9:00 a.m. Peter Foynes: a walk through the birthplace of Mary Harris (Mother Jones). Gather at the Maldron Hotel.
10:30 a.m. Julianna Minihan, (Historian).
11:30 a.m. Owen Reidy, General Secretary of the ICTU.
2:15 p.m. Jack Lane, Aubane Historical Society.
3:00 p.m. Feminist Walk 2 Leaving UCC.
3:30 p.m. The Battle for Orgreave (Documentary)
4:30 p.m. Gerard O’Rourke (Author)
6.00 p.m. Plaque Event with Martin Leahy.
Speakers:
Walaa Sabah, Project Manager of We Are Not Numbers (WANN)
Fiona O’Rourke, Author
Dr Nick Maynard, Surgeon
In attendance: Ms Zeina Alazzeh, Research and Policy Officer, Embassy of the State of Palestine.
Friday 26th July at 7:00 p.m. at Dance Cork Firkin Crane.
Walaa Sabah
Walaa Sabah is the director of operations at We Are Not Numbers (WANN). She works as a freelance journalist. Her articles about the Palestinian situation can be read on MEE, El, Mondoweiss and the New Arab.
Walaa recently spoke at the weekly Cork Palestinian Solidarity Group protest in Cork and described some of the heart breaking individual stories behind the statistics in Gaza.
When the world talks about Palestinians living under occupation and in refugee camps, it is usually in terms of politics and numbers – specifically, how many killed, injured, homeless and/or dependent on aid. However numbers are impersonal and often numbing. What they don’t convey are the daily personal struggles and triumphs, the tears and the laughter, and the aspirations that are so universal that if it weren’t for the context, they would immediately resonate with virtually everyone.
The mission of WANN is to create a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can bring together a profound change to the Palestinian cause to get their voices heard. WANN provides the world with direct access to the Palestinian narrative without any restrictions and without foreign intermediaries speaking on behalf of the Palestinians. To date some 350 contributors have published more than 1300 stories from Palestine.
Fiona O’Rourke
Fiona is a published author from the North of Ireland with recent stories included in Shorter Stories Ireland, Dublin Story Slam, Fortnight Magazine and the Storms Journal.
Her creative non-fiction was selected by Munster Lit. and will be published in the Southword Journal in Winter 2024.
A member of the Irish Writers Union, Fiona has designed and facilitated creative writing courses and programmes at Trinity College, Dublin Innovation Academy, Libraries, festivals, in the community and at the Irish Writers Centre Dublin.
She is the co-organiser and MC for Open Mic for Gaza Zoom fundraisers and the organiser/facilitator for eXpress Write for Gaza, a writing session fundraiser. All donations raised at these events have gone to the Ghassan Abu Sitta Children’s Fund.
Dr Nick Maynard
Dr Nick Maynard is a senior surgeon at Oxford University Hospital and has worked in Gaza leading an Emergency Medical Team for Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). MAP’s vision is a future where all Palestinians can access an effective, sustainable and locally-led system of healthcare, and the full realisation of their rights to health and dignity. Through their programmes in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Lebanon, they work with trusted and experienced local partners to achieve this vision. MAP programmes, designed and delivered by Palestinians, provide access to essential health services and build local knowledge and skills to address Palestinian health problems. In times of humanitarian emergency, MAP is ready to respond rapidly with aid and assistance.
See https://www.map.org.uk/ for more details.
Zeina Alazzeh
Zeina Alazzeh did her master’s degree in International Public Policy and Diplomacy at UCC and as part of her programme, she worked as a research assistant with Dr Andrew Cottey on EU-China relations. Zeina conducted her master’s thesis on the role of the EU and China in East Africa. She also worked as a research and teaching assistant at Birzeit University Palestine for three years. Her research interests are in EU foreign policies, international relations, and politics in conflict areas with the focus on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Today, Zeina works as a Research and Policy Officer at the Embassy Of The State of Palestine in Dublin and attends this meeting at the request of Ambassador Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid.. .
All are welcome. Its first come, first seated.
Saturday 27th July 2024 at 4.30pm
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Luke Dineen is unable to attend the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2024. Historian Gerard O’Rourke, will instead give a talk on his recent book, “Land War to Civil War 1900-1924 Donoughmore to Cork and Beyond” at 4:30 pm on Saturday 27th July 2024 at the Shandon Maldron Hotel. All are welcome.
See further details on the site.
Maldron Hotel Shandon.
Speaker: Luke Dineen.
2024 is the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Jim Larkin, who was born on January 28th 1874 in Liverpool.
Jim Larkin founded the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in December 1908.
He was among the founders of the Irish Labour Party in 1912 and led the workers in the Dublin Lockout in 1913/14. He also helped to establish the Irish Citizen Army which played a prominent role under James Connolly in the 1916 Rising, Larkin spent from 1914 to 1923 in America. . On his return from America he was involved in a split from the ITGWU and the Workers Union of Ireland was formed. Jim Larkin was elected to Dáil Eiréann on three occasions. He died on 30th January 1947.
Luke Dineen, a regular speaker at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival intends to “put a particular focus on what underpinned Larkin’s ideology – Larkinism as it was called at the time – and how significant this was for events in Cork (1909 lock out) and across the country”.
Saturday 27th July.
9:00 a.m.
Gather in front of the Maldron Hotel, Shandon. No booking required.
Peter Foynes of the Cork Butter Museum will conduct a walk through the historic birthplace of Mary Harris.
It will take about 75 minutes.
Shandon comes from two Gaelic words, sean, old and dún, a fort or castle. Shandon has had a distinct identity on the northern hill overlooking the River Lee since the 12th Century. It is a remarkable community , containing a rich urban heritage and many regard it as the very heart of Cork City. The heritage of the area represents the old religious struggles and conflict in Ireland going back many centuries, now existing in mutual respect and tolerance. Uniquely the business history and heritage of Cork City and County can also be found in this small area, represented by the butter and meat trade both from its rural hinterland and then sent over the world. Thirdly, a vibrant, diverse and positive community lives in the narrow streets largely unchanged since the time when a young Mary Harris lived and played by these streets on the hill. Peter Foynes has written extensively about Shandon, he is active in the local community and knows these streets.
Saturday 27th July 2024, 3:00 p.m.
Feminist Walk 2. This begins in University College Cork and arrives at the Mother Jones Plaque at about 5.45 in time for the annual toast to Mother Jones.
The event lasts 2-3 hours.
The joint hosts are Professor Maggie O’Neill and Conach Gibson, UCC to discover more about some of the amazing, trail-blazing women of Cork on an outdoor walk.
Message from event organiser, 18th July 2024. Registration for this walk is now full. Only walkers who registered on event brite can be accommodated on the day.
Feminist 2 ‘ Women, Confinement and Social Justice’ takes a winding guided walk across Cork City to learn more about the contributions of trail-blazing women woven into the history and topography of the city, and their great work in challenging sexual and social inequalities to build safer and fairer societies for all. Maggie O’Neill, Professor in Sociology & Criminology, Director of ISS21 and Collective Social Futures at UCC, and has a long history of socially engaged research with communities for social justice. Conach Gibson Feinblum is a PhD student at University College Cork, who worked as a researcher to co-create the feminist walk and website.
Registration for the walk is now open at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feminist-walk-2-women-confinement-and-social-justice-tickets-943556311327on Event Brite.
A talk by Adrian Kane of SIPTU.
Thursday 25th July 2024 at 2.30 pm at the Maldron Hotel Shandon.
Adrian Kane first became active in trade unions in his early twenties while working for Bord na Móna. He has worked for SIPTU as a full time union official since 1995. Adrian is a graduate of the National College of Industrial Relations. He also attended University College Dublin and Keele University where he studied Employment Law and European Industrial Relations. He is the author of a recent book “Trade Unions” published by Cork University Press.
“Trade Unions”, Adrian’s analysis of internal trade union politics casts a sometimes critical eye over how trade unions structures are organised. As he has spent nearly 30 years operating in the front lines of industrial relations he is in a strong position to present his case. He also focuses on the vital debate as to how the trade union movement should operate in the ever changing world of work in the new digital economy. He will pose the question as to how trade unions are going to attract workers to become union members especially in the gig and digital economies. Adrian outlines the changes to the culture structures that might be required to join and discusses the possibilities and opportunities for an enhanced role for the trade union movement in the future world of work.
All are welcome to attend the meeting and take part in the discussion.
Climate Change and Taking Action.
Moderator: John Barimo.
Panellists: Niamh Guiry, Claudia Hihetah, Dearbhla Richardson.
Friday 26th July 2024 at 2.30pm at the Maldron Hotel
Climate Change is the issue of our time, failure to take action on a governmental and individual scale will result in the gradual destruction of our entire planet. In what way will climate change affect Ireland? At best it will have a significant impact on environment and nature and some cities on our coast, at worst it will impact virtually everything we take for granted socially, economically and politically and how we live day to day. Come and hear what the young activists have to say about the current progress to prevent these impacts of climate change from taking place.
Dearbhla Richardson.
“Dearbhla Richardson is a 23 year old climate justice activist from Cobh, Co. Cork. She is a recent graduate of the BSc International Development Programme in University College Cork. She has just recently finished up her term as Concern Worldwide’s Youth Climate Ambassador and is currently working on a campaign with other Irish Youth calling on the Irish Government to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Claudia Hihetah.
Claudia Hihetah, a PhD researcher at MaREI hosted at University College Cork. Claudia’s research focuses on investigating the lived experiences of energy poverty in order to advance solutions to this problem. Her PhD focuses on “Developing effective policy responses to address energy poverty and increase energy justice. The 11-strong UCC group includes 30-year-old Claudia Hihetah from Ghana. Claudia has spent four days at COP. with a UCC delegation.
“There’s a huge appetite for climate action but, then again, there is a huge sense of scepticism as to the outcomes or success of this year’s climate talks,” she said. “My hope for COP is for leaders to put people at the heart of the decision making, at the heart of climate action, and at the heart of a just energy transition.”
Niamh Guiry.
Niamh Guiry is a second-year EPA-IRC PhD scholar at the School of Law, University College Cork. Her research explores the interrelationship between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global environmental governance, and evolving patterns of international law-making. Niamh is an environmental activist and has a keen interest in biodiversity protection, climate justice, and environmental education.
Moderator: John Barimo.
John Barimo takes action at UCC through SDSN Ireland, an all-island network of universities and NGOs addressing issue of sustainability and climate instability. He’s a coastal ecologist who who thrives in engaging across academia and the wider society both locally and globally. John’s also an early stage climate migrant who’s returned from the diaspora to find a vibrant life in Ireland. John is a long standing member of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
The Environmental Round Table “Climate Change and Taking Action” discussion takes place in the Maldron Hotel, Shandon on Friday afternoon, commencing at 2:30 pm. All are welcome.
A film by Yvette Vanson
This will be shown on Saturday 27th July at 3.30 pm at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon during the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
What happened at Orgreave?
Forty years ago on 18th June 1984, at Orgreave coking works near Rotherham in the north of England, the National Union of Miners (NUM) organised a mass picket of the miners in an attempt to stop production.
The Miners national strike had been underway for several months at this stage and there had been some minor confrontations between pickets and the police.
However on this occasion the police, adopting military style tactics, attacked the miners, they charged the miners on horses, used dogs to attack individual miners and savagely beat many with batons. Many miners were injured and dozens were arrested. The brutality displayed by the police was quite shocking. It was not a battle, it was a riot by the police. Dozens of miners were seriously injured and many still suffer effects to this day. Over 90 were arrested, however when an initial 15 were put on trial for rioting and unlawful assembly, the trial collapsed due to issues with statements from the South Yorkshire police ( who were also involved in the Hillsborough Disaster just over five years later.) Repeated calls for a public inquiry into the violence of the police on that day, some 40 years ago have been largely ignored by the British establishment.
The events at Orgreave left a very bitter legacy in miners communities and many commentators have since stated that something changed forever in Britain on that morning, in many ways it represented a display of the iron fist of Thatcherism. The miners strike lasted a year and resulted in defeat for the NUM and the end of the coal industry and their communities.
Photographer John Harris’s stark image of the policeman on his horse attacking Lesley Boulton as he swung a long truncheon at her head leaves an indelible memory in many people. She had earlier shouted at a policeman to get an ambulance for an injured miner, the policeman swung round his horse and charged at her. Luckily a miner behind Lesley pulled her back by her belt and the blow missed. (See top right photo on the 30th Anniversary banner below.)
For up to date news on Orgreave and the calls for a public Inquiry visit the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign at www.otjc.org.uk
The Cork Mother Jones Committee showed this film with the permission of Yvette Vanson at the 2014 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, and again at the 2015 festival when General Secretary of the Durham Miners Association, the late Dave Hopper, who was present at the “battle” gave an eye witness account of the events.
Our festival will take place from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th July, in and around the Shandon Historic Quarter. The Summer School and musical events are held in the Shandon Maldron Hotel and Dance Cork Firkin Crane on John Redmond Street.
The members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee are busy planning the three day programme of events for what is our thirteenth annual community festival..
The festival and summer school will again feature a wide variety of speakers, films, walks, toasts and music associated with the trade union campaigning interests of Cork born Mother Jones.
Announcements of speakers as they confirm will appear here on a regular basis. However we can confirm that historians Liz Gillis and Anne Twomey will again feature on the opening evening. The work of both over many years has questioned the disappearance of many radical women from the official narrative of Irish history.
Many of these women had been active in the Irish War Of Independence and Irish Civil War, and some highlighted the appalling social conditions endured by many people in the new State from 1922 onwards. However the new government cancelled the women in today’s terms and through legislation marginalised them for many decades in the social, economic and political life of the State.
The festival is planning to feature the latest documentary on Mother Jones “Fight Like Hell” – The Testimony of Mother Jones which was written and performed by Kaiulani Lee.
Actress Kaiulani, who has visited the festival on several occasions, has worked for several years to create this amazing documentary and we are all eagerly looking forward to seeing it for the first time in Mother Jones’ home place.
Our strong interest in the international trade union movement will see a range of Irish trade union speakers discuss the future of trade unions while we will feature a number of documentaries on the 40th anniversary of the UK Miners Strike and the actions of Scottish workers who refused to work on General Pinochet’s Air Force planes.
Environmental issues and climate change will also feature and will include a showing of a documentary on local biodiversity as well as a round table discussion involving young environmental activists.
A highlight of the opening night will see the return of the unique and legendary Cork Singers’ Club, who have performed to packed attendances at all the festivals since 2012. Cork’s John Nyhan will arrange the musical events on Friday night and has planned a huge surprise, while singer Martin Leahy returns to sing at the traditional whiskey toast of Mother Jones on Saturday evening.
Remember we try to ensure that events, except fundraising remain free to all. There is no pre booking required, but please attend early as its a first come, first seated policy.
As always we expect the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival will be interesting, relevant and challenging to encourage discussion and debate.
Further details will be announced regularly on www.motherjonescork.com
Also on the Motherjones Cork Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
The 13th Spirit of Mother Jones Festival will be held in and around the Shandon Historic Quarter from Thursday 25th July until Saturday 27th July 2024 inclusive. The festival will be organised by the Cork Mother Jones Committee 2024, an independent voluntary community based committee. The festival is dedicated to the memory of Mary Harris/Mother Jones and to inspirational people everywhere who fight for social justice, workers rights and human rights.
The festival and summer school will consist of talks, discussions, songs, music, films and documentaries. We hope to make them interesting, challenging and relevant. If you have a relevant topic which you wish to see included, please email motherjonescork@gmail.com as early as possible but before 29th February 2024 and we will get back to you.
According to James Nolan, spokesperson,
“The 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones festival was without doubt one of the very best we’ve had. Hundreds of people from all corners of Ireland and across the world visited Shandon and many events had a capacity audience. Trade union leader Mick Lynch was an outstanding speaker, he attracted a huge attendance to the Firkin Theatre and was delighted to be back in the city of his father and the extended Lynch family. All the speakers, musicians, singers, choirs, many participating for the first time, ensured a lively three days. Even the traditional Irish whiskey toast to Mother Jones was packed. We are already looking forward to the 2024 festival.”
All are welcome to attend the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School, events are informal and free thanks to the support of the Irish trade union movement and the Cork City Council. Attendance at each event is on a first come, first seated basis, so no need to book. We look forward to seeing you.
10:30 a.m. Niamh Guiry.
11:30 a.m. Eoghan Daltun.
1:00 p.m. Jimmy Crowley & Eve Telford.
2:30 p.m. A Sense of Wonder (Rachel Carson)
4:15 p.m. Mother Jones and Her Children.
5: 15 p.m. Mother Jones: America’s Most Dangerous Woman.
7:00 p.m. Mary Crilly (at Dance Cork Firkin Crane)
9:00 p.m. Tribute to Victor Jara.
9:30 p.m. Songs of Protest: The Folk Music Revival.
