For further information see:
Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2024. Some Highlights.
3
Tag Archives: festival
Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024 Presented to the People of Palestine.
The award ceremony took place at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Friday evening, 26th July 2024. The award was presented to Miss Zeina Allazzeh, the Research and Policy Officer of the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Ireland.
Miss Allazzeh had been nominated by Ambassador Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to receive the award on their behalf.
The presentation ceremony took place after a public meeting “Stories of Palestine”, which featured speakers, Walaa Sabha, Fiona O’Rourke and Dr. Nick Maynard.
Response from the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival Saturday 27th July
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.
Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival on Friday 26th July 2024.
10:30 a.m. field – a Documentary, followed by Q & A with Dervla Baker, Director.
11:30 a.m. John Barry
1:00 p.m. Jimmy Crowley and Eve Telford
2:30 p.m. Environmental Round Table
4:00 p.m. Mother Jones and Her Children – Documentary
March of the Innocent. Documentary
Mother Jones ; America’s Most Dangerous Woman. Documentary
7:00 p.m. Stories Of Palestine.
Speakers: Walaa Sabah, Fiona O’Rourke, Dr. Nick Maynard and Zeina Alazzeh.
8:30 p.m. Presentation of the Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024.
Dance Cork Firkin Crane.
9:00 p.m John Nyhan & Friends
Carla Gover and CornMaiz.
Events at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival on Thursday 25th July 2024.
At Maldron Hotel, Shandon unless stated.
10:30 a.m. Nae Pasaran
1:00 p.m. Official opening by Alderman Dan Boyle, Lord Mayor of Cork.
Special appearance by the Kalyna Ukrainian Community Choir.
2:30 p.m. Adrian Kane “Union Renewal”
4:00 p.m. Fight Like Hell – The Testimony of Mother Jones.
Documentary written and performed by Kaiulani Lee.
Dance Cork Firkin Crane
7:00 p.m. Liz Gillis
‘Is This What They Fought For? Women And Independent Ireland”
Anne Twomey
“A Dauntless Spirit who went on to fight for women in a country where
they were treated like half-wits” Margaret Goulding Buckley.
Dance Cork Firkin Crane.
9:30 p.m. Cork Singers’ Club.
Other Films and Documentaries about Mother Jones.
Mother Jones and her Children.
4:00 p.m. Friday 26th July, Maldron Hotel. Produced by Frameworks Films and Cork Mother Jones Committee.
This film tells the story of Mary Harris (1837 – 1930) from Cork who went on to become known as “the most dangerous woman in America”. Starting with her early years in Cork, the documentary goes on to detail her life in America following the famine, her marriage to George Jones and the birth of her four children. It details the tragedies which befell her. Her growing involvement in the labour movement in America, defending the rights of children and workers is documented. Through interviews with leading experts on Mother Jones, we learn of her fearless and tireless campaign to organise workers at a time of severe labour strife and her international legacy today. Produced by Frameworks Films and the Cork Mother Jones Committee in 2014. Runtime is 52 minutes.
March of the Innocents
5:00 (approx) Friday 26th July, Maldron Hotel Shandon. Produced by Kymme Patrick and Theatre Works.
In this film production we are introduced to Mother Jones (Kymme Patrick) and listen to the children who work in the mines, mills and factories of America in the early 1900s. The bleak dead eyes of the children betray the sense of tiredness and hopelessness of children, who have lost their childhood and are confined to daily slavery.
Enter Mother Jones who exposes the horrible world experienced by these children to a wider public and which is eventually declared illegal. Jones organises the remarkable March of the Mill Children in July 1903 from Pennsylvania to New York, which generates sufficient publicity to raise a wider awareness of child labour, leading to its eventual abolition. Kymme Patrick in this Theatre Works production recreates the sad and sick lives of these innocent children who are working to generate even more wealth for the wealthy. March of the Innocent leaves a lasting impression on viewers. Run time 23 minutes.
Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman
Friday 26th July at 5.40 p.m. approx at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
Rosemary Feurer & Laura Vazquez.
Mother Jones: America’s Most Dangerous Woman is a documentary about the amazing labour heroine, Mary Harris Jones, known as Mother Jones. Mother Jones’ organising career influenced the history of early 20th century United States. She overcame class and gender limitations to shape an identity that allowed her to become an effective labour organiser in the early 20th century. Mother Jones transformed personal and political grief and rage about class injustices into an effective persona that led workers into battles that changed the course of history. The terrible conditions and labour oppression of the time motivated her to traverse the country, in order to organise against injustices. This film also gives a deeply moving account of the Ludlow Massacre. This is a film by Rosemary Feurer and Laura Vazquez. Release Date 2007 (Canada). Its runtime is 24 minutes.
Music and Singing at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2024.
Thursday 25th July at 1:00 pm.
Norman O’Rourke, Cork’s favourite piper, will again lead in the Lord Mayor of Cork to formally open the 13th Spirit of Mother Jones Festival. Norman recently received a Lord Mayor’s Award for his contribution to the community in Cork. In recent years a giant banner featuring Norman and his bagpipes overlook the Grand Parade in the City Centre.
Kalyna Ukrainian Community Choir.
Recent winners of the Lord Mayors top community prize at Cork City Hall, this choir has become a huge favourite across Cork in recent years. It comprises women and men who are now living in Cork following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the recent Festival launch, their rendering of Amhrán Na bhFiann was a highlight. “You Raised Me Up” is another firm favourite. A performance by the colourful and very impressive Kalyna should not be missed.
Thursday 25th July at 9.30.
Cork Singers’ Club.
This unique club of unaccompanied singers has performed at the opening night of the festival since the festival began in 2012. Jim Walsh is Fear An Ti for this year’s session and the night will hear songs of trade unions, workers’ lives, social justice, human rights and many other topics. Singers are welcome to participate and if anyone wishes to contribute a song, just put your name down on the list. The Cork Singers’ Club holds regular sessions at the Spailpín Fánach Bar on South Main Street on Sunday nights and is a must see for anyone with an interest in singing..
It can be contacted through its Facebook page.
Friday 26th July at 1pm.
Legendary Cork ballad and folk singer Jimmy Crowley accompanied by Eve Telford will perform at lunch time. Jimmy has created and played on the folk music scene in Ireland and across the world for over 60 years now. He established one of the first folk clubs in Cork in Douglas in the late 70s and early 80s. His band Stokers Lodge was very popular for a number of years. From his song-writing to his solo albums to his Opus Mór; Songs From a Beautiful City (The Free State Press 2014), Jimmy has made an enormous contribution to preserving Irish ballads, which would have been lost without his intervention. Each week since 2002 he submits songs weekly to the Cork Evening Echo with a note dealing with its background and his contribution has now exceeded a thousand songs. .
Eve Telford sings traditional folk songs from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Born in Australia, her original songs are inspired by the wellsprings of world mythologies, indigenous rights, the natural world and political protest.
Friday 26h July at 9pm.
John Nyhan and friends, and introducing Carla Gover and the CornMaize Stringband.
Following an invitation to play at a festival in Mexico, which went so well Carla and her friends dubbed themselves CornMaize (the words for corn in English and Spanish). The band draws heavily on the fiddle and banjo music of Eastern Kentucky where the band members are from but also includes some bluesy influences. “There’s a lot of fun and a lot of love in our performances and we hope you feel it as you listen and (hopefully) dance along”. Members of the band include Arlo Barnette, Zoey Barrett, Yani Vozos and Carla Gover.
Saturday 27th July at 6pm (at the Mother Jones Plaque on John Redmond Street)
Martin Leahy will sing a number of songs including his song about homelessness which he has performed each Thursday outside Dail Eireann for the past two years. Martin sings also on Saturdays at the Palestinian marches in Cork City.
The Historical Provision of Water in Cork City, (1760-1900).
Julianna Minihan will deliver a talk on the above topic on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. in the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
Most of us take water totally for granted, and we never ask questions about where it comes from, how it is delivered to our homes and where it goes. Yet where there is no water, there is no life! It is the very lifeblood of the land and nature. It has been fought over; it has been dammed, polluted and disputed, politicised, and wasted; humans have failed to perfect the cycle of water. Clean drinking water may yet be the oil and gold of future generations, but whereas we can live without oil and gold, we cannot survive without drinking water.
In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency has been warning about the growing pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas. Growing controversy from 2013 to 2017 about the privatisation of water supplies and charging for water led to tens of thousands of citizens taking to the streets, arguing that access to fresh water is a basic human right. Uisce Eireann, previously Irish Water, a state-owned company, was established to take over the provision of water and wastewater services, which had previously been carried out by Local Authorities across Ireland.
The following is Julianna Minihan’s outline of her talk:
“This talk will outline the historical provision of water in Cork City 1760-1900, with some background information on the people of the city, public health, economics, and levels of poverty at the time. It will consider how the poor of Cork were affected by a part time and inadequate supply of water from a very few public fountains paid for by the City; and how 50,000 poor Cork people were dependent on contaminated water in the 1840’s. It will consider how just 900 houses owned by wealthy people had a private supply of water (which they paid for) in the 1840’s, and how that came about.
It will consider the supply of water to industry, and will briefly mention waste disposal, the cess collection business, the usefulness of market gardens for utilizing compost, and the importance of tidal flushing of the river twice daily. It will explain why the City once again took over the water supply around 1860, and why they had once sold shares to businessmen after 1765. It will provide some information on the people who benefited, the politics, economics, public health, and even the basic need for water for human survival involved in the 1800’s.”
In 1833, one fountain provided water (part-time) for the poor in Cork. It was located on Nile Street (now Western Road). At the time, the company was paying its shareholders 5% dividends, and they complained that the fountain for the poor was built at a great loss to them. They refused to allow other fountains without ongoing payments.
The weir by the water works, originally erected by Mr Fitton in 1765, was known as ‘the Bald Weir’ in an 1845 court case, taken by a mill owner when the height of the weir almost blocked the flow of water on the south channel of the Lee.
Julianna Minihan will speak at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon, on Saturday, July 27th, at 10:30 a.m.
All are welcome.
The Dunscombe Testimonial Fountain above was donated by the Dunscombe family to Cork Corporation in 1883 as a drinking fountain representing an appropriate memorial for abstinence from alcohol. It disappeared in the late 70s, and Cork City Council say they do not know where it is. Would any reader know?
‘Is This What They Fought For?: Women and Independent Ireland’
Historian, Liz Gillis returns to the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2024.
Liz will speak at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on the opening evening Thursday 25th July at 7:00 pm.
Now that the look back during the Decade of Centenaries has finished in 2023 with the end of the Civil War, we will continue to examine how the new state developed. Defeated Republicans either adjusted to the new order or emigrated. However for the women of Ireland, many of whom had actively participated in the Revolution, it became a very cold place. Liz intends to discuss how and why this took place.
According to Liz:
‘The 1916 Proclamation guaranteed ‘religious and civil liberties, equal rights and equal opportunities to all’, yet when independence came, the new Irish state quickly forgot to honour that guarantee. Women were not to be treated equally in the new Ireland. The new Ireland was a patriarchal society where the role of women was to be that of wife and mother. Was this the Ireland that so many women had fought and sacrificed for? Liz Gillis will discuss how the Ireland that emerged from the revolution was so conservative in its attitudes to women right up to the present time, and in doing so betrayed the vision of the 1916 Leaders.’
Historian and author Liz Gillis is from the Liberties in Dublin. She is the author of six books about the Irish Revolution including, ‘Women of the Irish Revolution’, ‘The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution’ and has been a contributor on numerous publications, television and radio documentaries covering the revolutionary period.
She lectures at Champlain College Dublin and in 2021 was appointed the Historian in Residence for South Dublin County Council for the Decade of Centenaries. Liz was the Researcher for the History Show on RTE Radio and was a Historical Consultant for the new Custom House Visitor Centre and Curatorial Assistant in RTE, specialising in researching the Easter Rising. In 2018 she was the recipient of the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s Award for her contribution to history.
Date: Thursday 25th July 2024. Time: 7pm. Venue: Dance Cork Firkin Crane. All Welcome. Liz will be followed by historian Anne Twomey. Discussion will follow.
The 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival Update.
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.