Reflections from Afri Hedge School 2018

“It was absolutely brilliant” was one of the comments made by a student participant in the 2018 Hedge School. The event took place in IT Blanchardstown for the 6th year in succession under the title ‘It is right to fight for human rights’. We had inspirational presentations from Emmet Sheerin of Trócaire, actor and activist Donal O’Kelly and representatives of the Rohingya people.

 

Joe Murray (Afri) with Noor Hasina and Parvena Ackter representing Rohingya Action Ireland and the Rohingya community in Carlow. Photo credit: Stephanie McDermott

 

Emmet showed a short film and spoke about the extraordinary student-led ‘Divest’ campaign, which resulted in three Universities, Trinity, NUI Galway University and Queens in Belfast committing to divesting in fossil fuels; Donal O’Kelly outlined the history and context in relation to the forced migration of people and the Rohingya told the horrific story of what has happened to them at the hands of the Burmese military.

There was also great student participation, as usual, with wonderfully creative drama pieces, powerful music and poetry.

All together a highly successful Hedge School, summed up by another student who said “a fantastic event. Hope the Afri Hedge School continues for many more years to come. It is Invaluable”.

Afri Hedge School 2018

Contributions from Donal O’Kelly – ‘Welcome the Stranger’; Emmet Sheerin (Trocáire) ‘Student Activism – A Success Story’ and 3rd year Community and Youth Development students in I.T. Blanchardstown.

 Free entry to all – donations welcome to cover costs. Lunch and tea/coffee is provided.

To register go to https://www.eventbrite.ie

Reflections from the Hedge School

ITB students speaking at the Hedge School
ITB students speaking at the Hedge School

The 2016 Hedge School took place in Blanchardstown on November 8th, the same day as the US presidential election.  To our surprise, the latter event seemed to overshadow the former! However, we are confident that the outcome of the Hedge School will be much more positive and beneficial to people and planet than that of the election! The election was a contest between two corrupt multi millionaires supported by arms companies and oil companies while the Hedge School was organized on a shoe string and with the good will of many people.

Sorcha Pollak opened proceedings with a powerful talk on Roger Casement. Casement was a great humanitarian and internationalist, who, having carried out an investigation into atrocities on Belgium rubber plantations in the Congo, was sent by the British government to the Amazon jungle to investigate atrocities committed by the Peruvian Amazon Company, which collected rubber in the region of the river Putumayo. Casement was executed four years later for his participation in the 1916 Rising.

John Maguire further explored Casement’s work in the context of his deepening awareness of the evils of Empire and of its implications for his beloved country and characterised him as an ideal symbol for today. 

Other speakers included Kay Mulhall and, the highlight of the day, Miriam, a former asylum-seeker from Uganda.  Miriam spoke about the gruelling circumstances of her life in Uganda before being forced to leave her country and seek refuge in Ireland. In Ireland she experienced the Direct Provision system which poured salt in the wounds of her previous suffering.

The students made a tremendous contribution to the day in terms of both organisation, and input. They interwove  workshops, music and the writing of a Proclamation into the fabric of the day. Special thanks to Liam McGlynn whose support, collaboration and enthusiasm adds to the very positive experience of working in ITB.

One Earth, One Chance: Afri Hedge School 2015

 

ITB students call for action on climate change during the Afri Hedge School 2015
ITB students call for action on climate change during the Afri Hedge School 2015

The 2015 Hedge School was held in IT Blanchardstown and the focus this year was on climate change and its impact on human rights.  Students from the Social and Community Development Course, with the guidance of their lecturer, Liam McGlynn, had been preparing for the Hedge School for several weeks and students were actively involved in contributing to all aspects of the day – including workshops on the theme of climate change and human rights as well as registration of attendees, creating a short film on climate change and organising the above action: “act now or pay later”.

As well as the students’ contributions, Maitet Ledesma from IBON International, spoke eloquently about the impact of climate change in the Philippines as well as the lead into the Paris conference on climate change.  This was followed by a debate between Oisin Coghlan of Friends of the Earth and Harold Kingston from the Irish Farmers’ Association on the impact of Irish Agriculture on the climate.   Harold was arguing that the Irish climate is best suited for growing grass – which is then used in dairy or beef farming.  He also maintained that the targets set by the EU were unrealistic.  Oisin on the other hand, refuting this, stated that targets are essential to drive action to tackle climate change and held that the government weren’t even trying to meet the 2020 EU targets in order to get easier targets for 2030.  Oisin also held that Ireland needs to do its fair share to tackle climate change and should not be looking for special exemptions.  The debate was chaired by Afri chair Nessa Ní Chasaide.

After lunch Donal O’Kelly drew parallels between the nonviolent environmental activist Ken Saro Wiwa and Frederick Douglass, a freed slave, in a dramatic piece.  The day of the Hedge School itself coincided with the 20th anniversary of the hanging of the Ogoni 9 – of which Ken Saro Wiwa was part – by the Nigerian military dictatorship with the collusion of Shell.  At the beginning of the day a candle was lit by one of the IT students – who is from Nigeria – in memory of the Ogoni 9.

The day concluded with a world cafe – an opportunity for all participants to reflect on how they felt about climate change – hopeful, angry, despairing and so on – and a chance to mingle with those who felt differently.

Afri would like to thank ITB and in particular Liam McGlynn for hosting the 2015 Hedge School

Impressions from the 2014 Hedge School

Cathyrn O'Reilly (standing) and Vonnie Munroe of the Dunnes Stores Anti-apartheid strikers speaking at the Afri Hedge School in ITB.
Cathyrn O’Reilly (standing) and Vonnie Munroe of the Dunnes Stores Anti-apartheid strikers speaking at the Afri Hedge School in ITB.

By coincidence, the Afri Hedge School 2014 took place on the 96th anniversary of the official ending of World War 1.  I say ‘official’ ending as of course a monstrous machine of that size and ferocity doesn’t suddenly come to a halt all at once. Active battling in which several human beings lost their lives continued well after that iconic moment of the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month on which the leaders cried ‘stop!”. And signatures were made on a piece of paper.  I say ‘official’ as the fallout, the ramifications of that horrific war, ironically titled in the recruitment propaganda as ‘the war to end all wars’, is still to this very day having its devastating impact. The battles continue long after Armistice. The trauma has traversed generations in the many insidious ways that trauma can. Palestine is just one of many, many ongoing casualties that continues to bleed and die.

The lives of those men who had chosen to become or had been forced to become soldiers and were sacrificed in that war are traditionally remembered by silence and ceremony on this iconic day.

The Afri Hedge School chose not to hold the silence, but rather to facilitate the raising of voices. It invited the testimony of witnesses and casualties beyond those in active combat. It welcomed the awkward questions. And it framed all of this within the matrix of conscience. Continue reading “Impressions from the 2014 Hedge School”