Lest we forget.....
Tonight there is a concert in the Convento do Bom Sucesso in Lisbon. How do I know this, well two weeks ago I finished the invites for it here in Dublin. The concert is by Anuna an Irish group who specialise in traditional Irish music. They were part of the Riverdane revolution that swept the world back in the late 1990's and to some extent still exists today. Not that I was ever a great fan of Riverdance, I never saw it nor the whole traditional music scene but i do feel that it is important for traditional cultural activities to exist in today's world so that people can at least sample some of the examples that one particular country has to offer rather than the total domination by man made groups and singers that seem to predominate certainly the music scene at the moment.As for other traditional values, well here I am not quite so certain that they should survive. Here I am the attitudes of people to events and times that have long since past and in some cases although they should not be forgotten we should at least learn from these experiences and move on. Certain values can still be found in a majority of places, taking Ireland for example where there is still a large anti-British feeling despite the fact that Southern Ireland has been an independent country for well over 80 years now, surely its time to move on. I've lived in Ireland for over 8 years now, nearly a quarter of my life and certainly well over a third of my working life and during this time I have personally faced insults about "my" past, the fact that I am English and what the English did to communities over here. Now I am not for one second saying that these atrocities did not happen, they did, and for the people concerned it was a terrible tragedy and should be remember in a way that both educates and also remembers those people who suffered or gave their lives under the persecution from colonisers. But to be insulted for something that neither you nor any of your relations were involved with and only because you come from a certain country over events that happened over 80 years ago is ridiculous. I mean how can I have any bearing on UK foreign policy at time, I wasn't born till 40 years after they gained independance. So we need to educate people. both the persecuted and the persecutors so that each can live together.
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