Don Mullan | |
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| Born | 1956 (age 68–69) |
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Don Mullan (born 1956,Derry,Northern Ireland) is an Irish author and media producer. His bookEyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as a primary catalyst for a new Bloody Sunday inquiry, which became the longest-running and most expensive in British legal history. Mullan, who is dyslexic, has spoken widely and was co-producer of a highly acclaimed and multi-award-winning film aboutBloody Sunday that was inspired by his book.
Mullan was born inDerry,Northern Ireland, in 1956 and attendedSt. Eugene's Primary School,St Joseph's Boys' School,St. Patrick's College,Kiltegan,County Wicklow;St. Kieran's College,Kilkenny;Ulster Polytechnic;Holy Ghost College(Development Studies), Dublin; andIona College,New Rochelle, New York.[citation needed]
Mullan was Director of AFrI (Action from Ireland) between 1979 and 1993, during which he and his colleagues developed theGreat Famine Project. He was one of the first in the Irish world to recognise the approaching 150th anniversary ofThe Great Famine[1] (The Great Hunger) as "a unique historical moment". AFrI's project helped to generate awareness of the anniversary all over Ireland and throughout the world. Mullan established a "famine walk" inCounty Mayo, commemorating an actual walk of starving Irish peasants in 1848. The walk attracted the attention ofABC,NBC andCBS News during its first three years, 1988–90. The walk continues as an annual event. As part of the project Mullan established several connections with theChoctaw Nation ofOklahoma[2] and was made anHonorary Chief. The Great Famine Project was multi-disciplined and involved publications, documentaries, dramas and commemorative events including the marking of forgotten mass Famine graves containing the sacred remains of thousands of Irish victims.
With five young boys from Derry, Mullan founded in 1983 theSt. Brigid's Peace Cross and was instrumental in having St. Brigid's Fire inKildare[3] permanently rekindled on 1 February 2006.[citation needed] The fire had burned in Kildare for over a thousand years before it was extinguished during theProtestant Reformation.[4]
Mullan worked for the humanitarian agencyConcern Worldwide from 1994 until 1996, during which he visitedRwanda and the refugee camps inZaire. He also worked inBrazil, from 1983 to 1984, during which he organised famine relief to the north-east of the country.
Mullan was detained atJohannesburg and refused entry intoapartheid South Africa in 1985. In 1994 he attended the inauguration of PresidentNelson Mandela as the guest ofArchbishop Desmond Tutu in recognition of his work on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement. Mullan was invited by Archbishop Tutu to attend a symposium on Robben Island in May 1994, the week following the inauguration of President Mandela. The symposium addressed the future use of Robben Island in a new South Africa and Mullan was invited to address the gathering concerning his own work on harnessing the memory of the Great Irish 'Famine' (1845–1849) in fighting injustice and oppression today.
In 1996, the late Allo Donnelly, then Chairman of Concern Universal, a UK-based World Development charity wishing to expand into Ireland, approached Mullan and asked him to head up the operation. By then Mullan had begun his career in investigative journalism and declined the offer. However, he strongly recommended a Derry-based friend, Richard Moore, for the position. Moore had participated in Mullan's re-enactment of the Choctaw Nations 'Trail of Tears' charity walk from Oklahoma to Mississippi in 1992, during which Mullan spoke to him extensively about his humanitarian work with AFrI. During his meeting with Allo Donnelly, Mullan recalled Moore's expressed desire to do similar work. Moore was interviewed for the position and subsequently employed by Concern Universal, setting up the Irish section of the charity as 'Children in Crossfire', named after a BBC documentary of the same name that had featured Moore in 1974. In 2006 'Children in Crossfire' separated from Concern Universal and is now an independent Development Agency in Ireland.
Mullan was diagnosed withdyslexia in 1994, and is a member of theInternational Dyslexia Association. He has authored and edited several books and documentaries and acted as co-producer and associate producer in three award-winning moviesBloody Sunday[5]Omagh,[6]andFive Minutes of Heaven.[7] In April 2004 he was keynote speaker at an International Symposium on dyslexia in Dublin.[8]
At the age of 15, Mullan witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry. He was participating in his firstCivil Rights March. His 1997 best-selling bookEyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as an important catalyst that led to Prime MinisterTony Blair's decision in 1998 to establish a newBloody Sunday Inquiry.[9] The Inquiry opened on 27 March 2000. It was the longest and most expensive Inquiry in British legal history. The results were published on 15 June 2010. British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons that afternoon where he acknowledged, among other things, that the paratroopers had fired the first shot, had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, and shot and killed one man who was already wounded. He then apologised on behalf of the British Government.
Mullan was co-producer, source writer, and actor in the 2002 award-winning Granada/Hell's Kitchen movieBloody Sunday, directed byPaul Greengrass, which was inspired by his book.
As a public speaker Mullan has addressed audiences throughout Ireland, Britain, Europe, Canada, Brazil, and the United States on justice, peace and human rights issues. Amongst the colleges and universities which Mullan has spoken at are:Harvard University,Massachusetts (2004),[10]Villanova University,[11]Pennsylvania (2004),Georgetown University, Washington, DC (2003),Seattle University,Washington (2002) andNotre Dame University,Indiana (2001). In 1986 theIrish American Cultural Organisation described his lecture tour on the Great Hunger as "one of the most successful in recent years."
In 2006, Mullan published a boyhood memoir entitled 'Gordon Banks – A Hero Who Could Fly' in which he outlines the extraordinary influence for good that Gordon Banks, the 1966 England World Cup winning goalkeeper, had on his life. Gordon Banks travelled to Ireland to launch the book. Consequently, Mullan and Banks became close friends. Through Banks' Stoke City FC colleague,Terry Conroy, Mullan was introduced to sculptor Andrew Edwards. Edwards, Carl Payne and Julian Jeffery created the triple statue honouring the Stoke City and England legendary winger,Sir Stanley Matthews. Mullan travelled all over England in a quest to find a sculptor to help him create the first monument in the Western World to a goalkeeper. This included viewing several of the sporting monuments of Sir Philip Jackson. None moved him like the Matthews monument.[12][failed verification]
Mullan created the Gordon Banks Monument Committee who commissioned Edwards to do a triple statue of Banks. Of Edwards Mullan said, "He is a genius. He has the ability to breathe life into bronze. He's an unrecognised national treasure and through the Banks monument – I hope to change that!"[This quote needs a citation] Mullan was successful in getting the iconic Brazilian soccer star,Pelé, and his longstanding friend, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, to agree to unveil the first phase of the monument at the Britannia Stadium on 12 July 2008. The unveiling also included a Gordon Banks XI vs. Pelé XI celebrity charity football match, with Tutu acting as assistant manager to Pelé.[13] The game celebrated the choice of South Africa and Brazil for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
He has received Honorary Degrees from Iona College, New Rochelle, New York (1997)Mount Aloysius College,Cresson, Pennsylvania (2001) andDePaul University, Chicago, Illinois (2011). In March 1998, he wasGrand Marshal of theSan DiegoSt. Patrick's Day Parade. On 9 December 2002, Mullan received ADefender of Human Dignity Award from theInternational League for Human Rights[14] at the United Nations, New York. In October 2003 he received from theAncient Order of Hibernians of America theSean MacBride Humanitarian Award. In May 1990, Mullan was made an Honorary Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, an honour he shares with the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson. In 2011, he received an honorary doctorate from DePaul University in Chicago.
Mullan has been published inThe Irish Times, theIrish Independent,Ireland on Sunday, theSunday Tribune,The Examiner,Magill Magazine,la Repubblica,The Times (London),The Guardian,Journal do Brasil andIrish America.
Winner of Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, inspired by Eyewitness Bloody Sunday.[31][32][33] (Hells Kitchen/Channel Four) 2004. Winner of San Sabastian and Toronto Film Festivals.[34] (BBC/Element Films/Bord Scannán na hÉirean/the Irish Film Board) 2009[35]| International | |
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