Navigating the Dire Beauty of Now:
Can Tara Survive an Era of Prosperity?
by adrien rain burke

For 5000 years, the Tara Valley and its ancient monuments have been at the spiritual center of Ireland and its people. Tradition has it that
142 kings reigned there in prehistoric and historic times. With its
secrets as yet fully revealed, Tara is the equivalent of the Valley of
the Dead in Egypt. It was the dwelling place of the gods, and the
entrance to the afterlife.

Tara and the nearby monuments of Lismullen, Baronstown, and Collierstown have survived much in Ireland's troubled history - the Viking invasions, the English conquest, Cromwell, and all the uprisings, troubles, famines and immigrations that depopulated Ireland.

The question Tara now faces is whether it can survive the growth and prosperity of the "Celtic Tiger."

Because a motorway - a freeway - now threatens the ancient site. And while it would not destroy the hill fort itself, it has already destroyed a newly discovered ancient archeological site at Baronstown, which was already recommended by the National Museum as a National
Monument, and covered over an unusual prehistoric graveyard at Collierstown.

And a group of determined defenders are occupying it, while heavy equipment makes inroads into it in defiance of a European Union order to halt the work until some resolution of the issues is reached. Occupation became necessary when the Baronstown Monument, a
multi-period archeological monument more extensive than Lismullen, was destroyed July 4, at 4 a.m., so that protesters arriving at 6, were too late to stop it. The former environment minister Dick Roche had promised "preservation by documentation' (meaning that the monuments would be measured and photographed before being razed) for the newly discovered archeological sites, but even that was not done. Perhaps it would have taken too long.

Because the builders of this road are in a big hurry. The National Road Authority claims that it can take up to two hours to travel the 25 miles between Navan and Dublin. The companies doing the work, Ferrovial (a Spanish multinational corporation), SIAC Construction, and Wills
Brothers Engineering, may be concerned that too thorough an investigation of the area will result in the road being stopped altogether.

But those protesting the route point out that two other, less destructive routes are being ignored, as is the possibility of reopening a railway that has been closed since the 1960s.

The only independent polls taken showed that 70% of Irish citizens wanted the road re-routed, and recent polls indicate that the number may be higher now. The current Minister for the Environment, Green Party leader John Gormley, although once fervent in his defense of
Tara, has claimed his hands are tied by the actions of former minister Roche, and is promising a new strategy for protecting such sites.

Dr. Muireann Ni Ni Bhrolchain, who was among those arrested July 18 after they attempted to stop bulldozers from entering the site, pointed out that Ireland's hi-tech economy is cooling down as outsourcers move their offshore operations to countries offering cheaper labor costs, and that Ireland's tourist industry, its value to the children and grandchildren of the Irish Diaspora, are greatly endangered by this cavalier treatment of Ireland's rich past. "They don't come to Ireland to look at interchanges," Dr. Ni Bhrolchain said, adding that the government is "projecting a 'green' image of Ireland, while covering the whole bloody island in concrete. "

The ongoing protests and politics of Tara can be followed closely on the internet at savetara.com, savetaravalley.com, tarawatch.org, and elsewhere. Protesters and their supporters around the world feel that outside pressure on Ireland's government could help them preserve these age-old Irish treasures from destruction.

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word, deed, monetary transaction…)

From Hit-man, Con-man to Trickster Shaman:
The images we choose to animate now have everything to do with how we experience the imminent collapse of Empire.