In the beginning…there was the lovely Peter Frankopan transforming the earth in Dalkey Book Festival with his new book on climate change and driving home at the end, I found two gardeners razing my chaotic, overgrown, weed and wild flower filled garden…Talk about earth transformation!

In between that beginning and that end was Displacement, the central theme at the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas and then two days of looking after Aine, my granddaughter who, at six months, at the sight of a spoon or a bottle lunges forward, mouth open, hands ready to grab what she can.

The Borris festival was truly wonderful. This year it was extremely well organised: the only queues were for the wonderful food trucks (Moroccan, Indian, Pizza, Burritos, Wine, Coffee, plus) and that didn’t matter because everyone chatted happily whether you knew each other or not.

However, some of the sessions were grim; the news was not good. I came out of the session with Carol Cadwaller and Iain Overton on Saturday morning and burst into tears. Iain Overton in particular had been talking about the ‘Dark Arts of Propaganda’ which was all about Hybrid Military warfare and Russian Trolls, Cambridge Analytica, Donald Trump, Aaron Banks and it seems the complicity of the British Government. According to them, democracies are turning into authoritarian governments. They warned that there are 70 elections coming up in the next few years in fragile democracies and that with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and without a regulated social media, we would be all soon be living under controlled dictatorships like Russia or China. I found it very alarming, and as I said, burst into tears, but, I have to say, I also felt discouraged by the anti Russian/Chinese vibe that was present in the session.

Fortunately, my Friday night experience had not been so stark. I listened to a fabulous conversation between Edmund De Waal, the potter/writer, (Hare with the Amber Eye and Letters to Commondo) and Dorothy Cross, the Irish Artist. She is a sculptress living in Mayo and works with photography and video. They discussed how art installations should be called a ‘scores’ as art is full of sound and resonance. What a great idea.

Richard Ford from Mississippi has a wonderful, low voice, as if it’s brimming with dark toffee. He is witty and wise and said his characters  ‘confect’ happiness to survive. I think we all do that, except possibly Iain Overton. He also said that ‘writing makes you feel more intelligent than you are’. I know what he means…I guess its because your characters show you, the writer,  how people can respond, live, and just what is possible.

To confect my own happiness at Borris, I and five very good, old friends, had booked into a farm Airbnb in St Mullins and brought quiches, salads, cheeses, crackers, salmon, fresh fruit, yoghurt, chocolate and lots of wine. The farmer’s wife had baked us the most gorgeous brown bread too, so we feasted the whole weekend. On Friday evening, we all debriefed and gossiped about the Friday night sessions, and started Saturday with a wonderful breakfast. Before that, at 7 o’clock, I had an amazing swim in the River Barrow at St Mullin’s with Bob. It was pouring rain, fierce drops were pelting against the water, and mist was rising up into the dark gloom of the low clouds touching the trees in the valley. It was beautiful. All this was good because it meant I was in very good form before I went to the Dark Arts of Propaganda session. I also have to thank Gary Younge and Kathy Sheridan who, at the next session, put me back in good humour as they discussed Gary’s upbringing and his new book Dispatches from the Diaspora. Gary Younge was a Guardian correspondent for many years and his book distils the ‘black experience’ through his Guardian reports. For instance, he was staying in Soweto during the South African election. He was with Obama during his election. He was at the start of Black Lives Matter. For over 25 years he was on the front line of the Black Experience in the News and the book captures this.

What I really liked about this session was how he explained that because he was Black and suffered verbal and physical abuse, he had grown up to appreciate that there is a story behind every person. He explained that racial harassment was only an aspect of the community. Alongside the racism, he was also a part of the scene, the classroom, the football team… and so he had learned to look behind the action to appreciate the why.

A quick aside. Gary mentioned that he was reared during the sixties and seventies in Stevenage, a new Town in England, made up of many circuitous housing estates and roundabouts. Life was not easy but he pointed out that another Black kid from Stevenage had also made good, and that was Lewis Hamilton, the racing driver! He didn’t know if the roundabouts of Stevenage had contributed to his career.

Anyhow, Gary’s and all the sessions were real food for thought although some were very ominous about the dangers of climate change, authoritarianism, social media and new technologies. However, out of the disarray, the fear and the darkness pertaining to the future of the human race, two men rose up – intelligent, sharp, and possible shining knights: Philippe Sands and Jason McCue, both human rights lawyers/writers.

Jason McCue was talking to Carol Cadwaller about taking on the Wagner Group, the private army of Putin, and his experience of taking on the Omagh Bombers, as well as his determination to raise funding to go after the big Tech companies to ensure that they are regulated. He was talking about how law can be used for positive change. I was so impressed. You have to litigate, he says. You have to follow the money. You have to slap writs. You have to sanction. You must take those sanctioned assets and give it to the victims. It’s called transitional litigation, I think, or lawfare. You have to be aggressive. You need to find the people on the inside who are prepared to engage and provide evidence. For instance, McCue is hoping to use the evidence of the Iranian drones used by Russia to sue Iran for the deaths of Ukrainians.  This approach was new to me. I am more used to human rights representing the face of liberalism rather than direct action approach, but, of course, he is right.

I became interested in human rights (known back in the day as the compassion industry) through the work of my father who ran Civil Liberties in London, moved on to head up Amnesty International, and was then active in setting up International Alert, Article 19, HURIDOCS plus various other organisations I am sure I have forgotten. He spent much time in the UN (New York, Geneva) getting human rights conventions written, agreed and adopted. Seeing Jason McCue taking action, using this legal framework, was so heartening and impressive. He is definitely my new pin up boy.

But, he has competition in Philippe Sands. This is a man, a British and French writer and a lawyer who works on the international human rights scene bringing governments to justice whether it be for actions during the colonial period or present day. He is very interesting on identity and the importance of international law. He is a Jew, he is English, he has a French passport. He is rational, very clever and has a funny anecdote for every eventuality. At the moment, Palestine wants Philippe Sands to help them establish their right to self determination at the International Court of Justice. It would be wonderfully ironic for a British Jew to argue their right for self-determination. I also really liked his point that it is not socially useful to name a state or a country as a genocidal state. Genocide is not a collective responsibility, it is committed by individuals acting on behalf of the Government. He talked about the importance of recognising identity, calling it out and communicating it, because so much conflict is based on identity. Throughout the Festival, I seemed to follow him around, and I also found him interesting on the discussion about the identity of Europe with Fintan O’Toole and Kathy Sheridan. He thinks Brexit might have strengthened the EU. I hope so. I can’t wait to read The Ratline: The Exalted Life And Mysterious Death Of A Nazi Fugitive.

However, I also missed so much: Misha Glenny and Fintan O’Toole discussing the Scramble for Rare Earths, Clare Keegan, Bernadine Evaristo, John Banville, Ruby Wax to mention but a few, all of whom I would have loved to see but they clashed with someone else I wanted to hear. Occasionally, I dipped in and out and this way got to hear a little of the wonderful Elaine Feeney, a little of the erudite and amusing Ian McEwan, and the gorgeous Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusak who wandered around with us for the whole weekend. I did get to see some of David Baddiel who was funny and serious at the same time, and got to the session, Here Comes China with Andrew Small and William Dalrymple. I am pleased that China cannot be dismissed. It represents too many billions of people to be ignored, as does Africa.

There is so much more to write about but my time and space is running out.  I think I will end this Borris yarn with Audrey Magee who wrote the The Colony and The Undertaking, both of which I loved.

The Colony is a book about the impact of colonisation, language and identity both on the colonised and the colonisers. I found her really vibrant. She was talking to Manchan Magan and was passionate, thought provoking and seemed really interested talking about the themes rather than the book itself. I really liked her. I sought her out before her session to give her a poem that I had written while reading The Colony. She was amazed and pleased and instead of me feeling silly handing it to her, as I did at first, she made me feel valued and proud.

So, as usual, the Borris festival was absolutely fab. It sparked really interesting conversations, made me think, and I learned a lot, particularly about the new virulent, aggressive form of human rights practice that is going on. Hats off to Hugo and the team of Elves that make Borris my favourite weekend of the year.

By way of a PS. Thank God, I take notes at each session otherwise I would not have remembered a thing in order to write this blog. On Sunday evening, I returned from Borris to Dublin to mind my granddaughter for two days as Roisin is going back to work. Well, if ever there was a return to earth with a bump…I forgot everything about identity, human rights, climate change, social media, and the future of humanity as I grappled with a baby desperate to feed herself, eat as many strawberries and as much chicken as she could, and then make as many poo-namies as she was able; who wanted to play and dance, coo and cuddle. She reminded me of the most important things in my life: the people I love and our human desire to thrive! I would be happy to place her and my future in the hands of Jason McCue and Philippe Sands and I plan to bring her to the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas as soon as I am able.