Tom Boland lectures in Sociology at University College Cork. He has two principal research interests:
Tom Boland. Lecturer in Sociology in University College Cork.
Firstly, the sociology of unemployment and welfare policy. For over a decade, he has conducted interviews with unemployed people on their experience of redundancy, being out of work and job seeking. Simultaneously, he conducts national and comparative research on welfare policy, particularly around activation, that is, the mixture of supports and pressure exerted by the state – and private companies – on unemployed citizens. Reflecting this research, he has produced three books, each with Dr. Ray Griffin (SETU); The Sociology of Unemployment (2015), The Reformation of Welfare (2021) and Workocracy (Forthcoming). He has given evidence to multiple parliamentary committees and featured frequently in newspapers and radio.
Secondly, the sociology of culture and critique. Since becoming involved with Occupy and anti-Austerity protests during the Great Financial Crash, he has been researching how critique is used in public disputes. At present, he is researching how critique is ‘co-opted’ by the right-wing; that is, how rhetorical moves, like ‘revealing the truth’ or ‘unmasking ideology’ are borrowed from the left and used for anti-left purposes. This research is the basis of a forthcoming book Taking Criticism, which builds on a more theoretical precursor The Spectacle of Critique (2019).
Tom will speak on the topic of ‘This Land is Our Land; Confronting Extremism and Reclaiming Democracy.’ as a member of a panel discussion with Gema Kloppe- Santamaria and John Donoghue.
Moderator. John Barimo
Friday evening 24th july at 7.30 pm at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
The Cork Mother Jones Committee are honoured to announce a keynote presentation by His Excellency Bernardo Guanche Hernández, the Cuban Ambassador to Ireland. This special event will offer attendees a detailed insight into the social fabric, cultural wealth, and contemporary realities of daily life across the island of Cuba during this difficult period.
Ambassador Bernardo Guanche Hernandez
Moving beyond standard media representations, the Ambassador will discuss how local communities navigate daily challenges, maintain social cohesion, and sustain highly regarded public healthcare and education systems. The talk will address these achievements alongside the ongoing economic hardships intensified by the long-standing international trade blockade. This exploration of collective resilience, national sovereignty, and social equity mirrors the core values of international labour solidarity championed by Mary Harris “Mother Jones” herself.
Ambassador Guanche Hernández is a highly experienced diplomat who has officially represented Cuba in Dublin since early 2022. Throughout his tenure, he has traveled extensively to engage with civic organisations across Ireland, establishing strong connections with community groups and has engaged with the Global Solidarity Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. His work focuses on strengthening cultural links between the two islands and fostering a deeper public understanding of how geopolitical pressures affect ordinary citizens.
This keynote presentation will take place at The Maldron Hotel, Shandon, Cork, on Friday, 24th July 2026, commencing at 11:30 am. Admission to the session is entirely free of charge, first come, first seated. A warm welcome is extended to all members of the public, and there will be an opportunity for questions and discussion following the address.
Professor John Donoghue of Loyola University, Chicago will speak on the above topic on Saturday 25th July at 3:30 pm.
John Donoghue.
John Donoghue is an Associate Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago. His earlier work focused on English colonialism in early modern Ireland and the Atlantic World and resulted in the publication of three books, “Fire under the Ashes”: An Atlantic History of the English Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2013); Building the Atlantic Empires: Unfree Labor and Imperial States in the Political Economy of Capitalism, 1500-1914 (Brill, 2016) [co-edited with Evelyn Jennings]; and The History of Rum (Audible Books, 2021). He has won numerous grants, awards and fellowships for his teaching and research and has lectured throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
He is working on a new book entitled, American Insurrections: An Unruly History of White Christian Nationalism, 1600-2021. His talk for the Mother Jones Fest entitled, “The Battle of Irish Town: Mother Jones, the Ku Klux Klan, and Catholic Working-Class Resistance, 1919-1923,” is drawn from his new book project. An antifascist activist, he lives in Pittsburgh and Chicago with his wife Laura and is the father of two daughters, Meredith and Norah, who are now studying for their B.A. degrees at Loyola University Chicago.
All are welcome to attend the presentation and discussion.
Gema Kloppe-Santamaria is a Nicaraguan-born sociologist and historian whose work deals with questions of violence, gender, religion and the state in modern and contemporary Latin America.
She is currently a permanent Lecturer of Sociology at the University College Cork (UCC) and an Associate Research Professor of Latin American History at the George Washington University (GW).
Gema Kloppe-Santamaria
Prior to joining UCC and George Washington University, she was an Assistant Professor at Loyola University Chicago and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). In 2017-2018, Gema was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Gema holds a PhD in Sociology and Historical Studies from the New School for Social Research.
Her book In the Vortex of Violence: Lynching, Extralegal Justice, and the State in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (University of California Press, 2020) examines the uncharted history of lynching during the formative decades of the post-revolutionary period (1930-1960). Based on an array of previously untapped historical sources, the book contributes to globalize the history of lynching beyond the United States, while offering key insights into the cultural, historical, and political reasons behind the continuing presence of lynching in Latin America today.
Over the last decade, I have authored several specialized reports for the Wilson Center, the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Peace Institute. I am also a collaborator and member of Noria Research’s Mexico & Central America Program.
Gema will contribute to a panel discussion entitled
“This Land is Our Land: Confronting Extremism and Reclaiming Democracy”
on Friday evening 24th July at 7.30 at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
Dr. Naomi Masheti of the Cork Migrant Centre will discuss the above topic on Saturday afternoon 25th July at 2:15 p.m.
A programme coordinator at the Cork Migrant Centre at Nano Nagle, Place, Dr Naomi Masheti is a four-time graduate at the University College Cork. She is a Psychologist (CBT Therapist) with a huge interest and focus on Psychosocial Wellbeing of Non-Western Population.
Dr. Naomi Masheti
Naomi was instrumental in setting up the Cork Migrant Centre Psychosocial Wellbeing and Integration Hub at the Nano Nagle Place, focused on culturally sensitive services and premised on capacity building (emotional, cognitive, physical, social, knowledge and skills) conceptualised through a human rights and a strength-based perspective towards equity and transformative social justice work.
She is a guest lecturer at the School of Psychology, University College Cork (UCC) and part-time lecturer on the International Development Course.
Naomi is the recipient of several awards from University College Cork, including the 2020 Athena SWAN Equality Award, the Lifetime Alumni Award 2024 and one of 11 women selected for the Accenture’s Women on Walls. She has also received the Lord Mayor’s Civic Award 2024 in Cork.
Naomi will speak at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon at the 2026 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival on Saturday afternoon 25th July at 2.15 pm.
Topic: “Taking Action for the Planet: Life on the High Seas”
Grace O’Sullivan from Tramore, Co. Waterford was a frontline activist with Greenpeace for ten years and spent a further 10 years working with the organization in its headquarters in Amsterdam.
Grace O’Sullivan
Grace was a crew member onboard the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand when it was bombed by French Secret Service agents in 1985. Her colleague and friend, photographer Fernando Pereira was killed by the explosions. This act of terrorism did not deter Grace from continuing to campaign for social and environmental justice with Greenpeace, Oceana and more recently joining the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2025.
Grace O’Sullivan, standing alongside the Arctic Sunrise.
In 2016 Grace entered the Irish national political arena when she was elected to Seanad Eireann for 3 years and subsequently was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 as a Green Party MEP where she served as a forceful defender of human rights and the environment.
Grace O’Sullivan attempting to climb on board a Soviet nuclear warship.
Grace will reflect back on her years as an activist, giving personal insights into the challenges she faced and how she kept a steady focus on the issues that matter. She will describe her early life as an environmental activist when Greenpeace sought to raise public awareness among people across the world of the threats to their environment and the destruction of the natural world itself.
Grace O’Sullivan will speak at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon on Friday afternoon 24th July at 2.15pm. All are welcome.
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.
Walaa Sabah speaking in Cork.
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.
Fiona O’Rourke
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.
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.
Zeina Alazzeh
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.. .
Mavis Ramazani, originally from South Africa is a Project Officer with the Irish Refugee Council.
Mavis Ramazani, Irish Refugee Council.
She is a Sheroes Global Award winner (2022) recognised for mentoring young people particularly women from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Her talk will cover the living conditions in direct provision, trying to rebuild after displacement, integrating by getting involved in community events, volunteering, starting Cooking for Freedom, empowering women and young girls with the information and how to access various basic support services, creating awareness in the community and connecting with individuals using the power of sharing food.
Mavis will speak on Thursday afternoon (27th July) at 2.30 pm at the Maldron Hotel. All are welcome.
Luke Dineen will discuss the Cork General Lockout of 1909 at the Spirit of Mother Jones summer school on Saturday afternoon 29th July at 2:00 pm at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
Luke Dineen receiving a presentation from Ann Piggott of the Cork Mother Jones Committee in 2019.
In 1909 in America, Mother Jones was extremely active. The Miners’ Magazine, publication of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) stated in 1909 quoting from her speech in South Dakota stated “Mother Jones in her speeches in the Black Hills wore no gloves but rapped Capitalism with bare knuckles”. That year also she helped striking shirtwaist workers in New York City and Mexican revolutionaries jailed in the US.
Here in her native Cork, throughout 1909 there was growing unrest in the Labour movement with thousands of workers either on strike or locked out of their jobs. Small local trade disputes multiplied, the City Docks quarrels of 1908 again came to the boil, James Larkin’s new Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) was at the centre of several disputes as it had attracted large numbers of recruits from among various workforces in the city.
By May 1909, the employers in the city formed the Cork Employers’ Federation (CEF) and appointed Belfast born, Sir Alfred Dobbin (owner of the Imperial Hotel and Palace Theatre and many other businesses) as chairman. Described by Luke Dineen as “Cork’s answer to William Martin Murphy” and “widely loathed”, Dobbin’s inability to negotiate resulted in a refusal to resolve disputes as more and more workers were locked out.
Sir Alfred Dobbin.
Cork Chamber of Commerce 1918.
Through the months of June and July 1909, Cork was the scene of violent street battles and baton charges by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). Anyone wearing an ITGWU union badge was targeted. On the night of 20th June, twenty people attended the North Infirmary hospital suffering from head wounds as a result of the street battles.
The end result was a total defeat for the workers, the recently formed ITGWU branch collapsed. Inter union conflict with the Workers’ Union,
the ruthlessness of the employers and RIC and the opposition from the local press ensured a comprehensive victory for the employers. Many workers were left destitute or in prison and their families in poverty.
In the later 1913 Dublin Lockout, Cork born William Martin Murphy acted in a similar manner to Dobbin and the Dublin Employers’ Federation (founded in 1911) adopted the same approach as the CEF. Murphy had the advantage of actually owning the Irish Independent newspaper thus ensuring the support of the press. For their part, the ITGWU learned that union unity and working class solidarity, along with appropriate financial resources, were all vital to success.
During the bitter lockout, the ITGWU had organised some of the workers in Cork into protection groups, armed with hurleys and clubs whose role was to protect strikers on Cork’s docks. This became a precursor of the later Irish Citizen Army (ICA) of 1913 and while defeat was again the outcome in 1913 for the unions and workers, the men and women of the ICA were to prove a major catalyst for the 1916 Rising.
Luke is the author of the recent Irish Labour History Society publication “A City Of Strikes: The Cork General Lockout of 1909”.
He previously spoke about the 1909 Cork Lockout at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival in 2013.
Eoghan Daltun will speak at the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival on Friday morning 11.30am about his recent book, An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding.
Eoghan was born in London, brought up in Dublin, lived in several countries and now resides on the Beara peninsula in West Cork. Sculptor and author Eoghan purchased the old Crowley farm of 33 acres with 40 acres of mountain commonage back in 2009. He talks of how the power of nature at Bofickil near Eyeries has regenerated the old woodland and helped to create a temperate rainforest on the farm.
Eoghan Daltun.
The Bofickil woods came about as a result of neglect rather than design. The original owner, Phllip Crowley was a copper miner who worked in nearby Allihies, later emigrated in 1909 to Butte, Montana to work in the copper mines and never came back. While other family members looked after the farm, wild native forest gradually became established and when Eoghan moved in a hundred years later, he provided the protection needed to enhance the natural progress of regeneration. Eoghan had become a conservator and rewilder.
Bofickil Wood
In his book he considers the state of nature in the wider context of the developing ecological crisis across the planet. He has some harsh comments to make about official European Union policy which destroys wildlife habitat and have become box-ticking bureaucratic exercises or fig-leaf solutions.
“….it financially penalises farmers who don’t remove existing wild patches on their land, while other schemes pay them to take token actions that are useless to wildlife. Strange as it might seem, what birds, bats, bees and everything else really need isnt boxes stuck on trees or fence posts, or piles of builders sand, but actual habitat.”
Eoghan cites the influence of James Lovelock and biologist Rachel Carson. Lovelock developed the scientific theory of GAIA about how the Earth’s natural ecosystems sustain the world’s conditions which are conducive and essential to life on planet Earth. By coincidence, Lovelock, a British scientist, once lived about 25 kilometres back the road at Ard Carrig in Adrigole during the period in which he developed the hypothesis of Gaia. The stunning natural beauty and raw nature of the Beara peninsula may have influenced Lovelock as it does Eoghan Daltun.
Eoghan Daltun appears at the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival on Friday 28th July at 11.30am at the Maldron Hotel in Shandon.
