Anam Cara for Tara

Global Arts Collective: http://www.globalartscollective.org/arts_action.htm
Maireid Sullivan: http://www.maireid.com
Listen to mp3: I believe in Love by Maireid Sullivan

Anam Cara for Tara
article by John Tibayan (2/4/07)

This is a modern day story of the Heart and the Soul. If you read this story from the mind, it will be just another of many worthy struggles to stop the destruction of the natural world. But if you read this story from the heart you may come to understand that the world needs to create new cultural stories for human success or humanity will be faced with its own extinction. We are at the crossroads. Either we evolve to a higher level of solutions or we will perish as a species.

Anam Cara (Soul Friend in Gaelic)

The sacred Other is a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial and functional lies and half-truths of social acquaintance fall away, you can be as you really are. Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person's soul. - John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Tara invokes the spirit and mystique of the Irish people. From ancient times, the Hill of Tara has been the ceremonial and mythical ancient capital and the "heart and soul of Ireland." The valley is criss-crossed by little brooks fed by the springs around Tara and the Gabhra is one of these streams.

This precise area is NOW threatened by the proposed tolled M3 motorway. This destruction must be STOPPED before it's too late, because freeway construction sites are currently being put in place across the beautiful glens and valleys of this ancient heritage area. 250 year-old Elms and Oaks are being cut down and important archaeological sites are being demolished.

This scenario is eerily like the opening scene from the satirical SciFi movie 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' where bulldozers arrive and threaten to demolish a man's house to make way for a new motorway. Then the owner of the house is later told by a space alien that the planet Earth is also scheduled for demolition to make way for a galactic super highway and that they only have 10 minutes left (such a biting satire). Unfortunately the situation in Tara is for real.

"Even the most brilliant scientific discoveries will in time change and perhaps grow obsolete, as new scientific manifestations emerge. But Art is eternal; for it reveals the inner landscape, which is the soul of man." Martha Graham

We are living in a time where more and more species of plants and animals are becoming extinct because of the destruction of their natural habitats. And what about the preservation of the natural habitats that nourish the soul with art, music and ancient heritage. What will be left when the last hill and the last tree is demolished by the bulldozers?

It's time to take a stand and be a soul friend for Tara. ANAM CARA FOR TARA. STOP THE BULLDOZERS and preserve the precious culture and Heritage of Ireland.

It has been said that "Culture is the mirror of humanity" and cultural heritage represents a historical record and understanding of "the entire spirit of a people in terms of its values, actions, works, institutions, monuments and sites." - Jan Kavan (President of 57th Session of UN General Assembly)

Celtic singer/songwriter Maireid Sullivan is taking action by establishing the first annual Anam Cara Festival. This festival of Liberal, Performing and Visual Arts will be held in 2007. Its purpose is to promote the preservation of endangered cultural heritage sites around the world, starting with the campaign to protect the Hill of Tara in Ireland.

Maireid is putting out the call to artists and event organizers who are inspired to help preserve the Irish/Celtic cultural heritage. For more information or to become involved go to Global Arts Collective at

http://www.globalartscollective.org/arts_action.htm

Global Arts Collective
P.O. Box 2286
North Ringwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3134

2/6/07- I just signed the Save the Hill of Tara petition. I was signature 24082 . I am envisioning millions of signatures. - Gav Editor

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RELATED RESOURCES:

SIGN THE PETITION at http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara/

Save Tara website: - http://www.savetara.com
Tara Watch: http://www.tarawatch.org/

PRESS RELEASE (January 2007)
Update on Campaign to Save the Hill of Tara

MINISTER'S DIRECTIONS FLOUTED IN THE GABHRA VALLEY

National University of Ireland, at Maynooth, archaeologist and Celtic studies lecturer Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin of the Save Tara campaign has written to the Minister and the Taoiseach regarding the works being undertaken on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA) / Meath County Council (MCC) along the section of the proposed route of the M3 motorway in the Gabhra Valley, near to the Hill of Tara, in Co. Meath. The message says that the tree felling and use of heavy digging machinery at Lismullin and at the base of Rath Lugh (one of Tara's outlying defensive fortifications) is not being carried out in accordance with the Minister's directions. It seems that standards of best archaeological practice are not being observed and that the directions are being openly flouted.

When the Minister gave directions on May 11th 2005 he said that: "the removal of forestry and topsoil at Lismullin and Ardsallagh will be carried out under archaeological supervision; all construction topsoil stripping will be archaeologically monitored." There is no archaeological supervision of forestry clearance at Lismullin. Neither is there any archaeological monitoring of large-scale earthmoving from the base of the Rath Lugh scarp. Such actions completely undermine Rath Lugh and the assurances given by the Minister in relation to this, one of our nation's most sensitive archaeological and historical landscapes. It must be assumed that the Minister and his senior archaeologist must know of this work that is in direct breach of the directives.

Rath Lugh is an important national monument in its own right but, as an integral part of Tara, its significance is even greater. It stands as a sentry over the Gabhra Valley guarding the northern and north-western approaches to the Hill and overlooks other nearby recorded archaeological monuments, namely a barrow and souterrain. It is extremely likely that other monuments that are not visible on the surface are also found within its immediate vicinity.

Photographs show the destruction at the base of Rath Lugh – the stratified archaeological sediments can be seen in the right of photo below. If there were archaeological supervision such works would have been brought to a halt at the first sight of potential archaeological features. Heavy machinery, whether supervised or not, should not have been used or permitted in this area. Why is it necessary to commence such work under cover of darkness? This remains a mystery to all except, of course, those who sanctioned the work in the first instance.

Health and Safety concerns aside, it is unlikely that someone will see freshly disturbed archaeological features in the dark – even if an archaeologist were present armed with miner's helmet and infra-red goggles. The Minister also said in a statement on May 11th 2005: "The directions which I have given represent a measured approach. They are both comprehensive and onerous. They protect heritage."

In fact, it appears that the Minister’s expressed wishes are being 'comprehensively' ignored.

Save Tara is asking the NRA / MCC to halt all work immediately along this section of the M3 as The PPP has not yet been signed. We ask that an enquiry be held into why such work was authorised and who was responsible for approving it.

Save Tara calls again on opposition spokespersons to ask for this work to stop forthwith.

Contact: Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, Save Tara website:

SIGN THE PETITION at http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara/
Save Tara website: - http://www.savetara.com
Tara Watch: http://www.tarawatch.org/