RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Republic of Ireland is preparing to observe the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916, which is remembered by historians as the pivotal turning point in Ireland's struggle for freedom against English rule; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this centenary by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, The 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising will be marked by a grand parade in Dublin on Easter Sunday past the General Post Office on O'Connell Street and will include thousands of troops and descendants of the rebels; and
WHEREAS, Michael D Higgins, the President of Ireland, will lay a wreath at the General Post Office where the rebel leader, Patrick Pearse, read a proclamation declaring Ireland's independence; and
WHEREAS, The Irish rebellion to end British rule was organized by poets, Irish language enthusiasts, idealists and members of the Irish Volunteers began at noon on Monday, April 24, 1916 and lasted more than six days; and
WHEREAS, The Irish nationalists, numbering approximately 1,600, seized the General Post Office, court buildings and St. Stephen's Green and declared Ireland an independent republic; and
WHEREAS, The volunteers clashed with 16,000 heavily armed British troops and within a week the insurrection was suppressed, leaving 450 dead and more than 2,000 wounded; and
WHEREAS, The following month, sixteen leaders of the uprising, including Patrick Pearse, were executed by firing squad; and
WHEREAS, The uprising became the first stage in a war of independence that resulted in the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 and the formal declaration ofthe Irish Republic in 1949; and
WHEREAS, In 1932 Eamon de Valera, the sole surviving leader of the uprising, became the leader of his new party, Fianna Fail; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this sixteenth day of March, 2016, do hereby join with the Irish diaspora of the C...
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