Fusion Issue 2

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contents interview cover story irish society & politics

business international

climate science & technology travel entertainment

sport

Gerry Ryan Interview No Season for Resignation Passport of Infamy?

Invisible Lives - Neglect of the Disabled Griffith College & the Civil War Sex, Slavery & Black Magic Irish Pride?

Tomas MacGiolla & the Workers Party Slow Boat to Nationalisation Debt Tsunami Threatens Unemployed The Boko Haram ‘Madness’ in Nigeria Power Sharing According to Robert Mugabe Oh, It’s Not the Pirates Life for Me Sri Lanka’s Silenced Minority Mexico at War The Price Of Free Speech President Palin?

Bringing Down the Walls Saving Greece Where is Iran’s Dissenting Voice?

Death of a Football Fan Boy Soldiers This is what Democracy Looks Like Engulfing the Irish Coast The Concern for CERN Does the iPad touch all the right buttons?

A Backpacker’s Guide to Columbia The Man Behind Avatar It Might Get Loud Machine Head / High on Fire Reviews Oxegen 2010 Preview ...now They Play Mafia Wars Are You a Musicals Kinda Guy? Tubridy’s Time?

Online Dating - Strong Compatibility = Deep Love An Octave Above the Rest JT & Tiger - Legends of the Fall Away With the Faroes

Editor

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Hope you enjoy this special double issue for March. We had so many stories, ideas and new themes running through February we decided we wouldn’t compromise with 1 small issue, rather we’d like to bring you a whopping 70 page Goliath of brilliant feature’s, breaking stories , and fresh opinions to kick-off our 2010 stream.

I think this issue is a testament to the skill and hard labour of a few willing journalism students, who met the challenge of writing the same quantity and quality journalism normally requiring the work of triple their staff.

I ask students again to pick up their pen and paper, their laptop or ipad (so help me God) and become active journalists now, not later. I hope the magazine has become a new forum for international voices, and a niche entertainment source for sports, political, and entertainment fanatics alike.

Special thanks to Anne Daly and her Griff Fm crew for adding allot of new voices and original themes to the mag. The Griff FM crew having come so far in the last year, bringing us original stories as they break for print and broadcast.

I hope we’ve pushed some nerves, entertained, and engaged new and existing readers with a mix-up of style, content and controversial issues.

Enjoy the double whammy issue and get writing for issue 3 and 4, time is short!!!

Brendan Kildea

Design & Layout

Colm McDermott

Chief Writers John Dorney Nicola Byrne David Claxton Sean Gildea Andrew Batare. Joseph Morgan Lidia Okorokova

Writers

Shane Quinn Kevin McClay Brendan Kildea Colm Gorey David Murphy James Ward Tatianna Valle Jonathan Keane Darren Cleary David Keohane Patrick Savage Oran Fitzpatrick Hugh Hick Ian Donegan Laura Delaney Oscar Long Maria Brundin Mathew McMahon Oscar Finn

Sub-editors

Oran Fitzpatrick Shane Quinn David Claxton Nicola Byrne Oisin Collins Jenny McShane Lidia Okorokova Brendan Kildea Elaine Yorke

Photography

Colm McDermott Colin O Hanlon Fintin Clarke ( Fingal independent ) Maria Brundin Annette B. Søreide

Thanks to contributors

Nicola Fitzpatrick Colin Foley Charlotte Clarke Karl English Gina Karoline Dalen Helen McEntee Conor Mcarthy Abe Neihum Gareth Hughes Rachel Brady Roseland Griffin Siobhan Worley Thomas Sporsheim Wayne Doyle

Thanks to Lecturers:

Anne Daly Barry Finnegan Alan Gill Ryan Brennan Sinead Murphy

Printers : Speciality Print Ltd. Fusion is Proudly Printed By

Keep reading.

BK Fusion is produced by the students of the Journalism & Media Faculty of Griffith College Dublin.

Magazine & Print Professionals Contact: russell@specialityprint.ie Fusion Magazine 3

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interview

Sex, politics and rock & roll.

Gerry Ryan talks about the early years.

By Nicola Byrne & Brendan Kildea

Photography by Elaine Yorke

What kind of mad stuff did you get up to in your college days?

Well, I was a legal science student in Trinity and was studying for solicitors in Blackhall Place.

So these were not internationally renowned for japery or wild activities. But what was good when I was in college, was that students protested at the drop of a hat. One of the most significant parts of the annual student calendar was the library occupation. I used to wonder how you decide to occupy the library or not, I remember the students union saying well you know, we have one every year; we always find a reason. That’s what was great about the 70s, you were always out protesting. Everyday there was some sort of political activism going on, it was really good craic and of course, a great opportunity to meet girls.

How do you think student activism has changed these days?

I think the most significant is that students are by virtue of student loans and shrinking job market. Sure I was in college in the 70s - it wasn’t exactly the boom years - we didn’t have a bad economy, we had no economy. But now, I think there is a much greater emphasis on material wealth and getting a good job. What was strong in my mind, was having a good time. I think a lot of the craic has gone out of being a student.

What do you think of the supposed ‘grade inflation’ in education at the moment?

It was a story waiting to happen. The reason people nowadays get straight As is because examiners have decided for some mad machiavellian reason, or because they’re on acid, to sort of upgrade them, and our first class honour degrees are given as some communist plot to undermine the economy; I think it’s bullshit!

How did you make your first step into radio?

Back in my student days, the students union in Trinity persuaded RTE to give us a community radio license during freshers’ week. This guy came in and basically gave us all a transmitter, the facilities and all the equipment and money to run the radio station. After that, I got involved in pirate radio, the only reason was for free records. You could basically go to the record warehouses once a week and fill a trolley full of albums. Unfortunately, I sold them all when I got married, we hadn’t enough to pay for the mortgage and they didn’t prove very useful. I’m really sorry I did that.

People always call you the shock jock of radio.

You’re outspoken, it’s a given.

My ambition was to present a type of programme where normal language was used and where everything you would normally discuss over a pint was also discussed. We used normal language and talked about sexuality and a lot of things including, women’s issues; I mean nobody talked about gynaecological issues in a normal open way on the radio. It was only something Marian Finucane would discuss on women’s hour.

We discussed a lot of issues surrounding sexual politics and health, and because this was happening in late 80s early 90s when Ireland was still very much a repressed society, I think that this did shock people and was considered ‘cutting edge’.

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interview

If you said ‘fuck’ on the radio it was like as if the heavens were gonna fall. They didn’t.

Obviously you’ve had tons of guests over the years. Who was the biggest arsehole?

The biggest ejit was Gilbert O’Sullivan. He was the most bitter and dire individual. There’s always people more difficult to deal with than others, but normally by the time they sit at the microphone they’ve adopted an attitude that’s self-promoting and when you’re promoting yourself - unless you’re psychotic - you’re generally going to behave yourself.

Who was the most interesting?

One of the most astonishing experiences I’ve ever had was two days after 9/11 in New York, we’d gone over to present radio programmes from ground zero. Manhattan had been evacuated, it was quite an extraordinary place. Alice O’Sullivan was working as a junior producer she rang me to ask if I could go around to Opia. She said that Hillary Clinton is here and wants to talk to you.

It was quite incredible, Hillary said maybe you might want to wait until the secret service bring my husband in. It was the first time on European radio that the two of them had been interviewed together. It was at the time when George Bush had just become President and Bush’s people were desperately trying to get Clinton out of Manhattan before they brought Bush back in, because Clinton was like Christ. People were like touching him, thinking that if we touch Bill everything’s going to be OK.

Speaking of George Lee, what’s your opinion on his resignation?

I think that George Lee was naïve. You go in as a back bencher, and as a back bencher in opposition, you are literally without testicles. That’s just a fact of life. Even in Government, back benchers are the work horses of a regime and only with time, patience and hopefully skill, you will eventually get anywhere. George should have waited around. I mean did he think that he was going to be brought up to cabinet? That’s not the way it works. The worst part about it is that the country has lost one of the most significant and important voices in terms of economic commentary. We can’t give him back his job as an economic correspondent, he can get back his job but it can’t be as that.

We heard you blew off an interview with Bertie Ahern…

He was Taoíseach at the time and he was to come in to talk about Budget, I think. It was just a programme consideration; the story was reported as if he was at the door and I told him to fuck off.

It just seemed more editorially appropriate to have George Lee discuss the issue than the Prime Minister of the Government that was presenting the budget. Bertie Ahern, Taoíseach or not, is one of the most difficult interviews. He is one of the best schmoozers in the business. That guy could avoid questions for Ireland, and did. He’s a brilliantly skilled politician when it comes to fielding questions, so you mightn’t necessarily get the interview you were looking for.

What was the inspiration for Operation Transformation?

It was a radio idea at first. In a nation where we have the highest childhood-obesity in Europe it was a bit of a no-brainer that people are obsessed with body-image and reality broadcasting, television particularly. We married it to television and subsequently to the internet. This time around, after 8 weeks we’ve had nearly 2.5 million hits on the website. Apart from raising the important issue of obesity in Ireland we’ve also learnt something in broadcasting. Radio is dead, television is dead, media is dead. What’s going to happen is your social networking, your music, your radio, your television; everything is going to come out of one pipe.

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cover story

No Season for Resignation

By James Ward

T

he Irish don’t do change well. Resignation to the status quo is a position we occupy readily; banking crisis, recession, or famine not withstanding. The sudden departure of George Lee from Fine Gael was the first of four political resignations in the space of a fortnight; reassuring a change-adverse public that reform of our political system is as distant a prospect as a Starbucks branch on Mars.

Lee- RTE’s former economics editor- arrived in Leinster House last June aboard a cloud of hyperbole, having gained 27,768 votes in a landslide South Dublin by-election. Those summer days on the campaign trail – George, like an over-sized Harry Potter raising the blood pressures of doeeyed yummy mummies – now seem incredible.

Echoes of Obama’s call for ‘change’ were easy to discern in George’s fluffy rhetoric. However, like the US President’s campaign message, Lee’s economic strategies were disconcertingly non-specific.

The Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, has made much his intentions to reform the political system; including his lambasted proposal to abolish Seanad Eireann. The wooing of pop-economist Lee suggested that the party possessed the vision to bring specific expertise to a forum often dominated by ex-school teachers or small town solicitors. In politics, where perception is everything, the onus was on Fine Gael to convince a jaded public that they could put the interests of the nation before the dynastic party system.

Even if Lee was little more than a puppet with no real policy forming clout; the public would, in theory, continue to trust in him as earnest George of ‘How We Blew The Boom’. Lee’s continued presence would serve to reinforce the party’s government-forming credibility – with George’s economic smarts in the cabinet, how could we go wrong? Taking on a celebrity candidate can have immediate electoral benefits in terms of recognition. However, the repercussions if things turn sour must be weighed up by any political party determined to be contenders.

Post resignation, Lee portrayed Fine Gael as internally disconnected and lacking in credible leadership. Enda Kenny cosseted - Mary Stuart like - with advisers. Richard Bruton: the party’s economics spokesman – himself an economist respected across the political spectrum – appeared self interested and insecure about Lee’s presence.

At a time when apathy was a virtual epidemic, fresh interest and hopes were invested in Lee. George symbolized a renewed belief in public service, self sacrifice and hard work. However, Lee was a poor investment for hope; he lacked a

Willie O’Dea’s unseemly ‘parish pump’antics and the sacrifice of Trevor Sargent ministerial career over a matter of constituency business, surely suggests that a reassessment of the role and responsibilities of national politicians is desperately needed.

realistic understanding of the structures of Irish party politics – just like Willie O’Dea. Green Politics has been heralded as possibly the defining political ideology of the 21st century.

Worryingly however, it would appear that Green principles and aspirations are easily forgotten in the arena of career politics. The Green Party is being attacked on this front, by an increasing array of sources. There were echoes of George Lee’s war stories in former Green Senator, Deirdre de Burca’s, justifications for resigning her seat last week.

The little known de Burca unceremoniously quit the party claiming she could no longer tolerate the compromising nature of its government partnership with Fianna Fail. Crucially, she had been denied the chance to work in Europe as part of the cabinet of the new EU commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. So much for the Green project, government stability and party loyalty; in Deirdre’s case, like Lee before her, the personal outweighed the political.

The Lee affair might well have wounded Enda Kenny’s leadership beneath the toga. However, inevitable death is probably a distance down the road yet. But as they say, a week is a long time in

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politics; the rest-bite that Lee’s resignation offered Fianna Fail from their troubles was short lived.

In retrospect the explosive resignation from office of Minister for Justice, Willie O’Dea, was the result of a political time-bomb. In March of 2009, O’Dea made defamatory statements regarding Limerick Sinn Fein local election candidate, Maurice Quinlivan, during a taped interview with Mike Dwane of the Limerick Leader. Mr. Quinlivin issued legal proceedings against the Limerick TD who subsequently swore an inaccurate affidavit regarding the now notorious interview. Mr. O’Dea subsequently accepted he had defamed the newly elected Sinn Fein Councillor and paid him the damages.

As late a fortnight ago, Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan raised the issue of O’Dea’s alleged perjury in the Seanad. The subsequent support of the Greens for O’Dea in a Dáil confidence motion, gave Deirdre de Burca’s Fianna Fail lap-dog claims cutting resonance. The removal of O’Dea became essential in order to preserve the Green party’s political credibility.

Willie O’Dea raged against the dying of the light – unsurprisingly using his confidence debate speech to attach Fine Gael. The political dominos

have fallen fast on Kildare Street. Within a week, the forced resignation of Green Junior minister Trevor Sargent is an event that even the most unlikely conspiracy theorist could hardly resist speculating upon.

In 2008 Sargent tried to influence the Gardaí to drop a prosecution on behalf of one of his constituents. Sargent’s ministerial demise is being viewed by some as further proof of a decline in Green standards – as claimed by de Burca.

Enda Kenny has repeatedly claimed that the Government is now so fractured that it is essentially rudderless. However, the Lee misadventure has only served – in the eyes of many - to highlight the outdated and institutional nature of thought among the political classes as whole. Willie O’Dea’s unseemly ‘parish pump’ antics and the sacrifice of Trevor Sargent ministerial career over a matter of constituency business, surely suggests that a reassessment of the role and responsibilities of national politicians is desperately needed.

A resigned Irish public might not generally favour the testing concept of change. However, a change in our political system is urgently needed if the mistakes of the last decade are to be learned from and never again repeated.

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irish society & politics

Passport of infamy?

By Dave Claxton

W

ith the assassination of Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai in January, Irish passports were said to have played a role in the killing. It was reported that four of the seven-person team had used Irish passports to enter and leave Dubai. This is not the first and will definitely not be the last time Irish passports will be used in murky events. The appeal of having an Irish passport seems never-ending to some.

There are numerous cases of Irish passports being used in illegal acts and by very dangerous people. One of the most famous concerns disgraced U.S. Marine, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.

North was heavily involved in the Iran-Contra scandal from the 1980’s. He used an Irish passport and the alias, “John Clancy” to successfully conduct negotiations with Iran in trying to release American hostages at the time. He would eventually be convicted on three felony counts, which would be vacated by 1990 thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Feared fugitive, Boston crime boss, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, (charged with killing 18 people) has also used an Irish passport to evade capture for over a decade.The Irish passport can be a very useful item to have in your back pocket it seems.

Why is this though?

After the 9/11 attacks, there was an upsurge in Americans applying for Irish passports. The application rate more than tripled. According to ancestry.com, this is because our passports are seen as “lowering the risk when travelling in areas of the world that are hostile to Americans”. The

US website also advises anyone with the required eligibility for an Irish passport to claim one. They state that terrorist kidnappings and attacks are less likely to occur among Irish citizens than Americans.

During Brian Keenan’s four years of captivity in Beirut, the most essential item he had was his Irish passport. The Irish government was able to use this to create close relations with Iran in trying to secure Keenan’s release.

Others have not been so lucky though. During the Iraq war, Ken Bigley was awarded an Irish passport in an attempt to have him released from his kidnappers. Ultimately, Bigley was murdered.

Before his death, his brother made a telling appeal.

“We have now proven Ken is Irish, I do not think even the baddest people would harm an Irish person,” he said. Margaret Hassan, another Irish citizen, was also murdered in Iraq despite having an Irish passport.

But overall, an Irish passport can be a good thing to have. The Times newspaper even went so far as to label our passports as “one of the most prized documents [to have] in the world’s trouble spots.”

During the filming of Miami Vice, Irish actor, Colin Farrell was asked how easy it really is to organise a fast boat to travel to Cuba from Miami (his character in the movie had done this), to which he replied, “It helps if you have an Irish passport”.

It appears that our neutrality, colonial history and the fact we have never invaded another country, means that our passports are worth much more than the paper (and now, computer chips) they are printed on.

CCTV Image of the ‘Hamas Killers’ checking into the Hotel in Dubai just hours before they assassinate a leading Hamas official.

(January 19, 2010)

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irish society & politics

Invisible lives - neglect of the disabled

By John Dorney

R

eports have emerged of an alarming trend of abuse of patients in care homes for the mentally disabled.

The story broke in early February after a prolonged investigation by Irish Times reporter Carl O’Brien. He looked into complaints by people with family members in such homes and found some troubling patterns.

Around 8,000 adults and 300 children with mental or intellectual disabilities live in staterun institutions. What O’Brien found was that over the last 2 years, there have been over 500 complaints about the care they had received. Of these, 14 related to physical or sexual abuse, the remainder complained of poor standards in care or neglect of patients.

As well as the actual abuse, there also signs that there has been a culture of ‘cover up’ within the institutions. For one thing, all such homes are run by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and it is also this body that looks into complaints. On top

As with many public projects in Ireland right now, solutions to the problem are hampered by a lack of public money.

of that, its records do not show the outcome of investigations into complaints.

Carl O’Brien speaking to Fusion, said this was, “an obvious conflict of interest”, as it was, “often not in the interests of the health authority to close down beds”. In other words, if the HSE was to close down a home that provided poor care, it would not only reflect badly on the HSE, but they would also be stuck with the headache of re-housing the patients.

According to O’Brien, this led to a situation where people, “were left very vulnerable to abuse, mistreatment or neglect”.

Two cases in particular give cause for concern.

In one, a care worker in Cork was investigated for physical assault, but instead of being fired, was transferred to work in a home in another part of the country. In Dublin, a worker who struck a disabled child was re-instated after an inquiry.

Such cases raise the question, are the institutions protecting themselves rather than those in their care?

As with many public projects in Ireland right

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irish society & politics

now, solutions to the problem are hampered by a lack of public money. The Government did consider creating an independent quality authority to oversee care institutions for the intellectually disabled last year, but decided against it because of a shortage of money.

Similarly, the HSE has recommended re-housing 4,200 (or over half) of those kept in permanent care. Large groups homes and psychiatric hospitals should be closed, the report stated, and replaced with smaller scale, “care in the community” homes. Again though, the cost may be prohibitive. It is estimated that the re-housing project would cost between €5-10 million.

The Ryan report, released last May, discovered tens of thousands of cases of abuse of children in state and Church run “industrial schools” over decades. Many of Carl O’Brien’s findings, though on a much smaller scale, echo those found in the Ryan report.

For instance, in both cases, there was no independent investigation of complaints. Secondly

Most disturbing were the instances where care workers suspected of physical abuse were simply transferred to other institutions

and perhaps most disturbing, were the instances where care workers suspected of physical abuse were simply transferred to other institutions in a way reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s transfer of priests accused of sexual abuse to other parishes.

When asked if he saw parallels between the two cases, Carl O’Brien replied, “Whenever you have an imbalance of power, as there was in Church-run institutions, people who held the keys of those institutions had fertile ground for abuse or mistreatment. People with intellectual disabilities were also placed in a very vulnerable position.”

It is important to stress though, he continued that although he had found some disquieting evidence, this did not apply to all care homes. “There are many homes where the standard of care is very good.

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irish society & politics

Griffith College and the Civil War

By John Dorney

I

n the grounds and rooms of Griffith College men were beaten, tortured and shot. This story is just one episode taken from the Irish Civil War, a vicious conflict that took place less than 90 years ago.

Any person strolling into Griffith College for the first time will be struck by the grey stone walls, its fortress-like square shape and the bars surrounding the windows. Most students may be aware it was once an Irish army barracks - a barracks that shrouds a bloody past. How many know that at the foundation of the Irish state, it was the scene, for a year, of bloodshed, torture, and murder?

Looking out over today’s peaceful campus (sometimes), it is hard to imagine Irish soldiers on parade were once mowed down by machine gun fire in the square, or that in one of the class rooms, the same soldiers beat Republican prisoners with rifles and bayonets. Or where there is now a national school, once there was a barbed wire cage, which held hundreds of internees.

But these things did indeed happen. The first year of Griffith Barracks being an Irish Army garrison coincided with the beginning of the Civil War here.

After three years of guerrilla warfare, the British granted unconditional independence to part of Ireland (26 out of 32 counties) – as the Irish Free State under the Anglo-Irish Treaty. However, most of the guerrillas who made this possible – the Irish Republican Army or IRA, rejected this compromise – holding out for a fully independent island.

On April 12 1922, British troops trudged out of the complex we study in today and Irish Free State troops marched in. It was not yet known as Griffith Barracks, but Wellington Barracks.

The Irish Times wrote of the barracks’ occupation, “there was a complete absence of the ceremonial and the formal handing over of the barracks [by the British Army] attracted little attention”.

The raw young recruits, many of them as young as 16 or 17, would probably have preferred it if they had been allowed to remain in quiet obscurity.

Instead, within days of the handover, the antiTreaty IRA attacked the barracks, spraying it with gunfire from the surrounding rooftops and hurling grenades at the gates. A total of five men were wounded in the skirmish. Not a Stalingrad by any means (and no Germans), but enough to draw the battle lines between the soldiers inside the barracks’ walls and the guerrillas who lurked in the streets outside.

In late June 1922, the undeclared civil war became official, when the Free State Government opened fire on the Republicans in the Four Courts.

Tom Ennis, the Commandant of Wellington Barracks, was in command of the Free State Government Troops who took the Anti-Treaty Republican’s position in Dublin.

Within a month, the original garrison was sent to different parts of the country to break up antiTreaty resistance. Soon soldiers’ bodies were being carried back to the Barracks for funerals.

In Dublin itself, the young soldiers in the

Anti-Treaty IRA troops in Grafton Street, June 1922.

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In one incident, a lorry heading back into Wellington barracks was ambushed

by Republicans at Curzon Street, just across the South Circular Road. The Republicans’ grenade missed the troops but landed in a newsagent and killed two civilians, one a girl of seven.

Wellington Barracks Dublin

barracks found themselves policing a restive population, without training or guidance. Some of them died in accidents, like Sean Sullivan, a Sergeant Major at only 16 years and 10 months who was accidentally shot by his own officer while trying to clear a street in north inner city.

And all the time, menacing the raw, nervy young men, was the threat of attack. Most days, the troops in Dublin were ambushed with a sudden volley of shots, or a grenade thrown at a passing troop lorry.

In one incident, a lorry heading back into Wellington barracks was ambushed by Republicans at Curzon street, just across the South Circular Road.

The Republicans’ grenade missed the troops but landed in a newsagent and killed two civilians, one a girl of seven. The troops chased their attackers down the red brick streets and after they had captured them, opened fire.

The Irish Civil War seems incomprehensible to us at this distance. Why, we tend to ask ourselves, were they killing each other over such a small difference of opinion? At the time though, it developed into a bitter vendetta, as each atrocity by one side was repaid with one from the other. In certain pubs in Dublin, you can still have a furious argument about who started it, or which side was worse. There is not much point in having this argument here. It is enough to say that both sides saw each other as traitors and fought a dirty war.

Wellington Barracks housed the Army’s Intelligence department, led by a man named Charlie

Dalton. Dalton had been an assassin for Michael Collins in the struggle against the British.

Dalton’s men raided houses used by suspected Republicans and brought them back for interrogation to Wellington Barracks. Some 140 prisoners were held behind barbed wire in the barracks and stories soon emerged of the treatment they were getting.

On Saturday September 30th, an urgent request was sent to nearby Mount Argus Church for a priest to see a prisoner, Fergus Murphy. He found him behind the barbed wire, badly beaten, “his head, from the eyes and ears upwards, was heavily bandaged. His eyes were blacked and twitching with pain. His face on both sides of the nose was also black. His right cheek was terribly swollen.”

Some of those taken to Wellington never came back at all. On October 6, 1922, Dalton arrested three youths (two of them were 17, one 16) in Drumcondra, putting up Republican posters and brought them to the Barracks for questioning. The following day their bodies were found at the Red Cow in Clondalkin, shot.

An inquest was held the following month, prosecution counsel asked for a verdict of murder to be brought against Dalton. The Jury, perhaps afraid of crossing the Army, declined.

Early on the morning of November 8, 1922, the Republicans made their most determined attack on Wellington Barracks during the Civil War. Around 100 soldiers were attending the morning parade, listening to the order of the day, when

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The storm of bullets also peppered a butcher’s van which was making its deliveries, killing their horse and mortally wounding the driver. they heard machine gun fire. At first they thought it was practice firing, until they saw spurts of dust springing up from the ground as the bullets landed around them.

The Republicans had occupied the upper stories and roofs of the houses across the canal, at the back of the barracks. From there, they raked the parade square with rifle and machine gun fire.

A total of 18 soldiers were hit. One was killed instantly and 17 badly injured. The only surprise is that more of them survived. The storm of bullets also peppered a butcher’s van which was making its deliveries, killing their horse and mortally wounding the driver.

The Republicans made their escape carrying two badly wounded men of their own. The Army later claimed the two were killed in the fire-fight.

Most of the attackers got away. But in the aftermath of the attack, the Free State soldiers managed to exact some revenge for the attack.

In sweeps of the immediate area, the Free State troops picked up another 20 or so Republican suspects. One of them was Frank Sherwin, aged 17.

Sherwin was marched to the barracks, where the relatives of the soldiers hurled insults at him, and

into the office of the Intelligence Department.

There, the soldiers punched and kicked him – trying to get the name of his commanding officer. He refused. They hit him in the head with a revolver and poked him with wire, jabbed him with a bayonet and stuck a rifle into his mouth.

They even produced a razor and threatened to cut the prisoner’s throat.

In the end they decided he wouldn’t talk and threw him back in with the other prisoners.

We know of Frank Sherwin’s experiences only because he later wrote a memoir.

The civil war came to an end several months later, in April 1923, when the Republicans abandoned their campaign and the Free State was fully established. Griffith Barracks got its name shortly after the event of November 1922. It remained an army barracks until the early 1990s.

For most of us who study here, such ancient hatreds seem a world away. Perhaps that is for the best. But maybe, as we go about our daily routine, we can remember something about the Barracks and the dark role it played in this painful episode in Irish history.

A rare still taken in 1922 during the Civil War.

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Sex slavery and black magic.

Thomas Carroll’s complex prostitution network unveiled

By John Dorney

L

ast February 4th, an Irish man, Thomas Carroll, was sentenced to seven years in prison in Wales for running 35 brothels throughout Ireland.

His operation was based in a string of provincial towns on both sides of the border – Cavan, Athlone, Drogheda and Waterford for example – and used over 70 women. The women themselves came from as far afield as eastern Europe, South America and west Africa.

Carroll’s enterprise was first discovered by Gardai in 2006, which caused him to re-locate to a house in Pembrokeshire, south Wales, from where he ran his business, via mobile phone and internet, across the Irish sea.

Carroll’s partner Shameila Clark was also jailed for three years, while his daughter, Toma, got a sentence of 2 years for money laundering. Over €1.1 million was found in her bank account, awaiting transfer to her father.

If this were an isolated case, the story might be left there. After all, the bad guy and his accomplices have been rounded up, his (admittedly large) illgotten gains confiscated. Of the women involved, 6 are in the care of Ruhama, a group which offers support to women involved in prostitution.

A happy ending surely?

However, this is far from an isolated case. In June of last year, the American State Department named Ireland, for the second year in a row, as a major destination for human trafficking and forced sexual labour.

Ireland was placed in the second of three tiers, the third being the worst and including countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Burma, North Korea and Sudan.

Ruhama’s spokesperson, Geraldine Rowely has stated that prostitution has experienced a “boom” in Ireland, over the last ten years or so especially using foreign women and advertising on the internet. In recent years, she states, Irish women too have been forced back, “on the game” by the recession. “It’s not easy money”, women tell the workers at Ruhama, “but it is quick money”.

Perhaps not since the “Monto” – the legendary red light district at the top of O’Connell street – was shut down in the 1930s has Ireland seen this level of sex for money. Back in the early years of the 20th century, the image of prostitution was of the “street walker”, who plied her trade from a corner or tenement building. Today’s equivalent is typically set up in an apartment, advertises over the internet and makes appointments by mobile phone.

As we can see from Thomas Carroll, there is big money in prostitution. Another man convicted of running a brothel in central Dublin in 2008, Martin Morgan, was said by the Judge to have made, “astronomical profits”.

So why should we care? Prostitution is, it often said, the oldest trade in the world. The women are selling a commodity for which there is obviously demand. Thomas Carroll told investigating Gardai that Ireland was, “a sex-starved country and always has been ... It [prostitution] saves rapes and child molestations. It gives people somewhere to go.” Those who co-ordinate their activities are apparently running successful businesses. Why not let them at it?

A closer look at the story of Thomas Carroll will give a different story, however. In the first place, one of the women found in Carroll’s brothels was just 15. Another was 16. The legal age for consensual sex in Ireland is 16.

Carroll’s enterprise was first discovered by Gardai in 2006, which caused him to re-locate to a house in Pembrokeshire, south Wales, from where he ran his business, via mobile phone and internet, across the Irish Sea.

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irish society & politics

Secondly, far from all of Carroll’s former employees were working as prostitutes by choice. All of the women came from relatively poor countries, via gangs of “human traffickers”. According to Geraldine Rowley of Ruhama, “these women appear to be consenting, they weren’t locked behind closed doors physically, but they were locked in fear”.

Many of the women paid large sums of money to trafficking gangs to come to Ireland on the understanding that they would work as cleaners, seamstresses or the like. They were then coerced into prostitution. One way of doing this was to tell the women on arrival that they owed up to €70,000 to the traffickers which they would have to pay off. If they did not, their families would take the consequences.

Many of the women paid large sums of money to trafficking gangs to come to Ireland on the understanding that they would work as cleaners, seamstresses or the like.

They were then coerced into prostitution.

The Nigerian women were entrapped by sinister and – to us – bizarre means. Before leaving for Ireland, the women were made to take a ritual oath of loyalty to the traffickers. This involved a ceremony involving dead chickens and menstrual blood.

The upshot was, says Geraldine Rowley, that, “the women really, really believed that if they broke their oath, something would happen to them or their families”.

In short, Thomas Carroll’s operation was sustained by working with brutal gangs, who at best used illegal methods to transport women into Ireland and at worst, coerced women into prostitution by threats and physical violence.

Susan McKay of the National Women’s Council of Ireland is adamant that, “prostitution is not a career choice. It is something that ruins women’s lives”.

Both she and Ruhama advocate the criminalization of men paying for sex. Currently, prostitution is not a crime in Ireland, but “pimping”, soliciting and advertising it is. They claim that in countries like Norway Sweden and Iceland, illegalization of purchasing sex has helped reduce prostitution.

For the sake of balance, it should be noted that not all prostitutes are either trafficked illegally or coerced. Some do it voluntarily for whatever reason. However, above all, the sex industry in Ireland is based on the importation of vulnerable women from poor countries by very ruthless people.

Infamous brothel king Thomas Carroll being escorted from court following multiple convictions in January for his massive Irish brothel network.

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irish society & politics

I

reland looks set to push ahead with a Civil Partnership Bill. The Bill gives same sex couples the chance for civil partnership but not full civil marriage.

This distinction is seen as unsatisfactory by many within the gay community of Ireland. At last June’s Dublin Pride march, a copy of the Bill was ripped up by Anna McCarthy of the protest organisation, LGBT Noise. She went on to say, “Civil partnership will officially make us second class citizens in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of society.”

Others agree with the idea of civil partnership being a tiered form of marriage. Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty’s Irish section, believes that “failure to provide full marriage equality means that same-sex couples will not have full protection under the law.” Mr. O’Gorman, a gay man with two children, continued, “In effect, it is creating a second-class form of marriage for what the Government clearly feels is a secondclass group of citizens.”

Meanwhile, the Irish catholic church, as to be expected, strongly opposes any measures to recognise and safeguard same sex relationships. Bishop Christopher Jones believes that the “Government must never introduce any form of legislation that could possibly undermine the importance and significance of marriage and family life in our country.”

Another argument has been the possibility that certain religious orders that refuse to perform a civil partnership ceremony should be sued or prosecuted under the new law. Cardinal Sean Brady states that this would be “an alarming attack on the fundamental principle of freedom of religion and conscience.” He feels that people who could possibly be sued are only “upholding their belief that marriage is an institution exclusively for men and women.” The church’s other main concern seems to be the status of children with gay

The Bill does not recognize that children must be provided for if a partnership dissolves.

It does not provide for the birth expenses or funeral expenses of dependent children. If you do not make a will, your children will not inherit what is due to them.

Irish Pride?

By Dave Claxton

Newly-weds celebrating Argentina’s first gay marriage.

parents, which is quite stunning considering their blatant disregard for children’s welfare.

So what, if any, are the major differences between a civil partnership and a civil marriage that seems to arouse such passions?

The most important issue seems to be that civil partnership is only for same-sex couples while marriage is only for opposite-sex couples.

This allows the government to give a wide range of rights to one section of society and much more restricted rights to another section.

This issue is best illustrated when looking at the rights civil partnership couples will have with regard to children, compared to married couples.

According to Colm O’Gorman, the Bill’s most serious weakness is that it fails to provide for the children of gay couples. “A same-sex couple will not be allowed to jointly adopt their children. Children raised by same-sex couples will be denied the same protection as other children because the Irish Government chooses not to acknowledge their existence and denies their rights,” he said.

Maybe the problem is the people in charge of enacting laws are out of touch. Remember that Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, the man in charge of trying to get this Partnership Bill signed into law, has had a checkered past regarding gay issues. The Minister strongly agreed with Brendan McGahon when discussing homosexuals in Ireland during a 1993 Dail debate. McGahon ranted that homosexuality “[is] an abnormality .Homosexuality is a departure from normality and while homosexuals deserve our compassion, they do not deserve our tolerance.”

Whatever the problem seems to be with our country when concerning this matter, it must be addressed as soon as possible or one section of our society will continue to be treated as second class citizens based solely on their sexual orientation.

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irish society & politics

Tomas MacGiolla, the Official IRA and the Workers Party

By John Dorney

T

omas MacGiolla died last month and the Official IRA gave up their remaining weapons.

These two facts probably don’t mean much to most people today. Who was Tomas MacGiolla?

What is the “Official” IRA? What is the connection between the two? For many people, these questions are meaningless. But taken together, they represent the closing of an important chapter in recent Irish history.

Tomas MacGiolla was a senior figure in Republican politics as far back as the 1950s. He was a member of both Sinn Fein and the IRA and was involved in an illfated campaign of guerrilla warfare known as the “Border Campaign” against Northern Ireland from 1958-1962. Subsequently, he was part of a group at the head of the Republican movement who wanted to move away from “armed struggle” and to build a socialist-Republican party.

This story may still seem incredibly obscure to most readers. What difference did it make what inside politics an armed Irish Republican group had in the 1960s? The answer is that, in Northern Ireland at least, it made quite a bit of difference.

The Official IRA, of which Tomas MacGiolla was Chief of Staff, had thought long and hard about why there was partition in Ireland and how to end it. What they came up with was a Marxist analysis – it suited capitalist on both sides of the border to keep the working class divided by religion and nationalism.

The Official IRA, of which Tomas MacGiolla was Chief of Staff, had thought long and hard about why there was partition in Ireland and how to end it. What they came up with was a Marxist analysis – it suited capitalist on both sides of the border to keep the working class divided by religion and nationalism.

What a truly revolutionary party should do, they argued, was unite Catholic and Protestant workers in common cause and then pursue a united Ireland. The upshot of this was that the use of violence was counter-productive – it would only divide Catholics and Protestants more and would be irrelevant to the lives of people in the south.

The situation in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s shouldn’t be over-simplified. It was not either faction of the IRA that began the street violence which broke out in 1969. That was started by loyalist mobs, in some cases aided by the police, who burnt out hundreds of Catholic homes in Belfast. In fact, both IRAs’ first actions were basically defensive, trying to defend Catholic areas from attack. One of the “Provisional’s’ ” complaints against the old IRA leadership was that the “Official” IRA had failed to protect their community.

But Republicans did have a choice in how to respond to violence.

The Official IRA, who chose to call off their armed campaign in 1972, would intensify sectarian divisions and were responsible for 52 deaths in the Northern Ireland conflict. The Provisional IRA, who waged their armed struggle up to 1994,

OPPOSITE ABOVE:Tomás Mac

Giolla (25 January 1924 – 4 February 2010) was a TD and member of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers’ Party of Ireland.

LEFT&OPPOSITE: IRA propoganda

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irish society & politics

The idea, even in post Celtic Tiger Ireland, of the red flag flying over Leinster House seems almost science fiction.

And of course, this never quite happened. The Workers’ Party became a significant force in Irish politics, but never a major one.

was responsible for over 1,800 deaths. The figures tell a stark story.

It makes no sense to paint the Official Republican movement as saints.

Throughout the 1970s and 80s they used their guns on political rivals and sometimes for bank robberies to fund their party. They got support and money and even guns from the communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe. They supported things like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and condemned democratic movements against communism like the Polish Solidarity.

One of their senior figures, Sean Garland, is currently wanted by the US for helping to circulate forged American dollars for North Korea.

The story of Tomas MacGiolla and the Official republicans doesn’t end there, though. In the south of Ireland they tried to build what was, effectively, a communist party. In 1977, they dropped the name “Sinn Fein” and adopted “Sinn Fein the Workers’ Party”. Later still this became simply The Workers Party. In the 1980s, they had a fair degree of success – having 7 TDs elected to the Dail in 1989. MacGiolla himself was elected in North Dublin. Later still he became Lord Mayor of the Dublin.

The idea, even in post Celtic Tiger Ireland, of the red flag flying over Leinster House seems almost science fiction. And of course, this never quite happened. The Workers’ Party became a significant force in Irish politics, but never a major one.

In 1992, most of their TDs wanted to dump the now redundant communist ideology and to sever whatever links remained with the armed group of the Official IRA. They left to form Democratic Left.

Later again they merged with the Labour Party.

Tomas MacGiolla stayed with what was left of the Workers’ Party and as old age overtook him, faded out of public life.

So the Official Republican movement and the Workers Party are now history, buried with Tomas MacGiolla and the Official IRA’s rusty weapons.

Their path, had they succeeded in persuading more people to follow it, may have left Ireland a very different place than it is today, for better or for worse.

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business

Slow Boat To Nationalisation

By Joseph Morgan

T

he original report recommending NAMA as a strategy for removing toxic loans from the major Irish banks was written

by Dr Peter Bacon over a year ago. Other than railroading the legislation through with their majority vote and setting up a NAMA board, there has been little real progress by the government since then.

None of these toxic loans have yet been transferred to NAMA, the European Commission has still not confirmed that they will accept its business plan and there is no sign whatsoever of it achieving it’s primary object: getting credit flowing into the real economy again and advancing loans to businesses and individuals.

It is still accurate to describe the banks’ balance sheets as ‘distressed’ given that they continue to hold thousands of impaired loans and that they lack sufficient capital to function to a point where they could aid an economic recovery in Ireland.

The government has already pumped in €7 billion in recapitalisation to these banks and according to the investment bank Morgan Stanley, is likely to need to find an additional €9 billion in further bank bailouts once the loans have been transferred to NAMA. Although the banks (and the government) are suggesting that they could raise this additional capital requirement from private investors, this is very unlikely to happen until these toxic assets have finally been removed from their balance sheets. Even then, canny international investors may not want to put money into the Irish banking sector and the government will have to pick up the bill, increasing their ownership of the banks.

There have also been a couple of interesting twists in recent weeks. The first being a Freedom Of Information request (made by the Irish Times) discovered that the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) had told Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in April 2009, almost a year ago, that NAMA was unlikely to achieve its primary objective of releasing credit into the economy.

Unfortunately, this news came out on the same day that George Lee resigned from the Dail and was largely ignored. It begs the question as to why the government would go ahead with a scheme when an august body such as the IMF were telling them it wouldn’t achieve what they hoped it would achieve – or at least, what they were saying in public that it would achieve.

Then, just a few days ago, we learned that the Bank of Ireland (BOI) would not be paying the €250 million interest on the recapitalisation money put in so far. As an alternative to cash, which had been expected, they have now issued shares to the government amounting to nearly 16

Nama will shape the economy for years to come but there is hardly a sign of it achieving its primary object: getting credit flowing

percent of the company. Since then, shares in BOI have fallen by over 12%, further diluting the value of that repayment.

These shares were issued despite the National Treasury Chief Executive John Corrigan and the Finance Minister both saying just a couple of days before it happened that they could wait to collect the cash dividend. Unfortunately, BOI’s own bylaws required it to issue shares if it couldn’t make the cash payment. It would appear that John Corrigan and the Finance Minister didn’t actually know that shares were going to be issued and makes you wonder just whether anyone knows what is really going on.

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) are due to make a similar payment in May this year but is also likely to follow the same route as BOI and issue shares instead of paying cash to the Exchequer, further increasing the government’s shareholding in AIB. Having rejected temporary nationalisation of the banks a year ago, the government seems to be on a course to get to nationalisation by the slowest and most expensive route available. And we will still end up with NAMA and all the potential horrors that may yet bring to the Irish taxpayer if these toxic loans never recover even their face value.

It all seems reminiscent of a joke that was once heard about Iceland: Q: How do you buy a small bank in Ireland?

A: Buy a big one and wait.

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business

Debt Tsunami Threatens Unemployed Unemployed and struggling with the mortgage?

If sub-prime mortgages from the USA caused the initial earthquake in the global financial system, it may be ordinarily sound domestic mortgages that provide the aftershock, writes JOSEPH MORGAN

T

he website halfaloaf.ie was set up in 2009 as a networking forum for the unemployed. Given the way unemployment has increased by over 200,000 in the past year, and is predicted to rise by at least another 80,000 in 2010, it was a timely launch. According to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures, the number of claimants is now 436,936.

Some of the financial consequences of this are becoming more apparent. Many Irish banks are starting to reveal the growing number of mortgages reported to be in arrears. Permanent TSB reported that bad loans rose from €15 million to €189 million in the first half of 2009. Within the past few days, Ulster Bank reported that 3.3 percent of its mortgage book is over ninety days in arrears. These small banks are the tip of the iceberg.

Given the push by government, financial institutions and even family to persuade people to buy their own homes in the past 20 years, it would be conservative to assume that only half of those who lost their job in the past year have a mortgage and that only half of those who will lose their job in 2010 have a mortgage. Hard data on this is difficult to find in Ireland.

Let’s say, conservatively, that 170,000 may be unemployed with a mortgage in 2010. That figure seems reasonable at less than one third of the total unemployed by the end of the year. If the average

mortgage is around €200,000 then we are looking at a total of mortgages supported by no income at somewhere around the €34 billion mark; a big hole in Irish banks’ balance sheets.

This may all sound like a “back of an envelope calculation” but that would seem to be in the right region given that, according to Central Bank figures, there is a total of over €113 billion in mortgages owed in Ireland. A further sensibility check is that in the first six months of 2008 more than 63,600 new mortgages were issued with an overall value of €13.8 billion.

At current interest rates, the average mortgage of €200,000 gives monthly repayments in the region of €1,100 depending on the type of mortgage and who the lender is.

The nightmare scenario must be getting fired from what you thought was a safe job with the bank, seeing your mortgage payments increase as interest rates rise and then having your house repossessed by your ex-employer.

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business

After several benefit payment cuts in 2009, with more planned in 2010, the basic unemployment benefit for people of working age is €196 per week. Depending on the claimant’s family circumstances they can claim €130 per week for their partner and €29 for each child. With the best will in the world, this amount is not going to pay a mortgage of €200,000 let alone put food on the table.

There is a means tested benefit that provides short term support to help with mortgage interest repayments. It appears to be very difficult to obtain and “short term” seems to be poorly defined. In a written reply in July 2009, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin confirmed that only 12,500 people were receiving it.

If so many people have insufficient help to pay their mortgage when they lose their job, or are only able to pay until their savings run out, there is going to come a point where they can’t pay. That tipping point seems to be approaching fast.

Nobody seems to know just how widespread this problem is: what the best and worst case scenarios are after redundancy payments and savings have been spent and there is no public money left to help after NAMA bailouts and more bank recapitalisation.

Other factors that may make the situation worse include: the certainty that interest rates will rise soon and increase monthly repayments; additional taxes such as property tax and water rates being applied to the unemployed; more benefit cuts and moving from deflation to inflation.

MABS (Money Advice and Budgeting Service) are believed to be dealing with more than 30,000 cases of people struggling to pay their mortgage.

Minister Hanafin announced in August 2009 that 19 MABS offices around the country would

get additional staff to help deal with the increasing demand. These additional advisors will bring to 271 the number of money advice staff working in 65 locations around the country. Perhaps even the government now recognise that it is a growing problem.

It is surprising that neither the Finance Minister nor the main banks have raised any red flags over this issue. It is noted though that the legislation for NAMA is quite vague about what types of loans can be taken in. Is NAMA also going to become a depositary for these mortgages in order to further protect the banks?

If not, then post-NAMA we may see a new Irish landlord class as banks that are currently being bailed out (and will be free of toxic debt and obligations to the government) could well end up owning billions of Euros worth of repossessed homes, after the recession in Ireland takes its toll on low paid and unemployed mortgage holders.

There is also the fear that many more jobs may be shed in the financial services sector in 2010, adding to the unemployment figures, once the banks have obtained everything they think they are likely to get from the government and then feel free to do as they please.

The nightmare scenario must be getting fired from what you thought was a safe job with the bank, seeing your mortgage payments increase as interest rates rise and then having your house repossessed by your ex-employer. It is a plausible scenario.

If Ireland is floating in a sea of toxic debt, then mortgages currently held by the unemployed may yet be the tsunami that sinks either our society or the banking system. Would you bet against the banks making sure they are in the lifeboats first?

This may all sound like a “back of an envelope calculation” but that would seem to be in the right region given that, according to Central Bank figures, there is a total of over €113 billion in mortgages owed in Ireland.

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international

The

Boko

Haa rm

‘Madness’

in Ni geir a

By Andrew Batare

Few people could have imagined that differences in religion could lead to such wanton destruction of lives and property.

S

ince independence from Britain in 1960, religious crises have become a regular occurrence in Northern Nigeria. This has become a very big embarrassment to the 150 million citizens of Africa’s most populous nation.

Radical Islamists advocate the introduction of Sharia Law which had already been adopted in 12 out of the 36 States in Nigeria, all of them in the predominantly Muslim north.

In December 1980, there was violence in Kano, a north western city, when an Islamic sect named Maitatsine tried to enforce their brand of Islam. In that crisis alone, 4,177 lives were lost and a great deal of property was destroyed. The Kano incident stands out for being the first religious crisis that took a huge toll on human lives and property. Few people could have imagined that differences in religion could lead to such wanton destruction of lives and property. Worryingly, this nightmarish scenario has become more commonplace.

More religious riots followed in December 1994, May 1995, July 1999 and October 2001.

There have been bloody upheavals, costing hundreds of lives, over such apparently trivial things as the staging of Miss World in Abuja in 2002 and the Danish cartoons of Mohammed in 2006.

In July, 2009 the Boko Haram riots broke out.

In the Hausa Language of Northern Nigeria, Boko Haram translates to Western education is a sin.

The uprising was led by a 32- year-old man called Mohammed Yusuf. He was arrested while hiding in a goat pen and was later executed while in custody in controversial circumstances when security men went on the offensive in their bid to nip the conflict in the bud.

The rioting began in Bauchi town when the police arrested a Boko Haram member for incitement to violence. It soon spread across to Maiduguri and other predominantly Muslim states, sparking ferocious violence between Christians and Muslims. Over 1000 lives were lost in this conflict, which forced more than 4000 to flee their

homes. In addition to the deaths, many businesses and homes were burnt down.

The group was anti western education and culture. They proclaimed western values and practices as un-Islamic and that they were characterised by homosexuality, pornographic films, prostitution and consumption of alcohol.

Hundreds died in the fierce battle between the militant group and Nigerian government forces.

After the fighting, the police and military were shown carrying out a massacre of suspected militants. These “suspects,” some of them deformed men on crutches, were then ordered to lie face down and shot at close range.

The police did this disdainful and shameful act in the belief that their crime would go unnoticed, despite the fact that it was done in public.

Why should the police who are paid with tax payers’ money to protect lives, property and maintain law and order, kill Yusuf and hundreds of his followers? The Nigerian police and army have been notorious for extra-judicial killings, in the last few years. Often, they kill at will and get away with these murders scot-free. The impunity of the security forces to execute citizens at random is one of the most disturbing features of the violence.

The root causes of religious riots in Nigeria are poverty, ignorance, hatred, frustration, tribalism and politics.

Ironically, one of the reasons that the Boko Haram rioted and fought for can also be one of the solutions to Northern Nigerian religious crises.

Exposure to western education will obviously reduce this problem because educated people can make a better society. A high level of illiteracy is a damaging factor which constitutes a danger to the development of Nigeria because it makes it possible for people to be used for religious killings due to ignorance and a lack of education.

Nigerian leaders, for their part, need to tackle the vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance and unemployment among young people and re-evaluate human worth and scrutinise every single institution of governance in public life.

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international

Power ‘Sharing’ According to Robert Mugabe

By Andrew Batare

R

obert Gabriel Mugabe’s coming to power in 1980 was welcomed, as Zimbabweans anticipated peace and co-operation after decades of colonial rule and a bitter civil war.

Taking the helm of the newly renamed nation (from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe), he was quickly elevated to the ranks of international statesmen.

However, he later became a political burden on his people due to the country’s failing economy, with inflation and unemployment soaring to record levels.

Raised and educated as a Roman-Catholic, Mr Mugabe became a committed Marxist during the guerrilla war against the white minority ‘Rhodesian Front’ government of Ian Smith.

Taking power on a wave of popular support, his early political promises of reconciliation and democracy were later overtaken by a strong authoritarian streak and a deep mistrust of opposition.

In the early 1980s, Mugabe moved to eliminate opposition to his rule among the Matabele people.

Mugabe himself is Shona. Several thousand died as a result of repression by the Army and foodshortages caused by seizures.

The other, and more recent target of Mugabe’s ire have been the big landowners; mostly white and descended from British colonists. Since around 2000, Mugabe’s supporters and veterans of the war of independence have occupied the big farms and expelled their owners. The stated reason for their seizure is to reverse the effects of colonialism and to return land to the Africans. In fact, many say that Mugabe has used the land issue to mobilise and reward his supporters.

Until recently, Mr Mugabe had always been able to stifle political opposition. His ZANU-PF party still dominate what is virtually a one-party state, occupying 147 out of the country’s 150 parliamentary seats.

To end the political deadlock, the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), under Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to take part in a power-sharing government with the ruling ZANUPF party of Robert Mugabe, last September. The deal was brokered by ex-South African President, Thabo Mbeki. Under the power-sharing deal, Mugabe continues as president with Tsvangirai in the post of prime minister.

The power-sharing deal, which ended months of post-election violence against opposition supporters became a farce as disagreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai continued. Mugabe refused to appoint some of Tsvangirai’s allies to senior government posts accusing him of failing to convince the West to lift sanctions it imposed

It is obvious in Zimbabwe that the power-sharing deal from last year seemed to be worth less than the paper it was printed on; just like the Zimbabwean currency.

Robert Mugabe leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front

on Zimbabwe in 2002 following a spate of human rights abuse and a rigged election.

It is obvious in Zimbabwe that the power-sharing deal from last year seemed to be worth less than the paper it was printed on; just like the Zimbabwean currency. Perhaps the concept of powersharing will serve a good purpose in Zimbabwe. I say possibly, because it is yet to prove useful.

Power-sharing can be a means to create a platform for a change process, and that is its main positive value. Therefore, what matters is that actual change is brought about. In the case of Zimbabwe, I think it is only providing a temporary refuge from political and social meltdown; it is just one step back from the brink.

So, is the concept of power sharing good or bad for Zimbabwe? The answer is that it is good if it delivers positive change and that it is bad if it cements status quo. If we are genuinely concerned for democracy and development in Zimbabwe, we simply must watch closely to see if it does lead to meaningful change or not. That’s where our focus needs to be.

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international

Oh, it’s -

not

- the pirates life for me.

By Lidia Okorokova

J

ohnny Depp’s character Jack Sparrow from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” is so charming and mysterious. Is this how we see pirates? No, he lives in Hollywood, not the real world.

Meanwhile, pirates are a living reality of the twenty first century. Some would think they are the hackers on the WEB, or those who copy music/ movie CDs. Meet Somalis, the twenty first century pirates, people who have been forced to become the worst of fishermen in order to survive.

Twenty five years ago most of Somali males were fishermen fishing in the nearest waters close to their homeland. They would sell the fish and make money to provide their families with food and shelter. But now, thanks to oil companies and capitalist ideologies all this has changed.

Somalia is one of the unstable states in Africa, having received full independence from Great Britain and Italy in 1960, then from France in 1977, the state entered a phase of constant government overthrowing and war.

Somalia is considered as one of the poorest countries in the world with people living on less than 2 dollars per capita a day.

In 1980s the state government sought humanitarian help from the UN, receiving it promptly from the USSR, Sweden, Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

Between 1986 and 1991, when Somali people began receiving the humanitarian aid from the European and Asian countries a civil war broke out.

This constant conflict has been raging ever since, forcing many eligible men to become pirates.

Illegal fishing by other countries and dumping of the toxic waste on the shores of Somalia have caused a disaster that now, most of the powerful countries are trying to deal with by using military strength.

On the 8th of December 2009, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev proposed changes to the Russian constitution to delegate him authority to use military abroad. Eight days later the changes have been unilaterally approved by the Federation Council.

Article 102, paragraph “d” of the Russian Constitution says “the jurisdiction of the Federation

The world’s leading countries have little understanding of the situation in Somalia they see piracy as a threat to peace for the international community.

Council shall include... making decisions on the possibility of the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation”.

This meant to be a decision made by the representatives of all Russian people, but now just one person holds this right, and it is the president.

This law regulates the use of the military against the terrorists, pirates and by enforcing the safety of the Russian citizens abroad.

Here one of the main points is piracy. Russian president Medvedev’s action should not be seen as something extraordinary but as series of actions by many powerful states.

The US, Denmark and even China have joined a military campaign against the Somali pirates.

These states see former fishermen as a threat to the merchant ships as well as private boats.

Somali pirates have no other choice but fight against the so-called coalition forces and seize as many ships as possible, being treated by the world’s leading countries as the worst of men in the sea.

They kidnap people and demand ransoms, there is a well-known case of Chandlers, a British couple captured by the pirates in November 2009, the pirates are asking for some seven million dollars and will probably not back off and let them go until it’s fully paid. It is estimated that pirates hold as many as two hundred people captive and have ten ships in hand.

On the 24th of February, 2010 a Russian military ship, “Marshal Shaposhnikov”, set sail to the Gulf of Eden to help other international forces fight the piracy.

The world’s leading countries have little understanding of the situation in Somalia. They see piracy as a threat to peace for the international community and give little thought to the fact that it started after they have left this small country without its only source of income – fish.

It’s very unlikely that Russia, the US, China, Denmark or other European countries will help the political situation in this country as they have used such preventive measures as changes to the constitutions and expansion of the armed forces presence in the water area of Somalia.

David Friedman, an American political scientist once said that “the direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem; it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.”

That is exactly what is happening now with Somali pirates – force against force, but the international community forgets that these men are left with little choice but to become the worst dream of any fisherman - pirates.

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Sri Lanka’s Silenced Minority

By David Keohane

Y

our correspondent arrived in Sri Lanka last year just after the final defeat of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).

Vast numbers of Tamils, the minority ethnic group in Sri Lanka, were being held in containment camps throughout the war-torn north and the ranks of the army were being swelled as the government sought to tighten its hard-won control of the country.

For the Sinhalese, who comprise the majority of Sri Lankans, the future seemed incomparably brighter as new roads weaved through the countryside and jobs and investment returned. A feeling of relief and confidence was apparent. For the Tamils, both within the camps and without, the future was still murky.

Six months later and not all that much has changed. The camps may be almost empty- due to incessant international pressure- but the Tamil minority still faces an uncertain path. President Rajapaksa, the man who defeated the LTTE, was re-elected on the 26th of January despite a strong challenge from his warwinning general, Mr. Fonseka. Mr. Rajapaksa won with 58% of the vote but not much of that support came from the Tamil community; General Fonseka won 64% of the vote in Jaffna, the Tamils northern capital and 76% of the vote in Tamil dominated central Colombo.

For the Sinhalese, who comprise the majority of Sri Lankans, the future seemed incomparably brighter as new roads weaved through the countryside and jobs and investment returned. A feeling of relief and confidence was apparent.

It is not surprising that the Tamil people voted for the challenger, General Fonseka. The Tamils have been treated deplorably throughout the countries history and can not be expected to side with the establishment, even when the alternative is the general who, so recently, decimated their homelands.

And, in keeping with history, Tamil concerns do not seem to feature highly on the newly re-elected President’s agenda. Years of repression by the Sinhalese majority have lead for Tamil calls for some level of independence from the state. Whether the Tamil’s quest for an autonomous or semi-autonomous home is in the long-term interests of the country is unclear. What is certain is that the Tamil’s must be afforded assurances as to their political and social future. A dialogue must be opened.

The president, however, does not seem interested. Mr. Rajapaksa doesn’t view a devolution of power as a solution explaining that “Sri Lankans are not worried about these things, they are only for outsiders and NGOs with nothing better to think about”. The question is a non-starter and there does not appear to be much room for discussion.

How are the Tamils to avoid being subjugated by the tyranny of the majority? How are their concerns to be aired? If they are pushed to the margins politically again Sri Lanka as a whole will suffer. Their turn towards violence can only be understood when viewed alongside their marginalisation both politically and economically.

In a truly fair society no group should be denied political voice. The media should be the guardians of this principle- it is their job to make the voiceless heard. The Sri Lankan media are plainly not up to this task. In a properly operating democracy the media would be under an obligation to air the Tamils grievances and expose the layers of bias and nepotism that have lead to this island being riven so many times. But, on an island roughly the same size as Ireland, the Sri Lankans in the south have very little idea about what is happening in the north. Last summer this writer spoke to many Sri Lankans in the southern towns of Galle and Hambantota who

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had only the vaguest impressions of a war that had garnered so much attention internationally.

Those that fully comprehended the conflict did so on a very surface level and did not appreciate the underlying causes. This deficit of information seems to have only worsened since the war’s end.

President Rajapaska has been cracking down on the media since his re-election. Human Right Watch, an international non-governmental organisation that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, has reported that since the presidential election Sri Lankan authorities have detained journalists, blocked news websites, and expelled a foreign journalist. At least one journalist has been assaulted and several have been threatened. As Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said, “Sri Lanka prides itself as a functioning democracy. Yet media freedom, a vital pillar of democracy, has increasingly come under attack.”

The LTTE were an appalling group. They famously pioneered the idea of ‘suicide bombing’ and terrorised the country, including their own, mostly self-appointed, wards for many years under the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran, a man whose viciousness was legendary. The government’s campaign against them was warranted and needed. The tactics used during the campaign were not. That said, their destruction has improved life on the island for all its citizens. Sri Lankans can now travel and go about their daily lives in safety. The multiple road blocks and check points, while they remain, are a small price to pay for that luxury.

However, the destruction of the LTTE removes a symptom only. A cancerous divide still exists in Sri Lankan society.

A refusal to engage politically with the Tamil community risks halting the healing process that has begun on the island.

The Tamil community needs to be able to trust the their government and believe that their many legitimate political grievances will be heard. If the Tamil people are denied representation and a political voice a return to violence is possible. If they are pushed to the margins again Sri Lanka as a whole will suffer. That would truly be a tragedy.

Since the presidential election Sri Lankan authorities have detained journalists, blocked news websites, and expelled a foreign journalist. At least one journalist has been assaulted and several have been threatened.

OPPOSITE: Sarath Fonseka, former commander and General of the Sri Lanka Army and a former candidate for President of Sri Lanka.

BELOW: Mahinda Rajapaksa (left), the current President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

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Mexico at War

By Seán Gildea

M

exican drug cartels rule the streets of Mexico with their power corrupting police, army and government officials. Drug-related murders are a daily occurrence but those who stand up to the gangs are likely to be gunned down along with their families.

The Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez is one of the most dangerous cities in the world as a bloody war rages between drug bosses and security forces. Thousands have lost their lives as a result of the United States backed war on drugs, and despite their insistence that strong enforcement is the only policy against the drug cartels, it is clear both the Mexican and US governments are fighting a difficult battle. What is needed is a change in policy as corruption and violence are continuing to tear this great country apart.

At the beginning of February, 16 students aged between 15 and 20 were killed in Ciudad Juárez, but this is just another day in the city worst affected by Mexico’s aggressive war on drugs.

Ciudad Juárez currently has the highest murder rate on the planet - outside of an official war zone – in reality, Ciudad Juárez is a war zone.

Since President Felipe Calderon declared a war on drugs in December 2006, Mexico has experienced over 17,000 drug related deaths. That death toll supersedes the number that has perished in the Afghanistan conflict.

Up to half of these deaths can be accounted for in Ciudad Juárez. Last year alone, the city was the scene of over 2,600 drug-related deaths. Murder is a daily occurrence in the city of 1.3 million inhabitants, as drug cartels fight each other for control of the lucrative drug corridors into the United States, all the while trying to hold off the US backed security forces.

Increased military presence has done little to hamper violence in the city. Shootings are still regular occurences despite over 10,000 troops patrolling the region.

In fact, the drug cartels are as well armed as the army, since they have upped their arsenal of weapons to include armour-piercing munitions, grenade launchers and other military-grade weapons.

Their traditional source of finance comes from supplies of cocaine and marijuana they smuggle into the US, but additional revenue is earned through kidnapping, ‘taxing’ businesses and by tapping the state-owned oil pipelines. There are no illusions as to who is winning the war on drugs.

The cartels are succeeding most in their ability to corrupt officials at all levels. They are applying a “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) strategy to corrupt police, army and government officials. In other words – take a bribe or take a bullet. Those who don’t comply are often found dead along with their family members sometimes tortured, dismembered and even decapitated.

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Where the cartels are succeeding most is in their ability to corrupt officials at all levels. They are applying a “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) strategy to corrupt police, army and government officials.

In other words – take a bribe or take a bullet. Those who don’t comply are often found dead along with their family members - sometimes tortured, dismembered and even decapitated. The drug-gangs often display mutilated bodies in public, sending a clear message to others - comply or die.

In Mexico’s border cities, people are tired of the bloodshed, fearful of the cartels and suspicious of officials. The war on drugs has succeeded only in causing increased violence and corruption in Mexico. Serious consideration should be given to an alternative drug policy.

Mexico has recently addressed some of these taboos by de-criminalising the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin, in a move hoped to discourage their corrupt police force from ‘shaking down’ smallscale drug users. The move encourages the formation of drug treatment programs and makes it mandatory for third time offenders to seek treatment.

This is a step in the right direction in terms of social policy, but it does little to discourage the cartels or curb violence. The fact is Mexico does not have a problem with drug consumption. The problems lie in American demand for drugs – a demand that is unlikely to go away.

It is estimated 60 per cent of the Mexican cartels’ revenues comes from US marijuana sales.

Considering 13 US states permit controlled use of marijuana, it would not be overly radical to implement such a strategy. It is a solution that would hit the drug bosses where it hurts – in their pockets. This would severely diminish the power of the cartels by cutting the revenue they use to corrupt officials and purchase weapons. As the world turns their head, war still rages in Mexico. The Mexican people need their country back.

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The Price of Free Speech; Corporate Power in American Elections

By David Keohane

“

”

Liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations...

L

iberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations...

Charles Evans Hughes, 1937 On Thursday the 21st of January the Supreme Court in America voted to overturn a century long ban on corporations and unions using their funds to directly influence federal election. In a bitterly fought 5-4 decision the Court ruled that the banning of political spending by corporations in candidate elections was unconstitutional.

The decision overturned a 2002 Campaign Reform Act and two previous precedents. It threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states and has provoked condemnation from Democrats and large swathes of the media.

President Obama’s described the decision as “ a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

He used his State of the Union address to call on Congress to impose limits on the ruling.

The decision threatens to be the start of a new political paradigm in America with corporations and unions now free to spend money freely on advertisement and propaganda. Justice John Paul Stevens, who opposed the decision, said the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings.

Does America really need more partisan funding pumped into its electoral system? The results of such an outcome are unclear but it is probable that there will be a steep increase in both direct and indirect influence wielded. Corporate funded advertising will surely feature prominently and could drown out necessary political voices. American politics is already more theatrics than fact and any increase in that direction would damage real democracy- informed citizens capable of making informed decisions and holding their governments to account.

The potential loss to democracy is large. “It’s going to be the Wild Wild West” said Ben Ginsberg, a Republican attorney who has represented several GOP presidential campaigns.

“If corporations and unions can give unlimited amounts ... it means that the public debate is significantly changed”

- Charles Evans Hughes, 1937

The potential loss to democracy is large. “It’s going to be the Wild Wild West,” said Ben Ginsberg, a Republican attorney who has represented several GOP presidential campaigns. “If corporations and unions can give unlimited amounts ... it means that the public debate is significantly changed with a lot more voices and it means that the loudest voices are going to be corporations and unions.”

The potential for corporate voices to drown out the citizenry is large. The American political system is already awash with special interest cash and, as Democracy 21’s Fred Wertheimer, a leading advocate of campaign financing reform noted, “the Fortune 100 companies alone had combined revenues of $13 trillion and profits of $605 billion during the last election cycle.” If even a tiny percentage of this money were put towards campaigning it would dwarf the already large sums brought to bear by candidates presently.

So, where did this ruling come from? The Supreme Court is, ostensibly, a political entitysince it is formed via-nomination by the president and ratification by the Senate- but is meant to act outside the realms of politics, as a check within the American political framework.

Judges, historically, vote along ‘nomination lines’. But they do not do so out of obligation, but due to the ideology which guaranteed their nomination in the first place. Ideally, they should be impartial. In reality, they are not.

The decision could be seen a simple result of aligned voting blocks within the court. There is some truth in this view and it is apparent that the Republican Party, heading towards the midterm elections will be a very direct beneficiary of the ruling. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele praised the ruling saying that “Free speech strengths our democracy.”

It is, however, rare that decisions are simply a reflection of a courts political make-up. Supreme Court decisions generally follow majoritarian lines- the Justices base their judgements on the prevailing social mood of the nation as a whole.

And according to a Gallup Poll taken soon after the decision “57% of Americans consider campaign donations to be a protected form of free speech, and 55% say corporate and union donations should be treated the same way under the law as donations from individuals are. At the same time, the majority think it is more important to limit

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campaign donations than to protect this freespeech right.”

Although more recent polls point to a changing and more critical public viewpoint the decision could thus be construed as a backlash against biggovernment. The court wass giving large amounts of extra influence to business and unions at a time when public sentiment was looking for an answer to government spending power.

As such, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy defended the majority decision on grounds of free speech saying, “If the First Amendment has any force it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.” He went on to say that “The government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether,” What is also worrying is the increasing level of political weight being brought to bear on the Court. In response to President Obama’s very public rebuke of the decision during his State of the Union address on Wednesday night. Mr. Verniero, a former justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, was quoted in the NY Times as saying that “The court’s legitimacy is derived from the persuasiveness of its opinions and the expectation that those opinions are rendered free of partisan, political influences”. The more that individual justices are drawn into public debates, the more the court

as an institution will be seen in political terms, which was not the intent of the founders.” A direct response to this political pressure can be seen in Congress where lawmakers are moving to limit the decisions reach, including a mooted change to the constitution, curbs on foreign funding and transparency of advertisement.

The Supreme Court decision could be of even greater importance when seen in the context of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s shock election to the Senate. Senator Brown’s election put a severe dent in President Obama’s hopes for a successful passage of his promised Healthcare reform Bill since it blew the 60-vote-super-majority, previously held by the Democrats in the Senate, apart. Republican Mitt Romney summed up the Grand Old Parties delight by claiming that Brown represented the 41st vote need to kill the Healthcare Bill. The Democrats must also have one eye on the looming mid-term elections and the role the Supreme Court decision could come to play in that.

“The

Fortune 100 companies alone had combined revenues of $13 trillion and profits of $605 billion during the last election cycle.”

If even a tiny percentage of this money were put towards campaigning it would dwarf the already large sums brought to bear by candidates presently.

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President Palin?

By Dave Claxton

S

arah Palin continues to divide opinion in the United States. Her past gaffes deeply embarrassed hard-line republicans yet her folksy appeal is effective at disarming the sceptics.

But does she possess enough qualities to challenge the might of Barack Obama in the next election?

Is it conceivable the woman who thought Russia was “right next to our state” may become the next United States president in 2012?

There is no figure in American politics that so polarises opinion as Sarah Palin. The former vicepresidential running mate seems to attract scorn and praise in equal measures. But what lies behind that pretty face?

Are her critics correct in their argument she is reckless and too stupid to become president? Or are her supporters right in judging that the media is treating her harshly and that there is a campaign to tarnish her?

Her detractors certainly have plenty of ammunition to fire at Palin. She is gaffe-prone and dogged by accusations of double standards and using her power to gain unfair advantages. She first rose to national and international prominence through being the surprise choice of John McCain’s running mate for the 2008 presidential election. Before this, she was the governor of Alaska.

During her time as governor, an independent investigation discovered Palin had abused her power.

Palin told news anchor, Katie Couric, she was involved in trade missions with Russia.

Again, there is no evidence to suggest she has ever met any Russian officials. Thanks to such flagrant abuse of facts, less than one in four Americans view her favourably which clearly hurts her chances of any Whitehouse run in 2012.

She pressurised senior bosses over her ex brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, to fire him. Wooten was involved in a child custody case at the time involving Palin’s family. Palin denied she compelled anyone to sack Wooten, yet the investigation concluded that Todd Palin, her husband, used her office to contact relevant people in charge of Wooten to try to have him removed.

Indeed, controversy seems to stalk Palin wherever she roams. The 46-year-old seems to contradict herself a lot. She told journalist Charlie Gibson she does not pass judgment on gay people. In reality, she opposes rights between gay spouses and belongs to a church that promotes gay conversion therapy. During her time as governor, her church, the Wasilla Bible Church, promoted a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer. Mind-boggling ignorance.

Palin told news anchor, Katie Couric, she was involved in trade missions with Russia. Again, there is no evidence to suggest she has ever met any Russian officials. Thanks to such flagrant abuse of facts, less than one in four Americans view her favourably which clearly hurts her chances of any Whitehouse run in 2012.

Palin appeals to the extreme right in American society with her wild-eyed claims that have little basis in reality. She said Barrack Obama’s healthcare proposals will create “death panels”. “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil”, she ranted.

With such a questionable record, she is still

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She told journalist Charlie Gibson she does not pass judgment on gay people. In reality she opposes rights between gay spouses and belongs to a church that promotes gay conversion therapy.

undeniably the lone star of the American right (which is saying something).

Her book, “Going Rogue”, sold more than one million copies within two weeks of being released. Before publishing the book, she resigned from her Alaskan governorship in 2009, a full 18 months before it was due to end. Her reasons for doing so were sketchy to say the least. In a rambling and sometimes baffling resignation speech she claimed, “only dead fish go with the flow” and that she was “doing what’s best for Alaska”, lacking any proper explanation of why she was resigning.

Pailn is seen as the lightning rod by many on the right for the new “Tea Party” movement. The movement espouses less government control in day-to-day life and a reduction of the massive debt currently crippling the US. They have been linked strongly to the Republican Party, yet the movement fails to mention this debt was created by former president George Bush and his wars and tax breaks for the wealthy. When Bill Clinton left office the country had a strong surplus.

Palin’s brand of folksy 1950s slang appeals to the hard right of America, but does such crowdpleasing rhetoric warrant enough justice for a run in 2012? Of course not. She was found out in the election of 2008 as being inept and unknowledgable about simple government affairs. This forced the McCain campaign to stop all inverviews with Palin for fear of her damaging their efforts. Such minimisation of access to a vice-presidential running mate was previously unheard of in American politics.

As with most things connected with Palin, her motivations and intentions for the role of presidency are not clear. With such a shady past and little understanding of important issues, she may be the perfect candidate for Obama to put to the sword.

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Bringing Down the Walls.

By Lidia Okorokova

T

he land border between Georgia and Russia after being closed for four years is to be open on the 1st of March 2010.

A decision to open the border was made after Moscow thought that the situation between the states may improve.

Several checkpoints are to be opened soon; among them are the Upper Lars and the Verkhny Lars-Kazbegi.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on February the 25th that a frequent air service may begin soon. A privately owned company, Georgian Airways, seeks to start charter flights between Moscow and Tbilisi. The company has inquired to the Russian government to lift restrictions off the flights between the two capitals, yet there was no certain answer on when the flights may begin.

Moscow and Tbilisi have had tension between one another for far too long now.

It all began back in 2003, when the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia put Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili into power. This was the first step in breaking up the diplomatic ties between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Moscow had viewed Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili as “an imposter from the West”.

Over the course of three years in power, Mister Saakashvili had managed to stir up the instability in the breakaway regions of Adjara and Abkhazia.

He also had the Russian Ambassador withdrawn from Georgia after the embassy’s diplomats were announced “persona non-grata” (people who are not welcome) by Tbilisi’s officials.

Moreover, Moscow closed the border between the two countries in 2006, which put major restrictions on trade and travel for Georgian citizens.

Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov argued that “we have never stopped contacts between men of arts and culture, between clergymen. We have no doubts the centuries-long ties between the Russian and Georgian peoples are strong enough to outlive any political moths blown into this land by foreign winds” he told Itar-Tass.

Georgia has provided the Russian market not only with with the finest wines and fruits, flowers and food, but also with the well-celebrated actors, singers, TV presenters and sculptors. Tamara Gverdcitelli - a pop-singer who sang on the Red Square at the 60th anniversary of the Victory Day in front of presidents and other guests of honour and Zurab Tseretelli – famous Georgian sculptor, whose works can be seen in Moscow, Tbilisi and New York, Paris and Seville are both Georgian natives. Russian modern culture is nothing without these names, as it has been for centuries.

The thaw in the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi began after the military conflict of 2008.

The South Ossetia region was thought to be invaded by the Russian troops in august 2008,

but later the international community discovered that the invasion was a set up by Tbilisi in order to destabilise the situation in the Caucuses.

The so-called “war” between Russia and Georgia has caused international human rights groups and the UN intervention into the diplomatic progress between Moscow and Tbilisi.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel were the only world leaders to “call an end to the hostility” during the armed conflict. Then President George W. Bush “ordered” Moscow to stop the invasion and back off.

Moscow did not give up on their goal, which was to help people from South Ossetia and confront Georgian troops backed up by the US. Even though the Russian army has had the worst casualties and losses since Afghanistan, Moscow announced the Victory and pulled out its troops after almost over a week of the “invasion”.

From September 2008 until December 2009, Moscow and Georgia have had talks concerning all the breakaway regions and, especially, South Ossetia. These diplomatic meetings and talks have been forced by the UN and international community.

In December 2009, Moscow announces the possibility of opening the border with Georgia.

A Georgian deputy foreign minister Nino Kalandadze told RIA-Novosti that “the parties held yet another meeting with Swiss mediation …

The good talks resulted in the decision to reopen [the Kazbegi-Verkhny Lars checkpoint].”

The anticipation of such decision is clearly high for both countries. Having no diplomatic ties anymore, they are yet to commence trade and travel services between one another.

Mikheil Saakashvili with Nicolas Sarcozy at the meeting between the EU and Georgia 2009.

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Saving Greece To those not in favor of bailing Greece out (70% of the German population whose savings will be used to cover Greece‘s spendthrift government), it may seem that saving Greece is like putting a band aid on cancer.

Police take on protesters during the recent Greece riots.

T

he predicament Greece has found itself in, has to come as a bit of a relief to the Irish government. I imagine when Biffo watches the footage of mass protests in Athens that he felt in some way similar to how John Terry must have felt when those naked pictures of Ashley Cole surfaced in the tabloids.

That the world’s attention is pointed somewhere else if even for only a short while.

The strikes in Greece which have seen everything shut down from post offices to airports and schools to shipyards are, in response to the austerity programme, which is to be put in place to combat Greece’s massive debt.

Last year Greece’s economy contracted by 2% which was below the average (Ireland’s economy contracted by 7.25%). Their unemployment figures are a lot better than Irish, which makes it all more astounding that Greece after suffering barely a ripple in the global recession should find its debt to be 124% of their GDP (Ireland’s is at 46%).

The socialist government that is in power in Greece is in a tricky situation because they were elected on the pretence that they would be able to find the money to get out of the mess the country is in without raising taxes and making cuts to public spending.

There was meeting in Brussels in February where EU leaders discussed Greece amongst other things. It was decided that Europe (most importantly Germany as they have all the money) would not let Greece default on its loans. The main reason for this is fear that if Greece, being the proverbial canary, defaulted on its debt it would damage the euro and then Spain, Portugal and Ireland and pretty much the whole Euro zone would cave in. So for now, with cautious backing from Germany and other EU countries the Greek ship has steadied and investors can buy Greek bonds safe, knowing that Germany guarantees their return.

To those not in favour of bailing Greece out (70% of the German population whose savings will be used to cover Greece‘s spendthrift

By Oscar Long

government), it may seem that saving Greece is like putting a band aid on cancer. If Europe is set to mop after them, this will make Greek government more likely to overspend and financial institutions to take much greater risks.

The Euro single currency may be the problem.

When a country finds itself in a banking crisis like Ireland did or has borrowed too much like Greece, their own sovereign currency may lose value and it can help foreigners to buy government’s bonds from that country cheaper.

In return, the country gets out of whatever crisis it may be in. But looking at Ireland and Greece, the Euro zone’s countries, they hav no option to devalue the currency because it is controlled by the European Central Bank. It may make sense for at least one or two of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) to leave the Euro so it can get their country back in order. The raising and lowering of interest rates to suit Germany or France is not really beneficial at all to the PIIGS whose economic situation is the opposite. Britain and Sweden still haven’t joined the single currency so it’s not that crazy that other countries may look for stabilization of their own country’s woes in this manner.

The Greeks have a phrase: pathei mathos, which means learning by suffering. This is what the rest of Europe expects from Greece as a condition of their guarantee. There will be tax rises on fuel, property alcohol and tobacco. There will be a freeze on public sector pay and the retirement age will have to rise from 61 to 63(this last measure must sicken the Germans as their retirement age is 65 with talk of it being raised to 67). The Greeks are not taking this sitting down, they are out if force fight protesting about it, clashing with police.

A lot of Greeks blame parasite financial institutions for getting them into this mess. Greece also has a serious tax evasion problem with over half of the working population claiming an income of less than 12,000 euro, which is the tax threshold.

Like in Ireland, it is often the most vulnerable in society who are expected to cough up when times are tough. When it became apparent how serious the problems facing Ireland were, Brian Lenihan rather than trouble the banks and property developers who you could say hold the lions share of responsibility for the situation, decided that it would be a good start to scrap the medical card for OAP’s. Just like the Greeks are doing now, the over 65’s were out in force and Lenihan decided that maybe it wasn’t that smart to piss off the demographic that is most inclined to vote in elections.

There is a lot of corruption in Greece and many quite rightly feel aggrieved that they are picking up the tab for the reckless self serving actions of a few. It all sounds very familiar.

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Where is Iran’s dissenting voice?

By Hugh Hick

F

ebruary 11th was an important date for Iran in more ways than one. It marked the 31st anniversary of the revolution which propelled the nation from an increasingly westernised state into a fundamentalist theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini. It also marked the shock (or inevitable, depending on who you speak to) announcement that Iran had produced its first stock of 20 percent enriched uranium, making it a nuclear state.

Unsurprisingly, the anniversary wasn’t notable so much for its displays of patriotism and civil pride as it was for the numerous demonstrations that took place as little as 1 km away from where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was making his address.

Indeed, instead of the day being seen as a sign of Iran’s raising strength, as the Iranian government no doubt had hoped, the western media instead used the opportunity to focus on the discontent that has been brewing since the controversial presidential election last year.

What is most surprising about these protests, however, was the sheer lack of them. While many western (particularly American, it must be said) newspapers ran headlines about various clashes between opposition protestors and security forces, a careful examination reveals that in fact, what few demonstrations there were occurred on a very small and isolated scale.

While it’s natural that a media which has been taught to demonise the Ayatollah’s Government for the past several years would take this angle, it does raise the question: where is this dissenting voice? Broken down by beatings by the revolutionary guard? Or is it the case, as it seems to be the case in many of these regimes, that they’ve just learned to live with their lack of freedom?

It’s a phenomenon that perplexed the western world back in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq.

After months of the media pontificating about the abhorrent civil rights abuses of Saddam Hussein’s government, the American-led invasion forces expected to be greeted with jubilation and gratitude. Instead, for the most part, they were met with stones being hurled in their direction (if they were lucky).

Of course, this is a point that the media of the time were, on the whole, anxious to whitewash over. After all, how could they expect their readership to come to terms with the fact that the Iraqi people didn’t want their “freedom”? The sheer ingratitude of it all would surely have been enough to turn stomachs!

Instead, we were treated to the same image of Saddam Hussein’s statue being torn down being re-used ad infinitum. The reasoning given for this was that it was somehow symbolic of the toppling of an evil regime. In fact the opposite was true: it was the one image they could use that didn’t

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No nuclear superpower really wants to bring up the issue when it comes to applying sanctions, as every time they do they’re forced into the embarrassing position of having to explain why they’re allowed to possess nuclear weapons and no one else is .

portray the true situation. To many Iraqis, the US forces weren’t liberators, they were an invasion force.

The same situation appears to be occurring in Iran. I find it a strange coincidence that Iran’s human rights record appears to be getting worse with every step it takes toward nuclear independence. Then again, no nuclear superpower really wants to bring up the issue when it comes to applying sanctions, as every time they do they’re forced back into the embarrassing position of having to explain why they’re allowed to possess nuclear weapons and no one else is (except Israel, oops).

It’s much easier instead to focus on human rights abuses. Everyone likes human rights abuses as an issue. It’s sexy. It’s personable. It can be used to justify almost anything on the grounds that, well, no sort of intervention could possibly make matters any worse. Although, no one seems to point out the inherent contradiction in improving human rights conditions by further violating them with sanctions. How odd…

I’m not denying for one moment that there are human rights abuses in Iran. I’m not denying that the presidential election last year left something to be desired in the transparency department. I’m not even denying the possibility that the Iranian people are deeply dissatisfied with their regime.

But this doesn’t negate the fact that the media focusing on public displays of outrage that aren’t there to further an internationalist agenda isn’t going to help things. Turns out Allende wasn’t such a bad guy either…

They say that two weeks is an eternity in politics. Well thirty one years on, the Iranian revolution is already looking as though it’s on course to outlast the neoliberal one. Come 2041, I wonder who will truly be celebrating.

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international

Death of a Football Fan

By Colm Gorey

A

spectator, who was hit violently over the head by a rubbish bin thrown by a fellow supporter during an English Premier League match between Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City, died in hospital a number of weeks ago.

Because of Britain’s long-standing reputation as one of the main sources of football hooliganism in Europe, one would expect to find the story reported in the sensationalist description of ‘a return to the bad days’. However, apart from a brief mention on Sky Sports News and other major sources of news, the story seems to have completely disappeared from media attention. In fact, it never appeared on the Sky Sports’ website.

A further search online showed that the UK tabloids had very brief reports, even by their standards.

So why have the media been silent over something that raises serious security concerns for football fans? To understand, one must look at the history of hooliganism in England and why the English media might be imposing self-censorship to protect the English games reputation.

Because of Britain’s long-standing reputation as the main source of football hooliganism in Europe, I expected to find the story reported in the sensationalist description of a return to the bad days.

However, apart from a brief mention on Sky Sports News and other major sources of news, the story seems to have completely disappeared from the media’s attention.

In comparison with the coverage of football hooliganism in the late 1970s and ‘80s, the difference is vast. Football hooliganism dominated the front and back pages as a result of two major incidents involving casualties in football grounds.

In 1989, 96 people died in a game at Hillsborough Stadium between Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool, after a part of the stadium collapsed from over-crowding. The following day, the newspapers and the government stepped in to solve the major problems in British football.

Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister made a high-profile public call for the country’s football hooligans to be given ‘stiff” prison sentences to act as a deterrent to others, in a bid to clamp down on hooliganism. Her minister for sport, Colin Moynihan, attempted to bring in an ID card scheme for football supporters. Other regulations that were brought in by the Taylor Report regulated British football to what we know today with all-seated stadiums, tighter security and improved stadium design for better entry and exit in an emergency.

By the time the Premier League was established, with BSkyB’s backing, in 1992, it was believed that most of the problems with fans in English football were over.

Now TV companies such as Sky, in a rather jingoistic fashion, describe the English Premier League as ‘the best in the world’ with the players and stadiums to match. Yet far away from the TV cameras trouble continues. Not on the same scale as the ‘70s and ‘80s, but still a level of hooliganism, racism and public disorder that largely goes unreported. High profile players and officials have received death threats, as well as the death of a safety steward in 2004 between clashing fans of Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers.

But if one is to believe the English media, the threat of hooliganism has been almost eradicated from the Premier League, with more police control and better designed stadiums to prevent it. This is far from the truth.

The latest death raises questions as to why the English media go from sensationalising hooliganism to not covering it at all. One theory is that financial interests involved in the game do not want to return to discussions of hooliganism because a troubled game would not be sellable abroad. Serie A, the top Italian league has seen its marketability plummet, with coverage of politically motivated hooligan sects (or ‘Ultras’) attacking both Italian and foreign fans regardless.

And so the league is now ever-increasing its debt as TV money from profitable markets like Asia is now moving to the English Premier League. With

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TV companies like Sky pumping billions into the English game, this latest death, in their view one would imagine, would be best left alone.

Another theory involves a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. This follows on from how the English Football Association would like to be seen by the governing body, FIFA, as a trouble free place to go. Therefore, a death would not improve their chances.

What is probably the most worrying angle to take on this story is the obvious self-censorship taken by the English media with regard to the death. While it is safe to say the modern top-flight game is more about money than the game itself, when deaths are being ignored one would think discussion should be had.

But this is not to say that the media has an agenda to deliberately ignore the story. However, it begs the question why this story barely made the news, when a footballer’s love life becomes centre stage.

Self-censorship seems also to apply to the general public who feel a sense of pride in their national league. On one particular message board, where comments can be ‘liked’ or ‘disliked’ by the readers, the death was given a relatively small piece. However, it contained hundreds of responses from readers, offering their condolences to the man and his family. One man who questioned how the media would have treated the

story had this happened in South Africa, hosts of this summer’s World Cup, was heavily criticised, to the point of his query being hidden from viewing.

Worryingly, this trend might become commonplace in other European countries hoping to hide their own violent groups. When the world casts its eyes on South Africa this year, will it be open about its crime problems? Or will it pretend it doesn’t exist? We will have to wait and see.

Gary Oldman portraying Clive ‘Bex’ in the powerful television drama The Firm in 1988. The film is famous for its gritty portrayal of the violence of rival ‘firms’ during the height of football hooliganism in England.

Another theory involves a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. This follows on from how the English FA wants to be seen by the governing body, FIFA, as a trouble free place to go. Therefore, a death would not appear too kindly to their chances.

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international

Boy Soldiers

By Kevin McLay

T

he average fourteen year old boy in Dublin is worried which way he should spike his hair, what roll he’ll be having for lunch and what girl he’ll be daydreaming about in history class. In some places in Afghanistan, that’s the last thing on a teenage boy’s mind while he is locking and loading an AK-47. The use of children as soldiers is in existence in Afghanistan, though the government and the Taleban deny the use of children in the military there is an estimated 8,000 children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen in Afghanistan alone, involved in some type of military role.

This is not uncommon in hostile regions placing children in a situation of conflict initiated by government forces, government-backed paramilitary groups, militias or self-defence units. In our world today there are more than 500,000 children associated with armed conflicts. Over 300,000 of these children (between the ages of 14 and 18) are actively fighting as soldiers with government military forces, armed opposition militias and insurgent groups.

Some child soldiers over the age of fifteen receive basic weapons training and are trained in basic combat techniques able for the battlefield in Afghanistan. Many are employed for domestic functions, serving in odd jobs such as cleaners, cooks or personal attendants to officers and higher ranked soldiers. There have been cases of children (as young as 9 years of age) partaking in some type of espionage action. The sad truth is that there are many accounts of the younger soldiers functioning as sex slaves.

The Taleban released a video of a 12-year-old boy beheading a Pakistani man accused of spying in 2007. Journalists asked a Taleban official why they used a boy and he replied, “We want to tell the non-Muslims that our youngsters are also Mujahideens [holy warriors] and fight with us against you.... These youngsters will be our Holy War commanders in the future and continue the jihad for freedom. Islam allows boys and women to do jihad against occupying non-Muslim troops and their spies and puppets.”Up until 2003 the recruitment age in Afghanistan was 22 to 28, it is now 18.

There has been evidence of the enlistment of boys under the age of 18 by the ANA and many unconfirmed reports of under-18s falsifying identification records. There have been reports by the Afghan National Police that illequipped and under-trained ANP were used to tackle insurgency inappropriately.The lack of infrastructure, health services, sanitation, proper schools and safety, drive children to the only available option. Many of these are orphaned or have lost their families due to

bombings and war related actions. The absence of education and other opportunities children resort to find shelter and food through militias. Children turned combatants are provided for and believe in an honourable existence. Three decades of war in Afghanistan has wiped out an entire generation and prevented the country to have any type of normalcy in society for many years to come.

The life of war has infiltrated the human psyche in Afghanistan and the children are taking the hardest hit.

Although most child soldiers live in Africa, child soldiers can be found in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, parts of the Middle-East such as Israel/Palestinian territories and Iraq and in Latin-America. 2 million children have died during armed conflicts in the past ten years; that is about 500 children killed each day.

Though the government and the Taleban deny the use of children in the military there is an estimated 8,000 children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen in Afghanistan alone, involved in some type of military role.

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climate

This is what democracy looks like

By Maria Brundin

T

ABOVE: Demonstrators outside Parliament square last December.

BELOW: Business as usual-banner during United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagan

he 15th UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen (also called COP15) was a milestone in our time they said. It was supposedly vital for the survival of our future generations. On the first day of the summit 56 newspapers in 45 different countries worldwide came together and published a common editorial saying “Fourteen days to seal history’s judgement on this generation”. So, what is the verdict? Failure.

In the Bella Centre, heads of state and their representatives gathered, alongside lobbyists from major companies, to develop a treaty designed to stop the causes and effects of climate change.

Outside the centre there were indigenous peoples’ organisations, climate activists and civil society organisations, all pleading for a fair and constructive treaty. Meanwhile, the media was running around like a hungry dog, waiting for his master to give out the leftovers from dinner.

To most people the failure to agree on a treaty was no surprise.

Global agreements have a history of being unproductive. During the course of the first week and a half the representatives agreed that they could not agree and were split into two camps. The developed world wanted a treaty focusing on emission cuts and investments in new technology.

In contrast, the developing world demanded that the US and EU take responsibility for their roles as being historically the largest emitters and make sure the treaty wouldn’t stand in their way of improving the standard of living in their emerging economies.

The Peoples’ Climate Summit, a separate summit for citizens, activists and organisations ran alongside the official conference and offered alternative and more radical solutions to climate change. In their declaration they stated “System change, not climate change” and demand a just and sustainable transition to a non-fossil fuel society, rejection of purely market-oriented and technology-centred solutions and emphasise the importance of local control over natural resources and decentralised democracy.

The alternative summit held seminars and debates everyday and became the base for civil

Outside the centre there were indigenous peoples’ organisations, climate activists and civil society organisations, all pleading for a fair and constructive treaty.

Meanwhile, the media was running around like a hungry dog, waiting for his master to give out the leftovers from dinner.

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protests arranged during the two week long conference. The two key demonstrations the “System Change Not Climate Change” on the 12th December and the final one “Reclaim Power!” on the 16th December got the media’s heads turning for two reasons.

Firstly, a vast number of people participated and showed their commitment to achieving a sustainable and environmentally friendly world.

During the “System Change Not Climate Change” demonstration, roughly 100,000 people from international NGOs and workers unions, as well as, politicians, celebrities and citizens gathered at the Parliament square in central Copenhagen and walked 50 minuets in the bitter cold to the Bella Centre.

Secondly, violence erupted between police and demonstrators during the conference.

During the “Reclaim Power!” march demonstrators aimed to make their way to the official summit in the Bella centre. Outside the centre, delegates from the conference were to meet them in protest against the lack of commitment and inability to reach an agreement.

Throughout the march the demonstrators were surrounded by police and police vans on each side of the road. A dispute started as the police gave the demonstrators less and less room to walk on.

However, the march continued up until the bridge crossing over to the Bella Centre.

According to the Danish Police’s spokesman “we [the police] could no longer control the demonstrators and so decided to stop the march.” A

riot started between the police and the demonstrators. After 10-20 minuets the police managed to press back the demonstrators and surround them on a near by street.

The police have received harsh criticism for their actions during COP15. They were accused of excessive use of teargas, violent behaviour against detainees and of reckless handling of police dogs.

Demonstrators were restrained and left to sit on the pavement for several hours in temperatures below zero; while some urinated on themselves after being denied to use the toilets.

“Is this what democracy looks like?” is a commonly used catchphrase in demonstrations, and in the case of COP15, it is a legitimate question.

During the “Reclaim Power!” demonstration the Danish police took advantage of the newly legislated law and stopped the march before it could reach its final destination. The pre-emptive law was approved by the Danish government 12 days before the start of COP15. It allowed the police to arrest and detain people “whom they suspect might break the law”. More than 1000 people where detained in warehouses used as temporary detention halls, infamously known as Guantánamo Junior.

Overall, the conference was another failed attempt to reach a binding international agreement. The climate change issues were again pushed down the political agenda as the heads of state went home in their comfortable, polluting airplanes.

This is, apparently, what democracy looks like.

Demonstrators against nuclear energy during last Decembers United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagan.

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climate

Engulfing the Irish Coast

By Shane Quinn

T

owns and cities around Irish coasts could be in great danger as ocean levels continue to rise due to global warming. Dr John Sweeney, of National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM) says, “there is a stark possibility that in the foreseeable future rising sea levels could engulf vulnerable coastal towns or cities which have grown further seaward on reclaimed land.” Irish temperatures have climbed an average 1.2 Celsius since 1980 and that figure is rising.

“There is a desperate need to improve coastal defences, particularly in relation to storm surges,” he says.

That is not the only crisis we face. North America has witnessed a 25 per cent increase in hurricanes and tropical storms in the past five years. Environmental experts believe global warming is culpable and fear that Northern Europe could experience such weather soon. “Hurricanes and tropical storms require sea temperatures of 26 Celsius to develop,” says Dr Sweeney. While he confessed it would be unlikely that Irish waters will experience such a temperature rise early this century, “it is quite possible it will reach that height in the latter part and early into next century”. The idea of Ireland witnessing hurricanes could become a frightening reality.

Research scientist, Dr Laura McElwain, also of NUIM takes an even more drastic view on the effect climate change will have on Ireland.

Dr McElwain says that: “Ireland is warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world.”

She believes, “climate change has the potential to change the face of Ireland and to transform its environment. Changes in temperature, rainfall and storm patterns can subtly yet irrevocably alter the Irish way of life.”

She warns us to expect “wetter, milder winters, and drier, hotter summers”. This could cause serious flooding and water pollution.

She says, “the rate of global warming is rapidly accelerating” and confirmed that “people and not nature are responsible”.

The effects of global warming are already apparent in Ireland.

In the midlands, where it is coldest, frost occurrences have halved in the last twenty years. Frost could even disappear altogether as average temperatures continue

North America has witnessed a 25 per cent increase in hurricanes and tropical storms in the past five years.

Environmental experts believe global warming is culpable and fear that Northern Europe could experience such weather soon.

to climb. Winter rain will increase and intensify while summers will become hotter and drier.

Dr Sweeney, offering a different opinion, says: “The natural trend is actually for global cooling.

But, the opposite is occurring, and there is only one explanation - we are to blame.” That destroys a theory that the “flat-earthists” have been flaunting - that global warming is occurring naturally.

He believes that by 2050 winter temperatures will have “ risen an average of another 1.5 Celsius” here. Some may not see that as a bad thing but one weather pattern tends to replace another.

He says that by mid-century we can expect to see rainfall increases in Ireland “of over 11 per cent”.

“This rise could prove disastrous to Irish agriculture”. Crops could become “waterlogged” with new pests and diseases evolving as a result.

In addition, Ireland’s towns would be under risk of serious flooding. Summer temperatures will have climbed by 2.5 Celsius with rainfall declining greatly and droughts possibly lasting weeks.

One of the biggest controversies regarding global warming to date is the alleged damage developed countries have inflicted on third-world nations.

It is an allegation that first world countries seem reluctant to rectify. Dr Sweeney says that developing countries must bear a huge burden when tackling climate change. “The developed countries caused the initial damage here, and the thirdworld states just haven’t got the resources to tackle the problem.”

Another catastrophe threatens to destroy both the North (Arctic) and South Poles (Antarctica).

Huge amounts of ice are melting annually and local wildlife could soon die out. “In the North Pole it is probable that by mid-century more than half the summer ice will have disappeared,” says Dr Sweeney. He said that the situation in the South Pole was “less clear” but he wouldn’t hold out “much hope”. He also believes that polar bears and penguins face “certain extinction” as their habitats melt away.

Arctic shrinkage has caused a huge increase in polar bear cub death rates. The National Geographic news states that in the past 50 years emperor penguin populations have fallen by 50 per cent. It says the main reason for this is the sharp decline in fish - its primary diet, due to climate change. Only until the human race removes its bad habits and treats the planet differently, can we then enjoy a brighter future.

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science & technology

The Concern for CERN

By Oscar Finn

“C

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC); the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator.

ERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.” – CERN’s official website.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 20 Member States.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) provided first collisions in late November 2009, after about 20 years of extremely challenging design and construction work for both the accelerator and the experiments. About three weeks later, protons were accelerated for the first time in the LHC itself to an energy of 1.18 TeV/beam, the highest energy yet attained in accelerators. Around one hundred thousand collisions were recorded by the four LHC experiments at this energy.

CERN was criticized for cost overruns during the construction of its crown jewel, the $4.5 billion LHC. Since its completion, technical delays have prevented the LHC from doing what it was designed to do: create high-energy collisions among tiny particles to help physicists answer some of the deepest remaining mysteries about

the universe.

In September 2008, the collider ran for only a few days before it had to be shut down for major repairs. In November 2009, the 17-mile loop deep beneath the Swiss Alps was restarted and scientists recorded collisions at the highest energy levels humans had yet achieved. It was then shut down for winter.

On Feb. 15 2010, the collider started up again.

Soon, it will start producing scientific data for the first time. This year, the plan is to ramp up the collider to unprecedented levels of speed in order to test traditional physics theories. If all goes well, scientists expects the LHC to run at full energy – accelerating particles to nearly the speed of light – in 2011.

The LHC’s mission is to probe matter at energy levels thought to have existed just after the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago. At LHC energies, the universe was only a 10-billionth of a second old and unimaginably hot. The collider aims to create these energies by accelerating two beams of protons in opposite directions to 99.9 percent of the speed of light. Researchers then steer the beams into head-on collisions. Detectors track the debris the collisions generate. High-powered supercomputers pick through the debris trails in hopes of spotting the signature of the hypothesized particle that imparts mass to matter, the Higgs Boson.

They will also look for particles that make up socalled dark matter (the vast majority of matter in the universe), and particles that may hint at the presence of other dimensions beyond the four we can sense.

“Dark matter” was given its name because it rarely interacts with ordinary matter. Learning more about it may open the door to more mysteries.

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science & technology

Does the iPad touch all the right buttons for the iFamily?

Nicola Byrne By

S

o lets get the jokes out of the way. The iPad sounds like a feminine hygiene product. Yes, you can wear white jeans while using the iPad, and yes, you need some kind of an alternative tablet if you want to go swimming.

It’s the first thing that popped into most peoples’ thoughts as soon as Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, muttered the word. Therefore, it’s beyond me how this name was let pass. Presumably, a bunch of obliviously-mature male executives all came to a mutual decision in the board-room of masculinity and sincerity.

It’s rumoured that ‘iSlate’ was the first choice of name for the new Apple tablet, which was unveiled

by Steve Jobs last month. However, iSlate was already registered, spawning endless parodies and jokes at the expense of the alternative; ‘iPad’. But Jobs isn’t bothered, stating that “they made fun of iPod name when it came out. What matters is the product and what it means to consumers.”

In response, one particularly witty headline read; ‘Apple’s iPad absorbs web’s wisecracks.’

Quips aside, the iPad is essentially a large and inconvenient iPhone, physically speaking. A sure winner to be the most frequently damaged object in recent history. At least with a laptop or PC you just scream and slam the screen in helpless frustration when something goes wrong. The iPad enables you to put your aggravation into action by chucking the thing through a wall with minimum effort.

A lot like life, we struggle to find meaning in the iPad. The pecking order is the PC, then laptop, net-book, smart phone, mobile phone and er, electronic organisers. But how do we begin to fill the gaps between these?

Steve Jobs has the answer. During a press conference in San Francisco, Jobs presented the 9.7inch tablet computer, complete with multi-touch display, 1-GHz speed and up to 64GB of memory.

It weighs a mere 1.5 pounds and is only 0.5 inches thick. The iPad will only run software purchased through Apple’s App Store just like the iPhone and iTouch before it, but will also come with Safari, a

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This could be the game changer; iBooks. Could we be witnessing the iTune-ification of the publishing industry?

Perhaps. The iBookstore will be the latest domestic app for the iFamily.

new mail system, photos, video, App Store, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, maps, calendar and other productivity tools.

I say video, presuming you are all aware that as of yet, the Irish iTunes store only has audio downloads and music videos. No movies or television series are available in the Irish store due to licensing rights for content. Strike one, within the Irish market. It will be interesting to see how it is marketed to the Irish consumers, considering Apple are claiming to ‘revolutionise’ how we consume visual media.

But this could be the game changer; iBooks.

Could we be witnessing the iTune-ification of the publishing industry? Perhaps. The iBookstore will be the latest domestic app for the iFamily. At launch, five book publishers will have publications on iBooks, including Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette.

So? Whatever. I have my Kindle. Unlike the Kindle, iPad users can download books in full colour (no more rancid gray) and read them on realistic ‘e-paper’ pages that are easily navigated and manipulated. The font-face and size can be changed to your preference and the pages can be turned with a simple drag on the screen.

The iBooks interface is even a rustic book-shelf, so you won’t feel as though your literary experience is anything less than authentic. It’s hard to see how Amazon’s Kindle is going to retaliate and remain competitive.

Steve Jobs says “The iBooks app is a great new way to read and buy books. Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up.

The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, colour, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.”

The iPad could also be huge in terms of college text books. Educational publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Kaplan have already struck deals with iPhone touch developers ScrollMotion Inc. to build applications for the iPad. App features include bonus test preparation, study guides and new types of classroom instructional materials.

Students with particularly book-heavy courses could benefit greatly from investing in an iPad if it meant lower prices and less weight to lug around campus. Add colourful graphs, charts, audio, and even interactive media demonstrations and there’s no excuse for those August repeats at all.

But what could this mean for journalism? Can it revive this sickly sector? Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but there’s hope yet. The appeal is obvious. It’s small enough to be discreet, while large enough to prevent straining your eyes to see it. Colour photographs and video playback all add to the appeal, truly meshing and embracing new media with the remnants of print. The iPad gives us a foundation to begin re-imagining the daily periodical for successful integration with new media.

Martin Nisenholtz, SVP of Digital Operations at the New York Times joined Jobs on stage for his iPad introduction. Using the recently developed New York Times app, Nisenholtz demonstrated the device’s ability to realistically recreate the look and feel of the newspaper as we know it. Links and videos are effortlessly integrated into newsprint, providing a multi-platform media experience.

Nisenholtz stated that the display “captures the essence of a newspaper,” but enhances it for “the next generation of digital journalism.”

Many bloggers and tech-journalists have criticised the iPad for not having a camera, a USB port or the ability to multi-task. But despite the techies voicing their dismay in unison, the chances are that your average joe is not going to be too bothered about what it can’t do; but embrace it for what it can do. It also looks quite cool, that’s always a winner. Anyway, do we really need yet another camera? Most potential iPad customers will no doubt already own digital-cameras and mobile-phones with cameras. It seems that in the past decade, when thinking of how to improve something, the ultimate conclusion seems to be “ah sure throw a camera on it there.”

But will the iPad work, or is the criticism just? I would be of the opinion that it will be a long time before digital publishing reaches sufficient capabilities in providing comfort and ‘physical copy’ replica for readers. The iPad, however, seems to be an exciting start to the revitalisation of the publishing and print media industries. And again, you’ll look cool.

Prices for the iPad are set to range from $499 to $829, with a U.S. release date in April. Plenty of time for them to test the waters for us before it hits Irish markets.

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A Backpacker’s Guide to Colombia

By Seán Gildea

I

f there is one country to sum up Latin America, it is Colombia. Rich in history and culture, Colombia is a country that can boast both Pacific and Caribbean coastlines scattered with tropical beaches as well as large cities with bustling night-life, small colonial towns and plenty more in between.

On top of that, Colombia remains one of the cheaper countries in South America, making it a backpackers dream.

Whether you are looking for a quiet trek in the country, a culture fuelled city break or somewhere to relax on an empty tropical beach, Colombia has it all.

Bogotá Bogotá is a culture-rich capital packed with art galleries & museums, bars & restaurants; and anything else you could want from a city of 8 million people.

At the heart of the old-city you have La Candaleria. This is Bogotá central, where you will find yourself surrounded by large plazas, cobblestone streets, grand-government buildings and an array of museums & churches. Although shabby in parts, Bogotá’s centre is a beautifully preserved colonial area with much to offer including the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), which displays a huge collection of gold artifacts from pre-columbian times.

Nightlife in Bogotá is confined to the Zona Rosa in the north of the city. The area is jam-packed with bars and nightclubs as well as up-market cafes, restaurants and shops.

For panoramic views of the city, a cable car up to Monserrate is a must. The mountain overlooks the whole city from an altitude of over 10,000ft

above sea level. Just make sure it’s a clear day as my visit was largely disappointing due to a thick fog.

Medellín If you are traveling in Colombia, time should be made to visit Medellín, if not only to witness its colourful nightlife. There are many hostels located near Medellín’s Zona Rosa, which is home to many of the city’s bars and clubs. Worth checking out are the number of large-scale themed niteclubs located outside of the city-centre which are accessible by taxi.

One that comes to mind is Mango’s. Although quite expensive and tacky, if you are ever looking to see cowboy midgets get into a boxing ring with over-sized gloves and knock lumps out of each other, this is your place. I need say no more.

December is a great time to visit Medellín as one gets to see how seriously Colombians take their Christmas decorating - and in Medellín, it is very serious. Every year, the river in Medellín is decorated with kilometres of Christmas lights and decorations, drawing huge crowds in the evenings. On the river banks you will find street stalls and performers reminding even the most jaded of backpacker’s that Christmas is coming.

Cartagena Just 12 hours on a bus north of Medellin is the beautiful walled city of Cartagena. Built on northern Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Cartagena has the feel of an old colonial pirate town with its oldcity walls, colourful cobbled streets and palm-tree lined coast.

Cartagena, like Bogotá, can be divided by its

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The scenic view from ‘Tayrona National Park’ in Colombia.

“old-city” and “new-city”, however this cannot be more clearly defined than in Cartagena, as the old city is entirely nestled within its spectacular fortified walls.

Looking out into Colombia’s Caribbean coast is the Castillo de San Felipe, the largest fortress built by the Spanish in Latin America. It is indeed impressive and along with the old city walls, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

If in Cartagena, I would recommend staying close to the old city as there is little to be seen outside of it.

The Bocagrande beach is to be avoided at all costs! Especially if you are a pasty white gringo Irishman. In the fifteen minutes I spent there, I was charged to use a deck chair, and was approached every 30 seconds by people trying to sell me things. The final straw came when an old lady of about 95 years grabbed my feet and started rubbing massage oil into them, ignoring my cries of “¡No lo quiero!” (“I don’t want it!). This proved very amusing to the staring locals.

If it’s beaches you want, Colombia’s Caribbean Coast is cluttered with some of the world’s finest.

From Cartagena, there are boat trips to Playa Blanca, where you can enjoy turquoise-blue oceans on white sandy beaches decorated with palm trees.

the place. The town has little in it apart from the beach and a select number of bars, restaurants and hotels; but for those looking to get their diving PADI (the world recognised certificate that allows you to scuba-dive), Taganga might be the perfect place due to its cheap diving schools and lack of distractions.

Taganga is a great place to base yourself if you plan on visiting Tayrona National Park. The vast amount of beaches alone in Tayrona will wow the average person, but the park itself is located in a jungle with many trails where one can spot countless species of birds and animals.

Just a quick boat ride away from Taganga, the beaches of Tayrona are spectacular. Many of them have a desert island feel to them, with coconuts falling off palm trees and small streams flowing onto the beach from the not too distant jungle.

For accomodation, there are hammocks and huts for rent off the main beach. You will also find a restaurant and bar there, but, if you plan on drinking much, I would recommend bringing your own supply as it is quite expensive there.

To leave, you can get a boat back to Taganga, or in my case endure mostly uphill five-hour trek through the jungle in temperatures of 35 degrees.

You should get the boat!

Taganga & Tayrona National Park Missing out on Playa Blanca, I was lucky enough to visit the small fishing village of Taganga, located about three hours north-east of Cartagena on a bus. The village is quaint to the point of not having an ATM, but after a while you find it is a great place to relax and re-adjust.

This maybe due to the lazy Caribbean feel to

Getting There Given its location at the very top of South America, Colombia is a great place for backpackers to start or end their adventure. Bogotá has direct flights to and from Madrid, Miami, New York and Los Angeles.

¡Buen Viaje!

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The Man Behind Avatar

By Nicola Byrne

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escribed by some as “the most enjoyable experience in a movie theatre, ever”, “the best 3-D movie ever” and “probably the best looking movie ever made” ever, ever, ever!

Why yes, it’s Avatar. Yawn. Since December, we have been submerged into a large, blue, threedimensional hype machine -- seemingly manually operated by the media’s own blood, sweat and tears.

Avatar was so good; people started threatening to kill themselves unless they could join the protagonist, Jack Sully, in his new life on the alien planet Pandora. Realistically, director James Cameron, considering he made the whole thing up, cannot fulfill this wish.

But amongst the hype of movies like Avatar, we rarely look past the glittering CGI world we are immersed into on-screen to focus on the man that made it all possible; James Cameron. Perhaps it’s better that way though. The George Washington look-a-like is probably best known for his blockbuster Titanic (1997), which was the highest grossing film in box-office history with a worldwide gross of $1.2 billion. This was until the aforementioned Avatar overtook it, well surpassing the $2 billion mark.

Cameron was born in Ontario, Canada in 1954. He studied physics and English at Fullerton College, but spent much of his time visiting the film archive of the University of Southern California to read various thesis’ that graduate students had written about film technology. For this reason, Cameron claims he is ‘completely self-taught’ in his filming techniques.

His big break came as he was working as a second unit director for Galaxy of Terror (1981). One particular scene he was shooting involved a dismembered arm, which was crawling with maggots. Cameron attached an AC power cord to the arm in order to make the maggots (he used

The director has been married 5 times, trading in one wife after another as swiftly as he produced blockbusters.

Amongst them is actress, Linda Hamilton, who claims that Titanic’s success didn’t change Cameron’s personality.

“He was always a jerk, so there is no way to tell.” she said.

mealworms) squirm. Two producers just happened to witness this directing ability and began talking with him about possibly working on larger projects.

Since then, James Cameron has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most groundbreaking and commercially successful directors. His movies include The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss, (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic, and of course, Avatar.

He was the first director to make two films which have grossed more than $1 billion in the worldwide box office, and the first director to film both a $100 million (Terminator 2) and a $200 million (Titanic) movie. Cameron has also won 3 Academy Awards and is hotly tipped to pick up best director again this year for Avatar.

To add a bit of drama to the proceedings, Cameron’s effort is up against ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, with exactly 6 nominations each. Bigelow directed Iraq War drama and recently walked away with ‘best director’ at the Bafta’s, making her the first woman ever to win this award. If she’s lucky, she could reach the same feat at the Oscars.

For he is James Cameron and if you thought that sort of success must surely go to a guy’s head, you’d be right. He is not known as a nice guy, or a pleasure to work with.

His infamous acceptance speech at the 70th Academy Awards ran dry as soon as he began yelling “I’m the king of the world!” to a perplexed audience.

The director has been married 5 times, trading in one wife after another as swiftly as he produced blockbusters. Amongst them is actress, Linda Hamilton, who claims that Titanic’s success didn’t change Cameron’s personality. “He was always a jerk, so there is no way to tell.” she said.

The director is renowned for being intimidating on set, as many can testify. Kate Winslet, who sprung to fame after starring in Titanic, said she would never work with Cameron again. During the filming of Titanic she nearly drowned, developed pneumonia, and chipped a bone in her elbow.

“He’s a nice guy, [but he] has a temper like you wouldn’t believe. There were times I was genuinely frightened of him.”

Sam Worthington, the lead in Avatar, admits

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that Cameron stopped at nothing to get the scenes he was looking for, even if it meant physically hitting him. “He’d throw foam or debris to get me to react, because the action was being created later on the computer. And Jim would go, hmm, this ain’t working, right, so I’ll just hit you with a stick.”

But Cameron doesn’t do apologies. He claims that “They go beyond what they previously thought were their limits, and then afterwards they talk about it like it was a big adventure: “Oh, man, we worked around the clock and you know, we all almost died.”

But Cameron spares no luxury for himself either. He almost died when his submarine ran out of oxygen during the shooting of The Abyss.

So where did all of this drive and ambition come from? Cameron claims that his father’s lack of support made him “angry enough that I had to succeed.”

But Jim, spare a moment for the people making all of your success possible; the audience. Video evidence from gossip website, TMZ, shows Jim snapping at a fan asking for an autograph last December. The fan approached Cameron and asked him to sign an Avatar poster, provoking Cameron to respond; “I don’t owe you a fucking signature.

Just get out of my fucking personal space.”

The self-proclaimed king of the world may wow us with his genius on-screen. But off-screen, he’s a right Colonel Miles Quaritch.

Filmmaker James Cameron posing in front of the Titanic set-piece during production of the 1997 blockbuster.

Video evidence from gossip website, TMZ, shows Jim snapping at a fan asking for an autograph last December. The fan approached Cameron and asked him to sign an Avatar poster, provoking Cameron to respond;

“I

don’t owe you a fucking signature. Just get out of my fucking personal space.”

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IT MIGHT GET LOUD (Out now on DVD)

Director: Davis Guggenheim Starring: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White

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hree of Rocks biggest stars Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2 ) and Jack White (The White Stripes/ The Raconteurs) come together to share their inspirations, musical journeys and techniques in Davis Guggenheim’s fascinating documentary ‘It Might get Loud’. Needless to say the electric guitar itself is one of the main stars of ‘It Might get Loud’ and more importantly how each guitarist manipulates it to create their own distinctive sound.

It’s not just a film for guitar eggheads, but a film for every rock fan out there, thanks mainly to Guggenheims unnerving dedication to each player. After following each guitarist around for the best part of a year, he takes us into their individual lives past and present.

Page is shown as reserved almost shy character, far from his old image of a world conquering rock god. He is shown visiting Headley Grange the estate where much of Led Zeppelin IV was recorded, and at home with his record collection.

Along with shots of him as a young London session musician, with the Yardbirds and Zeppelin.

Never known as a virtuoso soloist, Edge shows us how he is the true master of both the effects pedal to “fill in notes that aren’t there”. He also discusses his purchase of his signature guitar, the Gibson Explorer and the punk music that influenced him. In other scenes, he plays early demo tapes of ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and discusses his inspiration for ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. Showing us how he turns a simple riff and a few basic chords into an effects laden stadium beating vintage Edge riff. The viewer also gets to

see the Mount Temple classroom where The Edge and U2 rehearsed for the first time.

Jack White very much the baby of the group shows he is not lacking in the knowledge department of his chosen instrument. Very much the opposite of the Edge, he strives for a more basic primitive blues influenced style. He seems to shun new technology when it comes to the guitar.

Going as far to show the viewer how simple it is to construct a guitar. White makes a ‘guitar’ from a simple plank of wood, a piece of wire and a coke bottle.

The main part of the film is the meeting of all 3 musicians on an L.A. soundstage dubbed ‘the summit,’ which was filmed over two days. They talk about their various influences and styles, all three playing each other’s songs. Jamming through and showing each other how to play ‘I Will Follow’, ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ and ‘In My Time of Dying’. The film concludes with an impromptu cover version The Band’s ‘The Weight’ on acoustic guitars.

The DVD is almost worth buying for the ‘Whole Lotta Love’ scene alone. A scene where Page straps on his vintage Gibson and starts to belt out the riff to ‘Whole Lotta Love’, which leaves both the Edge and White grinning from ear to ear like some sort of giddy school kids. However there is little in the way of extras on the DVD, plus it could be argued that that the film itself is too short.

Either way whether you’re a music fan or guitar fan this is the movie for you, It Might Get Loud offers some interesting insight into the soul and inspiration behind some of pop’s best and most popular music.

(Rating: 8/10) David Murphy

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Machine Head Olympia, Dublin, 28/2/10

M

achine Head rolled into Dublin promoting…nothing. No new album, new EP, or DVD. Instead, the Oakland four piece proceeded to pound the battered walls of the Olympia with fan favourite songs.

In this writer’s experience, the Olympia rarely has atmospheres befitting metal gigs, tonight was different. The noise generated by the fans was more than matched by the heaviness that Machine Head created. Ears will be ringing for days afterwards.

The songs were pretty good too.

Opener “Clenching the Fists of Dissent” from the Blackening album set the tone for a truly momentous gig. “Ten Ton Hammer” proceeded to pulverise the crowd into delirium.

There was a healthy mix of songs cherry picked from every one of the band’s six albums. While the band put on a masterful performance the sound at times failed them. One huge problem was that Flynn’s voice struggled to be heard over the cacophony of guitars, bass and drums. The bass was particularly

heavy during certain parts of the set. This minor issue aside, Flynn showed he has lost none of his powerful and guttural vocal style through years of punishing touring.

Machine Head did not let up on the extreme intensity they were creating. The audience sucked every Machine Head classic up and asked for more. Particular highlights must be “Burning Red” and “Seasons Wither”. Front man Rob Flynn commented on the energy and adrenaline that was running through the crowd repeatedly during the near two hour gig. He invoked Machine Head gigs gone past in Dublin and whipped the crowd up to a frenzy few bands achieve within the confines of the Olympia. One special moment seemed to sum up the immediate relationship created with the crowd, when Flynn wrapped himself in a tricolour for a song; the crowd finally blew its collective top. It felt like a genuine moment, not the usual fake show of

hometown support.

The encore did not disappoint.

Machine Head do metal anthems like no one else. Other groups must pray to Satan wish they could copy the American band’s cannon of songs. “Halo” had the audience in raptures and a strong sing along soon erupted to the song’s chorus.

“Davidian”, an unashamed metal classic finished off a fantastic gig. For anyone who missed it, you quite possibly missed the metal gig of the year.

Flynn promised a new album was in the pipeline and that a return to Dublin would be imminent upon it’s release.

On the strength of tonight, that cannot come soon enough. Machine Head, we miss you already.

High On Fire Snakes For The Devine

H

igh On Fire’s fifth album, Snakes For The Devine finds the band on familiar footing. The band follows their successful formula of crafting fine stoner metal songs but never straying too far from the blueprint.

Mike Pike’s voice is still the closest thing in rock to replicating Motorhead front man, Lemmy’s vocals. This probably means, as a listener, the decision to love or hate the band is pretty instantaneous after hearing his vocals for the first time. That being said, this is still a quality record which unfortunately never breaks through the glass ceiling.

Lyrically the band is very much into their Dungeons and Dragons. Pike sings of medieval mayhem and nefarious goings-ons. The cover art of a woman wrapped in snakes with a cloudy sky also feeds into this mythical image High On Fire sing about.

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The music itself is not hugely different from past HOF records. “Frost Hammer” and the title track pummel the listener into oblivion. This band can do very heavy metal when required.

Pike describes “Frost Hammer” as “an icy death lullaby”, it is hard to disagree.

“Bastard Samurai” and “How Dark We Pray” slow things down. It gives the listener a much needed change of pace.

Both songs sludge along with beautiful malevolence. “Bastard Samurai” finally builds up into an epic crescendo that will have the listener’s ears bleeding. Special praise must go to drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz for providing a devastating rhythm section. Kensel’s drums blast fury at times with Matz’s bass more than keeping up with the frenetic pace.

This tempo change does not last long.

The final three songs are spine-tingling.

“Fire, Flood & Plague” is enveloped by doom. “How Dark We Pray” explodes like a volcano. Meanwhile, “Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter” finishes off the album in spectacular fashion. The constructing of the album shows the band has developed a strong craftsmanship in their music. Every song is placed where it should be and the album flows exquisitely at times.

This album is an excellent piece of storybook metal. The tempo changes are well placed and Pike’s voice grows on you with each listen. When required to turn the volume up to eleven and let rip High On Fire do it as well as any metal band out there. But with the band on album number five, how many more similar efforts can they make, without sounding formulaic?

Dave Claxton

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Betraying exclusive rock for Mainstream Pop: and Im lovin it!

Welcome to Oxegen 2010!

By Nicola Byrne

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turned on the radio last week to the boom of hyped-up DJs spazzing out more than they usually do. The Oxegen launch had taken place that morning, as throngs of privileged ‘reporters’ became the first to know of Oxegen 2010’s anticipated line-up. They weren’t disappointed.

In case you haven’t already heard, the headliners for 2010 include Eminem, Muse, Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Florence and the Machine, Faithless, Stereophonics, Kasabian, The Prodigy, David Guetta, Vampire Weekend, John Mayer, La Roux, Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, amongst many others.

I was delighted with the acts. In fact, I took great pleasure in wrecking my friends’ heads by already starting to organise every intricate detail of the weekend, despite the fact that it’s over four months away.

But as Duffy says, someone gonna rain on your parade. The moaning began like clockwork. Bloggers, columnists, snobby gobshites -- all raining on my Oxegen, and they were creating a slurry.

“Waaa, it’s a rock festival. Where is ‘indie-bandonly-I-have-heard-of’ or ‘alternative-screamingman’. Eminem, Jay-Z? Tracksuits and mud don’t mix, scumbags day out ‘10!”

The uproar was reminiscent of the controversy surrounding Jay-Z’s headlining of Glastonbury in 2008. Noel Gallagher called the decision “wrong”, but being an utter tosser, you’d expect no less. But critics also slammed the decision and blamed Jay for the slow ticket sales.

Glastonbury was traditionally known for it’s indie rock and guitar-based headliners. In a bid to

reach out to a younger audience, organiser Michael Eavis said they had really “stuck their necks out on this one.”

As any idiot could have predicted, Jay-Z rocked Glasto in all it’s glory and was proclaimed “the most thrilling headline act for more than a decade”

by The Times. The whole thing reeks of elitism and the lack of ability to just enjoy something for what it is.

Noel Gallagher, yet again, was left eating from Jay-Z’s hand as he thrived on this new challenge of completely overturning expectations with the ultimate performance. Jay-Z had habitually gotten bored with his career, claiming that he had nowhere new to go. Glastonbury was the definitive challenge, and it now looks like Jay is back to his old struggles.

I hate to break it to you all but like Glasto, Oxegen is no longer exclusively rock. In fact, I don’t think it ever was. Oxegen is Ireland’s major music festival and is here to appeal to everyone.

It’s come a long way from its Witnness beginnings. Running from 2000-2003, Witnness rocked our wellies off with headliners such as Beck, The Undertones, The White Stripes, Placebo, Green Day, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth and Idlewild -but wait -- 2003, the Sugababes?

It’s as though pop snuck up on Oxegen and pushed it down a steep hill concluding at the rabid stream of ‘main’. 2004, Pink. Roll. 2005, Snoop Dogg. Roll. 2006, Sandi Thom, remember her?

Hit a jagged rock on the way down. 2007, Avril Lavigne. Roll. 2008, someone thought it would be a good idea to invite the Sugababes back again.

Roll. 2009, Katy Perry. Entering point of no return.

If you’re looking for something a little more rock, go across the waters to Download, where you can find the likes of the AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine, Aerosmith, 30 Seconds to Mars and Motorhead headlining this year. The Carling weekend of Reading and Leeds festivals are also an option for the ‘alternative’ crowd.

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Running since the 60’s, the twin festivals host a more ‘NME’ friendly line-up with the likes of The Charlatans, The Strokes, Suede and Arctic Monkeys having headlined in recent years. But again, there’s something for everybody -- even the rowdy amongst us. Why? It’s ‘tradition’ (or just occurs regularly) to bottle some poor clown out of it on stage. In ‘88 Meat Loaf got a two-litre bottle of cider in the mush (waste of good alcohol), while in 2004 50 Cent only lasted 20 minutes before a plastic-shower caused him to run off-stage in a strop. In 2008, three-thousand people gathered at Reading’s ‘BBC Introducing Stage’ to see unsigned band The FF’ers, as rumour had it that it was actually the Foo Fighters in disguise. It wasn’t, and boy did The FF’ers suffer for it, in physical pain.

The Electric Picnic, affectionately known as ‘lecky’, is another opition if Oxegen is too mainstream and skanger for you, loike. The atmosphere is generally more laid-back and the entertainment on offer is a little more broad than beer-bong. Eclectic acts such as Jape, Fionn Regan, Modest Mouse, Super Extra Bonus Party, Röyksopp, Elbow, CSS, and er, the Dublin Gospel Choir have all played the festival. Aside from music we have the Comedy Tent, where the likes of Tommy Tiernan can insult minorities to your amusement, along with a selection of arts and theatrics and the ‘Body & Soul Area’, where one can connect with oneself.

But I, for one, am extremely excited to go to Oxegen this year. The lecky lineup will have to be outstanding to prise my money from Oxegen’s grasp. Judging by the amount of ill-spelled

“WOOO OXYGEN ‘10” friends’ Facebook statuses, I’m not alone. Mainstream festivals such as Oxegen have an equal 50:50 music to atmosphere ratio. It’s no longer ‘all about the music, man’.

Woodstock came and left in a blink, bringing and taking that notion with it.

The Aquarian exposition, three days of peace and music, may have changed the face of rock and roll, but the ‘drugs, mud and hippies’ description is universal.

However, The Who aren’t going to kick of a 25-song set at 4 a.m at Oxegen; for this we salute the music, Woodstock.

While the rowdy-factor of Oxegen this year may increase to Carling’s scale due to some of the acts, it’s hard to imagine it getting any worse than it is. Nothing beats a whole weekend of camping in mother nature’s sludge while doing your bit to generate aluminium for recycle.

And if the Sugababes happen to be playing ‘Push the Button’ on repeat over on mainstage for two hours? Don’t go. Head to pet sounds or the o2 stage. Let the girls who actually brought a makeup bag and heels to Oxegen infest the pit for those two hours. With so many acts spread over three days, there is literally something for everyone.

However, the only thing I worry about is the dreaded ‘clash’ of two much-anticipated acts. In ‘07 The Killers were on the mainstage at the same time Daft Punk took to the NME stage. Having just witnessed the euphoria that is a Daft Punk gig at Marlay Park the preceding Autumn, I chose to fight my way into the Killers pit. Big mistake.

After running through countless mud-pools and jumping over endless drunken messes, I caught the last five minutes of Daft Punk -- trumping The Killers’ whole set by a landslide.

So if you’re less worried about clashes and more worried about the music industry as a whole, I propose an alternative. Throw a few tents up in your back garden and whip out iTunes. You mightn’t replicate the festival atmosphere, but sure you’re far too cool for that anyway.

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Fusion

For The Best Printing Prices Contact Russell Altman

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Ever since they were young they wanted to be a gangsters ...now they play Mafia Wars

By Kevin McClay

D

aily routine for many people has changed with the times. It used to be roll out of bed and walk down to the local shop and get your morning coffee, a sausage roll, newspaper, and find out what is happening in the world around you. Nowadays, many people turn to the computer and open Facebook before they even turn the kettle on. Facebook is the individual’s ‘little world’. It’s all there for you. You can check to see what happened the night before and you can find out what is on the agenda for the next one.

For many it has become much more than that.

The quote “What did we do before there was Facebook” is becoming a harsh reality for the masses.

A constant evolving narrative is entertaining. It is ‘he said/she said’ gossip; in its basic virtual form.

The Home page alone can take away valuable, precious time for the ‘industrious’ Facebook user. The trick is not to get pulled in to the game applications. Many of these applications are daily games; meaning the only way to advance to higher levels is to check the game on a daily basis. Mafia Wars is a prime example of this daily login, in order to achieve great success.

Mafia Wars is a multiplayer browser game created by Zynga. It was the 2009 Webby Award. On Facebook alone, as of October 2009, Mafia Wars has had more than 25.9 million monthly active accounts. Some players and clans create multiple accounts to utilize the benefits of the three basic character builds available: Fearless, Maniac, and Mogul. Mafia Wars is set in New York City and Little Italy, with the option for players to travel between New York, Cuba and Moscow. Now you can fight the Triads in Bangkok and at the end of

2010 the Mafia player will be able to travel to Las Vegas as well. Hopefully there will be a job involving Joe Pesci and a pen. The game revolves around accomplishing and mastering jobs in order to earn cash and experience, with the goal of establishing and advancement.

The amount of active users for the month of March already is 25,147,422 and the average daily active user is close to 7 million per day. That’s not the scary bit. Mafia Wars is such a phenomenon that some players have created internal gangs on the web through the game.

The Omerta Faction in Mafia Wars is a group of Mafia Wars players who have created an elite clan in the game. The common definition of the word omerta means a “code of silence”. In the real mafia culture, breaking the oath of omertà is punishable by death. The clan believes that they make playing mafia wars more enjoyable. They believe that they are more than just a group of Mafia Wars enthusiasts but a community of friends and companions. In order to join the group one has to be invited by a respected member of the Omerta clan, already and the new recruit has to change his or her name so that the word Omerta is in the profile name. The group was created in 2009 and has grown to a respected clan among clans so they say.

A quote from a Mafia Wars blogger says, “We are a clan that believes in developing your mafia into an outstanding warrior is a worthy goal. We help ourselves by helping our clan members at all levels and improve their ability to maximize their game enjoyment”. Online games may be the wonderful bridge for young people to confuse a game with reality.

On Facebook alone, as of October 2009, Mafia Wars has had more than 25.9 million monthly active accounts

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glee: are you a musicals kinda guy?

By Oran Fitzgerald

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t is possibly the gayest show to come out in years. The basic premise of the show is that Spanish teacher Will (played by Broadway star Matthew Morrison), decides to revive the school glee club set in a school in Lima, Ohio, which has fallen on hard times.

The show differs from Fame because rarely do the actors spontaneously burst into song – the production numbers, for the main part, are rehearsals or performances by the club. One episode, ‘Acafellas’ has Will, Finn, Puck and Ken forming an a capella boy/man band. The songs used are a mixture of 80’s classics (Don’t Stop Believing, Can’t Fight This Feeling, Alone) and current hits (usually R & B – Take A Bow, Bust Your Windows, No Air) and classic show tunes ( Maybe This Time, I Could Have Danced All Night, Mr. Cellophane). In 2009, the cast had 25 singles in the Billboard Top 100, the most since The Beatles had 31 in 1964. “Don’t Stop Believing” is the most downloaded song in Ireland in 2010.

The plot is deliberately highly implausible, involving unconsummated passion between Will and school guidance counsellor Emma, an OCD sufferer. Meanwhile, Will’s wife, Terri is pretending to be pregnant, and her frankly mental sister is blackmailing the town’s ob-gyn. The stand out character is the cheerleading teacher. This butch bitch (played by the fantabulous Jane Lynch) is somewhat to the right of Genghis Kahn, has obviously never heard of the PC brigade. A particular favourite of this writer’s must be: “passing Spanish is only necessary if they want jobs in the carwash, flipping burgers, or working in Wal-mart.”

While possibly not the ‘coolest’ show on Earth, the show has an unrivalled feel-good factor. Eyecandy abounds – the three cheerleaders for the boys, Emma and Terri for those who prefer cougars, Puck and Will for those who like chiselled bods and big guns. Josh Groban has already appeared, Olivia Newton-John has a special guest appearance in a forth-coming episode.

The first Glee cd, imaginatively titled ‘Glee: The Music, Volume 1’ is available now. Featuring 17 tracks, it is unlikely to win you over if you’re not already a ‘Gleek’ (yup, that’s what fans are called!), but is a must-have for anyone who loves pop. There is not one duff track, even if you don’t know all the originals. Some of the stand out tracks are the afore-mentioned ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, ‘Somebody To Love’ (Freddie would love this show!) and Jill Scott’s ‘Hate On Me’. Special mention must go to Artie’s (Kevin McHale) version of ‘Dancing With Myself’, the Billy Idol song, as covered by Nouvelle Vague. My only complaint is that none of songs by the Acafellas appear on the album, their version of ‘I Wanna Sex You Up’ was stunning.

In the second series, there will be an episode featuring all new tracks. The show is also planning an ‘American Idol’ style audition process for the new series, and some of these auditions will feature in the show itself. As to the show’s popularity, it has over one and a half million fans on the official facebook page, more than CSI and Desperate Housewives put together. Not bad going for a cast of actors who were relatively unheard of five months ago.

G

Glee is an American TV series that has taken the world by storm.

While possibly not the ‘coolest’ show on Earth, the show has an unrivalled feel-good factor.

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entertainment

Tubridy’s Time?

By Oran Fitzgerald

W

hen I first got word that I had managed to secure an interview with The Late Late Show host, Ryan Tubridy, I asked friends, colleagues and lecturers to suggest questions they would like me to put to Ireland’s king of chat. The suggestions I received, while sparse and suffering from paucity, were somewhat illuminating - “ask him why he’s such a smug git?”, “why is he such a pompous twat?”, “how does he manage to stay so skinny?” and the classic, all encompassing (from a lecturer, no less!) “besides the sarcastic ones, I don’t have a question off the top of my head”. So, the prime-time purveyor of prattle is perceived as a prat – or maybe that’s just the company I keep. Not being an avid Late Late Show viewer (I have a life), or a listener to “grown-up” radio, I had few or no preconceptions of the man as I went to RTÉ to interview him.

At precisely 4.15, Ryan Tubridy lopes into the Late Late Show “satellite” room. “Good, a quarter past, exactly on time.”

Well yes, except the arrangement had been for four o’clock, and I had been anxiously awaiting the chat-show king for twenty-five minutes.

A firm handshake, the piercing eyes boring into mine. “Very pleased to meet you. Where are

“Look, Pat and I, we’re

neighbours. We chat, we go for a pint. This rivalry, it’s newspaper based, you know – big show/little show. Friday night, Saturday night.

There’s no personal animosity. He gave me some very good tips for the Toy Show.”

you studying? Ah Griffith, yes, I did an interview with one of your colleagues, Mai Tian.” I confessed to not knowing this other student. Tubridy then proceeded to ask me about Griffith, and the journalism course. I had to wrestle control back somewhat, as the point of this exercise was that I was to interview him, not he me.

I start in the obvious place – the beginning.

“Poparama to chat show king – it’s a long journey, what can you tell me about it?” “Well, at the age of twelve, I used to come into RTÉ once a month, to see Ruth Buchanan and Ian Dempsey, I think it was Ian then...well, I say ‘see’, but you couldn’t see anything for the cigarette smoke, Ruth and her More, Ian and his Bensons, thank God it’s not allowed any more, and I did my book reviews. £25 a month they got me. The bug got me.”

“You started out as a researcher on the Gerry Ryan Show. Would you recommend that as the way to go, or would you suggest another route?” “Oh no, I didn’t start as a researcher, nothing as grand as that. No, no, I was a runner, you know...coffee and danish. It certainly is the way to start, once you keep your eyes open and are willing to learn.

I can guarantee now, out of twenty work experiences, nineteen will just look at the computers, keep their heads down. You can always see the one, the one who wants to learn. That’s the thing, you have to keep your eyes open, be like a magpie, pick up bits.” (At this stage, he does some mad thing with his hands, imitating magpie talons, grabbing at thin air. It is slightly off-putting.) “You have to go in with your head held up and be eager to learn.

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“If I interview someone,

Then I moved to the Pat Kenny Show.”

Ah yes, Pat the Plank. “Pat Kenny and you. What’s the story?” “Look, Pat and I, we’re neighbours. We chat, we go for a pint. This rivalry, it’s newspaper based, you know – big show/little show. Friday night, Saturday night.

There’s no personal animosity. He gave me some very good tips for the Toy Show.” I felt the answer was somewhat rehearsed or clichéd, and subsequently discovered that it was nearly word for word the same answer Pat gave to Podge and Rodge.

“Newspapers. Do you feel that the Irish press has dumbed-down?” “Look.

They have a job. If I interview someone, they know that’s what I’m here for. It’s the people jumping out of bushes I object to. I wouldn’t say dumbed down, people want to know. No one in Ireland has a private life any more, it’s all out there. Katy French. She wanted to be there, in the papers everyday. You can’t complain about newspaper interest if you want to be in the public eye.”

So who was your worst guest?” No hesitation. “Tara Palmer- Tompkinson.

She didn’t want to be there and... She had nothing to say. I was quite glad to see the back of her. She was rude to people I work with.”

All throughout the interview, although I had his undivided attention, he kept one eye on the open door, and finger waved or nodded at everybody who passed by. No standoffish-ness, but neither was this being done for my benefit – he genuinely was keeping an eye out for friends/mates/ co-workers.

“You got a bit of flak for being too easy with Cowen, and too hard on the three priests. How do you strike a balance?” As soon as I got as far as Cowen, he interrupted, “Did I? I didn’t think so.”

Then when he realised I wasn’t criticising him, he continued. “I felt Cowen answered the question about drink, I didn’t feel the need to go further.

Kenny (Enda) was on last week, he was grilled too. Those priests were young men, they came on the show the week the Ryan report was published

they know that’s what I’m there for. It’s the people jumping out of bushes I object to. I wouldn’t say dumbed down, people want to know. No one in Ireland has a private life any more, it’s all out there. Katy French. She wanted to be there, in the papers everyday.

You can’t complain about newspaper interest if you want to be in the public eye.”

– they knew they weren’t going to get an easy ride.”

“Have you any advice for aspiring hacks?”

“Polite persistence. If you don’t get what you want today, come back tomorrow. But always be polite.

So many people forget that. Politeness is really important.”

I thank him for his time, and fumble in my bag. He bursts out laughing when I hand him two bags of sweets. “You’ve chosen well. I love wine gums and Glacier Fruits. They’ll go in the sweet jar, thank you so much!”

Interview over, he walks me to the door. Firm handshake, and off he goes, another busy Late Late Show ahead of him. So, smug git, Pompous prat? No, definitely not. A man who is at the top of his profession and justifiably proud of it? Yes.

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Online dating: Strong compatibility= Deep love

By Nicola Byrne

O

nline dating is slowly becoming a global phenomenon with one in eight United States couples having encountered each other this way. But does this method of dating destroy some of the traditional values once found in meeting your other half?

With so many dating options available these days, you’ve almost no excuse to be single. That is, unless you want to be, of course. College freshers’ weeks across the country brought us speed dating. Our mates brought us double dating. But the internet; that brought us online dating.

Often frowned upon in eastern cultures, it is estimated by ‘Online Dating Magazine’ more than 120,000 marriages occur every year as a result of online dating. According to ‘Marketdata Enterprises’, the online dating industry generates $1.8 billion annually, with 40 million single Americans now utilising the websites.

Sure these days, we meet someone we like and the majority of the time, it’s straight on to Facebook to lurk on profiles and mentally evaluate our compatibility based on the groups we’ve joined.

Is online dating any different? Some would argue meeting someone should be spontaneous and shouldn’t be a given formula. Your mutual fondness of eclectic indie French film doesn’t necessarily mean you’re destined to be together. However, dating websites are largely focused on filling out profiles under headings such as favourite movies, music, food to eat - you get the picture.

Websites like eHarmony.com go so far as to ‘scientifically’ match you to potential partners. After answering a ton of seemingly relevant questions, you can find the person you’re destined to marry at the click of a button. That’s if they have signed up to the website.

The website claims their, “Compatibility Matching System narrows the field from thousands of single men or single women to match with a highly select group of compatible singles -- singles who have been pre-screened on 29 Dimensions of Compatibility: scientific predictors of long-term relationship success.”

Your eyes meet across the bar. They smile.

You smile. Fuelled with Dutch courage - over you walk. “Hey baby, lets compare our 29 dimensions of compatibility.” It doesn’t seem very romantic.

So why should we seek to find someone this way online?

Surely young sociable students wouldn’t quite feel the need to resort to websites like these just yet. Out in pubs and clubs every other day of the week, you’re bound to meet a wealth of potential love interests to keep you occupied. However, many of the testimonials on dating websites claim

circumstances such as ‘a busy job’, ‘travelling a lot’ and ‘single-motherhood’ as reasons why people have turned to their laptops to find love.

The fastest growing demographic of the online dating population are adults over fifty-five who possibly lack single social circles. How fun is it to go out with a group of attached friends when you’re single? Now add 30 years to your age.

But for some people, a database of average Joes just isn’t going to cut it. Niche sites such as FarmersOnly.com are proving to be a huge hit in the states. The agri-lovers have claims to have spawned over 100 marriages from their matches.

BeautifulPeople.com does exactly what it says on the tin. The website claims to have a strict policy with regard to “ugly people” -- they are forbidden.

The site has recently come under major scrutiny when it axed 5000 members for “letting themselves go” over the Christmas period.

Uniquely, the website leaves it up to its users to decide who should be permitted to join. Access to the site is only granted after approved members vote on a photograph of the hopeful. The options range from ‘Yes definitely‘ to ‘NO definitely NOT.’ This is not a dating service for the vulnerable.

Robert Hintze, founder of BeautifulPeople. com, said the “high standard of beauty” must be upheld in order to maintain a credible website.

“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.” Charming.

I would be of the opinion the ‘time consuming’ courtship is all part of what makes romance and love exciting and special. Sure, we would all like to find future marital bliss at the click of a button, but is it the same as hunting them out for yourself, that fabled feeling of ‘love at first sight’, and the inevitable chase? The verdict is out on that one.

Would our parents have met online? Ultimately, if it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen -- just like it did in the pre-web generations. But as Cupid would no doubt contend, love is love, regardless of how you meet.

Cilla Black questioning male contestants on the the famous British dating game show Blind Date.

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An Octave Above the Rest

By Laura Delaney

V

“There

eronica Dunne has been Ireland’s leading voice coach for over 40 years. Now 82, her passion for opera singing and teaching is still hitting all the right notes.

Despite officially ‘retiring’ seventeen years ago Veronica could not be more in tune with her career, teaching in The Leinster School at Griffith College Dublin, and the Royal Irish Academy six days a week.

Dr. Dunne has taught a scale of successful singers such as Ronan Tynan, Cara O’ Sullivan, Finbar Wright, and Andrew Murphy to name a few of her protégées.

The infamous Lynda Lee is a prize-winner at the International Belvedere Competition in Vienna under Veronica’s guidance. “Veronica is regarded well by everybody. She has been around for a long time. She has a fantastic energy about her skill.”

The admiration Ms Lee has for Veronica, who she often calls ‘Ronnie’ is touching. “I still remember every single thing that she said to me on my first day twenty years ago, and I find I am using the same advice she gave to me, and passing on the same information she shared to the next generation”.

Lynda Lee discussed The Veronica Dunne singing competition with both pride and excitement.

“It is building from year to year. The level of singers in the Concert Hall last month was fantastic. She is such an inspiration and a remarkable woman”.

Veronica is certainly no stranger to competitions. In 1952 she entered a singing competition in Milan and won first place singing MiMi. “Sir David Webster and The Earl of Harvard were at the performance, and this really sparked my interest in competitions. I was offered a contract straight away in June, and the following September I joined the Royal Opera House”.

As a child with varied interests Veronica embraced life by horse riding and hunting. “On completing her school days at Mount Anville in 1945, she sold her beloved pony Connemara Boy for £125, in an attempt to pursue her singing career in Rome.

“Regrettably, the Sacred Heart Nuns in Milan said not to come, as there was little food available. I thought that was that until after mass one Sunday, we met the famous Irish ballad singer Delia Murphy and her husband Dr Thomas Kiernan, who just happened to be Irish ambassador to the

is nothing to equal a teacher’s reward having created a voice and gone through all the stages of technique, musicianship, and interpretation of music, and then seeing them perform.

Not even winning the Lotto can equal it”

Holy Sea. It was a stroke of good fortune”.

“He organised for me to be put in the care of the famous Kerryman, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the ‘Pimpernel of the Vatican’, who saved the lives of 500 thousand prisoners of war, The moment I stepped of the plane, he greeted me with the words: Do you see that plane? If I catch you with an Italian man, you will be on the next flight home.

Welcome to Rome”.

On returning to Dublin in 1948, Veronica established herself with acclaimed performances in Carmen and Faust for the Dublin Grand Opera Society. She made a major breakthrough in 1952, winning the Concurso Lirico Milano from over 200 singers.

In 1963, she moved into teaching joining the staff of D.I.T music school and dedicated her life to the training of young voices. In 1987, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from UCD. “There is nothing to equal a teacher’s reward having created a voice and gone through all the stages of technique, musicianship, and interpretation of music, and then seeing them perform. Not even winning the Lotto can equal it”.

The pressure’s confronting aspiring opera singers to not only sing beautifully, but to appear beautiful seems to be one part of a long list of requirements on a résumé.

“In today’s society even opera singers have to have the perfect figure. Singers are starting to lose roles because they are overweight. I have a student that had to weigh in every month. It is extremely sad and worrying”.

Susan Boyle and Rhydian; among a few reality singers who paved the way for more operatic style ventures, such as ‘Pop Stars to Opera Stars’.

Veronica encourages this operatic pop singing “it means young people will come back and enjoy Operas, even if it is only pop Operas”.

When Veronica talks about being on stage, she sinks into deep thought, followed by faint sighs.

It is as if she has been transported back to the 1960’s, about to perform in a packed opera house in Rome.

Thankfully, Dr. Dunne shows no sign off giving her passion. “I love singing, I always have and I always will. My students are my inspiration now, At 82 I feel as young as I did at 65, life couldn’t be better”.

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JT and Tiger - Legends of the Fall

By Patrick Savage

T

he recent revelations regarding the private lives of sports stars have dominated the headlines and sparked a media frenzy to uncover further scandal.

The two main protagonists, John Terry and Tiger Woods, both sporting icons in their own right, have become known as nothing more than “love rats” to the general public. This is due to their various affairs, or “transgressions” as Tiger eloquently puts it.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of both these cases is the ridiculous exaggeratory reactions of the media and the public as a whole. Seemingly so shocked to discover that extra-marital affairs occur in the world, gutter journalists and the celebrity-magazine brigade have suggested that these two men have “let down their fans.”

The reality is quite different. Neither man ever volunteered for a humanitarian role or as an ambassador for Trocaire, they are simply sportsmen. Terry, the captain of Chelsea and England has never publicly spoken of his role-model attributes and credentials. He does all his talking on the football pitch. As captain, his role is to organise and motivate his team-mates and ultimately win trophies; something he is quite competent at.

Judgement on Terry, the footballer, should not be based on his affair with Vanessa Perroncel.

Instead, it should be based on his performances.

In the recent game against Burnley, despite the abusive jeers and taunts of the hostile Burnley crowd, JT scored the winning goal just hours after details of his affair were exposed.

When Tiger Woods burst onto the scene in the mid-1990’s, he was always destined to become the most influential sports star in the world. His ethnic background, heritage and talent added to his already growing aura.

By the age of 21, he was the face of Nike and the U.S Masters Champion. By romping home (no pun intended) to a record 12-shot victory on the same golf course that, up until seven years previously was

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of both these cases is the ridiculous exaggeratory reactions of the media and the public as a whole. Seemingly so shocked to discover that extra-marital affairs occur in the world, gutter journalists and the celebrity-magazine brigade have suggested that these two men have “let down their fans.”

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Away with the Faroes :

Darren Cleary chats to Brian Kerr a “whites-only club”, Woods cemented his place in history and a legacy was born. Today, he has become bigger than a mere sports star. He is quite simply, Tiger Woods; global product.

Everybody wanted to be associated with him.

Corporate sponsors, computer games, fans, other sports stars, celebrities, the legend was spiralling out of control. Despite this, Tiger’s world seemed very much in control. His ability to focus solely on golf throughout the media circus that confronted him every week seemed inhuman.

That was until his influential father, Earl, passed away in 2006. A former Green Beret, Earl had always been a strict taskmaster on his son, something that Tiger has always credited his mental toughness to. When his mentor passed away in 2006, Tiger began to lose his discipline and gradually, his values.

Keen golf fans have never bought the “global role-model” mantle placed on the shoulders of Woods by money-driven corporations. The majority of the world did, but Tiger’s obsession to succeed in the game he lives for would always prevail over the image those who owned him wanted to portray.

Terry’s plight is remarkably similar. Even the most devoted Chelsea fan will tell you that his offfield behaviour has been anything but exemplary.

Terry was never cut out to be a role-model of how to live ones life. Previous allegations of profiting from tours of the Chelsea training-ground, along with his recurrent un-sportsmanlike attitude only serve to reinforce this. Recent revelations of his personal life only add to this reputation, but they don’t excuse the subsequent witch-hunt that arose. He has made mistakes that he now has to live with, just like Woods and just like millions of people do every day.

If Tiger was the clean-cut American hero that the media would have had you believe, he would not have won 14 major championships by the age of 34. On the golf course, Tiger does not engage in banter, preferring a solitary existence until a trophy is handed to him on a Sunday afternoon.

He is as selfish, methodical and single-minded as sports stars come. This ruthless streak he possesses explains why he is the greatest sports man the world will possibly ever see.

The saintly image branded upon sports stars is simply a by-product of investors and franchises who want to cash in on a good thing. They don’t all live squeaky clean lives. They are not obliged to, they owe us nothing. If this statement offends or antagonises people, maybe one should refer to the graceful lyrics of the wordsmith that is Mr. Ice-T: “Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.”

B

rian Kerr came desperately close to achieving world cup qualification with Ireland but like Giovanni Trapattoni was thwarted by France. The Faroe Islands manager must now find a way past world champions Italy and Northern Ireland to qualify for Euro 2012.

Stade De France, Paris, November 18th 2009.

Still raw memories for Irish supporters. Our World Cup dreams dashed in the cruelest of fashions. Public and political outcry wasn’t enough to change the result or warrant a replay despite Thierry Henry’s bending of rules. Henry may have temporarily tarnished his reputation but we should not forget his enormous contribution in the Premier League with Arsenal. He remains the Gunners’ greatest ever striker and is now leading the line at European cup winners Barcelona.

Still, not much time to dwell on his hand ball, as its back to business with attempting to qualify for Euro 2012. And be it the luck of the Irish or the course correcting universe exercising some Karma, Ireland were presented with a favorable draw in Group B. We will face Armenia, Andorra, Macedonia, Slovakia and Russia. Pundits are even excited at the prospect, some borderline confident.

The pain of the World Cup may be eased ever so slightly should we easily book a place at the European Championships in two years’ time. A man that knows all about qualification campaigns is the former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr, He took up the Irish post in 2003 after Mick McCarthy’s resignation two matches into the Euro 2004 Qualifiers He was, however, left with a huge challenge to achieve qualification. Following a draw at home to Russia, and a defeat in Switzerland, Ireland finished 3rd, and were out of the competition.

Kerr suffered the agony of failing to qualify again in the campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, managing Ireland to only one defeat. However late goals conceded to Israel, at home and away, saw the Republic of Ireland finish in 4th place, in a tight group. The FAI decided not to renew Kerr’s contract much to his chagrin.

I spoke to the Dubliner while he was in Warsaw at the draw for Euro 2012 in his current capacity as boss of the Faroe Islands, and started by asking if he was happy with the draw his team got.

“We’re happy from a geographical point of view, Serbia

If I had to buy tickets I couldn’t see myself spending 70 or 80 Euro to go and watch Andorra, Macedonia and Armenia in a three match package. But from the football point of view the chances of qualifying are very positive Fusion Magazine 65

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is not the easiest to get to but the others are fairly straight forward coming from the Faroe Islands which is quite isolated.

From a football point of view there’s a bit of romance playing world champions Italy, for me personally to be playing Northern Ireland, I’m happy because my family originally came from Belfast. The game with Estonia would give us two matches where we would be obviously underdogs we might have a chance of snatching something from one of those games.”

As a former Ireland Manager how do you think Giovanni Trapattoni will feel about the draw he got in Group B?

“I’d say he’d be quite happy and even expecting to win the group, from an appeal point of view it isn’t very attractive for lovers of the traditional strong powers of football, the countries from the former Eastern Europe region are not exactly attractive. If I had to buy tickets I couldn’t see myself spending 70 or 80 Euro to go and watch Andorra, Macedonia and Armenia in a three match package. But from the football point of view the chances of qualifying are very positive” You’ll obviously have a big Irish support when you take on world champions Italy, in fairness you have been handed one of the toughest draws. Do you think theirs anyone beatable there?

“Yeah I think Estonia are a team we could beat, they came out of the pot directly above us, although they beat Belgium and they beat Turkey in their last qualification campaign, overall they didn’t do particularly. They have played the Faroes in the past so they would understand the pitfalls but realistically we have to think, can we scrap a couple of points, can we outsmart someone and pull off a win, that’s the way we have to think there’s no point in setting unrealistic targets the Faroes are in the bottom pot of the European pile based on their history of results. And obviously their up against it all the time because of the small population they have and the isolation and so on, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have some ambition and we don’t have an ability to pull off a shock. We will certainly be planning for that and we’ll ensure we have the best team on the pitch and the tactical organization to achieve that”

You were at the draw in Poland and I’m sure all eyes would have been firmly focused on England Boss Fabio Capello. As a manager would you have made the same decision to strip John Terry of the Captaincy?

Brian Kerr: manager for the Faroe Islands national football team and former Republic of Ireland manager 2004-2005

“Look it’s nothing to do with me. I don’t have to deal with that rubbish and unless you’re in the situation you don’t know what the pressures are.

To be honest it doesn’t spark much interest in me, I don’t really care what’s happening with the English players, it’s a bit of a circus and there’s so much spoof and spin goes on in the game over there I’m always inclined to take a lot of it with a pinch of salt. “ You’ve gone to Russia before over the years with youth teams and such, how hard is it to get a result in what will inevitability be hostile conditions?

“By history and results the Russians lose very few games at home, in fact I think when Germany beat them it was the only time they lost a World Cup qualifier at home ever. So that would give an idea that they are very difficult opposition at home, by tradition they haven’t been great away from home but that’s changed over the years as more and more of their players play outside the country” Are you confident Ireland will win this group?

“Yeah I am but look every international match is difficult, it’s not easy to win any game, but I think the draw went very well for them. They got two of the handiest draws from the two pots ahead of them and none of the teams underneath them should pose a major problem if the team is well organised and on their guard. And if they do their stuff they should be well capable of challenging Russia for the top spot.

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