Pamphlets

The following pamphlets and broadsheets are available to be downloaded:

lBuilding bridges, bridging gaps – Personal reflections on a journey in peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

by Laura Coulter (2024). This 14-page PDF pamphlet chronicles the journey of Belfast woman Laura Coulter through a wide variety of peacebuilding activities in the Northern Ireland context, and in one case abroad, in Nepal.  Laura Coulter looks at how she became involved in the first place and the very different contexts she has worked in – before and during the ‘peace process’ in the North.        Download

lPeace groups in Ireland through the years

A listing of Irish peace groups and brief resource materials (INNATE, first edition 2022 and updates). This is a 15-page chronological listing of around sixty peace groups in Ireland since the 19th century. It includes some groups who have worked for peace in Northern Ireland as well as those concerned with international peace issues. It lists links and resources for those wanting to follow up the story of particular groups and is intended as a ‘signpost document’, i.e. directing those interested to where they can find out more.

Irish peace groups listing 2024    (15 pages, PDF)

lAn alternative defence for Ireland (Dawn, 1983)

Written by Rob Fairmichael in 1983, this short 8-page A4 pamphlet looks at “Some considerations and a model of defence without arms for the Irish people”. The idea that ‘defence’ against attack, invasion and oppression has to be military, or even solely military, is totally misplaced. This is an attempt to look at what a nonviolent defence might look like for Ireland. Many things have changed since this short pamphlet was written, others have not, or have changed back (e.g. Russia as ‘an enemy’) but this outlines some possibilities for consideration which can be taken into account in where Ireland goes in the future in relation to the question of defence.

Download… 10Mb (PDF)

INNATE’s 2023 submission on this topic to the Irish Government’s Forum on International Security Policy can be found at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INNATE-submission-C-Forum-Intl-Security-23.06.pdf

lEco Echoes by Larry Speight (2016)

For well over two decades Larry Speight has written a monthly column entitled Eco Awareness in the e-mail and web editions of Nonviolent News; this column is a challenging, informative and a thoughtful reflection on green issues, their ramifications, and the relationship to other matters in life. In this pamphlet a selection of Larry Speight’s pieces has been matched with some of his own excellent photographs to give a pamphlet which is a delight for the eye as well as a pleasurable challenge for the brain.

Download… (6.13Mb)

lVegetarian and Vegan Cuisine: A short introduction

by Billy King (2015)

A much greater reliance on vegetarian and vegan cuisine is essential if global warming is to be halted. This pamphlet (thirty pages A4) is a mixture of cookbook and general advice and covers the areas of beans and pulses, pasta, potatoes, other vegetables, nuts and seeds, speedy meals, spices and herbs, a balanced diet, and food for special occasions. It includes lacto-vegetarian dishes as well as vegan. It is an edited and expanded version of material which appeared in Billy King’s column in INNATE’s Nonviolent News.

Download.. (PDF 3.1Mb)

lMy kind of nonviolence (INNATE, 2012)

‘My kind of nonviolence‘ contains the thoughts of fifteen people around Ireland on what nonviolence means to them. While very varied in their involvements, this shows a certain commonality of direction and orientation but no ‘party line’. The fifteen people are from varying parts of Ireland and some originally from elsewhere. They speak for themselves; Attracta Walsh, Edward Horgan, Iain Atack, Julitta Clancy, Kevin Cassidy, Máire Ní Bheaglaoich, Mairead Maguire, Miriam Turley, Mark Chapman, Peter Emerson, Rob  Fairmichael, Roberta Bacic, Sean English, Serge vanden Berghe and Sylvia Thompson.

l“Nonviolence in Irish History”

(Dawn, 1978)
Violence has obviously played a large role in Irish history but so has nonviolence; this pamphlet, with individual articles written by different people, takes a look at a number of different aspects of this latter experience. Daniel O’Connell, the Quakers, the first Boycott, Michael Davitt and the Land League, the ‘other’ (westward moving) Irish in the USA, non-violent political action and Irish politics in the early twentieth century, and peace groups from the 1930s (to 1978) are all covered. Originally 24 pages, A4. Also available from INNATE as a photocopy. See also “Nonviolence – the Irish experience” quiz on this website.

l“The Nuclear Syndrome – Victory for the Irish Anti-Nuclear Power Movement”

by Simon Dalby (Dawn Train, 1984)
While it might seem scarcely credible now, nuclear power was a very real option for Ireland in the 1970s with the ESB (Electricity Supply Board in the Republic) and the minister responsible for energy both pushing hard for a nuclear plant at Carnsore Point in County Wexford. This pamphlet looks in detail at those years, the forces at work, and the evolution and structure/structurelessness of the opposition. Basic questions about how to organise a mass movement were being dealt with in the context of an urgent political campaign. This pamphlet is an edited version of a 1982 thesis by Simon Dalby. Originally 24 pages, A4.

In a wonderful twist of fate, Carnsore Point subsequently became a windfarm, see album on INNATE’s photo site.

l“The Peace People Experience”

by Rob Fairmichael (Dawn Train, 1987)
The Peace People began in 1976 in Belfast and became the largest upsurge against political violence on the island of Ireland – and they continue as an organisation today. This detailed study of the Peace People from 1976-1987 looks at the history of this controversial organisation (two of whose leaders were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977) from a number of different angles, including exploding myths about the amount of money they had, providing details on 26 local groups, and also interviews with key figures. Originally 50 pages, A4.

Download as PDF (original paper format, 9 or 10 MB a section) –

PPE section 1        PPE section 2      PPE section 3

Or download as text –

lChristian nonviolence – A study pack (1993)

Produced by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Northern Ireland) and Pax Christi Ireland (Belfast branch) in 1993, this 26-page, A4, publication covers a variety of aspects on the topic; starting off looking at the issue,  bible studies (Cain and Abel, the Beatitudes, Jesus and his teaching), personal nonviolence, Christians and war, resources (now somewhat dated, e.g. there is no longer a Fellowship of Reconciliation organisation in Ireland), and a liturgy. It is suitable for group or personal use and obviously can be adapted as needed.

lMichael Davitt, Land War and Non-violence (1979)

Michael Davitt was an important figure in 19th century Ireland and in the transformation of land ownership patterns which began then, and in various socio-political movements. This short, 8-page pamphlet from ‘Dawn’ magazine No. 50  (1979) looks at  Davitt and the Land War, Davitt and Non-violence, and Davitt and Penal Reform.

lBishopscourt Peace Camp 1983-1986

In the Co Down countryside, beside Bishopscourt Radar Base, there was a peace camp from 1983-1986 and this short 4-page broadsheet (which appeared in ‘Dawn Train’ No. 6, 1988) reflected on its work. As Bishopscourt Radar Base became technologically outdated and unnecessary from the point of view of the British war machine, it subsequently closed, but the peace camp experience was a fascinating one in terms of organising in opposition to nuclear weapons and for peace.

Bishopscourt DT6 retro broadsheet 1988

lWhat the Bible says about ……Peace, Violence, Reconciliation, Justice

The following short study guides will obviously be of most interest to Christians but may also be of interest to others who wonder what Christians believe on these topics based on the Bible. They were produced from an ecumenical Christian background (and not from a peace movement or peace church stance), initially by a joint programme of the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace (a Catholic episcopal commission, now defunct). This project then evolved in 1992 into the Churches’ Peace Education Programme – see https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72177720295927588/  – and ran until 2005.

Although produced some considerable time ago, these short study guides are still useful resources in their field, either for individual study or, possibly adapted, for group work. They are included here as a contribution to thinking in their areas and not as dogma (INNATE is happy to cover issues on different religions or secularism and peace). Originally produced in A5 format they are reproduced here as A4 PDF copies of paper editions with the front and back covers first and then two pages to a view. Click on title to download.

What the Bible says about Peace

What the Bible says about Violence

What the Bible says about Reconciliation

What the Bible says about Justice

There were some other pamphlets in the series covering poverty, sectarianism, the environment, and the stranger. These are not carried here. “What the Bible says about the Stranger” by Kieran O’Mahony OSA was later issued in a revised and extended edition by another inter-church arm (also based at the Inter-Church Centre in Belfast https://www.irishchurches.org/ ). It is available as a PDF on that website, at https://www.irishchurches.org/resources?perpage=10&page=6 as of 2024.