Ronan Costello
Editor
The Phil have announced that Michael Moore, the famous American political activist, is to address an audience of Phil members next Monday. Moore will speak about his life, political activism and his new book.
Moore is famous for his taboo breaking documentaries such as “Bowling for Columbine“, “Sicko” and “Fahrenheit 9/11“, for which Moore won the Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. It is also the highest grossing documentary of all time.
Born in Flint, Michigan, Moore has been political from an early age, exposing corporate pollution in his town while in high school and being appointed to the local school board at age 18. This made him one of the youngest people in the US to hold public office.
Preferring activism to academics, Moore became a journalist for local newspaper “Flint Voice” and soon rose to the position of editor as the paper expanded to become the “Michigan Voice”. His time in publishing was shortlived however and he soon found himself working in television but left that as well, falling victim to his own poor ratings.
Moore was a fierce critic of the Bush administration and the invasion of Iraq. More recently he turned his attention to the ailing US health system with “Sicko”, sailing to Cuba with a group of uninsured Americans to demonstrate the inequity of the US health system in comparison to socialised medical care
Phil President Eoin O’Liatháin said:
“We’re delighted to welcome Michael Moore to the Phil, he’s the first of many great speakers coming this year. He’s to be awarded the Gold Medal of honorary patronage for his contribution to political discourse. He’ll be speaking about his life and his new book as well as the economic situation.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trOdCU6aZOg
