Unique presentation of Radio Play ‘Fionnuala’

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Donal O'Kelly performs 'Fionnuala'
Donal O’Kelly performs ‘Fionnuala’

Afri is delighted that Donal O’Kelly’s radio adaptation of his award-winning show Fionnuala, produced by the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK in Norwegian, made the shortlist of five for the famous Prix Italia in Radio Drama, whittled down from an original 35 productions.

Next week, Fionnuala competes as NRK’s nominated entry in the Radio Fiction category at the Prix Europa in Berlin with results to be announced on Friday 21st October.

On that night, October 21st, the production will be played, with dialogue in English projected on a screen, in Glenamoy Parish Hall, Erris Co. Mayo starting at 8pm sharp, duration one hour. Doors 7.30pm.

Afri is proud to host this event in Glenamoy Hall, where the first reading of Fionnuala took place during the Afri Hedge School in August 2012. News from Berlin will be communicated as it happens and refreshments will be provided.

Donal O’Kelly’s live solo show about the Shell/Statoil gas project in Mayo won a Scotsman Fringe First award in Edinburgh, and has been performed all over Ireland, as well as Edinburgh, Geneva, Oslo and Rapid City, South Dakota.

Continue reading “Unique presentation of Radio Play ‘Fionnuala’” →

Pathways of Peace

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Pupils from Scoil Eoghain in Moville, with their teacher Rose Kelly as she launches her book 'Pathways of Peace' at at tree planting ceremony, in St. Columb's Park House, Derry on 4th December 2015
Pupils from Scoil Eoghain in Moville, with their teacher Rose Kelly as she launches her book ‘Pathways of Peace’ and plants a tree (donated by the Woodland Trust), in St. Columb’s Park House, Derry on 4th December 2015. Photo: Nuala Crilly

Afri joined with St. Columb’s Park House in Derry for the launch of their ‘Campaigning Communities’ initiative on December 3rd 2015.  This project aims to support communities who are campaigning around a broad range of justice and peace issues.  As part of the launch, Donal O’Kelly performed his award winning play Fionnuala about the community resisting Shell in Erris, Co. Mayo, who are an inspiration to many communities throughout Ireland.

Director of St. Columb’s Park House, Helen Henderson, opened the proceedings with a profoundly insightful reflection entitled ‘Spaceship Earth’, which was followed by an introduction to the ‘Campaigning Communities’ initiative by its co-ordinator Nuala Crilly.  Joe Murray also spoke, referring to some of the significant campaigns in which Afri have been involved – such as the Dunnes Stores Strike, East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign and supporting the community resistance in Erris.  The evening concluded with a rousing medley of protest songs performed by Paddy Nash and Diane Greer.

The following day, Afri’s former Development Education Co-ordinator, Rose Kelly, travelled from Moville to St. Columb’s Park House with around 30 pupils from Rang a 4 to launch her book Pathways of Peace and to plant a tree, donated by the Woodland Trust, in honour of the occasion.   These were an exceptionally talented group of students who had written and performed their own song as well as sharing their own reflections and poetry on care for the planet.  They even drew inspiration from the haka – made famous by the New Zealand rugby team – to convey a message of hope and peace!

Pathways of Peace is an excellent development education resource, comprising stories of the lives of inspirational young people and the example of peace and justice that they have embodied.   The resource includes their stories as well as suggested activities for use in the classroom. This resource is now available to buy from Afri.

“I can’t think of a better way to honor my brother”

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Christy Moore with Owens Wiwa at Afri famine walk in Mayo in 2006. (Photo by Derek Speirs).
Christy Moore with Owens Wiwa at Afri famine walk in Mayo in 2006. (Photo by Derek Speirs).

Letter from Owens Wiwa, brother of Ken Saro-Wiwa – one of the Ogoni 9.  The 10th November 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the execution of the Ogoni 9 by the military dictatorship in Nigeria, with the collusion of Shell.

Dear Joe,

I do remember, with pride, the famine walk in 2006. It was emotional and fulfilling. I remember the inspiring speeches, the sacrifices of Christy and Vincent. Thank you for giving me the opportunity during the walk to share experiences with the people of Rossport and the wider community in Erris County Mayo.

Nov 10 2015 marks 20 years of the killing of my brother and 8 Ogoni activists.

A study by the United Nations Environment Programme has shown that, despite the fact that no oil production has taken place in Ogoniland since 1993, oil spills continue to occur with fierce regularity. The production facilities that Shell used to crowd out farmers and fishermen have fallen to rust and ruin, and neglected, antiquated pipelines continue to leak oil as they snake from other parts of Nigeria through Ogoniland. Fishermen and farmers can no longer make their living or feed their families from the water or the field.

This is the bounty that Shell has brought to the people of Ogoniland. It promised prosperity and a bright tomorrow. When it wants to distract people from the price that will eventually be paid, Shell talks of jobs, crows about its lavish philanthropy and promises that no harm will be done, no chaos left in its wake. I heard these promises in Rossport and I fear that Shell’s bounty in Ogoni may yet be repeated elsewhere.

I am hugely relieved for the people of the Arctic, many of whose families .have lived there for thousands of years, that Shell recently announced it was retreating from Arctic drilling for the foreseeable future.

But this is a company that pantomimes concern and compassion for human beings when its only true concern is for where new money can be found. No doubt Shell’s sights are already set on its next oil field conquest, irrespective of who lives there or their history with that land.
When my brother Ken was executed, his last words were “Lord, take my soul…but the struggle continues.”  I hope Ken is watching and seeing that, yes, it does. From Ogoniland to the Arctic, to Erris County Mayo and beyond, people are rising up to say “Shell No!” They are standing strong against a corporation and an entire industry that will mortgage our future for quick profits. I can’t think of a better way to honor my brother.

Owens Wiwa

Dublin Events Marking the 20th Anniversary Of Killing Of Ogoni 9

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Vigil outside Shell Headquarters on the 20th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9. Photo: Derek Speirs
Vigil outside Shell Headquarters on the 20th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9. Photo: Derek Speirs

On Tuesday November 10th 2015 at 6pm, human rights campaigners and environmentalists gathered at Shell’s Irish headquarters to mark the twentieth anniversary of the execution of poet and playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others known as the Ogoni 9. The vigil is being organised by Afri and is supported folk singer Christy Moore and Sr. Majella McCarron, an Irish missionary nun from County Fermanagh who was formerly based in Nigeria where she was a friend of Saro-Wiwa.

The Ogoni 9, campaigners against Shell’s activities in the Niger Delta, were executed by hanging in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. In 1996 the U.S based Center for Constitutional Rights sued Shell for its complicity in human right abuses against the Ogoni people, including collusion in bringing about the deaths of the Ogoni 9. In June 2009, on the eve of the trial, a settlement of $15.5 million was made to establish a trust on behalf of the Ogoni people. Shell continues to face fierce criticism for the environmental and health legacy they have left in Ogoniland. (Ref: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/yes-minister-it-human-rights-issue/shell-oil-nigeria-ken-saro-wiwa-niger-delta )

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s brother Owens, speaking about his brother’s death has said that he fears lessons have not been learned.

“Shell talks of jobs and progress, crows about its lavish philanthropy and promises that no harm will be done, no chaos left in its wake. I heard these promises in Rossport and I fear that Shell’s bounty in Ogoni may yet be repeated elsewhere. This is a company that pantomimes concern and compassion for human beings when its only true concern is for where new money can be found. No doubt Shell’s sights are already set on its next oil field conquest, irrespective of who lives there or their history with that land.”

“When my brother Ken was executed, his last words were “Lord, take my soul…but the struggle continues.”  I hope Ken is watching and seeing that, yes, it does. From Ogoniland to the Arctic, to Erris County Mayo and beyond, people are rising up to say “Shell No!” They are standing strong against a corporation and an entire industry that will mortgage our future for quick profits.”

Joe Murray, organiser of the vigil and Director of human rights and peace organisation Afri, agrees that there is a clear parallel between Ogoniland and Mayo.

“Just as Shell colluded with the military dictatorship in Nigeria, the Irish State has colluded with Shell in bribing, bullying and intimidating the community in Kilcommon into accepting a monument to fossil fuels at a time when climate change threatens the very survival of our planet. The Corrib gas project, in which Statoil is also a partner, has been a disaster for human rights, civil liberties and the environment. The natural gas giveaway has already resulted in a very bad deal the Irish taxpayer.”

Willie Corduff, one of the Rossport 5 who spent 94 days in prison at the behest of Shell, says the community in Erris remember the Ogoni 9 on a daily basis.

“Today, as Shell preaches progress, many miles from their homeland in Nigeria the crosses of the 9 Ogoni heroes stand defiantly in front of the main refinery gate at Ballinaboy as a reminder to Shell that their sins will follow them forever.”

A separate vigil by the Shell to Sea group was held from 12 noon at Shell’s headquarters on 52 Lower Leeson St., Dublin 2.

Airing Erris: The Media and Shell Corrib

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Airing Erris: The Media and Shell Corrib will take place on Saturday 18th January in the Seanscoil, Ceathrú Thaidhg, in Erris, County Mayo, 12 noon til 6pm. This will be the first of a series of two seminars on the media treatment of the Shell Corrib issue.

Speakers will include Harry Browne, journalist and lecturer, Lelia Doolan, documentary-maker and former CEO of the Irish Film Board, Betty Purcell, former Editor of Features and Current Affairs RTE, and Liamy Mac Nally, Mayo-based freelance journalist.

There will also be a series of testimonies from people detailing infringements of freedom of expression and denial of information in relation to the Shell Corrib gas project.

Events organised by AfrI in Co. Mayo

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Afri organised two events on the 21st and 22nd of May  in Co. Mayo that addressed fundamental issues of economic and political justice in the world today.

The first was the annual Famine Walk from Doolough to Louisburgh, on Saturday 21st, commemorating the death of Irish people during the ‘great famine’ of the nineteenth century and highlighting the reality of hunger and food insecurity in the world today, the causes of which include war and obscene levels of military spending. This year the Famine Walk  focused especially on the question of food sovereignty, including the threats to it from increasing corporate control of the food chain and the treatment of food as just another commodity to be bought and sold. The theme of corporate power also dominated at the second event, a public meeting in Erris on Sunday 22nd, where activists from India exchanged their stories of oppression by multinational companies (especially Union Carbide and its devastation of Bhopal) with the tales of local campaigners against Shell’s unwanted and dangerous Corrib Gas pipeline. Continue reading “Events organised by AfrI in Co. Mayo” →