Anti-war recital, Ireland Institute

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Thursday March 15, 2007 23:30 by Aine

11am, St Patrick's Day

Gearoid Mac Unfraidh presents a recital of his new piece Not in My Name - The Reply in the Irish Institute (27 Pearse St) at 11am on St Patrick's Day (Saturday 17 March). The piece was written to mark the fourth anniversary of the unlawful invasion of Iraq and in response to a speech made by Colonel Tim Collins to RIR troops in Iraq on 19 March 2003. The piece will be performed in English, Arabic and Irish.

Details below. All welcome.

Gearoid Mac Unfraidh presents a recital of his new piece Not in My Name - The Reply in the Irish Institute (27 Pearse St) at 11am on St Patrick's Day (Saturday 17 March). The piece was written to mark the fourth anniversary of the unlawful invasion of Iraq and in response to a speech made by Colonel Tim Collins to RIR troops in Iraq on 19 March 2003.

All welcome.

As Lieutenant Colonel (Commanding Officer) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army, Collins gave a rousing eve-of-battle speech to his troops in Iraq on Wednesday 19 March 2003. The speech was extemporised, and was recorded in shorthand by a single journalist. No recording or film of the speech appears to exist.

It was said that US President George W Bush subsequently had a copy of the speech tacked up on the wall of the Oval Office; and commentators claim to have detected a number of Biblical and Shakespearian influences.

The Reply “Not in my Name”, addresses the issue of the reality of war; the practice in some quarters of seeking to portray the war as a righteous conflict between Christians and Muslims; thus the title “Not in my Name”.

The so called Irish Regiment was given widespread media coverage in Ireland and Overseas over the St Patrick’s Day celebration giving rise to an image that the people of Ireland supported the unlawful invasion; thus the title “Not in My Name”.

The attitude of the West towards oil rich Iraq lies in sharp contrast to the attitude towards poorer countries in particular the plight of the Palestinians in occupied Palestine .

The piece will be read/performed by Mal Whyte and Alan King.

The piece was written by Gearoid Mac Unfraidh and the artwork is by Robert Ballagh. Attached is a flyer containing the piece. Translations into Irish and Arabic are available by emailing aine_devir@yahoo.co.uk

Recital flyer 0.09 Mb