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Billy King: Rites Again
Hello there and nil desperandum, as the
football coach said when his team was losing 7 – 0 at half time [did the
football coach not go ‘beep, beep/honk honk’? – Ed]. And this is the time
of year when I look to get Christmas postponed by a week or two (I’m flexible)
but no one will listen. Maybe I should just become an Orthodox Christian as
opposed to an unorthodox one, seeing as they have Christmas that wee bit later.
Anyway, on with the show. At the end of my Colm I even let the Headitor in with
his ‘A day in the life of a Western nonviolence trainer’.
Good riddance to Concorde, bad rubbish
Various eulogies were written about the
end of flights by Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic passenger plane.
Personally I think it’s great that it has been stopped, for whatever reason,
in its polluting and elitist tracks. Only the seriously rich could afford to fly
it across the Atlantic. But worse still was the amount of fuel it used to get a
small number of passengers to their destination that bit quicker. You may
already know that the higher up the atmosphere pollution occurs, the slower it
is to degrade; my figures are a bit hazy, but let’s say that pollution from
jet planes take twenty times as long to break down to harmlessness as the same
amount of pollution at ground level. And then think that Concorde was flying
much higher again than normal passenger planes. Normal planes are bad enough but
Concorde’s effect on the environment is much worse. A pretty machine to look
at, yes; an ecological disaster, also yes.
I’m not one that’s that much into
television programmes on nature or ornithology, that’s for the birds, but I
did go to my local arthouse kinema recently (in fact the nearest film house of
any to me now) to watch a film entitled, prosaically, ‘Migrating Birds’.
Using balloons, microlight planes and helicopters, they took some amazing shots
of birds flying – you could feel wing to wing as geese, cranes or other birds
of passage winged their way onward, their bodies arched aerodynamically, their
constant wingbeats a source of amazement. Shot against some beautiful scenery
(the film did also show some birds, literally, shot, or coming to a sad
human-made or natural end). Incredible. If we want to celebrate flying, let’s
hear it for the birds, for example the Arctic tern which can fly 12,500 miles
from one end of the globe to the other. Compared to them, Concorde is just a
heap of polluting and useless junk and not something to be mourned at all. Car Tunes
I promised when I started writing for
this august [don’t you means December – Ed] publication many moons ago
[sorry I ever asked you, now we can’t get you to shut up – Ed] to tell you
about some of the best cartoons I came across. I’m afraid this aspect of my
Colm passed me by. But credit it where it’s due. Perhaps the best local
political cartoon I’ve seen all year comes from ‘The Phoenix’ (Dublin
based political/satirical magazine) in its 4th July issue this year. In a
cartoon by Sergei entitled ‘Western Civilization’, two cartoon characters
discuss the arrival of a package; “At last it’s arrived!”. “What?”.
“My own D.I.Y. peaceful Northern Ireland!”. “You can get those?”.
“Wow,” (looking bewildered at the numbers on the parts) “there are a lot
of parts. Lucky there are instructions.” “What do they say?”. And in the
final frame, as both look bewildered at the instructions and the parts (labelled
variously ‘1689’, ‘1847’, ‘1798’ etc) – “SOME ASSEMBLY
REQUIRED”. Domestic violence, the terrible toll
Clever publicity idea from NI Women’s
Aid, sending out a series of e-mail facts (there is an opt out if you wanted)
beginning on 25th November, International Day Against Violence Against Women. It
illustrates what a violent society we live in as regards domestic violence. What
follows is only some of the facts from the first half of their e-mail ’16
facts for 16 days’; I make no further comment because in a sense comment is
superfluous.
The most commonly experienced
behaviours were a partner "punching or kicking the walls or
furniture," "shouting at or threatening the kids," and having
been "pushed, grabbed, or shoved." More serious violent incidents were
also common, with 10% of women reporting having been punched in the face; 10%
punched or kicked on the body, arms, or legs; 9% choked; and 9% forced to have
sex.
Of the women who reported some form of
violent behaviour, 46% had been injured.
[Fiona Bradley, Mary Smith, Jean Long,
Tom O'Dowd. Reported Frequency of Domestic Violence; Cross sectional survey of
women attending general practice. British Medical Journal; Vol. 324: Pg. 271]
- Women subjected to violence by their
partners are 4 to 5 times more likely to be referred to psychiatric services
than non-abused women. [Stark and Flitcraft, 1991] Terry Carlin
Blink and you can miss something which
you only learn about a couple of months later and feel a right eejit about not
knowing. I was away from home in August when Terry Carlin died and I only found
out during November when I opened the pages of nipsanews, the magazine of the
Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance. Terry worked for the Northern Ireland
Committee of the ICTU/Irish Congress of Trade Unions for nearly thirty years and
was the most public face of trade unionism in the North in most of that period.
A full obituary appears on the NIPSA website at www.nipsa.org.uk/ripterry.htm
However it wasn’t primarily his role as a trade unionist that I wanted to
write about or review here, though he was instrumental in building up the role
and position of trade unionism after the debacle of the ‘Back to work march’
during the UWC/Ulster Workers’ Council strike of 1974; the ‘back to work’
march was an unmitigated flop and above all else showed the powerlessness of a
movement like trade unionism against political sectarianism at its height. And
also the need to choose your tactics with care, but were they to know it would
be such a flop?
The trade union movement, and Terry
Carlin in particular, was however a consistent voice in putting a head up over
the parapet during the worst years of the Troubles to try to show civil society
rejection of violence; this ran from the ‘Better Life For All’ campaign in
the ‘Seventies through to peace demonstrations/days in the ‘Nineties. During
much of this time, civil society pressure for peace was often deafening in its
silence, so the trade union voice was doubly important. The establishment of
Counteract, a trade union agency to oppose workplace sectarianism, was another
important initiative. At times I would have made a critique of some of the trade
union supported peace initiatives on Northern Ireland, and I still would, but I
am certainly glad they happened and that that voice was raised. It is hard to
judge how effective any of it was, or indeed any of our work was, but, who
knows, without it maybe the picture would have been much bleaker still.
I am sad that a part of that voice, in
the shape of Terry Carlin, has departed and died prematurely. He had the courage
of his convictions, and his convictions did take courage. May he rest in peace. Borstal, boy
Confession time. My Irish cultural
education was sadly lacking until recently [only until recently? – Ed] in that
I had never seen Brendan Behan’s The Borstal Boy. It’s funny peculiar
strange, really, how some cultural events stay in your mind for days afterwards
and others have disappeared over the horizon almost before they’re over and
you’ve gone back to your ‘normal’ life. Well, Borstal Boy stayed on my
mind, in this case it was Peter Sheridan’s 2000 film version which was shown
on RTE. There are a number of factors. Firstly was the portrayal of boy/boy
relations, including a gay kiss, set during the earlier part of the Second World
War. I found the boy/girl relationship a bit less credible insofar as the
actress playing the borstal governor’s daughter seemed far older and more
mature, with a massive class difference, apart from political and national
differences. But it may be that’s love, actually.
For me, though, the biggest factor in
the film is the prejudice reduction taking place. The Brendan Behan/’borstal
boy’ character comes from Dublin to England to bomb the English; he knows
virtually nothing about the English as a people. It is living among them in the
total institution of a borstal that he learns so much about not only them but
himself. Never having previously heard of Oscar Wilde, he expresses the view
early on that he wasn’t a true Irish man if he was homosexual; by the end of
the film he is proudly saying that he has discovered love for both sexes ‘like
Oscar Wilde’. In living together and sharing the same life he learns to
respect and even admire English people and aspects of English culture. His
political views have not changed, and he will not renege on those, but he has
learnt of wider realities (e.g. Hitler) and, basically, that his intention to
bomb was a mistake (not that he’s going to admit that given that he doesn’t
want to renege on his political aspirations – sounds a bit like certain people
in the Norn Iron situation at the moment, doesn’t it).
There is a difference to the analogy I
am going to make shortly in that borstal was, as mentioned, a ‘total
institution’, in sociological terms an institution where one lives all the
time. There is thus much more opportunity and need to interact fully with your
peers. But the prejudice reduction which takes place is almost total. Barriers
of all kinds are demolished. People get to know each other at a deep level.
Respect is engendered (but this being ‘real life’, so are jealousies, plots
and treachery). The stranger becomes the mate, or in the English rhyming slang
of the gay sailor in the film, the ‘china’ (china plate = mate). The film is
topped and tailed in appropriate fashion with arrival to England and arrival
back in Ireland. On his initial incarceration in an English prison he salutes
two Irish republican prisoners and is badly beaten up for his pains; towards the
end when his gay sailor mate in borstal eventually accepts the offer to rejoin
his ship, after ‘the borstal boy’ goes for a heterosexual rather than a
homosexual relationship, he salutes as the sailor disappears to war (and, we
hear in a subsequent newsreel shown to the borstal boys, death) in the back of a
truck. He is saluting his English friend, a parting gesture inconceivable
earlier on, a symbol of their bond and his respect.
But on to the analogy and the moral for
today. The prejudice reduction taking place all sounds like a very good argument
for integrated education in Northern Ireland (and elsewhere). It’s funny
peculiar strange the connections you can make, isn’t it. Plutonium is good for you
Research has shown that children’s
teeth across the UK, including Northern Ireland (and therefore across the whole
island of Ireland) have traces of plutonium, just about the most toxic substance
known. Research on extracted molars quite clearly shows contamination by this
man(sic)-made radioactive substance. BNFL which runs Sellafield, the only source
of plutonium in Britain, says it’s not clear whether the plutonium recorded is
from Sellandefiled or “nuclear weapons testing fall-out.” (Observer
30/11/03) Right, so that would explain why those living relatively close to
Sellafield have more than twice the amount living 140 miles away. There are
obvious health concerns.
But all is not lost in the plutonium PR
department. Expect a press release quite soon from British Nuclear Fools Ltd:
“We are delighted to hear that our home delivery service is working so
remarkably efficiently. Plutonium is actually good for you – for the economy,
your teeth, for your little toes, for cancer (XXXXXXXX Change this to ‘life
changing experiences’ before issuing this press release – Big Boss). Our
safety record is really amazing [amazingly bad – Billy] and we take great care
to ensure measured doses are delivered carefully in all directions, we do not
discriminate against anyone. There is no truth in the rumour that we wanted to
move BFNL headquarters to Wales so we could have a leek as our logo. However,
since ours is an expensive business with high development costs and high storage
costs, we will no longer be able to deliver plutonium to every household free of
charge. Therefore from the New Year, 2004, we regret to inform the public that
we will have to charge households a modest sum for delivery (this is apart of
course from the massive government subsidies we have received). Those paying by
standing order will get free extra plutonium. We are grateful for your
understanding and look forward to many further years of supplying plutonium to
you, your families and fiends. Have a happy life for as long as it lasts.”
Well, I wish you a Happy Christmas, be
it Christian, pagan, consumerist, or other (or maybe an idiosyncratic mixture of
various things). Remind me to tell you sometime about the Christmas I led a
donkey called Big Ears, with Mary on it, across a motorway bridge, you see I was
being Joseph in a round the churches pilgrimage, it’s true [ho, ho, ho –
Ed]. But most of all I want to wish you a Preposterous New Year. Have a good
break when you get there. Those old batteries need recharging, they are
rechargeable batteries, aren’t they? I’ll be back with more (a)musings
[don’t you mean bemusings - Ed] at the start of February.
Oh, and the February issue also means
our annual Adolf Awards, so nominations welcome for those who have provided
spectacular disservices to humanity in general, and to peace, human rights and
the environment in particular over the last year or so – Billy.
PS To get a bit more dramatic, there
follows a mystery play or skit by the Headitor, just shows I’m not, after all,
the only one with a sense of humour around here, though as to his claim to be an
‘international playwright’, well…...that’s a bit of a playwrong.
- As performed in Northern Ireland,
Israel, Sweden and Croatia -
- Never published before, the
incredible tragicomedy, in 3 acts - A Day In The Life Of A Western Nonviolence Trainer
by Rob Fairmichael
Dramatis personae:
Norman/Nadine Trainor (NT) - a
nonviolence trainer
Ronald/Roberta McGandhi - another
nonviolence trainer
About 5 - 10 other people to be police,
workshop participants, a crowd, message holders up/announcers (including in
translation if necessary), sound specialists (alarm, phone, birdsong), radio
newsreader, mediation class participants etc.
Subject to ad libbing, and general lack
of rehearsal..........if you do actually want to perform this, please adapt as
necessary. Lines can be read rather than have to be learnt. One run through
should be sufficient in terms of rehearsal.
Announce before start – ‘Any
similarity to real events is intentional but too painful to relate………..’
ACT 1 - Norman/Nadine Trainor's
house (sign or announce)
Props; 'Bed', nonviolence
pictures/posters, table and chair, books and papers on table.
It is morning. NT is asleep. The alarm
goes off; NT hits it to stop and goes back to sleep. After a short while wakes
with a start, jumps out of bed, runs to the front door (signed 'front door') for
post, lifts post and glances through it;
"Only stuff from XXXXXX* and other
rubbish", [* name organisers of event taking place]
throws to one side,
(Seriously) "Another morning my
Nobel Prize for Peace hasn't come in the post!".
Returns to bed, yawns, goes back to
sleep.
Sign held up/Announce; 'Two hours
later'.
Phone rings, NT awakes in a panic,
trips on way to phone, grabs at phone, lifts just as caller gives up.
"Shit, now I wonder who that was.
Better look at my diary". Goes to desk, piled high with papers, books etc,
eventually finds diary, opens it -
"Hmm, mediation training session
this evening, at least there should be a crowd for that. Can't make out my own
writing here, what does this say, "a.m. Squirqleddyderg" it looks
like, I wonder what that was."
Phone rings again. NT answers it
straight away;
Brian Boru; "Hello is that
Norman/Nadine Trainor? This is Brian Boru, organising secretary of the
Coolcucumber Action Group. We were expecting you this morning to help us explore
actions we could take regarding mining on Big Mountain. Where were you?"
NT - "Eh, hello Brian, eh, I'm
really sorry, something really really important and urgent came up and I just
simply had to stay here this morning, I'm really sorry, I'll come straight away,
look we can start in twenty minutes, I'll come straight away.........."
Brain Boru; "Look, don't bother,
everyone's gone home, there were only 2 people anyway. But why didn't you let us
know you couldn't make it?"
NT - (Thinking hard) "I lost your
phone number, don't worry, we'll fix another date, I'll guarantee you to be at
that."
Brian Boru; "But it's taken 6
months to set this one up. Not to worry, we have Ronald/Roberta McGandhi coming
next week to do a session on 'Movement building the McGandhi way', that should
be good, lots of people have said they’ll be coming to that. You could come
too if you wanted, as a participant like. Anyhow, bye for now."
NT - "Mmmmmmarrrrrrggghhhhhhhh!!!".
Grimaces, looks dejected, rejected. Sits on floor.
"I know, I'll catch up on some
overdue paper work before lunch, that will give me plenty of satisfaction".
Goes to desk, shuffles pieces of paper
and files around, pulls one out, reads aloud -
"A broad based working group on an
exploration of the nonviolent potential in the nihilistic experience of the
lumpenproletariat in western society" -
"How the hell did I ever get
involved in this one. And who's expected to do all the bloody work on this. Me.
And who are they waiting on? Me. Well they can bloody well wait."
Throws down file, looks out window,
birds sing, thinks -
"What else do I need to do? Ah
yes, my workshop paper for xxxxxxxx [name big forthcoming event, real or
fictional], 'The nonviolent paradigm in modern supermarket shopping and the
ready-to-serve food trade'. That will really win me kudos and the admiration of
the participants. Ah, I can see it now, after this there'll be all those
invitations, I'll get to travel around the world when they realise how good I
am......."
Drifts off into daydreams, looking
happy, birds sing....
Sign/Announce; 'Later'
NT comes to, looks at watch,
"Damn, is that the time, I got
nothing done. I’m hungry now so I’ll get some lunch, that’ll give me a bit
more energy to tackle things vigorously"
Goes to get lunch, turns on the radio -
"Might as well listen to the
news".
Newsreader; "We will come back to
that story about the United States invasion of Canada, Panama, Managua, Antigua
and Australia later in the programme. Meanwhile, we move on to the big local
story, and the riots and trouble downtown during the anti-government
demonstrations over the new Conscription and Home Bakery Act which has been
labelled by the opposition as a 'half baked idea if we ever saw one...."
NT - "OH NO, I forgot about the
demo, my street credibility will be in tatters, I'd better get there as fast as
I can......"
Rushes out the door, while the news
continues -
Newsreader "A large crowd in
Parliament Square is being addressed by a number of prominent speakers including
local (wo)man Ronald/Roberta McGandhi, who has been talking about the necessity
of nonviolent revolution......."
ACT 2 – Parliament Square (sign or
announce)
Prop; Chair for R McGandhi to stand on
to speak to the crowd
NT arrives, breathless/panting, on edge
of square, looking decidedly shaken and not too with it.
NT- "I knew……” puff, pant
“I should have…” puff, pant “fixed that puncture on my bicycle. Now
where's the action?"
Comes up to police lines, the other
side of which Ronald/Roberta McGandhi is still, eloquently and enthusiastically,
speaking to the crowd (McGandhi mimes).
NT to police "Let me through, I'm
a nonviolence trainer'.
Policeman/woman - "I'm sure you
are something strange, sir/madam, now please keep back and let us do our
job".
NT wanders about, trying to see what's
happening the other side of police lines. Noises and shouts offstage. NT sees
Ronald/Roberta McGandhi being arrested by police.
NT - "OH NO, McGandhi has been
arrested, that's another one up for him/her. No one has ever arrested me. I'll
never hear the end of this, he/she'll be talking about their arrest for years.
There's nothing I can do, I might as well go home."
NT leaves square, slowly and dejected.
ACT 3 – Meeting room (sign or
announce)
'Evening' (sign)
Props; Flip chart, table and chair for
NT, chairs in rows facing front in traditional style.
NT is at the meeting room where the
mediation session he/she is to facilitate is to take place.
NT - "Well, mediation may be
middle of the road, not to mention piggy in the middle, but it's usually a good
crowd puller, this should bring people in. I wonder how many will come tonight.
It should make up for the pretty disastrous day I’ve had."
One slightly nervous person comes in,
sits to the back of the room.
NT - "Still, it's only 10 minutes
past the time it was advertised to start."
Slowly, a few more people struggle in,
sit all over the place.
Eventually -
NT - "Right. Welcome everybody to
this our first session of this series of 45 meetings on mediation. I would like
to start by asking everybody to share with each other your name, where you're
from and why you're interested in mediation. Who would like to start?"
Person W - (angrily) "I'll start
and I'll finish. What is this mediation thing only trying to resolve what should
not be resolved and to water down the struggle? I bet you've never been involved
in a real struggle in your life, you wouldn't know one if it hit you over the
head. It's just arsing about, that's what it is. And those who can't do, teach
or try to teach, and you're the most pathetic looking specimen of a teacher I've
ever seen. Sharing why we're interested in mediation? I'll tell you I'm not
bloody interested, get a life, get involved in real people's struggles for
justice and equality and stop this crap. Well, I can tell you. I'm not staying
here for you and your liberal rubbish, I'm off to support real people in their
struggles...." (storms out).
NT looks a bit disturbed, takes a
minute to get calm, others look rather shocked -
NT - "Well, after that outburst,
let's get back to where we were. Who'd like to share why they're here?"
Person X (nervous person at back) -
"Eh well, eh, my name is Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx. I, eh, have a slight confession
to make. You see I, em, thought this was a session on meditation, and I thought,
that's great, I'm really into the things of the spirit and I really want to get
further into meditation. I don't know anything about this, eh, mediation
thing."
NT - "Urggh, I see, ahem, so do
you want to stay for mediation training?"
X - "Well, I might as well stay
tonight anyhow, there's nothing good on television".
NT - "Right, next please"
Person Y - "My name's Yyyyyyy
Yyyyyy and I'm actually in the same position as the previous speaker. I read the
description in the courses booklet and I thought it was on meditation."
NT - "You mean to tell me that you
read 'Mediation is increasingly being used in the USA and parts of Europe and
elsewhere as a means of conflict resolution' and you thought it was talking
about meditation?"
Y - "Emmm, yes. I don't know if
I'm interested in this mediation thing or not but I'll stay for this evening and
decide."
NT - "Did anyone actually come for
mediation?"
(Pause) Person Z puts up hand - "I
did. Ronald/Roberta McGandhi mentioned you were running a session on mediation
and said it was worth checking out. I told him/her I'd let him/her know how it
went, you know, whether it was any good or not."
NT - "Oh, well thank you. I think
at this point we'll start straight in to the stages of mediation...."
Sign; '2 hours later"
Person A - "Could you explain
exactly what you're trying to do and achieve here tonight????"
NT groans - "I think it's time we
called it a day. Please come back next week if you're interested in mediation.
Meanwhile you’re welcome to inform teachers of meditation that we have
uncovered a niche for them to fill."
People leave quite quickly.
NT is left all alone, breaks down in
tears -
NT - "Nobody loves me, nobody
cares." [END
- rapturous applause!] |