Peacebuilding a shared Northern Irish society
‘Just drawing support’ — Bill Rolston’s latest catch of mural hunting by Allan LEONARD 11 August 2022 Bill Rolston published the first volume of Drawing Support in 1992, which contained images of 100 murals from the previous decade. Thirty years later, the fifth volume has just been published, and at a Feile an Phobail event... Continue Reading →
‘A Long Night’s Journey into Day’ — distinguishing process and progress of reconciliation in South Africa by Allan LEONARD 4 August 2022 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... Continue Reading →
‘The South is not ready for unification’: Andy Pollak by Allan LEONARD 26 July 2022 The theme for the 35th John Hewitt International Summer School was “Finding the national: redefining home and country for a shared future”, which asked how much “home”, “country”, “identity”, and “nation” matter, or should matter in a shared future, and... Continue Reading →
Shared Future News launches book asking ‘What Northern Ireland means to me’ by Shared Future News 29 April 2022 Shared Future News, a media organisation that publishes stories of peacebuilding, reconciliation, and diversity, held an event to launch its new book, What Northern Ireland Means to Me, as a compendium of its podcast of the... Continue Reading →
Reporting the Troubles 2: An important storytelling contributionby Kellie BANCALARI and Allan LEONARD19 April 2022 Imagine getting a call in the middle of the night. It’s a source and they have a statement; they are going to execute two of your colleagues every week because they don’t agree with your workplace’s political leanings. Your name,... Continue Reading →
Getting under the skin of What Northern Ireland Means to Me by Shared Future News 21 March 2022 As part of the Imagine Festival of Politics and Ideas, Shared Future News hosted an online event that got under the skin of its What Northern Ireland Means to Me podcast, with playback from a selection of... Continue Reading →
Hidden barriers: A tour of Belfast’s secret peace lines by Allan LEONARD 23 March 2022 As part of the Imagine Festival, a tour of a selection of hidden interfaces of Belfast was offered. David Coyles, a researcher at Ulster University, hosted a bus tour that took several dozen participants to three case study locations. As... Continue Reading →
Life on the borderlands: Exploring our ‘magical imaginations’by Allan LEONARD 15 March 2022 As part of its Borderlands exhibition, the Holywell Trust held a full-day event, attended by about a dozen participants, that combined site visits, exhibition display, and on-site discussions. The exhibition was described by Gerard Deane, the trust’s director, as “capturing the reflections... Continue Reading →
Center for Global Peace Journalism 10th anniversary symposium by Allan LEONARD 14 March 2022 The Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University recently held an online symposium to mark its 10th anniversary. The agenda was to look back on the Center’s accomplishments and forward to the future of peace journalism. Leading experts from around... Continue Reading →
Assessing, reflecting, adapting — an evaluation of R-City’s Leadership Programme by Allan LEONARD 25 February 2022 R-City, a Belfast-based organisation for young people, hosted a launch of an evaluation report by Trinity College Dublin (TCD), of its R-City Leadership Programme. A couple dozen people attended the in-person event, in contrast to when the research was... Continue Reading →
In this episode of What Northern Ireland Means to Me, we meet John Kyle from east Belfast, who is a GP and an elected representative of Belfast City Council. TRANSCRIPT To me Northern Ireland is home. I was born here, grew up here, went to school here, went to university here. I've lived here... Continue Reading →
In this episode of What Northern Ireland Means to Me, we meet Charmain Jones, who is a community relations professional, focussing on the development of rural communities. TRANSCRIPT I was born and reared in Portadown and I have lived in an interface community for 38 years. But in the next few months I am... Continue Reading →