Details of an independent audit undertaken into Ireland’s national debt were unveiled in Dublin, Wednesday, May 4th. Continue reading “Launch of an Independent Citizens Audit into Ireland’s National Debt”
New Proclamation, read at Afri Event in Arbour Hill, Easter Monday
POBLACHT NA H EIREANN
THE ‘PROVISIONAL’ GOVERNMENT
of the
SENIOR BONDHOLDERS
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of the Markets and not of the dead generations from whom she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to our interests and strikes for her enslavement to debt. Continue reading “New Proclamation, read at Afri Event in Arbour Hill, Easter Monday”
Human Rights NGO Calls for Independent Inquiry into Policing Corrib Gas Dispute
Press Release, 7th April 2011
Justice and human rights group Action from Ireland (Afri) has backed the call for an independent international inquiry into policing of protests around the Corrib Gas project in the wake of the revelation that Gardaí joked and laughed about raping a protestor in their custody, and had previously engaged in verbal sexual abuse of a local woman. Continue reading “Human Rights NGO Calls for Independent Inquiry into Policing Corrib Gas Dispute”
Food is Our Future
Keep Ireland GM Free
Press Release, 21 February 2011
Leading chef and TV presenter Clodagh McKenna, joined people from the food, farming, conservation and human rights sectors in Dublin today to raise awareness about the inherent dangers of new moves to allow a relaxing of laws in relation to genetically modified food and feed. These major changes are occurring in the final days of the Fianna Fáil Government, as Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith heads to Brussels tomorrow Tuesday 22nd for a vote which will have far reaching implications for Ireland’s future in Food.
Campaigners call for debt audit
Press Release, 3 March 2011
A number of prominent Irish academics, writers and activists have backed a campaign to audit Greece’s public debt, amid suggestions that such an audit might also be required in Ireland. Greek campaigners are calling for an independent and international Audit Commission to find out why the debt was incurred and the uses to which borrowed funds were put. There is a widespread belief that much Greek debt was used for wasteful or corrupt purposes and that the cost of repayment should not be borne by the Greek people. Among the Irish figures supporting the Greek debt audit campaign are writer Fintan O’Toole and former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday. International supporters of the campaign include renowned linguistics professor and writer Noam Chomsky and filmmaker Ken Loach. Continue reading “Campaigners call for debt audit”
Dalai Lama says ‘vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland’ in advance of April visit
PRESS RELEASE, 1 February 2011
Issued by POSSIBILITIES 2011 (Children in Crossfire, SpunOut.ie, Afri)
Speaking in advance of an April visit to Ireland, Nobel Peace Laureate and exiled Tibetan Leader the Dalai Lama has today delivered a message to the people of Ireland in which he calls for people to demonstrate courage and hope.
“Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope.” he said in the message which can be viewed in full on the new website http://www.possibilities.ie
The Dalai Lama’s message comes ahead of his April 13th – 14th visit, which is in support of the new POSSIBILITIES 2011 social change initiative, which is being launched by 3 non-profit organisations; Children in Crossfire, SpunOut.ie, and Afri.
“It is my hope that POSSIBILITIES 2011 will open up a space of dialogue, action and reflection and strengthen the realization that vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland at this time.” said the Tibetan spiritual and political leader.
During his visit the Dalai Lama will deliver a talk entitled ‘A Call For Universal Responsibility’ at a major national Social Forum at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin on April 13th, which also includes Mary Robinson, the popular Irish music group Kila and other yet to be announced very special guests. He will then visit Kildare, in partnership with the Solas Bhríde Centre, where he will speak on ‘The Spirituality of Compassion’, before concluding his visit on Thursday April 14th with a talk entitled ‘The Power of Forgiveness’ at the University of Limerick.
His visit, which is his 3rd to the Republic of Ireland (having visited in 1973 and 1991), follows a personal invitation from Derry man Richard Moore who the Dalai Lama describes as his personal hero. In 1972, aged 10, Richard was blinded by a rubber bullet and years later he befriended the soldier who shot him. He has gone on to become a leading advocate for children through his Children in Crossfire international development organisation, of which the Dalai Lama is patron.
According to Richard, the Dalai Lama represents the type of progressive leadership that is badly needed in Ireland right now: “The Dalai Lama offers a deep wisdom to help us better understand and address the urgent and interconnected range of economic, social, political and environmental problems facing us today. He is someone respected by people from all walks of life, someone who can help us realise the real possibilities for change that exist in amongst all the tough times.”
More information on POSSIBILITIES 2011 and the Dalai Lama’s visit to Dublin, Kildare and Limerick, including ticket information, is available from www.possibilities.ie. Tickets go on sale for the POSSIBILITIES 2011 Social Forum tomorrow Wednesday February 2rd at 9am from Ticketmaster.ie and Ticketmaster outlets north and south.
ENDS
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His Holiness The 14th The Dalai Lama’s Message to the People of Ireland (via Office of Tibet )
“I am looking forward to visiting Ireland in April to participate in a range of events organized by Children in Crossfire, Afri and SpunOut.ie. I very much look forward to speaking in Dublin, Kildare and Limerick at events which I hope will help people realise their own potential, as well as the immense possibilities that exist for realising much needed personal, social and global change. It is my hope that POSSIBILITIES 2011 will open up a space of dialogue, action and reflection and strengthen the realization that vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland at this time.
Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope. As I have said before, I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society and it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier and fairer world.
It will be especially important to visit at a time when Ireland is facing serious turmoil, as is the world as a whole, grappling as it is with economic upheaval, climate change, and great and growing chasms between rich and poor.
I hope that my time in Ireland – in the company of my good friend and my hero Richard Moore – will contribute towards the building of a new civic and cultural force for change.”
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COMMENTS/INTERVIEWS:
Dalai Lama specific queries/comment
Richard Moore: Founder of Children in Crossfire | Tel.: Derry +44 (0)28 7126 9898 | Email: ursula.moore@childrenincrossfire.org | Web: www.childrenincrossfire.org |
POSSIBILITIES initiative, including April 13th Social Forum
1) Joe Murray: Coordinator of Afri, | Tel.: 086-2116956 / 01-8827563/7581|Email: admin@afri.ie | Web: www.afri.ie |
2) Ruairí McKiernan: SpunOut.ie Founder | Tel. 091-533693 | Email: ruairi@spunout.ie | Web: www.spunout.ie
Kildare visit
Rita Minehan csb, Solas Bhríde Centre | Tel.: 01-8642440 or 045-522890 |Email: Rminehan@gmail.com or info@solasbhride.com | Web: www.solasbhride.ie
Limerick visit
Sheena Doyle, Press Officer, University of Limerick | Tel.: 061 202219 / 086 3807859 | email: sheena.doyle@ul.ie | Web: www.ul.ie/dalailama
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
1. Children in Crossfire
Children in Crossfire are a Derry based international organisation founded by Richard Moore in 1996. Children in Crossfire works to protect and promote the rights of some the world’s most vulnerable children, and in particular to ensure primary school access to all children and to reduce infant mortality.
Richard Moore, Founder:
“Children in Crossfire are delighted and honoured that His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, has agreed to come to Ireland to speak at the Possibilities event. We can not think of anyone more suited to provide leadership, hope and inspiration at a time when the world and in particular Ireland needs it most. Through the series of events that His Holiness is speaking at in Dublin, Limerick and Kildare we envisage that people will be empowered and given the confidence to act and bring about change at a personal, local and global level.”
2. Afri
Afri is a peace and justice organisation who for the last 35 years have been active in promoting peace and development in Ireland and abroad. Afri holds the annual Féile Bhríde peace conference in Kildare, a winter school on social justice issues and an annual Famine memorial walk in Co. Mayo. Supporters include musician Christy Moore, Former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is the Patron of the organsiation.
Joe Murray, Coordinator:
“Afri is delighted to welcome the Dalai Lama, the Head of State and spiritual leader of Tibet, to Ireland. We welcome him as the representative of the people of Tibet who continue to experience suppression of their rights on a daily basis. We welcome him as one who knows at first hand the reality of colonialism and political violence as a result of Chinese aggression towards his homeland. We welcome him as a symbol of resistance to cultural domination and political annexation. We welcome him as a refugee, forced into exile on St. Patrick’s Day 1959. We hope his visit will be a source of support for refugees in Ireland and generate a more enlightened, generous and welcoming approach to refugees and asylum seekers here. We welcome him as a Nobel Peace Laureate, the first to be recognised for his concern for the global environment. We hope that the Dalai Lama’s life of service to humanity will be an example that will inspire others. Mindful of our own history, Afri has always striven to develop links between Ireland and oppressed people around the world and has worked in solidarity with oppressed communities in Latin America, the Philippines, South Africa, East Timor and the Niger Delta, amongst other places. We see the visit of the Dalai Lama as a way of strengthening the links between Ireland and the people of Tibet. We believe that this visit is happening at a crucial time, when hope, courage, integrity and true leadership are urgently required. We believe that his visit will be a sign of hope to those here who are marginalised and have their rights trampled upon by government or corporations. We hope for a re-awakening and a deepening of awareness about the way in which our planet is being devastated and our resources squandered. The Dalai Lama’s dream for Tibet is that it would be a zone of peace at the heart of Asia. We believe that Ireland could become a zone of peace at the heart of Europe, rejecting warfare and the violence of corporations who put profit before people.”
3. SpunOut.ie
SpunOut.ie is a pioneering driven youth organisation that works to empower young people to make a difference in their own lives and in the world around them. SpunOut.ie provides information, support and opportunities for young people to engage in health and social issues and discuss, debate and act on the issues that affect them such as mental health, education, employment and climate change. SpunOut.ie also runs an Academy of Activism and will soon launching a micro-grants awards scheme amongst other youth health and civic initiatives.
Comment by SpunOut.ie Founder, Ruairí McKiernan:
“We welcome The Dalai Lama to Ireland and what is a turning point in our country’s history. We are having to face up to our past, present and our future and many people are looking within to question our values and our culture. The Dalai Lama is one of the greatest messengers for peace and inner revolution alive. He echoes Gandhi’s ‘be the change you want to see’ mantra and is an all too rare figure of integrity and courage. As a teenager and leader of a peaceful isolated country he was forced to deal with a brutal invasion of his country and later into negotiations with the infamous Chairman Mao. The Dalai Lama has a great affinity for young people and SpunOut.ie believes he can add huge value to our work in empowering and mobilising Ireland’s massive population of young people, who desperately need support and opportunities to transform our struggling island.”
4. Solas Bhride Centre, Kildare
Solas Bhríde is a small Christian centre, established in Kildare in 1992. It is committed to unfolding the legacy of St. Brigid of Kildare in a creative and life-giving way in the 21st century. The Centre welcomes peoples of all faiths and none in their search of meaning. It has become a popular destination for pilgrims and visitors, local, national and international. Brigid’s flame, tended in Solas Bhride since it was relit at an Afri Justice and Peace Conference in Kildare in 1993, burns as a beacon of hope, justice and peace for our country and our world. Plans are in place for a larger ecologically sustainable Centre and Hermitages in the near future.
Rita Minehan csb, Solas Bhríde Centre:
“Solas Bhride is honoured to welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Kildare. The people will extend a warm Céad Mile Fáilte to the Dalai Lama. He is renowned worldwide as a spiritual leader and a man of peace and we eagerly await his message of peace and compassion. The Dalai Lama will have an opportunity to imbibe some of the rich heritage of Kildare. St. Brigid, its founding saint, is renowned through the ages as a spiritual leader, peacemaker, a woman of the land, an advocate for the poor and a woman of legendary hospitality. The Dalai Lama will be presented with the Brigid flame, and will give an address to those assembled on the theme of Compassion.”
www.solasbhride.com (Dalai Lama visit info published in late February)
5. University of Limerick
University of Limerick Professor Don Barry, UL President:
“We are extremely honoured to host this Lecture and to welcome the Dalai Lama onto our campus at UL. His Holiness is respected all over the world as a truly inspirational spiritual teacher whose energy, compassion and wisdom touch everyone he meets. He has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the US Congressional Medal in recognition of his tireless efforts to promote the compassionate and peaceful resolution of human conflict and we very much look forward to hearing his message on the Power of Forgiveness when he speaks at UL”
www.ul.ie/dalailama
What Ireland can learn from the Global South
New Publication from Afri
PRESS RELEASE, 31 December 2010
A campaigning group is calling for the cancellation of Irish bank debt on the grounds that it is unjust and unsustainable, and for a renegotiation of the EU-IMF ‘bail out’. The call will be made at a press conference (taking place at 12 noon in the Central Hotel, Dublin, on Friday 31st January) to launch an Afri Report entitled ‘The IMF and Ireland: What We Can Learn from the Global South’.
Action from Ireland (Afri) claims the loans from the EU and the IMF will be used to repay the bondholders (mainly European financial institutions) who lent to those Irish banks that have now crashed and burned, and whose liabilities the Irish state has recklessly guaranteed. Afri chairperson Andy Storey said that “these debts were not incurred to run Irish public services but by private speculators chasing a quick buck – why should ordinary Irish citizens now pick up that tab?”
He accused the Irish government of acting as debt collectors for foreign banks. Afri, he said, has extensive experience of the negative impact of the IMF, especially in Developing Countries, and, based on this experience, is well placed to warn of the danger of accepting diktats from such international institutions. Continue reading “What Ireland can learn from the Global South”
The Dalai Lama to visit Ireland in 2011
MEDIA RELEASE, 22 October 2010
Issued by Children in Crossfire
His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama will visit Ireland next year to take part in a series of events being planned by three Irish based NGO’s. Children in Crossfire, Afri, and SpunOut.ie, will host The Dalai Lama in his visit to Ireland and organisers say the visit comes at an important time when Ireland, North and South, is looking at important questions of identity, peace and progress.
The announcement comes just days before UTV screens a documentary about Children in Crossfire founder, Richard Moore, who the Dalai Lama calls ‘His Hero’. The documentary, ‘The Dalai Lama’s hero’ (screened on UTV, Sunday October 24th at 10.15pm GMT) follows Richard Moore and Charles Innis the British Soldier who blinded him, as they travel to India for a personal meeting with the Dalai Lama and charts their journey to forgiveness and friendship. Moore was blinded at the age of 10 by a rubber bullet in his native Derry and has since become a leading international advocate for the rights of children suffering from the injustice of poverty. His friendship with the British Solider who wounded him has become an inspiration to many and features in his autobiography ‘Can I Give Him My Eyes?‘ the title of which comes from Richard’s father’s passionate plea to the doctors who tried to help him after the attack.
The Dalai Lama is now the Patron of Children in Crossfire, which works to protect and promote the rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable children and it was during a visit to the Dalai Lama’s home in exile in Dharamasala, India earlier this year that he warmly accepted the invitation to return to Ireland.
Speaking at the announcement of the visit of the Dalai Lama to Ireland, Richard Moore says:
“There is perhaps no greater advocate for peace and compassion as respected worldwide as the Dalai Lama. He is a man of great warmth, depth, knowledge and insight. As a refugee from his native Tibet since fleeing the Chinese invasion in 1959, he has suffered a great deal alongside his people. His extraordinary work for peace has been recognised by his Nobel Peace prize in 1989, and by the awarding of the U.S Congressional Medal in 2007. However, it is the great admiration and esteem The Dalai Lama is held in, by people from all walks of life and all faiths, that makes him such an important figure and perhaps the most important figure in a world that is struggling with complex economic, ecological and social problems, and the need to cultivate human understanding, connection and collective action. It is against this backdrop that we are profoundly honoured and excited to welcome His Holiness back to Ireland, an island he has great respect and affection for.”
More information on the trip itinerary and programme will be announced on the www.dalailamaireland.com website in the coming weeks, in a visit that will connect with youth, church and community groups.
ENDS
• Media queries: Children in Crossfire
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Organising Partners
Children in Crossfire
Children in Crossfire is Derry based international organisation founded by Richard Moore in 1996. Children in Crossfire works to protect and promote the rights of some the world’s most vulnerable children, and in particular to ensure primary school access to all children and to reduce infant mortality.
Afri
Afri is a peace and justice organisation who for the last 35 years have been active in promoting peace and development in Ireland and abroad. Afri holds the annual Féile Bhríde peace conference in Kildare, a winter school on social justice issues and an annual Famine memorial walk in Co. Mayo. Supporters include musician Christy Moore, Former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is the Patron of the organisation.
Comment from Afri
“Afri, together with our partners Children in Crossfire and SpunOut.ie, is delighted to welcome the Dalai Lama to Ireland as the head of state and spiritual leader of Tibet.
Afri welcomes The Dalai Lama as the distinguished representative of the people of Tibet, who have suffered colonisation and the brutal suppression of their rights by China for many years. We welcome him as a symbol of resistance – to cultural domination and political annexation – who has never acquiesced in the attempts of the Coloniser to silence him.
We welcome him as a refugee, who was forced to escape into exile in 1959 and who has never been able to return to his homeland. Ireland and the world can learn much from his leadership and example.
He brings a message of hope for refugees in Ireland and beyond.
He represents a rallying point for those whose rights are being marginalised and trampled on by government and corporations in Ireland and elsewhere.
At a time when Ireland so needs such a symbol of hope, his visit will help ensure that other voices are heard – voices of those too often silenced and ignored.
SpunOut.ie
SpunOut.ie is a pioneering web based youth organisation that works to empower young people to make a difference in their own lives and in the world around them. SpunOut.ie provides information, support and opportunities for young people to engage in health and social issues and discuss, debate and act on the issues that affect them such as mental health, education, employment and climate change. SpunOut.ie also runs an Academy of Activism and will soon launching a micro-grants awards scheme amongst other youth health and civic initiatives.
SpunOut.ie comment
“We welcome The Dalai Lama to Ireland and what is a turning point in our country’s history. We are having to face up to our past, present and our future and many people are looking within to question our values and our culture. The Dalai Lama is one of the greatest messengers for peace and inner revolution alive. He echoes Gandhi’s ‘be the change you want to see’ mantra and is an all too rare figure of integrity and courage. As a teenager and leader of a peaceful isolated country he was forced to deal with a brutal invasion of his country and later into negotiations with the infamous Chairman Mao. The Dalai Lama has a great affinity for young people and SpunOut.ie believes he can add huge value to our work in empowering and mobilising Ireland’s massive population of young people, who desperately need support and opportunities to transform our struggling island.”
Afri marks Entry into Force of Convention on Cluster Munitions
On 2 August Afri and the Bloom Movement for Global Justice beat the drums in front of Croke Park to mark the Entry into Force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Convention is the most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty in more than a decade and it was negotiated and adopted by 107 countries at Croke Park in May 2008.
Photos: Derek Speirs
Continue reading “Afri marks Entry into Force of Convention on Cluster Munitions”
Tutu congratulates Afri
I want to express my solidarity with, and support for, Afri on the occasion of their 35th anniversary. I am proud that Leah and I have been Afri’s International Patrons for more than 25 years. I first came to know Afri when they invited me to a conference in 1982, which I was unable to attend because my passport had been confiscated by the Apartheid government of South Africa. However, I took up that invitation two years later in 1984 and visited Ireland at Afri’s invitation during the inspiring anti-apartheid strike by young workers in Dunnes Stores in Dublin. That strike was a unique and inspirational act of international solidarity by young people in Ireland and I continue to thank them for their contribution to the struggle for freedom in South Africa. I also commend Afri for the support which they gave to the strikers, including arranging for me to meet them as I went to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
That strike became a template for Afri’s work in the succeeding years. They have continued to be involved in education, awareness raising and campaigning on a wide range of issues from opposition to the dictatorships in Latin America throughout the 1980s to their support for communities affected by the activities of Multinational Corporations today. I have been impressed, for example, by the way in which Afri supported the Ogoni community in the Niger Delta before, during and after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues, and how they have linked this struggle to that of the people of Rossport in the West of Ireland who are currently facing threats to their health, safety and environment by the multinational consortium which is seeking to extract gas in that region. Afri is admirable in that it has never shied away from making the difficult but necessary local global links.
Afri continues to work on a range of other challenging issues: such as support for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza; highlighting the dangers posed by global warming, climate change and peak oil; and campaigning against the ongoing obscenity of the global arms trade, costing more than 1000 billion dollars annually while a billion people in our world suffer from hunger.
Afri is a small organisation with a global reach, whose creativity and imaginative approach give it an ability to punch above its weight. Afri represents a dissenting voice that sometimes goes against the grain, an extremely important role in society, especially at a time when the dominant approaches have brought us to a situation of grave inequality and crises. I reaffirm my support for Afri, my congratulations on their 35th Anniversary and my belief that organisations like Afri are now needed more than ever and that they should be supported and encouraged by all who believe in democracy in Ireland and beyond.