90
D egrees
Lonely Christmas
for Migrant Workers
Why migrant workers are without their families,
I
t will be a lonely Christmas for
many migrant workers separated
from their families as a result of
limited entitlements under the cur-
rent work permit system.
In effect, family members of all legal
migrants do not have the right to join fam-
ily members in Ireland.
“The huge gap in entitlements between
someone on a work permit and someone on
a work visa, means that a doctor is more
entitled to have their husband or wife here
with them than somebody employed in the
tourism or catering industry.”, says Helen
Lowry, a community worker with the
Migrant Right Centre of Ireland.
“A migrant worker needs to be earning
RYHU¼DZHHNEHIRUHWKH\DUHHQWLWOHG
to family reunification, migrant workers
on the cusp of that figure are generally
being refused family reunification, they
need to be earning far in excess of it to be
considered”.
In the report, Private Homes: A Public
Concern, the Migrant Rights Centre docu-
mented cases of excessive working hours,
low pay, unreasonable working conditions
and threatened deportation among women
working as domestic and care workers.
One year on from the report, the work
permit system, described by some immi-
grant support groups as a form of "bonded
labour" is still in place.
The government's plans to introduce a
"green card" system for migrant work-
HUVLQWKH(PSOR\PHQW3HUPLWV%LOO
John Pilger
Exclusive interview with
the acclaimed investiga-
tive journalist
Supple
ment
December 2005
Jennifer O’Leary reports
has also been criticised by the Immigrant
Council of Ireland, the Irish Congress
of Trade Unions and the Migrant Right
Centre for not addressing the exploitation
of migrant workers.
The Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland
has launched a campaign to amend the
Employment Permits Bill. The campaign
was initiated by a group of migrant work-
ers who are currently lobbying on the Bill.
“Our concerns would be that the rights
and entitlements of people on the so called
green card work visa are greater than those
on work permits. From what we can see
the employer still applies for the work
permit so we are quite concerned about
that as well. When a system is inflexible
and that labour market driven, and is at
the discretion of the Minister in terms
what the labour market skill shortages are,
people can fall out of the system far easier
and become undocumented” says Helen
Lowry.
The CSO estimated Ireland would need
LPPLJUDQWVD\HDUWRWRILOO
our skill and labour shortages. Christmas can be an empty time for migrant workers
7KH81&RQYHQWLRQRQWKH
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Contd. from front page over on a tourist visa just to see them. Family is
Workers sets out the minimum obligations about its human rights commitments it should a key agent of integration for ethnic minorities,
and responsibilities of host states, but has immediately sign the convention” says spokes- it impacts negatively if you do not have the
not been ratified by the Irish government. person Fiona Crowley. right to have your family around you.”
Amnesty International is still calling on Family reunification is an issue that comes To participate in the campaign to amend the
the government to immediately sign the up a lot of the time regardless of what time of Employment Permits Bill go to :
convention, “Migrant workers have been the year it is, but Helen Lowry of the Migrant
subjected to extensive exploitation and if Rights Centre has found that “coming up to www.mrci.ie/campaign/epb05/
the Irish government is serious Christmas people are trying to get their family (continues on page 2)
Tsunami Stories Lifting the Veil
Should “Holiday volunteer- Life for Afghan women
ing” be more strictly after the Taliban and the
regulated? US invasion
 2 Commentary 90 Degrees December 2005
Editorial
Contd. from front page

From:
'HJUHHVLVDSXEOLFDWLRQWKDW
espouses the principles of good jour-
Private
nalism; the first principle of which is
the obligation to tell the truth. But we
Homes:
also wrote our articles on the basis of
you, the reader's right to know.
A public
The right to know of why migrant
workers legally working in this
concern.
country do so without their families
being legally entitled to live here
Published by
with them. The right to know of the
issues concerning nuclear power
the Migrant
and alternative methods of energy
production as outlined in Darragh
Rights
Connolly's article. The right to know
of the ongoing difficulties women
Centre
in Afghanistan still contend with on
a daily basis, in spite of the end of
December
Taliban control of that country, the
reality of which is documented by
2004.
Aoife McMahon.
John Pilger is a journalist whose
Jean is a married woman with one
investigative work provokes
child in the Philippines. She holds
extremes that veer, depending on
D%DFKHORURI$UWVDQGLQVKH
your point of view, between adula-
worked for a solicitor in Dublin as
WLRQDQGGLVGDLQ1RQHWKHOHVVKHLV
a child minder. Jean borrowed in
one of the world’s most acclaimed
H[FHVVRI¼WRFRYHUKHU
war correspondents, film-makers and

Boom Generation
costs in travelling to Ireland to take
writers, and we are honoured to have
up employment.
an exclusive interview with him in
On arrival Jean discovered she
'HJUHHV
was expected to carry out many more
Recent natural disasters have
jobs in addition to the child mind-
undoubtedly increased the number
ing position described in her work
of volunteering enterprises to aid
in disaster zones. Gayle Fitzpatrick
reports on an issue that gets little
Célia Zwahlen reflects on the direction Irish society is permit.
Apart from the full range of house-
attention: the effectiveness of some taking hold duties such as washing, iron-
ing, cleaning, and hovering she was
volunteering enterprises - a hand up
also expected to clean the offices of
or a hindrance?
her employer and the homes of her

Journalists depend on social values
such as openness and freedom of
expression. However, openness is
not a word that can be applied to at
least one issue in our society. Celia
Zwahlen reports on the connection
that has yet to be acknowledged
between sexually transmitted infec-
tions and the need for such screening
services in Ireland. Mens health is
another topic that garners little media
attention; Anita O'Donovan explores
the health issues at stake in her arti-
cle.
The impact of new media has
\HWWREHHYDOXDWHGEXW'HJUHHV
embraces its potential: Fiona
Ferguson reports on audio books
and the potential of such technol-
ogy; Gerard Matthews examines the
blogging phenomenon; and Aidan
McKeown looks at how campaigning
organizations are using new media to
their advantage.
Finally, who will lead the country
is decided at the ballot box, but the
question of who will next manage
the Irish football team is a more
hotly debated issue in some quarters.
Patrick Donohoe reviews one of the
possible contenders.
:HKRSH\RXHQMR\UHDGLQJ
Degrees.
W
e are today often
exposed to vari-
ous references in
public debates to the country’s
SRRUHFRQRPLFVWDWH\HDUVDJR
Comparisons between ‘the way it
was’ and the sophistications of our
present society prove useful for the
politician who wants to justify moves
and strategies.
But is this really the way forward?
The portrayal of Ireland abroad
\HDUVDJRZDVFORVHUWRWKDWRI
a Third World country than of a
Western society. The overwhelming
influence of the Catholic Church
in such modern times was frowned
upon and regarded as the sign of a
backward culture that hadn’t been
able to free itself from patriarchal
Nowadays, people of
Ireland are referred to
as ‘tax-payers’ and rare-
ly as ‘citizens.’
control.
7KLQNRI)UDQFHLQ0D\DQG
the student revolution –the revolu-
tion of youth: this was the stepping
stone for many European countries to
grow towards freer and more tolerant
social structures. But Ireland never
seemed to have caught the bug.
Do we really want to continue
comparing our current society with
ZKDWLWZDV\HDUVDJR"'RZH
want to encourage our politicians to
look into the past for justifications of
our present circumstances? Or would
we rather have them concentrate on
the future of this country, on the wel-
fare of the present generations and
those to come?
The values of Irish society have
gone downhill, it seems, since the
church lost its influence on the
VWDWH1RRWKHUVHWRIPRUDOVKDV\HW
replaced the catholic stance. There is
aggressiveness at a very low, street
level, in day-to-day interaction. The
motto of the day is to make money
and spend it. But consumption can
hardly spread social values.
1RZDGD\VSHRSOHRI,UHODQGDUH
referred to in the news as ‘tax-payers’
and rarely as ‘citizens.’ The govern-
ment sees workers who pay the taxes
that make policy and budget pos-
sible as valuable assets; indeed they
form the core of our economy. On
the other hand, citizens who exercise
their rights are not quite as focused
on fattening the cow.
What use is all this wealth if it is
not invested in the well-being of the
population? We see child poverty, we
regularly hear about the lousy health-
care system, the extra money we get
seems to serve mostly the handful
No other set of mor-
als has yet replaced the
catholic stance.
few to get richer, because our system
is such that they are the ones who
benefit the most from it.
The country is now finally run-
ning on an economy which is up to
the standards expected of a Western
society. Other EU countries now look
up to Ireland, the same countries that
FDOOHGLWD7KLUG:RUOGFRXQWU\
years ago… So it is time to deliver:
where is the infrastructure to match
the economical growth?
1RRQHZLOOIRUJHWWKHSDVWVWUXJ-
gles of this country, because they
are part and parcel of the tale of the
Celtic Tiger. Looking into the past
may make us feel better about where
we are at right now. But the question
is, what good will the future genera-
WLRQVWKLQNRIXVLQ\HDUVWLPH"
employer’s friends.
When Jean attempted to clarify
these duties her employer became
very angry and told her not to ques-
tion her orders.
6KHZDVSDLG¼SHUZHHN
Deductions were made for accom-
modation and meals. Jean worked on
DYHUDJHKRXUVSHUZHHNVRPH-
times more. Her employer threatened
her with deportation and called her
a liar.
Following Jean’s departure, her
former employer contacted an immi-
gration officer and made a number of
accusations against her. Eventually
Jean found a new employer.
Editor: Jennifer O’Leary
Deputy Editor: Célia Zwahlen
Design & Layout: Aidan McKeown
Photography: Gayle Fitzpatrick
Sub-editors: Darragh Connolly,
Aoife MacMahon, Fiona Ferguson,
Anita O’Donovan, Gerry Matthews,
Patrick Donohue
Contributors: Darragh Connolly,
Patrick Donohue, Fiona Ferguson,
Aoife MacMahon, Gerry
Matthews, Aidan McKeown, Anita
O’Donovan, Jennifer O’Leary, Célia
Zwahlen

'HJUHHVZRXOGOLNHWRZLVKDOO
Editorial Consultants: Ryan
Brennan & Alan Gill

If you have any comments about

any of the articles in this newspaper

our readers a Happy Christmas & please e-mail:

90degreesreporters@gmail.com

We will be delighted to reply to any

$3URVSHURXV1HZ<HDU
queries.
 December 2005 90 Degrees
Mother Nature knows best
Darragh Connolly: Nuclear power may not be the best approach.
I
think it is a safe assumption
that all readers of this newspa-
per will have seen an episode
of The Simpson’s at some point. But,
how many of you have thought it
strange that Homer works in a nucle-
ar power station, or even questioned
the existence of a nuclear power sta-
tion in a relatively small town?
Recent suggestions by Tony Blair
may well lead to an increase in the
number of nuclear stations in Britain,
and has caused a response from the
Irish government, who are in favour
of the closing of all British nuclear
power stations. Minister for the
Environment Dick Roche responded
to Tony Blair’s statement by say-
ing “Basically the argument which
is being put forward by some in
the British government is that the
tanks and vaults at the site where it is
created. Both Finland and the U.S.
are investigating the possibility of
using landfill sites in geographically
safe areas to bury nuclear waste. In
France, the most pro-nuclear power
of all nations, the industry nearly
FDPHWRDVWDQGVWLOOLQGXHWR
the waste issue. Residents refused to
have waste buried near their homes.
A solution was reached, with the set-
ting up of temporary storage facilities
where the waste will remain super-
vised until the technology exists to
treat it.
This would seem to leave the Irish
government in a no-win situation.
Continue with the current policy of
burning fossil fuels and risk both
environmental harm and huge fines
(85ELOOLRQLQ.\RWRUHODWHG
POLITICS 3
had been the leader for many years.
Current levels in Ireland are not close
to this, despite the fact that a wind
farm in Ireland will produce twice
as much output as an identical wind
farm in Germany. Ireland has been
described as the ‘wind arabs’, as our
potential is so great. We are ideally
situated to capture all the winds, and
waves, coming from the Atlantic and
turn this raw energy into electricity.
Fiona O’Malley TD, Progressive
Democrats spokesperson for the ener-
gy, arts and culture says “It is true the
potential is vast. Government cannot
afford to miss this opportunity.”
The Irish government should grab
the bull by the horns and plan to
adopt wind farms as the major source
of electricity production. To do so
would have numerous advantages.
way forward is by rolling out more
nuclear power stations. The reality is
we have to learn from the mistakes of
the past.”
There are a lot of arguments against
nuclear power, but the need to
decrease carbon emissions is a real
one. A look at nuclear power yields
by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development
(OECD) produces surprising results.
1XFOHDUSRZHULVXVHGWRVXSSO\D
large percentage of electricity, most
ILQHVE\LVWKHHVWLPDWHRU
switch to nuclear power, where the
waste is both dangerous and extreme-
ly difficult to deal with.
However, an alternative option is
available, and can be clearly seen
in parts of Clare and Wexford. This
alternative is the supply of energy
through wind farms. Wind farms are
collections of turbines that garnish
wind to produce energy. The main
advantage of wind farms is obvious:
by using wind to move the turbines
It would make the country less vul-
nerable to global energy price and
supply shocks, while reducing our
energy costs and stabilising output,
it would set precedence for future
governments to follow and it would
set an example to other countries of
the potential for wind as an energy
source. It would also establish Ireland
at the forefront of alternative energy
technology and give us an area
of true global expertise. Also, the
planned phasing out of the Common
One of many nuclear power stations in France
also not be economical due to our
size. One of the reasons why the
French model has been so success-
ful is the economies of scale they
received by adopting nuclear power
as their primary source of energy.
They also decided to run all stations
in the same manner, using the same
technology. This reduced the cost of
each additional station due to the syn-
ergy caused by the expertise, knowl-
recent results of an ESB scheme
designed to attract renewable energy
generation. The results of the scheme
ZHUHWKHDFFHSWDQFHRIZLQG
farms which will provide the ESB
ZLWKDERXWRIWKHWRWDORXWSXWRI
Moneypoint, a coal fired power sta-
tion in Clare. This may seem small,
but it is a step in the right direction,
as is the ESB offering guaranteed
contracts.
QRWDEO\)UDQFH%HOJLXP and create electricity, the need for a Agricultural Policy is going to free edge and experience. Energy production through the burn-
6ZHGHQDQGWKH86 fuel source is eliminated. Electricity up a lot of farmland as the industry There are several obstacles to the ing of fossil fuels is on the way out,
1XFOHDUSRZHULVFUHDWHG
using a process called nuclear fission,
which is the splitting of an atom.
Uranium is the most popular element
used, as it is relatively common and
generated from wind farms globally
RQO\DFFRXQWIRURIWRWDOHQHUJ\
needs but it is the fastest growing
source of electricity.
In Europe, wind power is already
will become less profitable. Although
the best wind energy potential is off-
shore, there are a lot of onshore sites
that are suitable. The rental income
that farmers could receive for their
development of wind farms in
Ireland. The major ones seem to be
public acceptance and the planning
process. Tony Kay, an engineer-
ing lecturer in the University of
with the economics of Kyoto and
dwindling oil supplies likely to be the
biggest push factors. Technology is
finally making wind, wave and bio
fuels a viable alternative. The ques-
RQHW\SHRIXUDQLXP8DOORZV VDYLQJPLOOLRQWRQQHVRI&2SHU lands could help save and rejuvenate Limerick, states that “Some say that tion facing the Irish people and gov-
a chain reaction to take place. This year according to the European Wind the rural areas of the country. people now will object to anything ernment is whether or not we want
chain reaction creates a greater output (QHUJ\$VVRFLDWLRQDQGE\ZLQG While nuclear power would DQGWKDWWKH1,0%<V\QGURPH1RW to harness our advantageous global
of energy per unit of uranium. power will be responsible for meeting also result in a decrease in our ,Q0\%DFN<DUGKDVJURZQLQWRWKH position and become leaders rather
The major concern with nuclear RIWKH(8
V.\RWRREOLJDWLRQ Greenhouse gas emissions, it is not %$1$1$V\QGURPH%XLOG$OPRVW than followers. For those who take
power is the radioactive waste pro-
duced as a by-product. This waste is
estimated to take tens of thousands
of years to become safe, and no man-
made container can last this length
of time. At present, waste is stored in
All go for opinion polls
Jennifer O’Leary reports that the government will not be attempting to restrict opinion polls
publication prior to next election
A
ny attempts to ban political
opinion polls in the media
is off the government's
agenda prior to the forthcoming
general election. That's according to
Liam Cullen, Head of Research for
Fianna Fail, “It is very much off the
radar screen at the minute. I certainly
don't think there is a clamour for
similar introduction of a bill of that
nature. I don't think it is an issue that
has received a whole lot of attention
since then and I don't see it being a
major issue in the lead up to the next
general election.”
The most recent move to ban
election polls during the last week
of elections was made by the gov-
HUQPHQWLQ-XQH$WWKHWLPH
the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he
believed the publication of opinion
polls should be banned for the last
GD\VRIDQHOHFWLRQFDPSDLJQ$V
it turned out the Seanad rejected the
provision for the polls ban on the
basis that the legislation was flawed
and the Dail accepted the deletion
Spain is the country with the great-
est proportion of energy supplied by
wind power with a current level of
DQGDSURMHFWHGRXWSXWRI
E\*HUPDQ\LVWKHVHFRQGELJ-
gest producer of wind energy, and
of the amendment banning opinion
polls, without a vote.
Off the government agenda it may
be, but the issue has not yet disap-
peared from the Fine Gael political
radar. Following the Meath by-elec-
tion in March of this year, two Fine
Gael members of the Seanad, Frank
Feighan and Paul Coghlan, advocated
that there be a ban on opinion polls
or their publication in advance of
elections. The Fine Gael TD, Fergus
O'Dowd, has not recently discussed
the issue with his party but he has
“no problem banning opinion polls
one week before an election”. Indeed,
he thinks it would be a “good thing
and would keep us all on our feet”.
1RWVRVD\VWKHRWKHUKDOIRIWKH
alternative government pact.
Mr Eamon Gilmore, TD for Dún
Laoghaire and the Labour spokes-
person on Environment and Local
Government confirmed, "The Labour
Party position on opinion polls has
not changed since the then leader,
Ruairi Quinn TD expressed the
a realistic option for Ireland. The
global outcry which greeted the dis-
aster in Chernobyl, and the continued
debate and concern over Sellafield
would make a nuclear station in this
country political suicide. It would
Party's opposition to the proposal to
ban opinion polls in the run up to
elections."
A view also held by Sinn Fein.
“Seeking to ban media content is a
form of censorship a policy which
Sinn Fein is opposed to. The internet
has also made this policy redundant
as a print and broadcast media ban
could easily be circumvented by
publishing poll details on the internet,
even though in Ireland less than half
the population have access to this
medium.”
But do snapshots affect voter pref-
erences?
The phenomenon of voters chang-
ing their votes in favour of the likely
winner is called the “bandwagon”
effect. Empirical studies of voting
behaviour have presented evidence
that pre-election polls persuade some
voters to switch their votes to which-
ever candidate is ahead, even though
they prefer the alternative. On the flip
side, the “boomerang effect” is where
the likely supporters of the candidate
1RWKLQJ$Q\ZKHUH1HDU$Q\RQH+H
gives examples of delays to, and pos-
sible cancellations of the building of
wind farms due to public opposition,
most notably in county Tipperary.
On the bright side, however, are the
shown to be winning feel that they
are “home and dry”, and that their
vote is not required, thus allowing
another candidate to win.
Some commentators have directed
their criticism towards the media, in
particular the journalists that com-
ment on the polls.
Professor Michael Marsh of Trinity
College has written of how “regional
journalism and survey research make
for strange bedfellows”, and why
GXULQJWKHJHQHUDOHOHFWLRQWKH
accuracy of local newspaper polls are
a “matter of concern”.
An argument not exclusive to this
country.
Marketing expert Professor Janet
Hoek highlighted what she perceived
as the incompetence of journalists in
1HZ=HDODQGWRUHSRUWRQHOHFWLRQ
polls, “The media's job is to sell audi-
ences to advertisers and the best way
to do this is often to run sensational
headlines, neither of which fit easily
with the idea of more in-depth and
thoughtful poll analyses.”
issue with wind farms, the question
needs to be asked, would you prefer a
nuclear station in your back garden?
Liam Cullen, disagrees “I think
in Ireland there would be quite a
bit of evidence to suggest that we
have a decent level of polling in the
country and I think the papers reflect
that quite accurately. I would not be
overly worried in terms of the com-
mentary on the polls or the quality
of analysis of the polls, people will
always read into them what they
want.”
Irish politicians intent on restrict-
ing polls should take note of Arto
Jaaskelainen, who originally pro-
posed the ban in Finland. The propos-
al received an icy reception from pol-
iticians and the media and was reject-
ed. One year later he is certain he
will not be proposing such a restric-
tion again, “My goal was to activate
public debate about this issue. After
the public debate, it seems that there
is no need or possibility to have such
a ban of opinion polls. We just have
to live with them.”
4 POLITICS
Lifting the veil
Aoife MacMahon investigates the reality of life for women in Afghanistan, after
the Taliban and the US invasion
I
Q1DWLRQDO*HRJUDSKLF
journalist Hilary Meyell wrote
“ The curtain of invisibility
is finally lifting for the women of
Afghanistan”. During the rule of
the Taliban in Afghanistan from
WRZRPHQZHUHWUHDWHG
appallingly. They were forbidden
to work, to have access to educa-
tion, or to leave the house without a
male escort. The burqa became the
symbol of this harsh regime, where
women were more controlled and
dehumanised than at any other time
LQKLVWRU\,Q0D\WKH3UHVLGHQW
of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai
told the European Parliament that
Afghanistan’s enlightened constitu-
tion meant that the plight of women
in Afghanistan had improved.
Is this simply rhetoric and
hyperbole on behalf of the Afghan
3UHVLGHQWZKRLVIODQNHGGDLO\E\
During the rule of the
Taliban women were
more controlled and
dehumanised than at
any other time in
history
bodyguards paid for by the US? The
reality is that a culture of prejudice
and discrimination against women
VWLOOUDPSDQW,Q0DUFKZKLOH
on a visit to the country, Laura Bush
applauded her husband’s compassion-
ate measures in achieving freedom
for Afghan women. According to
President Bush, women’s human
rights in Afghanistan are a “foreign
policy imperative and a cornerstone
of all US humanitarian efforts in the
region”. However, Human Rights
Watch reports that Afghan women
have one of the lowest social statuses
in the world, while security issues
and restrictive social norms about
women’s role in public life means
participation in politics is a constant
battle.
In US media terms, only
1HZVZHHN$VVRFLDWHG3UHVVDQG
the Washington Post have full-time
reporters in the country. Afghanistan
is barely a footnote in mainstream US
media or western world media, the
GDLO\IRFXVVWD\LQJRQ,UDT$
US government report does admit
that Afghanistan is teetering on the
brink of chaos, its women the subject
of widespread inhumane rape, beat-
ings and kidnappings, and self-immo-
lation. Moreover, women guilty of
zina, or unlawful sexual intercourse,
face prison.
Despite new developments,
such as the Afghan government’s
commitment to the International
Conventions on Women’s Rights,
the reality at grassroots level is that
women are not free. As recently as
1RYHPEHUVW1DGLD$QMXPDQGLHG
in Herat after being beaten by her
husband. Ironically, Herat province
had just witnessed the election of
Fauzia Gailani, a women’s rights
campaigner. Gailani pledges to form
90 Degrees December 2005
the first Afghan women’s party, stat-
ing “Women are not seen as human
beings in Afghanistan but like objects
that people can buy, sell, trade or
buy.”
,QUHVSRQVHWRWKHDWWDFNVLQ
$IJKDQLVWDQEHFDPHWKHILUVW
stop on Bush’s ‘War on Terror’ world
tour. ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’
resulted in the supposed toppling of
the Taliban, with the U.S. justifiying
their attack on one of the world’s
poorest countries by showing potent
images evoking the Taliban’s evil
regime. Tragically, significant pock-
ets of Taliban militia still dominate
UHJLRQVRI$IJKDQLVWDQLQ$W
face value the country was freed from
the clutches of the evil Taliban in
EXWZLWK$IJKDQLVWDQRIIWKH
international media radar screens, the
world view of security in Afghanistan
LVWRWDOO\VNHZHG2Q0D\WK
the Amnesty International report
Afghanistan: Women Under Attack
called on the Afghan government
and the international community to
protect women and girls at risk of
abduction, rape, forced marriage and
violence. The author of the report,
1D]LD+XVVHLQFRQGXFWHGLQWHUYLHZV
throughout Afghanistan and con-
cluded that there was a deep sense
of disappointment among women
that life had not improved since the
IDOORIWKH7DOLEDQLQ$IJKDQ head. Rezayees paid the ultimate development projects. Furthermore, US media must be admired, and their
women continue to suffer from wide- price for pushing boundaries; many WKHVWRQLQJWRGHDWKRI\HDUROG reporting standards upheld. However
spread abuse at the hands of male were shocked by the ‘unislamic Amina for adultery, highlights how the predominant view that all is rosy
family members, militias, police and values’ of her show. She drew flak the barbaric acts unleashead upon in the Afghan garden still holds swau
the judiciary. Ultimately, they are from conservative mullahs, includ- innocent women don’t mesh with for the majority in the media.
still living in conflict, with violence ing her own brothers. Reports sug- the rhetoric propagated by President Laura Bush continues to state that
against women widely accepted by gest that Rezayees was murdered Bush and President Hamid Karzai. women in Afghanistan have won
the community and by the highest either by hardliners or by her own Reports of other women walled up significant freedom, with over 2-mil-
levels of government. family to protect their honour. US alive or stoned to death would imply lion Afghan girls attending school
Societal codes invoked in the name media did not cover the tragic story that the burqa is low on the list of an DQGZLWKZRPHQIRUPLQJRI
of her death; this harsh reality for Afghan’s woman daily anxieties.
The reality is that a Afghan women is far removed from There are exceptions in US media Online Information
the ‘freedom’ that Bush so zealously
culture of prejudice champions. Being charged with Human Rights Watch is an inde-
and discrimination On May 3rd, the partially clothed
the crime of ‘zina’, or pendent NGO, dedicated to pro-
bodies of three women were dis- tecting the human rights of people
against women is still covered close to Pol-e-Khomri. The unlawful sexual inter- around the world:
rampant Daily Times of Pakistan reported that
course, can lead to a www.hrw.org
a note was attached to their chests
of tradition and religion are used warning other women not to work woman facing a prison Calling itself ‘a radical newslet-
to justify denying women access with non-governmental aid groups. ter in the struggle for peace and
to fundamental human rights. In Apparently a group calling itself sentence simply for social justice’, Dissident Voice
Afghanistan the tragedy remains that $IJKDQ<RXWK&RQYHQWLRQNLOOHGWKH being raped aims to provide thought-provok-
the crime of zina implies that being women because they were having ing commentary on politics and
raped constitutes a crime. Women relationships with Americans. culture:
guilty of zina often end up in jail In March, the Afghan govern- UHSRUWLQJ(OL]DEHWK1HXIIHUIRUHLJQ www.dissidentvoice.org
for ‘crimes’ ranging from marrying ment launched a national campaign reporter for the Boston Globe pleaded
a man of their choice to adultery. “How can American for a greater focus on these crimes myAfghan News calls itself ‘Your
Women also run the risk of murder, DJDLQVWKXPDQLW\7UDJLFDOO\1HXIIHU Gateway to Updated News
as the following examples of women
journalists convey to a GLHGLQDFDUFUDVKLQZKLOH Resources on Afghanistan’:
who transgressed social mores and complacent audience on assignment in Iraq. Eileen Mc www.myafghan.com
paid the price will attest. 1DPDUDLQ7KH0LDPL+HUDOGSD\V
When the Taliban were largely that it has a stake in KRPDJHWR1HXIIHUE\VWDWLQJ³7KH The Afghanistan Online website
driven from power, Shaime Rezayees the stoning of a woman gulf between the democratised West has a section devoted to the situ-
was one of the first young women and the developing world frustrated ation of Afghan women:
to drop the veil and denounce the in Afghanistan?” 1HXIIHULQKHUZRUNDQGFRQWLQXHVWR www.afghan-web.com/woman
regime. She burst onto Kabul tel- frustrate journalists trying to report
evision screens, presenting a music FRRUGLQDWHGZLWKDQXPEHURI1*2V on the universality of the struggle The Afghan Women’s Mission
video show on Tolo TV, Kabul’s to promote women’s rights and to for human rights. How can American supports health and educational
answer to MTV. A new breed of highlight violence against women. journalists convey to a complacent missions in Afghanistan:
young hip Afghans embraced her Tragically though, the brutal murders audience that it has a stake in the www.afghanwomensmission.
flirtatious style, western clothing and of these women resulted in many stoning of a woman in Afghanistan?” org
banter with male guests. She sym- non-governmental organisations Pam Constable, deputy foreign edi-
bolised what life could be like for withdrawing from the war-shat- tor of The Washington Post, believes Afghan News carries the latest
young Afghan people, but that glim- tered country. According the CARE, that limited resources lead to many Afghan news:
mer of hope ended with Rezayees’ escalating violence is impeding conflicts not being revisited; the chal- www.afghannews.net
death from a gunshot wound to the the ability of humanitarian work- lenges facing women in Afghanistan
ers to implement urgently needed start with the press. This aspect of the
December 2005 90 Degrees
the electorate. While good news for
women, the fact remains that the
criminal justice system is not only
ineffective in stopping violence but
RIWHQFRPSRXQGVLW,QWKH
Afghan Independent Human Rights
&RPPLVVLRQLQYHVWLJDWHGFDVHV
of self-immolation by women.
Afghan women would rather set
themselves on fire than revel in the
newfound freedom so lauded by
Bush and his administration. In terms
of women voting in the elections, a
UHSRUWE\WKH$VLD)RXQGDWLRQ
IRXQGWKDWRI$IJKDQZRPHQ
required their husband’s permis-
VLRQWRYRWH/HVVWKDQRI
$IJKDQLVWDQ¶VEXGJHWIRU
is allocated for the Ministry of
Women’s Affairs.
BBC’s World Service radio has
provided a new voice for Afghan
women, in the form of Afghan’s
Woman’s Hour. This programme
features items on women’s health,
education, political participation and
human rights. During a radio show,
one woman told the reporter she
faced death threats from her husband
if she went to her literacy class.
Women only listen to the radio show
in the absence of their husbands; it
is one positive outlet in a very dark
daily reality.
However, appalling gender dis-
crimination, forced marriage, polyga-
my, domestic violence, imprisonment
of women for zina, and the incompat-
ibility between Islam and women’s
human rights remains. Ultimately
George Bush and the US media must
be honest with the American people;
as long as Bush continues to manipu-
late and deceive the American public,
the truth will never be exposed, and
certainly these women deserve bet-
ter than to be exploited for George
Bush’s political gain. Carla Koppell,
policy director of Women Waging
Peace, vehemently advocates the
crucial role of women in achiev-
ing peace in conflict areas, such
as Afghanistan and Iraq. With the
eyes of the world elsewhere, Afghan
woman continue to be subjected to
inhumane treatment.
Questions for John Pilger
In an exclusive for 90 Degrees,
Jennifer O'Leary
acclaimed investigative journalist, documentary film-maker and writer
W
hat motivates you?“Many
things do of course but I
think a very strong sense
of justice and injustice and that eve-
rybody has a right to basic human
rights no matter where they come
from or who they are. I believe very
WJRLQIRUGHVSDLULQJ forced to withdraw. Its very impor-
strongly that all power wherever it
is must be accountable. I am also
motivated by principles of journalism
Next in line?
Patrick Donohoe sizes up Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny
Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny addresses the party
F
ine Gael party members
left their party conference
in high spirits having just
witnessed an assured performance by
their party leader Enda Kenny; there
is growing confidence within the
party that Fine Gael will be in gov-
ernment after the next election
The upsurge in the fortunes of the
Kenny has been a TD
since 1975 but never
made any real impres-
sion prior to becoming
party leader
party under the leadership of Enda
Kenny is nothing short of remarka-
ble. The party was totally written off
after their disastrous showing in the
JHQHUDOHOHFWLRQ6RPHZLWKLQ
the party feared that they would go
the way of the British Conservative
interviews John Pilger, the
which are pretty thin on the ground,
that is that journalists ought to be the
agents of people, not the agents of
power.”
Out of all the appalling scenes
you have witnessed, which one has
affected you the most?
“It’s very important
that the Bush regime
fails in Iraq and is
forced to withdraw”
“I don't think there is a league
table. I am always affected by human
suffering and especially suffering
which has an identifiable political
cause. I then feel angry because the
suffering could have been averted.
Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. That's
I certainly felt that when I went to
Cambodia shortly after the fall of the
Pol Pot regime and found that the
POLITICS
Party and spend many years in the
political wilderness. Enda Kenny has
been dismissed in the past as a weak
leader and has also suffered from
being labeled as a politician lacking
in any real ambition. He has often
been referred to as the Brian Cowen
of Fine Gael. Both men are intelli-
gent and possess sharp wit. Both are
well liked and admired within their
party but often dismissed outside the
party ranks. Cowen is seen as dour
while Kenny is often seen as bland
and lackadaisical. Kenny has been a
7'VLQFHEXWQHYHUPDGHDQ\
real impression prior to becoming
party leader. His promise to electrify
the party when taking over as leader
LQKDVQRWEHHQWDNHQVHULRXVO\
However the main opposition
party has made steady progress under
Kenny’s leadership. Last year’s local
election results in which the party
performed far better than expected
shows how far the party has come
stricken country was being subjected
to an international embargo organised
by the Americans and helped by the
British. The suffering that this caused
and compounded from the years of
the Pol Pot regime barbarities cer-
tainly affected me.”
If you could interview anyone from
the the world of politics who would
you choose?
“I'd like to interview those who
wouldn't see me. Blair and Bush
would be a good pair, not together, I
think I might get indigestion. One in
the morning and one in the afternoon,
and I think I would regard my career
as having reached a new height or
depth depending on your point of
view.”
Do you despair for the future of
Iraq?
³1R,GRQ
there’s not much point, is there? I
mean whats the point of despair-
ing? It’s sort of like those people
under him. They came within nine
seats of Fianna Fail’s total in the
local election. In the European elec-
tions they gained a seat and returned
five MEPs to the European parlia-
ment. More recently in the Meath by-
election last March, Shane McEntee
topped the poll to hold onto John
Bruton’s former seat. This electoral
success has given the party momen-
tum going into the next election and
they have a solid base to build upon.
The party is hoping that the local
election results are not a once-off
and are indicative of a growth in sup-
port for their party from the general
public.
Kenny hit all the right notes at the
party’s national conference, promis-
ing not to raise taxes if in govern-
ment. The party unveiled plans for a
pre-school childcare package expect-
HGWRFRVWPLOOLRQHXURDQQX-
ally. The party would offer parents
Last year’s local elec-
tion results in which
the party peformed bet-
ter than expected show
how far Fine Gael has
come under him
DGLUHFW\HDUO\SD\PHQWRI¼
for each child up to the time they
entered primary school. Kenny was
critical of wasteful public spending
and promised tax payers better value
for money in this regard. He made
it clear neither waste nor incompe-
tence would be tolerated in any Fine
Gael government. He claimed that
“anyone responsible for the like of
the PPARS health service computer
fiasco would be shown the door”.
Fine Gael know launching strong
attacks on the government are not
enough; they also have to devise
WKDWGHSHQGRQKRSH1R,FHUWDLQO\
grieve for the people who will die
unnecessarily in that country and
I refer to both Iraqis, Americans
“I'd like to interview
those who wouldn't see
me. Blair and Bush
would be a good pair,
though not together. I
think I might get
indigestion”
and British. It’s very important that
the Bush regime fails in Iraq and is
tant not only for Iraqis, but for many
other countries.”
Are you concerned for investigative
5
policies that are attractive to the pub-
lic and convince them that they are
a credible alternative government to
Fianna Fail. Certainly the agreed pact
with the Labour Party is a welcome
move since it gives the public a real
choice when they go to the polls,
unlike the last election ,when such an
agreement did not exist. Public confi-
dence in government is undoubtedly
low at present. The public are unhap-
py at the continuing crises in the
health service and the many promises
that the government have broken.
The muted public response to the
DPELWLRXV7UDQVSRUWSODQLQGLFDWHV
that the public do not believe that the
government can deliver. In addition
to this, by the time of the next elec-
tion the coalition government will
have been in power for nine years, so
the public may decide that they have
had their chance and that it’s time for
someone else with fresh ideas.
It would be foolhardy at this stage
to dismiss the coalition’s chances of
a third successive election victory.
They will be counting on the feel
good factor when the SSIAs mature
to win the party a significant number
of voters who will be keen to reward
the government who gave them thou-
sands of extra euros in their pockets.
The government will be stressing in
the coming months that during their
tenure we have seen unparalleled
economic growth and emphasizing
that they are currently working to
improve areas like the health service.
The opposition parties will point
out that although the economy is
doing well, people’s quality of life
KDVQRWLPSURYHG7KHUHDUHQRZ
months until the next election and
the intervening period promises to be
fascinating. Certainly the prospect of
Enda Kenny as Taoiseach after the
next election looks like a real pos-
sibility.
journalism?
“It’s always been a Cinderella but
it’s always come up trumps. Take,
for example, the work of Seymour
Hersh. Without his investigations
and exposés, we would be much the
poorer in our understanding of events
in Iraq. The problem with good
journalism and good investigative
journalism is, that if it finds a gener-
ous sponsor and a comfortable niche,
if you like, then it may end up not
being good investigative journalism
but may end up being corrupted. So
perhaps the investigative journalist
has to battle a bit harder to get his or
her work published.”
Which part of the world do you
plan on travelling to next?
“I am making a film in South
America next year and I'll be in
where I'll be next working.”
6 INTERNATIONAL
Volunteering for disaster
How much good are NGOs doing in Sri Lanka?
The legacy of last year’s tsunami in the Indian Ocean
H
as the phenomenon of ‘holi-
day volunteering’ become
another package experi-
HQFHLQWKHVXQWDUJHWLQJ\HDU
of international relief. He refers to
VXFK',<DLGDV³DUHFLSHIRUGLVDV-
ter”. He believes it is representative
of an ego driven response that ful-
Gayle Fitzpatrick explores
“Everything had been taken away
from these people. In taking away
the responsibility for cooking a fam-
ily meal you add insult to injury”.
Providing their own cooking kits
would seem to have been a bet-
ter option. “When we first set up,
I recruited every woman I met that
could speak English and sent them
into camps to ask other women what
they really needed. The male voices
will inevitably come through. What
they really wanted was underwear
and smocks for praying. They felt
physically defiled and wanted some
semblance of control over how
they looked.” He also points to the
HYHQWVLQ1HZ2UOHDQVDQGKRZWKLV
represents “the first major disaster
where the victims were able to speak
directly to the cameras in English.
The stories there were different in
that the complexities of the problems
were actually addressed.”
7KHH[LVWHQFHRIORFDO1*2VDUH
vital if international groups are to
work both efficiently and positively.
90 Degrees December 2005
WKHLGHQWLW\DQGORFDWLRQRI1*2V
and their activities. Jake Zarins from
3*FODLPVKHKDVEHHQDSSURDFKHG
on several occasions by private fee
driven projects hoping to unload their
paying customers to work with him.
Project Galle do not charge a fee
but ask that you look after your own
expenses. These companies which
he will not name, hoped that they
could take the credit for work that
took months of trust building with the
locals.
‘i-to-i volunteers’ is a private com-
pany based in Leeds that operates
‘meaningful travel’ trips for unskilled
YROXQWHHUVLQRYHUFRXQWULHV7KH\
also provide other options such as
media internships and paid TEFL
teaching placements. This small
business set up by a Leeds native,
Deirdre Bounds, has proved to be a
success in providing a different type
of holiday. ‘i-to-i’ has been providing
fee paying placements in Sri Lanka
since the tsunami aid effort began.
They co-ordinate with local groups
expressed disappointment. Shona
1LFKROVRQWKHUHIRUWZRZHHNVVXJ-
gested “For it to be really successful
the projects would need to be much
more structured than they currently
are. Although they told us that we
should be pro-active and take the
initiative, it’s actually quite hard for
a group of ten strangers to do this in
such a short period of time, with no
direction from the project manager.
Although at times the onsite project
manager for the local group Green
Forest Conservation seemed out of
his depth. On the first day we were
led into a classroom of children and
instructed to teach them. I felt that he
had also been abandoned by i-to -i.”
Although local groups are impera-
tive to an efficient aid effort that
understands the real need of the peo-
ple, any quality volunteering project
needs to supply support, leadership
and direction especially to unskilled
volunteers in a short term setting.
Cressida Eccelson, another volun-
teer on the same project, points to
olds, or is it a negative experience
the locals will never forget? While
Oxfam International has declared
DVDGHDGO\µ\HDURIGLVDVWHUV¶
the number of private companies
offering fee paying placements for
unskilled volunteering has almost
doubled in the last decade.
Take, for example, the Asian tsu-
nami and the numerous retrospec-
tive reports from the professional
1*2FRPPXQLW\WKHLPPHGLDWH
humanitarian assistance continues
to unravel as one blighted by a lack
of resources, often with unknown
companies offering undocumented
PHGLFDODLG1HDUO\WZHOYHPRQWKVRQ
unskilled volunteering has emerged
in the seemingly benign form of
‘community development’ in relation
to tsunami relief efforts.
Paddy McGuiness, a media execu-
tive for Concern, spent six weeks in
the badly effected region of Banda
Aceh, Indonesia in the initial stages
fills a need in an individual, rather
than the community. This can cause
problems in the long term: “Part of
the problem is that there are no bar-
riers. One American group came to
‘de-traumatise’ the turtles after the
tsunami. There has to be a distinction
with these groups between providing
an ‘experience’ and help solving the
problem.”
In Banda Aceh there was a signifi-
cant lack of local groups and indig-
enous partners for the International
1*2VWRZRUNZLWKWKRVHWKDWZRXOG
best understand the needs of the com-
PXQLW\7KH81KDVUHSRUWHGWKDW
it is on the strength of such groups
that future plans for disaster plan-
ning must rely. During the tsunami
there was an influx of charities and
specifically local university students
trying to set up food centres in a
canteen style. Mr McGuinness felt
that while this was well intentioned,
it perhaps did more harm than good:
³3URMHFW*DOOH´3*DUHD
local group that formed in the days
following the tsunami in the old
Dutch town of Galle in the South
West of Sri Lanka. They also found
that the “massive aid effort has been
impaired, by the absence of a com-
prehensive database of information
detailing the progress of reconstruc-
tion and rehabilitation in all affected
areas. This missing source hampers
the ability of relief agencies to coor-
dinate their efforts so as to minimize
duplication and maximize efficiency.”
Project Galle gave initial funding
to set up a ‘tsunami voices’ web-
site which provides a forum for the
organized exchange of this informa-
tion in Sri Lanka. In time they hope
to install Geographic Information
System(GIS) software which could
be used to provide accurate and
detailed information on areas where
medical facilities may be in need of
upgrade, and more importantly on
throughout the affected areas often
expanding to conservation projects
or community development as the
cleanup has become less urgent.
Rosin Fox from Galway has just
returned from eight weeks in Sri
Lanka with this private company
and remains frustrated that the rela-
tively new ‘tsunami relief work’ has
now been shut down in the Galle
region. The project has moved to
Coscoda near the Sri Lankan capital
of Colombo where an existing turtle
conservation project has been merged
with tsunami relief work.
“I don’t think they even told the
children that there would be no vol-
unteers coming on Monday. They just
seemed to have upped and left as it
was cheaper for them to maximize
existing accommodation already set
up in Coscoda.”
Other volunteers who were
involved on similar projects in Sri
Lanka for a shorter time period also
the absence of representation on the
ground: “i-to-i implies in its advertis-
ing that it is in control of the projects
it runs overseas, but hands volunteers
over to local organizations and does-
nít expect to hear from them unless
they get ill. I do feel together we
made a difference, but in spite of i-
to-i not because of them.”
Top of the list of improvements
recommended by the International
Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)
in their World Disasters Report
LVVXHGLQ1RYHPEHUZDVWKH
development of a system of accredi-
tation for international agencies
to ensure the work they are doing
matches their experience and also the
establishment of a global network of
professional volunteers. In any vol-
unteering capacity a universal code
of conduct is ‘Do no harm’. Without
implementing these systems, holiday
volunteering, left unregulated, could
be.

Fairly traded footwear

Can union-made trainers change the world? Aidan McKeown finds out
starting to see deterioration even in

C
oncerns about ethical
consumption have grown
steadily, as fairly traded
coffee and chocolate have made their
way onto the supermarket shelves.
But how about fairly traded clothing?
The international garment industry
has come under scrutiny, as produc-
tion moves to low-wage countries
with poor or non-existent labour
standards. Massachussets company
1R6ZHDWDLPVWRJXDUDQWHHWKH
rights of garment workers by sourc-
ing production for its line of trainers
only from unionized factories. Aidan
McKeown VSRNHWR$GDP1HLPDQ
the company’s founder.
You’ve said that by protect-
ing workers rights abroad, say in
Jakarta, Indonesia, you’re also pro-
tecting workers rights worldwide.
How do you explain that?
³:HGRQ¶WVHHWKLVDVD1RUWK6RXWK
issue. We see workers all over the
world sliding into this great global
sweatshop. We see a deterioration in
working conditions in the US. We’re
places like Europe and Australia.
What we see as the solution is for
consumers in the West to support
workers rights in the developing
world; that way we can raise incomes
in the developing world. And as we
do that, we protect incomes here in
the industrialised world.”
How do No Sweat sneakers differ
We see workers all
over the world sliding
into this great global
sweatshop. We see a
deterioration in work-
ing conditions in the
US, even in places like
Europe and Australia
in their manufacture from Nike’s or
Reeboks’?
:HDVNHG1LNHWRSXWIRUZDUG
the same information that we have, dimension is to your consumers? ODVW\HDU:HDUHQRZLQVWRUHV
about wages and benefits, and they Well that’s really what’s driving around the world, and it looks like
declined. So, we can pretty reasona- RXUVDOHV:HJUHZE\DERXW ZH¶OOEHLQFRQWLQHQWVE\WKHHQGRI
bly assume that they cannot remotely
match what we’ve got at the shop in
-DNDUWD2XUZRUNHUVKDYHKRV-
SLWDOLVDWLRQDQGKRVSLWDOLVDWLRQ
for their families. There is a signifi-
cant pension, there are paid holidays,
and there’s maternity leave. In fact,
most workers in the United States
don’t have those benefits. That’s one
of the objectives for our company: we
want consumers in the west, especial-
ly in the United States, to take a look
at the working conditions in Jakarta,
and look at the information sheet of
the wages and benefits which we put
right in the shoebox and say ‘Well,
gee, hospitalisation? I don’t have
that. Maybe I need a union too!’”
As you just said, each pair of
shoes comes with a card detailing the
conditions which the workers work
under. How important do you think
No Sweat: one of the first lines of ethically made trainers.
those working conditions, that ethical
December 2005 90 Degrees
Adventure guaranteed
Darragh Connolly goes down under in South America to discover la vida loca
The menacing Volcano Villarica
I
f white-water rafting, skiing,
volcano climbing and amazing
scenery, combined with excel-
lent inexpensive food and wine sound
more like your idea of a holiday than
sitting on a beach for two weeks,
perhaps it is time you considered an
adventure holiday. Having recently
taken such a holiday, a two week tour
of Chile and Argentina with GAP
adventures, I can thoroughly recom-
mend it.
The tour I took was categorised
as a ROAM tour, which is designed
around the independent traveller.
The structure of the tour is that there
LVDWRXUJXLGHDQGXSWRSHRSOH
per group. The tour guide organises
all the internal travel, accommoda-
tion and chosen activities while also
acting as an indispensable source of
local knowledge and expert translator.
The tours are arranged as sightsee-
LQJFXOWXUDOKROLGD\VZLWKRSWLRQDO
participation in outdoor activities.
There are a wide variety of activities
offered by independent operators in
the destination towns and cities and
travellers are free to choose which to
take. The tour guide proves a useful
September.
There really is an awareness all
around the world of how intercon-
nected we are, and how the circum-
stances of the workers in Indonesia
can affect the circumstances of work-
ers here. It’s a very, very small world.
One of the great dreams of the labour
movement was that it be a truly inter-
national movement. That dream was
VHWDVLGHIRUDERXW\HDUVGXULQJ
the Cold War. But now that the Cold
War is over, and we’re confronting
this globalised capitalism, the only
response that we see as viable is a
globalised labour movement.
You’ve coined the term ‘the cool
“Cool bosses get older;
they get bought out,
and they sell out. After
the entrepreneurial
phase, the managment
phase sets in”
UHVRXUFHKHUHDVKHVKHZLOOHLWKHU
have tried all activities or have relia-
ble reports on them. Accommodation
is basic but comfortable, on a bed &
breakfast basis.
Participants normally range
Chile’s capital,
Santiago, has a
surprisingly Irish
flair, with names
like O’Higgins and
McKenna
widely in age, gender, marital status
and nationality. The tour started in
Santiago de Chile, the capital of
Chile. Santiago is an old city, with
a lot of history. It has a surprisingly
Irish flair, and the names O’Higgins
and McKenna are very noticeable.
Santiago is overlooked by a statue of
the Virgin Mary, located on a large
hill which sits at the edge of the
city and provides a backdrop to the
Andes.
“Now that we’re con-
fronting this globalised
capitalism, the only
response that we see as
viable is a globalised
labour movement”
boss’, and applied it especially to the
technology sector. As you describe it,
the attitude is ‘We don’t need unions,
we’ve got ponytails’. So why doesn’t
the ‘cool boss’ suffice. Why are
unions necessary?
Well, cool bosses get older, as
we found here in the United States.
They get bought out, they sell out,
and after the entrepreneurial phase
that a company goes through, the
management phase sets in. Then the
bean counters come along and the
beans count for more than the human
beings. The wages and the benefits
get cut and cut, and if there’s not a
INTERNATIONAL
Six hours on a bus from Santiago
brought our group to the town of
Pucon, located in the Chilean Lake
District. A snow-covered mountain
spewing smoke greets us long before
we enter the town. This is Volcano
Villarica and is the dominant feature
of the Pucon tourist industry. The
volcano is located in a nature reserve
and features a ski slope on its side.
Given the choice between hiking up
or skiing down the mountain, the
entire group chose to climb it. On the
first two days the weather was unsuit-
DEOHIRUKLNLQJWRPHWUHVEXW
various other activities were avail-
able, including white-water rafting,
horse riding, zip-lining and quad-bik-
ing.
Our third and final day in Pucon
brought better weather and the
chance to climb an active volcano.
Before setting out we were equipped
with full hiking clothing and equip-
ment and after a short drive to the
Chile’s Volcano
Villarica features a ski
slope on its flanks
foot of the mountain our climb began.
Eight hours later, with numerous
pairs of sore limbs and one possible
concussion, our tired and cold group
returned to the bus for the trip back
to town. The hike was a lot tougher
than we had expected and poor
weather leading to icy and foggy con-
ditions made the five hour uphill hike
tougher than normal. It was worth
doing for the experience and the need
to never do it again, but it took a day
A day’s ski pass and
equipment rental
FRVWVOHVVWKDQ¼LQ
Argentina’s Bariloche
resort
or two for this reality to override the
memories.
union there to stand up for the work-
ers, that’s going to be a problem.
The other advantage to unions is that
unions affect wages and working
conditions across the board. It was
unions who lobbied for minimum
wages and health care benefits and
such like in the developed world.
And without that lobbying, none
of those conditions would exist. So
by leveling the playing field so that
workers across the board have these
“Unions affect wages
and working condi-
tions across the board;
unions lobbied for
minimum wages and
health care benefits”
benefits it really makes it much
easier for a ‘cool boss’ to stay cool.
That way, workers don’t have to just
The next stop was Puerto Varas,
with a day trip to island of Chiloe.
Then we headed for Argentina. The
trip across the border is a long but
beautiful one with the road meander-
ing through the Andes. The neces-
sary passport checks completed,
we entered Argentina and our bus
Argentinians tradition-
ally don’t go out to eat
until 11pm and bars
don’t fill up until after
this
wound on to the town of Bariloche.
Bariloche must surely be one of
the most beautiful places on Earth.
It is a major domestic ski resort in
Argentina, making it a perennially
busy town in winter. Skiing here is
extraordinarily inexpensive, for peo-
ple earning euros, with a day’s ski
pass and equipment rental costing
OHVVWKDQ¼
Finding a good restaurant in
Bariloche seems to be as difficult
as finding a bar serving Guinness in
Dublin, and Alberto’s steak house is
definitely worth a visit for the car-
nivores out there. Steak restaurants
take their steak very seriously in
Argentina, and the food is prepared
by a Grill Master, not a chef. In
Alberto’s, the Grill Masters oper-
ate in the centre of the restaurant.
Be prepared for late eating though.
Argentineans do not traditionally go
RXWWRHDWXQWLOSPDQGEDUVDUH
relatively empty until after this.
Bariloche also offered the first
,ULVKEDU,KDGVHHQLQGD\VDQG
an abundance of locally produced
chocolate. The chocolate shops will
make you feel like a child in Roald
Dahl’s most famous book, such is
the variety of colour, scent and taste
available.
Having never skied before, but
always wanted to, the chance to try
was one I gladly took. There were
two others in the group in the same
boat as me, so we all signed up for
pray that someday they get a job with
a cool boss .
How do you see the future playing
out, both for No Sweat and for the
ethical consumption movement?
I think it’s going to be huge actu-
ally. I think that really this is going
to be transformative of the entire
HFRQRP\,IWKHUH¶VRURI
the population that seriously cares
about these issues, that can affect
WKHUHVWRIWKHHFRQRP\1RQHRIWKH
brands are willing to concede that
much market share, so in order for
them to compete, they’re going to
have to improve their labour condi-
tions as well.
7
ski lessons. The views from the
slopes were truly breathtaking, and
my only regret is that I did not have
the opportunity to return for another
day.
Buenos Aires, the Argentine capi-
tal, was our next and final destina-
tion. Half of the group elected to fly
from Bariloche while six of us stuck
to the itinerary and took the nineteen
hour bus trip. Arriving in Buenos
Aires surprisingly refreshed and
well slept, we travelled to our hotel.
Immediately struck by the size of the
city, and the amount of traffic, I liked
Buenos Aires. It felt good to be in a
city after ten days in rural areas.
One piece of advice
for anyone travelling
to South America is
to learn some basic
Spanish
Buenos Aires has everything a
tourist could desire. Shopping, sight-
seeing, tango lessons and shows, fine
dining, pubs and nightclubs. The city
is quite easy to navigate as there is a
good subway system for a minimal
cost and a huge main street running
through the city from which all sub-
sidiary streets feed. As with most
areas of South America there seems
to be a plethora of shops selling the
ssame items.
One piece of advice I would give
to anyone before travelling to South
America is to learn some basic
Spanish as I felt not being able to
communicate properly with the locals
did hinder me somewhat.
If you have never considered book-
ing an adventure holiday, I would
recommend doing so. If you are pres-
ently considering one, I would advise
you to book in the near future. If
your experience is anything like mine
you will see spectacular places, eat
delicious food, drink excellent wine
and meet some fantastic like-minded
independent travellers.
Buying NoSweat
Through NoSweat:
www.nosweatapparel.com/
shop.htm
Or go to Fair Deal Trading:
www.fairdealtrading.com
In the Republic, you can
order them through:
Amnesty International
Fleet Street
Temple Bar
Dublin 2
In Belfast, you can buy
direct from
Fair Trade in Spires
Unit 35, Townsend Enterprise
Park
28 Townsend Street
Belfast, Northern Ireland
BT13 2ES
8 TECHNOLOGY 90 Degrees December 2005

Literate listening
Podcasting looks set to revolutionise the way we listen to music, catch up on
the news, and even ‘read’ books. Fiona Ferguson tunes in
1
ext time you travel on the
train or the bus take a look
around you. Some of those
people sporting the ear phones may
not be listening to the new releases
from Coldplay or GoldFrapp on their
iPods – they may be catching up on
the latest from the Big Apple with the
1HZ<RUN7LPHV
Once the province of long car
journeys or the visually impaired,
audiobooks have been enjoying a
resurgence thanks to a cost effec-
tive and portable way to access them
– via the Internet and the ubiquitous
MP3 player.
Audio books are a small but
growing portion of the overall book
market. Speaking to Reuters at the
Frankfurt Book Fair in October
Penelope Liechti, export manager
for audio books at the BBC said “We
Strange and Mr. Norrell to Michael Korzen acknowledges this and says
Moore’s Dude, Where’s my Country? “We try to focus on unabridged, but
to an audio version of Little Britain.the majority of the UK audio book
There are drama, languages and publishers work in abridged… We
radio programs available, as well as know that our listeners prefer una-
some original content from Audible bridged and we work towards provid-
– including standup from Robin ing them.”
Audible offers both once-off
Williams and interviews with mov- purchases and a variety of subscrip-
ers and shakers in the tion programs which allow you to
business world, download a book and magazine, or
such as Steve two books per month. The popular
Jobs. “Premium Listener” program,
“In the UK which allows you to
site we have download two books
RYHU a month, works out
actually pretty cost effectively
at 22 euro per month.
This represents a sub-
stantial saving over the
more expensive tradition-
al tape and CD formats.
file format. Audible supplies a list of Store, other providers are popping up
“AudibleReady” media players which on the Internet. Time Warner Audio
includes the iPod, Palm OS handheld, Books, for instance, sells several
Pocket PC as well as most Creative of its bestsellers such as the Dalai
media players. Lama’s autobiography in Windows
Slightly confusingly, the audio Media Audio format.
An illegal audiobook version of
You can now leave your Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
media player plugged Prince was available within hours of
its release but if you want to try out
in overnight, set up this format legally for free check out
HLWKHUZZZJXWHQEHUJRUJDXGLRRU
Audible Manager to www.audiobooksforfree.com, both
sychronise with your of which have audio versions of out-
of-copyright classics from Charles
online library, and Dickens, Joseph Conrad and Oscar
listen to the morning Wilde available for free (and legal!)
download.
paper on your way to Looking to the future, Audible
work has plans for wireless delivery of its
content to Palm’s Treo smart phones,
thereby bypassing the computer alto-
H[SHFWDSHUFHQWPDUNHWJURZWK <RXFDQEURZVHWKURXJK LWVHOIFDQEHGRZQORDGHGLQIRUPDWV gether.
in audio book sales across continental the content available and of varying quality. These range from “We are up and running in the states
(XURSHLQ´ then add selected items to WHOHSKRQHOLQHTXDOLW\IRUPDW Once the province of
This growth is expected to come “My Library”, where your through FM radio quality (format 3)
not just from the traditional books
on tape and CDs that appear in book
shops, but also through new Internet
distribution channels, which are
growing in popularity.
The market leader Audible.com
opened its doors to the UK and Irish
market with the launch of its UK
site Audible.co.uk in the summer
of this year. With a combined total
RIFXVWRPHUVZRUOGZLGH
Audible has been in business in the
8QLWHG6WDWHVVLQFH
Subscribers can download best-
GHYLFHV<RXFDQQRZ every day, which is not uncommon
selling books, newspapers and maga-
zines onto a variety of portable audio
players including the iPod and the
Creative Zen Touch; alternatively,
they can listen via audio stream on
their PC.
Content on the site ranges from
the magical bestseller Jonathon
purchased items are perma-
nently available to you. One can
listen to samples of the content
before committing yourself to pur-
chasing or subscribing.
To access Audible’s content you
must download and install software
called Audible Manager. This man-
ages the transfer of the audio content
approach- from your online library to your PC,
LQJ and from that onto a portable device.
titles”
The popular Creative Alternatively, it allows you to burn
says Zen Touch MP3 player the content to CD should you so
Jonathon wish, cleverly inserting tracks every
Korzen, Director of Business seven minutes to allow you to move
Development at Audible.co.uk. “We back and forward through the book.
DUHDGGLQJSHUKDSVQHZWLWOHVD Most of the books will require seven
month or so”. or more CDs, as a CD holds just
The major issue some people have RYHUPLQXWHVZRUWKRIDXGLRERRN
with audio books is the fact that content.
many are abridged or summarized to Unfortunately, not all players are
cut down the running time. Jonathon compatible with Audible’s proprietary
WR03TXDOLW\IRUPDWZKLFK\RX
choose depends on how much space
you have available and which for-
mats your media player is compatible
with. For example, the Ipod Shuffle
ZLOOSOD\IRUPDWVWRZKLOHWKH
&UHDWLYH1RPDG0X9RZLOOSOD\RQO\
formats 2 and 3.
In June, Audible entered the pod-
casting arena, enabling the content
RISHULRGLFDOVVXFKDV7KH1HZ<RUN
Times and The Wall Street Journal
to be delivered automatically to its
FXVWRPHUV
leave your media player plugged in
overnight, set up Audible Manager to
sychronise with your online library,
and listen to the morning paper on
your way to work.
While Audible remains the top
provider of spoken-word content at
Amazon and the Apple iTunes Music
long car journeys or
the visually impaired,
audiobooks have been
enjoying a resurgence
thanks to the ubiqutous
03SOD\HU
with a program called AudibleAir”
says Jonathon Korzen. “Let’ s say
\RXKDYHDPLQXWHGULYHWRZRUN
IRU$PHULFDQFRPPXWHUV<RXFDQ
VHWXSDKRXUORQJDXGLRERRNWR
ZLUHOHVVO\DUULYHLQPLQXWHLQFUH-
ments on your smart phone. So then
it would top off your audio with the
QH[WPLQXWHVRQDGDLO\EDVLV´
Sure beats listening to breakfast
radio!

Www.revolutiononline.ie
Can online advocacy spur e-activism? Aidan McKeown logs on to find out more
On their website, you can select your
constituency from a list, tick the
boxes beside the name of TDs who
you want to contact, and send them
a form e-mail. If you’re feeling more
ambitious, the charity encourages
you to make your own changes to the
e-mail. And it asks you to forward
the the e-campaign details to your
friends.
So far, the e-campaign has gener-
DWHGHPDLOVWR7'VDVWKH
website will inform you). “It’s a
way of communicating the issue to
a widespread audience without hav-
ing to do a lot of ground work” says
FOE Climate Change website )RFXV,UHODQG¶V5RXJKDQ0F1DPDUD
The advent of online advo-
they “weren’t reaching the public”.
Having found that e-mail was “such
a fast and effective” way of reach-
ing their membership, developing
their Internet use made sense. That’s
ZKHUHZHEGHYHORSPHQWFRPSDQ\
Degrees came in. Where precisely
online advocacy took off in Ireland
is hard to pin down, but certainly the
Sligo-based company has been one of
the key players in its development.
Eugene Flynn says of the genesis
of their approach, “A client wanted
to create awareness about a particular
campaign, so we proposed a web-
based viral campaign solution. What
we do is we connect constituents with
political representatives. It’s hard to
councilor in Wicklow, stood for elec-
WLRQWRWKH'DLOLQWKHJHQHUDO
election. She received some of the
HPDLOVVHQWRQEHKDOIRIWKH
ICTRG’s VAT campaign. “It was
very effective” she recalls. “Because
all the e-mails were sent to me from
constituents with Wicklow addresses,
I took it a lot more seriously”.
Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the
Earth (FOE) agrees: “We know
that what TDs respond to more
than anything else is communica-
tion from their own constituents.”
FOE launched their Climate Change
Pledge campaign some months ago,
designed to get TDs to pledge their
support for reducing greenhouse gas

W
hen was the last time
you sat down and wrote
a letter to one of your
TDs or local councilors? Ok, let’s
backtrack: can you even name your
TDs or your local councillors? All
of them? Aware that they’re dealing
with an increasingly time-poor and
politically unengaged population,
charities and lobby groups are turning
to the Internet to make the lobbying
process as effortless as possible.
For instance, Focus Ireland’s Right
to a Home campaign is calling for
government action to tackle the ris-
ing numbers of homeless in the State.
FDF\LVUHODWLYHO\UHFHQW1LDPK
1t&KRQJKDLOHFKDLURIWKH,ULVK
Charities Tax Reform Group
(ICTRG) recalls how they got
involved. The group, an umbrella
group of charities campaigning
for vat-exempt status, realized that
ignore your voters; you wouldn’t be
in your job otherwise.”
It would seem that for any cam-
paign, getting voters to target their
own constituency politicians, at local,
Dail, or European level, is essential.
Deirdre De Burca, a Green Party
emissions. Coghlan outlines the bene-
fits to the charity of going online: “It
was the way for us as a new organi-
sation to go. For a small investment
and a small amount of maintenance
you can have a dynamic and impact-
ful campaign.”
December 2005 90 Degrees
Citizen journalism
Gerard Matthews looks at the changes in how we get our news
V1DWLRQDO*XDUG Online ads (along with Google's
T
he July 7th bombings on the
London transport system
was the latest in a number
of recent examples that mark a fun-
damental shift in the way news is
JDWKHUHGDQGGLVVHPLQDWHG:LWKLQ
minutes of the attack, grainy images
of the disaster began appearing on
broadcast news stations. These imag-
es, some taken with ubiquitous cam-
era phones, were the latest example
of what some have termed “citizen
journalism”.
7KH%%&UHSRUWHGWKDWE\
o’clock on the morning of July 7th
WKH\KDGUHFHLYHGRYHULPDJHVDQG
video files which had been posted to
their websites by eyewitnesses. This
demonstrated an increasing media-
savviness among the general public,
with the immediacy of a given situ-
ation generating huge excitement
amongst ordinary men and women.
In an era where virtually everyone
carries a camera, the possibility
of everything being recorded and
posted is very real, be it disasters
RUFHOHEULW\LQGLVFUHWLRQV1RWWKDW
this means that every event will be
covered equally and objectively.
But simply applying new technol-
ogy isn’t enough. TechnoFutures
is the web development company
behind the Climate Change Pledge
ZHEVLWH7RP'XNHIURPWKH1RUWK
Dublin company. says of online
advocacy: “As more and more
websites go out there, it might not
have the same impact. If you’re not
inventive about how you do it, it’s
going to fall by the wayside.” FOE
are already looking to how their cam-
paign will develop. Oisín Coghlan
points out that anyone who has used
their website has also been asked to
sign up for regular updates “so the
next thing might be we ask them
to text or e-mail the Minister for
the Environment before he goes to
Montreal, for example”.
He maintains that “the main way
of actually getting people active will
be through e-mailing our support-
ers and getting them to e-mail their
friends”. This electronic word-of-
Last year there was some annoyance
that reporting of the Asian tsunami
was overly biased towards tourist
resorts, where most Western visitors
with their video cameras and mobile
phones were based. This was in spite
of the fact the greatest devastation
had occurred in areas not typically
visited by westerners.
One of the chief attractions of the Internet as
a news source is its uncensored nature. Clearly
this can prove itself as much of a weakness as
a strength. Copyright, piracy, questions of taste
and libel are all ignored by this new conduit of
information
This new phenomena poses big
questions for the traditional “main-
stream” media. The BBC and other
large broadcaster now routinely pro-
vide links to the best blogs and image
sites such as Flickr. Typically these
links will sit alongside their regular
filed stories offering readers a wide
range of opinions, legitimate or not,
on a particular topic. In the United
mouth approach is much more effec-
WLYH³,I,ZULWHWRSHRSOHZKR
don’t know me, they’ll consider it
VSDP%XWLISHRSOHZULWHWR
people, they’ll take it seriously”.
Such reliance on e-mail means that
FOE needs a serious e-mail database.
According to Coghlan, older organi-
sations may have thousands of mem-
bers, but only a few hundred e-mail
addresses. By contrast, Friends of the
(DUWKDLPVWRJHWWKHHPDLOVRI
of its supporters.
With a working e-mail database,
the campaigning options are wide
open. Tom Duke has studied the
growth of online advocacy in the
USA. He says “they find that the
most successful campaigns are the
ones that follow the news cycle.”
When an event occurs, campaigners
can e-mail their e-activists, and get
them to put pressure on politicians
while the issue is hot on the media
DJHQGD³<RXFDQGRWKDWPXFKEHWWHU
TECHNOLOGY
States, Fox corporation are working
to make as much of their content
freely available in a bid to corner any
perceived future market.
One of the chief attractions of
the Internet as a news source is its
uncensored nature. Clearly this can
prove itself as much of a weakness as
a strength. Copyright, piracy, ques-
tions of taste and libel are all ignored
by this new conduit of information.
In these early days, it is tempting to
speculate how the web might mature
over the coming years, if at all. Will
it supplant or sit alongside traditional
media? Or will the overwhelming din
of discordant voices drown out any
serious message?
'XULQJWKH86SUHVLGHQWLDO
with e-mail: you can get something
out within the hour of something
happening in the news”.
So is traditional campaigning
dead? According to Eugene Flynn,
online advocacy will never replace
traditional campaigning for the sim-
ple reason “there are always going
to be people who simply don’t have
access to the Internet”.
Focus Ireland views e-campaign-
ing as just one tactic in a broader
UHSHUWRLUH5RXJKDQ0F1DPDUD
PDLQWDLQV³<RXtYHJRWWREHGRLQJ
the more serious side of the lobbying
thing as well where you’re actually
sitting down with the politicians.”
The subject of the campaign also has
to be taken into account: “On more
marginalized issues like homeless-
ness I don’t think a [web] campaign
by itself is going to achieve change”.
FOE view their online campaign as
part of a progression; Oisín Coghlan
proposes that e-activists will, over
HOHFWLRQRYHUPDLQVWUHDP
journalists were officially registered
to follow George Bush’s journey
to a second term. Alongside these
however were thousands of unofficial
commentators assiduously recording
every twist and turn of the election
for an online audience, sometimes
many, sometimes few. Described
disparagingly by a CBS executive as
“people writing in their pyjamas”, the
disparate group of bloggers not only
commented on the agenda set by the
networks, but crucially, on occasion,
set the agenda for the networks to
follow.
:KHQ&%6UHOHDVHG\HDUROG
documents casting questions about
3UHVLGHQW%XVK
service, conservative bloggers imme-
diately began challenging the reliabil-
ity of the documents. Rewriting the
papers on modern word-processing
software, one blogger found similar
line margins, type size, breaks, tab
stops. This cast doubt on whether the
documents had been prepared on a
ZRUGSURFHVVRULQ:LWKLQGD\V
this had become one of the biggest
stories of the campaign; first being
picked up by the Drudge Report and
then the networks. It ended with an
embarrassing climbdown by veteran
CBS anchor Dan Rather. This role of
unofficial fact-checker would have
been unthinkable at the last presiden-
tial election.
Weblogs are proving not only
crucial to established democracies,
but in the long-term some believe
they could have the biggest impact
on emerging democracies. By their
nature, they are the essence of global
communication and internetworking.
Bloggers read online news sources
that interest them. They link to these
sites and then on to others. Making
comments, dissecting facts and occa-
sionally banding together in numbers
large enough to push through a set
agenda or reveal untruths.
When racist comments were made
by American Senator Trent Lott that
went on the whole unreported in the
mainstream media outlets, bloggers
seized on them leading to widespread
publicity. The media attention and
time, be encouraged to expand into
more traditional forms of campaign-
ing: visiting a TDs clinic, for exam-
ple.
So what does the future hold?
Tom Duke says “I think you’ll see
more and more of it happening.
The traditional party political sys-
tem isn’t as strong as it used to be.
<RXQJHUSHRSOHWHQGWRIHHOPRUH
issue based. So I think you’ll see
more groups taking advantage of the
way that younger people are politi-
cally involved, around issues rather
than parties. The Internet lends itself
very much to that.” If the nature of
politics is changing, so too is the
image of the political campaigner.
According to Duke, we’ll see more
of “the political campaigner sitting
in their underpants at eleven o’clock
at night, rather than the party hack
going door to door with leaflets. It’s
a different way of doing it. But it’s
just as valid”.
9
Blog Highlights
Scoops
Russ Kick’s scoop on US military
suppression of pictures of troop
coffins
www.thememoryhole.org
Fakes
Plain Layne, the highly personal
blog of supposed lesbian Layne
Johnson. Check out the fake Bill
Clinton and Andy Kaufman blogs
as well.
www.plainlayne.dreamhost.com
www.billclintondailydiary.blog-
spot.com
Going pro
automated ad server) allow popu-
lar bloggers to go pro. Political
blogger Joshua Micah Marshall,
claims to make $5,000 a month
from banner ads:
www.talkingpointsmemo.com
Start one yourself
The most popular service is
Google’s Blogger. Microsoft has
launched a trial version of its own
blogging service.
www.blogger.com
www.spaces.msn.com
(TIME magazine)
public scrutiny that ensued led to his
resignation as Republican leader of
the US Senate.
Another example is the massive
growth of blogs detailing and argu-
ing about the war in Iraq – this has
been described as the "warblog-
ging". While traditional media in
the US offer scant details and often
only one-dimensional stories, blogs
- some directly from Iraq - encour-
aged debate and argument on a global
scale.
So where for the future?
Supplementing traditional media and
fact -checking seem to be where we
are today. How long can it be before-
old world media are supplanted by
this technological new wave.
Online campaign sites
Friends of the Earth Climate
Change Pledge site:
www.climatepledge.ie
54 Degrees: One of the pio-
neers of online advocacy in
Ireland
www.54degrees.com
Technofutures:
www.technofutures.ie
Focus Ireland’s Right to a Home
campaign
www.focusireland.org/campaign.
php.
Irish Charities Tax Reform
Group, VAT campaign
www.vatcampaign.com
10
Dancing in the dark
Our sexual behaviour and lack of knowledge puts us at risk.
I
t is long since Ireland was seen
as a timid country that blindly
followed the moral stands of the
Catholic Church. When it comes to
premarital relationships, the country
has endorsed a more liberal gown
over the past decade. As in the rest of
Europe, it is now no longer a social
shame to engage in sexual relation-
ships before marriage. Or is it?
Official reports over the past three
years show a clear contrast between
liberal sexual behaviour among the
Irish population and the absence of
systematic health checks. A combina-
tion of poor public knowledge and
the scarcity of specialised health cen-
tres are at the root of this deficiency
in Irish society.
PHQDQGZRPHQZKR
Nearly one million
people in Ireland are
potentially threatening
their health and the
health of their partners
by engaging in unsafe
sexual practices
walk the streets of Ireland today may
be exposed to Sexually Transmitted
Infections (STI) by neglecting to
use contraception, according to data
drawn from population surveys by
the Crisis Pregnancy Agency on con-
traceptive use in unmarried, sexually
DFWLYHSHRSOHDJHGWR
Added to the count, consistent con-
traceptive users who don’t fall into
WKHSHUFHQWRIFRQGRPXVHUV±WKH
only contraception medically recog-
nised to protect against STIs – double
the figure of those at risk of encoun-
tering STIs. The majority of people
surveyed who admitted having had
unprotected sex also reported always
using contraceptives.
In all, nearly one million people
DJHG±LQ,UHODQGZKRDUH
unmarried and sexually active are
potentially threatening their health
and the health of their partners by
engaging in unsafe sexual practices.
As highlighted by a study from the
Crisis Pregnancy Agency, the current
promotion of contraceptive use is
widely targeted at preventing unwant-
ed pregnancies, at the expense of the
public not understanding the differ-
Fluoride: poison or panacea?
Should we be concerned about the fluoride in water?
W
e are encouraged to drink
two or more litres of water
a day in order to stay
healthy but could we be polluting our
bodies with toxins in the process?
Research has shown that boys
EHWZHHQWKHDJHVRIILYHDQGZKR
ERQHV1RZZHUHDG “is currently examining the regula-
are exposed to fluoride in tap water
will suffer an increased rate of oste-
osacroma - bone cancer - between
WKHDJHVRIDQG'ULQNLQJ
fluoridated water has also been linked
to an increased rate of osteoporosis
– brittle bones - in women.
The research on the links between
bone cancer and fluoridation in
HEALTH
ence between using contraceptives
and being protected from STIs.
Currently, GPs are the main health
providers of contraceptive services in
Ireland and only ten family planning
clinics have been identified in the
whole of Ireland. Research in the UK
has shown however that dedicated
family planning centres are more
effective in informing patients about
sexual health issues than GPs.
“There is an information gap when
it comes to STIs, whereas the issue
of preventing unwanted pregnancies
gets more focused attention with our
campaign ‘Think Contraception’,
explains Caroline Spillane,
Programme Manager in the Crisis
Pregnancy Agency. “The vast major-
ity of GPs say they provide family
planning services. Whether they pro-
vide a comprehensive service or give
advice on the full range of contracep-
tives is unknown to us.”
Ireland has experienced an upsurge
in STIs in recent years, with phenom-
enal increases in chlamydia, gonor-
rhoea, infectious hepatitis B, syphilis,
trichomoniasis and ano-genital warts.
1HZGLDJQRVHVKDYHEHHQLQFUHDVLQJ
HYHU\\HDUVLQFH
Mortality rates by cervical can-
cer have also gone up and, with 77
deaths per year on average, they
now surpass those of the UK where
a decrease was noted since the
introduction of a national screening
SURJUDPPHLQ%\FRQWUDVW
the current Irish Cervical Screening
3URJUDPPHODXQFKHGLQZKLFK
is only in its premature phase, cov-
HUVDPHDJUHSHUFHQWRIWKHIHPDOH
SRSXODWLRQDJHGWRDQGUHTXLUHV
participants to register.
The dominance of
crisis pregnancy over
the issue of STIs in
public debates over
health risks misinform-
ing the public
While in most European countries
the rate of HIV has been decreasing
VLQFHWKHPLGVLQ,UHODQGTXLWH
the opposite has occurred. Between
DQGWKHGHWHFWLRQRIQHZ
cases in people residing in Ireland
increased threefold.
young men was carried out by Dr.
Elise Bassin at the Harvard School
of Dental Medicine and its find-
ings have been highlighted by the
Environmental Working Group, a
Washington based research organisa-
tion.
Research from the United States
has also linked over consumption of
fluoride to an increased possibility
of developing osteoporosis in later
life. Osteoporosis is a progressive
weakening of the bones leading to
increased risk of fracture which gen-
erally affects older women. Tablets
and chewing gum which contained
Unknown dangers: Irish people are putting themselves at risk from STIs
)XUWKHUPRUHZLWKSHUFHQWRI
WKRVHDIIHFWHGE\+,9LQEHLQJ
women, HIV is now predominantly
transmitted through heterosexual rela-
tionships. And since women suffering
an infection, even a non-sexually
transmittable one, raise their risk of
contracting HIV by four to five times
in comparison to men, it is clear that
the neglect of sexual health plays a
key part in the proliferation of this
deadly disease.
Overall, reported cases of STIs
KDYHLQFUHDVHGE\SHUFHQW
EHWZHHQDQG:LWKKLJKHU
UDWHVQRWHGLQSHRSOHDJHGWR
a correlation may well exist between
the outbreak of STIs and the changes
in social conduct associated with the
liberalisation of customs of the past
ten years or so. However, the evolu-
tion of sexual behaviour over time
is difficult to establish because no
national sexual health survey was
ever made and most studies in sexual
trends did not include unmarried
ZRPHQXQWLOWKHODWHV
,QSHUFHQWRIZRPHQZKR
discovered an STI found this out
when going for a pre-natal screening.
This suggests that many women don’t
enter the women’s healthcare system
until pregnancy. For many, the dif-
ficulty of access to specialised health
centres is an obstacle. But the ques-
fluoride were banned in Belgium for
this reason.
Ireland is the only country in the
EU that adds fluoride to the entire
public water supply. In our daily lives
we also ingest fluoride from many
other sources such as toothpaste,
mouthwashes and every soft drink,
beer or soup that is made using fluor-
idated water.
A widely accepted side effect of
drinking fluoridated water is fluoro-
sis, which dentists see everyday in
their practices, in which little white
lines or specks appear on the teeth’s
surface.
90 Degrees December 2005
Celia Zwahlen investigates
tionable adequacy of GPs as the main
institution for family planning also
accounts for the deficiency in sexual
healthcare.
Research shows that women expect
practitioners to be approachable,
non-judgemental and prefer female
doctors or somebody who doesn’t
know them when dealing with their
Reported cases of STIs
have increased by
SHUFHQWEHWZHHQ
DQG
intimate health. GPs on the other
KDQGDUHSHUFHQWPDOHRIWHQNQRZ
the patients’ family and neighbours,
and sometimes refuse to prescribe
contraception on the basis of personal
beliefs.
While the pitfalls of the nation’s
sexual health have been allowed
to develop for the past decade, the
government has taken concerned
action in the prevention of crisis
pregnancy with the introduction of
WKH&ULVLV3UHJQDQF\$JHQF\LQ
As Ireland has displayed the high-
est rates in teenage pregnancies in
(XURSHWKH6WUDWHJ\WR
Address the Issue of Crisis Pregnancy
promotes and advertises contracep-
Fiona Ferguson finds out
Speaking recently to The Irish
Times Dr Don MacAuley, chair-
man of Irish Dentists Opposing
Fluoridation (IDOF) said "as the teeth
are the windows of the skeleton we
question what this chemical is doing
WRRXUSDWLHQWV
more evidence that fluoride can cause
bone cancer while our health minister
plays a delaying game of forums and
expert groups."
A Forum on Fluoridation which
was established by the government
LQWRUHYLHZWKHIOXRULGDWLRQ
of public piped water supplies in
Ireland. One of its recommendations
tive use, but overshadows the issue
of STIs.
The dominance of crisis pregnancy
over the issue of STIs in public
debate risks misinforming the pub-
lic. The overwhelming emphasis on
contraception as a prevention tool
for unwanted pregnancy fails to rec-
ognise the distinction between the
concepts of using contraception and
protecting oneself against infections.
The apparent poor public aware-
ness on safe sexual practice combined
with the inadequacy of the healthcare
and public information available
demonstrate that a gap exists between
real social behaviour and the systems
in place. Perhaps a truly effective
public campaign for the prevention
of sexually transmitted infections is
delayed by the inevitable fact that the
public requires subsidised screening
services nationwide.
But the current efforts of the
Health Promotion Unit to place
advertisements behind the closed
toilet doors of popular venues hardly
seems to spark an open dialogue.
$SSUR[LPDWHO\SHUFHQWRIWKH
population in Ireland is sexually
active.
was that the level of fluoride in water
supplies should be reduced.
A Department of Health spokes
person has confirmed that an expert
body which is overseeing the imple-
mentation of the recommendations
tions governing fluoridation of public
piped water supplies with the aim of
making proposals for the purposes of
implementing the recommendation
of the Forum to reduce the level of
fluoride.”
Several county councils including
Dublin City Council and Donegal,
Sligo and Leitrim county councils
December 2005 90 Degrees HEALTH 11

Men behaving badly

Anita O’Donovan reviews the state of Irish men’s health, and finds it lacking
I
rish men, watch your waistline advocated by the European’s Men’s shows higher mortality among Irish
– this was the message from Health Forum (EMHF)-“There is a workers, from a host of diseases,
the Irish Cancer Society as part need for policy to be formulated that including cancer. Men’s health was
of Male Cancer Action week. An is gender-sensitive - gender must noted to be of specific concern in this
DODUPLQJRI,ULVKPHQDUHDERYH become ‘mainstream’ ”. The Forum’s study.
QRUPDOZHLJKW±RYHUZHLJKWDQG report on the state of men’s health The development of the traditional
REHVH+RZHYHUPDQ\DUHLQ DFURVV(XURSHDQFRXQWULHVLQFOXG- heterosexual male identity, coupled
GHQLDODERXWWKLV2QO\RIWKRVH ing Ireland, found “marked inequali- with the lack of a self-nurturing
surveyed by the Irish Cancer Society ties” between men and women. attitude from early teens leads to a
actually admitted a weight problem, To reflect the growing needs of worrying pattern of avoidance of the
while none felt they were obese. men in Irish society, the Irish Cancer Primary Healthcare facilities for most
The link between obesity and Society group, “Men Against Cancer” males.
cancer risk is well known, but the (MAC), has been recruiting and train- To tackle the issue of increased
majority of men do not engage ing extra volunteers to run its nation- cancers in males, this pattern needs
in risk-reducing behaviour in this al helpline. This organisation is a to be countered. The Irish Cancer
regard. The lack of physical activity support group for men with any type Society is working to improve this,
DQGSURSHUGLHWDUHWREODPHRI of cancer, and is provided by former however, and to promote aware-
men surveyed did not know the rec- patients. A volunteer with MAC, ness of male cancers. In addition to
ommended daily consumption of fruit Mr Eamonn Donnelly, has noted the
and vegetables, while only one-third increased number of calls from men,
of men actually met this requirement. over the past number of years. Mr “Boys and young men
Men are especially vulnerable to Donnelly, who is also a lecturer with continue to be social-
JDLQLQJZHLJKWLQWKHLUODWHVDQG the Retirement Council of Ireland,
HDUO\VDQGDFFRUGLQJWRWKH:RUOG had this to say about men’s health ised to appear in con-
Health Organisation, should aim to behaviour. “Men in their fifties and trol, to be strong and
keep their waist measurement below sixties are pretty poor about preventa-
37 inches. tive healthcare…….are not in tune to take risks; thus rein-
,Q,UHODQGPHQDUHGLDJ- with their bodies….They wouldn’t forcing their exposure
nosed with cancer each year, the most have the same awareness that a
common being prostate, bowel, lung, woman would have.” Amazingly, to illness and acciden-
skin and testicular cancers. Male there have been cases, which MAC
bowel cancer patients were shown to has experienced, where some men
tal deaths”
have a worse prognosis than women thought that a woman could get pros-
LQWKHODVW1DWLRQDO&DQFHU5HJLVWU\ tate cancer too. This highlights their devoting Cancer Awareness week to
report. Male colorectal cancer relative lack of awareness of common this problem, the organisation has
SDWLHQWVKDGDSRRUHUVXUYLYDO health issues. published “The Manual”, especially
than their female counterparts. Irish It is well known that Irish men, in for men, which is available nation-
men, who have the second highest comparison to women, are not fre- wide, in G.P. clinics, or directly from
rate of bowel cancer in Europe, not quent users of the health service. As The Irish Cancer Society. This pub-
only fare worse in the health system, Dr. Stephen Mulvey, a Dublin-based lication, produced in the format of a
but also seem to lack awareness of G.P. commented: “Men are much less car workshop manual, presents infor-
common health signs and symptoms, likely to come to their G.P.….and mation on common male cancers,
DFFRUGLQJWRDUHSRUW0HQ generally tend to come later for most signs and symptoms, in a manner,
and Cancer. Barometer Research. things”. This is not only an Irish which might appeal to men. There
Behaviour and Attitudes October problem, although Irish men have is a macho element to the publica-

66 percent of Irish
men are above normal
weight
The Tanaiste, Ms Mary Harney,
has been heavily criticised in the
past, following the publication of the
Feasta report “Growth: The Celtic
Cancer”. This report found an over-
all deterioration in the health of Irish
people, as a result of the economic
ERRPSHULRGRIWKHV
As with most publications on
health, the findings are presented in a
‘gender-neutral’ manner, but it seems
that men’s health has deteriorated the
most. Howver, this is not confined to
cancer incidence.
have adopted motions asking the
Minister for Health to suspend fluori-
dation.
The fluoride added to our water
originates as hydrofluosilicic acid, a
by-product of the fertilizer industry,
sold to Ireland by a Finnish company.
Ironically fluoridation in Finland was
KDOWHGLQZKHQKHDOWKVWXGLHV
identified a link between water fluori-
dation and osteoporosis.
The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) ranks fluoride with a
KLJKHUWR[LFLW\WKDQOHDG6LQFH
all toothpaste in the United States
containing fluoride must come with
Picture reproduced by courtesy of The Irish Cancer Society
“Men’s Health in Ireland”, a
report by the Men’s Health Forum
of Ireland (MHFI), was published
in January of last year. The impetus
for the report was the absence of a
strategic policy on men’s health in
this country, in comparison to wom-
en’s health, and the lack of structured
research in this area. A lengthy con-
sultation process followed, which
gave Irish men the opportunity to
have a voice in policy formation.
Although men were named as a target
population group, for the first time, in
the strategic planning of health pro-
motion and health care by the DoHC
LQDQGYHU\OLWWOHKDGEHHQ
done until recent times to implement
The fluoride in our
water is a by-product
of the fertiliser indus-
try
a warning advising those that swal-
low more toothpaste than is used for
brushing to contact a Poison Control
Centre.
Anti-fluoride activists have sued
cities in the United States for infring-
ing upon their rights claiming that
that fluoridation is a form of invol-
untary medication which they say is
these initiatives.
Some of the principal findings of
the “Men’s Health in Ireland” report
included a higher level of health
damaging behaviours in men, than in
women, under-researching in health
promotion, and lower life expectancy.
The issue of gender roles was also
addressed: “Boys and young men
continue to be socialised to appear
in control, to be strong and to take
risks; thus reinforcing their exposure
to illness and accidental deaths.” The
adoption of this role is seen as an
impediment to participation in posi-
tive health behaviours.
A gendered approach to health
promotion and increased awareness is
unethical.
An Irish pressure group, Fluoride
Free Water Ireland, claim that the
incidence of hip replacement due to
RVWHRSRURVLVLVWLPHVKLJKHULQWKH
5HSXEOLFRI,UHODQGWKDQLQ1RUWKHUQ
Ireland where the water is not fluori-
dated.
They also point to the fact that
fluoride acts on the teeth on a topical
basis and therefore there is no reason
that fluoride should be ingested and
allowed to cumulate in the body.
The Department of Health defends
fluoridation on the grounds that it has
transformed dental health in Ireland
one of the lowest life expectancies in
the E.U., according to the European
Men’s Health Forum. This pattern
of health behaviour has also been
noticed in Irish migrants to England
There have been cases,
where some men
thought that a woman
could get prostate can-
cer too. This highlights
their relative lack of
awareness of common
health issues
and Wales.
A recent study published by the
London Public Health Observatory
by strengthening our tooth enamel
DQGFRQWULEXWLQJWRDUHGXFWLRQ
in dental decay since its introduction
\HDUVDJR
However Ireland lies only sixth
place in Europe in dental decay sur-
veys and the five countries above us
don’t fluoridate their water at all.
,Q0DUFKWKHUHZDVHPEDU-
rassment for the government when
Green Party TD John Gormley asked
the Minister for Health at the time,
Micheal Martin, whether there was
any chromium present in the acid that
makes up the fluoride. Exposure to
the poisonous chemical hexavalent
tion, with phrases such as “getting
\RXU1&7´³IDXOW\IXHOLQMHFWRU´DQG
“poor combustion and backfire”.
The acknowledgement that men’s
health is a major problem in this
country, and the formation of gen-
der-specific health policy, coupled
with increased awareness campaigns
should go a long way towards
improving the health of the male
population. However, it should be
stressed that men themselves need
to be more proactive in this proc-
ess. They need to follow a healthier
lifestyle, and must be more aware of
early signs and symptoms of some of
the more common cancers. Ideally,
this should be a lifelong commitment
to better health, and not something
which begins at retirement.
chromium in drinking water formed
the plot of the motion picture Erin
Brockovich.
The Minster replied it was not
present but later had to apologise for
misleading the Dail when tests con-
firmed that it was indeed present.
Speaking about the Ministers
DSRORJ\RQD796SHFLDORQ
the Water Flouridation debate at the
time, John Gormley said “this doesn’t
LQVSLUHFRQILGHQFH«<RXEHJLQWR
realise that they don’t even know
what’s in the stuff.”
12 SPORT 90 Degrees December 2005

EL TEL FOR IRISH JOB?

Patrick Donohue reports that Irish
bookmakers are so convinced about
S
History
Terry Venables’ likely appointment Sudoku means
"numbers sin-
as Ireland manager that many have gly" in Japanese.
stopped taking bets on him becoming
u
First published
in 1979, Sudoku
Brian Kerr’s successor. initially caught on
in Japan in 1986

T d
he former England coach failed to register a win over any of and attained inter-
insists he has not been WKHZRUOG¶VWRSWHDPVLQFRPSHWL- national popular-
approached about the job tive fixtures. Ireland finished fourth ity in 2005 and is
although he insists that he would in their World Cup group, and out now published in

o
be interested if contact was made. of the top three teams in that group new- spapers and
Venebles has essentially sent out a only one, France, are above them in magazines world-
“come and get me” call to the FAI. the world rankings. The cause has not wide.
He is certainly a high profile figure been helped by retirement of experi- How to Play

k
with a proven reputation in manage- enced players such as Roy Keane and Every number
ment and would seem to be ahead of Stephen Carr. from 1 to 9 must
other candidates like John Aldridge Venables has been out of the game appear in each
and Steve Staunton for the position. VLQFHKHOHIW/HHGVLQ0DUFK horizontal and

u
Significantly, one of Irelands most after a disappointing eight month vertical row and in
high profile players, Richard Dunne, spell in charge of the club. He took each of the nine
has backed Venebles as a future Irish over in the midst of a financial crisis boxes.
manager. Dunne believes “Ireland and during his time in charge high
needs to get someone who can excite profile players Rio Ferdinand, Robbie
people and get the public behind the Keane, Oliver Dacourt and Lee Check out www.sudoku.com for tips and the solution!
team”. He believes that Venebles Bowyer all left due to the financial
fits the bill perfectly and if he per- chaos that engulfed the club.
forms the role Venables has
confidently, his a vast amount
appointment would of managerial
“go down well experience both
with the rest of the domestically and
squad”. Acording internationally.
to Dunne, two One of his most
players, Gary successful spells
Kelly and Ian as a manager
Harte, who played came when he
under him at Leeds guided England
would also give to the semi-finals
their backing to of the European
Venables. He states Championship
they enjoyed his losing out to
“training and tacti- eventual winner
cal ideas and he Germany in a pen-
seemed to treat eve-
“Lying is common alty shoot out. He
ryone with respect among the football fra- also had a spell in
and they felt he was charge of Australia
a good man to work ternity and Venables EHWZHHQDQG
for”. was a flawless practi- EXWUHVLJQHG
These sentiments when they failed
are echoed by other tioner of the art” WRUHDFKWKH
players who have Tom Bower World Cup.
worked with him Venables is cur-
and have nothing rently based in
but praise for the Spain where he
highly regarded coach. Respected is involved in the leisure club busi-
professionals like Gary Lineker and ness. He could combine both roles if
Gareth Southgate rave about his appointed given the part time nature
coaching abilities. Former Arsenal of international football management.
captain Tony Adams described him as Critics argue that it would be a mas-
being the “best coach he ever worked sive gamble for the FAI to offer him
under” and stated that “he was a great the job, as his record since he stepped
football man who knows his job in GRZQDV(QJODQGFRDFKLQKDV
depth”. not been particularly impressive.
While nobody doubts his abilities as Another factor that may count against
a manager, many question his integ- KLPLVKLVDJH+HLVDQGFDQQRW
rity. Tom Bower, in his acclaimed be seen as a long term appointment.
book, “Broken Dreams” started the The FAI hopes to have a new man-
first of three chapters on Venable's ager in place by February when their
excesses with the observation that ILUVWIL[WXUHRIWDNHVSODFH)$,
“lying is common among the football chief John Delaney insists that they
fraternity and Venables was a flaw- will not rush into appointing a new
less practitioner of the art” He cer- manager. Irelands most successful
tainly has a colourful past and has a period in international competition
WRWDORIFRQYLFWLRQVXQGHU%ULWDLQ¶V came when another English man-
Companies Directors disqualification ager, Jack Charlton, was in charge. It
act. However the Irish public will pay would appear that the FAI are set to
little attention to this if he succeeds take a chance on another Englishman
in reviving Ireland’s fortunes. in order to revive Ireland’s fortunes.
The task facing the future Irish boss
is big. At present Ireland is undoubt-
edly a team in decline. During Brian
Kerr’s reign as Irish coach, Ireland