I'm not much of an activist. In my youth, I was involved with a campaign to shutdown Sellafield, I joined Greenpeace and Amnesty International, but as I grew older, I became more self-centred. It was Celtic Tiger times, all we cared about was the next bottle of champagne, the next foreign holiday and spending money stupidly.
Those times are gone now and I'll be paying off that Champagne till the day I die, but thankfully, now that the stupidity has ended, it allows me time and space to think about others. I'm still not much of an activist, but I will do what I can.
I have, for many years, had a stick in my arse about Israel and it's behaviour in Palestine. The two tier society, the savage beatings of children and the elderly, the constant stealing of land... All in the name of Israel and under the banner of "we must protect Israel". We watched, from afar, as destruction rained on the people of Palestine. It very much reminded me, and indeed many Irish people, of the troubles in Northern Ireland. It's easy to see why Ireland and it's Govt. is on the side of Palestine.
Anyway, Palestine was the reason I was in Dalymount Park on Saturday night. Another fundraiser, this time by Mothers Against Genocide. Why do I photograph these events? Well, that's twofold. I'm not a singer, a dancer, a performer of any kind. I don't have any skills that will directly help raise money. I do take photos though, and my hope is that not only will they keep Palestine on peoples socials, but also somehow, someone in Palestine will see, and hopefully feel, the love coming from our tiny Ireland.
Tonight we were graced with performances from comedians Diane O'Connor, Tadhg Hickey and Fiona Frawley, spoken word artist Mikey Cullen, beatboxer Abood Aladham, musicians Laura Ann Brady and Hussein, with talks by Wafa'a Abusharekh and Asil Naser...
I won't lie, it was a lot of fun, until it wasn't, until we heard the stories of the suffering that the people of Palestine are going though and have been going through for generations. That, that most certainly wasn't fun.
On to more pleasant matters, food. On the night we were treated to traditional dishes from Umi, and they were fantastic. There were also lots of treats courtesy of Lucie's Palestinian Bakes and some beautiful examples of traditional Palestinian embroidery.
Keeping the party going with some great tunes, all night long, was DJ Sugartits... Yeah, I thought it was the artists just taking the piss, but nope, that was the DJ's name!
Anyway... That was it, that was the night in a nutshell. I believe that €5000 was raised, so congratulations to the organisers. Someday though, someday I hope that we can stop these fundraisers, someday I hope there will be peace in Palestine.
Just a side note on Dalymount Park. Earlier in the day, I went to the cinema to see One Love, the Bob Marley story. I was standing in the bar in Dalymount, thinking that in 1980, Bob had wandered the same halls I was wandering and I was struck by Dalymount Parks position in the history of Ireland. Not just sporting history or indeed the musical history, but in the political history of modern Ireland. Bohemians are a club on the right side of history. They don't hide behind pleasantries or PR spin. We should be very proud to have a club like them in our country.
Now for some photos:
