During the course of this project, The Linen Hall welcomed a range of community organisations to take part in engagement sessions which explored the theme of civil rights ‘then’ and ‘now’. Responses to questions about the idea of civil rights ‘now’ were enlightening and raised many issues; some new and some unresolved. 

To help me compare and contrast the campaign for civil rights in the 1960s with the demands for rights in 2025 I have enlisted the help of 3 contributors:

Fergus Woods who is a former People’s Democracy activist and a veteran of the Belfast folk music scene. Maddison McCullough who is aged 17, she attends Ashfield Girls High school in East Belfast. And Odhran Morelli who is aged 17 and attends St Mary's Christian Brothers in West Belfast. Both Odhran and Maddison are part of the Youth In Government group which is a political education project for 16-18 year olds led by the YMCA. I began by asking Fergus about his own motivating factors for getting involved with People’s Democracy as a young man…

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

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