The ready availability of pornography and sexual imagery desensitises men to real women
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This is a difficult time to be involved in organisations that seek a more equal, environmentally sustainable and participative society. Poverty, unemployment and emigration are increasing. Key public services and welfare provisions are being diminished. Funding for ‘civil society’ is being cut with organisations closing or reducing their work. The political system is increasingly unresponsive to organisations that seek to promote alternatives to current responses to the economic crisis. The media space for public debate is virtually closed to such organisations. Claiming our Future (www.claimingourfuture.ie) is a movement that brings together people from the different parts of civil society committed to equality, environmental sustainability and participation. In this way it is hoped that a civil society force, more powerful than it has been possible to mobilise to date, would emerge with a greater capacity to make an impact. It is based on an understanding that a civil society space is needed where people can identify shared values and positions, explore alternatives to current policies, and test out the political choices being made against this shared value base. The need for such a movement is urgent. A recent study (by the Fondazione Rodolfo DeBenedetti in Milan, with Brian Nolan, of UCD’s College of Human Sciences as one of the editors) found that the percentage of people reporting deprivation of two or more items, out a list of eleven defined as ‘deprivation items’ (Being without heating at some stage in the last year/Unable to afford a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight/Unable to afford to replace any worn out furniture etc, rose from 12% in 2007 to 17% in 2009. The study did find a fall in income inequality as a consequence of recession. The Gini coefficient, which measures it, fell from .32 in 2007 to .29 in 2009. Despite this, the share of household income going to the highest ten per cent stood at a significant 23% in 2009. Furthermore the top 1% of earners continued a long-term upward trend in their earnings. The study warned that a new era of sharp distributional conflicts could now emerge between rich and poor people and between older and young people. The forthcoming budget is likely to reflect this danger in prioritising cuts in public spending over increased taxation of the wealthy. Claiming our Future point out that there are alternatives to what is currently on offer and that there are choices open to Government in framing this budget. The choices that will be made are, however, most likely to benefit the wealthy rather than those living in poverty or on low wages. One key choice will be the balance decided on between taxing the wealthy and cutting public expenditure. The priority should be on increased taxation of wealth and removing tax exemptions that reduce the effective tax rate on the wealthy if a more equal society is to emerge out of the crisis. This taxation would free up resources to protect public services and welfare payments and to create jobs. This choice is vital since previous economic crashes have been found to occur at moments of high levels of income inequality. An IMF analysis also found that spells of economic growth last longer in countries with relatively low levels of income inequality. Higher levels of violence, imprisonment and mental health issues and lower levels of life expectancy, educational attainment and social mobility have been found in countries with higher levels of income inequality. In taking this position Claiming our Future is articulating ideas developed at a ‘national discussion’ it hosted in May in Galway on reducing income inequality. Income inequality was identified as being at the heart of economic crisis and as leading to behaviour that damages societal culture and the planet. People on high incomes hold disproportionate influence. The need to level out income gaps was highlighted. It was considered that a maximum income threshold, set at some ratio to social welfare rates or to the minimum wage, was required. The event concluded that not enough is being done about this issue. Civil society needs to take action to demand greater income equality. The absence of political will was identified as a barrier to change. The December budget provides an important opportunity to challenge this.
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Miriam Cotton surveys the political web forums causing a stir Bondwatch Ireland / The Chattering Magpie 14 Editor: Diarmuid O’Flynn Describe your website/what made you decide to set it up? Thechatteringmagpie14 is a blog of short articles explaining/updating our protest in Ballyhea. BondwatchIreland is about the next 12 bonds due for payment, the ‘Dirty Dozen’ – with details of the individual bonds as they arise. Because of the total lack of coverage/exposure in the mainstream media (print, radio, TV), people don’t know that most of the bank bonds have yet to mature. Over €60bn has still to be paid over the coming three years and more. This blog and protest shines a light on those bonds, a place where people can learn the truth of what’s happening. Even as we’re informed on a weekly basis of more cuts in our already suffering public service, more proposed taxes and levies, our banks – with our money – are paying out on those failed bonds, week after week, month after month, with no attendant publicity. Those on-going payments are a scandal, the on-going lack of major media coverage is also a scandal. This site is an effort to inform those who want to be informed. What are your two favourite political/current affairs sites/blogs and why? NamaWinelake – the most up-to-date, the most concise, the most accessible information on what’s going on in the murky world of Irish finance; and David McWilliams (www.davidmcwilliams.ie) – populist, but his articles are an easy read, and for the most part make eminent good sense. Generally speaking, what value do you think sites like yours offer that mainstream media and news reporting do not? The view from the bottom, with no vested interest, no worries about appealing to the lowest common denominator. What type of reader/user does your site attract? No idea, but probably those who are already concerned about the official imbalance between looking after banks/financial institutions and looking after people. How many registered users do you have? I don’t get into that‚ whoever is there is there, I’m not concerned about numbers. How many visitors and page views would you have in a typical month? Again, no idea, and no idea who I could track this‚ wouldn’t be interested in doing so. Have you ever come under pressure to take down valid stories or posts? How did you deal with it, if so? No. Contact Information: Web: http://bondwatchireland.blogspot.com/ Email: Ballyhea@eircom.net Twitter: @ballyhea14 Comment: An essential blog publishing information about the most critical economic activity affecting the country. Putting the national news media to shame. Broadsheet.ie Editor: John Ryan Describe your website/what made you decide to set it up? It’s a rolling news site with jokes uploaded every 15 minutes Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm with sporadic posting through the night and at weekends. It was set up to provide a news source for the bewildered by the bewildered. What information/stories, if any, have first been published on your site, ahead of the mainstream media? There have been a few. Sometimes they even credited us! Which was lovely. What are your two favourite political/current affairs sites/blogs and why? Right at this moment I like NamaWinelake and TheStory.ie. Generally speaking, what value do you think sites like yours offer that mainstream media/news reporting do not? A cynical and jaded worldview. What type of reader/user does your site attract? The urban or rural stoner of all ages. How many registered users do you have? None. How many visitors and page views would you have in a typical month? Visitors: 615,000, page views: 1.5 million Have you ever come under pressure to take down valid stories or posts? How did you deal with it, if so? If it is completely spurious we try when possible to print the solicitors’ letters on the site in an effort to ridicule them and their prose style. Contact Information: Web: http://broadsheet.ie Email: Use contact form on website Twitter: @broadsheet_ie Comment: Ireland’s answer to The Onion? Witty, sharp and exquisitely presented. Priority is entertainment and delectation over heavy politics, which incidentally appear to be broadly libertarian. Could use an ‘About us’ and a ‘Mission Statement’. The Cedar Lounge Revolution Administrator: Dónal Mac an éala Describe your website/what made you decide to set it up? The Cedar Lounge is a left-wing blog with a core group of four regular contributors supplemented by a broader group of up to ten irregular contributors. It deals with politics, culture, political economy and other matters. The decision to establish it was that the original core group (which has changed a bit over the years) having been through the bear-pit that is Politics.ie wanted to establish a space which was neutral, in the sense of not being party-political, but which was overtly left of centre, using the term ‘left’ in its broadest definition (including social-democrat, further left, republican, socialist, feminist, anarchist and so on) in a courteous and welcoming environment for all those interested in politics, particularly those of the left, but embracing those from the centre and right also. We also wanted to be able to discuss issues in greater detail than in the forum context. And we were sick of trolls, negativity, etc, etc. It wasn’t that we were unwilling to hear voices who differed, but we wanted to hear serious voices who would respect difference rather than simply see it as an excuse for attacks. What information/stories, if any, have first been published on your site, ahead of the mainstream media? Only one, where we hinted at the nationalisation of Anglo-Irish which I’d heard about some hours previously through knowing people linked to those making the decision. But that’s it. We’ve never been interested in news-breaking or news-making but rather commentary on news. We’re not journalists so we don’t see our function as supplanting journalism but rather running parallel to (or slightly behind) it. What are your two favourite political/current affairs sites/blogs and why? Michael Taft’s (Economist for the Unite Trade Union) Notes on the Front (notesonthefront.typepad.com) – political
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An appeal from Friends of the Irish Turf Cutters not to take the fall for Government inaction and incompetence and go jail because successive elected officials and civil servants have undermined their way of life. Why should they punish themselves by going to jail when it is the Ministers of the time and the civil servants – many of them still there – who should be suffering for the lose of their traditional rights? False hope was what they have been given – and up the garden path they have been led.
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The minister for Justice, Equality and Defence – Alan Shatter – has announced a working group to advise him on the merging of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission. There is no evidence that this merger reflects any commitment to the necessary renewal of the equality and human rights infrastructure. It seems to be just another instance of austerity politics. The Minister’s announcement reflects this in referring to the need for a ‘streamlined’ body. The merger is presented as a means to save public money on two bodies deemed to have ‘overlapping functions’. The new Government seems determined to finish out the project initiated by its predecessor to neuter our equality and human rights infrastructure. When this merger was first mooted by the Minister in September, concern was raised that the roles foreseen for the merged body made no ref- erence to providing legal support to those taking cases of discrimination or cases in relation to human rights abuses. The Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission have been remarkably reticent about providing such support in recent times. The Authority reported a 78% reduction in cases supported in 2010 as compared with 2008. The Commission reported only one case supported in 2010, It is nonetheless a vital function for the effectiveness of the infrastructure. The announcement of the working group states that the new merged body will retain the statutory powers and duties of the existing bodies. However this is undermined when the terms of reference ask the working group to offer a view whether greater use of codes of practice or strategic court cases might achieve the best outcome. The terms of ref- erence disturbingly note that ‘court cases tend to involve the State in one way or another’. The composition of the working group is crucial in such a context. It is confined to members of the Boards of the two Bodies and officials from the Department. There are no representatives of civil society such as trade unions who play a key role in implementing equality legislation or the Equality and Rights Alliance which has done detailed work on this issue. The lack of ambition from the Government is evident in the envisaged role for the new body ‘encouraging’ public bodies to put respect for human rights and equality at the heart of their policies and practices. This is a remarkable dilution of the commitment in the Programme for Government to ‘require’ public bodies to have due regard to equality and human rights in carrying out their functions. There are lessons from mergers of equality and human rights bodies in other jurisdictions, such as Britain and Denmark. Mergers that are contrived to facilitate financial savings degenerate into turf wars between two traditions that are significantly different. They result in confusion rather than coherence. Mergers that fail to evolve and make coherent the powers to promote equality and protect human rights result in a loss of focus rather than increased effectiveness. The renewal of the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority, after the depredations of the previous Government, should have been a priority of the new Government. It does not appear to be. Five tests will demonstrate whether renewal or further retrenchment is proposed in this merger proposal. Renewal requires: •Retention of the current powers of both bodies alongside a levelling up of the powers that relate to the promotion of equality and to the protection of human rights. •Broadening of the remit for the bodies such that socio-economic status is a protected ground for discrimination and a focus for promoting equality and human rights. •Introduction of a positive duty on public sector bodies to have due regard to human rights and equality in carrying out their functions. A commitment to independence in Board appointment, staff recruitment and the body’s accountability. •Allocation of adequate resources.
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The Irish Red Cross fired me for detailing its delinquencies. By Noel Wardick In July 2005 I came home after seven months in Darfur and seven years working in Africa. I accepted a job with the Irish Red Cross (IRC) as Head of its International Department, based in Dublin. Perhaps I should have listened to a colleague of mine who informed me it was considered a dysfunctional organisation and had a high staff turnover. I was, however, glad to be home and the Red Cross was a global organisation with an impeccable reputation. After my first month it was clear that the IRC had problems. Within weeks I had reservations about the capacity of the Finance Department. More worryingly I was very uncomfortable with certain procurement practices which were largely out of the hands of senior management and instead under the control of certain board members. I expressed concern. I was advised “this is the way business is done here” and not to challenge the two or three individuals who dominated the board. In June 2007 the Secretary General (SG) left in acrimonious circumstances. She had been pushing for reform, a dangerous pursuit in IRC. By 2009 there were problems with a huge financial deficit, staff redundancies, staff morale, failures to rotate board members and delays in distributing funds raised for that year’s domestic flooding. Throughout the period 2005-2010 I challenged the prevailing culture at the Society. I sought reform, accountability, transparency and openness. Where I could implement it, on the international side, I did. Where I couldn’t, at the level of the board, I documented my concerns to the organisation’s hierarchy. I was forever being told “Noel, you are a marked man”. The discovery of an undeclared bank account in mid-2008 in Tipperary under the name of the IRC, which had had €162,000 lying in it for over three years, caused consternation and panic. The money was supposed to be for victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami but money was not forwarded to IRC head office as per IRC financial procedures. The Vice Chairman of the IRC was a signatory on the account. He denied any wrongdoing. At least one call for his resignation was made. Questions were asked in the Dáil, particularly by Labour’s Brian O’Shea and towards the end of 2009 many of these matters were covered in Village Magazine, which named names and outlined details of the undeclared bank account for the first time; and in some, though not many other organs. With one or two notable exceptions, the establishment media seemed uninterested that a pillar of the charitable sector was in fact seriously delinquent. Another SG resigned suddenly and unexpectedly in November 2009 and a discomfited David Andrews, Chairman for 10 years, resigned on the same day. Chaos and turmoil followed. Eventually an investigation, highly compromised as it was internal, took place in late 2010 following intense media and political pressure. Serious errors, breaches of policy and mistakes were identified. Blame was apportioned to no-one. The signatories on the account were not sanctioned or reprimanded. The Vice Chairman was re-appointed to the IRC board for the 21st year in a row on May 28th 2011. This despite the IRC’s public position that it intended reforming its governance. By 2010 every attempt was being made to silence dissent and protect long established power bases. I began writing an anonymous blog outlining the IRC’s problems. Attempts were made to inform IRC members about the blog and to encourage them to take action. Shutting the blog down became an obsession for the IRC hierarchy. This culminated in the extraordinary decision in mid 2010 to take legal action against Google HQ in California demanding they reveal the identity of the blog author. Google refused. IRC incurred huge legal costs in the failed legal action. In August 2010 I publicly revealed for the first time, on RTE’s Prime Time, that I was the blog author. I had, just days before, told the IRC. In November 2010 I was fired “for gross misconduct”. I have taken an Unfair Dismissals action against the IRC. The backlog of cases means it will be many months yet before the case is heard. In the meantime I remain unemployed. The complete absence in Ireland of whistle-blowing protection for employees who in good faith report abuses means the weapon of fear can and is used to great effect in ensuring those who witness wrongdoing remain silent. Those responsible for the financial irregularities and the breaches of good corporate governance at the IRC remain in positions of authority and seniority. The government knows this and still it unquestioningly gives €1 million of tax payers’ money to the IRC every year. One government-appointed member of the IRC Central Council summed it up “Until those responsible for the Tipperary tsunami bank account scandal are removed and until those board members with excessive service step down the future of the IRC remains seriously jeopardised”.