Juggernaut.

Its all gone Pete Tong!

2006-02-27T04:27:00.000-08:00

The wonderful thing about demo's and marches is that the authorities close off the street to motorised traffic creating a safe space for pedestrian use, a temporary taster of the sort of public spaces we could have - were it not for the dominance of the private cars on the capitals streets. So O' Connell bridge last Saturday afternoon felt wonderfully safe and peaceful, an auto free zone where pedestrians could wander, unconcerned about the usual snarl of cars and trucks that make a journey across the city a perilous undertaking..

I had come to town, as had many others, to see the curious sight of a Unionist march in Dublin. The Love Ulster organisation and FAIR, a victims of IRA violence advocacy group, had travelled south of the border, to register their disapproval at what they claimed was collusion between the Dublin Government, Gardai in the Republic and the IRA.

I quite looked forward to the pomp and spectacle of the marching bands, a scene more often witnessed on the TV news bulletins from Portadown or the Ormeau road each summer. I was rather less prepared, perhaps nievely, for the violence with which the Orangemen were met.

Halfway up O' Connell street I could see all was not going as planned. A large crowd were raining missiles down on a thin cordon of Gardai in full riot gear, the Orangemen were nowhere to be seen. Young men were taking advantage of the ongoing rejuvenation of O' Connell street - wrenching up the new granite paving bricks (quite attractive, but very dangerous in this instance) and hurling them at police.

It had really kicked off.....Strange - violence in Dublin city centre, at least lately, is more often associated with excessive drinking and the like - not sectarian enmity. Alcohol did seem to be a factor though, I saw young men lowering raw vodka before eagerly joining the ranks of rioters.
The tourist shops were doing a roaring trade in tricolours as opportunist youngsters more used to the virtual violence of 'grand theft auto' tried the real thing on for size. They tied the flags round their faces, concerned that the State wouldn't look kindly upon their defense of the national honour.

I've been in a few riots, well, I've witnessed a few. The strangest thing is how surreal it all seems, we're used to relative peace and calm on the street, so when violence kicks off, it highlights just how fragile this tacit compliance to the peaceful norms of society can be, how quickly the social fabric, that very stuff that makes society possible can dissolve in the face of conflict and confrontation.

The other thing is the tempo and rhythem of such civil disturbances. How ordinary life exists alongside of such acts of violence. Walking just a street or two away, you'd have no idea of what was unfolding close by. Even at the scene the violence was sporadic and fractured. Stone throwing would be followed by a lull in the crowds energy and everyone, on both side waited to see what would happen next. At one point the Gardai were stretched across O' Connell street, parallel with the Spire, their ranks allied with this aspirant symbol of the new Ireland - the protestors stood several metres away roughly in line with the GPO, a potent, defining symbol of the nation. And so, appropriately encamped, each side held their line for quite some time.

The afternoons commotion halted the natural flow of people around the city centre. Shoppers and onlookers were backed up 10 deep in the side streets abutting O' Connell street, the remarkable proceedings had become a spectator sport. Gradually the more single minded amongst them risked a dash across this temporary no mans land. Soon enough many were to-ing and fro-ing from Talbot street to Henry street going about their business in spite of the standoff.

The casual way in which onlookers stood on the sidelines staring into the melee belied the real danger and unpredictability of the situation. Normal rules don't apply, participants are amped up on adrenaline and the anonymity afforded by the group, they'll do things they mightn't ordinarily do, temporarily released from the restraint of individual responsability.
The attack on Charlie Bird is an example of this.

As the police did push forward the protesters broke and ran towards the quays causing a momentary panic among the large crowds behind them and down side streets. For a minute it really felt dangerous - out of control, the energy of the mob shifted from just those who had decided to riot, to all of those who were there - everyone was running. It was shortlived but frightening how quickly the panic swept through the crowd.

In the end there were a few injuries and some damage to property and the city's reputation - but that was all - it really could have been a lot worse.

Big ups to Banksy.....

2005-12-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

RE-spekt to Banksy the innovative master of ironic graffiti. While others spray logos and tags this thoughtful artist uses his considerable talent to confront society with its ridiculous mores. Highlighting many of the day to day contradictions hardly visible for their commonness he incisively parodys modern life. His works on the wall recently constructed to separate Israel and the West Bank speak with humour and pathos of the plight of those cut off from land and the means to make a viable living by this security of-fence.

Anti war activist criticises use of shannon airport by US military.

2005-12-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

Cindy Sheehan condemned the use of Shannon by the US military today outside Dail Eireann, saying it was against the will of the people. “The Irish people are against the war and against the use of Shannon by the US military.” She said, adding that “Ireland was complicit in the war.”

The mother of Casey Sheehan a US serviceman, who died in an improvised explosive device attack five days after arriving in Iraq, she rose to prominence last summer, establishing a peace camp outside George Bush’s Texas ranch. Camp Casey became a focus for opposition to the war, galvanising the anti war movement and embarrassing President Bush.

Calling the Iraq war “illegal and immoral”, she said “humanity must stand together against the war crimes being committed in Iraq.”

Over 100,000 people rallied on the streets of Dublin in opposition to the war in February 2003. The use of Shannon airport continues to cause controversy, most recently because anti-war activists have recorded CIA flights passing through which have been used in renditions of terrorist suspects. They accuse the US of transporting suspects to countries where human rights aren’t respected for the purposes of interrogations, including torture.

The US has denied this, Condoleezza Rice speaking in advance of a recent trip to Europe said, "The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture." However she refused to give further details of the US actions saying, "We cannot discuss information that would compromise the success of intelligence, law enforcement, and military operations.”

Detainees have described a process where they were bundled onto planes to unknown destinations, by men with American accents and flown back to their countries of birth. Once there, they allege they were subjected to torture. The Guardian recently reported the case of Khaled al-Masri a Lebanonese born German national who alleges he was spirited away to Afghanistan by the CIA while visiting Macedonia. Held for five months, he claims he was tortured while in captivity.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the CIA over his case, naming former director George Tenet as a defendant. Al-Masri’s case is one of many renditions highlighted by human rights groups.

Sheehan will address a rally tonight at Belvedere College on Denmark street in Dublin. Rose Gentle the mother of a British soldier killed in Iraq will also speak, along with Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti War Movement.

There is Power in a Union.

2005-12-13T04:54:00.000-08:00

Turlough O’ Sullivan director of IBEC writing in Friday’s Irish Times said that the march scheduled for that day was uncalled for, as the sides in the bitter dispute were still negotiating at the Labour Relations Commission.

Somewhere between 40 and 80 thousand people disagreed with him in and turned out on the streets of Dublin beneath brooding skies today.

They felt it was a valid means of expressing their contempt and disdain for a company who would lay off their entire workforce and employ migrants at exploitative wages, destroying livelihoods and setting decent working men Irish and foreign, up in opposition to each other.

Their presence on the streets of Dublin and many other towns and cities across the country and the solid support and waves of applause they received as they marched down O’ Connell street show that the people of this country are behind the Irish Ferries workers.

Rallies are important focal points for movements. A flexing of collective muscle they show the opposition what they’re up against and allow supporters to vent their frustrations in public.

They may make government uncomfortable, Bertie reckons they send out the wrong signals to potential investors. He’s wrong they send out exactly the right signals, workers are what makes business possible that implies rights, hard won rights - some legal wrangling, a convenient reflagging doesn’t change that.

Hats off to those men sat deep in the bowels of that ship in Wales they’re making an important stand for everyone in this country.

As Billy Bragg said – There is power in a union!

Ugly Drunken Nationalism

2005-12-13T04:53:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the riots in Sydney Australia’s prime minister has said that his country does not have a problem with racism. Quoted in the guardian he said, "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years, and we have done so with remarkable success."

While it may be true that Australia’s multicultural society has been relatively successful, Howard’s statement is patently overlooking the decades of institutional racism endured by the Aboriginal minority.

So there is precedent for the ugly scenes on Sydney’s beaches and I would speculate that attitudes towards Aboriginals today are similar to Irish attitudes towards travellers. Nobody admits to being racist but many admit that they wouldn’t like a member of the minority to marry into their family or move in next to them. In doing so they reveal an underlying inclination to treat minorities different based on their membership of the minority group. Isn’t that racism?

All cultures discriminate on the basis of difference, be it ethnicity, sexuality or disability.

According to the Guardian, ‘the Lebanese youth leader Fadi Rahman said many young people in his community were beginning to wonder if they would ever feel accepted in Australia. "Let's not forget these kids are born and raised in Australia;’ In the case of Australia it would seem that there has been a hardening of ethnic identities in the wake of the Bali bombings and Australia’s membership in the coalition of the willing. Mutual suspicion and enmity build up around issues of concern to the groups involved leading to distrust and conflict.

But ethnicity is not a fixed quantity rather a negotiable aspect of a relationship. Think of prominent Irish people of minority backgrounds, Phil Lynott or Paul McGrath. We consider them Irish like us though they are black and blackness isn’t a trait that would normally be associated with being Irish. On the other hand travellers are widely perceived to be different, though not readily accepted as they assert, as a separate ethnic group.

The relevance of ethnicity is situational, dependant on other tensions apparent in a society. The bubbling up of drunken nationalism in Sydney, akin to Munich in the 30’s is then the result of deeper issues within Australian society, maybe the anti immigrant stance that Prime Minister Howard was elected on, is a factor.

Montreal Climate talks.

2005-12-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

At the end of the recent climate change talks in Canada, the 154 nations present have 'momentously' agreed...............to talk some more!

The US continues to resist any binding committments. Yet, many cities there led by the Jewel of the North West, Seattle, are pressing ahead with progressive policy change desipte the lack of movement on the federal level, as Robert Short of RTE reported on the other day.

Ireland for its part has exceeded its allowances under Kyoto and the recent package of road building announced by government makes seem likely we'll continue to inhabit a mindframe that economic development is more important than that cornerstone of sustainable development - meeting the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Add to that the mismanagement of our recent development which the government has left to that most rapacoius of managers 'the market', the proliferation of endless remote suburbs and the failure so far of providing a workable form of decentralisation and its unlikely we'll turn things round anytime soon.

The Kyoto accord set out to reduce carbon emissions by 5% between 2008 to 2012. The amount individual nations are required to reduce their output of green house gases varies depending on their circumstance....Ireland for instance is allowed to increase its emissions 13% above its 1990 levels which form the bench mark for Kyoto because we're coming up from behind in terms of industrial development, unlikely as that may seem in these boom times. Currently our emissions are somewhere between 20 to 30 % above 1990 levels, depending on who you ask.

Consequently we'll be required to purchase carbon credits from other nations which have come in under there quota. Essentially we need to buy clean air overseas, as we've generated too much hot air at home.....that'll cost hundreds of millions of euro but according to Dick Roche is preferable to the job losses we would have incurred by meeting our Kyoto committments.

Can we not create alternative jobs in an expanded renewable energy industry, a resource which we posess in abundance off our west coast. We could export it to nations not posessed of such fresh breezes as we're lucky to call our own. We could become the Saudi Arabia of the renewable energy world, even without tapping the vast reserves hot air available in Leinster House.

But all this ignores the fact that the nations which are about to become the big hitters of the industrial world, China and India are exempt from Kyoto. China posesses a vast reserve of coal, pound for pound the worst carbon producing fossil fuel and will hardly put the skids on its economic trajectory for the sake of worried consumers in the 'first world'. Cause lets face it global warming is mainly a concern of western middle class post-materialist generations kept awake nights by the thought that for all their wealth and prosperity they're still not in control of their destiny. The worlds poor are more likely kept awake by a gnawing hunger and brooding sense of injustice. Which is why and this goes against my better judgement, I have to partly agree with, ugh!! Kevin Myers whose Irishmans diary yesterday correctly pinpointed poverty as one of the central challenges to reducing climate change.

2005-12-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

Life has got me chasin my tail round the place, consequently I've not been able to devote enough time to littering the blogosphere with my half formed ruminations and addled meanderings. So prepare for a slew of half-cocked, warmed over second hand sentiment. First up, heres my story about the upcoming WTO meetings in Hong Kong, which I failed to get published...however due to the democratisication of the media thru access to Le internet...I will miracuously self publish...with a little sleight of hand and a click or two of the mouse my latest musings are launched into the ether.......

Aid experts warned yesterday that the outcome of next weeks WTO negotiation in Hong Kong is likely to fall far short of the needs of developing countries.

Conall O’ Caoimh of Comhlamh, the association of returned development workers said that the talks were, “supposed to address the marginalisation of developing countries” but what’s currently on offer “is a rolling back on previous commitments.” O’ Caoimh and several colleagues from the Irish NGO sector are travelling to Hong Kong with the government delegation to make the case for fairer trade rules.

Michael Ahern TD, Minister for trade and commerce will lead the Irish delegation. He’ll be accompanied by Mary Coughlin, Minister for food and agriculture and Conor (Fredo) Lenihan, Minister of State for development cooperation and human rights.

Campaigners want rich countries to open their markets to products from the developing world and stop the dumping of agricultural produce into their markets. They argue that poor countries shouldn’t have to open their economies in return as they’re as yet unable to compete on an equal footing.

Conor Lenihan recently announced an increase in EU aid designed to stimulate trade, another key demand of the development lobby. Charities welcomed the increase but say broader measures are needed. Colin Roche of Oxfam Ireland who’s already in Hong Kong ahead of the meetings said "It's clear that Africa has got little out of trade talks so far. Rich countries really need to up their game if we are to have an actual development round".

“Fairer trade rules are essential for poor countries to escape poverty” according to the Make Poverty History campaign which has garnered high profile support from the likes of Chris Martin, Bono and Bob Geldof.

The EU delegation at the talks is set to allow the 51 poorest countries access to its markets without asking anything in return. While on the surface it may seem that this will improve the lot of the worlds most vulnerable, O’ Caoimh warns that “the devil is in the details.” He explained that Europe has negotiated separate bilateral arrangements with African nations that undermine the trading advantage which might be gained from the offer on the table at the WTO.

Michael O’ Brien of Trocaire who will also accompany the Irish delegation has said that “unfair trade practices systematically undermine the livelihood of smallholder farmers, agricultural labourers and their families hampering progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.” Underlining the importance of the agricultural sector he said, “three quarters of the labour force in the world’s most impoverished countries make their living agriculture.”

In a statement released yesterday Doctors Without Borders condemned a recent WTO agreement on intellectual property rights. The TRIPs agreement regulates the use of patented drugs, allowing poor countries to produce cheaper generic versions in order to combat health emergencies such as the AID’s crisis in Africa. The latest agreement allows one country to export life saving generic drugs to other countries. However charities say that it will take several years before the drugs are available due to the convoluted implementation system mandated by the agreement.

2005-12-06T05:59:00.000-08:00

Last week I sold a story to the new Metro paper, the one thats littering the streets of Dublin. I knew World Aids Day was approaching and so stories addressing that topic would have a better chance of being published.

I talked to the Village and the Irish Times about the angle I was taking. I was meeting some youth workers from Zambia who worked in HIV prevention in Lusaka. I hoped to write a feature based on the meeting. Get deep down into individual experience as a way of telling the story. Let the reader get to know a person, read about the story on a human scale. I thought it was more novel than just reporting the almost inconceviably depressing statistics included in the recent UN report on the pandemic. They expressed minor interest, it was enough for me.....I went ahead and did the story.

My interview was short, due to the busy schedule of the folks from Lusaka. I didn't get the rich detail I was after. Anecdotes of resilience in the face of overwhelming destruction at the hands of the disease. They were upbeat and positive people, but the story wasn't really like that. I tried to wring a positive angle out of it. But the more I combined my sparse material from the interviews with the detail in the UN report, the more the detail from the UN overwhelmed my efforts. They said infection rates in Zambia were down, good. The UN said infection rates remained high. They said they felt that the message about modes of transmission was getting out to 4 of 5 people, the UN said 2/3 of young Zambian women had inadequate understanding of how the disease was passed on. The positive aspects of their story were steamrollered by an undeniable onslaught of stats and truths, mostly bad.

Instead of a feature I settled on a news piece based on the main points that I'd heard from Royd and Sheeba. I sent it out to Vilage and the Irish Times, sent it on to several other papers too. Didn't really have the drive to follow it up with phone calls, I'm not a salesman. Later as I drifted round town I got a call from Metro, they needed a photo to go with my story. Did that mean they were publishing it? Yes.

Mission accomplished. Story printed, job done, good deal.

I got paid 120 euro. More than I've ever made before from words. But here's the dilemma. My wage was earned as a direct result of suffering. I brought a story to an audience, yes. But I made a profit from writing about devastation on a massive scale. Even though I have informed myself about issues of development affecting poor countries, though this is the sort of thing I want to report on and write about, It didn't feel good to reach this milestone.

Relative to the people I wrote about I have a significant amount of power. Its inhertent in the part of the world I live in, my education, the access I have to editors as a student of journalism. I can sympathise, write with empathy and try to report without undermining the dignity of those I write about, but ultimately I'm of the rich minority that tolerates the circumstance of the majority. Will the few words I contribute make any difference, and if they don't, is this just a living....just a way to pay the bills?

Do You Realise

2005-11-30T04:50:00.000-08:00

Walking on Grafton street yesterday
a musical street at the best of times.
A South Asian man walking beside me broke into song
I've no idea what the tune was about as he was singing in his native language,
but it was poppy and upbeat, his own soundtrack for his evening trek.
I fell into step slightly ahead and to his right and let it become my soundtrack too.
We travelled along for a while like this him unaware of my aural intrusion
me marvelling at this gift of our affluence, that all these people,
all this diverse humanity would want to make a home in Dublin
all the while, loving his jingle.
as we passed BrownThomas another tune seeped into my head and I let my attention wander to its source.
It was blaring from speakers somewhere high on the facade of the store. The flaming lips, do you realise...........
Some compiler of Crass Christmas tunes designed to lure consumers into a hypnotic sense of seasonal wellbeing had included it in the mix blaring down into the street.
It was so perfect....the sound was great....perfect......
I stood in the street as the shoppers sloshed past me

Didn't they realise - this tune is so not about christmas and the marketing of all things unnecessary.....In the attempt to massage my consumer potential they'd provided a portal to the essence of my conception of what life is - christmas just doesn't figure in there. They'd lost me, my 'soul' soared I wasn't shopping now I bounced up the street....this is as good as it gets....Thanks Brown Thomas, thanks Wayne.

Do you realise
that you have the most beautiful face
do you realise
we're floating in space
do you realise
that happiness, makes you cry
do you realise
that everyone - you know - someday - will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
let them know you realise that life goes fast
its hard to make the good things last
you realise the sun doesn't go down
its just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.

World AID's Day

2005-11-29T08:03:00.002-08:00

Poverty, social stigma and unequal gender relations are to blame for the high rates of HIV in Africa, according to Royd Mundongo, who works for 80:20 an Irish NGO in Zambia. He is visiting Ireland with two colleagues facilitating a series of youth workshops. They are guests of the National Youth Council of Ireland and their visit is timed to coincide with World AID’s Day on the 1st of December.

While the actual cause of AID’s is the HIV virus, Mundongo said that the disease thrives amid the poverty common in many African countries.
“If people can combat poverty it would be easier to get educated and protect themselves against HIV,” he said.

A report issued by UNAID’s last week said that the number infected with HIV continues to rise, with 40.2 million cases reported worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa is the site of the majority of cases with 25.8 million cases, an increase of 1 million cases since 2003. Yet the report states that “there is ample evidence that HIV does yield to determined and concerted intervention.”

Sixty three percent of the population of Zambia, one of the poorest countries in Africa live on less than a dollar a day. Sixteen and a half percent of the population are infected with HIV, yet there is only one doctor available per 100,000 of population. Life expectancy has fallen from 50 years in 1975 to 37.5 years in 2003 as a result of the epidemic.

Women are particularly vulnerable and in a weak bargaining position concerning safe sex. “If a woman asks ‘can we use a condom’ and the man says no – the man wins out,” said Mundongo. According to 80/20 an Irish development NGO working in Zambia less than a quarter of women questioned in a survey believed that “a married woman could refuse to have sex with her husband even if he had been demonstrably unfaithful and was infected.”

Mundongo works with young people in the Zambian capital Lusaka. He believes the message is getting through but that open discussion of high risk behaviour is difficult in Zambia’s conservative moral climate. UN figures show that two thirds of young women in Zambia lack a comprehensive understanding of transmission methods despite increasing efforts at education by the government and NGO’s.

His colleague Sheeba Lishika said that the government had recently begun to work with traditional healers in an effort to reach more people with information about prevention. Traditional healers are the first resort of many Zambians seeking health advice. By involving them in the effort to combat HIV the government hopes to pass the message onto people in a way that they understand as a natural part of their life as opposed to western medical practices and jargon.

“Condoms are very accessible in Zambia”, said Mundongo. “They’re distributed to almost every area of the country. But the problem is people’s attitude towards condoms; so if the government or peer educators promote condom usage amongst the youth, society sees this as promoting immorality.” Many groups in Zambia including the Catholic Church promote abstinence as the only acceptable way of avoiding infection. In such an atmosphere many choose not to get tested fearing the stigma attached to a positive result. Unfortunately this results in some people continuing to infect others, ignorant of their own status," he said.

A combination of education and abstinence had been hailed as the reason infection rates were falling in Uganda, but UN experts recently undermined that conclusion. Rather, they assert the reason the numbers infected fell away so dramatically over recent years is that many of those infected had died as the disease worked its way through society.

Its for the pensioners...really!

2005-11-29T01:41:00.000-08:00

In the latest argument to emerge from Irish Ferries, a senior management figure is reported as saying that as most of Irish Ferries stock is tied up in pension funds.....not allowing the company to proceed with its plan to lay off its complete workforce and hire agency staff at €3.50 an hour is hurting old people!

Well I hadn't thought of it like that. I'm conflicted now. The workers or the old folk! Damn, tough decision. I may as well go out in the street, push an old lady over and have it away on my toes with her pension book myself, as support the Irish ferry workers.

But hold on, Are we really to believe that all the stock holders of Irish ferries are elderly vulnerable creatures at the mercy of those evil unionistas.

Stock trading, by its nature is morally questionable - due to the unaccountability inherent within its operationing system. Everythings a commodity, wheres the humanity? It provides a rational set of reasons for undermining hard won labour rights and relocating production elsewhere. Often to a location where workers are forced to work in cruel and exploititive conditions.

CEO's say - we just have to move production overseas in order to remain profitible and continue to deliver a dividend to our stockholders. Who's to blame then when the jobs go south? The managers are just doing their job, the investors just want a little return on their investment. Its that pesky system! unavoidable really! As our great leader said "there nothing more we can do".

I don't buy it, I won't buy it.

Irish Ferries are attempting to reverse the usual model, they can't take the service to a cheaper production area so they bring in cheaper workers here and register their vessels elsewhere. So not only do they get people who'll work for less, they get people who'll work for half the minimum wage.

Its gotta be wrong. I'm in good company here.....Fintan O' Toole writing in todays Irish Times
warns against the exploitation of immigrant labour. It will drive divisions into the new diversity in Irish society....We'll likely reap resentment and racism in the future. Irish workers will feel wronged by immigrants driving down wages and immigrants will feel xploited by Irish society forced by their economic circumstance to work for less than Irish people.

If the government is serious about the committments it made to integration during the debate in the wake of the french riots -it must snap out of it and deal with the situation.

Bertie says he can do nowt about it.....Bollocks.....

What stops him? Rules and bureaucracy....isn't it governments that make rules and bureaucracy?

Why can't our government make a new rule that prevents the dumping of the Irish ferry workers and the outragous exploitation of new workers? They can - and any experts they roll out to say otherwise are only window dressing to hide the fact that they're ultimately a big business party and don't want to be seen as a hostile location for business for fear of driving away investment. Bertie admitted as much when he recently urged both sides to sort out the situation as they risked damaging Ireland's percieved desirability as a site for investment.

There is however a time when its appropriate to make a stand. When values are more important than the bottom line. This is that time!

How about it Bertie?

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!

2005-11-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

All the leaves are brown
-leaves are brown
And the skys are grey
I'd prefer summer in Tramore
On this windy day
-windy day......

Nero fiddles, while Rome burns...and burns

While the weather today may have played havoc with my ever thinning bouffant it did however feel appropriately thanksgiving-ish as the golden and browning leaves whipped about me.
My thoughts wandered Stateside to all those I know and love.

Most Americans of my aquaintance reject thanksgiving on the same basic grounds as Bill Burroughs, but perhaps not with such venom and verve.
I always enjoyed it.
Not being from there, it felt kind of exotic and I do like me some pumpkin pie.
The family thing is nice too, people get together, eat lots, drink a little, argue, make up, all the usual family stuff.

Working the day after though, I never really got that. Kinda took the fun out of it.
They don't do holidays like we do. No such thing as a boozy week between Xmas and the New year, Same thing there, Just a day off for each. Whats that all about?

A Thanksgiving Prayer by William S. Burroughs

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.
Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.
Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.
Thanks for the American dream, To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.
Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.
For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.
Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind the own business.
Thanks for a nation of finks.
Yes, thanks for all the memories-- all right let's see your arms!
You always were a headache and you always were a bore.
Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

Not exactly a patriot!

Go Ahead Punk!

2005-11-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

"yo, you say the use of Shannon affects our neutrality,
That the GI stopovers mean your comin for me,
you can tell Al Queda where to find me,
in the bar at Dail Eireann packin an Uzi!"

I like to imagine that this was the jingle going through Minister for Defense Willie O' Dea's head as he posed with an automatic pistol a few days after the government came under renewed fire for its policy of allowing Shannon Airport to be used by the US military while simultanously claiming Ireland is neutral. See previous post.

Or give him a Beckham mohawk and you've got Scorcese's, Travis Bickle. A crazed individual alienated from society and determined to "wash all the scum off the streets". Was he imagining an effective response to the recent spate of gangland murders?

What was he thinking? His media handler was obviously having a sly fag or something when the media got him to pose for this one. In the same week as 3 underworld soldiers were gunned down in an ongoing turf feud for control of the lucrative drug market, he's leaving himself open to all sorts of public indignation and opposition posturing.

Or maybe he's a devotee of the "no such thing as bad publicity" school of thought, after all he did make the front page of the Irish Times.

YOU TALKIN TO ME?

Rumour has, Death Row records front man Suge Knight is flying in at the weekend to talk about a recording contract after O' Dea retires from public life. Watch for them in Renard's at the weekend drinkin Cristal and hangin with their homies.

2005-11-16T03:47:00.000-08:00

The Make Poverty History christmas card campaign launches today in Ireland. The purpose of the campaign is to keep pressure on the Government in the lead up to the next round of WTO talks which take place in Hong Kong from 13th to 18th of December.

Already Oxfam is warning that poor countries are getting a raw deal this time round, by sending an e-card to the link above you can send a message, that you expect the government to follow through on its pledge of support for poor countries.

Development NGO's want the talks to result in a better deal for poor countries. The free trade mantra of the WTO will damage the frail economies of the Less Developed Countrie's, condemning them to poverty rather than showing them a way out. Nobody is saying that trade can't help countries out of the cycle of poverty but the terms on which any trade deals are based have to be cognisent of the vulnerability of the poorest countries to exploitation. They should be allowed to protect their emergent economies from predatory trade deals until they are able to compete on something like an equal footing.

2005-11-11T04:21:00.000-08:00

On a miserable, rainy Thursday night in Dublin one man did more to confront Ireland with the potential consequences of its dodgy neutrality on the war in Iraq than any amount the anti war protests www.irishantiwar.org and leftie punditry could.

Speaking at a debate organised by the Trinity College Philosophical Society titled - this house believes the september 11th attacks were justified, Anjen Choudary a British citizen and Chair of the Society fo Muslim Lawyers questioned Irelands neutrality pointing out that the use of Shannon Airport by US troops on their way to Iraq could hardly be understood as neutrality.

According to the Irish Times approximately 350,000 US military personnel have in fact passed through Shannon up until the end of 2004 and they're still coming!

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here but does this guy have a point or wha?

Now I can't say exactly where Mr. Choudary was coming from as I wasn't actually there. I did traipse across town to Trinity from a shopping expedition deep in the heart of what Ross O' Carroll Kelly refers to as Knackeraguea. I'd been pickin up some bits and bobs in the Ilac centre. Its amazin how much you can get for yer Yo Yo's when everything you buy is imported from China. Even the shop assistants who were very helpful seemed to be Chinese imports. Is that because they're cheaper too? Maybe thats an issue for another day, don't want to bite off more than I can chew as I'm literally just bustin my cherry here, blogwise I mean! Making my way up Henry Street, weaving in and out between the sodden evening shoppers I was drawn to the bright lights and warm glow of the Offie. UUUMMMM Beer! I couldn't think of any better way to drive the shopping centre jingles from my head than a few tinnies of sweet nectar. I spent my last fiver on some budget lager, grumpily noting that this would hardly be enough to catch a decent buzz. Couldn't we import alcohol from China? Why can't we do that? they make most everything else for us. Companies are all the time relocating there cause production is cheaper, why don't we have them make our booze! I digress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The upshot is that when I got to Trinners! I'd nae wodge left to pay the fiver lifetime membership for the Philosophical Society which I needed to gain access to the debate.

By all accounts it was a spiffing exchange. Even the Gardai turned up to see what all the fuss was about. I like to imagine them bunched in a corner speaking furtively into the collars of their dirty trench coats but like I say, spent the money on beer, wasn't there!

Frustratingly my absense means I don't know, (and the media really haven't cleared this up for me) was Mr Choudary saying we were justifably a target in the eyes of extremist groups due to our not insubstantial assistance to the US war effort via the use of Shannon and as such we should expect carnage like that in Madrid or London. Or was he advocating such action due to the US stopovers in Shannon?

The front page of the Indo refers to him as a " 'bomb Ireland' extremist' " in its headline, suggesting he's on for an attack here (wonder how many papers that headline sold this morning). However the Irish Times reports him saying that if Ireland wants to avoid the sort of attack that London experienced it should discontinue the use of Shannon by the US military. The Indo called that statement a "veiled threat". The Times reports him saying he doesn't want more terror attacks in London as his kids live there too.

"If you are going to allow your country to be used to refuel a US plane when it is going on a bombing raid, what do you expect our reaction to be? This is not neutrality." Mr Choudary said according to theIndo. Has a point doesn't he. Maybe if I roll up this copy of the Indo take it across to the Dail and smack Bertie upside the head with it, he might get it too...........We cannot call ourselves neutral under the current arrangement. Therefore we would have every right to be horrified but surely not surprised if an atrocity took place here.

Holy, Lord, lamb of leppin Jesus what does Bertie think those fresh faced American Boys do once they get to Iraq having passed thru Ireland? Teach Sunday school?

Respected Journal the Lancet estimates that in excess of 100,000 Iraqi civilians had died in the Iraq war up until the beginning of 2005. Officialy though the US doesn't count Iraqi civilian casualties. Why not?

Thats what I'm talkin bout right there. People are dying out there. When the war arrives on there door step they can't switch over to the other side as we can, catch a little Friends or Eddie Hobbs. They f**kin die.

Sooooo, is Choudary inciting hatred as the Gardai are investigating or is he a straight shooter, tellin it like it is?

Jesse Jackson told an audience at UCD last November something similiar "I understand the tight-rope the Taoiseach is walking. But in this era of global terrorism the fact that Shannon is being used does put Ireland in the line of fire," he told The Irish Times. Is he an extremist or a straight shooter tellin it like it is?

Anyhow if you like me spent yer wodge on drink and missed the debate, you can catch it on The Wide Angle, Sunday morning on Newstalk 106fm. Check details at www.newstalk106.ie

Meanwhile, the case against the five accused of the only attack to have actually taken place at Shannon Airport collapsed again when it emerged that the judge had attended Dubwa's first inaugeration in Washington. Stranger than fiction, you really couldn't make it up!

A group of anti-war polititians have called for all charges to be dropped. Senator David Norris quoted in the Irish Times www.ireland.com highlighted the bizarre hipocrocy of the State's position when he pointed out that a dent "in a death machine is more significant than the slaughter of innocents" referring to the civilian death toll in Iraq.

Ireland Legitimate Target????

2005-11-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

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