The Other View
Issue No.11 Winter 2002
Events and Comments
Promoting understanding between former enemies
People coming from starkly different political perspectives have been invited to participate in a Consultative Workshop which is being organised at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in Co.Wicklow in late November. Over recent years Glencree Centre for Reconciliation has worked extensively to aid the building of relationships between communities on a cross-border basis but also within communities and in Britain.
They have run a range of programmes; Let’s Involve the Victims Experience(LIVE) which brings people together from all sides of the conflict, in a non judgmental environment. Their Youth and Schools Programme is one which concentrates on the preventative side of peace work and this venture reaches a couple of thousand young people each year. The Political Programme allows dialogue between representatives from all of the political parties.
The programme which is currently being developed at Glencree is taking a step further along the road to understanding different perspectives. It is likely to challenge people in many different areas, as invitations have been sent to people from republican backgrounds (IRA, INLA..) loyalists (UVF, UDA...) and people from Northern Irish, Irish, British military and police backgrounds. They are also keen to see participation from representatives of the business community, the trade unions, and the churches. The Glencree project is only too aware of the problem arising from the scapegoating and blame culture, with few people or organisations willing to carry any responsibility for their part, however small, in the ‘troubles’. In their invitation, the Glencree group express their unease surrounding the issue;
‘this denial of shared responsibility continues to hinder the social re-integration of many former combatants, thus undermining the the consolidation of the peace process’
They also acknowledge the number of former political prisoners from both loyalist and republican backgrounds who have built contact across the political divide, but are further interested in increasing the connections between former enemies. The Consultative Workshop hopes to take another step along a sometimes difficult path towards a positive future.
