Outside the frame
- Irish Voice: Niall O'Dowd (RTE)
- Questions and Answers (RTE)
- Fair City (Network 2)
- El Nino (BBC2)
Sinn Féin, for so long outside the frame and the White House
(though some would argue that is not a very safe place to be)
have been of late given ``political expression'' through the
efforts of Niall O'Dowd and his ilk, as profiled on Tuesday.
Although some of us may feel uneasy about forging links with US
multinationals and shady politicians, one can't but agree that
the pressure from the Irish American lobby has advanced the
republican/nationalist case abroad.
O'Dowd, editor of the Irish emigrant paper The Irish Voice, was
instrumental in drawing together a collective of irish Americans,
including Bruce Morrison, businessman (capitalist) Chuck Feeney
and Bill Flynn, and impressing on them an understanding of what
was happening in Irish republicanism. He acted from ``outside the
frame'' as a conduit between Sinn Fein and the White House, which
led to a change in US policy towards Ireland, and the ``small but
of immense significance'' granting of the US visa to Gerry Adams
in 1994.
This was, in Adams's words, ``the first time Irish America
delivered'' and was a major factor in leading to the first
ceasefire, which was four years old on 1 September, though it
only seems like yesterday.
O'Dowd, through his newspaper, has also lobbied extensively for
the rights of Irish emigrants, particularly those seeking visas
and those working as illegal immigrants.
Unlike home, there aren't extended Irish American families, which
can act as a support structure in times of need, and the paltry
American Social Welfare System offers no safety net - if you're
not white and middle class life can be difficult.
O'Dowd has championed the cause of the underdog for some time
now, and although the programme was a tad patronising to
republicans and egotistical, one can't but be impressed by
O'Dowd's contribution.
Pat Doherty was very much outside Vincent Browne's manic frame on
Questions and Answers on Monday night. Browne led a posturing
irrational mob on the Dublin 4 pseudo moral high horse,
castigating Doherty on decommissioning and all their other
favourite republican-bashing topics.
Browne's primary aim seemed not to advance the peace process, but
to prove how clever an interviewer he is, and in doing so, he
went completely over the top.
Doherty's calm and reasonable response was in marked contrast to
the smug and prejudiced audience, obiously suffering from decades
of censorship and misinformation.
The infamous ``El Nino'' weather system is not, as some would
believe, a child, but in fact a cooling down of Pacific winds,
which leads to more warm water and wetter weather. This rise in
Pacific sea temperatures has truly global consquences, bringing
with it harm and destruction that the world, in fear of its
unpredictable moods, finds terrifying.
The beautiful Paroccas area on the coast of Peru is one such
casualty. The elimination of cold currents has resulted in the
anchovie fish shoals migrating north. This has led to more
starvation for sea lions, cormorants and other such sea life.
The population which up to now recovered from the El Nino system
over thousands of years, is finding it impossible to compete with
human intervention. The factory ships and plants have garnered
the bulk of the scarce fish, with catastrophic consequences for
the wildlife, who in desperation are now turning on each other.
The increased dry weather of inland Indonesia has resulted in the
rainforest becoming ``a tinderbox'' which eager developers are all
too keen to set alight.
80% of Indonesia's forest fires have been started deliberately to
clear lands, resulting in depopulation and enveloping much of
South East Asia in a cloud of smog, which leads to respiratory
illness among children.
The orangutan population has been driven to the forest edge,
where they've been shot and the young sold for $100 each,
resulting in a huge decline in population.
The farmers in Zimbabwe have learned the cruel lessons of El
Nino, removing the domestic cattle herd, as their competition
with wildlife in previous droughts, resulted in elimination of
hippos, zebras and other animals.
It is the hand of man that is preventing nature from recovering
from the natural effects of El Nino and unless we learn to live
with nature's limits, the future may indeed be bleak .
Irish soap opera suffered its first ever casualty when Helen
Doyle died of a brain haemhorage, releasing herself from the
clutches of her alcoholic unfaithful partner.
``Fair City'' has recovered from a weak start to emerge on top of
the ratings, featuring love quarrels, homosexual love, priests
who desert their ministry in favour of lust, drugs, gossip and
sex.
Sure where would you be going!
By Sean O Donaile
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