Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth)/Shell’s Begging Bowl

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday December 08, 2011 13:13

by Anon

"The Begging Bowl is feared and loathed by those who know that they have allowed themselves to be used by Shell"

Erris’ – and Ireland’s – Bocca della Verita, in the form of Shell’s Begging Bowl represented by a humdrum toilet bowl, returned to take its place outside Dáil Éireann on 6 December 2011 to mark Budget Day where the script was read by the new Minister for Hardship Michael Noonan, a script of course written by the Troika puppet masters. While the Begging Bowl captured lots of attention and support outside the gates it didn’t thankfully have to capture the buinneach* produced by current and recent government parties within the House. *buinneach,f(gs.-nní), Scour, diarrhoea.ÓDónaill.FoclóirGaeilge-Béarla. AnGúm 1992

La Bocca della Verità

The comparison with Bocca della Verita is not over fanciful – the Mouth of Truth is said to bite off the hand of a liar; the Begging Bowl is feared and loathed by those who know that they have allowed themselves to be used by Shell. Conversely, those who continue to fight against the continued giveaway of our oil and gas have no difficulty being seen beside it because its metaphoric use in 2007 can now be seen as prophetic for the country as a whole. The Begging Bowl has its origins in Erris, that area of Ireland which, like Goscinny’s corner of Gaul remains unconquered and indomitable. It had its first public outing at a St Patrick’s Day parade in Pullathomas in 2007 to illustrate figuratively what those who took the $h€££ shilling were willing to do to get a few euro from Royal Dutch Shell plc, which has a market capitalisation many multiples of Ireland’s GNP. The Begging Bowl has had many outings since then.

Occupy Dame St and Shell to Sea

TD Clare Daly (Socialist Party)

TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Sinn Féin)

TD Joan Collins (United Left Alliance)

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Comments (3 of 3)

Globaloosation.

by Maura Harrington - Pers cap

Thu Dec 08, 2011 15:44

During the early stages of the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster I compiled a file of approx 100 pages with contemporaneous accounts of the unfolding environmental disaster. When I saw one local comment on BP I had a Globaloosation moment!

One of the many mindless MSM (main stream media) red herrings in respect of Shell's Corrib theft* is that many of those who seek to defend our Place from actual and guarenteed future environmental degradation and reclaim for the people of Ireland the benefits of our oil and gas which rightly belong to us come from 'outside'. A feature of the proposed Shell Corrib project is a very loose definition of 'outside' v 'local'. In my own case, while I live in the Parish of Kiltane which adjoins the Parish of Kilcommon, I spent my entire professional life as a primary teacher in the parish of Kilcommon; 35 years is half ones biblical span but, when it suited, I was classed as an 'outsider' while Andy Pyle (England), John Egan (Castlebar), Terry Nolan (Carlow), Michael Crothers (Irish parents) and all the others were magically local because of their involvement with the excrescence at Ballinaboy.

Globalisation, by definition, is global; one isn't a mad old bat (despite MSM and others' efforts in that regard) to state that informed opposition to globalisation makes any place of conflict with oil companies local by definition - a toilet bowl from Erris and a toilet bowl in Louisiana both have a common message in response to a common threat. I believe that any reservations of good taste, refinement or other doesn't matter a hill of beans to Shell, BP et al - the only imperative for plc's, private limited companies, is to maximise shareholder gain, anything, any place, anybody else is entirely expendable.

That is why the battle against Shell's proposed Corrib project remains, after eleven years, at 50/50 and is still to be determined one way or the other. It is of no relevance to anyone other than Shell shareholders that a refinery is built and offshore pipeline laid - the ONLY thing that matters to oil companies is getting the piggy to market to continue shareholder gain; the only thing understood by oil companies is damage to their bottom $ line.

*theft as in stealing by finding

Twins!! 0.19 Mb

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Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth)/Shell’s Begging Bowl

Comments (3 of 3)