Peace building

‘If we tell people the cost of segregation, they will support greater integration’

Paul Gosling on June 7, 2019, 7:00 am

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If people are told the financial cost of segregation and service duplication, there will be much greater support for social integration, says community worker Maureen Hetherington. Maureen is director of The Junction community and peace-building centre in Derry-Londonderry and was interviewed in the latest ‘Forward Together’ podcast. “I have no doubt that integrated education is absolutely fundamental to getting people to know each other, to engage with each other,” stresses Maureen. “The difficulty there is that we don’t have the …

When Did We Forget How To Build Peace?

Brian Smyth on September 21, 2018, 1:01 pm

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Today marks the UN international day of peace, the General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and across all nations and peoples. So, let’s look at Northern Ireland and ask a difficult but critical question – have we lost the peace-building tools that we once used to good effect? There is no doubting we have come a long way since the signing of the GFA. Yet, we now find ourselves …

Mandela legacy for NI: A real, hard fought and never-ending quest to improve society for all

Brandon Hamber on December 6, 2013, 2:50 pm

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Professor Brandon Hamber recalls the day in 1990 when he travelled to Nelson Mandela’s welcome home rally in Soweto and reflects on the relevance of Mandela’s vision of reconciliation to the people of Northern Ireland. Days after Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 I went to a massive welcome home rally at Soccer City – the stadium on the outskirts of Soweto that would host the World Cup final two decades later. The day was one of unparalleled elation. I remember people …