The Battle for Orgreave.

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Admin

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.

The Battle for Orgreave – 30 years on

Films at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2016

The 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival Update.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Admin

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 Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy opens the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival pictured with some members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.

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.

Trade Union leader, Mick Lynch in pensive mood at the Butter Market in Shandon.

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.

The Cork Ukrainian Choir and the Cobh Animation Group at the 2023 Festival Launch.

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.

Cork Piper, Norman O’Rourke plays the traditional bagpipes for the Lord Mayor’s entry to the festival.

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 dates for the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival have been announced.

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Admin

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.

Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the RMT Union with members for the Cork Mother Jones Committee receives the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Award. Photo: Niamh O’Flynn.

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.

Festival Programme Friday 28th July 2023

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Admin

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.

Festival Programme Thursday 27th July 2023

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Admin

11:00 a.m. Salt of the Earth. (1954) Film – Maldron Hotel.

1:00 p.m. Official Opening by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy and the Cork Ukrainian Choir. Maldron Hotel.

2:30 p.m. Mavis Ramazani – Maldron Hotel.

4.00 p.m. Mick Lynch – Dance Cork Firkin Crane.

7:15 p.m. Anne Twomey & Liz Gillis – Dance Cork Firkin Crane

9:30 p.m. The Cork Singers’ Club. – Maldron Hotel.

Mick Lynch, RMT General Secretary Speaks at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2023.

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Admin

Mick Lynch is the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) since May 2021.

Among his predecessors at the RMT were Bob Crow, who was a regular visitor to Ireland and Mick Cash who had Irish roots.

Mick and the RMT have been to the forefront of the defence of workers’ pay and conditions in the UK privatised rail sector. The union has also organised the opposition to the closure of tickets offices at railway stations justifiably arguing that this discriminates against the older, weaker and non tech savvy people.

Over the past few years Mick’s appearances on television have guaranteed enormous media interest as he systematically and forensically destroyed the arguments of political commentators, the right wing press and Tory MPs who argued against workers’ pay increases.

The YouTube clips of these debates are widely viewed by many.

Mick Lynch with his wife Mary enjoying the Durham Gala in 2022. Courtesy of Chronicle Live.

All the while he exposes the large payments to company directors and investors of dividends/profits from the privatised railroads instead of these monies being invested in modernising the rail infrastructure. He talks of the poor treatment of workers, bad working conditions and safety issues and the poor quality service endured by the travelling public.

His straight talking approach and his grasp of the relevant facts has gained him huge support.

Mick argues that there should be no divisions in the working class and attempts to pitch groups of workers against each other must not be tolerated.

He argues that it is “this broader umbrella of class politics inclusive of workers of all kinds, that best deprives the political right the opportunity to pit working class people against one another”. In this Mick echoes the views of Mother Jones who stated that “We must stand together; if we don’t there will be no victory for any of us.”

James Connolly is his political hero. US Senator, Bernie Sanders came to London recently to support the RMT.

At the Durham Miners Gala in July 2022 where Mick was a key speaker at the Big Meeting, he announced to the large gathering,

“We’re back. The working class is back. We refuse to be meek, we refuse to be humble and we refuse to be poor anymore”

Jackie Lynch, Mick’s dad was born in Cork city centre in 1922, and the Lynch family lived on Cork’s Bandon Road near Warrens Lane. He emigrated to London in 1941. His mother, Ellen Morris was from Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh. Mick, one of five children, was born in 1962 in Paddington, London and trained as an electrician. When back in Cork, he calls to Turners Cross, to support Cork City.

Mick Lynch is scheduled to speak on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 pm at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane.

Please note in view of capacity issues, it is first come, first seated.

Secrets from Putamayo.

Posted on July 21, 2023 by Admin

Showing on Saturday 29th July at 11:00 am at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.

This is a documentary about Roger Casement (1864-1916) and his work as a British Foreign office diplomat to expose human rights abuses in the rubber industry in South America. His efforts to exposed human rights injustices in the Congo and Brazil, and later when he joined the Irish fight for freedom makes him one of the most extraordinary revolutionaries of the period.

In 1910, the British Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Roger Casement, undertook an investigation into allegations of crimes against indigenous communities committed by the British-registered Peruvian Amazon Company.

Secrets from Putumayo tells of the barbaric treatment of the native peoples in Peru and Brazil which he discovered there and which he exposed to a shocked public. Basically, cruel slave labour conditions were an ongoing feature of the rubber industry in the Amazon rainforest, it was “a real green hell.” Shocked by his discoveries, and despite a heavy personal toll, Casement was determined to bring awareness to the British of their own colonial atrocities by revealing the appalling human cost of the rubber industry.

This documentary is narrated by Stephen Rea who reads disturbing excerpts from his journal, while archival images leave a lasting impression on a viewer. Listening to the stories of the native people whose ancestors suffered at the hands of these savage colonial corporations who plundered the resources on the lands of indigenous tribes makes one question how much the operations of some multinationals and governments have changed in over a hundred years.

Today the exploitation continues as these modern companies exploit the rare metals, resources, environment and fish of native peoples across the world as we stand by. Roger Casement was the equivalent of the canary in the mine of human rights. His reports exposing the treatment of indigenous people deserve a wider audience. Secrets from Putamayo will go a long way to achieving this recognition for an extraordinary man.

After 1913, Casement’s efforts on behalf of the new independence movement in Ireland are reasonably well known. He abandoned the British empire after his retirement to help the Irish Revolution. However he paid the ultimate price when the British government ensured his execution for treason against the empire on the 3rd August 1916 some three months after the 1916 leaders were executed.

Roger Casement was arguably one of the world’s first global human rights activists.

Our thanks to everyone who has made the showing of this film possible at the Spirit of Mother Jones festival.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2023/07/20/secrets-from-putumayo-frank-mcnally-on-a-brazilian-documentary-about-roger-casement/

Mary Crilly Speaks about Forty Years of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre.

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Admin

Well known to many of us in Cork, Mary Crilly is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork (SVCC).

Formerly known as the Cork Rape Crisis Service, the SVCC was founded on International Women’s Day in 1983, and has two main aims:

To work towards the elimination of sexual violence in society.

To provide the highest quality of services to victims of sexual violence.

The centre provides a range of confidential and free-of-charge supports and services to the survivors of rape, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse. A dedicated and active campaigner, last year Mary was honoured with the Freedom of Cork in recognition of her work.

Thanks to Mary’s tireless grit and determination to establish and sustain the centre, the SVCC has helped tens of thousands of people who suffered rape, sexual violence, domestic violence, and other horrific experiences over the years in Cork.

Mary was awarded the Freedom of Cork City in June 2022 and enrolled in the Roll of Freedom “in recognition of her unstinting support and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence over four decades”

We look forward to Mary speaking to us at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2023 as she will share her experiences of 40 years of work in Cork city, talk about how far we have come, and what we can all do towards eliminating sexual violence.

Mary Speaking at Cork City Hall on International Women’s Day 2023 to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre.

Mary will speak at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Friday evening 28th July at 7:00 pm. All are welcome to come along.

A Feminist Walking Tour of Cork City.

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Admin

Following the very successful Launch of the Feminist Walk Cork website at last year’s Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, we are delighted to announce the return of Maggie O’Neill to the festival for 2023.

http://www.feministwalkcork.ie/

The feminist walk of Cork (the first in a series of feminist walks created with community partners, staff and students at UCC) celebrates the contribution of women to art, culture, society and the city. Along the route we will explore the role of women in addressing sexual and social inequalities, and building fairer, safer communities.

Following the legacy of Mother Jones, the walk writes women into the spaces and topography of the city and is facilitated by Maggie O’Neill and Conach Gibson-Feinblum.

Meet at 4.30 at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon on Saturday 29th July.

Maggie O’Neill is Professor in Sociology & Criminology at University College Cork, she has a long history of working with communities to create change, using arts based and participatory research methods. Maggie loves walking, walking as a way of doing research and as a teaching and learning method. She leads a walking module at UCC and is a member of the Walking Artists Network. Maggie has co-created a number of pedagogic walks.

Conach Gibson-Feinblum is a graduate of Criminology (BA) and Anthropology (MA) at University College Cork. She has a passion for feminist epistemologies, particularly Jewish feminism and worked as a research support to co-create the development of the feminist walk website and the feminist self-guided walking map.

American Events and Updates

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Admin

There are many activities and ongoing events in the USA with connections to Mother Jones and the Irish emigrant diaspora.

Some wonderful news is that the Chicago Monuments Commission has issued a report and among the projects which it has decided to fund is the Chicago Statue/Sculpture Campaign which seeks to erect a monument to Mother Jones in a prominent location in Chicago. This additional $50,000 funding from the Commission gives the campaign a fantastic boost and it is hoped to announce the location of the monument very soon. Fundraising continues and the latest trade union contribution of $5000 from the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts was also most welcome. The Committee’s cherished dream of a lasting and permanent monument to the Cork woman looks like being realised shortly.

Image of Proposed Mother Jones Statue in Chicago

The Mother Jones Heritage Project has also received news that its application for the erection of a road marker in southern Indiana to Mother Jones has been approved. It will be placed in Evansville, a city with a rich Labour and coal miners heritage where Mother Jones rallied striking textile workers in 1901 and later in 1916 when she addressed a crowd of some ten thousand at a Labor Day picnic. A former coal miner and local historian Steve Bottoms worked with the Indiana authorities and with fundraising to make this memorial to Mother Jones happen.

The Mother Jones Heritage exhibition, Dangerous Women, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and Francis “Fannie” Sellins, at the St. Louis Public Library’s Carnegie Room continues until January 7, 2023. The exhibit was funded in part by an Emigrant Support Grant of the Irish Government through the Chicago Consulate. Fannie Sellins was born Fannie Mooney and this union activist also had deep Irish emigrant roots.

Finally the Mother Jones Heritage Project invites everyone to join them on Saturday September 3rd in Chicago as Mother Jones leads the Labor day Parade. So come out and honour Mother Jones. For details visit www.motherjonesmuseum.org

Meanwhile down in Leadville in Colorado the construction of a monument is underway to remember the many Irish immigrants, over 1300, many of them young miners and their families from Allihies in West Cork who lie buried in unmarked graves in the Evergreen Cemetery.

The local Colorado committee under Professor James Walsh expects to have Phase 1 of the memorial completed this year and there will be a celebratory event in Leadville on Saturday September 17th 2022 to mark this achievement. The full unveiling of the spectacular monument will be held in 2023 when the glass panels with the names of those who lie buried there will be on display. Fundraising is continuing and donations towards the completion of the monument are most welcome.

Proposed Immigrant Memorial in Leadville, Colorado.

For details. https://www.irishnetworkco.com/celebration-of-the-completion-of-phase-1-of-the-leadville-memorial/

Mother Jones Helped Celebrate Leadville/Cork Twin City Ceremony

The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival

Shandon, Cork City, Ireland

Category Archives: Events