WE MUST FIGHT TO WIN PEACE
We must all fight to win the peace
RAY MULLAN, director of communications at the Community Relations Council, argues that the Good Friday Agreement will only produce peace if there is now a major investment in developing community relations
POLITICIANS can lead, but they cannot work miracles.
The Agreement goes a long way in addressing the deficit of democracy in Northern Ireland, but what about the deficit of trust - not only trust between the politicians but between the people themselves?
No political agreement can fully undo the hurt, the anger and the pain experienced by many as a result of 30 years of The Troubles, much less undo 300 years of sectarian prejudice.
But unless there is a building of trusting and respectful relationships from the community level upwards, alongside the Agreement, we will be forever condemned to repeat our conflict, unable to concentrate on other pressing matters such as economic development or social welfare.
In every other aspect of our lives in Northern Ireland, sectarianism and segregation waste resources and damage the quality of life.
In housing, for example, we have to face the reality that there exist numbers of homeless people, and those in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation, while a short distance away property lies derelict.
Barriers of fear and sectarianism impose a pattern of residential segregation that prevents a sensible match between empty houses and homeless families.
While we may wish it was different, we can only resolve this by work which addresses that fear.
Dealing with problems such as jobs and houses brings us back to the issue of the distrust which forms a gulf running right through our community.
Building up that trust must be a major priority, particularly for all those in any responsibility of authority, as we try to construct a new and better future for ourselves at the start of a new millennium.
It can only be done by investing in a community relations infrastructure.
It is no coincidence that in the many examples- of accommodation (often forgotten when put alongside more dramatic examples of intransigence) that have occurred, it is usually the case that local individuals and organisations have been actively involved in building trusting cross-community relationships in the area over a number of years.
When loyalist gunmen from outside the area sprayed a Poyntzpass pub with random gunfire earlier this year, killing two friends, one Catholic and one Protestant, in an obvious attempt to stir up sectarian tension, the entire village community, which was mixed, was able to speak eloquently with one voice in condemnation of the attack.
The attempts of the gunmen to provoke sectarian reaction failed because of the strength of long established cross-community bonds in the village.
Another example is the Omagh bombing.
The way in which the Omagh clergy presented a picture of cross-community co-operation in the face of the town's tragedy was the result of careful nurturing of inter-church relationships over the previous two years.
This year's deal on the Apprentice Boys' march in Derry was brokered by a number of local people with a track record of cross-community work in the area.
Again, such relationships do not just happen. They need to be worked at.
There was some recognition of this in one paragraph of the Agreement in which the Talks participants praised the valuable work being done by many organisations to develop reconciliation, mutual understanding and respect between and within communities and traditions.
The Agreement saw such work "as having a vital role in consolidating peace and political agreement" and as essential in promoting "a culture of tolerance at every level of society".
It was work which the Agreement suggests the new Assembly may seek to support. Let us hope that they do.
RAY MULLAN, director of communications at the Community Relations Council, argues that the Good Friday Agreement will only produce peace if there is now a major investment in developing community relations
POLITICIANS can lead, but they cannot work miracles.
The Agreement goes a long way in addressing the deficit of democracy in Northern Ireland, but what about the deficit of trust - not only trust between the politicians but between the people themselves?
No political agreement can fully undo the hurt, the anger and the pain experienced by many as a result of 30 years of The Troubles, much less undo 300 years of sectarian prejudice.
But unless there is a building of trusting and respectful relationships from the community level upwards, alongside the Agreement, we will be forever condemned to repeat our conflict, unable to concentrate on other pressing matters such as economic development or social welfare.
In every other aspect of our lives in Northern Ireland, sectarianism and segregation waste resources and damage the quality of life.
In housing, for example, we have to face the reality that there exist numbers of homeless people, and those in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation, while a short distance away property lies derelict.
Barriers of fear and sectarianism impose a pattern of residential segregation that prevents a sensible match between empty houses and homeless families.
While we may wish it was different, we can only resolve this by work which addresses that fear.
Dealing with problems such as jobs and houses brings us back to the issue of the distrust which forms a gulf running right through our community.
Building up that trust must be a major priority, particularly for all those in any responsibility of authority, as we try to construct a new and better future for ourselves at the start of a new millennium.
It can only be done by investing in a community relations infrastructure.
It is no coincidence that in the many examples- of accommodation (often forgotten when put alongside more dramatic examples of intransigence) that have occurred, it is usually the case that local individuals and organisations have been actively involved in building trusting cross-community relationships in the area over a number of years.
When loyalist gunmen from outside the area sprayed a Poyntzpass pub with random gunfire earlier this year, killing two friends, one Catholic and one Protestant, in an obvious attempt to stir up sectarian tension, the entire village community, which was mixed, was able to speak eloquently with one voice in condemnation of the attack.
The attempts of the gunmen to provoke sectarian reaction failed because of the strength of long established cross-community bonds in the village.
Another example is the Omagh bombing.
The way in which the Omagh clergy presented a picture of cross-community co-operation in the face of the town's tragedy was the result of careful nurturing of inter-church relationships over the previous two years.
This year's deal on the Apprentice Boys' march in Derry was brokered by a number of local people with a track record of cross-community work in the area.
Again, such relationships do not just happen. They need to be worked at.
There was some recognition of this in one paragraph of the Agreement in which the Talks participants praised the valuable work being done by many organisations to develop reconciliation, mutual understanding and respect between and within communities and traditions.
The Agreement saw such work "as having a vital role in consolidating peace and political agreement" and as essential in promoting "a culture of tolerance at every level of society".
It was work which the Agreement suggests the new Assembly may seek to support. Let us hope that they do.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0461
Published Date: 20-Oct-98
Related Images
