Doris Panzer – AFSC symposium, April 2017 Measuring progress in tiny steps: local peace process implementation through civic engagement in Northern Ireland The province of Northern Ireland is now nineteen years into a peace process that ended thirty years of armed conflict, commonly known as “the Troubles.”i Beyond the shores of Ireland the Troubles often were considered to be a sectarian war that pitted Irish Catholics against Irish Protestants, but like the historical backgrounds of other conflict zones around the world, the real contributing issues are more complicated and entangled than mere differences of religion. Although the socio-political divisions in Northern Ireland do fall along ethno-religious lines, the Troubles began and continued for thirty years because of extensive civil rights abuses and the nationalist minority’s desire to be free of British control (de Paor 1990; Murtagh 2002; Donnan 2005). Throughout the second half of the twentieth century and still present in many forms today, wall murals have been among the most visible expressions of heritage and ethnic or national identity in Northern Ireland (Rolston 1995; 2010). Particularly during the Troubles, the murals mirrored the socio-political divide and tensions between the Protestant-unionist-loyalist majority, and the Catholic-nationalist-republican minority. However, despite sectarian tensions that remain an undercurrent of daily life in various locations, now many residents are embracing new perspectives about accepting and respecting people from other ethnic and/or religious backgrounds (Rolston 2003). Even before the Good Friday peace accords were signed in 1998, various governmental and community groups held discussions on the human impact of the conflict and how best to facilitate issues of victimhood and reconciliation between Protestant/unionist and Catholic/nationalist communities. Once the Good Friday agreement was in place, it provided a clear framework and context for peace process implementation (O’Leary 2004). Nineteen years 1 Doris Panzer – AFSC symposium, April 2017 on, the peace process still is very much a work in progress. Using examples from my ethnographic fieldwork in Strabane, County Tyrone, I highlight several town- and district-wide programs and organizations that focus on serving and bringing together people from “both sides of the house,” which draw on and complement Province-wide initiatives. These activities provide insight into the lived experience of post-conflict Northern Ireland at the grass-roots level. As one community leader told me, The peace process, by its very nature has changed people’s views… The process of peace is about engagin’ the community - it’s about individuals. It is about the individual person understandin’ the opposite – you know, someone from the other culture – someone from the other persuasion. A significant dynamic of this community engagement has been the deliberate inclusion of all parties impacted by the conflict, without valorizing or condemning anyone’s involvement (Towards Understanding and Healing 2008). Although progress towards peace may seem slow, I argue that these small incremental steps are essential for challenging and changing the socially constructed silence between the two “sides of the house” that contributed to Northern Ireland’s divided communities and misunderstanding for generations. Strabane is a small town of roughly 17,000 people, in County Tyrone, one of six counties that make up the Province of Northern Ireland. Along with the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. The remaining twenty-six counties on the island of Ireland are within the Republic of Ireland, an independent country. I have conducted ethnographic research in Strabane for various lengths of time since 2009. In full disclosure, my fieldwork was conducted solely within the nationalist and republican communities of Strabane, where I lived in a republican housing estate. Although I met people from local Protestant/unionist communities, formal interactions or interviews with them would have threatened my ability to work and live in the republican neighborhood. In order to protect the 2 Doris Panzer – AFSC symposium, April 2017 names of interviewees I follow the common practice of assigning them fictitious names and in some cases create composite characters. Marilyn Cohen notes the challenges of doing ethnographic research in divided communities like Northern Ireland, but also argues that maintaining neutrality and working with “both sides of the house” may not be necessary for substantive scholarship (Cohen 2000/2001:225). My focus here is on those in Strabane who want the peace process to succeed and look forward to an inclusive, equitable future for everyone in Northern Ireland, but I have to acknowledge that dissident splinter groups exist who disagree with those aims. A variety of peace and reconciliation resources and organizations are available through local, regional (district/county), and province-wide governmental initiatives as well as non-profit organizations. For this paper I need to limit my discussion to a small, although significant selection of these resources and programs. I have chosen to highlight the province-wide initiative A Shared Future because of the ways it acts as an “umbrella” program for districts to implement their locally-designed Good Relations strategies. Then I will discuss some of the ways Strabane’s St. Patrick’s Day parade contributes to local efforts towards making Strabane town and district a more welcoming, prosperous, and stable place for all residents. The overall aim of the initiative A Shared Future as explained in a government booklet, is to establish, over time, a shared society defined by a culture of tolerance: a normal, civic society, in which all individuals are considered as equals, where differences are resolved through dialogue in the public sphere and where all individuals are treated impartially. A society where there is equity, respect for diversity and recognition of our interdependence. (Good Relations Unit. 2005:10) The booklet continues by breaking down various aspects of the issues to be faced, such as “tackling the visible manifestations of sectarianism and racism; reclaiming shared space; [and] reducing tensions in interface areas” (p.1), with a subsequent section addressing ways to work 3 Doris Panzer – AFSC symposium, April 2017 towards this shared future by the central, regional, and/or local governments, as well as at community and individual levels. Resources like this booklet are made available at no cost in hard copy through various outlets, in addition to being accessible on-line. Useful governmental resources on-line includes the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), while one of the most extensive sites specifically about the Troubles is the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), maintained by the University of Ulster. The CAIN website has numerous subdivisions including interactive maps, links to other databases and resources, and is continually updated with new or additional information. Despite the extent of province-wide resources and programs, individuals are probably most aware of governmental peace initiatives on the district level. During the bulk of the time I conducted my research, County Tyrone was divided into two districts, with Strabane town being the hub for Strabane District. The council members for Strabane District have to balance the interests, needs, and perceptions of close to 40,000 residents living in rural villages, hamlets, and farms throughout the district, in addition to the town of Strabane. Part of that challenge is to move residents beyond the socio-political inequalities of the past in which Protestants/unionists controlled local as well as Province-wide governance, whether they were the actual majority in a given locale or not. During the first half of the Troubles, most of the nationalist/republican community abstained from the political process because of the ways it privileged the Protestant/unionist community and marginalized Catholics. By the 1980s however, those attitudes changed with many nationalists/republicans not only voting, but actively getting involved in local and district affairs, in Strabane and elsewhere (McGarry 2004:328). Today the political affiliation of council members reflects the electoral engagement of the overall population within the district. 4 Doris Panzer – AFSC symposium, April 2017 According to the 2011 census, the primary religious make-up of Strabane District was roughly 65% Catholic and 34% Protestant,ii while Strabane town was roughly 93% Catholic and 6% Protestant (Strabane District Council 2010:9). Local programs and activities intended to help Strabane become a more inclusive and welcoming place include: special town events such as the St. Patrick’s Day parade; cross-community commitment to the mandated power-sharing within the District Council; encouraging participation in community-based policing partnerships instead of the reliance in self-policing vigilantism in segregated neighborhoods; and cross-community as well as cross-border peace and reconciliation initiatives. I spoke with local Sinn Féin councilor Phil Cassidy about council membership and the councilors’ role in Strabane District affairs. Like many republican men in their early fifties, Phil is an ex-prisoner. He was an IRA Volunteer during the Troubles and served time in prison because of his involvement in the conflict. Phil is committed to his home