So that it may never happen again.

"...This era must be revisited and the truth fully revealed for mature Irish women to reclaim their true sense of feminine passion and romance and younger women to see that the freedoms they enjoy had to be earned by courageous women, who set out to break the virgin/whore stranglehold of the Irish Catholic church over a women's sexuality and sensuality." — Jay Flavin

These are the words that will greet you when you visit the website Justice For The Magdalenes.

If you do one thing today, click on this website and reflect for a few minutes on the plight that these women endured and thank your lucky stars that you are a woman in 2009.

Then, then please think about WHAT YOU CAN DO to correct the wrongs
that they suffered.

http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/

Disgrace to our government on their stance on the Magdalenes

.....and just when you think we have reached the bottom of the barrel with our government and its sickening cronyism they strike again!

On one hand we see the government refusing to acknowledge the horrendous treatment young girls and women were subjected to while enslaved in laundries and to add insult to injury a blank denial of compensation which would enable survivors to live their remaining years with dignity and a degree of comfort. On the other hand we are witnessing undeserved rewards and pay outs to their criminal mates like Roddy Molloy .

Despite the horror and shame of our nation with the revelations of Ryan Report still fresh in our minds I am saddened to see that our so called leaders have still not learned a shred of compassion and empathy. Their mothers, wives, sisters daughters and constituents should be ashamed of them.

This issue is too important to let go. Please join us in your support by writing and lobbying every politician and journalist you know. Justice for the women of the Magdalene laundries is too important to let them sweep it away.

Magdalene Laundries Press Releases

28 Sept 2009

Justice for Magdalenes reacts to the Minister for Education, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe's expression of regret for any offense caused in referring to survivors as the "former employees" of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.

In a letter to Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, dated 23 September 2009, the Minister for Education expressed "deep regret" for earlier referring to women who worked in the Magdalene Laundries as "former employees." His brief letter concluded, "I fully acknowledge that the word 'workers' would have been more appropriate." A copy of Mr. O'Keeffe's letter is attached to this press release.

Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) acknowledges the Minister's expression of regret. However, JFM also asserts that the substitution of one word for another—namely "workers" for "employees"—does not materially alter the content nor the intent of the Minister for Education's original letter to Deputy Kitt (dated 4 September 2009) in which he rejected calls for a distinct redress scheme for survivors of the laundries institutions. Moreover, JFM directs the Minister to the State's Constitutional obligation to protect "workers," in particular very young "workers," from abuse and exploitation:

The State shall endeavour to ensure that the strength and health of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children shall not be abused and that citizens shall not be forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their sex, age or strength (Article 45, sec. 4, sub. 2).

JFM also announces that it has written to An Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, TD, in light of the State's rejection of our calls for a distinct redress scheme for Magdalene survivors. Our letter requests that the Taoiseach's office coordinate a formal response from a number of government departments that we assert were complicit in referring women and children to the Magdalene institutions. JFM anticipates that Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, will table a Parliamentary Party question concerning the evidence put forth in our letter in the coming week. A copy of our letter is attached to this press release.

Justice for Magdalenes again challenge the State to respond formally to our letter, to offer a meaningful apology to survivors, and to introduce legislation that establishes a distinct redress scheme for the victims and survivors of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.

[END]

Letter from Justice for Magdalenes to An Taioseach

'Apology' from Minister Batt O'Keeffe

Margaret Attwood on doing the right thing, food, powergames and godesses

......."Perhaps surprisingly, Ms. Atwood finds reason to be optimistic about the future. “We haven’t dropped all of our atomic and hydrogen bombs,” she said dryly. An ardent supporter of environmental causes, she said she was also in steady contact with many people who are trying hard to make the world better. “What I tell people is pick one thing,” she said of all the causes out there.

The big question for human beings is the same for any bio-form: What are we going to eat?” Ms. Atwood said. “Who do we mean by ‘we’? We: you and me in this room? We in North America? It’s no longer true that one ‘we’ has no impact on another ‘we.’ ”

She is certain, though, that if women were in power, they would not oppress men the same way that men have oppressed women.

“It will never happen,” she said. “In strictly biological terms, females’ investment in their children is much larger, with a lot more of their physical self, their physical substance.

“There have been goddesses, powerful female figures, but to my knowledge there has never been a society in which there has been the wholesale oppression of men.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/books/22atwood.html?_r=2&ref=arts

WHAT PART OF ENGAGING FEMALE HEARTS AND MINDS IN RETURN FOR LOYALTY AND VOTES DO IRISH POLITICIANS NOT UNDERSTAND?

I have been trying to find some information about voting trends among women in Ireland and it is proving challenging. I did however come across an alarming statistic which was published in The Irish Times/Behaviour and Attitudes Women Today study, 2007.
http://www.banda.ie/reports_ps.html

It reports that:
" in the year following a General Election, and the subsequent formation of one of the most unusual coalitions in the history of the state, it will come as a great disappointment to the body politic that more Irish
women (55%) claim that politics is of no importance to them, than claim it is important (38%).
Indeed, politics ranks as the least important factor to Irish women out of all 19 measured.

While this statistic horrifies me, it does offer an interesting twist in the tale:
"respondents were asked to nominate the one individual they would consider to be the best role model for women in Ireland today. This
question was entirely unprompted in nature, with the female role models
identified arising amongst respondents on a purely spontaneous basis.
The current and previous Presidents of Ireland have between them garnered 40% of the popular “vote” as the best role models in Ireland today.

It is interesting to note that both Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, while elected to high political office in this country, also stand aloof from the less savoury aspects of the political establishment which the women of Ireland today seem so alienated from”

While this report is two years old, it opens up important questions for consideration for any political party running think tanks on how to reach out to a disenchanted female voter:

• What was uniquely different about both Robinson and McAleese's style and approach? What was their XFactor?
  

• What insights informed and shaped their strategies and what steps did the campaign teams take to ignite such a wave of connection and loyalty among the women who came out in force to ensure these candidates were elected to office?
  

Politicians genuinely committed to understanding and answering these questions are well placed in a race to win the hearts and minds of a female electorate in years to come.

I often wonder what part of ....“engage a female audience in a meaningful and motivating fashion and the results will speak for themselves” .....does the current political establishment not understand?

WHY HAVE POLITICAL PARTIES STILL NOT REALISED THAT ONLINE TOOLS ARE THE KEY TO WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS?

With today’s news comes the fact that ‘Yes’ vote support has marginally slipped. What has also been revealed in the TNS MRBI poll is that a quarter of us have not decided how we will vote on October 2nd. Are we surprised at this revelation? No, of course not. But what surprises (or should I say disappoints me ) is that yet again we are witnessing a lazy , lack lustre and uninventive campaign trail from the political leaders to inspire our nation to have their say in this referendum.

With the ‘Don’t Know’s ‘ representing such a critical mass to rally in the next 3 weeks what are the communications strategists on either side of the voting camp doing to address this? As a communications consultant myself, if I rocked up to a sales pitch and presented the kind of tools of communication that were used last year let alone 10 years ago I would be fired, and rightly so. When will someone, anyone, in the corridors of power realise that the existing approach of running political campaigns is outdated and quite frankly an ineffective model.

Whether it’s motivating a nation to get out and vote on Oct 2nd or, campaigning in a general election sometime next year the new rules of engagement are the same – define and segment your target audiences and communicate with them in a meaningful way. Winning hearts and minds is not about bombarding us from above with demands to VOTE YES or worse still to be patronised by ‘C’ list celebrities as to why I belong. Winning hearts and minds is about tapping into the groundswell, listening and reacting, not talking the talk but walking that talk. Leading by example, action not rhetoric, collaboration, inspiration, in a nutshell - selling hope.

All of this and more is what Barack Obama has achieved. Why? Because he has a team of professionals working for him who fully appreciate the opportunities of tapping in to grassroots support, and the power of the groundswell effect.

Leaving his politics and personality aside, the Obama phenomenon was sustained by the savvy use of online tools to build community and momentum. What his campaign team set out to do and achieved highlights some major opportunities for future political party marketing and campaign management in Ireland. All the pity they didn’t apply some of it to the Lisbon referendum.

What lessons could The Lisbon team learn from the Obama groundswell effect? Well, Sarah Lai Stirland highlighted some of the online tactics that led up to the Potomac primaries in her 2/12/08 blog <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/obama-and-mccai.html> on Wired (excerpt below).

• The campaign organized volunteers to make thousands of phone calls to get out and vote. The campaign also texted supporters' mobile phones to remind them to go to the polls.
• The campaign in addition held a series of "real-world" events, photos of which it constantly posted on its headquarters' blog in order to emphasize the sheer physical size of its supporter base.
• Hoping to take advantage of an assumed surge of supporter emotion, excitement and momentum, the campaign immediately sent out another text alert around 10 pm Eastern time [during the Potomac primaries]. It let supporters know that CNN had called the primaries for Obama. Campaign organizers included a request to spread the word. "Fired up? Ask friends to join our movement by texting HOPE to 62262," read the victory message.
• Outside groups have also helped Obama. MoveOn, whose members endorsed Obama, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign. They also created an online Endorse-a-thon widget that enabled its members to engage in a peer-to-peer online endorsement campaign by sending out 500,000 e-mails and Facebook messages to their friends recommending the candidate.
• Obama supporters all over the spectrum engaged in a multi-media viral marketing campaign with online music videos <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk> and humor. Along with the celebrity endorsements, these activities seem to be fueling what can only be called Obama fever or Obamamania. <http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10498970>
• The Obama campaign itself, it seems has gotten into the game. Its 21st-century version of the auto bumper-sticker is ring tone mash-ups of Obama's speeches <http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/mobileinvite?stg_signup_id=21616923> , which are sure to be conversation starters about the candidate and what he stands for between the owner of the phone and whoever's in the vicinity. "
  

So, how can ringtones, text messages and photos really make difference? These tools and tactics aren’t just exciting because they’re cutting edge. They fundamentally change the nature of how a politician or a political party engages with supporters.
Here’s how:

• They foster conversation between supporters. This is game changing. Long gone are the days of talking at supporters. It’s now a conversation, and the people on the other side are more likely to be interested and fired up if you/your party/network cares (and respond to) what they have to say.
• Yes, you respond to what supporters say. Don’t just start a conversation for the sake of starting a conversation. Your party/network should respond, incorporate and use these conversations. How would your organization use 300 photos taken by your supporters illustrating what being a part of Europe means to them? Would it personalize your campaign? Would it surface new sides the debate? Are the photo-takers likely people want to get more involved/volunteer/organise/donate?
• They put power in supporters’ hands. This is critical. Messages are made more popular, more exciting and more diverse by enabling supporters to take the reigns. Give local constituents the basic tools and let them go. Gone are the days a political party can retain complete control over its image or message.
• Keep in mind you can benefit from much of what's already happening. Flickr photos, YouTube, Google Earth satellite images - much of this content is free and easy to use.

Political parties who don't even have these tactics on their radars are increasingly behind the game.

Our advice to any political party getting focused on a general election is this - Know what's out there, know what your opposition is using, and invest in the medium-term visioning and planning necessary to fully engage in this new, dynamic and wired space.

Irelands celebrity line up for Lisbon...

So, I wanted to see who was behind the “We Belong” poster campaign .
I presumed the political parties had for once actually worked in collaboration to create this unified momentum (even though its style feels Labour) .

To my surprise , when I logged on to http://www.webelong.ie , I discovered the We Belong campaign is being fronted by a collective of Irish celebrities who want you and I to vote ‘Yes’.

There’s Bill Cullen, famous for being Ireland’s answer to Alan Sugar in RTE’s series Apprentice, pin up girl to the over 50 farmer, Mary McEvoy, Pat Gilroy Ireland senior soccer team manager, Mike Galway, Munster rugby legend (arguably the most famous of them all), and a girl called Eimear Quinn. .... who? .... according to my google search Eimear was “the Voice” and won the Eurovision in 1996.

And so it seems, as the build up to voting day approaches (what with the politicians not being that popular this weather and only back from their 3 months holidays), that Bill and his band of penny apple “Irish celebs” have taken charge of the ‘Yes We Can’ campaign.

And then I thought of the Obama campaign. This afternoon I looked at the list of celebrity endorsers his movement had. See this link for a taster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUiovXdzvvg&feature=related
(its one of hundreds you can find on Youtube).
It made me wonder about the real Irish celebrities and agents of change on a global stage. And yes, while these Irish hero’s are fighting real and just causes for Third World debt to be eradicated and Human Rights issues to be observed in the worlds poorest nations, where are their voices when the future of their country is up for grabs? Is it ennui? Is it lack of interest? Is the future of Ireland just not sexy enough? Why have more Irish personalities and opinion formers not come out with a stand on this Treaty, or on any Irish political issues for that matter? Could it be that the Irish campaign planners just haven’t tapped in to the power that is “celebrity endorsement” in the world of Generation Y ?

With the latest TNS MRBI poll indicating that the “dont know’s” represent one quarter of the electorate and therefore representing a balance of power in the deciding factor on October 2nd, it is a wonder why innovative strategies to engage a confused and disenfranchised electorate have not been considered.

Posted by Una Herlihy and Lucy Masterson at 1:14 PM

LISBON AND IRISH WOMEN

With mornings first light came the first blitzing of Lisbon Referendum posters. Last night, I was walking home with World According To Women co host and we noticed a peppering of posters that had appeared in the space of time that it had taken to eat a pizza over our weekly summit on solving the problems of the world over a bottle or 2 of wine.

On spotting the posters we made a pact that this time we really better get our fingers out and actually inform ourselves on the facts about this treaty and make our own decisions on why or why not it is so important to firstly make a comittment to turn out to vote on October 2nd but to make that vote a Yes.

When I left home for work this morning, every lamp post and telephone pole that could be scaled in the area that I live was plastered with posters for the referendum. It's as if an army of invisible Yes elves were out under the cloak of rainy darkness to claim every piece of street furniture that was rooted to the ground for their mantra.

I say 'Total Respect' to those of you who volunteered your time to scale the ladders while the rest of us slept, and to you all, the least I can do is respond by exercising my vote with responsibility and integrity.

So, here is the beginning of my journey to find out what saying yes to Lisbon will mean for me as a woman, an Irish citizen, a European.

Please share with me your thoughts about it.