Why it's a negative peace while we remain divided

Northern Ireland has made massive strides towards peace since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed 15 years ago.

The agreement is viewed globally as a positive model – particularly in the groundbreaking way that it guarantees nationality and identities, regardless of the status of Northern Ireland.

Politicians should be commended that, in spite of their different political aspirations, they have established the power-sharing institutions.

But in spite of this, those of us who study and practise conflict transformation would view the peace here as a negative peace. That is a context where political violence has decreased but the underlying issues that fuel conflict have not been addressed.

One of these issues is societal segregation. The signatories to the 1998 agreement recognised that societal integration was key to reconciliation, noting that "an essential aspect of the reconciliation process is the promotion of a culture of tolerance at every level of society, including initiatives to facilitate and encourage integrated education and mixed housing." But only 7% of children attend integrated schools 15 years on and, in spite of some slight improvements in residential mixing, most people go home to largely single-identity communities.

On the whole, people lead separate social, educational, sporting, recreational and religious lives.

Clearly, the commitment in the agreement to integration has not been realised, suggesting that – drawing on the sentiment of the agreement – reconciliation here is incomplete.

However, as the agreement has unfolded, what has become apparent is that what reconciliation means to different parties is not clear.

The original commitment to promoting integration has also waned. Politicians' inability to agree an overarching policy to promote integration is evidence of this.

One of the reasons why this policy has not been agreed is because there is no commonality on the vision of what society we are working towards.

Is the goal one of 'thin' integration or deeper social transformation? Are we going to settle for a society where the dominant communities are going to remain separate and, hopefully, equal, co-existing in negative peace? Or are we seeking more profound change, where all aspects of life are integrated?

Co-existing and sharing society might be an acceptable goal in the short term, given the history of conflict. But is it enough?

The Community Relations Council's peace monitoring report, which was launched last week, observed that the continuing absence of any agreed strategy for flags, parades, or dealing with the past – among others – has left the political establishment vulnerable to the shocks from events. This was obvious in the flag protests.

Although there is an agreement in place, the actual root of the conflict – the constitutional question – has not been settled. This is yet another reason why we need to keep building social integration.

When a settlement comes, whatever it is, a robust social structure needs to be in place where communities are not polarised and living and being schooled in separate groups. Without this, peace will always remain fragile.

Integration and deep cultural and attitudinal change, of course, will not happen overnight. But, given that 15 years have now passed since the signing of the agreement, now is a good time to reaffirm the spirit of integration expressed in it.

This needs to be coupled with politicians robustly clarifying their commitment to working towards integration and showing decisive leadership on how to achieve this.

Settling for division, or limited social sharing, may feel comfortable in the short term, but in the long run it will continue to erode the achievements embodied in the agreement.

Copyright Brandon Hamber. Published in the Belfast Telegraph, 19 April 2013.

Interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I cannot explain the honour I had last week of meeting and getting to interview His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his visit to Derry. It was an incredibly moving and interesting discussion. Below I have put part of the interview as published on His Holiness' website.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on "Philosophies of Peace & Conflict" on April 18, 2013 with Brandon Hamber

Working for Peace, Educating the Heart and Cultivating Compassion in Derry

Press Release from The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

April 19th 2013

Derry, Northern Ireland, 18 April 2013 - Today, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made his second visit to Derry, the Irish city whose motto is ‘Life, Truth and Victory’ and is UK City of Culture for 2013. He was invited by his old friend Richard Moore, the Director of the charity Children in Crossfire.

In the morning, His Holiness met Richard Moore, his wife and daughters and several of his brothers and sisters. When Richard remarked that his 93 year old mother was hoping to meet His Holiness, but was not feeling strong enough to go out, His Holiness replied that, if possible, he would like to go to see her.

His His first engagement was at Magee University where he was invited to participate in a conversation with Prof Brandon Hamber about ‘Philosophies of Peace and Conflict.’ In response to Prof Hamber’s question about whether the world is becoming a better place, he said:

“It’s a great honour for me to participate in this discussion. I’m here because of my wonderful friend Richard Moore, who as a young man, not especially religious minded, came to embody deep human values. When tragedy befell him, he didn’t allow himself to become filled with feelings of anger, hatred and resentment. The result is clear; he’s now a happy, peaceful human being.

“In the world at large it seems that people are becoming fed up with war and violence and the sense of ‘them’ and ‘us’ that provokes it is breaking down.”

Asked what his philosophy of peace is, he replied:

“Genuine peace comes about as a result of inner peace, so it starts on an individual level. Then you share it with your family and your neighbourhood. Inner peace is the basis of trust, the basis of friendship and so the basis of a wider peace in society and the world at large. Prayer doesn’t bring about peace, because it’s we who create the trouble, so it’s we who have to fix it.”

Prof Hamber asked if he was optimistic about Tibet and he was clear in his response.

“The problem in Tibet is not a matter of civil war, but that a new guest has come without a proper invitation, armed with a gun. Once that guest arrived, every Tibetan’s way of life came under threat. We have a rich cultural heritage, a culture of peace and compassion, which we want to preserve. Yes, the Tibet issue is linked to what happens in China. And things are changing there so, yes, we can hope. The last prime minister Wen Jiabao often spoke of the need for change and even the need for democracy. In the early 1980s Hu Yaobang went to Tibet. I met him in 1954 when he was head of the Chinese Communist Youth. He visited Lhasa in 1980 and publicly apologised for what had happened in Tibet. He was someone he followed Deng Xiaoping’s stricture, ‘Seek truth from facts’ and he realistically investigated local conditions. Some people say the new leadership seem to be taking a cue from Hu Yaobang’s approach, but it’s still too early to say. In the meantime, our Middle Way Approach attracts a lot of support from Chinese writers, thinkers and even ordinary villagers who get to know about it and understand it.”

To the suggestion that people can become tired of working for peace and reconciliation, His Holiness said that this kind of work is not a matter of choice, but something we have to do. As he frequently tells Tibetans, in the long run the people we are in conflict with are the people we have to live with side by side, so we have to find a peaceful solution. In such situations, resorting to violence is like suicide. Taking a more realistic and holistic view can give us a more positive perspective, whereas getting caught up in the destructive emotions of anger, hatred and fear create unhappiness and bring nothing positive.

Addressing those in his audience who were less than 30 years old, His Holiness said:

“You truly belong to the twenty-first century generation; the future is in your hands.”

The release continues here detailing His Holiness visits to a range of venues in Derry delivering a major talk that afternoon to some 2500 people at the Culture of Compassion event.

Lack of Integration Strategy Undermining Northern Ireland's Political Progress

University of Ulster Press Release

The failure to progress a sharing and integrated strategy in Northern Ireland is undermining the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement, a leading University of Ulster academic has warned.

Professor Brandon Hamber (pictured) , the director of the University of Ulster's international conflict resolution research centre INCORE, told a joint committee of MPs and TDs in Dublin that significant strides had been made since the Agreement was forged 15 years ago.

However the Magee-based academic cautioned, as recent events in Northern Ireland have shown, in the absence of any strategy to deliver the integration envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement, the political process was vulnerable to stresses.

Professor Hamber told the meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement that we need to acknowledge the progress that has been made, violence has decreased and the institutions are functioning but segregation remains.

“What we do know is integrated schooling has not changed significantly. Although there have been advancements, they have not been dramatic.If you look at mixed marriages, for example, these types of factors have not changed dramatically.

"In numerous quarters, this has been put down to a lack of policy on how sharing and integration will take place…the whole spirit of integration as expressed in the Agreement has not yet been realised.

"Of course, policy does not determine practice but it does provide us with a yardstick for measurement and it helps us create a vision for action in terms of what might be needed”.

Professor Hamber told the joint committee of TDs and MPs that other conflict resolution processes around the world had shown addressing underlying issues, including economic concerns and segregation, would provide stronger social cohesion and a greater guarantee of peace in the long term.

If underlying causes of conflict are not addressed, Professor Hamber said, "In the conflict field, we would talk about this as a negative peace. In other words, there is a context where political violence has decreased but a lot of the underlying issues that potentially can fuel violence still remain in place”.

Specifically Professor Hamber called for an integrated strategy in Northern Ireland on dealing with sectarianism, flags, parades and dealing with the past, and a recommitment to the essence of the 1998 Agreement, which talks specifically about the importance of integration in schooling and housing as key to reconciliation.

Note to Editors:







INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute) is a joint University of Ulster and United Nations University project based on the Magee campus. It aims to address the causes and consequences of conflict in Northern Ireland and internationally while also promoting conflict resolution management and peace-building strategies.

Professor Hamber was giving evidence in Leinster House to the Joint Committee of the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement alongside Peter Sheridan, Chief Executive, Co-operation Ireland and Neil Jarman, Director, Institute for Conflict Research.

The joint committee of TD and Northern Ireland MPs is chaired by Deputy Joe McHugh TD.

For further information, please contact:

David Young Telephone: 028 9036 6074 Email: David Young

Is the government planning for separate development?

Since the 1998 Agreement and devolution in 2007, there have been three broad opinions on how best to achieve greater integration in the education system in Northern Ireland.

Firstly, there are those who argue for a system of common schools, attended by pupils from all traditions. A second argument is that integration need not be planned, but will happen organically as all schools become more inclusive and open to enrolment from other traditions. However, figures show that almost half of Northern Ireland’s schoolchildren are still being taught in schools where 95% or more of the pupils are of the same religion and fewer than 50 schools have an enrolment of more that 10% from the ‘other community’. A third argument is that separate schooling is inevitable and will continue for the foreseeable future, so another strategy may be to promote ‘shared education’ through more contact and collaboration between schools of different traditions. But if the Northern Ireland Executive plans only for ‘shared education’, does this mean that there will never be any change to the current system of separate schooling?

Read the rest of this article by Alan Smith on the site 15 Years On.

What does peace mean in the South?

Widespread relief greeted the 1998 Good Friday Agreement when over 94% of people in the Republic of Ireland voted to give up the territorial claim to the whole island enshrined in the Constitution until such time as there was a consensus to do otherwise. The desire to end the conflict was strongly endorsed in both jurisdictions, sustained by a dogged and consistent commitment to peace by the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern – a fact now buried, for the time being at least, under the debris of the current economic crisis.

The Southern reaction to the Peace Process varied depending on how closely affected by the conflict you were. For those living in the border region, the disappearance of the British Army and the opening of border roads, facilitating ease of movement between towns and villages whose hinterlands and livelihoods had been disrupted by the violence, was greatly welcomed.

Cross-border cooperation in tourism, infrastructure, policing and community development, all boosted by EU Peace funding, has allowed fractured communities to pick up the pieces and start again. For many Protestants in the Southern border counties, there was encouragement to engage in public life again after an ‘eyes down, mouths shut’ policy of trying to survive in a climate of fear and intimidation in a region deeply affected by the violence across the border. Many today continue to live with the residue of that.

The further south or west you travelled, it was hard to believe that the peace process meant anything more than an escape from the nightly violence beamed into living rooms and the interminable discussions about a solution. And of course for others, their interest didn’t extend further north than Sainsbury’s in Newry or Asda in Enniskillen. For a small minority the Agreement was seen as a sell-out.

To read the rest of the article by Barbara Walshe visit 15 Years On.

Basque Social Forum to Promote the Peace Process

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Basque Social Forum to Promote the Peace Process, bakebidea.com. I was asked to speak about Dealing with the Past.

Below is my Tweet record of my talk. Obviously, a summary but core ideas contained.

Tweet record sent 16 March 2013:

• Yesterday had the pleasure of speaking at the Basque Social Forum to Promote the Peace Process www.bakebidea.com #bakeforo
• Bake Bidea seeks to promote reflection about the Basque peace process through dialogue with the public in public forums #bakeforo
• Speakers included myself, Colm Campbell, Kieran McEvoy (@kieranmcevoy2), Andy Carl, and Martin Snodden (pictured above in order) followed by public discussion
• We spoke in Bilbao to an audience of some 300, my topic was dealing with the past #bakeforo
• Dealing with the past is the process of addressing a legacy of violence #bakeforo
• Conflict is often about simplicity, we are divided, good and bad. Dealing with the past is about embracing complexity #bakeforo
• When I talk about dealing with the past I draw on Healing Through Remembering (@HTRinfo) who are concerned with structured, active and purposeful attempts #bakeforo
• Dealing with the past is a wide ranging subject, but largely focuses on what strategies and mechanisms #bakeforo
• Examples include, among others, storytelling, to memorialization, to truth commissions, apologies, community projects, reparations #bakeforo
• Drawing a line is a way of dealing with the past, but it generally does not work. Look at the case of Spanish Civil War now #bakeforo
• From my experience there are six key lessons we now know about dealing with the past in countries emerging from violence #bakeforo
• Lesson 1: Dealing with the past is wider than a truth commission, you need multiple strategies at different levels over long term #bakeforo
• You can do dealing with the past work in the absence of political agreements and it continues after formal processes like TRCs too #bakeforo
• Lesson 2: different political realities determine the types of approaches taken. No one approach. It always involves compromise #bakeforo
• Political realities mean for example complete amnesty is unlikely and incomplete retributive justice for victims is a reality #bakeforo
• Lesson 3: You need a wider aim and vision. Victims are central and those involved in violence, but the process is about society #bakeforo
• You need social and political buy in into processes with all players involved, it is top down and bottom up, and institutional #bakeforo
• Lesson 4: seek complexity and learn to live with different views of the past, while “narrowing permissible lies” (Ignatieff) #bakeforo
• Absolute truth is not possible. But we can narrow what societies see as acceptable and break myths about the past #bakeforo
• In South Africa it was helpful to know all sides committed violations, maybe for different reasons, but there was a dirty war #bakeforo
• We must highlight stories of complexity that challenge our simplistic notions of good and bad #bakeforo
• Getting information about causes, nature and extent of a conflict is important through truth recovery processes #bakeforo
• Lesson 5: we need to seek new ways of framing the conflict and create the spaces where we can do this #bakeforo
• We need to pay attention to language and symbols, not become fixated but work through processes to understand the latent meaning #bakeforo
• We must engage in public discussions about the past, and reframe issues like the changing of murals in Belfast #bakeforo
• ...or victims and combatants to be given space to speak of their experiences #bakeforo
• Lesson 6: trust must be built at all levels and honesty in engagement is vital to maintain trust (HTR) #bakeforo
• We should not lie to victims for example and promise them complete justice when the political reality is this won't happen #bakeforo
• But confidence building mechanisms are needed like apologies and acknowledgement, along with consultation and participation #bakeforo
• Thank you and all the best with the Forum, this type of public engagement is important in peace processes #bakeforo

Tweets sent by others referring to my input on 15 March 2013:

• @PaulRios Hamber: los conflictos son sencillos (buenos/malos) Los procesos de paz son complejos #bakeforo (at 6:35pm)
• @PaulRios Hamber: olvidar puede ser una estrategia pero no funciona #bakeforo (at 6:38pm)
• @PaulRios Hamber: las amnistías completas no tienen sitio en el contexto internacional #bakeforo (at 6:47pm)
• @PaulRios Hamber: las víctimas son centrales en estos proceso pero el proceso es acerca de la convivencia en la sociedad #bakeforo (at 6:48pm)
• @PaulRios Hamber: la honestidad es fundamental. Por ejemplo, hay quien crea falsas expectativas en las víctimas #bakeforo (at 6:57pm)
• @BarcenaPatricia Hamber: Aprender a vivir con visiones diferentes. Como la verdad absoluta no es posible hay limitar "las mentiras posibles" en #bakeforo (at 10:15pm)

Human rights and women's rights frozen out

Negotiating a peace agreement in a conflict society provides several challenges. First, you need to create a constructive process; second, you need to ensure that the proposals mean something to everyone at the table and third, you have to ensure that what is agreed gets implemented. It could be argued that the Northern Ireland process was a fairly inclusive one, and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was a fairly comprehensive one. But what does the aftermath of the agreement look like?

When George Mitchell told the negotiators on Good Friday in 1998 that ‘the hard work starts now’ he meant that implementing the agreement in the spirit in which it was signed would indeed be hard work. And making it work has been like trying to tattoo a balloon. The perceived gains and losses have to keep pace with each other – otherwise some will accuse others of overplaying their hand. So a peace agreement often hangs on the undertakings it makes. But where there is a clash of interpretations about how these should be fulfilled then a feeling of bad faith can quickly replace the more clear-eyed view of the future, such as the one promised on that Good Friday.

An example of this is the Agreement’s proposal on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland which, following St Andrews, all the parties were committed to but have taken no decisions on since then.  Building on the largest public participation exercise ever undertaken in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission forwarded its advice to the British government in 2008. However, both the British government and the Northern Ireland Executive appear frozen on what to do next.

To read the rest of the article by Monica McWilliams visit 15 Years On.