Now we have said goodbye to the monarch and the President the Vincent Browne show retuned to more domestic issue's the panel four woman and one man discussed various matters in relation to sexual crime. The discussion on New York justice and the arrogance of some powerful males holding power to presume they could select sexual targets with impunity.
All very well till Vincent allowed his male panellist conclude 'that visiting a prostitute was akin to paying to rape somebody's daughter,' then we were informed that brilliant Ireland the very people who presided over the most corrupt and abusive prostitution system in the world, was about to adopt the Swedish system, which in effect decriminalises the sale of sex but criminalises the purchase of same. This system evidently has been a popular success in Sweden reducing the numbers of prostitutes and Pimps, and also reducing the number of violent crimes associated with this back street industry.
That is all fine and well indeed if not raising a few eyebrows, as Sweden has a long association with sexual liberalism and indeed the famous Swedish Pornography industry, I wonder if Ireland follows their lead on the prostitution front will we create a load of jobs with our new porno industry, Irish Porn now there is something we can be proud of.
I presume if I try to make a case for legalising prostitution I will be accused of supporting the paying to rape somebody's daughter school of thought, but I seriously don't agree with that point of view, because it presumes that all men and women seeking sexual comfort are of like mind and of one cast as it were. Nothing could be further from the truth, people seek sexual services for all sorts of reasons, and people provide them for multiple reasons as well. Yes many women are trafficked into what is slavery and a life of violence and drugs, many women are endangered by thugs and crime lords all this is true. Yet in countries like Germany for example where prostitution is legal they have strict controls over these operations and many sex workers are legalised.
In order to follow the Swedish model this is what we are proposing, we are in effect saying as a society that sexual relations should only be legal among consenting adults with no payment of any kind exchanged, this then confines sexual activity to those who are married, or in a relationship whether straight or gay, it discriminates against single people, the old and the infirm and also those who are disabled, if as in many cases they do not have a partner for sexual fulfilment.
Society has now placed the moral emphasis on one side of the argument and I can say with equal surety, 'tough luck Mr or Miss lonely no sexual engagements for you, why don't you go out and secure a girlfriend a wife, or husband or boyfriend etc.... be normal for God sake.'
I place some data from both Germany and Sweden for your perusal I am surprised Vincent didn't go for balance here but sometimes he looks tired so late at night.
Legislative reform (2002)
In 2002 a one page law sponsored by the Green Party was passed by the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens in the Bundestag. The law removed the general prohibition on furthering prostitution and allowed prostitutes to obtain regular work contracts. The law's rationale stated that prostitution should not be considered as immoral anymore.
The law has been criticized as having not effectively changed the situation of the prostitutes, often because the prostitutes themselves don't want to change their working conditions and contracts.[14] The German government issued a report on the law's impact in January 2007, concluding that few prostitutes had taken advantage of regular work contracts and that work conditions had improved only slightly, if at all.[15]
In addition to the two pronged legal strategy, a third and essential element of Sweden's prostitution legislation provides for ample and comprehensive social service funds aimed at helping any prostitute who wants to get out, and additional funds to educate the public. As such, Sweden's unique strategy treats prostitution as a form of violence against women in which the men who exploit by buying sex are criminalized, the mostly female prostitutes are treated as victims who need help, and the public is educated in order to counteract the historical male bias that has long stultified thinking on prostitution. To securely anchor their view in firm legal ground, Sweden's prostitution legislation was passed as part and parcel of the country's 1999 omnibus violence against women legislation.
Paul Kestell lives in Co. Cork and is author of the novel 'Viaréggio,' his new novel 'Wood Point,' will be published by Thorn Island books in September 2011.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
May 17th 1974
I watch the Queen with president McAleese laying wreaths in the garden of remembrance, they do so stoic women they are, so much of what they do is driven by respect for the fallen, men and women who fell in the cause of securing Irelands freedom and today they are stoic once more as they visit Islandbridge and remember our war dead, men and women who fought on foreign fields in foreign armies.
Whatever about the ideology behind these sad individual stories, the truth is in many cases young men went to fight to secure their econimic survival, and to this day the working classes are still the foot soldiers across the world.
I turned sixteen in the summer of 1974, and I can remember May 17th of that year like it was yesterday. I had my first offical date that evening and when I met the beautiful young girl we strolled the streets of Killiney, and Ballybrack, knowing somehow that the world had changed forever that afternoon, Dublin was a war zone with bodies strewn along the footpaths cars incinerated where they were parked, shop fronts blown away and twenty seven innocent people murdered.
How innocent we were walking the safe steets of South Dublin. How innocent the relatives of the dead and injured were to place their faith in the false promises made by offical Ireland, that the perpetrators would be hunted down and brought to justice.
Nobody has ever been charged in connection with this atrocity or the terrible explosions in Monaghan on the same day.
We are a tired country we create our own myths we select the usual voices to comment people we are comfortable with, media freaks like Eamonn Dunphy, and Ryan Tubridy, it is like we round up the usual suspects, our national broadcaster has a short list and a long list.
The short list is made up of people like the forementioned add in a few smart politicians some senior pain in the ass journalists or image consultants the odd posh sounding professor etc and we are grand, the long list is all of the above plus anyone with an effective middle-class accent or who hails from some faculty in one of our wonderful third level institutions.
These people have one thing in common they tend to enjoy life and the privileges it bestows on them so they will never seriously rock the boat their crime is in pretending to do so. Eammon Dunphy wants us to move on from the terrible events of 1974, pretend it didnt happen get over it, his thesis is that British people are honest and decent, and sure doesnt the Queen like a gin and tonic and horse racing.
We then have that idiot Martin Mansergh telling us that the files the bereaved families are seeking may not exist despite evidence to contrary, and is he for real how does he know has he seen them, has somebody told him this over a pint in the dail bar.
It is no wonder we find ourselves on the brink of financial ruin the standards we as a people accept in both politics and in our media are scandalous.
I want to commend Vincent Browne for bringing this issue to the fore midst all the blandness and avoidance that surrounds us. I thought his chat with the female victim on the very street where she was maimed and he and his brother tried valiantly to save the wounded and the dying, deeply moving in its simplicity and impact, as we were looking at live witnesses to the largest single atrocity to fall upon this country since the civil war.
What do the media want us to do? In general they want us to forget move on what does it matter what a few British intelligence files might say? Those people died nearly forty years ago what is the point of dragging it all up now that the Queen is visiting?
These people were not soldiers fighting against imperial oppressors or on the great battle fields of France, they were innocent men, women, and children going about their daily lives when they were taken out, with the possible collusion of a sovereign state.
Where are the wreaths, for them?
Whatever about the ideology behind these sad individual stories, the truth is in many cases young men went to fight to secure their econimic survival, and to this day the working classes are still the foot soldiers across the world.
I turned sixteen in the summer of 1974, and I can remember May 17th of that year like it was yesterday. I had my first offical date that evening and when I met the beautiful young girl we strolled the streets of Killiney, and Ballybrack, knowing somehow that the world had changed forever that afternoon, Dublin was a war zone with bodies strewn along the footpaths cars incinerated where they were parked, shop fronts blown away and twenty seven innocent people murdered.
How innocent we were walking the safe steets of South Dublin. How innocent the relatives of the dead and injured were to place their faith in the false promises made by offical Ireland, that the perpetrators would be hunted down and brought to justice.
Nobody has ever been charged in connection with this atrocity or the terrible explosions in Monaghan on the same day.
We are a tired country we create our own myths we select the usual voices to comment people we are comfortable with, media freaks like Eamonn Dunphy, and Ryan Tubridy, it is like we round up the usual suspects, our national broadcaster has a short list and a long list.
The short list is made up of people like the forementioned add in a few smart politicians some senior pain in the ass journalists or image consultants the odd posh sounding professor etc and we are grand, the long list is all of the above plus anyone with an effective middle-class accent or who hails from some faculty in one of our wonderful third level institutions.
These people have one thing in common they tend to enjoy life and the privileges it bestows on them so they will never seriously rock the boat their crime is in pretending to do so. Eammon Dunphy wants us to move on from the terrible events of 1974, pretend it didnt happen get over it, his thesis is that British people are honest and decent, and sure doesnt the Queen like a gin and tonic and horse racing.
We then have that idiot Martin Mansergh telling us that the files the bereaved families are seeking may not exist despite evidence to contrary, and is he for real how does he know has he seen them, has somebody told him this over a pint in the dail bar.
It is no wonder we find ourselves on the brink of financial ruin the standards we as a people accept in both politics and in our media are scandalous.
I want to commend Vincent Browne for bringing this issue to the fore midst all the blandness and avoidance that surrounds us. I thought his chat with the female victim on the very street where she was maimed and he and his brother tried valiantly to save the wounded and the dying, deeply moving in its simplicity and impact, as we were looking at live witnesses to the largest single atrocity to fall upon this country since the civil war.
What do the media want us to do? In general they want us to forget move on what does it matter what a few British intelligence files might say? Those people died nearly forty years ago what is the point of dragging it all up now that the Queen is visiting?
These people were not soldiers fighting against imperial oppressors or on the great battle fields of France, they were innocent men, women, and children going about their daily lives when they were taken out, with the possible collusion of a sovereign state.
Where are the wreaths, for them?
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
The Queen has Arrived
I for one share the mis-conception as it is easy to do, since I was a kid I have always viewed stuff like Britain and the Queen as an entity. When someone talks about the UK I automaticly see the map populated by flea like citizens with the Queen waving out the window of her palace.
France would be the same just add the Beret's and so on the further I go towards the Med just add some olive oil and stir gently.
Now I am aghast as the Queen has arrived and there is great excitment and consternation for some it beckons them to celebrate, lifting the faded easter lillies out of the drawer to find great granddad's union Jack, they will wave them on the streets of Dublin and Cork I can tell you.
Others of course will take a different view holding up the history of colonization and oppression, citing her role as the commander and chief of the British armed forces who have a dubious record all around the world!
Yet I have to admit to holding a different view on the Queen and her visit, as a committed socialist come anarchist and so on I dont do Royalty as such but to even pretend that the Queen is actually the head of the British armed forces is nonsense, they are in reality only short of using her in the next please visit Britain television advertisement.
In truth the Queen is not important in a political sense at all, she is a media guru's dream with all the trappings of wealth the castles and the horses and dogs, but in truth if you can show me a more boring and captive lifestyle let me know.
So who is the commander in chief of the British armed forces if the Queen spends her time locked away. Why the British public of course you thought I was going to let them away Scott free didn't you? You know what I am going to say next well the British people vote for the people who make the policy blah blah, so they are ultimatly responsible for what Britain gets up to on foreign fields not the poor old lady with the handbag.
I close my eyes now to see the map and the fleas jumping in places as diverse as Coventry and London ah yes there is Liz cleaning her windows and remarking on the weather, now I am in Paris gay prosperous, next image is Germany and Frankfurt, and I am suddenly mad as hell.
France would be the same just add the Beret's and so on the further I go towards the Med just add some olive oil and stir gently.
Now I am aghast as the Queen has arrived and there is great excitment and consternation for some it beckons them to celebrate, lifting the faded easter lillies out of the drawer to find great granddad's union Jack, they will wave them on the streets of Dublin and Cork I can tell you.
Others of course will take a different view holding up the history of colonization and oppression, citing her role as the commander and chief of the British armed forces who have a dubious record all around the world!
Yet I have to admit to holding a different view on the Queen and her visit, as a committed socialist come anarchist and so on I dont do Royalty as such but to even pretend that the Queen is actually the head of the British armed forces is nonsense, they are in reality only short of using her in the next please visit Britain television advertisement.
In truth the Queen is not important in a political sense at all, she is a media guru's dream with all the trappings of wealth the castles and the horses and dogs, but in truth if you can show me a more boring and captive lifestyle let me know.
So who is the commander in chief of the British armed forces if the Queen spends her time locked away. Why the British public of course you thought I was going to let them away Scott free didn't you? You know what I am going to say next well the British people vote for the people who make the policy blah blah, so they are ultimatly responsible for what Britain gets up to on foreign fields not the poor old lady with the handbag.
I close my eyes now to see the map and the fleas jumping in places as diverse as Coventry and London ah yes there is Liz cleaning her windows and remarking on the weather, now I am in Paris gay prosperous, next image is Germany and Frankfurt, and I am suddenly mad as hell.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Why Vincent Browne is wrong about the ECB
Vincent Browne is normally right, well he is right about a lot of stuff, and even when he is not right he manages to express a wonderful wounded look which says 'look they are tormenting my beautiful idealism with their cynical snarling brand of hogwash!'
But this time he is wrong he blames the ECB, for all our ills and points to their total lack of accountability to the European state, it's parliament and in turn to us the citizens.
Why should the ECB be accountable to us? Would I be accountable to the person who slipped and fell down the stairs after raiding my bedroom safe.
In order to demand accountability one must have the moral authority to do so, do we as citizens hold such authority?
We live in a divided society which is controlled by the flow of money, the system we live under is designed to make a few people very rich,allow a comfortable existence for many but also it leaves millions by the wayside trapped in poverty without hope.
We the people allow this, we encourage it by voting endless right wing politicians into power, in our case here in Ireland inexplicably so. So we are the people that Vincent wants the ECB to be accountable to like somehow we have the higher moral authority.
We do not own any moral authority look a the world we live in where people starve because of their colour, wars are fought to protect oil wealth and the arms industry. We are the makers of systems we make the ECB, it is us that are accountable to nobody.
But this time he is wrong he blames the ECB, for all our ills and points to their total lack of accountability to the European state, it's parliament and in turn to us the citizens.
Why should the ECB be accountable to us? Would I be accountable to the person who slipped and fell down the stairs after raiding my bedroom safe.
In order to demand accountability one must have the moral authority to do so, do we as citizens hold such authority?
We live in a divided society which is controlled by the flow of money, the system we live under is designed to make a few people very rich,allow a comfortable existence for many but also it leaves millions by the wayside trapped in poverty without hope.
We the people allow this, we encourage it by voting endless right wing politicians into power, in our case here in Ireland inexplicably so. So we are the people that Vincent wants the ECB to be accountable to like somehow we have the higher moral authority.
We do not own any moral authority look a the world we live in where people starve because of their colour, wars are fought to protect oil wealth and the arms industry. We are the makers of systems we make the ECB, it is us that are accountable to nobody.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Tweetering Twits
We can all rejoice the twitter generation has arrived, and I wonder if twitter didn't exist would we all go round talking to ourselves in little sound-bytes like 'I would love to stop for coffee but got to rush.'
I have no doubt that twitter's popularity is due in no small measure to it's female users,women can now comment safely on every area of their lives yet not give a hoot if anyone is interested, I see loads of 'night, night all,' tweets from women who are valiantly sending their extended family ie, the whole world to sleep.
Men use it for different reasons of course there is the hard edged business guy who tweets common sense with his hard nosed business values, he is out hunting and he will make a kill. Also there are the more shy retiring types who are slightly embarrassed by the technology so they reluctantly try and be funny, or quote from some Greek philosopher!
The one thing that strikes me about twitter is of course it's reinforcment of the worlds middle class agenda, I cant imagine poor people tweeting, 'going begging today, hope it goes well?' later of course they would recieve lots of tweets from their followers, 'how did you do?' with my hard nosed business guys asking, 'how much did you make, nice profit!'
So I resign myself to another day of blandness reading lots of silly notices with links to web-sites and photo's etc, I will hear from both men and women about business the state of the world with news and sports, breaking news before it has even happened that is the magic of twitter.
Yet can anyone enlighten me I thought that twitter was a tool to facilitate discussion well I dont know but have you ever tried to discuss anything on twitter?
People run scared hide behind their little icons one can sense their tone change, the bland stuff like, ' Meeting Ryan Tubridy today, cant wait,' is replaced by a deafening silence.
When one persists in probing an individual as in a recent case I took exception to her term 'Breaking News,' during the Japanese disaster, she blocked me from following her silly tweets. It was this journalists way of tweeting and discussing the world today, and the way the media works.
Of course I know I am an annoying tweeter I write in the early hours of the morning and sometimes subject to fatigue I can be a little sarcastic you know and sometimes people read tweets and take them at face value, and I go to sleep all smug congratulating myself on how clever I am, and how the silly Dublin fourite will miss the point!
Come to think of it that is actually the only good thing I can say about this forum for tweetering twits, I am off now with my little bowl got some begging to do!
I have no doubt that twitter's popularity is due in no small measure to it's female users,women can now comment safely on every area of their lives yet not give a hoot if anyone is interested, I see loads of 'night, night all,' tweets from women who are valiantly sending their extended family ie, the whole world to sleep.
Men use it for different reasons of course there is the hard edged business guy who tweets common sense with his hard nosed business values, he is out hunting and he will make a kill. Also there are the more shy retiring types who are slightly embarrassed by the technology so they reluctantly try and be funny, or quote from some Greek philosopher!
The one thing that strikes me about twitter is of course it's reinforcment of the worlds middle class agenda, I cant imagine poor people tweeting, 'going begging today, hope it goes well?' later of course they would recieve lots of tweets from their followers, 'how did you do?' with my hard nosed business guys asking, 'how much did you make, nice profit!'
So I resign myself to another day of blandness reading lots of silly notices with links to web-sites and photo's etc, I will hear from both men and women about business the state of the world with news and sports, breaking news before it has even happened that is the magic of twitter.
Yet can anyone enlighten me I thought that twitter was a tool to facilitate discussion well I dont know but have you ever tried to discuss anything on twitter?
People run scared hide behind their little icons one can sense their tone change, the bland stuff like, ' Meeting Ryan Tubridy today, cant wait,' is replaced by a deafening silence.
When one persists in probing an individual as in a recent case I took exception to her term 'Breaking News,' during the Japanese disaster, she blocked me from following her silly tweets. It was this journalists way of tweeting and discussing the world today, and the way the media works.
Of course I know I am an annoying tweeter I write in the early hours of the morning and sometimes subject to fatigue I can be a little sarcastic you know and sometimes people read tweets and take them at face value, and I go to sleep all smug congratulating myself on how clever I am, and how the silly Dublin fourite will miss the point!
Come to think of it that is actually the only good thing I can say about this forum for tweetering twits, I am off now with my little bowl got some begging to do!
Monday, 7 March 2011
The Great Fairytale that is Democracy
Now labour have abandoned the left we will soon have a new government, they as the media keep telling us will need time to warm up, reduce the interest rate on our debt, fix the health service the public service and generally strike the very poor with stealth charges. Watching the week in politics told much about what it is we can expect going forward. Firstly all the serious poiliticans wear suits, you wont find any of them prancing around in football shirts like Mick Wallace, even Sinn Fein now the largest party on the left had their representative beautifully turned out.
The suit as always is a statement of respectability and of business, a fellow wearing a nice shirt and tie knows his business, and moreover he can be trusted. There now are so few women in politics don't be surprised if many take to wearing pin-stripes themselves with false moustaches. Thinking of that did Wicklow elect a cast member of Bugsy Malone?
Which brings me to my contoversial views on democracy, safe to say that it doesn't really sit that well with me, you see I don't trust it. For it to work we must all agree that the voting public are intelligent and well informed and not at all tainted by the hysterical media surrounding us.
Now that is hardly a given, so I will move on to my second point, remember Northern Ireland and Margaret Thatcher, 'When the majority of people in Northern Ireland want a united Ireland,' this island went through decades of war due her government hiding behind democracy, for a start the majority she was refferring to stood over the most unequal and sectarian state in the world, they also were only a tiny minority, if you take these Islands as one entity.
Well lets concentrate on our little country and not be minding past wars, I propose that in order to vote you should first sit an exam, one of the questions that will disinfranchise you will be , 'Has the candidate ever fixed anything for you personally, or in your region, so as to give you an advantage,' or 'Did your father or mother ever vote for these idiots?"
Another idea is to take the vote off the over 40's and give it to twelve year olds instead as they will have to live with the fall out over a longer period.
Alternatives to democracy would be to randomly pick thirty people from the phonebook to handle Finance, Education, one Bank and our natural resources the civil service could do the rest and they probably do. Maybe a dictator like Eamonn De Valera, or one of the bishops, or we could be run directly from Rome by the pope, now there is an idea.
I am off tomorrow to buy a nice suit, its about time people started taking me seriously!
The suit as always is a statement of respectability and of business, a fellow wearing a nice shirt and tie knows his business, and moreover he can be trusted. There now are so few women in politics don't be surprised if many take to wearing pin-stripes themselves with false moustaches. Thinking of that did Wicklow elect a cast member of Bugsy Malone?
Which brings me to my contoversial views on democracy, safe to say that it doesn't really sit that well with me, you see I don't trust it. For it to work we must all agree that the voting public are intelligent and well informed and not at all tainted by the hysterical media surrounding us.
Now that is hardly a given, so I will move on to my second point, remember Northern Ireland and Margaret Thatcher, 'When the majority of people in Northern Ireland want a united Ireland,' this island went through decades of war due her government hiding behind democracy, for a start the majority she was refferring to stood over the most unequal and sectarian state in the world, they also were only a tiny minority, if you take these Islands as one entity.
Well lets concentrate on our little country and not be minding past wars, I propose that in order to vote you should first sit an exam, one of the questions that will disinfranchise you will be , 'Has the candidate ever fixed anything for you personally, or in your region, so as to give you an advantage,' or 'Did your father or mother ever vote for these idiots?"
Another idea is to take the vote off the over 40's and give it to twelve year olds instead as they will have to live with the fall out over a longer period.
Alternatives to democracy would be to randomly pick thirty people from the phonebook to handle Finance, Education, one Bank and our natural resources the civil service could do the rest and they probably do. Maybe a dictator like Eamonn De Valera, or one of the bishops, or we could be run directly from Rome by the pope, now there is an idea.
I am off tomorrow to buy a nice suit, its about time people started taking me seriously!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Will the real Irish labour party stand up?
We are on our way to national government the people have spoken,both Fianna Gael and Labour have a mandate to carry this little nation out of the mire and lead us on the road to recovery. Labour will posture and they will present whatever deal they negotiate to their party faithful and it will be ratified then they hope to secure some key cabinet positions in the next government and the job as they say is done.
Yet as I see it this is probably the greatest opportunity ever presented to the left in Ireland to once and for all establish itself as a serious player in future generations, and the labour party have now got the opportunity to change the course of Irish political history. I have no doubt they will fail miserably in this task as the lure of government offers its sticky hand, some will argue that their duty lies in calming the expected excesses of Fianna Gael and their new role is to protect from within.
Yet what if labour crosses the floor into oppositon, this will leave Fianna Gael courting some obscure and other popular independents, or will they end up relying on their true brothers the mighty Fianna Fail. Labour have it within their grasp to create an almost exclusively left wing opposition of considerable strength in both numbers and experience. Let the centre right lead the fight, let them find out the new untold secrets of the banking crisis, they can model and sell austerity to the middle classes who can afford to absorb these measures, reduce the public service and maybe even eliminate social welfare while there at it. Labour can fight against all of these measure in the knowledge of huge support on the opposite side of the house they can constantly challenge the excesses of the right and represent the poor, the disabled, the ordinary people.
If labour choose goverment which they will the stakes in the eternal game will be very high as austerity bites and a system which is by its nature flawed will crumble, and so possibly labours future support along with it.
Yet as I see it this is probably the greatest opportunity ever presented to the left in Ireland to once and for all establish itself as a serious player in future generations, and the labour party have now got the opportunity to change the course of Irish political history. I have no doubt they will fail miserably in this task as the lure of government offers its sticky hand, some will argue that their duty lies in calming the expected excesses of Fianna Gael and their new role is to protect from within.
Yet what if labour crosses the floor into oppositon, this will leave Fianna Gael courting some obscure and other popular independents, or will they end up relying on their true brothers the mighty Fianna Fail. Labour have it within their grasp to create an almost exclusively left wing opposition of considerable strength in both numbers and experience. Let the centre right lead the fight, let them find out the new untold secrets of the banking crisis, they can model and sell austerity to the middle classes who can afford to absorb these measures, reduce the public service and maybe even eliminate social welfare while there at it. Labour can fight against all of these measure in the knowledge of huge support on the opposite side of the house they can constantly challenge the excesses of the right and represent the poor, the disabled, the ordinary people.
If labour choose goverment which they will the stakes in the eternal game will be very high as austerity bites and a system which is by its nature flawed will crumble, and so possibly labours future support along with it.
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