooney, Co-ordinator, Burma Action Ireland reading from Aung San Suu Kyi writings.
All Councillors attending will be wearing their robes.
Press Release
Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello will open a Book of Solidarity at City Hall, Castle Street on Monday 17th August 2009 at 1.00pm, calling on the Military Junta in Burma, to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi, the Leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy, Freeman of the City of Dublin, Nobel Peace Laureate, from house arrest.
The book will be open to the public for signing on Monday 17th August from 1.00p.m to 5.00p.m, and from Tuesday 18th August to Thursday 20th August 2009 from 10.00a.m to 5.00p.m.
According to the Lord Mayor, “Aung San Suu Kyi is a global icon of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of military repression, and she takes her rightful place in history amongst other great civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi who I know inspired her. As Lord Mayor of Dublin, I am calling on the Military Junta in Burma to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. ”
I, like, many people throughout the world was outraged when I learned of the outcome of the Kafkaesque showtrial in Burma last week, where she was sentenced to three years hard labour which was subsequently commuted to eighteen months house arrest for a non-existent crime.
The Book of Solidarity is Dublin’s response to Aung San Suu Kyi own powerful plea to people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma when she said ‘Please use your freedom to promote ours’.
Aung San Suu Kyi was conferred with the Freedom of Dublin City on March 18th 2000, by former Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Freehill. She has yet to sign the Roll of Freemen of the City, where a space has been left for her to sign.
“I am appealing to all Dubliners and visitors to the City, to sign the Book of Solidarity this week in support of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from imprisonment, and to express their abhorrence for the plight of the Burmese people, living beneath the yoke of a military regime characterised by cruelty for the past twenty years ”, says the Lord Mayor.
According to former Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Freehill, “ It is now critically important with the imminent elections in Burma, to keep the impetus behind the international campaign to release Aung San Suu Kyi from imprisonment and to liberate Burma from military dictatorship, and return it to a democracy”.
Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello, Former Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Freehill, Gearoid Kilgallen, Chairperson Burma Action Ireland (BAI), and Niamh Rooney, Co-ordinator, will speak at Monday’s event at City Hall.
Ends
Notes to Editor
Text on Book of Solidarity:
Book of Solidarity
Calling for the Immediate Release from House Arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, Freeman of the City of Dublin, Nobel Peace Laureate, Leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy, Prisoner of Conscience and Champion of the Courageous And Peaceful Struggle to Liberate her Country from Military Dictatorship
Programme for opening of the Book of Solidarity on Monday at City Hall:
- Date: 17th August 2009
- Time: 1.00 p.m.
- Venue: Rotunda, City Hall, Dame Street
Speakers:
- Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Emer Costello
- Cllr. Mary Freehill (former Lord Mayor who awarded Freedom of City on 18th March 2000)
- Gearoid Kilgallen, Chairperson, Burma Action Ireland
- Niamh Rooney, Co-ordinator, Burma Action Ireland, reading from Aung San Suu Kyi writing
Book signing dates:
- Monday 17th August 2009 from 1.00p.m to 5.00 p.m.
- Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th 2009 from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.