Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

The following post was written by Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher.

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There is a broad range of opinion about Cuba here in the United States. Some people think it is one big prison. Others think Cuba is further down the road to sustainability than the United States. That range of opinion is also present in Cuba: there are people who love their system, people who hate it, and many in between.
 
This is not to say that Cuba is not a threat. It is. But it is not a threat against the United States per se; it is a threat to the elites who run our country. If millions of people from the U.S. were to visit Cuba and see free neighborhood medical clinics where the nurse and doctor live in apartments above the clinic and go out on house visits every afternoon, the visitors might think, “why don’t we do that?”
 
Cuba has many problems as a poor nation under the thumb of the most powerful country in the world. But Cuba also has things we can learn that have application at home. For example, the first time I visited one of the many elder centers where neighborhood elders hang out with each other, playing checkers, exercising, and getting regular checkups by the doctor and nurse on the staff,  I noticed an abundance of young children playing with the elders. When asked the director of the center who organized these children to be there he said, “These are just neighborhood children who come in and out as they please.” Try to find an elder center in the United States where that happens.
 
The Cubans may be recycling everything and promoting urban agriculture because they are poor and have to conserve resources. But when you are on a huge farm in the middle of the capital city, Havana, and see crops spreading out toward the horizon, you are convinced of the rightness policies that promote sustainability.
 
Global Exchange has been organizing group tours to Cuba for 24 years, so we are well acquainted with the pluses and minuses of Cuban socialism. The best way for you to cut through the debate over US policy toward Cuba is to go there and see for yourself.
 
What I learned the first time I went to Cuba in 1979—and many, many times since then—is that our role is NOT to tell Cubans how to run their society. No, it would be much more appropriate for us to focus on changing our own society, especially the economic embargo our country has imposed for over 50 years against a small Caribbean nation that NEVER harmed the United States.

In the second of a two part series about Global Exchange’s history in Ireland, our co-founder, Kevin Danaher shares the inspiration behind our delegations during an interview with Reality Tours intern Kathleen Reynolds.

Kathleen: What were your most memorable events on a Reality Tour to Northern Ireland?

Kevin: There were a lot of them… So we go in this one place it was actually called the Felons and to be a member of this club you have to have been a convicted felon, so you think whoa this is a bunch of tough guys. So we walk in there are a few guys over at the bar they look at us and they wave at me they call me over they say you’ve got the head of a Celt are you Irish I said my father was born and raised in county Limerick. For four hours these guys just regaled us with stories about this and that. These were just two working class guys but their knowledge of Irish history was incredible… if you put them up against normal Americans knowing American history it would be no contest. You could see the political element of it because so much had been taken away from them that at least the history was something they could hold onto and feel fervent about. It is almost like the way some guys follow football teams, or soccer teams, or baseball teams and they know all the details. That’s the way these guys were with history.

Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

We kept meeting these kind of people over and over again you know just regular people.  It resonated with me because my father was that kind of guy.  He was functionally illiterate he had no schooling to speak of, was too poor had to work and yet he was probably the smartest guy I’ve ever known. He was a good man,  just the kind of person who was a friend. If you need a shirt he’ll take his off. That’s pretty easy to do. Everybody could do that if they wanted to, if they set their mind to it. Irish are really good role models and we engage good decent working class people.  These are the kind of people based interactions that make up my favorite memories.

Kathleen: What about pressing issues in Ireland today?

Kevin: The reunification of Ireland is a big deal because you’ve got centuries of separation and barriers. The Irish free state invested a lot of money in its’ education system. It created a very well educated work force that was also a low wage work force so it attracted a lot of transnational corporations, credit card processing the Intel computer type companies… you had this well trained workforce that would still work for low wages and it was part of the EC. They used to call Ireland the Celtic Tiger because the economy was growing like crazy in the early 2000’s. The main issues that I stress people examine now are economic independence and local green economy.

With this 2008 crash a lot of people got screwed. Now there are a lot of young Irish people who are leaving. They’ve got good education and skills but they can’t get jobs in their country. Look you can get your political independence if you don’t get your economic dependence and control your economy the political independence doesn’t mean much. Boom and Bust is the nature of Capitalism it’s a cyclical system.

Thanks to Kevin and Kathleen for sharing a bit or the story behind Reality Tours to Northern Ireland.  Many of our delegations were set up to examine the history of colonialism, peace and conflict resolution, economic development and coincided with the West Belfast Arts Festival.  They continue today. If you are interested in an alternative journey to Ireland, check out last weeks Blog What Inspired Reality Tours to Ireland and a past participant’s story To Belfast and Back with Global Exchange.
TAKE ACTION! Learn how to customize your own Reality Tour trip to Ireland today.

Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

In the first of a two part series about Global Exchange’s history in Ireland, our co-founder, Kevin Danaher shares the inspiration behind our delegations during an interview with Reality Tours intern Kathleen Reynolds.

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Kathleen: What inspired the Reality Tours delegation to Ireland?

Kevin:  My father was born and raised in South West Ireland, county Limerick, so I had a very personal interest in getting trips to Ireland started. We focused on Northern Ireland because of the politics at the time. When people see a little town in Northern Ireland where the British military base is constructed in such a way that it breaks the architectural unity of the town square… They built the military base purposely so that the corner of the base intrudes and breaks the architectural unity of the town square. When you’re walking on the sidewalk you have to step out in the street to get around the corner of the military base. It was a way of saying structurally, we’re in your house you can’t do anything about it and we’re going to be here forever, look how permanent this structure is. Well, as a matter of fact that military base is gone now and the British are leaving Northern Ireland. That’s the end of an eight hundred year process. The first Norman Invasion from England was 1169. The Irish put up a good fight.  They kept out the Roman armies, which is an amazing achievement because they were such crazy fighters but the British subdued them.

If you look at populations, the only country I know of that has half the population today that it had 150 years ago is Ireland.  Most people when asked that question respond- Ethiopia, Rwanda whatever, no it’s Ireland! So many people died or were chased away, like my father at the age of 21. He was the only one (in my family) who had the opportunity. An aunt offered to take him to the US and he jumped at the opportunity, but he cried every day of his adult life. He was homesick for Ireland. He didn’t really want to leave which is true of most immigrants. People don’t leave out of desire to go see the bright lights of LA. It’s family necessity. It’s to try to earn an income and send money back. In the 1930’s my father was making 30 dollars a week and he sent 5 dollars of that back to Ireland. It really made the difference for that family. It helped the children to survive. I had a real personal empathy for what had gone on in Ireland. Ireland is a country with people who took English, the colonizers language and made it into an articulate tool of resistance. Some of the greatest writers in English happen to be Irish. Very fun loving people, it’s easy to make friends. Another thing too, there’s a very deep sense of history. Everything else was taken away from them but they held onto their history. There’s a quote from someone… after one of the rebellions in the 1800s he said “you fools you’ve left us our Fenian dead but as long as we hold these graves Ireland un-free will never be at rest.” That sense of standing on the shoulders of those who gave up their lives in the struggle. After 800 years the British are leaving and Ireland will eventually be unified.

Kathleen: Bobby Sands died in the Maze prison of Northern Ireland some 31 years ago. Can you explain the significance of Bobby Sands’ legacy?

Kevin: They used to call it going on the blanket. Political prisoners took off their clothes stopped eating and just wrapped themselves up in a blanket. People were willing to give up their lives consciously by starving themselves to death and it would draw these massive support movements to support people like Bobby Sands. People like Bobby Sands understood that it’s the mass mobilizations, mass movements that make revolutions, it’s not individual leaders or genius, it’s large numbers of people. In order to get them motivated sometimes leaders have to take arrows in their back.

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Since 1997 Global Exchange has offered departures to Northern Ireland. Many of our delegations were set up to examine the history of colonialism, peace and conflict resolution, economic development and coincided with the West Belfast Arts Festival.  They continue today. If you are interested in an alternative journey to Ireland, check out a past participant’s story To Belfast and Back with Global Exchange.

TAKE ACTION! Learn how to customize your own Reality Tour trip to Ireland today.

Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

Have you ever wondered where that first Reality Tour visited? Reality Tours associate Kathleen Reynolds had the opportunity to ask Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher to find out:

Kathleen: Where was the very first Reality Tour?

Kevin: Actually it was to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. I had scored some funding for Africa educational work. With a friend of mine from Chicago, Prexy Nesbitt, we took a group of about 12 to 15 people.

There was a shooting war going on in Mozambique at the time involving guerilla army Ranamo (Mozambican National Resistance), a total terrorist organization. We didn’t really know what we were doing but we got everyone through.

There was one time in particular when we left Zimbabwe. Our bus was not able to leave because I didn’t have the right export papers. We got a ride from a nun with a pickup truck who did two shuttles to take us all into Mozambique.

The next day we had to arrange for a dump truck, different vehicles to carry everyone. At one point we were going to a refugee camp. On the way everybody was all excited and there was all this chatter going on. After being there, seeing little babies dying right in front of their eyes I remember very distinctly the ride back was absolutely silent.

You could see everybody was deep inside themselves, either crying or trying to wrap their hearts and brains around what they had experienced.

I think that that is what real education is about. It’s not just frontal lobes it’s about what’s in your chest and how you feel empathy for other people even if they are on the other side of the planet.

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Decades later we know the transformational power of travel continues. We have grown from those first few annual Reality Tours to over one hundred planned departures in 2012.

While our planning and logistics have been refined (a lot!) over the years, our passion and spirit of truly connecting “people to people” has remained the same. If you’re looking to expand your heart and mind, consider joining us on a Reality Tour.

TAKE ACTION!

Where have you longed to travel? Below are a few of our upcoming Reality Tours trips with spots still open. If you’re interested in a destination not listed below, check out our complete list of 2012/2013 Reality Tours on our website, or consider a Customized Tour!

Upcoming Reality Tours–Spots Open:

• Cuba: Public Education – A Legacy of Literacy and Learning
• July 6, 2012 – July 15, 2012
• Iran: Ancient Civilizations and Contemporary Culture
• September 22, 2012 – October 6, 2012
• North Korea: Beyond the Bamboo Curtain
• September 7, 2012 – September 15, 2012
• India: Rights of Nature with Dr. Vandana Shiva
• November 1, 2012 – November 11, 2012
• Ecuador: New Year’s on the Equator
• December 27, 2012 – January 4, 2013

Here are some easy ways to find the trip that’s right for you! Search for your dream trip…

• By country
• By issue
• By date
• By price

Kirsten Moller and Carleen Pickard at Global Exchange's Open House, October 6, 2011

Walter Turner, Board President

I’m excited to pass the torch to Carleen who has been part of Global Exchange for thirteen years. As Associate Director for the past year, she has worked with members, global partners and staff to build on the people-to-people connections that are integral to GX and essential to fighting for a better world. She also knows the organization thoroughly and is committed to the goals of economic, social and environmental justice, peace and sustainability–values core to Global Exchange’s founding mission.

After two decades, the founders, are ready to embrace new projects and hand over the day-to-day operations to the next generation.   The founders, Kevin Danaher, Medea Benjamin and I, are excited about creating a smooth transition to new leadership after 23 years.  I will fulfill a new role at Global Exchange as Director of Organizing.

Kirsten Moller, Founding Director

I am thrilled and honored to leverage Global Exchange’s legendary signature campaigns that have challenged corporate rule, fought oppression and built alternatives to injustice. With our amazing staff and the support of all of you, we will truly harness the energy of these exciting times and guide a fundamental shift away from a society of greed to one of caring, from a profit-centered economy to people-centered, from currency to community.

Carleen Pickard, Executive Director

We announced Carleen as our new Executive Director at our October 6 Open House. Be sure to check out the pictures of the event, and a video of this special occasion.

Support Global Exchange and celebrate this exciting transition to new leadership, and give a special gift or sign up to be a Monthly Sustainer by committing to donate $5, $10, or $25 a month.  Our work is not possible without you!