Days 11&12

After our guided tour of the Derry city walls, Mr. McCourt took us to meet with representatives from Derry's Peace and Reconciliation Group. The Group is involved in various community building activities, with the aim of uniting the opposing sides toward the betterment of Derry at large. The Peace and Reconciliation Group seems to focus on practical measures which, together, help to improve the situation of folks across the political spectrum. Such measures include: job creation, strict law enforcement, and city beautification. All of this, the representatives explained, will, in theory, provide citizens of Derry a sense of investment in their community and eventually lead to economic growth, increased tourism, and increased cooperation between opposing sects.

Chatting with the Peace and Reconciliation representatives and listening to them discuss concrete ideas about methods to promote peace and decrease sectarianism caused me to reflect on the study abroad trip as a whole. Since the civil rights era in Northern Ireland and the subsequent thirty year Troubles era, conflict in Northern Ireland has been expressed by violent means. 3,500 lives were lost. Many more were injured or are missing. Violent riots, politically inspired hate crimes, and countless bombings bred resentment among North Ireland citizens from all sects and affected the demographics of entire generations. All of that and where has it left the people of Derry and Belfast? The economic situation is dire, social welfare programs are facing major cutbacks, and tourists are afraid to visit their towns. From the perspective of an outsider, it seems like the violent tactics employed by those on both sides of the Northern Irish conflict throughout the years has produced very little. What seems to have been more effective at resolving actual issues and opening true political dialog has been peaceful negotiation. Take for instance, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This was an agreement reached through a long negotiation process and agreed to by all sides. The Agreement set up a power sharing government and outlined a disarmament plan which was extremely effective. The Peace and Reconciliation Group seem to be operating within that same paradigm of negotiation. Their hope is that, as the people of Derry become more invested in their community and trusting of authority, they will begin to become invested in the legitimate political process and resort less to violence as a method of political expression.