Catalonia declares independence from Spain

Spanish Senate votes to trigger Article 151

On a historic day for Catalonia and Spain, Catalonia has declared its independence.  The vote was 70 - 10 with 2 blanks.  The Opposition had walked out before the vote was taken.

Within the hour the Spanish Senate triggered Article 151 which will give them power to remove the Catalan President Carles Puidgemont and his ministers from office.  The future looks ominous for both sides.

Whatever the reasons for their struggle for independence, the Catalan President his parliament and supporters deserve credit for their courage.  They have peacefully withstood a brutal put down by Spanish police on their own streets and later the threats of Spain's President (Prime Minister) Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish King Felipe.  The latters' actions and words were not conducive to a peaceful resolution of their differences with the Catalan independence movement.

The scenes of unbridled joy on the streets of Barcelona have been tempered by the aforesaid threats.

Because of their peaceful stance, their courage in the face of brutality and their steadfastness in the face of ugly threats from Madrid, my heart lies with the Catalan independence movement.

Macron's Double Speak on Catalan Bid for independence

When Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France I was pleased.  Without knowing much about him, I thought he might be a welcome change to his conservative predecessors.  The French electorate may not have known much about him either.  They may or may not have known of allegations of favouritism against his ministry while he was the Minister of Economy and Finance.  That happened in 2016 when he was invited speaker at a Las Vegas technology event that cost €381,759. They probably knew of his intentions to crack down on workers' rights as part of his reform.   Still they gave him a chance.

As an inspirational leader for change in the best sense he has been a big disappointment. His pronouncement on 10 October 2017, purporting not to intervene in the "Catalan matter" while at the same time being a major interventionist on behalf of the Spanish government, underlines that disappointment.

“If I were to intervene in the Catalan matter it would be interfering in the domestic affairs of Spain and that would be intolerable for the prime minister and for the Spanish monarch”, he said.

But he also said “ I continue to hold firm to this line in my declarations of support for Mariano Rajoy - because if I don’t there will be disintegration,”

In a word he will not intervene on the side of the successful Catalan referendum for independence but he will intervene to oppose it.

There was no word of outrage, protest or even concern about the brutal treatment of voters by police during that referendum.

Monsieur Macron signals No Change for politics in France

The Dogs that Follow at their Heels - Drama

MEN IN BLACK:

I've written a number of plays over the years but never had one produced. The nearest to success was one called "Men in Black" [1973, long before the film of the same name] which drew praise and a special interview (but not production) from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Too many characters, he said (aren't there always?), more suitable for TV, he said.

The only TV station that replied was the BBC who gave it even more elaborate praise but said it was more suitable for the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.  I should send it there.

THE DOGS THAT FOLLOW

I lately tried the Abbey again with another play, the Dogs that Follow. Six months wait. Then a "summary", the contents of which made me realise that the reader had read only a part of the first Act. Damning with faint praise. Rejected.

So now, the text of the whole play is available for any drama group or theatre to produce for free.

The following message is on my Facebook page:

"Anyone interested in a new 2-act play "The Dogs that Follow"?   Read it here.  Would love if some drama group produced it. Please get in touch if you are interested.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1aGLX1Ke5tkUlRsc0pXR2NzX1E/view?usp=sharing"

MY SUMMARY

Here is a summary of the play THE DOGS THAT FOLLOW

Set in midsummer 1978 in the graveyard of Drumcliff Co Sligo Ireland where William Butler Yeats is buried.


The action is around another grave near Yeats's where RIC Sergeant Joe Duffy, his wife and two infants lie.  The RIC were the Royal Irish Constabulary, the police force of the then governing British State in Ireland.

ACT ONE:  Two teachers, Jim and Niall arrive from Dublin to tidy the grave. Friends but with different viewpoints on women and politics. They are working on this grave because Jim's wife, Maeve, is a niece of the dead infants buried there. 

During the two friends' conversation on death, the politics of the day, love, the poetry and personality of Yeats and the bonds between women, it transpires that Jim's marriage is in deep trouble because he is living with his mother-in-law, Mabel. 
 
Two female US students arrive to see the poet's grave and introduce a little banter
 
Jim's wife and mother-in-law, Mabel and Maeve, arrive at the grave. Mabel eventually insults Jim, rows with Maeve and has a panic attack - which always heralds trouble for Niall and Maeve's relationship.

ACT TWO:  Night has fallen, Jim has fallen out with Maeve and is alone in the graveyard.He has three supernatural visitations: fairy dancers. a beautiful younger version of Mabel and, later, the ghost of WB Yeats. 

"Young Mabel" tells Jim about her father's death from pneumonia after he had been left out all night by an IRA volunteer group and how no-one in Sligo attended his funeral because of fear.  Jim is overcome with love or infatuation for young Mabel and at her invitation they make love.
 
In their encounter with Yeats, Jim and young Mabel ask him about his own influence on the rebels of 1916, They both question his support for violence in his plays. Jim asks for his opinions on women, especially how to handle the powerful bond between mother and daughter.  Yeats responds adroitly.

As dawn breaks on the shortest night of the year and Niall has come with sleeping bags, Yeats and young Mabel fade away, Yeats shouting to the night his discovery of the new word, Ze, to replace “he or she”, - a subject on which he has soliloquised earlier in the night  

Jim recounts to a worried Niall his sexual encounter with young Mabel and his discussion with Yeats. 

Eventually old Mabel and Maeve arrive and are overcome with the warm reception given to old Mabel by Jim. 

All is changed utterly for the better – or is it?  We are left with Old Mabel's puzzling remark to Jim:                                          

"Don't think I've forgotten what happened in the middle of the night!”

PS

THE PLAY'S TITLE comes from a contemptuous comment by Yeats in which he appears to compares men who are acceptable to certain types of haughty women as "dogs that follow at their heels".

Letter to the Archbishop of Brisbane

TO: ARCHBISHOP MARK COLERIDGE 

Dear brother Mark

Tomorrow four conscientious members of your Church attend a secular court to defend their action of beating swords into ploughshares - a major and significant call to put an end to all war and usher in a new era of peace in the world.

Their action was very much in line with the teaching of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, and redolent of his own civil disobedience and challenges to the secular authorities of his own daWhat would Jesus do tomorrow if he were Archbishop of Brisbane?

Would he sit at home writing a sermon about the love of God?

Would he write a petition to the people of his diocese asking for more funds for administration of the diocese?

Would he make a call or send an e-mail to the prosecutors congratulating them and giving full support to any term of imprisonment imposed?

Would he go for an expensive lunch with the most important people he could find in Brisbane?

Would he just engage in "normal episcopal duties"?

Am I mad to think, given his own life's history, that he would enter the Magistrate's courtroom and openly support the four Catholic Workers who have taken, like him, such a brave and unselfish stand on behalf of peace, justice and love?

Would Jesus have supported George W Bush's war in Iraq?

Would he support the Australian war effort in Afghanistan where Australian soldiers have cut off the hands of their enemies?

I am not of the Catholic faith although I was once a priest. Now, without that faith, I consider all men my brothers and all women my sisters.

As my brother I ask you to give your support to these Catholic Workers who for me resemble most closely the founder of the Catholic church in which you are a modern apostle.

With best personal wishes

Justin Morahan

Dublin  Ireland

Mass executions planned for Arkansas

Help stop a mass execution in Arkansas!  Call the governor of Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson, asking him to reverse his barbaric decision to execute eight men over 10 days in late April because the state's supply of lethal injection drugs will expire that month!  (501) 682-2345

Or please read and sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/governor-asa-hutchinson-stop-mass-execution-in-arkansas

The petition needs signatures urgently as the story has not become very widespread.  Today's excellent leading article in the Irish Times might give it some impetus.

Thanks to all who support the petition