Saint Bob and me The experience of women s community education in Ireland grew out of the struggle to overcome the effects of colonisation, political and religious, and helped to forge a lasting alliance with the poor and oppressed of the world, writes BRID CONNOLLY

hen looking at the The htinger strikes by IR.^ prisoners in the IR.A were not pacifists, and as the hunger sloiy of women's Northern Ireland were instigated to demand strikers died, one by one, Ireland was thrown community educa- political status for those who were in prison into a state of extreme confusion. Most peo- tion in Ireland, from for their political activities. Before Bnsh's ple in the Repuhlic of Ireland did not sup- iis liejfinnings in the 'war on teiror', the violent, nationalist side port violence, hut we did support the early of the political divide iti Northern Ireland hunger strikes as an altertiaiive lo guerrilla important lo understand what was happen- were consideitd terrorists, largely. There warfare. By the time the hunger strikes wete wing in the country at that time, and through- called off as a tactic, Irish people were dev- out the 25 turbulent years of iis develop- astated. Political campaigns did not work for ment. This stor)' provides a microcosm of various reasons. Passive resistatice did not the history of Ireland and its relationship The only work: to grant political siatus lo tbe prison- wilh globalisation. Three ven' (litricult mile- ers would have huge implications lor the stones were passed during that period: the UK. Wliat was left? Violence was resumed hunger strikes in Northern Ireland in 1981; way to and continued for another 14 years. the anti-ahorlion amendment to the Irish fonslit\ition in 1983; and the Live Aid cam- Powerless people paign in 1984. This was the ground from counter Overcoming colonisation is very difficult. which the women's community education The tactics need to take account of who has movement giew. the power and how they exercise it. In this article, I will ai^e that colonisa- terror is Powerless people adopt tactics that counter tion is an earlier phase of globalisation (see tbe rules that are laid down hy the powerful. Waters, 2001, p. 95), and that colonisation to uncover 'Terrorist' is the name applied to the violent can take tlie form of domination hy another paramilitarists, hui our experience in state, or the ibrm of coiiti'ollirig the lifeworld Ireland shewed that talking, not violence, through religion. I suggest ihat we can end the purposes was the way to counter violence. The 'war on poverty through learning tnjm the experi- terror' is futile. The only way to counter ter- ences of colonised peoples, like us, and ihat ror is to uncover the |)urposes of it, and to we tan use the process of globalisation to of it, and negotiate the way out. We know, on tefiec- help in the pnjjecl. (Globalisation is nol neu- tion, that it would have been better to open tial. Hut neither is il all bad. discussions in 1968/9, rather than allow the Ireland's histoiy is the story of expelling to negotiate poisonous cycle of violence that ensued, per- tlie colonisers, our neighbours, Britain. This petuated hy all sides. succeeded to sotne degree in 1921, resulting the way One of the key objections to independ- in a treaty that left six counties as part of ihe ence for Northern Ireland was the concern Uniled Kingdom, and the remaining twenty- about how powerfnl tbe Roman C^atbolic six independent. In 1949, these hecame the out Church would be in public and private life. Republic of Irt;land. In 1968 and '69, the "Home Rule is Rome Rule' was the telling struggle for independence in Northern slogan. Within two years of the hunger Ireland was re-ignited hy the nationahst were noii-violetit political paities, hut there strikes, this slogan was proved right. side, who were predotninantly Roman were veiy lew signs that the nationalist side The Roman Gatholic Ghurch and Catholic, and the war continued until the could attain parity through political means. Irishness were deeply enmeshed, with over Good Friday Agreement in 1995. There were The hunger strikes were an attempt to inflict 90 per cent of the population Gatholic. The many very painful, outrageous chapters in violence on the self in order to force the church was not content to look after the spir- this war, but 1 just want to look at the hunger hand of the British government. The tactics itual welfare of the people, lather, it con- strikes of 1981 atid tlie part tbey played in had been used hefoie, most particularly hy trolled tnuch of the educati

June 2005 adults learning 17 'The growth in its inlluence coinci(leFamine, and contintied tmabated 1979. From the late sixties onward, Ireland tinhorn' in much the same way as the anti- until the 1960s, to the extent that political had moved away from the influence of war movement, or other liberation move- life was completely contingent on the teach- Rome, particularly with regards to wtmien's ments. The message of the amendment ings of the cburch. It declined somewhat rights, and the women's movement was, at campaign itnplied tbat peo[)lewere immoral with the wonien's movement, but the re- last, making nn impact on the legal and civil and beartless il they did not condemn abor- emergence of ultra-conservative Cathohcism aspects of Irish society. Tlowever, the years tion. But many women had travelled to with John Paul II heralded tbe resurgence of following the Pope s visit were very dark. A England to have abortions, in shame and its power in Ireland. If globalisation can he small, but very influential group of conserva- secrecy, and did not recognise themselves as traced through three regions of puhlic life, tive Catholics, concerned about the progre.ss bad people, but, rather, as women who were the ecfinomy, the polity and culture (Waters, of the women's movement, forced through left with no choice. The struggle of ordinary 2001, p. 17), then tbe Roman Catholic an amendment to the Irish Constitution to women to reconcile with one another over Church played a crucial role in the polity give legal status to Roman Catholic teaching this issue was probably the most acute issue and cultural arenas, which led directly to the on abortion, in 1983. The cotintry was utter- on the agenda of community education, at economy in Ireland, (ilobally, John Paul II ly divided, atid the bitterness that emanated this time. Out of this morass grew the was at the fbiefi~ont in tbe battle against from the entire campaign seeped into every women's community education movement. socialism, and he - and the neo-consenalive corner. "The confusion that the amendmeni forces in Irish society - attempted to invade catised was deeply hewildering. Ihe cam- Live Aid the lifeworld in Ireland, to consolidate inter- paign adopted tactics from the extreme con- W'hile Ireland was going through these diffi- nal colonisation. It had all the hallmarks of servative wing of the Catholic Church in the cult transitions, the lives of counterpart cultural globalisation. United States, which iiiTiltrated into parish women and children in Ethiopia were Women's community' education emerged groups and other social arenas. In a very unimaginable to us. When Bob Cieldof early in the eighties, an era of hreatb-hold- short time, conseiTative grass roots groups forced us to look at the absolute devastation

18 adults learning June 2005 and catastrophe of Kthiopia, we wept as we energising and subjective. Learning commu- participants: the personal acqtiisition of ga/ed al our own children. nities demonstrate that learning is not just skills, knowledge and development of poten- The itnpact of tbe Live Aid event in 1984 an individual acquisition of knowledge, that tial; and social and community transforma- wa.s profound. It was most people's first It needn't only take place in the classroom. tion and empowerment (AONTAS, 2000, p. experience of immediate connection with Croups are integral to the notion of commu- ")• others with the same agenda from all around nity education, and group processes under- The era of globalisation has ushered in the woild. It was special for us, in Ireland, as pin the vitality of the aiena. The key impact the noticm that our social and communiiy we were \eiT proud of Bob (Midge Ure). But we learning (C'onnolly, 2005). Feminist analyses itself with others. Just as Freire linked us with were deejih' touched for a numbei of other expanded this model, considering, in partic- the poor in Brazil, we connect with the poor reasons as well. We have a residual, collective ular, the location of power, and moving from in Africa. This is our responsibility. 'This is memory of hunger and famine from 1846 to the personal to the social (C:onnolK, 1999). our rotite. Our experience of overcoming the 1H48 and the injustices, rather than the lack However, a person-centred approach is vital, domination of colonisation fits us precisely to of Ibod, that caused it. Looking back through provided that it is bounded hy a critical illuminate and share with others our learn- the lens of women's community education, understanding of the persBob Geldof railed against all things Irish, The key achievenieiu of community educa- being turned around in this era of globalisa- in his song, Banana Republic. He had a lot of tion is tbe way in which those most closely tion. We can take our thinking ahout our raw material, growing up in an Ireland that involved with it have shaped it. I believe this local experience and act on it globally. Our exported its problems, from uncmploytnent idea would tiot be viable in any otber sector. experience of women's commtmity education to abortion, while the smug merchants stayed The notion that school children and tradi- has helped us to overcome the effects of at home, comfortable in tbeir growing wealth tional students might have a sa\ in what they colonisation, political and religious, and to and their cosy relationship with Rome. want to learn, and how and where, would ally ourselves with the poor and oppressed of Ethiopia in 1984 whanmied home ihe catas- lace fieixje opposition in editcational institu- the world. The end of civilisation as we know trophe ol hunger, opj)ression and itijustice. tions. Vet, of all the initiatives in education it ;,•; civilisation as we know it, as Germaine Bul Boh and us, we looked for simple solu- over the recent decades, community educa- Greer reminded us. Making Poverty History tions - give the 'fucking money' and end the tion has heen the one which has most poten- needs us. hunger. If it had been possihle to gainer all tial for growth and development. It remains tbe goodwill of ordinaiT Irish people at that creative, flexible, dynamic, transactional and Hrid Connolly is a lecturer in the Department oj time, we would bave ended poverty our- cballengitig. In paiti(iilar, it has Ibslered the Adult and Community Education, National selves. But we know now it was not tbat sim- community and social dimension of learning, University of Ireltind, Maynooth ple. Tbat goodwill was powerless in the face and brought with it a code of ethics, a core of the forces against change. set of values for post-modern Ireland. Women's community education in the Commvmity education is complex. It is early 1980s pnihably wouldn't have flour- not simply a series of techniques, nor is it References ished except for tbe conditions outlined about the location - and it is not just about AONTAS (2000), Community Educatior}: above that nurtured its development. By subject matter. Ihe White Paper on adult Policy Paper. AONTAS, Dublin 1984, women formed learning groups in education considered community education Connolly, B. (2005), 'Learning from the many places, and the 'Daytime Education', as in ideological terms, as; Women's Community Education Movement in by this time it was known, was firmly estab- Ireland' in Crowther, J., Galloway, V., and Martin, lished, with courses ranging from women's [A] process of (.omnumal education I., (eds). Popular Education: Engaging the studies to creative writing (Ryan and towards empowerment, both at an Academy, NIACE, Leicester. Connolly, 1999, p. 95). Religion was not individual and a collective level ... it is Connolly, B. (2003), 'Community Education: mentioned, as eveiyotie was still too raw, hui an interactive, challenging process, not listening to the voices' in The Aduit Learner, iheie was a concerted effort to heal the only in terms of its content but also in AONTAS, Dublin. wounds that could fester beneath the surface. terms of its methodologies and deci- Connolly, B. (1999), 'Group work and 'This battle againsl ihe inlluence of the sion-making [processes (DES, 2000, p. Facilitation: a feminist evaluation of their role in transformative adult and community education' cotisenative Roman Catholic Church on the 110). m Oonnolly, B. and Ryan, A.B., (eds). Women legal and political dimensions of Irish socie- and Education in Ireland, Vol. 1, MACE, ty was undertaken not just hy ordinary non- That is, an essential component of communi- Maynooth. religious people, htit al.so Ijy the religious as ty education is its political dimension, the Department of Education and Science (2000), well. Clerics and nuns brought popular edu- desire to bring about stmctural change. Learning for Ufe: White Paper on Adult cation to Ireland from Latin America and Coiimiunity education provides a learn- Education, DES, Dublin. they were pivotal in bringing Freirean ideas ing environment, identified and located Freire, R (1972), Pedagogy of the Oppressed, to the country. The model of daytime adult within the community, not just the physical Penguin, HanTiondsworth. and community education was perfect as a community, but also the community of Ryan, A. B. and Connolly, B. (2000), 'Women's conduit for emancipatoiy ways of working shared experiences. Community education community education in Ireland: the need for with learners. By 1985, the key features of gtoups retain control of the decision-making new directions towards "really useful knowl- wonien's comniunily education were estab- pir)ces.ses. I he processes are rooted in eman- edge"' in Thompson, J., (Ed) Stretching the lished (Connolly, 2005, pp. 206-207} and Academy: The poiitics and practice of widening cipatory, person-centred values. The starting participation in Higher Education. NIACE, ihey continued to grow and develop for the point of community education is the lived Leicester. next number of years experience of tbe participants and their crit- Waters, M. (2001), Giobalization, 2nd Edition, Community education is a transactional, ical reflectioti of it. t^oiimiimity education Routledge, London. dynamic process, which is pluralistic, broad. has a two-fold, interconnected aim for the

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