Galway city's The Western Writers' Centre, the only writers' centre in the West of Ireland founded six years ago, is often bombarded with strange and bizarre e-mails when it posts on Indymedia Ireland. The Centre, whose website is www.twwc.ie, is currently looking for new prose and poetry for its website, work in French, Irish Gaelic or English.
"It would appear that someone is taken a child's delight in being able to use different made-up names to deliver these various verbal attacks, ranging mnostly at myself and covering anything from politics to literature," says the Centre's founder-Manager, Fred Johnston.
Johnston, who is also a political activist, is surprised at the vituperativeness of some of the comments. "Somebody seems to be able to produce whole articles I published, whole letters, months, even years ago, and posts them on the Indymedia site. In true cowardly fashion, naturally, they remain anonymous."
Meantime the Western Writers' Centre is opening a season of poets from Ireland's academy, Aosdána, including Anthony Cronin, Leland Bardwell, Macdara Woods and Irish poet Tony Curtis. The Centre's web pages also host 'Kiosque!', a review of books and book news. The Centre can be contacted at 091.533595.
"It would appear that someone is taken a child's delight in being able to use different made-up names to deliver these various verbal attacks, ranging mnostly at myself and covering anything from politics to literature," says the Centre's founder-Manager, Fred Johnston.
Johnston, who is also a political activist, is surprised at the vituperativeness of some of the comments. "Somebody seems to be able to produce whole articles I published, whole letters, months, even years ago, and posts them on the Indymedia site. In true cowardly fashion, naturally, they remain anonymous."
Meantime the Western Writers' Centre is opening a season of poets from Ireland's academy, Aosdána, including Anthony Cronin, Leland Bardwell, Macdara Woods and Irish poet Tony Curtis. The Centre's web pages also host 'Kiosque!', a review of books and book news. The Centre can be contacted at 091.533595.
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30.10.2006 13:22
John
Comment from 'John'
06.11.2006 02:26
I wonder, though - are you related to the triad of negative commenteers who have plagued Indymedia Ireland every time my name came up, or that of the Western Writers' Centre: 'John, 'Aoife', 'Daithi'? Do you, by any chance, live in Galway?
You may be interested to learn that someone actually posted a disparaging comment on Indymedia Ireland today using my OWN name, which is highly illegal and which Indymedia Ireland sensibly removed. I think it's worth Indymedia UK being aware that this is happening - Indymedia Ireland have said they do not log their posts and comments, and I do not know whether this applies in the UK. Now don't try to set Indymedia UK up for your own purposes, 'John'. That's been tried already over here and I feel certain that Indymedia Ireland will henceforth be much more judicious about publishing these sorts of obvious personal attacks.
Another common element is to select various articles I have written and to post them, always anonymously, to try to attack my politics and thus, in some way, impugn the Writers' Centre.
So stop this infantile tirade now. Grow up and stop wasting Indymedia UK's time.
Fred Johnston
e-mail:
westernwriters@eircom.net & sylfredcar@iolfree.ie
Homepage:
http://www.twwc.ie