Latest news with #MiseEire
Spectator
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The nauseating hypocrisy of Kneecap
You truly could not make it up. Kneecap, who spent the past three months whingeing and complaining about their gigs being cancelled because of their views on Gaza, have signed an open letter demanding a small community festival be shut down. All that guff about the sanctity of free speech and artistic expression. It was all a sham. Because it turns out that the Belfast trio are big fans of cancel culture after all. Just as long as the cancelling does not apply to them. The latest battle in the cancel culture wars is unfolding, not at Coachella or Glastonbury, but in a community hall in the tiny, picturesque town of Drumshanbo in rural Ireland, famed for being a hub of Irish music, folklore, and heritage. A one-day event called Mise Éire (I am Ireland) – the name alone was enough to send the 'anti-fash' brigade into fits of apoplexy – was scheduled for August 23 in the Mayflower community centre. It was billed as a festival 'for those who cherish Irish culture, heritage, and are united in celebrating our shared values.' It was to feature filmmaker Thomas Sheridan, Brehon Academy founder Kevin Flanagan and journalist Louise Roseingrave. It also had a few speakers lined up whose views on immigration clearly crossed the line on what is tolerated by the intolerant left. In Victorian times such an outrage would have sent those of a delicate disposition in search of the smelling salts. In these more enlightened times, they just send for the like of Kneecap who happily wield the censorship cudgel. And hey presto, the event was cancelled. Never was the phrase 'free speech for me but not for thee' more apt than when applied to these hypocrites. Lest Kneecap feel singled out, it is fair to point out that around 500 other artists engaged in this spot of cancel culture. Many of them, including Fontaines D.C. and protest balladeer Christy Moore, were the very same people who protested the silencing of Kneecap. It is worth recalling their noble sentiments when Kneecap was feeling the heat: 'As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom… The question of not agreeing with Kneecap's political views is irrelevant: It is in the key interests of every artist that all creative expression be protected in a society that values culture, and that this interference campaign is condemned and ridiculed.' Consider the letter Kneecap and the same artists signed demanding the cancellation of Mise Eire: 'If it is permitted to go ahead, we believe the far-right 'Mise Éire Festival' will tarnish the proud history of the Mayflower as a venue that has served to bring people together from all backgrounds and as a safe and inclusive cultural space. We artists and musicians thus call on the committee of the Mayflower Community Centre to cancel this divisive event.' So, there you have it. The festival was declared far right and divisive. It had to go. It appears the source of the angst was that an anti-immigration protest in Cork scheduled for the 23 August was postponed – allowing anyone who wanted to attend the Mise Éire festival to do so. Well, we couldn't have that, could we? The local 'anti fash' crowd sprang into action by issuing the open letter to be signed by artists whom, they correctly anticipated, would be similarly outraged. Leitrim and Roscommon Against Fascism (LARAF) is led by the usual screeching, green haired brigade, otherwise known as 'the self-appointed arbiters of what is safe for ordinary Irish folk to see and hear'. Because when it comes down to it, LARAF, Kneecap and the rest deem ordinary folk too unsophisticated, nay, too thick, to absorb divergent views, engage our critical faculties and make up our own minds. Immigration was not even on the agenda of the festival, but that was beside the point. The Mayflower caved under massive pressure and who could blame them? A small community centre facing opposition from a band who took on the hated British establishment over the refusal of a £14,000 artistic grant and won. It is beyond parody. Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terror offence after allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town in November 2024. He is back in court on August 20. No doubt Kneecap will swagger in applauded by fellow free speech warriors like the last time. But Kneecap's nauseating hypocrisy has been laid bare by Drumshanbo. We don't know what the speakers at Mise Éire intended to say and likely never will. But whatever it was, it was clearly more inciting, hateful, and downright bloodcurdlingly terrifying than chanting 'Kill your local MP.' Right lads?
The Irish Sun
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Irish filmmaker George Morrison dies aged 102 as President Michael D Higgins lead tributes for ‘iconic figure'
'He will rightly be remembered in particular as a great innovator' IRISH filmmaker George Morrison passed away aged 102 yesterday. The director was best known for his documentary Mise Eire, which was produced by Gael Linn and composed by Sean O Riada. 2 George Morrison has passed away Credit: Aosdána 2 Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to Morrison The film was premiered in 1959 at the Cork Film Festival and it was the first full length feature film ever produced in the Irish language. It dealt with key figures and events in Irish nationalism between Ireland's most turbulent periods, culminating in the 1916 Rising and Sinn Féin's electoral victory in 1918. The title itself was taken from a 1912 poem by Republican revolutionary Patrick Pearse. Morrison was born in Tramore, Waterford, in 1922 and his mum was an actress at the Gate Theatre in Dublin while his father worked as an anaesthetist. He followed in his parents footsteps and enrolled in Trinity College to study medicine before leaving university to pursue his career in the creative arts. The Wexford native started working on documentaries with the Gate Theatre film ventures as an assistant director and editor. Morrison was a member of Aosdana and was awarded the Industry Lifetime Contribution Award at the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2009. He was predeceased by his beloved wife Janet Morrison, who died in 2019, and his first wife Theodora Fitzgibbon, who passed in 1991. Morrison was elected a Saoi of Aosdana in 2017 and was bestowed with the symbol of the office of Saoi, the gold torc, by President Michael D Higgins. Higgins paid tribute to Morrison today after hearing about his death and called him an "iconic and foundational figure in Irish filmography". Shock as beloved RTE star dies aged 63 after brief illness & tributes pour in He said: "A filmmaker of immense craft and skill, he will rightly be remembered in particular as a great innovator in the techniques of film, using new and pioneering camera work while realising how film and music could be brought together in a way that is distinctive. "I had the honour of bestowing the honour of Saoi of Aosdána on George Morrisson in 2017 and have also had the pleasure of meeting with him on many other occasions over the years, including when we marked his 100th birthday in Aras an Uachtarain in 2023. STAR TRIBUTES "On behalf of Sabina and myself, may I extend my deepest condolences to his family, friends and all those who have been so inspired by his work over the decades." Last year, Sinn Fein TD in Waterford Conor D McGuinness organised an event to honour Morrison. McGuinness also paid tribute to Morrison saying: "It's for Mise Eire and Saoirse he will mostly be remembered, but he produced many great works during his lifetime. "I was happy to nominate him last year for a civil honour from Waterford County and City Council. "Go dtuga Dia solas da mhuintir agus go raibh leaba i measc na naomh aige." After Mise Eire, Morrison made a follow-up documentary called Saoirse which analysed the still-divisive Civil War. He released a documentary on James Joyce's Ulysses in 2007, which was titled Dublin Day. And Morrison was the subject of a documentary called Waiting for the Light in 2008.
