Rebel Matters Podcast

It has been 15 weeks since the last episode and this one is a short catchup with Ainle to get the ball rolling again. The chat veers towards ACLAÍ, one year anniversaries, music, and the plan for RMP in the upcoming weeks. There is a howling wind to be heard during this episode and a bit of whinging from Neansaí, the latest addition to the Rebel Matters household!

When I was in Belfast recently I put this special edition together featuring tracks from my mum's rather extensive and broad ranging CD collection. A nice way to spend an evening and something different than the regular Rebel Matters format!

For the 100th episode I sat down with long term pal and guest from episode #6 Darragh Graham and he interviewed me rather than the standard format of me asking the questions. This is an informal chat covering quite a bit of ground, and something a little different for the 100th episode. We talked about the backdrop of the Rebel Matters Podcast, how the show has developed over the last four years, the practice of interviewing the guests and how it had changed over 100 episodes. We also discussed the value of sharing food, community, the grieving process, identity and self-expression. Massive thank you to Darragh for taking part in this episode and to everyone who has contributed to the Rebel Matters Journey over the last 100 episodes! x

This weeks guest is builder Harrison Gardner, who I first got to know while attending his How To Build Everything Out Of Anything course in the summer of 2020. In this episode we chat about how Harrison got into the building game in the first place, his path to running his educational course at his home outside of Ennistymon County Clare where he lives with his wife Erin and their daughter Inari. We discuss the ideas and philosophies behind Harrison's approach, and our primal connection to creating homes.

Harrison's Website: https://www.harrisongardner.net

Harrison's Instagram @_harrisongardner

Recent article on Harrison and the TV show he is currently working on: https://www.independent.ie/life/dream-ofbuilding-your-own-home-eco-builder-harrison-gardnerwants-to-show-you-how-for-a-new-rte-series-40334313.html

This weeks guest is Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, a founder of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at the Bethlehem University.

Professor Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities. He and his wife returned to Palestine in 2008 starting a number of institutions and projects such as a clinical genetics laboratory that serves cancer and other patients. Qumsiyeh has published over 140 scientific papers on topics ranging from cultural heritage to biodiversity to cancer. His many published books include "Bats of Egypt", "Mammals of the Holy Land", "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle" and "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment".

Mazin's website is http://qumsiyeh.org

This week's guest is Richard Howard, author of Space for Peace: Fragments of the Irish Troubles in the Science Fiction of Bob Shaw and James White.

We discuss the Irish science fiction movement and the lives of Shaw and White. We take a look at the social and political climate in which they lived, worked and wrote, and its inextricable influence on their creative output.

This week is half solo-run and half conversation in memory of our dear friend and comrade Salah Ajarma who passed away suddenly at his home in the Aida refugee on the 14th of April 2020.

The solo-run section contains some reflections on trips to Palestine and time with Salah as well as a bit of a chat about the parallels between the political history here in Ireland and the current situation in Palestine.

The interview section is a chat I recorded with Salah on the 4th of December 2019 while he was on a visit to ACLAÍ in Cork. He discusses his work at the Lajee centre and gives an insight into life in Palestine and in particular for Palestinian refugees.

Below are a few useful links mentioned in the episode:

Recent Newstalk interview with Joe Brolly:

https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/the-thursday-interview-on-the-hard-shoulder/joe-brolly-on-the-thursday-interview

New York Times feature on Salah after the 2002 siege

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/10/international/middleeast/a-bittersweet-homecoming.html

Footage from inside the siege of Church of Nativity

Footage | Siege of the Church of the Nativity (2002)

Link to Lajee Centre Website

https://www.lajee.ps

Between the 9th and 11th of August 1971, the 1st Battalion of the British Army's Parachute Regiment murdered 11 innocent civilians on the streets of Ballymurphy, West Belfast. One of the victims was Briege's mother, 44 year old Joan Connolly. Briege talks about the events of the time, the recently concluded inquest into the massacre, and the decades-long battle that relatives have fought for justice, transparency about how and why the massacre happened, and to clear the innocent names of the 11 victims of British state murder.

The Useless Project was started by Geraldine Carton and Taz Kelleher in November 2018. Powered by energy, enthusiasm and positivity, the pair highlight the positive, accessible and pragmatic side to living a more sustainable lifestyle.

Starting-off largely events-based, The Useless Project has expanded beyond the realms of swap shops and flea markets, merging into education, advocacy and online content generation.

Touching on the "useless" feeling so many people experience in the face of the current climate crisis, Geraldine and Taz show that one surefire way to ensure positive change is to just start small; connect more; and just use less. Through this mantra The Useless Project encourage their huge online community to make whatever incremental positive changes wherever they can, and they cover everything from food waste and biodiversity, to ethical clothing production, greenwashing and human rights activism.

The pair have a brilliant ability to break down big issues like sustainability, consumerism and climate action, and they put a huge amount of work into making these important issues easy to understand. They have a lot of self-awareness about what it is they're doing, and why it matters. In this podcast, I spoke with Taz and Geraldine about their motivations behind the Useless Project. Rather than focusing purely on the outward aspect of the project itself, it's also a chat about the behind the scenes of the project. We have a lot of common ground in terms of production process, online fatigue, and working as a duo.

Ep 93: #SpyCops - the Undercover Policing scandal, with Tom Fowler Back in January, we got in touch with a member of the Cardiff Anarchist Network named Tom Fowler, who was spied upon by an undercover police officer back in the early 2000s. For decades, individuals across the UK have been targeted by secret police due to their involvement in political activism and community organising. Citizens have been spied on, manipulated, and abused in order to undermine democratic participation in politics. Sustained pressure from activists networks campaigning on these issues led to the calling of a public inquiry into Undercover Policing. Police Spies Out Of Lives is a support group for women affected by relationships with undercover cops. Here is what they have to say about #SpyCops:

"We now know that officers adopted the identities of dead children and lied their way into the heart of protest groups. They spied on anyone and everyone who was involved in political dissent or who posed a threat to the reputation of the police; they spied on the families of those people; they formed intimate, sexual relationships and lived with women for years, even proposing marriage or fathering children before disappearing; they provided intelligence in secret that led to hundreds of people being wrongfully convicted; and they worked with private companies to create illegal blacklists, ensuring political activists could not find work." Tom speaks to us about the history of #SpyCops in the UK, the recent #SpyCops Enquiry, and the controversial '#SpyCops Bill'. We talk about the policing of protest, overt and covert policing, and the criminalisation of dissent. We're glad to be able to put some small focus on this heinous abuse of police power. Please note that this episode discusses sexual coercion and makes for heavy listening at times.