The campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment to the Constitution erupted into life last week in a way that no one might have predicted.
Complaints were made to Dublin City Council about a mural, painted by the renowned street artst Mazer on the wall outsde the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Artistically, it was simple and apparently unassuming: a single red heart encasing the words ‘Repeal the 8th’, set against a vibrant blue background.
For those who complained, it was – apparently – an affront to traditional beliefs, an eyesore, and an abuse of tax-payers money. However, as news filtered through that complaints were being made, supporters of the Repeal the 8th Campaign responded in far greater numbers.
The Project Arts Centre received approximately 50 complaints. They also received over 200 messages of support for the artwork. However, a formal warning was issued by Dublin City Council, pointing out that the centre did not have planning permission for the mural, and that it should be removed.
People Will Remember This Week
The Project Arts Centre has now complied with that instruction, painting the wall, which had been home to the mural, entirely blue. But the controversy seems to have created fresh momentum for the Repal the 8th campaign.
“There are moments that galvanise a movement,” Project Arts Director Cian O’Brien reflects, “and I think that the ‘Maser Mural Week’, will be the week that galvanises the Repeal the 8th movement.”
Comedian and writer Tara Flynn had already been involved in 8th-related controversy before the Mazer row erupted, when anti-choice activists doctored a picture of her wearing a Repeal The 8th T-sirt in an appallingly nasty and insensitive way. Flynn herself went public on the issue, tweeting the photoshopped image, in which the slogan on her chest now read “Aborted My Only Child.”
She described the mural as “artistic expression at its most positive, giving the oppressed a voice, saying: you’re not on your own.”
Indeed, there is an increasing feeling that the complainants may have contrived to shoot themselves in the foot. The decision by Dublin City Council that the Project should cover over the mural has inspired a new tidal wave of Repeal the 8th activity. Social media has been swamped with Repeal the 8th jumpers, t-shirts, #RepealThe8thMaserMural tags, and even Maser Repeal The 8th donuts.
In the same spirit, a public protest was organised in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar – just around the corner from the Project – by actresses Grace Fitzgerald and Katie Kelly, who invited the gathered crowd to paint their faces blue and pose for portraits in a show of solidarity with the original thinking that inspired the mural. In effect, the removal of the mural has aided the ProChoice movement, by bringing Repeal the 8th right into the public eye.
“My feeling is that it has definitely worked against the anti-repeal side,” Katie Kelly told Hot Press. “They’ve created a whole storm of publicity and sympathy for what we are saying.”
“Not only are they trying to censor women’s bodies,” Grace Fitzgerald added, “but they are trying to censor art now. The removal of the mural in itself was a violent act, so we are here to say: ‘We will not be silenced’. You can paint over the mural. You can cover us up, but the problem is not going away. We’re still here. It’s not going away with a little bit of blue paint.”
The removal of the mural has had a “Streisand effect”, according to Cian O’Brien. “The interesting thing,” he said, “is that by not being there it makes the issue all the more powerful and present.”
For Cian, the mural will become the image of the campaign. “No matter what happens in terms of the future of the abortion rights campaign,” he said, “people will remember this week.”
Independent socialist TD Clare Daly and Senator Ivana Bacik also believe that the events of the past week have huge significance.
“The censorship of the mural is like a code for the suppression of human rights by denying access to abortion in Ireland,” Clare Daly told Hot Press.
For her, this week is proof that the Irish people have decided that enough is enough. “The genie is out of the bottle,” she said, “and it won’t be going back.”
Fine Gael have proposed putting the issue to a so called Citizen’s Assembly for discussion. Recommendations from the Assembly can then be pushed into effect by the Government. It is a procedure that the party used effectively to test attitudes to the Same Sex Marriage Referendum However, Clare Daly dismisses this as time-wasting.
“So the Citizens Assembly will discuss the issue rather than letting the people decide with a referendum,” she said, sardonically. “This stalling tactic won’t succeed. We need to keep the pressure on. The people are sick of the hypocrisy. You can tell from the reaction to the censorship of the mural that people will no longer remain silent on the issue.”
While the momentum is very strongly towards Repeal, it is nonetheless vital that the campaign should be effectively managed and driven.
“We need to develop a united platform across all groups,” Senator Ivana Bacik said. “The Repeal the Eight coalition has brought together political parties, trade union groups, student unions and – the list goes on. But we need to build on the momentum and the increased energy created by the Mural. This debate has been going on for so long and has blighted so many lives. We can’t be complacent. We all want to see this change for our daughters. The time is now.”
It’s no secret that Clare Daly is less than impressed with the current government’s stance. “Enda Kenny has been an absolute disgrace on this issue,” she said. “It’s shutters down and kill the debate with waffle and delay. But he won’t get away with this one because as the Maser Mural showed us, the drums of change are beating, the people are assembling, ‘Repeal’ is coming – and he’s on his way out.”
The Maser mural may be gone, but the strength of its message it seems, is unlikely to be forgotten.