Cassandra Voices

Author: Cassandra Voices

  • November Newsletter

    In Dublin last week, riots and looting that broke out in the wake of a horrifying and inexplicable attack on three small children, and their carer, has been widely attributed to nascent fascism. We regard this as an inappropriate and, potentially, insidious suggestion; which is not to say that inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric did not fan the flames, or that repugnant and misleading ideas about a Great Replacement are not doing the rounds.

    The historian Roger Eatwell describes the amorphous ideology of fascism as ‘a latter-day symbol of evil, like the Devil in the Middle Ages.’ It is a term now bandied about to describe all forms of authoritarianism, as well as nativism or racism, and everything in between.

    What we can say about fascism, historically, is that it has arisen in circumstances of economic decline where a disgruntled pool of military or quasi-military personnel supported by the petit bourgeois – and a less apparent wealthy elite – adopt extreme nationalist rhetoric and scapegoat ethnic or religious minorities.

    The association of fascism with the military or police has been crucial, as these groups are almost uniquely capable of overthrowing democratic governments and opposing worker movements that lack military training.

    What we witnessed in Dublin last week is, in some respects, nothing new, but simply an amplification of a general lawlessness that has afflicted parts of Ireland’s capital city, in particular, since the period of lockdowns. It is also clear that mass immigration has generated serious disquiet among the indigenous community.

    The crime that gave rise to the riot and subsequent looting, allegedly perpetrated by an immigrant, appeared to vindicate those who are opposed to immigration, but the looting that followed demonstrates that native Irish are quite capable of random acts of violence.

    The simplistic use of the term fascism prevents us from diagnosing the real drivers of criminality in deficient education, homelessness and housing insecurity, a lack of community policing and rehabilitation of perpetrators of crimes.

    The government ought to be addressing serious deficiencies in the delivery of public services rather than doubling down on hate crime laws, or extending the powers of the Gardaí, especially if we recognise how fascism really emerges. Apart from ameliorating the social conditions, the best way of confronting hatred of minorities is surely through rational debate.

    One could be forgiven for thinking that certain elements within the Irish government are actually keen to see an anti-immigrant (far right?) political movement emerging as a political force in Ireland, as this could split the working class vote and deflects attention from their own failings.

    Meanwhile, mercifully, we have seen an interruption to Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Earlier this month Fra Hughes speculated on whether US support for Israel’s war on Gaza acts as a veiled threat to any nation considering joining a fledgling multi-polar world order.

    Also Dr. Billy Ralph argues that moves by the HSE to measure health metrics in G.P. practice serves the interest of Pharma, and could foreshadow a dystopian future.

    David Langwallner suggests that older artists generally repeat earlier tropes or descend into irrelevance but finds this is definitely not the case with the Rollings Stones‘s latest album.

    Frank Armstrong reveals that Irish restaurants served as a forum for both Nazi sympathisers and opponents of the Reich, while Jammet’s may have had the finest French cooking in the world.

    Musician of the Month Lewis Barfoot admits to loving winter. She finds the stillness and darkness supportive of creative work. Her new album HOME is out today.

    And finally, “Love keeps a record of you singing to yourself, / tallies your tears.” No Record of Wrongs is a new poem by Haley Hodges.

  • Niall McDevitt (1967-2022)

    The London-based Irish Poet, Art-Activist, Musician and Psychogeographer, Niall McDeviit died at his home in North Kensington, London on Thursday September 29th 2022 aged fifty-five, after a short battle with cancer.

    Born in Limerick in February 1967, McDevitt moved to Dublin as a child. There he was educated at the Jesuit-run Belvedere College secondary school, and read English literature at University College Dublin. Both institutions were also attended by James Joyce, of whom McDevitt was a lifelong devotee.

    Joyce inspired McDevitt to create his popular London Bloomsday Literary Walk, which over the years attracted hundreds of followers to West London.

    Niall was a deep thinker, gifted scholar, poet, actor, writer and art-activist. To some he became almost an urban shaman.

    As a young poet, not long in London, he became the ‘Resident Poet Laureate’ at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith from 1995 until 2009. There he enthralled audiences with unforgettable live poetry performances.

    Niall was one of the most distinguished poets on London’s avant-garde literary scene. Author of three poetry collections, b/w ((Waterloo Press, 2010), Porterloo (International Times, 2013), and Firing Slits – Jerusalem Colportage (New River Press, 2016).

    McDevitt’s poetry was by turns, solemn and sage, and savagely witty with melancholic romance. He was lauded by fellow poets, including Iain Sinclair, Patti Smith, John Cooper Clark, and Grey Gowrie.

    James Byrne described McDevitt as, ‘arguably the most significant London-Irish poet since W.B. Yeats’.

    Jeremy Reed, an older contemporary who influenced McDevitt’s early style, described him as ‘a luminous custodian of the great poetic mysteries.’

    Niall was also one of London’s most admired and lauded ‘psychgeographers’, leading literary walks across London, with a particular emphasis on the revolutionary poets who called London home, including Arthur Rimbaud, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, as well as Irish writers such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and W.B Yeats.

    He recently led a five-part London Literary Walk on his fellow Poet and Visionary, William Blake. Niall himself was regarded as one of the foremost Blakeans of his generation.

    Over lockdown Dublin filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle collaborated closely with Niall to make the films ‘The Battle Of Blythe Road’, which won won the ‘Special Award’ at ‘The Portobello Film Festival’ (2021) is about W.B. Yeats time practising magic at in an ‘Isis Temple’ in West London.

    Another ‘James Joyce – Reluctant Groom’ is about Joyce’s year living in Kensington.

    It’s fitting that Niall’s last collaboration with Sé Merry Doyle was five films, captures Niall leading five walks on the life of William Blake.

    It was an emotional moment, just a few weeks ago, when Niall spoke at the Premiere Screening of the first of those five films, ‘BlakeLand – William Blake and Thomas Paine,’ at the Portobello Film Festival 2022, which was to be his final public appearance.

    As an actor and musician, McDevitt performed in Neil Oram’s twenty-four-hour play ‘The Warp’, Ken Campbell’s ‘Pidgin Macbeth’, John Constable’s ‘The Southwark Mysteries’ and John Arden and Margaretta Darcy’s 24 hour ‘Non-Stop Connolly Show’.

    He was resident Pidgen poet/translator on John Peel’s Home Truths, and appeared on radio shows The Robert Elms Show, The Verb, Bespoken Word, The Poet of Albion and he was a regular guest on Portobello Radio’s ‘Bright Side Of The Road’.

    As an ‘art-activist’ Niall also campaigned to save the Rimbaud-Verlaine house in Mornington Crescent, for the release of poet Saw Wai from Insein prison in Burma, and against overdevelopment of sites near Blake’s burial ground in Bunhill Fields.

    In 2013, he read at Yoko Ono’s Meltdown in the Future Exiles: Poetry and Activism event. In 2016 Niall performed his poetry in Iraq at the Babylon Festival.

    Earlier this year, Niall was invited to read at a special event presented by the Francis Bacon Society, and in May Ireland’s leading photographer John Minihan, invited him to read at the opening of Minihan’s latest exhibition ‘Poet Of The Troubles, a Tribute to The Late Poet Pariac Fiacc’ at The Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith.

    Niall’s poems have been published in many anthologies, magazines and periodicals, including The London Magazine; Wretched Strangers, an anthology of non-UK born writers; Urban Shamanism, poets from north, west, south and east London; Diamond Cutters, poets in Britain, America and Oceania; and the STRIKE! Anthology. His blogs can still be read at www.poetopography.wordpress.com.

    On the eve of Niall’s death, the final proof of his last collection of poetry London Nation arrived, just in time, in the post from his publishers, New River Press. It will be launched in London in the coming months.

    Niall’s poetry deserves a place alongside the work of other great poets of the past and present. He was on the cusp of greater international recognition.

    Niall McDevitt leaves behind his beloved partner Julie Goldsmith, her son Heathcote Ruthven, Niall’s Mother, Francis McDevitt and siblings Roddy and Yvonne McDevitt.

    Feature Image: Sé Merry Doyle

  • Podcast: Brazilian Election Special

    Fellipe Lopes joins Frank Armstrong to discuss the results of the first round of the Brazilian Presidential elections in which former President Lula failed to secure the required 50% to avoid a second round run-off against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. Nonetheless, Lula remains favourite to win in the second round.

    However, Fellipe argues that Bolsonaro “has already won the election”, given that ultraconservative candidates have emerged victorious in state legislatures and the Congress. It will be difficult for Lula to do very much, he says, even if, as assumed, Lula wins the second round.

    The importance of Brazil in the world cannot be overstated. It contains most of Amazonia, the lungs of the world, and a huge, and growing, population of over two hundred million. Many Brazilians are living in Ireland now too.

    Fellipes points to the historic difficulties of Lula’s P.T. (Workers’ Party), arising particularly after the impeachment of President Dilma, and a number of corruption scandals.

    He also looks back at Bolsonaro’s background. For a long time he was an unremarkable representative for Rio de Janeiro, but he was able to connect with the public through cheap jokes and an emphasis on family values and law and order.

    They also discuss the importance of Evangelical Christianity in Brazil, which has been around for a long time in an historically Catholic country. Many pastors are now powerful political figures.

    Fellipe argues that the Brazilian left failed to connect adequately with vulnerable communities, unlike their opponents, who have also been adept at harnessing the power of social media.

    Feature Image: Fellipe Lopes

  • Podcast: Italian Election Special

    In our latest podcast Frank Armstrong is joined by Massimiliano Galli and Daniele Idini to digest the result of the recent Italian general election.

    This has resulted in a resounding victory for a Right or ‘Far Right’ coalition composed of The Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) led by Giorgia Meloni, League (Lega) currently under the leadership of Matteo Salvini, and Silvio Berlusconi’s – ‘the Highlander of Italian politics’ – Forza Italia.

    For Massimiliano the result is entirely predictable, as Meloni led the only party that had remained on the side line during the period of Mario Draghi’s unity government. He adds that the only certainty in Italian politics is that the right will always form successful coalitions.

    According to Daniele, Meloni represents a wider movement of European conservative parties. But he expects her government to gain legitimacy, and not rock the boat in terms of European membership or NATO’s involvment in the war in Ukraine. However, he suspects that not much will change for the ordinary person.

    Daniele says: ‘Italian people like to vote for the new thing, even though behind the new thing there is the same people from the last twenty or thirty years.’

    He also draws attention to the electoral law of 2017 which favours coalitions, and which is now favouring the right. Nonetheless, he wonders how the parties will be able to govern effectively given their differences, particularly in terms of foreign relations.

    Massimiliano explores the undercurrent of resentment in Italy that leads to political instability. He draws attention to the low salaries compared to other European countries, and the paradox of working class people voting for parties that oppose a decent system of social welfare.

  • Smartphone usage is impacting society, but how?

    Whether we’re regularly reading sports news or contributing to a comical WhatsApp group, many of us have become heavily reliant on our smartphone devices. In fact, smartphones have impacted the world’s population greatly and have added a sense of convenience that wasn’t there before, be it for shopping online or ordering in some food using a popular app like Uber Eats.

    The sheer amount of functionalities a modern-day mobile phone possesses is remarkable when you really think about it. Gone are the days when texting and playing Snake were regarded as innovative opportunities, instead being replaced by internet-based products that can perform an incredible amount of tasks. People find love using apps, they’re booking holidays on a smartphone device, tucking into pirate-themed casino games, posting images on Instagram, and even conducting banking enquiries through an official banking app. While these miniature computers in our pockets highlight how far technology-based innovation has come, they do contribute towards some concerning negative societal effects, though.

    After all, given the fact that devices made by the likes of Apple have become more sophisticated year on year, as a society, we’re ultimately being exposed to something new and untested. Nobody knows the impact constant smartphone usage will have on youngsters as they progress into adulthood, for example. For now, though, despite smartphones providing a range of benefits, there are many negative effects of phones on day-to-day life. Let’s assess a number of concerning developments around smartphone usage below.

    The social aspect

    While instant messaging apps and online dating products enable people to converse in a more casual manner, there is no doubting that we’re yet to see the full effects of them when it comes to establishing relationships in real life, particularly when assessing the youth of today. From being judged constantly on social media to disturbing sleep patterns that can then hinder progress in daily life, society has become glued to their smartphones screens. The art of conversation has been lost somewhat, with the rise of the introvert becoming inevitable as social skills diminish throughout society as a whole. Of course, there is nothing wrong with people in this category, but there is no denying that smartphones have resulted in a lack of conversation between people. Who knows how this could impact our future.

     

    Negative impact on parenting  

    According to research, parents are not fully present when they’re on their smartphones devices. As such, there are concerns that many modern children are growing up with a whole host of emotional issues, perhaps through being starved of attention and feeling emotionally neglected. With limited research around what has become a modern-day parenting issue, there are growing concerns surrounding the impact of smartphones on parenting. Smartphone addiction is a genuine issue, no matter the age group.

    Smartphones are ruining relationships

    Smartphones are having an impact on romantic relationships, too. With some people paying more attention to their social media feed than a loved one, Dr. Suzana E. Flores, a clinical psychologist, says: “This sends a message that their phone is more important than their partner. When a partner feels dismissed or unappreciated, they will eventually choose someone else who values their company.”

    Self-worth based on social media likes

    Another concerning trend has seen an increasing amount of the global population seeking approval from their social media audience. In 2022, sharing a viral post online is an accomplishment for many, with “likes” being the main aim of the game. This has led to more people comparing themselves with other social media users and basing their self-worth through the traction their posts get on popular on popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

  • Interview with Concetto La Malfa

    This week Cassandra Voices editor Frank Armstrong sat down for a chat with veteran Italian journalist Concetto La Malfa, who has been living in Ireland for almost sixty years.

    He initially arrived for a two month work placement with Aer Lingus, before embarking on a chequered career that includes founding a magazine for the Italian community, which he edited for almost thirty years, acting as the Irish correspondent for the Corriere dello Sport, and teaching Italian in UCD.

    He continues to work as a journalist, principally throught the site he runs: http://italvideonewstv.net/, where he mainly broadcasts short videos discussing important international events.

    Concetto explains how he came to Ireland at a time when the country was still relatively poor, and he says, a little depressing, compared to his native Sicily at least. At that time, Dublin was he says: “a poor capital in a poor country”.

    Indeed, he was slightly disturbed to find that there were only five Italian restaurants – four run by the same brothers – and he struggled to adapt to the Irish lifestyle, missing his native cuisine in particular.

    Since then, Ireland has developed considerably, economically at least, although Concetto likens the country to a dwarf with a giant heart, given the disproportionate size of Dublin’s c. 1.5 million population compared to the c. 3.5 million in the rest of the country.

    Dublin he argues, ‘is a capital city that has grown in a hurry’ and that many things should work better, pointing to the state of the streets and, in particular, the prevalence of street crime.

    In terms of Sicily, he asserts that the mafia is as visible as the IRA was to the ordinary Joe Soap in Ireland. Although he acknowledges that organised crime has has hindered development on the island.

    He keeps away from the intricacies of Italian politics, preferring to concentrate on the big picture, but cites a telling statistic that there have been 67 governments in just 74 years. He wonders whether this is a sign of a democracy that goes too far.

    During his period as correspondent for Corriera dello Sport he became acquainted with Giovanni Trappatoni and Liam Brady, who spent seven seasons in Italy playing for Juventus and Inter Milan.

    Finally, Concetto has formed the view that the West is conducting a war by proxy in Ukraine, with the blood of the Ukrainian people, and that every single weapon sent from the West makes the possibility of a diplomatic resolution more distant.

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  • Theatre: The Battle of Kildare Place

    There is no fiercer battle than that between sisters. The sibling tension is ever-present in ‘The Battle of Kildare Place’.

    This comedic play is a two-hander between two sisters: a corporate older one married with two children, and a ditzy, free-spirited younger one eking out a living as a proprietor of a small flower shop and architectural tour guide.

    ‘The Battle of Kildare Place’

    Cast

    Darina Gallagher

    Sinead Murphy               

     

    Director

    Costume Design

    Photography

    Graphic Design

    Creative Producer

    Written by

    		  

     

    Meadhbh

    Gráinne

     

    Michael James Ford

    Bairbre Ní Chaoimh

    Keith Jordan

    Gavin Doyle

    Colm Maher

    Emma Gilleece & Michael James Ford

     

    The personalities of the women are informed by their namesakes, two formidable Connaught Queens of lore; the real life pirate Queen Gráinne Mhaol, and the warrior Queen Meadhbh from the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley).

    The play is set in present day Dublin with Gráinne, the elder sister, played by Sinead Murphy, flying in from London for this rendezvous after an absence of three decades to discuss the potential erection of a plaque in honour of their late father.

    As he died at the height of Covid-restrictions, Meadhbh, played by Darina Gallagher, feels her father has been cruelly robbed of the send-off he deserved, with only twenty-five mourners allowed at the funeral.

    She believes his renown merits the erection a plaque for a lifetime of activism attempting to save Georgian Dublin, including the Battle of Hume Street, which the play pays tribute to in its title. Meadhbh is frozen in a state of unresolved grief with a thirst for justice for her father’s legacy, as witnessed in ‘Electra’ or ‘King Lear’.

    Gráinne implores her sister to separate the legend of the activist from the realities of the absentee father, while pointing out that bad fathering isn’t synonymous with being a bad person.

    The play is written by architectural historian Emma Gilleece and actor Michael James Ford, who is also director. Now based in Dublin, Emma grew up in Limerick city and completed a BA in English & History and an MA in History of Art & Architecture, followed by an MSc in Urban & Building Conservation.

    Michael was closely involved in the genesis of Walkabout Theatre last year in association with Colm Maher, the creative producer for Bewley’s Café Theatre.

    It came about in response to Covid-19 restrictions and the first season featured four new plays presented in historic Dublin locations.

    The team of actors, writers and directors relished the challenge of outdoor performance – competing with inclement weather, traffic noise, wildlife, buskers and rogue cyclists. Walkabout enjoyed capacity audiences and popular and critical acclaim and was subsequently nominated for an Irish Times Judges’ Special Award for “returning audiences to live performances outdoors in 2021.”

    As another example of how limited circumstances can actually foster creativity, it was Emma’s brainwave to use Kildare Place as the setting on the back of a tour she gave.

    “I was invited by the Irish Architecture Foundation to do an twentieth century architectural bus tour, as part of Open House Dublin last October, and my tour had to be along the bus company’s established tour routes with one of these being Kildare Street”, Emma explained.

    “My Open House Dublin tour touched on the vulnerability of our twentieth century building stock, and ironically there is currently planning permission sought to demolished Stephen Court on Stephen’s Green by architect Andy Devane which was part of the tour”.

    Running parallel to this battle of two sisters exploring unhealed childhood wounds is a debate regarding Georgian Dublin accommodating twentieth century insertions. Was this progress or destruction?

    Meadhbh follows in her father’s footsteps taking up the baton for preserving eighteenth and ninetheenth century Dublin, while Gráinne is more forward-looking, arguing that demolition and rebuilding is just part of the life-cycle of a city, asserting the merits of iconic buildings such as Liberty Hall, the former Central Bank and Phibsborough Shopping Centre, amongst a list of familiar divisive buildings.

    The nineteenth and twentieth century buildings of Kildare Street provide a four-sided stage. The architectural gems the audience are directed to include the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (completed in 1942), the National Museum of Ireland (1890) and Agriculture House (1974).

    Being outside makes the audience feel like they are eavesdropping on two sisters meeting on a summer’s afternoon in the city. There are laughs, but also poignant moments where you can feel the actors dive down into a well of decades’ old pain and disappointment. Can these sisters find common ground?

    The Battle of Kildare Place runs from 6 -16 July, Wednesday to Saturday at 1pm and 3pm. Tickets cost €15 and booking is at www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/events/the-battle-of-kildare-place.

    For enquiries call 086 878 4001.

    Feature Image of Darina Gallagher and Sinead Murphy by photographer Keith Jordan.
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  • New Music Out of Lesbos: Erantzun

    Basque rapper Zekan Askalari’s latest track ‘Erantzun’ is directed by Yaser Akbari, an Afghan asylum-seeker from Iran. It was produced by Leah Rustomjee while volunteering for ReFocus Media Labs an NGO on the Greek island of Lesvos that trains asylum seekers in filmmaking, photography and journalism skills.

    ‘Erantzun’, is a rap song in the ancient European language of Basque calling on ordinary people to wake up to the injustices and corruption happening around the world.

    In the video, Yaser represents a state of being controlled by a dominant neoliberalism through warehouse and product imagery. As the song progresses, we witness the ‘products’ unboxing themselves to reveal individual identities. This is clearly a metaphor for the masks we assume in order to operate in today’s social structures.

    Askalari has been Rapping since aged seventeen, in both Spanish and Basque. He has been involved in squat culture and anti-authoritarian movements in Barcelona, having moved there over ten years ago,

    That was until he moved to the Greek island of Lesvos as a volunteer with No Borders Kitchen a non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist and self-organized group of ‘cooking activists’ comprising locals, asylum-seekers and international volunteers. He now organises rap shows on Lesvos, ‘Rap Against Borders’ featuring a mix of rappers from Afghan, Greek and European backgrounds.

    Video director Yaser Akbari is a twenty-year old asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who has been living on Lesvos for the past two years, waiting for the Greek authorities to approve his status, which thankfully has just occurred.

    He joined ReFocus in 2019 as a student and has since gone on to produce work for BBC, Al Jazeera and National Geographic. He now works for the organisation as a teacher. This video was his first opportunity to produce work apart from the refugee crisis – which he was finding exhausting and boxed in by.

    Whilst the number of refugees on the Lesvos has decreased significantly from 18,000 to 2,000 over the past year, with many having been moved inland or are now on their way to Germany, the inhumane conditions inside the camps persist.

    Greece has employed Frontex officers, detention sites and undercover police officers to strengthen its pushback regime since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in order to create a hostile environment.

    Organisations like No Borders Kitchen and ReFocus exist in Lesvos to allow rare moments like this to happen, which bring together people from different backgrounds to build connections and create together despite the challenges.

    Making the video was a community effort; locations were provided by an NGO warehouse; the cast and crew that feature in ‘Erantzun’ were a mix of volunteers, asylum-seekers and local Greeks; and transport and tech support were provided by local NGO’s Maker Space and #LeaveNoONeBehind.

    English translation

    Sick of the daily lives
    the voice: broken, the strength: renewed,
    we only have one chance left,
    you have generated our response.
    After so many scams, so many tricks,
    so much corrupDon, now it’s our turn,
    so many scoundrels, so many fascists,
    I finally took the pencil in disgust.
    Innovative poems against the system,
    because the losers are always the same.
    it is clear who shuffles the cards here,
    But stop that, things are going to change.
    It’s enough,
    the years go by and the difference is greater,
    the rich man laughing and we in chains,
    While the fucking rich go up the poor go down!
    Time to change your attitude
    it is a clear reality, not an opinion.
    After reflection, yes, action comes,
    That is why we are clear about it, the answer has begun.
    ANSWER to their lies,
    ANSWER to blows and insults
    ANSWER to the leaders
    ANSWER how? ANSWER like this!
    This is going forward; it cannot be stopped.
    Each of our actions has a purpose.
    We have a firm intention, listen:
    bring down your system, crush it, destroy it.

    Ready for conflict, rest assured.
    We are not afraid, we are anxious.
    We learned from past struggles
    that we have to give our lives for our dreams, eh!
    It’s time to hit hard,
    let them taste the anger of the people.
    Your comfortable life is fine
    but after eating the full menu, it’s time to pay.
    Straight from the streets,
    different initiatives from each area,
    we have organized, there will be no ceasefire,
    win or die, there is no more.
    ANSWER their lies,
    RESPOND to blows and insults
    RESPOND to the leaders
    ANSWER how? RESPOND like this!

  • Cassandra Voices Podcast: Loafing Hero

    In our latest podcast Ben Pantrey interviews former musician of the month Bartholomew Ryan in Lisbon. They discuss his new album ‘Jabuti’ composed while on retreat in Brazil, just prior to the pandemic, as well as the creative process and the importance of loafing.

    We previously published the lyrics to Ryan’s song ‘Iguatu‘.

    Ben also recites an important passage from Milan Kundera‘s 1995 novel Slowness which served as the original inspiration for Ryan’s musical project.

    Why has the pleasure of slowness disappeared? Ah where have they gone, the amblers of yesteryear? Where have they gone, those loafing heroes of folk song, those vagabonds who roam from one mill to another and bed down under the stars? Have they vanished along with footpaths, with grasslands and clearings, with nature? There is a Czech proverb that describes their easy indolence in a metaphor: ‘They are gazing at God’s windows’. A person gazing at God’s windows is not bored; he is happy. In our world, indolence has turned into having nothing to do, which is a completely different thing: a person with nothing to do is frustrated, bored, is constantly searching for the activity he lacks.

    Enjoy!

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  • “We have Sick Journalism in Ireland”

    Joe MacAnthony might be considered the greatest investigative reporter to have ever operated in the history of the Irish State. His career in Ireland, however, was cut short by vested interests that still appear to insulate those with money in power from accountability and criminal sanction.

    Having exposed the staggering corruption lying behind the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes, he eventually ran out of Irish publishers, and was forced to take a job with the Canadian Broadcasting Authority. After receiving threats to his life, he moved to Canada with his wife and four children, where he lived for thirty-five years.

    0:00 Introduction
    1:13     The Irish Sweepstakes
    14:42     Story on Ray Burke
    19:30 Closed down in RTE
    24:00     Move to Canada
    29:00     Death Threats
    31:00 Unable to Work in Ireland
    32:58     Views on the Irish Times
    34:10     ‘We have sick journalism in Ireland’
    38:00     Possibility of Solution

    As testament to MacAnthony’s stature in Irish journalism, on November 15 2020 Liam Collins wrote for the Sunday Independent:

    The first Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes draw took place 90 years ago this month and it quickly became a global phenomenon. Behind the razzmatazz and the instant riches, however, was a hidden tale of greed. More than four decades later, investigative journalist Joe MacAnthony broke the biggest story in the history of the Sunday Independent and revealed where the Sweep millions went.

    The state-sponsored lottery was set up under the first Cumann na nGaedhal (later Fine Gael) government of the State in 1930, and would bring unheard of riches to former Minister for Industry and Commerce Josephy McGrath, and his heirs, who became firm fixtures in the commercial life of the country, with many influential friends. MacAnthony estimates their fortune amounted to up to four hundred million dollars by 1972.

    Last week filmmaker and Cassandra Voices contributor Bob Quinn sent us a recording of a film he made in 2006 entitled ‘They’ll Never Show That.’

    MacAnthony reflects on his career, and the sorry state of Irish media as he saw it; the structure of which remains substantially unaltered today; in an era increasingly hostile to investigative reporting.

    Having blazed a trail with his work on the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes, MacAnthony explains how his revelations into the corrupt affairs of former Fianna Fáil Minister Ray Burke as far back as the 1970s, hastened the end of his career in both the Sunday Independent and RTE, who withdrew his security card for a period of six months, while he continued to draw a salary.

    MacAnthony provides a chilling assessment of Irish media:

    the Irish Times, when you look at the manner in which this whole thing seems to be fitted to whoever can make the most money in the upper circles of that paper … that is a total disgrace, an unconscionable disgrace in terms of Irish press freedom … the result is we have sick journalists in Ireland and it is sick journalism, and it’s not due to the people who want to be good journalists. It’s the people who control what the good or bad journalists say and who encourage triviality … I mean, the level of triviality that you read. It’s unbelievable.

    He argues that corruption has come about through what he calls ‘facilitators’ – accountants and lawyers – who ensure that few, if any, politicians are ever held to account.

    Ray Burke would serve just four and-a-half months of a six month sentence behind bars, while Liam Lawlor served a few weeks for contempt.

    MacAnthony traces the lenient treatment of politicians to a class distinction, between those who get ‘six years and who gets probation,’ while ‘basically no lawyer in this country and no accountant ever imagines he’s going to go to jail for playing ducks and drakes.’

    He asserts

    it’s just embedded. A culture is embedded … that you can get away with murder.

    MacAnthony proposed the solution of a ‘counter power,’ similar to the FBI, which could set up ‘stings on politicians.’

    He concludes:

    Nobody goes to jail … I mean, these exile millionaires like Denis O’Brien, I mean, that’s disgusting … here is a guy who makes … money out of Irish assets and then goes off and lives somewhere else and only comes in here … when he has the prospect of taking more money out of the system.

    He warns:

    You know, every time you take money out of the system somebody pays and they’re paying [with their] health or they pay in other areas, but they always pay. So these people, I mean, there is conscience involved here. You know that when you make a lot of money, somebody’s suffering at the other end of the scale.