Category Archives: Nonviolent News

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News, November 2024

Nonviolent News,

Triple Lock and the election

With a general election happening in the Republic, there are many issues on which citizens will try to get commitments from prospective politicians. One such is the Triple Lock which the outgoing government, and in particular Micheál Martin, have been trying to ditch but which is a guarantee that Ireland will not get mixed up in wars fought by NATO or, forthcoming, the EU. See the StoP website at https://swordstoploughsharesireland.org/

Nonviolence and empowerment, nonviolence and democracy

Iranian-Canadian political philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo will be visiting Northern Ireland in late November and providing programme for different organisations, including INNATE. Ramin Jahanbegloo has written many books including a number on Gandhi and on nonviolence (a word search will show up bio details and YouTube interviews).

On Thursday 28th November at 3pm he will speak on ‘Nonviolence and empowerment’ at a meeting in Belfast, venue to be finalised, sponsored by Conflict Textiles, the Hume O’Neill Chair in Peace (Ulster University), and INNATE. Bookings to https://tinyurl.com/raminnonviolence and the INNATE website will have the venue as soon as it is finalised. The same evening, at 7.30pm on 28th November he will contribute to an online webinar on ‘Nonviolence and democracy building’; this is open to anyone interested, anywhere, and bookings should come to the INNATE email address, innate@ntlworld.com with the subject heading ‘Ramin Jahanbegloo webinar’. PDF flyers with more info sent out with email edition of Nonviolent News and are on the website.

Corrymeela

The Corrymeela website at https://www.corrymeela.org/ has a full listing of upcoming open events as well as full information on programmes (sectarianism, public theology, nurturing hope, marginalisation, legacies of conflict). On Saturday 30th* November  from 1 – 4 pm there is a Christmas open day with Santa, refreshments, crafts, story time, movies, and stalls. [Please note this is a change from Corrymeela’s previous notice of it happening the following day, 1st December. Admission free] The next Dialogue for Peaceful Change (DpC) training is from 24th – 28th March; this is a four–day immersive experience designed to provide participants with practical tools for managing and transforming conflict. Details on the website at https://www.corrymeela.org/events/255/dialogue-for-peaceful-change-training

Sign up to Lex Innocentium 21st Century

Lex Innocentium 21st Century, a modern take on Adomnán’s 697 CE ‘Law of the Innocents’, is now taking online signatures at https://lexinnocentium21.ie/ and there is full information there. Lex Innocentium, 21st Century states itself to be “a bottom-up, soft-power, moral people’s law that declares that War is a Crime against Humanity, War is a Crime against the Earth, War is a Crime against the Future”. As well as a general video of the day, the talks and messages from the launch are available, see under ‘About us’ on the website.

CAJ: Hiring communications officer, report on policing of protest

CAJ, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, is hiring a communications officer to co-ordinate communications, promotional and PR activity for CAJ, including related stakeholder engagement, CAJ’s online presence, publications, events and other products; they will join the current team of seven. Deadline is 8th November. https://caj.org.uk/latest/caj-is-recruiting-2/ Meanwhile a short report on the CAJ and ICCL joint conference last March on “The Policing of Protest: A Shifting Landscape?” is available via https://caj.org.uk/publications/reports/the-policing-of-protest-a-shifting-landscape/ This concludes that “there is much work to be done to ensure that the PSNI and An Garda Síochána fully protect, respect and fulfil the right to protest on an equal basis for all protesters. Perceptions of uneven and biased responses to protest are strong and undermine public trust and public confidence in both services.”

SCI: Changing perspectives in the North, and dealing with that

SCI/the Social Change Initiative has worked with a range of community leaders to delve into data emerging from the World Values Survey in Northern Ireland and a new 20 page report is available which draws on the lessons learned from the experience of supporting communities to use data to think about values and to unpack why people hold particular views. Using the WVS data, five segments of NI society were identified – disaffected pessimists, anti-establishment urbanities, comfortable progressives, moderate traditionalists and confident individualists (obviously this way beyond the usual and traditional NI designations). The report is available at https://issuu.com/sci_belfast/docs/sci_lessons_learned and may help thinking about how to move issues forward in the North. It states, for example, that “Although Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society…there has in fact been considerable attitudinal, political and demographic change in the last 25 years. This shift is not always apparent in the public narrative, which often fails to reflect the plurality of perspectives and identities that exist…”

Cork: Strong support for closure of Collins Aerospace

30th October saw another strong demonstration at Collins Aerospace in Cork demanding its closure; it was organised by Action Against War, Cork Neutrality League and the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Collins Aerospace is a Cork subsidiary of RTX Corporation – formerly Raytheon, one of the world’s largest armaments manfacturers. Among other military entanglements Collins Aerospace has a role in the development of a new NATO helicopter. Contact: Dominic Carroll corkneutralityleague@gmail.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/action.against.war_/

Hate crime law passes Dáil

After various controversies and impasses, the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Bill 2022 passed all stages in the Oireachtas, meaning that it can now be signed into law; it will provide for increased prison sentences for certain crimes, where proven to be motivated by hatred, or where hatred is demonstrated. Hate speech elements were not included in the final legislation. Various groups have campaigned for hate crime laws for years. The Hate Crime Coalition previously stated “much more needs to be done in support of it, including enhanced training for criminal justice actors, improved reporting, better monitoring and data collection, enhanced victim supports, and public awareness campaigns on the legislation and the specific nature and impact of hate crime. Ultimately, we should all be working towards preventing hate crime from happening in the first place, including through education and awareness raising.” [Quote source; ICCL www.iccl.ie press release for Coalition Against Hate Crime]

Harland & Wolff: Green energy not battle ships?

A proposal has been made about iconic Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff which went into administration in September. The Common Wealth think tank in Britain has proposed an arms length company be set up by the British government to buy the shipyard and re-orient towards offshore wind energy production. This proposal is part of Common Wealth’s “A Lucas Plan for the Twenty First Century” https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/a-lucas-plan-for-the-twenty-first-century-from-asset-manager-arsenal-to-green-industrial-strategy and see also https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/18/uk-should-repurpose-belfast-shipyard-to-make-green-infrastructure?CMP=share_btn_url

Quaker hub in Belfast

Frederick Street Friends Meeting House (FMH) in central Belfast is positioned in an emerging vibrant part of Belfast with Ulster University’s new main campus right beside. It is undergoing a major development including Quaker Service moving to be based there and the intention to make it a Quaker hub; there is a fundraising appeal for this, see https://quakers-in-ireland.ie/2024/10/10/appeal-for-frederick-street-quaker-hub/ for more information and contacts. See also Billy King item in email and web editions.

FOE: Climate justice day of action

Friends of the Earth Ireland has a Climate Justice Day of Action on Tuesday 12th November where they invite people to get out into their communities and talk to neighbours, friends, family or indeed local politicians about the most pressing climate justice issues of the day. See https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/events/climate-justice-day-of-action/

Housmans Diary 2025

The end is nigh, of 2024 at least, and time for those who use a paper diary to consider what they want. For the peace activist, Housmans Peace Diary with its World Peace Directory is an obvious choice – handy if you find yourself in Armenia or Australia to only cover a couple of the ‘A’s, or you want contacts there. It has a week to a view, quotations, and dates for celebration or protest and in the directory over 1,400 peace, environmental and human rights groups around the world. UK£9.95 plus postage, discount on 10 or more in UK postal area. Order at https://housmans.com/peace-diary/

l A more extensive version of the World Peace Directory in the Diary is available online at http://www.housmans.info/wpd/ It is worth reading the background information on the site home page to get the best use out of it.

CCI: Continuing developments in its Chernobyl work

Chernobyl Children International (CCI) continually strives to improve the services it provides in Chernobyl affected regions, e.g. their Hospice and Community Care team partnered with their Nursing team for a specialised training, where they expanded their knowledge in therapeutic massage and physical therapy. A 5-minute video on Chernobyl and the work of CCI is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0MUmRcrDaY See also the CCI website at https://www.chernobyl-international.com/

Editorial: ‘They’ haven’t gone away, you know

Editorials, Nonviolent News, ,

Although coming at it from very different angles, both peace activists of the nonviolent persuasion and paramilitaries view the legitimacy of state sanctioned violence as inadequate. Those of the nonviolent persuasion do not go along with the legitimacy of state sanctioned lethal force whereas paramilitaries feel that military-type action outside of the state is legitimate. Nonviolent activists would view both state sanctioned violence and paramilitary violence as immoral and/or unnecessary.

That is not to say that state forces should not be held to higher account than paramilitaries. In the North, the announcement of a long promised tribunal of enquiry to look at the circumstances of Pat Finucane’s killing had a reaction from some on the unionist and loyalist side that this was favouritism to republicans and discrimination against other victims. Leaving aside the fact that Pat Finucane as a lawyer represented loyalists as well as republicans, the state had long ago promised an enquiry, a promise it continually reneged on, and the particular circumstances of his murder – with very considerable issues of both state collusion and parliamentary ‘fingering’ of him – fully justifies such an enquiry.

More general questions of the legacy of violence remain, by paramilitaries as well as state. How do we deal with the very real issues for survivors and families of victims? Certainly not by sweeping it all under the carpet as the last British Conservative government tried to do with its Legacy Act (in order to protect former British soldiers and the state). The extent to which current Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn is moving away from that model is still being defined – and challenged.

However paramilitarism and militarism are still major issues in the North. Small republican paramilitary groups still exist and could pose a threat to individuals but they have very little support. However some loyalist paramilitary infrastructure has continued unbroken through the peace process and beyond; it is estimated that there are still well over ten thousand members of loyalist paramilitaries which is a lot – the PSNI has 6,300 officers and 2,200 support staff, in total certainly below the number of loyalist paramilitaries.

The extent to which loyalist paramilitaries are involved in extortion (such as protection rackets) and drug dealing varies but is very significant and a continuing blight on the North. There have been various attempts, more carrots than sticks, to encourage paramilitaries out of crime and militarism but they have largely been unsuccessful and there is also a certain amount of incredulity that, two and a half decades after the Good Friday Agreement, they still exist and still recruit. It is estimated that up to a third of organised crime has paramilitary links. The carrots and sticks need to have a time limit.

The failure of loyalism to gain political traction, in the way Sinn Féin did for republicanism, is certainly regarded as one factor in loyalist paramilitaries having a niche – while the DUP has often had an ambiguous relationship with militant and military loyalism, it cannot be regarded as adequately representing working class loyalism (e.g. on school selection where working class Protestant boys are the lowest achievers). But other factors are simply power, greed, and fear for the future of Northern Ireland.

A recent independent pro-unionist report from the ‘Northern Ireland Development Group’ addressed this whole issue. There are difficulties, obviously, and the report called for more carrots and sticks. Some of the authors stated “A clear distinction between ex-combatants, community workers and criminals is needed to bolster loyalists who are trying to move on, and to distinguish between them and those who want to use fear to maintain their own reputations and self-serving advantage.” (Irish Times 11/10/24). The attention given to the Loyalist Communities Council, representing the views of a variety of paramilitary groups, by some ministers has also caused anger; however it should be a question of what attention is given to them but whether what they say is justified – and you cannot attempt to ‘bring people in from the cold’ by ignoring them.

On a wider scale we need to challenge both paramilitarism and militarism. They might not be two sides of the same coin but they are both stuck in the same hole. Paramilitary and guerrilla fighters (a k a ‘terrorists) typically inflict harm and death in multiples of ten or a hundred; there are occasional exceptions such as 9/11 when the unit was thousands but that is not typical. Deaths and injuries from state forces are typically numbered in ten of thousands or even millions. And yet most of the time people accept the actions of states, even ones as egregious as Israel’s in Gaza where it has slaughtered upwards of 50,000 people and probably caused the deaths of several times that through the effects of the onslaught on health, nutrition, homelessness and fear.

Paramilitarism takes a military model and uses it for its own purposes within a state. Militarism threatens the globe, directly and indirectly through death, misuse of resources, its major contribution to global heating and pollution, and so on including the very real risk of nuclear annihilation. Humanity needs to move on. There are alternatives but militarism, with its associated symbols of statehood, appeal to politicians (and many other people besides) and they fail to even comprehend that there are alternatives, or examine what these are.

The possibilities of nonviolence are endless. They do require work and people but their costs would be tiny compared to the cost of armies and militarism. When will we start to learn?

Eco-Awareness with Larry Speight: Not acting on what we know

Eco-Awareness, Nonviolent News, , ,

Larry Speight brings us his monthly column –

One of the strands of modernity, perhaps its backbone, is the belief that we are rational beings. We tell ourselves that our decisions, especially critically important ones, are based on careful consideration of all the available information, a balancing of the pros and cons, align with our values and will help us achieve our goals. This thesis, like the fallacy of common sense, is based on the idea that we act on the basis of self-interest. A flaw in this idea is that many of us often don’t know what is in our self-interest and on many of the occasions that we can with confidence say that we know we don’t follow through.

A wisdom we can draw from this is that knowing on its own won’t save us from our follies both as individuals and a species. It is important to apply this when thinking about how we can best reconfigure our relationship with nonhuman nature.

What is clear from the evidence is that how we live today, and have being living since the advent of the industrial revolution, is not ecologically sustainable nor does it serve the interests of the majority of human beings and other sentient creatures including future generations.

The facts speak for themselves as made available through a number of peer reviewed studies published this October. One of these, the 2024 State of the Climate Report, published in Bio Science, informs us that out of 35 vital ecological signs that were assessed in 2023, 25 were the worst ever recorded. These include greenhouse gas emissions, the increasing size of the human population, which is growing by two million every ten days, the increase in the number of cattle and sheep, which are growing by 1.7 million every ten days, the rate at which glaciers are melting and the rate of deforestation.

The State of Global Water Resources, by the World Meteorological Office, informs us that in 2023 rivers across the globe dried up at the highest rate in three decades and that more than 50% of river catchment areas were in deficit.

A report with equally worrying findings is that by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London which found that wildlife populations worldwide have decreased by 73% in 50 years. Locally, the Northern Ireland Office for the Protection of the Environment found in its October 2024 report that the province has lost 50% of its biodiversity since 1970.

Sit for a moment and imagine how impoverishing and debilitating this loss of wildlife is.

If the trend continues in fifty years’ time we will have turned the world into a mosaic of dead zones where the only nonhuman life will be straight lines of monocultural crops regularly fed and protected by a range of toxic chemicals, which we in turn will ingest. With regard to oceans and lakes scientists tell us that they will contain more plastic than fish. This is but a segment of the nightmare world each one of is playing a part in creating

The report on water tells us that this autumn 3.6 billion people have inadequate access to water for at least one month a year. What we might ask will the number be when major rivers which are used for transport, irrigation, fishing, manufacturing, domestic consumption as well as generating electricity dry up? This has already begun to occur through a change in rainfall patterns brought about by global warming, mass deforestation, and the disappearance of the glaciers that feed the rivers that billions of people depend upon.

If in 2024 high-income countries think that unregulated immigration is a problem then how will they view today’s situation in a few decades time when billions of people find that were they live is fast becoming uninhabitable?

Summarizing the dire state the planet Professor William Ripple at Oregon State University and a co-author of the Climate Report said that:

“A large portion of the very fabric of life on our planet is imperiled. We are already in the midst of abrupt climate upheaval, which jeopardizes the life on Earth like nothing humans have ever seen.”

The all-important question is why when we know the dire state the Earth is in and how to rectify this don’t we act on what we know? By way of comparison if we discover we have a serious illness we do all we can to get better even undergo unpleasant procedures such as chemotherapy in the case of cancer. Why don’t we behave likewise in regard to our critically ill biosphere when the consequences of ignoring the issues will likely be the painful end of human civilization?

A plausible reason is the narrative many have internalised about our species’ place in the world which is that we exist outside the laws that pertain in the rest of the biosphere and that our lives and fate are separate from it. The belief means, bar a few exceptions, that we don’t apply the moral codes that regulate how we treat each other to nonhuman nature. A poignant example is the horrendous suffering endured by the billions of animals reared in what, if humans were kept in similar conditions, would be called concentration camps.

Not regarding nonhuman nature as a moral agent has become so embedded in the modern psyche by organised religion among other agencies and in spite of secularisation is held to be as incontestable as the force of gravity. The idea that we exist outside of nonhuman nature is encapsulated in texts which billions believe is the literal word of God. One such, which is attributed to Jesus, is: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36). Believing in this credo, which engenders indifference to the wellbeing of the Earth, not only helps account for our destruction of it but for warfare and might be the determining and final thought of the person, if it ever happens, who presses the nuclear button.

Where are we going?

Nonviolent News, Readings, , , ,

“The pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war…but we have no more urgent task”   – John F Kennedy; 10th June 1963

By Liz Cullen

The Russian attack on Ukraine is widely regarded as having been “unprovoked”. While not, in any way, condoning the invasion, the expansion of NATO is the true cause of the current war in the Ukraine. There is irrefutable evidence showing that the promise made to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward”, after the Warsaw Pact was disbanded in 1991 was broken (1). The expansion of NATO as a cause of the war has been confirmed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (2). This expansion of NATO has resulted in Russia being encircled. Estonia and Latvia, directly situated on the border with Russia, joined NATO in 2004, Bulgaria which also joined NATO in 2004 and Turkey, a member since 1952 are both on the Black Sea. The US has Aegis missiles in Poland since 2018 (3) and in Romania since 2016 (4).

In addition, long range US missiles are to be deployed periodically in Germany from 2026 (5). It seems that NATO is providing a basis for US troops in Europe, the USA has 750 bases in at least 80 countries (6), while Russia has 21 bases in 13 countries, most of them former Soviet republics (7). Furthermore, NATO is also “strengthening dialogue and cooperation” with countries in the Pacific and Indian oceans, namely Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea (8).

Aside from having an expansionist ethos, NATO also has a troubled history. As far back as 1999, NATO attacked Yugoslavia, without a UN sanction in a clear violation of international law. When NATO invaded Afghanistan in 2001, almost a quarter of a million Afghani people died during the 20 year war which ensued. In 2011, NATO with authorization from the UN security council, imposed a no-fly zone on Libya, but they seriously abused this resolution by overthrowing the Libyan government. Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee. The three most powerful NATO states, US, Germany and UK are all actively supporting Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza, in clear contravention of the UN Charter, the Genocide Convention, and rulings by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

NATO is also a nuclear armed organization; their website proclaims that “Nuclear weapons are a core component of NATO’s overall capabilities for deterrence and defence, alongside conventional and missile defence forces” (9). The description of NATO by Professor Jeffrey Sachs as “a clear and present danger to world peace, a war machine run amok” (10) is appropriate. Nevertheless, the European Council stated in August 2024, that NATO is an “essential partner of the EU, sharing the same values and strategic interests” (11).

The Triple Lock ensures that Irish troops over twelve in number cannot take part in overseas missions without the approval of the Cabinet, the Dáil and the United Nations. It is a protection for Irish people against being involved in EU and NATO military activities. Minister Martin’s moves to abandon the Triple Lock is shameful. Many of the voters who rejected the Nice treaty in 2001 did so because of concerns that we would become militarily involved with the EU. However, we were assured by the government that such fears were unfounded, and that we would have the safety of the Triple lock. Therefore, Ireland would not become militarily involved with the EU. This is the reason why many people subsequently voted yes in 2002 when the referendum was re-run.

Similarly, the Lisbon treaty was rejected in 2008, again over fears in relation to the military implications. However the treaty was passed when the referendum was re-run following reassurances from the government about the Triple lock. Minister Martin’s actions to abolish this safeguard are a shameful betrayal of the trust of the Irish people, who have consistently shown their support for peace-making and neutrality.

A cause of further concern, is that Ireland, a country with a constitutional obligation to be a peacemaker, is a member of the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which is strongly connected to NATO. An obligation under PESCO is that we must ensure that our forces have “interoperability with NATO”, and annual assessments will be conducted to ensure this. We have also committed to “make the European defence industry more competitive”.

Following on from this, the Department of Defence had an “information and networking event” (12) in the Aviva stadium in 2022 titled “Building the Ecosystem”. The purpose of this event was to introduce small businesses and third level institutions in Ireland to arms manufacturers. It was addressed by the CEO of Thales, the biggest arms manufacturer in Ireland, producing missile systems for export. It seems that the response of a neutral country is not to disarm and demilitarize, but to accelerate the promotion of war and the war industry (13).

Irish people do not want to become militarily involved in overseas conflicts, and successive polls have shown this. It is therefore very unlikely that the Irish people would support membership of an organization such as NATO and the use of nuclear weapons.

This is a crucial and dangerous time in world politics. A senior NATO official recently said that governments should be talking to their citizens about mobilization, more reservists and even conscription (14). Therefore the onus has never been as great on the government to do the right thing – to fulfil our constitutional obligation to be peacemakers and to stand up for the wishes of the Irish people. NATO has little to do with peace and everything to do with supporting the international arms industry. It is too closely allied to the EU and it is dragging us into the shadow of a nuclear apocalypse.

At the very least, we should undertake the following three actions:

  1. We must keep the triple lock

  2. We must leave PESCO without delay

  3. We must stop supporting US military planes in Shannon airport by allowing them to refuel there.

The great peacemaker Daniel O’Connell, said “Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong”. It is morally wrong for Ireland not to negotiate for peace, to support the close EU/NATO arrangement and to betray the expressed wishes of the Irish people to remain neutral. Being neutral does not mean being silent.

–

Footnotes

(1) The War in Ukraine Was Provoked – and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace – Jeffery D Sachs (jeffsachs.org)

(2) NATO Chief Admits NATO Expansion Was Key to Russian Invasion of Ukraine – Jeffrey D Sachs (jeffsachs.org)

(3) These are the missile defence systems the US sent to Poland – CNN Politics

(4) A Decade of US-Romanian Missile Defense Cooperation: Alliance Success – RealClearDefense

(5) US Cruise missiles to return to Germany, angering Moscow – bbc.com

(6) Infographic: US military presence around the world – Infographic News – Al Jazeera

(7) List of Russian military bases abroad – Wikipedia

(8) NATO – Topic: Relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region

(9) NATO – Topic: NATO’s nuclear deterrence policy and forces

(10) NATO – What you need to know, OR Books London and New York, 2024

(11) EU-NATO cooperation – Consilium (europa.eu)

(12) Building the ecosystem – Identifying connections for collaboration in Security, Defence and Dual technologies (www.gov.ie)

(13) Peace Groups to protest at Government Arms Fair at Aviva Stadium – Afri, Action from Ireland

(14) Are we heading for World war Three – and is Britain’s military ready? Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank.

What if the nuclear industry really isn’t safe?

Nonviolent News, Readings, ,

Book Review — Making The Unseen Visible: Science and the Contested Histories of Radiation Exposure (2023), edited by Linda Marie Richards and Jacob Darvin Hamblin, Oregon State University Press.

By Caroline Hurley

Book Review — Making The Unseen Visible: Science and the Contested Histories of Radiation Exposure (2023), edited by Linda Marie Richards and Jacob Darvin Hamblin, Oregon State University Press.

While the 2024 State of the Environment Report by Ireland’s EPA warns that the inadequacy of measures to mitigate climate change is hastening nature loss, compounding pollution impacts, and increasing emissions, which are often hidden in misleading data, its only reference to nuclear activity is in terms of radiation monitoring. The decision not to succumb to ever louder industry calls for more ‘green’ nuclear energy as a false solution comes as a relief. Aren’t we in enough trouble?

I addressed the context of the recent lobbying stampede in an article for INNATE last February – https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/tag/caroline-hurley/ Making the Unseen Visible focuses on what is most dangerous about the nuclear industry, i.e. radiation, which is only detectable with technology, but is potentially lethal, in both short-term and long-term effects. The book captures perspectives from people, often of indigenous and working-class backgrounds, who are usually overlooked and unheard in ensuing political and legal battles. Many other citizens affected were never informed either, including Downwinders and bomb explosion victims.

Following an introduction by the two editors, the anthology consists of 21 chapters written by a cross-section of 18 expert authors sharing insights. Contributions coming from inside and outside academia span history and continents. An account is given of the lengthy disruption caused to sheep farming in Wales by the Chernobyl Disaster, which is the closest content gets to Ireland. The United Kingdom’s most serious nuclear accident, and one of the world’s worst, the 1957 Windscale fire, resulting in radioactive material reaching Ireland, does not feature in this book. People affected by the US Government atomic testing programme and representatives do tell their stories. They and others refer to the many forms of radiation sicknesses – autoimmune disorders, spontaneous abortions, sterility, thyroid and heart problems, leukaemia and many other types of cancers and birth defects following genetic damage. Major challenges of linking disease to a radiation source are explored.

The town of Richland crops up in several analyses, as it’s beside the Hanford mass nuclear waste storage site and B Reactor. New insights come from an emphasis on social and economic factors. The enduring burden on inhabitants of the intensely-bombed Marshall Islands is detailed. How information about the 1979 Three Mile Island Disaster was controlled is set out. Likewise, the handling of publicity during French nuclear bomb testing in Africa is critiqued. A range of those still suffering persistent harms after being involved in manufacturing nuclear weapons in Rocky Flats Colorado and in Kazakhstan are studied. The Navajo – Dine recruitment for hazardous but unprotected uranium mining receives attention.

When recounting controversies around uranium mining in India, Prerna Gupta confronts questions of risk, and how they were assessed, or more often, ignored. Another paper taking a meta-analytical approach is Jaroslav Krasny’s consideration of unnecessary suffering and how international law applies, which has ramifications for current wars and other institutional harms, whether nuclear or not. Three entries constitute poetry, which create particularly powerful impressions.

A moving statement by a Hiroshima resident on the 75th anniversary of the atom bombing is one of the last pieces. At the online book club I attended, organised by World Beyond War and hosted by editor Linda Marie Richards, a hibakusha (survivor of the 1945 bombs in Japan) joined the group, and described her horrific direct near-death experience caused by man-made weapons of mass destruction. Her biography, One Sunny Day, came out last year. About a quarter of a million deaths are attributed to those now relatively small atomic explosions, but indirect fatalities from generational exposure to radiation, equally relevant for the many nuclear workers, are estimated to be far more.

A short review cannot do justice to the stream of revelations, data from corrective scientific research, and personal testimonies, contained in this valuable book. Full reference lists are supplied throughout, for further reading related to this project that draws the various strands together through a humanities lens. The common scientific jargon can baffle the curious layperson, something taken advantage of by nuclear promoters, so accessibility is welcome.

During discussions, related texts were cited, such as Arjun Marhijani’s 1995 synthesis of scientific research, Nuclear Wastelands The first edition of Environmental Radioactivity from Natural, Industrial and Military Sources appeared in 1997.

In Mortal Hands: a Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age, by Stephanie Cooke, was published in 2009: J.D. Hamblin’s Wretched Atom, came out in 2021. M.V. Ramana’s 2024 book, Nuclear Is Not The Solution, sounds similar cautions.

But will this resurgence of interest in the area be enough, and in time? In March 2024, over 600 organisations from around the world signed a declaration that as a climate change solution, nuclear energy is too slow, too expensive and too dangerous. Even way back in 1951, an Atomic Energy Commission study concluded that commercial nuclear reactors would not be economically feasible if they were used solely to produce electricity. What would make them feasible however, would be sale of the plutonium produced. Plutonium is used to make nuclear weapons. The prospect of being able to produce “too cheap to meter” electricity had zero appeal for utility companies unless other parties took responsibility for the waste products, and states indemnified them against catastrophic plant accidents. Somehow, their unreasonable demands were met and the world put in greater jeopardy.

The latest gold-standard World Nuclear Industry Status Report confirms that high government subsidisation still sustains the industry. Though the share of electricity produced by nuclear power has been relatively high in France, when reactors are not breaking down, Macron admitted that nuclear arms manufacture depends on having a civil nuclear industry, or so-called ‘atoms for peace’. Nuclear energy and nuclear arms are birds of a feather.

Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) has become Ireland’s foremost eco watchdog. From a position 15 years ago of being seduced by the nuclear hype especially around long-promised small modular reactors (SMRs), the organisation now engages fully with the grave real-world implications, including the inevitability of more transboundary radioactive leakage on expanding or even retaining nuclear production.

Friends of the Earth Ireland take a more general stance. Greenpeace lacks an active Irish presence at the moment. The Irish branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament retains at least symbolic presence, for now, although the UK counterpart under Kate Hudson is becoming noticeably more vocal.

The Irish Government was instrumental in arranging the first international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NTP) signed in 1970, and to this day, officially claims to be committed to their complete elimination. However, as can be seen by US use of Irish airspace for military purposes in the Middle East, the country’s economic entanglements with bigger Western blocks wield sufficient pressure to compromise traditional principles valued by civilians. Around the world, there is a growing trend for governments to authorise state force to suppress activists peacefully demanding policies and practices that heed scientific warnings and international humanitarian laws. Many lawmakers and political actors are still choosing short-term political popularity over the earth’s long-term survival. Business as usual includes the nuclear industry, as spelled out by atomic scientists behind the Doomsday Clock.

This global crackdown on protest amounts to an erosion of classic liberties, and replacement of good governance by state negligence, driving increasing numbers of citizens to take landmark legal cases against their governments in pursuit of the transformative changes urgently needed. Instead of nursing dictatorial antagonism, government figures need to start self-identifying as activists and working with protestors and grassroots leaders on radical and urgent adaptation. Earlier this year, with the European Union’s adoption of a new Environmental Crime Directive, which includes crimes ‘comparable to ecocide’, all 27 EU member states got 18 months to transpose the directive into domestic legislation and ensure enforcement capacity. Real justice would end the impunity with which fossil fuel and other companies perpetrating environmental harms are treated.

The EPA’s five key climate mitigation recommendations are: a national policy position that aligns actions across sectors: rigorous enforcement of existing laws; transformation of key economic sectors, significant investment in critical infrastructure, and prioritising environment health for public wellbeing. This last objective in particular would forever be sabotaged by giving into calls for a source of energy whose routine emissions and waste products would bring unseen invisible sickness to our doorsteps for millennia.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese organisation, Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the peace prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again, at a time when nuclear powers are replenishing nuclear weapon stores. No nukes ever!

Making the Unseen Visible is now widely available.

Billy King: Rites Again, 324

Billy King, Nonviolent News

Billy King shares his monthly thoughts

Well, the last cucumber of summer is faded and gone – but I remember the taste of it still. That isn’t too difficult as there are a few smaller ones left in the fridge though the, outdoor, plants have shrivelled up and snuffed off their mortal coil – which seems an appropriate phrase for outdoor climbing plants. Winter and winter time is here. So it is the period for kale time rather than killing time since winter gives different opportunities for doing things than summer – that is a summary of my views on the matter.

Oh, and before I get going, you may or may not have noticed the research which said the climate damaging effects of exported LNG/Liquefied Natural Gas can be worse than coal https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/exported-liquefied-natural-gas-coal-study?CMP=share_btn_url Talk about hot air concerning the benefits of LNG…… On Thursday 7th November a private members bill against LNG from Deputy Neasa Hourigan TD will be debated in the Dáil, a final opportunity for the Government and all parties to reject polluting gas infrastructure like Shannon LNG (last piece of info from FOE).

Bann the bomb

The premises of Mediation Northern Ireland in University Street, Belfast, a k a Mediation House, has four meeting rooms, all named after northern rivers; Bann, Erne, Foyle, and Lagan. Erne is a lough, or loughs, as well as a river but just as well they didn’t name the rooms after loughs – Neagh would be difficult to avoid using and those involved in mediation and conflict work, at least in the English language (as opposed to the Irish language origin of the names), want people to say ‘yay’ rather than ‘Neagh’ and not be ‘loughed’ in conflict.

Rivers give the feeling of movement, so that is definitely a positive in the context of a building where conflict is dealt with. Mind you, mediators have to Erne the trust of the parties involved through impartiality and friendliness. While they will have clear ground rules and try to Bann inappropriate behaviour, like talking over someone already talking, they also have to deal with the situation if someone is Lagan behind in making their contribution, to make sure the process is fully inclusive. If trust is built up then a positive result is likely and the process will not be Foyle-d at the last minute. So there you have it.

Continuing on to rivers in Donegal, once the mediation stream or process is Finn-ished the mediator should reflect on how it went but this does not necessitate Corabber-ation. [If there is one thing that should be binned and Bann-ed it’s your puns – Ed – though it does remind me of the old humorous saying “If you weren’t so Ballymena with your Ballymoney we’d have a Ballycastle to be our Ballyholme”].

It will be Grand

Belfast has a spanking new transport hub [Why ‘spanking’? – Ed] [I wouldn’t go there but actually I’ll be there frequently – Billy], Grand Central Station. This is certainly a bit more central than the ‘old’ (1970s) ‘Central Station’, now called Lanyon Place which was always to the east though it served as ‘central’. The new Grand Central Station is not too far from the older, Victorian, Great Victoria Street train station which fronted, colonnaded, onto Great Victoria Street but was sent on its way by both redevelopment and IRA bombs (and its Great Victoria Street successor from 1995 which closed this summer).

It is good that Translink, the Northern transport authority, has planned for the future of public transport, and upping its role in travel, with this integrated bus and train station though the work there in the shorter term affects traffic for the worse. Belfast has also had, for some years now, a Grand Central Hotel so if meeting someone at the ‘Grand Central’ you need to specify hotel or station (people also don’t expect a city the size of Belfast to have two airports so you need to be specific on that too or you may end up at the wrong one, ‘tis easy done).

While it is certainly ‘grand’ in term of size, Grand Central is not ‘grand’ in terms of architectural quality, it is modern-functional and cavernous. To put it prosaically it is what I would call a big bus station. As you approach it as a pedestrian the train platforms are on one side on entering and the bus bays on the other. It could do with lots of medium to large artworks like the John Kindness tiled ‘waterfall’ piece that stood for some time in Belfast’s Glengall Street/Great Victoria Street/Europa bus station composed of kitschy tourist items – a real artwork made up of of individual pieces of kitsch imagery. The Headitor of this publication prides himself on having introduced an old John Kindness cartoon on the (Northern) difference between Catholics and Protestants into ‘community/good relations’ circles, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/9024657125/in/photolist-HYigiP-eKtJ9D-eKF8ky and frame beside that [But pride comes before a waterfall – Headitor].

I wanted to explore for a minute the word ‘grand’, and I think in Hiberno-English one of its connotations may be different to other English-speaking countries. Words can be very precise or vague and depend entirely on the nuanced context. ‘Grand’ can simply mean very big. ‘Grand’, as in saying someone is ‘very grand’ can imply uppity, aloof, opinionated, classist, wallowing in their wealth and a few more things as well. Someone making a ‘grand entrance’ is implying an aspect of theatricality.

But – and international English-speaking readers correct me if I am wrong – uniquely in Ireland ‘grand’ can also mean just about adequate or minimally satisfactory. “It will be grand” about a situation or a repair, for example, means it will be OK, it will work or work out, it will do, don’t worry even if there is something to worry about. This meaning depends entirely on the context. If you broke your mother’s most loved vase and I was giving you a hand to superglue it back into shape then I might say “It’ll be grand” – well, it will and it won’t. If you were worried about an event you were participating in and I said “It’ll be grand” well, that is a supportive wish rather than an established fact given it is referring to the future, and it is a gesture of reassurance more than a judgement of what will come to pass, whatever I might think of how it will go for you.

Grand Central Station, Belfast – it will be grand.

Cáin Adomnáin

Cáin Adomnáin 21st Century is a fascinating venture in taking an initiative from 697 CE into the 21st century. It is amazing, surreal, to even state that and be inspired by something that took place more than thirteen centuries ago. You have, I hope, read about it in the news section of this publication and maybe even seen the pics at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72177720320507627/ I wanted to briefly explore some of the themes around it.

The original Law of the Innocents/Adomnán’s Law was very much of it time. It also didn’t challenge war as such, only the conduct of war by offering protection to women, children and non-combatants, and in this regard has been labelled the ‘Geneva Convention’ of that time. There was no impetus to stop war and fighting, only about how it should be conducted or at least who should not suffer because of it. And the penalties were very much of their time too. Mind you, yer man Adomnán must have been a quare class of organiser to get it all together at the time – OK, the church had its networks but you couldn’t just send out an email and ask people to be there and they book a flight on Ryanair, and people travelled to Birr from all over Ireland and from Scotland and the north of England.

So is it justified to take something from the best part of a millennium and a half ago and remodel it for the 21st century? Yes indeed. A new “people’s” law for today has to be of our time. The 21st century version has no state or ecclesiastical power behind it but it does have moral power in relation to the situation we find ourselves in with wars such as those in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza making life a death trip or at least a dive into hell.

As for extrapolating in the 21st century version into a condemnation of war as a crime against humanity is justified, it assuredly is. War may be taken for granted by some people but as a means of deciding things it is bottom of the pile, a negation of people’s right to life and any possibility of progress or happiness. The new law doesn’t proscribe who are innocent victims but personally I think the vast majority of people who suffer in war, including soldiers, are ‘innocent victims’ in that they didn’t deserve to die. After all, the death penalty is killing people to prove that killing people is wrong. And similarly in war. The people who are most guilty are those who ordered the war in the first place along with a probably relatively small number of soldiers who take pleasure in inflicting pain and death.

Including the earth as a victim in war is fully justified too. The kind of world we are bequeathing to our descendents, literal and metaphorical, is a disaster and becoming the source of great violence and conflict – over water, resources, and migration from areas becoming uninhabitable, as well as more general disruption. The military are a major contributor to pollution and global warming. It is right that the earth should be specified as an innocent victim of war.

War will not go away because of Lex Innocentium 21st Century or even a load of people signing it. But at a time when even in ‘neutral’ Ireland the powers that be are trying to sign the country up for participation in current and future wars, it is important that people stand up and say – No, there is another way, there are other ways, and war is an escalator to hell which it is difficult to get off. You can read all the information around Lex Innocentium 21st century, and sign up, at https://lexinnocentium21.ie/

Talking quietly

If you or your listeners in conversation are not being threatening or abusive, heaven forbid, then talking is likely to be A Good Thing. Obviously we can learn by example but talking to people who others think we shouldn’t talk to can be exemplary too, and we can learn a lot from rather different opinions to our own.

However there arises the issue of whether we should talk to The Enemy. In Norn Iron, especially during the Troubles, there was a long list of certain people that other certain people wouldn’t talk to. Except that they did. The British government definitely, definitively, wouldn’t speak to the IRA or their representatives…..except when they did. Ditto unionists. Lots of the great and the good got exercised angry when John Hume worked to involve Sinn Féin in talks. And as it turned out that was indeed A Good Thing. Edwin Markham’s words come to mind: “He drew a circle that shut me out – / Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout / But love and I had the wit to win: / We drew a circle and took him In!” (available as a print-it-yourself poster under ‘Inclusion’ at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/posters/ ) An organisation like Quaker House in Belfast helped the peace process by enabling talking and contact ‘under the radar’ and participants knew that their discussions would be neither publicised nor abused.

Paramilitary disarmament observer Rev Harold Good’s new memoir, “In Good Time”, covers how the DUP were engaged in discreet talks, sanctioned from the top, with the Sinners at a time when they were vehemently denying any such contact and stating that they would not engage in same. Even today it looks like they are saying the sort of thing “well, odd members might have engaged in such informal talking but as a party we didn’t.” (cf Belfast Telegraph 24/10/24) Plausible deniability. Except it was sanctioned by ‘The Doc’ (Ian Paisley senior). So even today there is an untruth or stretched truth being told about it.

Talking to enemies is how, over time, they may become friends. Paisley and McGuinness became the Chuckle Brothers. Talking may be very difficult and involve stomaching some difficult emotions and lots of angst in dealing with thorny issues but it is the only way to go. International war participants and cheerleaders please copy.

Wallpaper

INNATE doesn’t make it a habit of promoting religious – or indeed secular – organisations except where there is a peace, human rights or environmental element, and there is that with the Quakers and their peace witness – so the Headitor felt justified in including the news piece about the ‘Quaker Hub’ at Frederick Street Friends Meeting House in Belfast in this issue. Whether there will be a hubbub at this hub remains to be seen, though not when worship is in session, given the Quaker use of silence.

This reminds me of an ancient ‘Punch’ (a British humorous magazine, long dead) cartoon on new religious sects; one showed a man rushing to a meeting of the ‘Quick Quakers’, with a sign saying “Sunday Worship, 11.00 – 11.03 am”! That is the antithesis of the Quaker style, that is the joke, but anyway, if you look at photos of INNATE’s old conferences (these days more happen online), a fairly constant theme is the then wallpaper in Frederick Street Friends Meeting House with its distinctive pattern! For the wallpaper – along with some people inconsiderately getting in the way of your view of the wallpaper – see https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157609198950838/

Poppying up again

There are credible reasons to wear a red poppy for remembrance at this time of year. Now I have said it. Remembering resistance to fascism and nazism is one. But the problem is both its limitations (only remembering British soldiers, not others, and no civilians) and the use to which it is put (glorifying the role of the British military today, promoting its role and recruitment, and ignoring past misdeeds). If you want to wear a poppy, wear a white one which remembers all the victims of all wars, and is also a commitment to peace for the future, a commitment against war as a method of politics and international policy. And war, and commitment to going to war, is very much back on most European governments’ agendas.

One controversy which arose some years ago was Irish footballer James McClean’s refusal to wear a poppy on his team shirt in England, in his case because of the role of the British Army in Northern Ireland. And the demand by the BBC, including totally inappropriately in Northern Ireland, for presenters to wear a red poppy is crazy. Ironically, and to their credit, the Royal British Legion (which sells and promotes the red poppy) defended McClean’s right not to wear one. Meanwhile Damien Dempsey has written a song about James McClean and the poppy issue. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/irish-folk-singer-releases-james-mcclean-tribute-song-defending-footballers-poppy-stance/a1133489759.html

Me? It is not as big an issue in the Republic for obvious reasons but in the Norn Iron context I just go for the quiet life and don’t wear anything and wait for the ‘Remembrance season’ to blow over. Cowardice? Maybe. I admire those who do wear a white poppy; the late SDLP councillor Dorita Field in Belfast wore two poppies, a red and a white one https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/51154967921/in/photolist-2csmVmA-2kWozKx – though maybe that was a Field of poppies…. But I choose to raise peace issues in other ways.

–

That’s me for this month as we enter the darkest portion of the year….but there is always light at the end of the tunnel and spring at the end of winter, so far anyway. And meanwhile you can have cosy nights tucked up with your favourite book or film, and maybe you’d like to avoid endless discussion of the US presidential election and whether an orange skinned liar and demagogue might win and what will happen when he or his perhaps more rational but even more war-supporting alternative gets the nod. Let’s hope there is some light at the end of that tunnel. See you soon, Billy.

News, October 2024

Nonviolent News,

Lex Innocentium 21st Century launched in Birr and Lorrha

There was a successful launch on International Day of Peace of this new people’s or popular law on war, based on the original 697 CE law enacted in Birr at a synod instigated by Adomnán, abbot of Iona. The website is at https://lexinnocentium21.ie/ with full information on the project, background and history – the new law includes protection for the earth. A message of support and greetings from Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire given at the launch can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2-Nwc6ZL3g and a video of the launch will be available in due course. Photos of the event can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72177720320507627 A handout used in his talk by Rob Fairmichael on ‘Resources on Irish peace history’ is available at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Lex-Peace-history-Resource-list-24.09.pdf and included with paper and email editions of this issue of Nonviolent News. Anyone, anywhere, will be able to sign up to support the law very soon on the website.

MII conference for Belfast, 18th – 19th October

The annual conference of the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland (MII) takes place in Belfast from 18th – 19th October, the first time north of the border, with the title ‘Broadening our perspective on mediation’. It includes a session on ‘The role of mediators in conflict zones’ with input from Cathy Ashton, Nita Yawanarajah, and Pat Hynes. There is a varied programme, details of which are at https://www.themii.ie/mii-annual-conference-2024-broadening-our-perspective-on-mediation-2/ This item appeared in the email and web editions of NN 322

l Sue Cogan has been appointed as CEO of MII as of the start of September, see https://www.themii.ie/appointment-of-new-ceo-of-the-mediators-institute-of-ireland-sue-cogan/

Resources on racism from SCI and others

It can be difficult to know where to start work in opposing racist violence and extremism and striving for an inclusive society. But there are many useful resources available to help understanding and action in dealing with these issues. See the website of the Social Change Initiative/SCI in the North at https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/extremism Hope not Hate in the UK is at https://hopenothate.org.uk/ and the Hope and Courage Collective in the Republic at https://hopeandcourage.ie/ The Irish Network Against racism (INAR) is at https://inar.ie/

White poppies to remember all victims of war

In the season of remembrance there is the opportunity to wear a white poppy to remember all victims of war, including both civilians and soldiers, but also challenge war and militarism. The PPU/Peace Pledge Union in Britain sells white poppies as well as posters, postcards, stickers and educational resources. You can get 5 poppies for £5, postage extra, and a discount for larger numbers. Go to www.ppu.org.uk and click on ‘Shop’ and there is more information about white poppies and their origin on the website.

StoP Triple Lock betrayal video

A short (under 2 minutes) video enactment about the Triple Lock on deployment of Irish soldiers overseas can be seen at https://youtu.be/HohfeP6VnnI?si=ZJ3rSIqgnyg84loW

and https://www.facebook.com/share/v/otYiMVLdvsj4S2HY/?mibextid=WC7FNe The StoP/Swords to Ploughshares website is at https://swordstoploughsharesireland.org/

George Mitchell Institute events at QUB, Belfast

There are a number of open events coming up with topics including armed groups, transition and dealing with the past; inside the world of armed conflict mediation; Irish neutrality; resistance to ecoviolence in the Amazon; authoritarianism’s challenge to democracy as the norm, etc. Go to https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/ for further info and to register.

Strategy on violence against women for North

Mid-September saw the launch of a new strategy for through to 2031, broadly welcomed in the sector, for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls with a focus on the areas of prevention, protection and provision, the justice system, and working together on the issue. The statistics are horrifying including 33,000 recorded (so-called) ‘domestic’ abuse incidents in Northern Ireland in 2023. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn878054dxqo and for the full strategy go to https://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/topics/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls which includes some other research materials. A week later a Domestic and Sexual Abuse strategy for Northern Ireland was launched which is not solely focused on women and will also attempt to tackle violence against men, children and young people, and intimate partner violence within the LGBTQ+ community. See https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/domestic-and-sexual-abuse-strategy-and-performance-framework-2024-2031

Catholic Institute for Nonviolence launched

Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative has launched a Catholic Institute for Nonviolence with the aim of making nonviolence research, resources and experience, more accessible to Catholic Church leaders, communities and institutions to deepen Catholic understanding of and commitment to the practice of Gospel nonviolence. To this end it will operate mainly as a virtual institute but with a small presence in Rome. Areas it will concentrate on are Gospel nonviolence, nonviolent practices and strategic power, and contextual experiences of nonviolence. More information at https://paxchristi.net/catholic-institute-for-nonviolence/

QCEA on EU Parliament after elections

Around Europe, the journal of the Quaker Council on European Affairs, has a useful one page (!) summary of where things stand with balance and policies in the EU Parliament, along with other material including on climate, at https://www.qcea.org/around-europe-398-out-now/

Friends of the Earth report card on Irish government commitments

Friends of the Earth has issued its annual report card on Irish government environmental and climate commitments; this is based on independent expert assessments. The conclusion was that “The commitments in the Programme for Government were not enough to achieve a truly sustainable society or meet our national and international climate targets” and “While we are relieved that Ireland has turned a corner away from our “climate laggard” origins, this is just the start of a long and important journey for Irish society, and momentum will have to accelerate over successive governments to make Ireland a genuinely sustainable economy”. For the fascinating detail see https://friendsoftheearth.cmail20.com/t/t-l-sxblt-jrktjjkhkl-m/ and it includes recommendations for the next Programme for Government (with an election imminent).

Human rights in Northern Ireland after Windsor Framework

Article 2 of the Windsor framework stated that the UK government would ensure that “no diminution of rights, safeguards or equality of opportunity” would come about for Northern Ireland due to Brexit. But, as always, the devil is in the detail and SCI/Social Change Initiative, Human Rights Centre at Queen’s University and the Donia Human Rights Centre at the University of Michigan have issued another report on current issues in relation to the matter; “Human Rights and Equality in Northern Ireland: Article 2 of the Windsor Framework Reaches the Courts: What’s at Stake?”, specifically looking at the Dillon judgement in the NI Court of Appeal (which was made, subsequent to this report, on 20th September, word search for details). The report is available at https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/articles Meanwhile The Irish Centre for European Law, the Social Change Initiative and the Human Rights Centre at Queen’s are also organising a ticketed seminar to discuss the judgment on 24th October; https://www.icel.ie/event/windsor-framework-article-2-where-are-we-now-after-the-court-of-appeals-decision-in-the-dillon-legacy-act-case/

NonViolent Communication courses at Cloughjordan

There is an introductory course on (Marshall Rosenberg) NonViolent Communication (NVC) at Cloughjordan Ecovillage (Co Tipperary) on 9th – 10th November, and a “Deepening and Integrating NVC” course on 12th – 13th October. Programme run by Mel White and Aaron Bailey. Details at https://www.facebook.com/events/742242571316147 and https://www.facebook.com/events/8189655397765406

Speech by Olga Karach of Our House, Belarus

A moving and informative speech by Belarusian human rights defender and nonviolent activist Olga Karach, given in Berlin in September, can be found on the Our House website at https://news.house/63025 (with lots more info on the same website, mostly in English).

Primer on militarism and the climate crisis

A new publication from WRI/War Resisters’ International is ‘A short primer on militarism and the climate crisis’, 54 pages, A5, available at https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2024/new-resource-short-primer-militarism-and-climate-crisis “…..ours is a time of global war and global warming. Most often, however, we do not consider these processes connected. The truth is, they very much are. But how so?” – this short publication tries to look at the links, give some stories of impact, resistance and alternatives, and make suggestions for possible actions.

World Beyond War conference video

Video of their conference “Resisting the USA’s military empire” is at https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2024/

Amnesty backs call for investigation into 2001 journalist murder

Amnesty International has backed calls for a new investigation into the 2001 murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan who was shot dead by paramilitaries in Lurgan. No one has been convicted of his murder. Northern Ireland Amnesty International director Patrick Corrigan has said “This failure has created an environment of impunity for those who continue to threaten journalists in Northern Ireland today. It is notable that, in 2024, threats of serious violence continue to be directed at journalists from the very same sort of armed groups which killed Martin O’Hagan. We support calls from the National Union of Journalists for a fresh investigation into the killing. Press freedom must be resolutely defended.” https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Northern-Ireland

l Meanwhile an Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) will examine a complaint by the two journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey who asked it to find out whether police from Northern Ireland and Durham used intrusive surveillance powers against them. It is scheduled to take place from 1st to 4th October at the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) in London. Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty stated “This is a crucial case for press freedom in the UK” since it will test legal safeguards for all UK journalists against unwarranted surveillance and right to protect sources.

Editorial: The logic of war, the logic of peace

Editorials, Nonviolent News,

War is generally an attempt by states and semi-state entities to beat their opponent into submission using violent means. There are exceptions to this such as where engaging in warfare is undertaken without expectation of victory but to raise a flag and make a point – think 1916 Rising or the Hamas attack from Gaza on Israel in October 2024. Those violent means can vary greatly along with the extent to which the so-called ‘laws of war’ are adhered to. There can be great suffering for both civilians and soldiers on all sides not just through injury, pain and death but through the dislocation caused by war including starvation, lack of shelter, fear, disruption of education and life chances for young people and children, and so on. War and preparation for war is also a major contributor to global heating and pollution.

War is an evil, mechanical dinosaur which should have been decommissioned by humanity long ago. Instead we have states and non-state parties engaging in, or preparing for war. This is the 21st century. We must wonder what humanity has learnt given that there are so many different alternatives to war available through mediation, conciliation, nonviolent action of many kinds, and other actions by citizens and states. But both power (e.g. USA) and powerlessness (e.g. Hamas in Gaza) can convince people that violence is the way to go to achieve their goals.

The launch of Lex Innocentium 21st Century is a very welcome initiative in relation to war (see https://lexinnocentium21.ie/ and item with other links in the news section of this issue). Cáin Adomnáin (Adomnán’s Law) of 697 CE was arguably the first attempt in western Europe to protect civilians in war – there are numerous other examples from other cultures in antiquity around the world. We have to question and undermine the very basis of war. The new Lex Innocentium 21st Century project does indeed take Cáin Adomnáin forward into the 21st century.

The basis of war is varied and multi-faceted. The military-industrial complex is complex with its tentacles everywhere. The Irish government has been promoting military production, incredibly for a country which suffered a small, guerrilla war only a few decades back. Northern Ireland has already had significant military production. There are big profits to be made, and no industry is more corrupt. Many politicians want to look big and strong and one way they think they can do that is by bolstering their country’s armed forces both because they may believe in such strength but also because it will reflect strength back on them.

But putting your faith in the military and war is a sword of Damocles. Large scale investment in the military tends to lead to the feeling they should be used, not just to threaten but for actual war. And once you start a war you are likely to escalate it, cf Israel, Gaza and Lebanon. And every penny or cent spent on the military is a penny or cent not available for positive purposes in society. Meanwhile potential or actual ‘enemies’ see your military investment and seek to match it, through feelings of insecurity and threat. And then you respond to their military spending and an arms race is begun. Belief in military ‘strength’ can lead to economic, democratic and social weakness with the extolling of militarism having many problems including machismo and its corollary of male violence.

Clem McCartney in his piece in the last issue of Nonviolent News analysed the hole the world is currently in regarding conflict. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/2024/09/02/rreadings-in-nonviolence-when-will-we-ever-learn-reflections-on-a-debate/ This suggests some ways forward on the international stage. And the usual advice about being in a hole is to stop digging. Unfortunately the world shows no sign at the moment of emerging from that hole or even wanting to do so.

The situation for the people of Sudan is extremely bleak with no thought given by the respective vying war lords to the suffering and starvation of citizens. The Russia-Ukraine war is an unfortunate classical case of relative stalemate with lives and money being thrown into not just a hole but a bottomless pit. Israel thinks it can achieve peace through all out war on its opponents when all it is doing is perpetuating the conflict; you achieve a permanent end to a conflict by turning enemies into friends, not by trying to obliterate them. Meanwhile other states and people back who they want to support, exacerbating the conflicts.

A groundswell of popular opinion is usually needed to stop a state or states engaging in warmaking. Lex Innocentium 21st Century is one such initiative. The original Cáin Adomnáin did not actually seek to stop war as opposed to limiting warfare and protecting ‘innocent’ people. Hopefully thirteen centuries later we are realising that no one deserves to die in war and that, in an era of high tech and nuclear weapons, the stakes are too high to be engaging in war at all; the choice is between disarmament or destruction. The vast majority of those dying in modern warfare are civilians.

There are alternatives. World economic justice and resource sharing needs to be part of it. Reform of the United Nations is another part. The world – and the Irish government in particular – could pay attention to the thinking involved in Article 29 of Bunreacht na hÉireann which states that “Ireland affirms its adherence to the principle of the pacific settlement of international disputes by international arbitration or judicial determination.” This was written in 1937 and could be considerably extrapolated form in relation to the possibilities of dealing with conflict which have developed since then.

And Irish politicians paying attention to their own constitution would be a start; while they sometimes make positive noises their actions and inactions are generally negative. The recent information about flights carrying military equipment to Israel through Irish airspace is a case in point, and the government steadfastly refuses to search US military or military-contracted planes using Shannon airport. The approach seems to be to ignore western militarist links and to stall taking any action, all of which is incompatible with neutrality.

Escalation has been taking place regarding violence and poor relationships worldwide. But détente, disaramament and de-escalation can take place; it did take place very considerably following the end of the Russian Communist system and control in Eastern Europe but this was not followed up with new forms of cooperation internationally to cement that breakthrough. States fund war and preparation for war; they do not seem keen on funding or putting their thinking into peace. But the building of trust and justice can lead to an escalation in peace actions and disarmament,

The world has global heating to deal with; it cannot afford in any way – ecologically, financially, socially – to be distracted by wars and high level military confrontations. The pursuit of military solutions and ‘security’ (which is really a form of insecurity) is a chimera which distracts from the very urgent needs of the world for an end of global heating and for global justice. Yet the world, including ‘the West’, fiddles about while the world burns.

Eco-Awareness: Valuing our waterways

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Larry Speight brings us his monthly column –

When I was a boy of about five or six I would sometimes tilt my head back and open my mouth to catch the rain believing that it was as drinkable as the water that came out of the kitchen tap. This I later learnt was not true as the rain contained contaminates from factories, vehicle exhaust pipes and home fires.

All of these, and a host of other contaminates, have to be removed from the water piped into our homes, schools, hospitals, libraries, offices and factories. This means that although water is free at the point of use, collecting, storing, processing, transporting and then cleaning the water after use costs a great deal of money.

Given that clean water is vital to life and to the smooth functioning of society one might think that we place an exceedingly high value on it but we don’t.

If we did then the waterways on this island, which are oblivious to political borders, would be in excellent health from which hill walkers could draw water to make a hot brew and swimmers stretch their limbs. This, as scientific reports and personal experience tell us, is not the case. Everyone who pays attention to the local and national media would know that not only are the bodies of fresh water across these islands a danger to human and other life but the lack of water infrastructure prevents the building of new homes and other amenities.

The Fermanagh based Impartial Reporter highlighted this in a recent special report on the pollution of Lough Erne and the negative social and economic consequences. Lough Neagh suffers from similar but much worse pollution. In regards to Lough Neagh members of the public in mid-Ulster informed the BBC’s The Nolan Show, 13 September, that the water coming out of their taps tasted so foul they could not drink it. NI Water assured the public that it was safe to drink.

Fergal Sharkey, a clean water activist and one-time lead singer of the Northern Ireland punk-rock group the Undertones, is quoted in The Belfast Telegraph as saying of the N.I. Water Authority that: “It does not need plans. It does not need strategies. It simply needs the current law enforced.” This deduction means that the responsibility for the deplorable condition of water in Northern Ireland, and other jurisdictions, lies with the government minister in charge. In Northern Ireland this is Andrew Muir. As the pollution of Northern Ireland’s waterways is a result of neglect over a long number of years previous ministers in charge of water are also responsible for its deplorable state.

Why do ministers, and bodies with statutory responsibility for our water, turn a blind eye to the scientific evidence and the experiences of those who have suffered illness or loss of income because of the pollution? I would venture that the reason is that they see their job as primarily to facilitate profit making regardless of the cost to ecosystems and human health. This is the case not only on our island but in countries around the world whose bodies of water are also polluted,

This was vividly illustrated by the N.I. Executive’s 2013 Going for Growth strategy which prioritised the expansion and profit-making of the agri-food industry at the expense of the protection of waterways, biodiversity and human health. Evidence that supports this contention is that slurry, which is a mixture of livestock manure and water, and is spread on grassland, is mentioned only once in the 85-page Going for Growth document.

Slurry, which is heavy in nitrogen and phosphorus and is likely to contain the residue of antibiotics, finds its way into our streams, rivers and lake, and is a major contributor, along with untreated sewage, to the growth of blue-green algae which afflicts Lough Erne and Lough Neagh as well as other bodies of water. In 2023 blue-green algae found its way by means of the River Bann onto the north coast. This year it was confirmed in Portrush harbour.

The Going for Growth strategy is a classic example of compartmentalised thinking and reflects the prevailing view, which is contrary to the evidence, that our species exists a part from nonhuman nature, or what is often called the natural world. This sense of disconnection is in large part the result of us living in an increasingly complex technological world.

In regards to our acquisition of water we in high-income countries pull a cord, push a button, turn a tap or push down on a handle without having a clue about where the water comes from, where it goes, its real financial cost or its ecological value. This is the case in regards to almost everything we consume underscoring the case that most of us, including those with doctorates or are highly skilled in a particular field, live in a knowledge vacuum.

The sphere of our ignorance about the things that underpin our way of life is cosmic. It is a vast black hole of not knowing about the materials that common appliances such as smart phones, laptops, motor vehicles, medications and foot ware are made of. Most of us don’t know where the raw materials were mined, processed and manufactured into finished products. We know nothing about the nature of the working conditions and wages paid to all the people along this chain including the inventors, financiers, advertisers, accountants, lawyers, the people who place shop orders, track their delivery across multiple countries and process the relevant forms.

In regards to our polluted waterways we have the expectation of having drinkable water at the turn of a tap no matter what building we are in, the time of day and regardless of whether there is a prolonged drought or a deep flood. We want water whatever the circumstance, or restriction on the quantity, without being prepared, in the broadest sense, to pay for its actual cost which is a disposition predicated on us not appreciating its real value.

Readings in Nonviolence: Review of “Constructive resistance – Resisting injustice by creating solutions”

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Building the uncompromised alternative

A review of “Constructive resistance – Resisting injustice by creating solutions” by Majken Jul Sørensen, Stellan Vinthagen and Jørgen Johansen, Rowman and Littlefield, 2023, 219 pages.

Reviewed by Rob Fairmichael

This is an important book in exploring, in some detail, the concept and practice of ‘building the alternative’ without being compromised and/or bought out by the state or capitalism. Emphasis is put on both being ‘constructive’ and ‘resistance’ and in integrating the two; it was Gandhi who coined the term constructive resistance and it was an important construct to him (think weaving khadi cloth). However the authors do analyse different movements in different parts of the world and the extent to which they meet these values (e.g. charts on page 41) with some fascinating detail. The evolution of women’s shelters, the first arguably in London in 1972, transformed the debate about gender-based interpersonal violence and put the focus on men as perpetrators, and therefore patriarchy as a problem, in giving women an out from being trapped in so-called ‘domestic’ violence.

The authors are themselves well known, in some circles, activists and theoreticians. INNATE was a co-organiser of a webinar with Majken Jul Sørensen earlier in 2024 on nonviolent alternatives to the war in Ukraine.

An initial definition of constructive resistance in the book (page 1) is “initiatives where people start to build elements of the society they desire independently and in opposition to the dominant structures already in place.” The examples they give immediately following are of squatted, previously empty, houses being used for people to live in or for self-organised community centres, and Wikipedia as an example of challenging experts’ ‘truth’ and ‘knowledge’.

Moving to a ‘new society’ of any kind is difficult when the old elites, or perhaps new but equally repressive ones, are so good at regaining power; “When constructive elements are left out, old elites can use the uncertain situation to their advantage to regain power, as we have witnessed in many of the recent unarmed political revolutions” (page 101) – think the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011. I might add that while the Irish Free State did undergo a civil war at the start of its existence, the new regime became even more reactionary on many social matters than the old, and something like the Sinn Féin/Arbitration courts, imperfect as they were, disappeared into the woodwork and ‘the law’ reasserted itself in conservative form.

Of course the action by councils and MPs of republican persuasion transferring their allegiance from Westminster to the first Dáil in 1919 could also be considered as constructive resistance in creating the new entity they wanted, unshackling from the British state. However on a social and economic level it would be difficult to think of examples in Ireland which fitted both ‘construction’ and ‘resistance’. Important as credit unions are in Ireland they are hardly trying to overthrow the existing financial system, and agricultural coops, essential in rural development in years past, are now large scale economic units within the existing system (and, it can be argued, essentially part of the problem of methane production by cattle).

One example given in the book is the development of nonviolent accompaniment and monitoring, partly developing from Witness for Peace (the US organisation, not the Northern Irish one) noticing that the Contras in Nicaragua did not attack while US citizens were around (in the period around 1983). We can learn and develop new methodologies as we do things.

An ongoing issue in the book is about compromise and being compromised: “A recurring dilemma for those involved in constructive resistance is how much to compromise radical ideals in order to become “mainstream” and make the alternative interesting and available to broader audiences…” (page 183). They cover Thomas Mathiesen’s concept of being ‘in defined’ or ‘out defined’ by the existing powers; ‘in defined’ is to be judged as no threat and therefore ‘one of us’ in essence whereas to be ‘out defined’ it to be depicted as a beyond the pale rebel, past redemption. Successful movements need to avoid either definition so as not to be either co-opted or cast out and rejected as crazy hippies or crackpots.

In dealing with the example of the Transition Movement (on a non-carbon future) the authors place this relatively high on the constructive scale but low on resistance to existing dominant structures. The Fairtrade movement is similarly placed.

The book has detailed studies of Polish resistance to the state and state (Soviet style Communist) control in the 1980s, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the peasant-based MST movement in Brazil, and the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. Partial success – before temporary failure – came for KOR and then Solidarity in Poland by being factory-based rather than street-based (where the state security could easily get people) and in having support from the Catholic church and farmers. “When the factory occupations became widespread in 1980, Polish workers had found a way to build small communities, minimizing the interference from the state. Solidarity set up a democratic structure with transparent decision-making, mutual aid, and solidarity alliances, and continued the development of independent free media. These were elements of the kind of society they wanted to see in Poland in the future….” (page 113).

The authors pinpoint the Freedom Charter process of 1955 as a key element of democratic involvement in the South African struggle. MST in Brazil and the Zapatistas in Chiapas are the current examples given of large scale constructive resistance. However nothing is simple and the authors analyse difficulties and possible pitfalls (e.g. the involvement and participation of women) as well as successes, though the distribution of land to 350,000 landless farmers in Brazil by MST is a success by any progressive definition – and some of the details of the organising involved is astounding.

300,000 people are involved in the Zapatista movement, in 1,000 communities, and it is based among Maya people. While they did have a short violent phase, and still have an army for defensive purposes, if they had continued with war against the state then, as the book states, they would have been wiped out by that state. Instead they have built self-governing and self-sustaining structures with the goal of changing relations between rulers and ruled without taking (state) power. Both MST and the Zapatistas have impressive grassroots decision making structures and processes. A European example in the book is analysis of an anti-dam campaign in Innerdalen in Norway 1978–82 which faced many of the questions that activists reading this may be familiar with.

Without vision the people may not perish but they certainly won’t get very far. The conclusions in the book include that “If movements were more focused on putting their visions into practice through direct actions, creating some of the necessary solutions, people might be more able to envision future societies free of at least some of the major systemic dominations, violences, and injustices. But in order for that to happen, people also need to nurture visions of a different society.” (page 202)

There are other examples of possible positivities from social movements which may or may not fit the category of constructive resistance. One generally problematic area I would certainly identify would be decision making within social and political movements; do we model inclusion, and how do we a) hold together with differences of opinion, b) allow different routes to be taken internally, or c) split amicably? Any large scale social movement is likely to get disagreements which risk the integrity of the movement or may necessitate different people going in different directions. Do we look on the ‘dissidents’ as traitors to the cause or do we celebrate different flocks flying in roughly the same direction but by different routes? Do we encourage involvement and grassroots input? Clearly this latter happens with the likes of the Zapatista movement in Chiapas.

One example of what could have been constructive resistance from the peace movement is Ireland is the “People’s Campaign” associated with Ciaran McKeown in the Peace People in the period around 1994. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/21987821321/in/album-72157613614963634/ This sought to develop an alternative assembly model for Northern Ireland based on the experience of the basic democratic model of the Åland Islands in the Baltic; each of the 570 electoral wards in Northern Ireland would have discussions locally and two representatives elected. However this plan was decided on by using traditional majoritarian decision making internally and the task – of persuading people in general that it was a good idea let alone operationalising it – was massive and it disappeared without trace after a few years. Whether such a system would have been any more or less positive or workable than what came to pass is open to debate which I won’t go into here. It could also be said that many community groups in the North during the Troubles provided a space for trying to build a non-sectarian or less sectarian future.

Mediation is another area in Ireland where there has been construction but extremely low resistance. In four decades mediation has gone from the far margins to the mainstream, with mediation looked on favourably by the legal system (in both jurisdictions in Ireland). It relieves a bit of pressure on the legal system, and is obviously preferable from the disputing parties’ point of view both in potentially avoiding legal divisiveness and cost. And lawyers have not lost out since they joined the mediation bandwagon as well in training up as mediators. Outside of that, at a community level, mediation has largely been professionalised which raises questions about accessibility for all (in terms of cost). But we are still in a better place to have what we have though community-based mediation systems are very limited.

In the political process, especially later on, in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, conciliation, communication and mediation efforts by individuals and groups helped in an enormous way to bring about the Good Friday Agreement, imperfect as that was and is. This mirrored the inclusiveness which those involved sought to foster. At the time some of this was considered traitorous by the state and by right-wingers who wanted to ‘root out the men of violence’ – even though the state itself secretly engaged in such contact when it felt it appropriate throughout the Troubles.

As stated at the start, this is an important book; it asks peace, social and political activists fundamental questions about how we go about trying to reach our goals. The problem for us is that we may feel so far from the possibilities of building a challenging alternative that we feel it cannot be done or at least that we cannot do it. ‘Living the revolution’ is always a big challenge but our work and witness can add to positive possibilities for the future. This book can be of considerable assistance in thinking about such possibilities.