Afri Conference: Sources of life - Sources of conflict

kildare | miscellaneous | event notice Sunday January 18, 2004 12:57 by Caoimhin - Green Party

Justice for the planet

January 24th and 25th 2004, St. Joseph's Academy, Kildare.

Saturday, January 24th

Clár
10.30 a.m. Coffee and Registration
11.00 Opening of Conference with Steve Cooney and Laoise Kelly
11.15 Introduction
11.20 Source of life - Poisoning the Well - Paddy Mackey
12.00 Musical Response
12.10 How the Other Half Dies - Susan George
1.15 Lunch
2.30 Alice in Plunderland - Donal O’Kelly, Sorcha Fox and Raymond Keane
2.50 Resisting War- kindling hope - Pitstop ploughshares update
3.20 Ceol agus sos beag
3.30 Springs of Life - from Mexico to Palestine to Iraq - Caoimhe Butterly
4.30 Summary and Response - Andy Storey
5.00 Conclusion

8.30 Céilí - Lumville House, the Curragh. Music by Camross Comhaltas
(Admission €5 for conference attendees)




Sunday, January 25th

10.30 a.m. Coffee and registration
11.00 Opening
11.15 Vision of Hope - Richard Moore
12.30 Foinn as Tobar an Cheoil - le Steve Cooney,
Laoise Kelly, Eithne Ní Chatháin agus cairde.
1.00 Lighting of flame



Speakers:

Caoimhe Butterly was born in Ireland but grew up in Canada, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. She spent time working with the New York Catholic Worker before moving to Latin America where she spent three years living with indigenous communities in Guatemala and in Chiapas, Mexico. She also lived in the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank. for a year. She has visited Iraq on numerous occasions, the most recent being the seven-month period following the war.

Susan George was born in the United States but has lived in France for many years where she acquired citizenship in 1994. She is Associate Director of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, a decentralised fellowship of scholars living throughout the world whose work is intended to contribute to social justice. She is also Vice-President of ATTAC France. Her current work concerns ‘globalisation’, particularly the World Trade Organisation, international financial institutions and North-South relations. She is author of ten books including ‘How the Other Half Dies: the real reasons for World Hunger’. ‘A Fate worse than Debt’ and ‘Ill Fares the Land’.

Paddy Mackey is from Tipperary. He acquired his love of water from time spent fishing with his uncle as a young boy. He has been involved in numerous campaigns for the protection of rivers, streams and waterways throughout his life. He is a board member of Voice and a member of The Heritage Council’s Working Group on water.

Richard Moore was born in Derry and grew up on the Creggan Estate. On 4th May 1972 at the age of 10, he was coming home from school with friends when he was shot at point-blank range by a British soldier, leaving him totally blind. When his brother broke the news to him that he would be blind for the rest of his life, Richard says that he took the news surprisingly well. He was, however, deeply affected by the fact that he would never see his parents’ faces again or play football, which he loved. He gradually adjusted to blindness but was adamant that he should not be pitied or be seen to be disabled. Having completed his education, he married Rita and they have two children. He was a founder member of Children in Crossfire, through which he sets up projects for the development of children caught in wartorn zones.

Andy Storey was born in Cavan but has lived in Dublin for many years. He teaches in the Centre for Development Studies in UCD, having previously taught in the Development Studies Centre in Kimmage Manor. He worked with Trócaire for a number of years including a year in Rwanda in the immediate aftermath of the genocide. He recently completed his doctoral thesis on the subject of conflict and economy in Rwanda.

The Pitstop ploughshares disarmed a US warplane at Shannon Airport on February 3rd 2003. They took this action as part of ongoing resistance to the use of Shannon as part of the war in Iraq. They are currently out of jail on bail and their trial will take place sometime in 2004.



Actors

Sorcha Fox is from Ballinteer in Dublin. She has written and performed with ‘Bull Island’ and played the part of Vanessa Barrett in TG4’s soap ‘Ros na Rún’ for 5 years. She is now a storyliner for ‘Ros na Rún’ and co-starred with Donal O’Kelly in his play ‘The Hand’ which opened the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2002. She most recently played Rosemary in ‘Eccentricities of a Nightingale’ at the Gate. She was one of the ‘Shannon Colleens’ at the ‘From the River to the Planes’ protest against US warplanes landing at Shannon and is delighted to be working with Afri again.

Raymond Keane is a well-known TV and stage actor. He is a founder member and artistic director of Barabbas Theatre Company. He has directed many stage productions and acted in, among other things, the hugely successful ‘The Whiteheaded Boy’. His most recent production was a play called ‘Hurl’, a celebration of the great game of hurling in the context of the new multi-ethnic Ireland, written by Charlie O’Neill.

Donal O’Kelly is well known both as an actor and as a writer. As an actor, on screen he is best known for his starring role as Bimbo in Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Van’. Other films include ‘I Went Down’ and ‘The Last Bus Home’, as well as the hit comedy serial ‘Paths To Freedom’, and ‘Spin the Bottle’. He is one of the sixteen Irish writers of the best-seller serial novel ‘Yeats Is Dead’ in aid of Amnesty International. He is a founder and chairperson of Calypso Productions, a theatre company which produces plays which address issues of social justice, and he is an associate director of Afri.



Musicians

Steve Cooney & Laoise Kelly are partners in music and in life. They have recently had a new baby called Caoilte and they live in Donegal. Steve’s guitar playing and Laoise’s harp playing combine to create a uniquely exciting sound.

Eithne Ní Chatháin is from Kilcock, Co. Kildare. She plays and sings in a variety of different styles, from traditional tunes on fiddle, to sean-nós singing, to original and contemporary music. She wil be joined at the féile by some musical friends.




Afri gratefully acknowledges the support of the Development Education Unit of Development Cooperation Ireland, Trócaire and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.


Afri,
134 Phibsborough Road,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.

Telephone: 01 8827581 / 8827563
Facsimile: 01 8827576
E-mail: afri@iol.ie