Archive for November, 2009
« Previous EntriesIrish diaspora strategist advises Armenia
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Maynooth-based geography professor Rob Kitchin, the Director of the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis, has been advising Armenian authorities on how they could best engage the diaspora. Kitchin is the co-author of several significant reports on Irish diaspora strategy.
Kitchin told a meeting of the Board of Trustees of Armenian National Competitiveness Fund that creating business networks with the diaspora will allow them to harness the economic power of the diaspora. He suggested the development of networks in technology, financial services, health and tourism.
Ireland has 60 networks over the world with 30,000 members, experienced in dealing with a variety of national governments and in different economic sectors. Â Kitchen suggested that Armenia implement a number of pilot projects, and recommended in particular that it follow the experience of such nations as Scotland and New Zealand. He added that Armenia should develop an elite network that would drive other development projects and create funds for investment.
Related web page:
Armenian News Network – Armenia needs to develop business networks with its diaspora: Rob Kitchin
Irish gems of early cinema showcased in Boston
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009The Boston Irish Film Festival looks like it’s up to great stuff these days. The website is out of action at the festival rebrands, but this month moviegoers are being treated to a look back at the earliest days of Irish cinematic history.
“Blazing the Trail: The Story of the Kalem Film Company in Ireland” is being billed as
a unique multimedia event that takes you back to the early 1910s when pioneering screenwriter/actress Gene Gauntier and director Sidney Olcott of the Kalem Film Company blazed a trail from New York to Killarney-and into history!
Affectionately known as the “O’Kalems,” Gauntier, Olcott, and their crew became the first American filmmakers to shoot overseas and the first to produce films that reflected the realities of the Irish experience. A sentimental mix of rebel dramas, folk romances, and tales of exile and emigration, their films proved tremendously popular with the Irish in America and helped ease the pangs of being so far from home.
I love the idea that these films were made in part to assuage the pangs of homesickness in an immigrant audience. How thrilling – and heartbreaking – it must have been to be able to see Ireland on screen in the earliest days of cinema, thinking that the black-and-white images might be the  closest thing to home you might ever see again.
The programme will consist of a number of these short films, all digitally restored. The original films – some of which haven’t been screened in a century – will be accompanied by a pianist and two vocalists; there will also be a series of recently produced short films recounting the adventures of the Kalem film-makers.
Watch this quirky little preview:
The Boston Film Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary a year ago. Organisations like this (and the New York-based Irish-American Writers and Artists, for example) are a great reminder of the appetite for intelligent contributions on Irish-American heritage, and how much vitality there is on the Irish-American cultural scene; this  vitality is far too  often underestimated here in Ireland, where many people cling to inaccurate and outdated stereotypes of our diaspora.
The event is sponsored by Reel Ireland, the Arts Council, and Culture Ireland. In recent years, there has been an increase in funding available from Ireland for Irish cultural events taking place outside of Ireland – this will surely have a great impact in strengthening the relationship between arts communities abroad and in Ireland, and also with deepening the understanding between Ireland and its diaspora communities.
The programme will be screened on Monday, November 23 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Harvard Street in Brookline; tickets cost $9.75.
If you’re not near Boston, you can watch (most of) “The Lad from Old Ireland” on YouTube (I think it’s from a German print, so it’s complete with a little bit of German text). Directed by Sydney Olcott and released in 1910, it’s the first American film shot on location outside the US. Eleven highly entertaining minutes of melodrama!  Part 1 and Part 2.
Related web pages:
- Boston Irish Film Festival on Facebook
- Boston Irish Film Festival website
- IrishEmigrant.com – Blazing the Trail: the incredible story of early film in Ireland
Political participation by the Irish abroad – Irish Times
Saturday, November 14th, 2009Paul Gillespie has an article in today’s Irish Times calling for the formation of an organisation that would act as a representative body for the 70 million Irish abroad.
He mentions this website as a source for more information on global emigrant voting rights — here are some links to more of what I’ve written on the topic:
- Factsheet on emigrant voting
- Expat Voting, Global Style
- Letter to the Irish Times on emigrant voting rights
I’ve also got a factsheet on diaspora strategy, although it’s in need of some updating.
I have long had an interest in the diaspora strategies of other European nations, and I’m the Irish representative and vice-president of Europeans Throughout the World, a body comprised of the expat representative associations of the nations of Europe.
Here are some posts highlighting their activities:
- European group calls for EU Commissioner for European expats
- ETTW issues response to Paris declaration
- Proposals on European emigrants passed at Paris meeting
Donegal publishes latest for global community
Friday, November 13th, 2009Donegal County Council has published the latest edition of its wonderful newsletter, “Donegal – Community in touch”.
As usual, lots of great stuff! Included are reports on:
- The launch of “The Fid”, the Moville Emigrant Monument, commemorating the thousands of Irish who went to New Brunswick, as well as a schools programme linking schoolchildren in Moville and New Brunswick
- The MacGill summer school and a related publication
- The Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce and the School of Tourism at Letterkenny Institute of Technology
- the first-ever reunion of Falcarragh people from home and abroad
- a new social organisation called Go Irish Boston, comprised of Irish and Irish-American people
- the launch of Fado, a memoir by Irish-American musician Kevin O’Donnel, the child of Donegal immigrants.
There is much more here – it’s a great collection of news and resources that will be of interest to Donegal people at home and abroad. If only more counties would produce such resources – this is a model that would be very useful throughout Ireland.
Read the publication online on the Donegal County Council website.
US diversity visa program – apply by Nov 30
Friday, November 13th, 2009There are just over two weeks left to apply for the annual diversity visa lottery, which gives winners a green card to move permanently to the US.
The Diversity Visa Programme gives out 50,000 US visas to the winners among the 6 million or so global applicants who apply every year. Country eligibility is determined by the rate of immigration from those countries in the recent past. People born in Ireland or Northern Ireland are eligible to apply; those born in Britain are not.  There are usually fewer than 200 Irish winners every year, because there is so much competition from around the world.
Those applying must also meet an educational or work experience requirement. Applicants must have either:
- a high school or equivalent education (12 years of elementary and secondary education
- two years of work experience in the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.
Undocumented immigrants currently living in the US are not eligible for the visa, and should not apply.
The registration period began on October 2 and will continue until 5 pm Irish time on Monday, 30 November, 2009. Those planning on applying should apply right away, as high traffic affected the site’s availability in the closing days of last year’s application programme.
The ONLY way to enter the DV-211 lottery is to submit the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry form online at www.dvlottery.state.gov. There is no entry fee.
There are many fraudulent sites charging a fee and claiming to increase an applicant’s chance of winning. DO NOT pay a fee to any such site.
The Crosscare Migrant Project has produced a comprehensive guide to the Diversity Visa programme.
Related websites:
- CrosscareMigrantProject.ie: DV-2011 Information Leaflet
- Official US government application site: www.dvlottery.state.gov/
US ambassador encourages Irish reform efforts
Friday, November 13th, 2009The US ambassador to Ireland has encouraged Irish efforts to urge the US to undertake comprehensive immigration reform, according to a report in the Mayo News.
Speaking at an event entitled “Transatlantic Migration in Irish America�, held at the Castlebar campus of GMIT, Dan Rooney said:
“I think there are opportunities but American immigration policies have to do with everybody. On the south, we have Mexico and Central American, on the north, we have Canada and on the east we have Ireland. We can’t write a policy just for one but I will say this with regards to politics, you have a lot of friends in Congress. I would tell the Irish to go up the Hill and get Congress on their side. They will write up the bill but it will have to be a uniform bill – but that doesn’t mean they won’t look at a special situationâ€?.
Ambassador Rooney’s reference to “a special situation� is intriguing. There has been some controversy in Irish and Irish-American circles over whether Irish activists were lobbying for comprehensive immigration reform, which would alleviate the plight of all undocumented immigrants in the US, or a special deal for the Irish.
Current political realities in the US would seem to rule out the kind of special deals for the Irish that the Donnelly and Morrison visas guaranteed in the 1980s and 1990s. With over ten million undocumented in the US, and the Irish only comprising an estimated 50,000 of them, such a special deal would clearly be unfair.
While the emphasis, in fact, has seemed to be on getting a comprehensive deal, there have also been some efforts toward a solution that would give Irish people increased access to legal work opportunities in the US in the future. The 12-month Ireland/USA Intern Work and Travel Programme announced some months ago seemed to be in that spirit, as do efforts aimed at securing a bilateral trade agreement similar to the one Australia has with the US, which allows for some visas. Neither of these measures would assist the currently undocumented, however; the importance of them lies in ensuring a continuing strong link between Ireland and the US.
The question of whether Irish-America has lost its influence in American politics has also been a subject of debate in Irish-American and Irish media, particularly since the death of Senator Ted Kennedy –Ireland’s most stalwart friend in Congress. Dan Rooney’s comments that “you have a lot of friends in Congress� will perhaps reassure some.
Related web pages:
- Mayo News: Irish still have opportunities in America – Ambassador
- Crosscare Migrant Project: 12-Month Work and Travel Visa to USA