Minute's silence to be held for Famine victims

IIMII

Irish Times, CHARLIE TAYLOR

Fri, May 15, 2009

A minute’s silence will be observed at venues throughout the country over the weekend in rememberance of those who died during the Great Famine.

Schools across Ireland will fall silent later today in the first of a series of events leading up to Sunday’s annual memorial day for those who perished during the Great Hunger.

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren are expected to take part in the minute's silence which takes place at noon in memory of the 1.5 million who perished or emigrated from Ireland and those who continue to suffer from famine.

All public and sporting events have also been asked to observe a minute’s silence on Sunday, now dedicated as National Famine Memorial Day.

The National Famine Memorial Day was announced by the Government earlier this year after a long campaign for recognition by lobby groups such as the Dublin-based Committee For The Commemoration Of Irish Famine Victims.

On Sunday a ceremony is taking place in O’Donovan Rossa Park in Skibbereen, Co Cork, one of the areas worst affected by the catastrophic failure of the potato crop in the 1840s.

The event will culminate in a State flag and wreath-laying at Abbeystrewery Cemetery where 8,000 to 10,000 Famine victims are buried in a mass grave.

Last week, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív represented the Government at the unveiling of a plaque at Grosse Ile near Quebec City in Canada in memory of the 7,000 Irish men, women, and children who are buried there.

Grosse Ile was a quarantine station during the Famine which became known as L’Ile des Irlandais — the Island of the Irish.

© 2009 irishtimes.com

Wreck

What a waste of a minute. Nearly as bad as the time I wasted reading and replying to this thread.

Schism

Sounds very American.

OldGoat

The Great Famine, The Great Hunger.

The Great Peckish
The Great I got the munchies
The Great I could murder a bag o'chips

I think Alexander wants his name back.

ScumLord

I don't remember anyone who died during the famine, what am I supposed to do?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I am erect and attentive.

phasers

I've never understood why a minute of not talking is a mark of respect. Everyone involved is just thinking "Has is been a minute yet?"

O'Coonassa

So the nation most strongly in favour of the CAP, that helps 20,000 people a day starve to death, is going to have a minutes silence for the spud shortage. The irony is priceless.

phasers

O'Coonassa wrote: »

So the nation most strongly in favour of the CAP, that helps 20,000 people a day starve to death, is going to have a minutes silence for the spud shortage. The irony is priceless.

No it isn't.

Fratton Fred

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

WindSock

Can't we have a minutes fast instead?

Who the hell has rememberences for things that happened generations ago? WW1 fair enough but anything before then is a bit naff.

mike65

So this is to mark the 162nd anniversary of Black '47?

Indie18

Captain Mords Spiced Bum wrote: »

I am erect and attentive.

I didn't know the famine was a sexual fantasy for some people, each to their own I suppose.

Mr.Lizard

They've only themselves to blame. "I mean, if it was just the potatoes that were affected, at the end of the day, you're will pay the price if you're a fussy eater."

Nodin

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is.....saving your sorry arses.:D

Not everything is about you, you know.....

Riamfada

This thread is making me really hungry

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

not everything no, but 99.8% of everything easily.

The british invented clouds.

phasers

I just had the best toasted cheese sandwich EVER!

Fratton Fred

Nodin wrote: »

Not everything is about you, you know.....

arsebiscuits

Indie18

and yet another AH thread gone down he pan.

Elliemental

I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation. And on top of that, there was the lacklustre (to say the least), response from the British. The death toll should never have been to high, especially after all the warning signs.
Surely something must be done to remember the victims.

TheInquisitor

Saying it was a spud shortage is just low o ' coonassa. A million people die and thats what you write it off as? At the same time that the famine was happening there were record exports of cereal crops etc from ireland to england. The main reason for teh potato blight and teh following famine was a strike by the potato checkers union in ireland over higher wages . This led to blight spreading everywhere. Unions were no good then and they are no good now!!

Snickers Man

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

Well that's true. They haven't caused a million people to starve and the population to halve yet. We had to be an integral part of the world's largest empire for that to happen.

So it would be difficult indeed for FF (or any other Irish party for that matter) to be as murderously incompetent as HM Government.

Having said which I think this minute's silence is a crock. After all these years. I hate any "event" or "commemoration" that encourages all to accept a standard viewpoint of an historical episode.

I know they'll say "Oh no. There is considerable room for interpretation" but really this is all about embracing a shorthand view of the time with no concern for the subtleties of the period.

It's a bit like those jerks who think we should all wear poppies. I will shun them for the same reason. (And that's all I'm going to say on THAT before November comes round again)

Fratton Fred

Snickers Man wrote: »

Well that's true. They haven't caused a million people to starve and the population to halve yet. We had to be an integral part of the world's largest empire for that to happen.

So it would be difficult indeed for FF (or any other Irish party for that matter) to be as murderously incompetent as HM Government.

Yet is the missing word I believe

Anyway, what are you doin here? you're far too intellectual for AH

antodeco

Could they not have just gone to mcdonalds or something. Or just have eaten something else?

O'Coonassa

TheInquisitor wrote: »

Saying it was a spud shortage is just low o ' coonassa. A million people die and thats what you write it off as? At the same time that the famine was happening there were record exports of cereal crops etc from ireland to england.

Sure like I say 20,000 starving to death every day. At the exact same time people are starving to death in the third world their cash crops are being exported to your local supermarket and they don't even get a fair price for them on account of the CAP and import tarriffs. Exactly the same story as An Gorta Mór only now we're the Brits. Yiz feckers :P

IIMII

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

Look in the mirror lately? That's some expenses scam (all of) your lot are running in your own parliament

Fratton Fred

IIMII wrote: »

Look in the mirror lately? That's some expenses scam (all of) your lot are running in your own parliament

Amateurs compared to TD tbh.:D

Nodin

Elliemental wrote: »

I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation. And on top of that, there was the lacklustre (to say the least), response from the British. The death toll should never have been to high, especially after all the warning signs.
Surely something must be done to remember the victims.

Apart from that, it might give some pause for thought the next time they see suffering elsewhere and hear someone saying its nothing to do with them.

Acacia

Didn't Tony Blair apologize for the Famine or something?

Anyway, I suppose this is a nice idea, but as this thread has shown, the politics surrounding the whole thing will probably be given more importance, rather than the anonymous victims who were buried in mass graves.

Hopefully it might raise a bit of awareness/support for famine victims outside Ireland too.

dlofnep

What a bunch of childish, attention-whores. "Oh, look at me.. I'm not going to pay my respects to the greatest loss of life in the history of the Island because I'm just brilliant!"

Just pay your respects, shut your mouth and then when the minute is up, you can go back to searching for porn and the telescene copy of Star Trek.

Fratton Fred

it is 160 years ago. Teaching about it in schools and ensuring it doesn't happen again anywhere in the world is the best legacy TBH, not a bunch of people trying to get their photo in the paper.

Acacia

dlofnep wrote: »

What a bunch of childish, attention-whores. "Oh, look at me.. I'm not going to pay my respects to the greatest loss of life in the history of the Island because I'm just brilliant!"

Just pay your respects, shut your mouth and then when the minute is up, you can go back to searching for porn and the telescene copy of Star Trek.

Now, now, dlofnep, if you remember any of Ireland's history in a way that doesn't involve apologizing for the IRA, you're just an armchair Republican who hates Britain....;):p

Nodin

Fratton Fred wrote: »

it is 160 years ago. Teaching about it in schools and ensuring it doesn't happen again anywhere in the world is the best legacy TBH, not a bunch of people trying to get their photo in the paper.

The vast majority who observe the silence won't be featuring in any paper.

ScumLord

Elliemental wrote: »

I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation. And on top of that, there was the lacklustre (to say the least), response from the British. The death toll should never have been to high, especially after all the warning signs.
Surely something must be done to remember the victims.

Wouldn't it be much more fitting to feed the starving on this day? Get the Irish community to put on a big slap up meal for the Homeless around the country, a minutes silence is very lame and dismissive imo.

Snickers Man

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Yet is the missing word I believe

Anyway, what are you doin here? you're far too intellectual for AH

Didn't realise it was AH.

But I can do knob gags too, you know.

mike65

Originally Posted by Elliemental
I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation.

Btw 1 million estimated to have died (1847-1853), and another million left in the aftermath.

dlofnep

Nodin wrote: »

The vast majority who observe the silence won't be featuring in any paper.

Correct. What does it say if people can't wise up for 1 minute out of the 525600 minutes a year to show respect for a tragic loss of life? Not much.

Fratton Fred

ScumLord wrote: »

Wouldn't it be much more fitting to feed the starving on this day? Get the Irish community to put on a big slap up meal for the Homeless around the country, a minutes silence is very lame and dismissive imo.

Much better idea than sending a minister on a jolly to Quebec.

badgerbadger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iKjkPgVQcE

Venom

Mr.Lizard wrote: »

They've only themselves to blame. "I mean, if it was just the potatoes that were affected, at the end of the day, you're will pay the price if you're a fussy eater."

If only the Atkins diet had of been invented earlier

ScumLord

dlofnep wrote: »

Correct. What does it say if people can't wise up for 1 minute out of the 525600 minutes a year to show respect for a tragic loss of life? Not much.

I don't have a minutes silence for most tragic losses of human life that happened before me or even my parents time. Fine it's happening but it's not all that important really. It's just one of those things where people can look all sympathetic in front of the cameras when really they don't care.

Daelus

This is stupid. It was so long ago. Everyone who knew anyone involved is dead now. Why not have a minute's silence for the invasion by the vikings while we're at it?

Venom

Daelus wrote: »

This is stupid. It was so long ago. Everyone who knew anyone involved is dead now. Why not have a minute's silence for the invasion by the vikings while we're at it?

That's next wednesday week.

arybvtcw0eolkf

dlofnep wrote: »

What a bunch of childish, attention-whores. "Oh, look at me.. I'm not going to pay my respects to the greatest loss of life in the history of the Island because I'm just brilliant!"

Just pay your respects, shut your mouth and then when the minute is up, you can go back to searching for porn and the telescene copy of Star Trek.

Well said.

.

vorbis

I see empathy is alive and well.

speedboatchase

I wanna have my mouth wide open and be slowly lowering a gigantic roll into my face for 60 seconds

Overheal

Better make that a potato in your mouth for 60 seconds.Or chips.

arybvtcw0eolkf

dlofnep wrote: »

What a bunch of childish, attention-whores. "Oh, look at me.. I'm not going to pay my respects to the greatest loss of life in the history of the Island because I'm just brilliant!"

Just pay your respects, shut your mouth and then when the minute is up, you can go back to searching for porn and the telescene copy of Star Trek.

Christy Moore a recites a lovely lament, I'm not sure who originally wrote it.

Its called 'On a single day'.

Its lists the food exported from Cork harbour on a single day in 1847 (14th Sept. 1847) while the country was in a state of utter and dire starvation.

Its worth looking for.

.

norwegianwood

vorbis wrote: »

I see empathy is alive and well.

Well, if you're looking for empathy in after hours, you'll be waiting a long time tbh.

markopantelic

interesting stat, if the famine never happened and irish population growth stayed the same, our level of population now would be around 34 million.

people think ireland is small but its actually big enough, like netherlands is far smaller than ireland.