Pan Irish Digest SUMMER 2020

Pan Irish Digest

August, 2020 Updated 8/ 18

I r i sh Pan d em i c Resp o n se I n cl u d es T r av el Rest r i ct i o n s As we can readily attest, pubs and entertainment catering to Irish Americans are being devastated by the Covid19 Pandemic and our patchwork of rules and suggestions for combating the problem seem to be adding to the misery.

Ireland overall has done better than the US (and most countries in Europe) in handling the crisis. Like the US, however, the entire island is experiencing similar woes as the economy in both the Republic and the North is sputtering and cases of the virus keep showing up. The infection rate in Ireland overall was one of the lowest in Europe however in mid-August a slight increase in cases was frustrating public health officials, The results are that at press time today according to news reports (Irish Times & Irish Independent and RTE) on the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to the cabinet is that all ?businesses should revert to remote working unless it is absolutely essential for an employee to attend their workplace in person.? Also pubs and sporting events will keep being restricted.

Du blin is ver y qu iet an d u n cr ow ded bu t Ir ish Am er ican s ar e en cou r aged n ot t o t r avel. Som e Eu r opean s cn f r eely t r avel t o Ir elan d bu t f or US Tr aveler s m u st qu ar an t in e f or 14 days.

The latest measures aimed at tackling corona virus, (if approved) will stay in place at least through mid- September according to a government source.

According to the Irish Times, ?NPHET is also believed to have advised that sporting events and matches should revert to a ?behind closed doors? basis.

RTE and the Irish Independent confirm that the NPHET also want Gatherings, including fans before and after sporting events are also discouraged.

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Details on travel to Ireland for both US Citizens and Irish Travelers from the US can be found online. Here we link the Consulates for; :

San Fr an cisco: df a.ie/ ir ish -con su lat e / san f r an cisco/

New Yor k : df a.ie/ ir ish -con su lat e/ n ew yor k / Also, the Br it ish Con su lat e LA for info on travel to the North of Ireland.:

h t t ps:/ / bit .ly/ 3aDv824

Pan Ir ish Digest f r om Au gu st 18, 2020

A Vir t u al For u m Acr oss 50 St at es Feat u r in g: Speakers covering major sectors including Business, Labor, Pandemic Lessons from the Great Hunger, Theatre, Arts, Politics, Literature, Sport, Heritage Museums, Irish Centers, Irish American Community Organisations, Film, Start-Ups, Travel & Tourism, Media, College Partnerships, Irish Studies, Philanthropy and Irish Peace Process.

Be par t of it : The Irish Echo is publishing The Big Irish Campfire showcase, spotlighting Irish American organizations across the US which will give the most comprehensive picture to date of the scale and scope of our community. This showcase will be a permanent online celebration of Irish America and will also appear in the print and digital versions of the Irish Echo. We invite you to ensure your organization or enterprise is featured by providing us with a rundown on your group, including contact information by filling in our qu est ion n air e.

We encourage you to upload two photos with captions as well.

Registration closes on Wednesday 26th August

The PAN I RI SH DI GEST is sponsored in part

by Larry Kemp

For mor e i nfor mati on... just CLI CK H ERE 2

Pan Ir ish Digest f r om Au gu st 12 since the pandemic struck this spring.

The assault on freedom of expression from the right, such as from autocratic governments is simple to spot. It is easy to identify a critical mass of censorship, mandated by a strongman leader? in Putin?s Russia or Orbán?s Hungary.

The View from Ireland Th e Fr eedom of Expr ession an d t h e Fu t u r e of t h e Pr ess

By Maurice Fitzpatrick A recent news feature in The Guardian reported that the Chinese government provides tours to foreign correspondents in a bid to promulgate benign perspectives of The People?s Republic. The newspaper cautioned that ?at a time when news organisations are being pauperised, reporters who accept Chinese hospitality may risk compromising their own journalistic ideals? their very presence makes them tools of a Chinese state that uses them in domestic propaganda to shore up its own legitimacy? its advances can only weaken the?Fourth Estate?model of journalism?. A great deal is at stake in failing to protect the Fourth Estate model of journalism and its traditional role in forming a credible bulwark against the species of censorship adopted by China. Yet official censorship is only one manifestation of censorship in our time. We ignore at our peril stealthier threats to the freedom of expression,which have intensified

But the biggest threat to free expression in the West today stems not from repressive governments or economic pressures on journalism but from the deadening conformity that has engulfed the media. A recent example of this is RTÉ?s decision to purge tapes from its archives a comedy sketch broadcast in March 1982. The sketch features an RTÉ celebrity, Twink,wearing blackface and acting as Gladys Day with her musical accompaniment, the Pits.

RTÉexplained:?times have changed since then? content made in the past may no longer be acceptable by today?s standards? RTÉ will give due consideration to the content and make decisions in keeping with our editorial standards and audience expectations?.

Cont. next page please note the box about Fitzpatrick's amazing documentary on John Hume. We are very fortunate to have Maurice Fitzpatrick as a regular contributor to our publications.

A Word From Our Publisher The View From Ireland is a regular feature in the Irish Arts & Entertainment. Since the Irish Arts Digital Magazine is usually published 10 times per year, we are featuring the August column by Maurice Fitzpatrick here in our new Pan Irish Digest, Also,

Jim McDonough

The party president is Herman Kelly, a retired teacher and former journalist, who was also the Director of Communications for a group called Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy The party chairperson is Professor Dolores Cahill. who is a critic of the way Covid 19 is being handled. So far, the party has no representation at local or national level.

IRISH FREEDOM PARTY Another alternative party is emerging for Irish Voters. Sinn Fein has been surging in recent elections and polls as a counter to Ireland's two old guard parties: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The Greens and Labour have been minor players for years but since September, 2018, the Irish Freedom Party has existed and now they are fielding candidates. The Irish Freedom Party more

Kan doy Hou se, Fair view St r an d, Du blin 3

right wing than any other party in Ireland and is againt the EU. The term is EUROSKEPTIC and the anti-EU tide seems to be on the rise throughout Europe. since BREXIT!

w w w.ir ish f r eedom .ie 3

Pan I r i sh D i gest This is a book burning. RTÉ is Ireland?s national broadcaster. Its archive, underwritten by the taxpayer, forms part of the national memory and record. It must be preserved to facilitate discussions, including painful ones. As it stands now, filmmakers and film scholars interested in accessing the wholly forgettable Gladys Day and the Pits sketch will be unable to find it in RTÉ?s archives. RTÉ experienced none of the coercion that journalists routinely face in Russia andC hina, which makes its capitulation to?today?s standards? and?audience expectations?all the more callow. At a time when the Chinese government is removing books from collections in public libraries in Hong Kong, despite a year of determined demonstrations to prevent such authoritarian incursions, RTÉ?s self-imposed defacement of its (our) archive is unpardonable.

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and the police.The journalist?s colleagues stood with her and prevailed against the threat of governmental censorship. Seehofer relented.It was the determination on the part of the journalists to uphold the principle of free speech that exposed Seehofer ?s bullying for what it was.

Yet, despite free speech?s foundational importance for a free press, the self-styled liberal press increasingly silences voices merely on the grounds that the views expressed do not conform to th eever constricted view of ?correct ?contemporary standards and expectations. A recent open letter in Harper?s Magazine decried?an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty? We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement?. Irish novelist John Banville, one of the co-signatories of the letter, hit the nail on the head in his description of censorship from liberal sources:?A mob is a mob, even when its aims are benign? the end cannot be allowed to seem to justify the means?.

The strengthening liberal propensity to censor plays straight into the hands of those who seek to limit freedom,and it is destroying liberalism. From every perspective? moral, political and practical? it is a dreadful mistake. It is stymieing the press from highlighting piecemeal and smaller-scale erosion of democratic rights when they occur. These incursions have intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic under the guise of protecting people. While there is a chasm between requiring citizens to take basic precautions against the corona virus and censoring the press, governments have seized upon the chance to conflate the two.

For instance, a recent satirical article that appeared in a German news sheet, Tageszeitung, referred to the police as ?rubbish people?. In response, German Minister for the Interior Horst Seehofer made a whopping claim:?A lack of inhibition in language inevitably leads to a lack of inhibition in deeds, and to excesses of violence, just as we saw in Stuttgart? We cannot accept this any longer ?. The incident in Stuttgart to which Seehofer referred was a protest against lockdown restrictions that led to a confrontation between demonstrators

And, if maintaining a free press were not challenging enough, journalism?s business model is now almost completely shattered. Thousands of newspapers around the world, which were already at risk before the pandemic, now face an existential threat due to the economic nosedive caused by Covid-19. Many have closed since March. It is imperative to acknowledge what is lost when a newspaper disappears.Studies have shown that when local newspapers cover crime rates, monitor elected representatives and demand transparency their efforts have tangible results. Conversely, when media attention disappears, corruption and cronyism proliferate; voter turnout diminishes; local stakeholders are airbrushed by larger consortia; communities die.

Above all, the watchdog dimension of journalism is imperceptibly replaced with a chilling of freedom of speech.

The crisis for the free press to report ?without fear or favour ?is inextricably linked with the crisis of liberalism to fulfil its own ideals. We urgently need to defend free expression and a free press? they constitute the cornerstone of democracy.

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Pan Ir ish Digest f r om Au gu st 6, 2020

Joh n Hu m e Dies At 83 Th e Pat ien t Pr oph et an d Pr opon en t of Peace In Ir elan d Will Be For ever In Ir ish Hear t s A t ow er in g f igu r e in Nor t h er n Ir elan d an d on e of t h e k ey ar ch it ect s of t h e com plicat ed an d st ill n ot t ot ally f u lf illed Ir ish Peach pr ocess h as passed aw ay at h is h om e in Der r y.

Tr ibu t es an d appr eciat ion ar e f low in g in t o h is f am ily an d par t y f r om all over Ir elan d an d t h e w or ld.

SDLP Fou n der , Leader an d Nobel lau r eat e Joh n Hu m e

His son Joh n Hu m e, Jr . spok e w it h love an d h is Fat h er 's gif t of eloqu en ce at h is f u n er al M ass, 'A Der r ym an t o h is cor e.' h e said.of h is Fat h er

See LINKS John Hume on page 5

AOH NATIONAL CONVENTION See Feature on Page 4

By John McNally

Congratulations to the newly elected National Board.

Left to right: Liam McNabb - Treasurer, Sean Pender - VP, Danny O'Connell President and Jere Cole - Secretary.

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Joh n Hu m e, Ir elan d's m ost cou r ageou s peacem ak er pr of iled by M au r ice Fit zpat r ick ; Available @ am azon .com / Joh n -Hu m e-Am er ica-Der r y-DC/ dp/

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Pan I r i sh D i gest

AOH NATIONAL CONVENTION America's Largest Irish Organization Meets In Youngstown, Ohio The Ancient Order of Hibernians 100th Biennial ?Virtual? Convention was fast-paced, inspirational, and educational, but not without controversy. Initially planned for Orlando, Florida, the National leaders met in Youngstown, Ohio, the home of incoming AOH president Daniel O?Connell, where they orchestrated the complex mix of committee presentations, prayers, amendments, resolutions, motions, and elections, sprinkled with speakers from Ireland. Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall complimented Hibernians for their effective and positive influence on our government, saying that the AOH has Irelands back, likely referring to negotiations with Britain over the Brexit border and coming trade deals.

He also praised the Hibernian's commitment to our shared culture and strong business ties. In 2019 over 2 million Americans traveled to Ireland. Catholic Action passed a resolution condemning attacks on churches and the media silence on the issue. This reminded us of the origins of the AOH in America, founded at New York?s St. James Church on May 4, 1836, by men who protected the clergy and churches from the violent American Nativists who attacked Irish Catholic immigrants and Church property. The AOH has since grown to be the largest, and most influential, Irish American organization with over

ABOVE: In st allat ion Of Of f icer s 30,000 members. The prestigious John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial Medal for 2020 was presented to Philly Congressman Brendan Boyle, a member of the AOH and one of our strongest voices in DC. He worked tirelessly to prevent a hard Brexit border in Ireland, offers assistance to the undocumented Irish in America, supported the McGuinness Principles, and helped secure a permanent 1916 Easter Rising memorial on Capitol grounds. But he also has a record of voting pro-choice, which did not go over well with quite a few Hibernians. Freedom for All Ireland is growing in prominence among Hibernians and in Ireland with the intensity of Martin Galvin at its head. He brought to light the wrongful deportation of Malachy McAllister, plans for the 40th anniversary of the hunger strike commemoration next year, and the legacy issues where the Brits are still trying to cover up their dirty war in Ireland.

SEE RELATED FEATURE & LINKS ON PAGE 5 6

Pan Ir ish Digest f r om Au gu st 6, 2020

JOHN HUM E REM EM BERED

Sin n Fein Pr esiden t M ar y Lou M cDon ald praised outgoing AOH president Jim McKay for his energy, goodwill, and outspoken support for the Irish people and welcomed incoming president Dan O?Connell. Next, she gave tribute to the ?gallant comrades? in the AOH whose proud history of support for Irelands struggle for freedom from the 1916 Easter Rising, fighting the Black and Tans, enduring the pogroms of 1969, through the hunger strikes of 1981, to the Good Friday Agreement and today.

We are in a unique period in Irish history, for the first time

there is a peaceful and democratic path to a united Ireland that was denied Connolly and Pearse, Bobby Sands, and Mairead Farrell. McDonald called this our ?decade of opportunity? and challenged us to be the generation that delivers a united Ireland. She stressed that to fulfill the Good Friday Agreement, Ireland, North and South, need to plan for a referendum on unity. She concluded by asking that we request all our Congressional candidates join the bi-partisan Friends of Ireland caucus.

Submitted by John McNally

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"John Hume made us laugh, dream and think"

...Joh n Hu m e, Jr .

LINKS

Ir ish Exam in er : h t t ps:/ / bit .ly/ 3f u cECc IRISH TIM ES FEATURE & VIDEO:

h t t ps:/ / bit .ly/ 3idr oXT

Pan I r i sh D i gest

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FUNERAL MASS IN DERRY HELD For JOHN HUME A Requium Mass in celebration of the great life of Derry Native Son, John Hume, was held at St. Eugene Cathedral on Wednesday, August 5. Owing to the Pandemic, the crowd was small and the service ws broadcast instead, Hume was born in Derry in 1937 and died near the Bogside neighborhood in which he grew up as a poor Catholic fighting discrimination.

ABOVE: Joh n Hu m e at t h e US Capit ol in Wash in gt on , DC in 2003. In volvin g t h e US polit ician s an d pu blic Pope Francis, the Dali Lama and scores of other religious and political leaders paid w as ju st a sm all par t of h is gen iu s.

BELOW: Joh n Hu m e's Fu n er al in Der r y on Au gu st 5

tribute to Hume.

Without the inspired start by Hume, the historic Good Friday accord which largely ended Northern Ireland?s 30-year sectarian conflict. would not have been possible.

Many people including US Senator George Mitchell and Unionist David Trimbel helped pull it off but Hume was the catalyst when he reached out to Gerry Adams.

In 1998 David Trimble and John Hume were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end the conflicet and the recent "troubles" have been mostly halted since then.

In 2010, Mr Hume was named ?Ireland?s Greatest? in a poll by Ireland?s national broadcaster RTÉ.

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VIRTUAL BELFAST EVENT Su bm it t ed by Joh n M cNally The spring of 1988 was a particularly brutal period in Belfast!

Th e f u n er als f or t h e Gibr alt ar Th r ee w er e f ollow ed by f u r t h er violen ce cu lm in at in g in t h e loyalist 's at t ack on a Repu blican f u n er al at M illt ow n Cem et er y. Bu t t h e people of West Belf ast w an t ed t o sh ow t h ey w er en't t h e viciou s t h u gs por t r ayed in t h e m edia, so t h ey st ar t ed a com m u n it y f est ival w h ich h as gr ow n in t o t h e lar gest in Ir elan d! It s popu lar it y is becau se of it s diver sit y w it h m u sic, t h eat er , spor t s, ch ildr en's act ivit ies, t ou r s, plu s discu ssion s an d debat es. An d n ot it s n ot ju st in West Belf ast , t h e en t ir e Cit y is in volved t oday livin g u p t o it s n am e Feile an Ph obail, t h e Peoples Fest ival.

Th is year t h eir vir t u al Feile is as en joyable as ever , an d you can w at ch videos of all t h e even t s on t h e Feile an Ph obail w ebsit e:h t t ps:/ / f est ival.f eilebelf ast .com / r eplays/ You Tu be page. Her e is an exam ple:Peace Walls - Walls of Sh am e h t t ps:/ / w w w.you t u be.com / w at ch ?v=n DTV5zpoP2s

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The PAN I RI SH DI GEST is sponsored in part by Realtor John McNally

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