Tag Archives: Afri

LAHINCH author and activist Ruairí McKiernan, South African activist and Knockalisheen Direct Provision centre resident Bulelani Mfaco, and Bellharbour poet and activist Sarah Clancy are to help lead a major event honouring legendary South African humanitarian and anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu, who passed away last Sunday at the age of 90. The event, which takes place online on Thursday (December 30), is being organised by Afri, an Irish peace and human rights organisation. Archbishop Tutu was the organisation’s patron for almost thirty years, after it hosted his first visit to Ireland 1984. Since then, Afri hosted the revered human rights leader several times, including in 1991 when he led the annual Afri famine walk in Doolough, County Mayo. Afri helped lead the Irish campaign against apartheid and arranged for the Dunnes Stores strikers, who refused to handle South African fruit, to meet Tutu in London while on his way to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. This meeting famously helped internationalise the campaign against …

HOPES for the arrival of Spring are closely associated with St Brigid’s Day and, in normal times, thousands would have made the pilgrimage last Monday to the saint’s well in Liscannor. This year, to mark the day and to celebrate the ancient festival of Imbolc, a virtual event is being hosted by the Irish peace and justice organisation Afri and will include two Clare-based contributors. The virtual Féile Bríde takes place from 3-5pm next Saturday, February 6, and will feature a combination of inspirational talks, poetry and music, combined with the live-streaming of the annual tree planting ceremony. Afri coordinator Joe Murray said he’s looking forward to the event and expecting several hundred attendees from throughout Ireland and abroad. “We’re surprised by the huge volume of registrations already this year,” he remarked. “It feels like people are particularly hungry for hope in these times and that is understandable given all that is going on in the world. February is a time …