Saturday afternoon 2011

"My soul for the sole of your shoe" -

Being raised as a a Catholic in a completely different Ireland to 21st Century those words had such an effect on a 14 year old aspiring punk rocker from Dublin. My older brothers introduced me to music. Their weekends consisted of bringing home the latest vinyl from Advance records and pounding our stereo speakers with sounds from the Sex Pistols, Clash, The Ruts and Ian Dury. Mine was spent looking up to them. After a while it was less about pink socks and bondage trousers and more about the words. The Clash played a huge part in this but without question it was Crass that upped the levy. The questions were flying thick and thin. You want politics, we got them in Ireland. Britain had the Miners Strike we had a hunger strike!! Ten Men Died after deciding it was better NOT to eat food than wear a prison uniform.

My Dad had a name for me and my friends, the Saturday afternoon gang. Our Saturdays consisted of leafletting or protesting whatever cause was looking for support. Want to organise a boycott? Just call us in. This was the case for a number of years and when Flux started questioning our food consumption it just made sense not to eat meat. Chumbawamba sent on tapes and with them came information about vivisection and cruelty to animals. Our choice was made for us. Meat was up there with Thatcher and Reagan. Evil!!!


Our community was one of letter writing penpals. Soaped stamps and communication was key. Fanzines reprinted whatever leaflets were left over. "Wanna help with Martin Foran being released from prison?" Sure thing. "Do you agree with No More Censorhip" Definitely. "How about Merrell Dow locating to Ireland" No way. As for Apartheid, boycott them all and spread the gospel through our photocopied publications.

Our 50 copies was your 5000 facebook friends!!!

The next step was to get a band together to supplement the words. We questioned everything. Every decision was political. All politics is local, all local activity scrutinised. Our bands played gigs that people could afford to attend, we then spread the wings to try and get bands to come to our country. We used our community to get these bands and the community spread the word like wildfire. We then were able to give these bands some food, all vegetarian.

After a few years of no nestle, coca cola or unilever products it just seeemed logical to take the next step. Remove all dairy. the Smiths made vegetarianism ok with their meat means murder lp. Recent terrestial TV station, Channel 4, showed a powerful tv programme about meat production. Sure it isn't it the same for Dairy. Still the same cycle of torture and dominance. And so it continued. Vegan for life!!!

And then the tories were kicked out, peace came to our country, Saturday afternoons moved to football, lots of gigs happened, lots of bands started travelling and it became the norm. We still tried to kick against the pricks but they were made of rubber. In Ireland we had a celtic Tiger. A lot more people got a lot more disposable income but the gap between rich and poor kept increasing. The celtic tiger got septic whilst our mortgages all kicked in. Meat still means murder, dairy still means torture and maybe, just maybe our Saturday afternoons will liven up once more now that we are penniless.

allo allo what's going on here

allo darlin' s/t fortuna pop

For those of us who love sun this is the equivalent of a dream desert island. Blue skies and seas, glorious days and not a trouble in the world. Every time I listen to allo darlin I close my eyes and dream. Dream of a better place where we don't kill each other for food or pleasure.

I remember a time that seems like a world away. An era where there didn't seem to be any recession. ireland had come from a time when all your school mates left the country for work. It was adjusting to a life where people were now choosing to stay in the country. My memories of that time are one of looking to music for everything. It gave me politics, it gave me sense and it gave me Sarah records. Even mentioning the bands Talulah Gosh and Heavenly bring a nostalgic smile to my face. Allo Darlin' bring me back to that life.

This is the bands debut album and it reeks of intelligence. Beautiful songs that are talking to me, the listener. This is not a band that will spend it's time hiding backstage. They will be out there with us, speaking to us, listening to and communicating with us. What I'm trying to say to you is that I love this album, I love this band and I think if you have a hankering towards a pop tune you will too as you listen to music for all the right reasons

Sing along now
"We do it, because we love it, and I'm here, because I love you"

Remember the 7"

I have finally had a bit of time to get up and down to the record player every few minutes. I've acquired some 7"'s recently and it has been so refreshing listening in.

For some reason they have made me get my Montana Pete 7"s out and even further by having a refreshing listen to Minutemen. I can never get tired of listening to the Minutemen. Anyway back to those 7"s

Airfix Kits
FlexTime 7"/ Playing Both Sides 7" (Deranged Records / Dirtnap Records)
Minutemen kick Big Flame up the Dawson
(I love yr) 80s aesthetic, 21 Hot Knives are the perfect supplement to Flex Time. Short snappy songs on a 7" record with a jangly guitar sound. It's slightly off time and is a throwback to what i liked most in the 80's. I'd love to see their record collection cos I want what these listen to. The other 7" is playing both sides and Leaving produces more of the same. Allans scotish vocals reminds of a time when whirling pig dervish played the lead in my collection. I can't get enough of this stuff.


And then I get a 7" by Sauna Youth. There is very little detail on the band and the 7" is pretty minimal in detail. However thanks to the internet I can read all about them. it's not reading I wanna do it's listen to these 3 songs. Kind of like a more hardcore version of Airfix Kits. It has that quirky sound but with Minor Threat as the condiment. Again no info on the 7" but 4 great songs can be explained by huxleyboon@gmail.com if you want.

Stop Climate Chaos

Georgios Altinitzis from the ITUC spoke on this subject. His main thrust was that this is the one major issue facing us all over the next few years. As members of the human race it is imperative on us to act. As members of a Trade Union we have to represent workers rights so to this end the ITUC are working on proposing a “Just Transition” which will allow a move to ‘green’ jobs and aid developing the green economy. An example was given from the floor about cleaners who loose their jobs when recycling is made mandatory. Georgios was quick to point out that this was not a result of trying to implement climate change but work practice change. Recycling is different to cutting carbon emissions and it is being used as a way of implementing cuts, hence the need for a Just Transition. Patricia McKeon from Unite spoke about how their union have been evaluating all they do from a carbon emissions point of view and encouraged other unions to set up working groups that will detail ways of reducing their carbon footprint.
Internationally: ITUC recently passed a resolution on combating climate change where it calls for a reduction of emissions of 40% by developed countries by 2020.
Nationally: ICTU are setting up a working group to look at the Climate Change issue
Colin Roche from Stop Climate Chaos gave a talk on their work to date. 25 million climate refugees anticipated over the next decade due to rising sea levels. There will be a bill going to Govt soon on climate law that the group have been actively pursuing. They have also been busy lobbying politicians to their cause and have received 70 signatories across the political spectrum to a climate commitment. Stop Climate Chaos is a conglomeration of 30 organisations from Civil Society with no union endorsement. This meeting was a first step towards changing that and it was mooted that if the Just Transition was put on to the agenda that unions could then be persuaded to join in.

Trade Union Friends Of Palestine

Mags O’Brien, from SIPTU gave a presentation on the Irish delegation that recently visited Palestine. Again she detailed stories of untold hardship being impressed on people. Mags showed pictures of deserted streets which are no go areas that contrasted greatly with the bustling activity on the streets of illegal settlements. She also spoke about the wall that Israel are building to shield itself off from the Gaza strip. This cuts through peoples gardens and rites of passage and is a massive structure being built against the wishes of the international community right around the Gaza Strip.
The BDS Campaign of Boycott, divestment and Sanctions was supported. Mags stated that Israel is an Apartheid State like South Africa once was and Sanctions and boycott have been called from Palestinian Unions in an effort to force Israel into a settlement. ICTU support this stance. There is a boycott of Israelis goods and of cultural activities. Artists, like Leonard Cohen, who have played Israel are being boycotted in a effort to stop them from going there. 150 artists from Ireland have signed up to a campaign pledging they will not travel to Israel to promote their music.

International Trade Union Confederation

ITUC
International Trade Union Confederation held their 2nd World Congress in June this year. Owen Tudor who is head of European Union and International relations of the TUC UK attended and gave a rundown on how the ITUC works. 13 Resolutions were passed on major issues such as Climate Change, Globalisation, gender equality, Peace, Israel and migrant workers. World Day for decent Work is taking place on October 7 and ITUC is the driving force behind this

Clean Clothes Campaign

The Race to the Bottom film was shown. This details the horrific conditions some workers in Bangladesh sweat shops face on a daily basis. How they need to work 16 hour days for no extra payment in inhumane conditions that no person should have to work.
CCC is an alliance of organisations in 13 European Countries. That number is set to increase on October 7 when Ireland joins the list. Its principle objective is to improve the working conditions and support the empowering of workers in the global garment and sportswear industries. CCC Ireland will be launched on October 7.

Justice For Colombia

Colombia is still the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. 49 trade unionists were murdered in 2009. 31 activists killed between Jan to June this year. Of the 2,700 union members murdered there have been just 4 convictions.
Jack O’Connor spoke about the horrific sights that befell him and his colleagues on a recent trip to Colombia. He heard horror stories of people not returning home, about mass graves for the disappeared and about people being imprisoned for the crime ‘Rebellion’. This is an all encompassing term that can mean jail time for anyone without trial and proof. Currently there are 5,200 political prisoners in Colombia, the majority being held under the charge ‘Rebellion’
All Irish MEPS have signed a declaration that they are opposed to signing up to the Proposed Free Trade agreement with Colombia until Human Rights violations are reduced drastically. Under intensive lobbying that will seems to be dwindling. Pressure needs to be put on these MEPS to ensure they stay on board. It may go to all national parliaments so we may need to lobby td’s. Representatives from very small unions in Colombia are going to Brussels making false claims to MEP’s and some of this seems to be working. Democrats in the US have refused to sign up to this Agreement so the Justice For Colombia Irish group have been working to try and ensure that Irish representatives do as their American counterparts are currently doing.

Global Solidarity is good fun

Over 50 trade union activists were in attendance from all over the island for the 2nd Global Solidarity Forum last weekend. This was a 2 day event held in the Capital in ASTI’s hq near Christchurch Cathedral. The event was wonderfully organised by Stellan Hermansson who is Global Solidarity Officer for ICTU.

There was a number of themes over the two days, all very enlightening and unfortunately feature stories that need to be shared with colleagues. Whilst we may feel this is an extremely hard time for ourselves in Ireland we mustn’t loose sight of the plight of our less fortunate brothers and sisters throughout the world. This conference helped put a focus on that.

I'm gonna break it down by topic so will post a few seperate blogs on the following

Justice For Colombia

Clean CLothes Campaign

ITUC

Trade Union Friends of Palestine

Stop Climate Chaos

"They've got Burton Suits, Ha they think it's funny Turning rebellion Into Money"

"They've got Burton Suits, Ha they think it's funny, Turning rebellion Into Money"

or so Joe Strummer spat out when singing WHite Man In Hammersmith Palais many moons ago. Now we have an annual festival deep rooted in Joes Memory as it celebrates all things Punk Rock. It has morphed from Holidays In the Sun into Wasted into rebellion and seems to have found a kindred spirit in Blackpool. The impressive Winter Gardens has been its home for the past 4 years, in between ballroom dancing, political conferences and Darts games. It is an impressive arena and when the punks take over it transforms into 6 venues with an overall capacity of nearly 5,000.

For four days over the first weekend in August Blackpool - that Tatty Seaside Town - becomes home to Punk Rock. Blackpool seems to represent a different era, a time where tea was 20 pence and holidays were about bingo and rock. For this weekend it was a different rock - the PUNK ROCK. I used to trade tapes with the promoter, Darren Russell. He use to tape gigs in the Mermaid in Birmingham and I still have quite a few tapes from over 20 years ago. Lots af bands from that time have now reformed and pass through the Winter Gardens, bands like Resistance 77, The Last resort, GBH, Discharge and One Way System. This isn't just about bands though - the Winter Gardens becomes something akin to a punk Rock mall where you can buy everything from Studded Belts to Harrington Jackets with t-shirts galore in between. You can purchase your anti system statements in whatever way you wish. No cash? visa gladly accepted. CD's and records galore from all types of genre's. Hard Skin who featured on Saturday's line up put it best when noting that some dodgy bands had their releases on sale. Bands with sympathies to fascism. For every one of those there were double the number of anti-fascists so rebelloin say free speech is in operation but it did strike me as strange that Skrewdriver merchandise was freely available.

I spent 2 days at the festival this year and loved nearly every minute. I got to see songs by bands such as Slaughter and The Dogs, Penetration, TV Smith doing an adverts set, Vice Squad, Subhumans, The Blaggers, Paranoid Vision, Bad Religion, 7 seconds and Peter Murphy from Bauhaus. If you have any interest in punk rock from the 70's and 80's these will be familiar to you. The almost acoustic stage is a great forum for us old punks, where you have the old and the new singing stripped down versions of some great songs. Highlight had to be the aforementioned 7 Seconds, even though the sound was awful. That mixed in with the magnificent Goldblade who had 1500 people singing along to each and every song really is a sight to behold.

The introductory Burton Suits line came to me when watching the Godfathers play to a sparsely attended audience (considering Bad religion and Subhumans were playing on different stages at the same time explains that). They introduced a new song which was a homage to the Ramones "You will love this it's a F**king brilliant number" they warned us. I prefer to make my own mind up on this kind of thing and felt completely removed from the band. My Punk Rock is one of community, one where the band and audience are the same and this is where I feel Rebellion lets us down. Bands hang around the huge back stage area dringking the free beer they get but very little mixing and socialising is done. Having said that I will be back next year, hoping that fanzine sellers will be everywhere and look forward to meeting the same faces again

Ireland Argentina - an organisational farce

Here's a copy of what I submitted to Ticketmaster for review of Argentina's defeat of Ireland at the new stadium

************************************************************************************

Being a believer in public transport I placed my hands in the lap of the dart to attend the first soccer international at the newly developed Landsdowne Road. Getting out of the train at Lansdowne I started to wish I had already got my tickets in my hand as I ended up visiting 2 incorrect collection points. I should have read my email correctly but stewards pointed me in the wrong direction 2 times. Third time lucky I felt and I ended up at the collection point outside Landsdowne House.

It was then time to go to the game but I had to go on another mystery tour to get to my seat. I could see the new development inviting me in but as my seat was for the east stand I had to take the scenic route around not only the stadium but the adjoining thoroughfare. 50 minutes after getting off the dart which leads to the ground I arrived at the turnstiles. My 8 year old sons enthusiasm was flagging at this stage, mine was well disipated. Mess(y) indeed.

Football from Argentina was great, Ireland fought valiantly and the final whistle went, not after a controversial goal got us a bit excited. I then went to head back to the train station only to be met by a line of stewards not really in the mood for talking but certainly intent on implementing the Spanish Civil War motto - 'no pasaran'. They shall not pass the direct route to the dart. Do no pass Go, go straight AROUND the vicinity. I gathered myself and headed towards the nearer Grand Canal Dock station. Closed. I ventured to Pearse Street. Packed - no extra trains to ease congestion. My 8 yr old was still singing sweetly about the wonderful Lionel but more and more kept asking "are we there yet?".
That mantra continued across the water to the northside where I eventually got a bus to sanctity, knowing I will never spend €60.50 on this mess again.

Colombia - where trade unionists are in fear for their life

Colombia solidarity meetings in Galway 27th May and Dublin 28th May.
Jorge Gamboa who is visiting Ireland as a guest of Irish Congress of Trade Unions, is a member of the National Executive of CUT Colombia. In 2008 whilst in his role as leader of the Colombian Oil Workers Trade Union he led a national campaign against the privatisation of the Colombian State Oil Company and it was during this campaign that the attempt on his life was made. 48 of his fellow Trade Union members were shot dead in Colombia that year. This talk will focus on how Europeans can exert pressure on the Colombian Government to insist that they protect the rights of trade unionists and human rights defenders.

Galway Meeting on Thursday the 27th May at 8pm, The Western Hotel, Prospect Hill, Galway.

Dublin Meeting on Friday the 28th at 5.30 pm, Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

In the water with the devil - which way is the tide flowing

I've often wondered about compromise. As a union member all my working life, 23 years to be exact, I have heard officials discussing policy with their members. I've been party to negotiations which have resulted in both sides agreeing to things they wouldn't necessarily wish to. At home with family we compromise every day, quite plainly sometimes you need to do things you don't really want to do. But there's always an end result.

With that philosophy in mind, I agreed to be a member of a congregation from the Vegetarian Society of Ireland that met with a Tesco nutritionist today. Tesco are a company I avoid most of the time. For that i'm in a minority. They have a huge share of the market and for obvious reasons. So when they asked to meet with the veg soc it was accepted. We went along and made our points about food miles, vegan products on the shelf and local products. We stated what is important to members of the vegetarian society of ireland. We spoke about the dublin food coop and how we buy products from them. They were listening and offered to bring our concerns back to those who need to to hear them. We won't revolutionise tesco but who knows maybe there will be something different alongside those egg filled quorn products in future

ted leo and the magic of the pharmacists

In these desperate times remedies are in short supply. I spend most of my time talking about pay cuts, the emphasis on banks over people, a state hellbent on pleasing international monetary markets rather than its people. Thankfully people like Ted Leo, James Canty, Crist Wilson and Marty Key are playing together in a band. They have released the best album of 2010 in the Brutalist Bricks. It is a collection of power crafted pop songs built on punk rock. Its got XTC, The Jam, Clash, Pogues, Stiff Little Fingers with a bit of funk and US hardcore intelligence. My whole family love this one. So when we heard Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were playing Dublin the three kids were nearly as excited as me. We all trooped into the soundcheck courtesy of Foggy Notions http://www.foggynotions.ie and jumped for joy when Bottled In Cork was dedicated to the offspring.

The first time I came across Ted he was playing in the Sin Eaters when they travelled over to Ireland for some shows with the Van Pelt in 1995. They played a forgettable gig in Fusion Bar but there was something about one Sin Eatr that held my interest. This one was ted Leo and I have been following his recording output intently ever since. Remarkably any one of their 6 albums is a good starting point but start with the Brutalist Bricks and you will be happy
http://www.matadorrecords.com/ted_leo_and_the_pharmacists

penny rimbaud - dublin may 7 2010

Penny RimbaudSeomra Spraoi May 7 2010http://blog.southern.com/2010/04/penny-rimbaud-gigs-in-derry-dublin-and-belfast/
We were offered a night of and for 30 mins we were given a glimpse into the art life of a poet. I was there because Penny played drums for Crass. Crass were the band that politicized me and my peers. Some brought it to varying degrees and chances are Seomra Spraoi wouldn't exist as a space if Crass hadn't led the way in the early 80's. Musically they were better known as the straightforward anarch punks. We tended to forgive them for their more experimental extravagances. Crass eventually stopped playing and for more info and a fascinating insight read Tonight was one of those extravagancas. It started off well with some good banter but when the poetry started i was wandering. Wandering to a place where people are being held to ransom by international financial markets. Wondering when Penny will set the world to rights so we can all go "yeah man, let's change this world". I started thinking about Arthur Scargill and his speech last week. How Arthur was telling u sall to stand up to the man, stand up and be counted. When I switched back to the here and now that was Seomra Spraoi Penny was regalling us with a tale of how it's a struggle to get up in the morning as the day would be a battle with oneself. When I heard people laughing, thinking it was a joke, I wished it was Arthur Scargill up there. It was a moment of history having Penny speak in Dublin but sometimes all historic events aren't joyous ocassions.