Reconciliation

‘We collect without fear or favour’: embodying inclusion at the Linen Hall Library

| Readers 343

A Good Relations Week workshop at the Linen Hall Library offered an unusual angle on this year’s theme of ‘Include’: rather than framing inclusion as a goal to be worked toward, it asked how a library collection can embody it. Patsy Horton of the Linen Hall Library and Sam Manning, its outreach and engagement officer, drew on the breadth of the institution’s holdings to trace over two centuries of Belfast’s life and political history, and to explore how archives can …

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‘If you remove fear, you can build trust’: young people, peace walls, and Belfast’s future

| Readers 461

A screening of Two Sides to Every Wall, a documentary about young people living alongside Belfast’s peace walls, brought young people, community practitioners, a social anthropologist, and a government official together at a Good Relations Week event hosted by Springboard. The gathering offered a forum for candid reflection on one of Northern Ireland’s most visible and enduring legacies — and on whether the communities that have grown up in its shadow should be the ones to decide its future. The …

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Challenges to belonging in a changing Northern Ireland

| Readers 1878

A public lecture held at Ulster University’s Coleraine campus during Good Relations Week brought a social psychologist’s lens to some of Northern Ireland’s most persistent divisions. The event, titled “Finding Your Place: Belonging in a Changing Northern Ireland”, was introduced by Damian McIlduff and delivered by Dr Bethany Corbett, a lecturer in developmental and educational psychology at Ulster University. A profound human need Dr Corbett opened by reframing what belonging actually means. Far from being a pleasant social comfort, she …

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Where have all the Prods gone? The PUL Exodus and its impact in Derry/Londonderry

| Readers 4998

A new report on “the Exodus” — the displacement of Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist families from the West Bank of the Foyle between 1968 and 1998 — finds a prolonged, incremental movement with no single cause, and an experience still awaiting the civic and political acknowledgement that would place it alongside, not against, the memory of CNR communities.

Peace photography: supporting conflict transformation

| Readers 305

At an online session organised by Dr Tiffany Fairey, a senior research fellow at King’s College London, participants gathered to explore the intersection of photography and peace. The event brought together a range of experts and practitioners to discuss how photography can foster cultures of peace in different contexts. The panel was chaired by Dr Fairey, who leads a research project called Imaging Peace — a multi-year, multi-country study of peace photography. She framed the session with a probing question: “What is …

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The vital role of archives for reconciliation

| Readers 625

Archives serve as repositories of our collective memory, housing documents, artefacts, and other historical materials that help societies understand their past. In a recent panel discussion, experts from various fields came together to discuss the significance of archives in reconciliation processes, including how community voices, especially those of victims and marginalised groups, are represented in these records. The participants included Ruth Murray, Eliza McKee, Kate Manning, Sam McBride, Caoili O’Doherty, and Nicholas Cole. The event was at Hillsborough Castle, hosted …

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GRACE: measuring trust for better community relations

| Readers 607

On the International Day of Peace, as part of Good Relations Week, research undertaken through a partnership between the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (Coventry University) and Community Relations in Schools (CRIS) was launched. The research examines the role of trust-building in school-based reconciliation initiatives: “Trust, while taken for granted as important, has not been deeply unpacked or examined to better understand its more particular role in facilitating a move towards reconciliation,” declared the organisers, and the panel …

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Addressing the evil of sectarianism: Bill Shaw on life, faith, and hope

| Readers 3337

The retreat and conference centre run by the Passionate community, Tobar Mhuire, was the venue for a guided interview with Bill Shaw, presented as an opportunity “to explore their experience of life, faith, and where they find sources of hope in their lives”. The event was included as part of Good Relations Week 2023. Brian McKee, a professional facilitator and director of Seedlings, welcomed the attendees and invited Shaw to start from the beginning. Declaring himself, “I’m from Sandy Row,” …

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The memorials in our heads: the Im/material Monument (Gail Ritchie)

| Readers 1244

As the information sheet for Gail Ritchie’s exhibition, The Im/material Monument, points out, 25 years after the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement there is no memorial to commemorate the collective dead of the Troubles. Through a series of objects, Ritchie challenges our imaginations as to what our memorialising could be. With a guided tour, she explained the motivations and intent of her work on display at QSS Artist Studios. Ritchie began her curated tour by remarking that she had …

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Offer of help with truth recovery process at Irish Council of Churches centenary service

| Readers 1442

The Irish Council of Churches (ICC) — an all-island body with membership from Protestant, Orthodox, Reformed, and independent church traditions — marked its centenary with a joint service of worship at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. With the theme of “Celebrating our Reconciling Vision of Hope”, the special service also marked the 50th anniversary of the Ballymascanlon Talks, which led to the establishment of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting (IICM), the means by which the ICC continues to engage and collaborate with …

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‘A Long Night’s Journey into Day’ — distinguishing process and progress of reconciliation in South Africa

| Readers 1311

As part of the Feile programme of events, and supported by the Department of Foreign Affair’s Reconciliation Fund, the award-winning documentary film about South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process, A Long Night’s Journey into Day, was screened at the James Connolly Visitors Centre, followed by a comprehensive discussion with Professor Brandon Hamber, who shared his experience of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Screening The film covers four stories from the over 22,000 stories submitted to the …

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Will genuine reconciliation ever be possible?

| Readers 3619

Alex Kane is never short of opinions; after all, that is his job. One of his latest tweets has gotten people talking: I’ve spent many, many years, reflecting on the possibility of genuine reconciliation between unionism and republicanism (either in NI in UK, or in a united Ireland). My conclusion: it will never be possible. The chasms are now unbridgeable. — Alex.Kane (@AlexKane221b) July 6, 2020 Alex does get stick for being a pessimist, but I prefer to think of …

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Towards an Agreed and Reconciled Future – Sinn Féin latest policy benchmark on promoting reconciliation and tackling sectarianism

| Readers 4093

Sinn Féin’s national chairperson Declan Kearney voiced his support for a policy document on Inclusion and Reconciliation in a New Ireland, that was adopted by delegates at last weekend’s ard fheis in Derry. As with all political party policies, there is much that is old and reinforced, as well as new nuance and specificity that a party’s actions (and those of its elected representatives and members) can be held to in the future.

Considering Grace: An invitation to listen

| Readers 1318

Considering Grace: An invitation to listen by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 5 November 2019 Considering Grace, by Gladys Ganiel and Jamie Yohanis, is a new book that explores how Presbyterians responded to the Troubles, through a series of narratives from 120 people who tell their stories of how they coped with trauma and tests of their faith. The book was launched with a set of readings and short presentations at Assembly Buildings, Belfast, to an audience of several …

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Future Ireland: Uniting people is the starting point

| Readers 7633

I was in a cafe recently when the owner, who I know from being a regular, came over and asked me, “David, clear something up between me and the Missus – was that you on the TV we saw the other night … [puzzled look] … you were part of a panel … Mike Nesbitt was there too.” To which I answered – ‘Yes, guilty! Was me!’ After a little discussion about how he didn’t realise I was interested in …

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Future Ireland / Unity: Telling a Different Story

| Readers 3510

“There was never any moment in our history when slavery was not a sleeping serpent. It lay coiled up under the table during the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention.  Owing to the cotton gin it was more than half awake.  Thereafter, it was on everyone’s mind though not always on his tongue.” – John Jay Chapman. THE QUESTION The ‘national question is insolvable’, according to Fintan O’Toole. What O’Toole is referring to is the prevalence of irritants and grievances, imagined …

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Bear witness for peace #PeaceDay #GRWeek18

| Readers 240

Bear witness for peace #PeaceDay #GRWeek18 by Allan LEONARD 21 September 2018 In support for International Peace Day and in conjunction with Good Relations Week and Culture Night Belfast, Belfast City Council hosted an event that featured a keynote speech by Rev. Trevor Williams, addresses by Councillor Tim Attwood, Susan Picken, Jennifer Skillen, and Lord Mayor Deirdre Hargey, and a music performance by Ciaran Lavery. Councillor Attwood, who is vice chair of the council’s Shared City Partnership, welcomed all. He …

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Our son of a bitch

| Readers 2318

The headline of Doug Beattie’s article in the Belfast Telegraph yesterday illustrates how sloppy language and sloppy logic hinder rather than help the process of understanding. Leave aside the article itself for now; one sentence in the headline alone (“Republicans weren’t victims, they were victim-makers”) contains a prime example of both. Firstly, the sloppy language of “Republicans” fails to distinguish between the Provisional IRA and those people who never picked up a gun but would still regard themselves as Republican. …

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Courage of Kingsmills Victims Defied Sectarian Divide

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Reconciliation statue Photo by Amanda Slater

Much ink has been spilled about the sorry Barry McElduff/Kingsmills loaf saga. Susan McKay’s analysis in Tuesday’s Irish Times is one of the most insightful, but bleak, contributions. It’s worth reading her full text, which brings her to this conclusion: The absence of reconciliation has never been more starkly apparent, and as usual, those most hurt in the past are hurt again. One paragraph in McKay’s article jumped out for me, because though tragic, it demonstrated for me that there …

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CRC Award for Fr Gary Donegan; & Reconciliation Reframed by Rev Norman Hamilton

| Readers 522

Fr Gary Donegan, a Passionist priest who served 15 years at Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne in North Belfast, was today honoured with the Community Relations Council (CRC) Award for Exceptional Achievement. Rev Norman Hamilton presented the award after delivering the annual David Stevens Memorial Lecture on “Reconciliation Reframed.” The event was held in the new Houben Centre in the grounds of Holy Cross Church. You can read the lecture in full here: Stevens Lecture 13 Jan 2017 FNL Pub Donegan was …

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