Galway Advertiser 2006/2006_02_09/GA_0902_E1_016.pdf 

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16 N E W S

www.galwayadvertiser.ie

February 9 2006

The Thursday Column
BY JEFF O'CONNELL

Drummer Johnny to beat extreme conditions in A clash of values marathon challenge
BY SINEAD MCGOVERN The perils and implications of free speech, or - this case - publication, have been highlighted over the past two weeks, raising issues of crucial importance for the values cherished in Western society. Last year it was announced that a book critical of Islam and due to be published in Denmark was having trouble finding a translator, and even more trouble finding an illustrator: apparently translators and illustrators were afraid of being associated with the book. When it got wind of this, Jyllands-Posten, the largest circulation Danish newspaper, invited cartoonists to try their hand at depicting Mohammed, and then published the results. I first read about this last November, and I found the cartoons the newspaper published to be crude, poorly executed, and humourless. They were the kind of things you would expect to find in a downmarket tabloid or student rag mag. 'Sophomoric' is the word I would use to describe them. Crude? Yes. Offensive? Only if you chose to take notice of them. The appropriate response would have been either to ignore them or, if more was felt to be necessary, a dignified objection through letters to the newspaper in question. That is not what happened. Instead, as everybody knows, there have been massive protests and violent demonstrations throughout the Middle East, as well as in a number of European countries. Danish embassies in several Islamic states have been attacked and destroyed and Danish nationals have been advised to leave for their own safety. A boycott of not only Danish but all Scandinavian goods has spread like wildfire from Muslim North Africa to Iran. So far five people have been killed in rioting, while a large demonstration through central London last weekend featured placards praising the 9/11 suicide bombers as well as threatening death by beheading to those who offended the Prophet. Whether, as some moderate Muslims and European intelligence services suggest, this wave of violent protest has been deliberately orchestrated or not (there seems something a bit fishy about it coming now, four months after the initial publication of the cartoons), no thoughtful person can deny that , inadvertently perhaps (some might even say unnecessarily), a very important issue has suddenly come to the fore - the extent and importance of free speech in Western society. A parallel example may help to clarify this. A number of years ago a film appeared called Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Put together by the team that featured in the long-running satirical television programme Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was - according to how you chose to take it - either an hilarious send-up of overblown Biblical epics like Ben-Hur or a deeply insulting and blasphemous mockery of the founder of the Christian religion. Indeed, if you want to be precise, the parallel is not really exact; whereas the cartoons mocked Mohammad, the revered prophet of Islam but never thought to be anything other than a man, The Life of Brian appeared to be mocking the individual millions of people regard as the son of God. Adverse reaction to The Life of Brian was loud and wide-spread, including protests outside cinemas, letters to newspapers, and vigorous denunciations by religious figures and politicians. Yet the film did the business at the box office. I know priests who found it an hilarious and very sharp satire, and it has become a classic over the years. Why the difference in reactions? The reasons are historical and cultural. Eighteenth century Europe experienced an intellectual revolution which, over the following centuries, led to the spread of a set of basic values now so taken for granted their importance is recognised when they are threatened. Chief among these values is the right to free speech - the right, within the law, to say or publish freely on any subject whatsoever. The basic principle was enunciated by the French philosopher Voltaire and it remains the keystone of this central value - "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." What this means in practice is that there is nothing that cannot be questioned or criticised, and this includes, but is certainly not limited to, religious belief. Muslims who chose to live in the West must accept that we too have a right to our values and to live and act according to them, and, to be fair, most of them do. And one of these is the lack of censorship and the ready availability of material that some may find deeply offensive. Those Muslims- and they are a small but vocal minority - who cannot tolerate such openness and robustness of intellectual debate have perhaps chosen to live in the wrong culture. While running the Two Oceans Marathon in South Africa last year, former Saw Doctors drummer and current percussion director with Macnas, John Donnelly, was overcome with emotion as more than 500 families lined the roadside over the length of a mile shouting thanks to the runner in the Irish jersey. Those families were some of the lucky people who had received new houses through the Niall Mellon Township Challenge the programme which saw 700 people last November alone, from all walks of Irish life, travel to South Africa to help in the construction of 105 new homes for the families there living in sub-human conditions. Just because Mr Donnelly was Irish seemed reason enough for those families to line the roadside with tears of gratitude thanking him and the Irish people, for all that has been done for

Marathon Man Johnny Donnelly (centre) shows off the watch he was given by Richard Hartmann, Hartmann Jewellers with fellow-sponsor Emma Dillion -Leetch Radisson SAS Hotel Galway. Photo:-Mike Shaughnessy

them. "I was in tears myself by the end of it," Mr Donnelly told the Galway Advertiser. "And it was then that I decided I

wanted to do something dramatic this year to help those people." And so came about the Hot and Cold Challenge an undertaking of Mr

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Donnelly's to run three marathons in extreme weather conditions, in under a month. The action kicks off in the first week of March when Mr Donnelly will undertake to run 70 miles across the Sahara desert in under four days. In looking forward to the race, it isn't the severe heat, ranging up to 45 degrees, or the severe cold, dropping as low as minus five degrees at night, that Mr Donnelly is thinking of. It's the snakes! "I'm terrified of snakes, and in the list of things the organisers tell us to bring with us anti-venom is listed as an item to carry with you at all times. I'm not worried about the heat or the cold really, just the snakes!" he said. Three weeks later he will run in completely contrasting weather conditions in the North Pole Marathon. Temperatures there will drop to as low as minus 40 degrees, and Mr Donnelly will be running for up to 30 miles wearing layers of specialist protective gear. A quick flight home and only three days to recover from the marathon and the jet lag before he heads off again to re-run the Two Oceans Marathon in South Africa. This final marathon in the challenge involves a 35 mile uphill trek from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean near Cape Town, passing through the township of Imizamo where people have already benefited from

the Nial Mellon Township Challenge. Mr Donnelly's aim in all this is to raise as much money as possible to build as many houses as possible for the families in South Africa still living in poor shanty town conditions. The marathon scene is not new to him last year he raised more than 150,000 for different charities by running six challenging marathons. A giant table quiz - The 2006 Big Quiz - will be held in the Radisson SAS Hotel and Spa on Tuesday February 28 in aid of the Niall Mellon Township Challenge, and hosted by Galway Bay FM's Jimmy Norman and Ollie Turner. Eight Thousand euro worth of prize money will be up for grabs on the night. Tables of four are on offer at 65, and tickets are on sale now from Redlight Records. The action will kick off on the night at 7pm. Mr Donnelly will be busy circulating sponsorship cards in the coming weeks, and has asked for any companies willing to sponsor rounds at the table quiz, or his Hot and Cold Challenge in any way, to get in touch with him. The three extreme marathons will be televised worldwide, and so may represent a good sponsorship opportunity for Galway businesses. To contact Mr Donnelly regarding sponsorship email him at donnellyj@oceanfreenet, and for more information on the Niall Mellon Township Challenge see www.irishtownship.com.