James Cleary, the founder of Silent Masses, explains why he set up Silent Masses...
For years our founder enjoyed a protected and by comparison to many, privileged life - living a secure comfortable lifestyle he has not had many worries to contend with and like many in Ireland could live life not really having to consider the world around him. Increasingly immune to media news of Africa, for example, which was at first shocking became common place and like many others he became used to the horrific scenes projected on our screens and newspapers.
James like many others became complacent by merely offering his financial contribution to 'do his bit' in the hope that it goes away and the problem is miraculously solved. Naturally he was always abhorred by the images and felt helpless in being able to do anything else about them. The scenes presented were graphic finales to stories largely untold by anyone until it was too late. The horrific finales had little effect on James as he had no proper context to associate them with. He observed and empathised with mass public outcry to 9/11, the Tsunami etc and realised that once we have a connection or an association with something like this we act on it. He believes that this is one of the major reasons i.e. the West's non association with the Africa or African societies is why the west is not fully responding to various crisis in Africa.James became starkly aware of his inadequate responses to any situation in Africa after watching the film 'Hotel Rwanda'. He remembers Rwanda at the time as being an awful statistic, not a human disaster suffered and lived through by people very much like you and I with the same feelings, emotions, fears, desires and ambitions for our lives.
It struck James after watching the film that seldom do we look around us and see the seeds of woe until the tree is almost fully grown and bearing it's terrible fruit. James has now decided that enough is enough and he for one wants himself and others to know about potential trouble long before the ghastly headlines greet him. Silent Masses was born. Silent Masses is an organisation that speaks up for people unable to speak up for themselves, by the people who do not normally speak up or feel it is pointless to do so because it always appears to fall on deaf ears. Silent Masses aims to highlight educate and inform people about human rights abuses, advocacy and gender awareness, promotion of democratic institutions and accountability, atrocities and plights of stricken people around the world both at home and abroad. Silent Masses has set out to make it easy for concerned people to educate themselves and to articulate their opinion to the powers that can make a difference.Our campaign aims to educate people about the situation in Darfur and provide an avenue for action that hopefully will have the desired impact in the political circles that can make a difference to this terrible unacceptable situation. Silent Masses through the action of the common man and woman in the street will bring pressure to bear both within Ireland and externally that otherwise would not happen at all. Through not only our letter campaign but also through our fundraising activities and events more and more people will become aware and choose to take action that will address all the concerns and issues that the Silent Masses can and will represent. Our primary concern at the moment is the situation in Darfur. In this endeavour we are recommending the following plan of action:
- Read and educate yourself about the plight of the people of Darfur on this site and other sources. Then tell a friend and spread the word.
- Become one of the 'Voices of the Silent Masses' by participating in our letter campaign.