Tag Archives: INNATE

INNATE Annual Report for 2024

2024 was another year of ‘heavy going’ for those believing in nonviolence and the nonviolent resolution of conflict. Wars in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza – and in particular European, including often Irish, responses to these illustrated a staggering lack of humanity, imagination and any meaningful resolve in moving to deal with them and then beyond them to grapple with the wider tragedies of global heating and global poverty and injustice.

In relation to INNATE’s media work, Nonviolent News was published in its full 10 monthly issues, with news supplements for the other two months. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/category/nonviolent-news/ Issues for the email and web editions were typically 12 pages; the paper edition is just the first two pages of news. There is a huge amount of other material on the website and some of it is listed there (see home page). INNATE also published an account of Laura Coulter’s peacebuilding work in Northern Ireland context as a pamphlet, Building bridges, Bridging gaps https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Laura-Coulter-Building-Bridges-Final-24.12.pdf

The INNATE photo and documentation site https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland seems to have become an overnight success – after 16 years! Before August 2024 there had been typically 1,000 photos opened a week (you can see photos without opening them but to see the accompanying text or more details in the photo then it needs clicked on to open). The rate at which photos have been opened tripled or quadrupled in August and the period since then. There are 56 album topics on the site including a new one on Lex Innocentium/The Law of the Innocents 697 CE / 1997 / 2024. The INNATE coordinator spoke on Irish peace history at the Birr launch of Lex Innocentium 21st C. https://lexinnocentium21.ie/

StoP/Swords to Ploughshares Ireland, an anti-militarist and arms trade network which INNATE was involved in setting up in 2020 on an all-island basis, continued its work including trying to raise the issue of protection of the ‘Triple Lock’ on the deployment of Irish troops overseas which much of the Irish establishment, including Fianna Fáil, is so keen to ditch in an effort to be ‘good Europeans’ (= believers in EU militarisation) and NATO fellow travellers. Through involvement with Afri, the INNATE coordinator was part of a presentation on the Triple Lock to an Oireachtas committee. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/53739610022/in/dateposted/

Although FOR England was the lead party in a webinar with Majken Jul Sørensen on nonviolent resistance in the context of Ukraine, based on her pamphlet on that topic, INNATE was a sponsor of this, along with Cymdeithas y Cymod in Wales, and initiated the discussion which led to the webinar. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/2024/04/02/the-possibility-of-nonviolent-resistance-in-the-contemporary-world/

INNATE also hosted political philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo during a visit to Northern Ireland in November in which he spoke at events for the Hume O’Neill Chair of Peace at Ulster University, Conflict Textiles, and INNATE, including an INNATE webinar on Nonviolence and Democracy Building. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp0OJ8mH2fA We have also been involved in discussion to help find suitable speakers on Northern Ireland for a major peace conference in Germany.

Meanwhile peace movement materials from and collected by INNATE covering nearly fifty years and which were donated to PRONI, the Public Record Office in the North, are being catalogued – 481 pages to date….

While wider work on peace trails has been in abeyance since Covid, there were numerous Belfast city centre and Ormeau peace trail walks run for individuals and groups, including one for the Migrant Centre Peace Project for whom we will be running a workshop on approaches to conflict in early 2025. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/54080114989/in/dateposted/ As usual there was an INNATE summer social event in Belfast.

INNATE exists on a financial shoestring, is entirely voluntary, and depends on subscriptions and donations to keep the lights on, and we appreciate people’s generosity. A financial statement is available on request. There is the opportunity for anyone anywhere to be involved with work supporting INNATE, and most meetings are held remotely; if you might be interested in looking at involvement, we can have a chat. We also welcome unsolicited articles and photos for possible publication.

Rob Fairmichael, Coordinator, February 2025

Ramin Jahanbegloo webinar on nonviolence and democracy

Canadian-Iranian political philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo was in Northern Ireland in November 2024 and provided programme for Conflict Textiles, Ulster University Hume O’Neill Chair in Peace, and INNATE.

He spoke at an INNATE webinar on Nonviolence and Democracy Building on 28th November 2024. This was recorded and the video is available at https://youtu.be/sp0OJ8mH2fA?si=0GeaoahYVjGbwDYv     

The photo of Ramin Jahanbegloo below was taken in the Ulster University, Belfast, video suite at the start of the webinar

There is also a photo of Ramin Jahanbegloo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/54213009123/in/dateposted/ when he was speaking on Nonviolence and Empowerment the same afternoon.

INNATE Annual report for 2023

Violent conflict continued to very much be a feature of the year 2023, and climate heating denial and drifts to the right politically were also significant features internationally. In Northern Ireland conflict was limited to political stalemate. Sometimes witnessing to nonviolent and green alternatives in the midst of strong counter-blasts is as much as can be done; at other times a peace stand can make a real difference. And we believe that it will make a difference in the long term even if the going is currently difficult.

In relation to INNATE’s work, Nonviolent News was published in its full 10 monthly issues, with news supplements for the other two months. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/category/nonviolent-news/ Issues for the email and web editions were typically 12 pages but ranged from 11 to 19 pages; the paper edition is just the first two pages of news. There is a huge amount of other material on the website and some of it was listed in Nonviolent News in early 2023; https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/2023/02/01/archival-documentary-and-campaigning-materials-available-from-innate/

The INNATE photo and documentation site https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland continued to build; there are now nearly 2,700 photos group in 55 ‘albums’ (material on a particular topic). One significant new album in 2023 was coverage of the “people’s forums” in the Republic on neutrality and the so-called Consultative Forum on International Security Policy.

In relation to the above, StoP/Swords to Ploughshares Ireland, an anti-militarist and arms trade network which INNATE was involved in setting up in 2020 on an all-island basis, produced a very detailed and important report on the Irish government ‘Forum’. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/StoP-Report-Forum-on-International-Security-Mark-2.pdf This showed clearly that it did nothing like what the government said on the tin that it would do, and certainly did not justify the proposed change to the ‘Triple Lock’ (government, Dáil, UN) on deployment of Irish troops overseas. StoP continues to meet regularly and plan activities.

INNATE also produced a couple of mini-posters on the Triple Lock theme (available at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/posters/ ). INNATE made a lengthy written submission to this ‘Forum’ and the coordinator protested at being excluded from making a verbal contribution with the unique contribution which would have been made – those involved in this exercise were largely handpicked to give the answers the Minister wanted.

It was a quiet year in relation to some aspects of INNATE’s work including training, public meetings and visitors though INNATE members are also very involved with other activities. INNATE continues to try to relate to a wide variety of groups and issues. The number of visitors, wishing to speak about the North and/or INNATE’s work and vision, are perhaps starting to pick up after Covid. The fact less queries come in to INNATE than some years ago is assumed to be because of the fairly comprehensive nature of INNATE’s online material (in its fields of reference). We were involved with one programme for NVTV, the Belfast community television station.

Meanwhile peace movement materials from INNATE covering nearly fifty years and which were donated to PRONI, the Public Record Office in the North, are now being catalogued there.

While there is no change expected in the near future, during 2024 INNATE will be discussing with others ‘in the field’ about longer term plans to ensure the continuation of some of INNATE’s functions such as the monthly dissemination of news on peace and related topics in Ireland, and the photo and documentation site which is run on Flickr. There is of course the opportunity for anyone anywhere to be involved with work supporting INNATE, and most meetings are held remotely on Zoom; if you might be interested in looking at involvement, we would be delighted to talk to you about possibilities

Rob Fairmichael, Coordinator, February 2024

Drumcree before ‘Drumcree’

Drumcree Faith and Justice Group and monitoring Orange parades on the Garvaghy Road, Portadown, late 1980s+

by Rob Fairmichael

Introduction – The general situation

In “Track III Actions – Transforming protracted political conflicts from the bottom-up” (Ed. Helena Desivilya Syna and Geoffrey Corry, pub. De Gruyter, 2023) Brendan McAllister gives a detailed account of the Drumcree parading dispute in Portadown from 1995 and his involvement with attempts at mediation then and in ensuing years. Brendan had become director of what is now Mediation Northern Ireland in 1992; sadly he died in December 2022. The publication of his article challenged me to write something about “Drumcree before ‘Drumcree’”, i.e. before the name of that locality became common on news media around the world. This is both to provide some context and because there is a story, or stories, well worth telling.

In 1995 the Drumcree situation of an Orange parade going through a Catholic area ‘blew up’ and in Rev Ian Paisley’s words it became not just a battle for Drumcree but a battle for Ulster. Pitched battles were fought in fields close to Drumcree church and loyalists from around Northern Ireland joined in, one way or another, seeing the denial of ‘their’ perceived right to march down the Garvaghy road as a direct attack on their culture. Once there is that much identification with a struggle, and engagement with it, there is little chance of a mediative settlement (as Brendan McAllister’s account shows). And it was a costly ‘blow up’ in terms of tension, violence, and the loss of life associated with it.

Some unionists and loyalists saw the emergence of parade disputes as a major issue around 1995 (not just Portadown but the Lower Ormeau in Belfast and Dunloy, Co Antrim, for example) as manufactured mischief by republicans and Catholics looking for issues to hit Protestants with after the ceasefires of 1994. But political parades have always been problematic in the north of Ireland both before and after partition. The emergence of parades issues at this time was simply that previously Catholics had felt relatively powerless to raise the issues concerned, particularly pre-ceasefires.

The loyalist perception of the ‘right’ to march where desired comes from a previous era when the state itself was unionist-loyalist in orientation, in the period 1921-1972, and Orangeism would have been fully facilitated by the state (though it would also have drawn on unionism before the foundation of Northern Ireland). In practice the loyal/marching orders mainly restricted marches to Protestant and mixed areas so the vast majority of marches were uncontroversial.

Orangeism is a form of cultural and political expression albeit made publicly in the form of military-style parading and effectively the marking of territory. But it is also, within part of the Protestant community – and it is exclusive in this way – a bonding exercise and the Twelfth (12th July) is, for those involved, a great celebration and gala occasion. For supporters it is also a family fun day, or morning, watching the parades, and for young bandsmen, and some bandswomen, an opportunity to impress their friends, female and male. The Twelfth is quite a spectacle along with the bonfires the night before.

However the more general issue regarding parades in contested areas is one of clashing human rights; the Orange or loyalist right to express political views and culture versus the Catholic or nationalist right not to be intimidated. Some would see Orangeism and Orange parades as religious and if so there would be issues of religious freedom involved too but I consider the religious dimension of Orangeism to be very minor compared to it being culturally Protestant. Incidentally, the service at Drumcree Church the Sunday before the Twelfth, this precedes the parade or attempted parade down the Garvaghy Road, is a very distinctively Orange service (processing, hymns, sermon) and not remotely a typical Church of Ireland Sunday service.

Regarding the right not to be intimidated I include not just physical intimidation, or the threat of it, but also the possibility of people being made to feel as unconsulted second class citizens with no control over their own area. There are many different forms of powerlessness and that is one of them.

While the state developed a new strategy in 1998, giving over decisions on parades to a Parades Commission where previously it was the police, the answer to clashing rights is of course dialogue. The ‘Derry model’ shows one way this can be done with considerable success. It was the willingness of the Apprentice Boys of Derry to talk to local people in that city – even if there were caveats – which unlocked the impasse there and which enabled relatively trouble free parades. The ‘Derry model’ is covered by Michael Doherty in the above mentioned book with notable features being a) the involvement of the business community b) the willingness of the Apprentice Boys of Derry (loyalist parading organisation) to talk to both the Parades Commission and local residents at least in a forum context, and c) this took place in a majority nationalist area. The business community in Portadown did not have the same impetus to be involved as that in Derry where business was badly affected by parades trouble.

Orangemen in Portadown were unwilling to talk directly to Garvaghy Road local residents because of the involvement of republicans or former combatants there, and there would also be an element that they considered they should not be obliged to do so. They felt they had the right to parade while their being denied marching down the Garvaghy Road was also attacked by some, falsely, as a denial of their right to worship at Drumcree Church of Ireland.

1995 was not the beginning of the ‘Drumcree dispute’ or indeed of parading controversy in Portadown – this went back to the 19th century. But in the 1970s and earlier 1980s the flashpoint in Portadown had been the route of the parade through Obins Street closer to the centre of town – which is another story in itself and the site of considerable violence; this route was then banned in the mid-1980s. It would seem that at this stage the police might have had an opportunity to refuse future parades down the Garvaghy Road, but they did not take that option, and the conflict continued and subsequently exploded in a way which eclipsed even the violent riots at Obins Street.

The complete story of parading in Portadown is a long, complicated and frequently violent one which there is no time or space to explore here; information is available on the CAIN website and elsewhere. Parades in general had been so troublesome or trouble-producing in the 19th century that the British government had banned them for two periods (1832-1845 and 1850-1872); trouble associated with parades was nothing new.

In this piece I wanted to share some of my limited knowledge of the period immediately before Drumcree became ‘Drumcree’. While I have tried to check the facts of or from my involvement, and ‘run it past’ someone involved, I have not done any extensive research in writing this. I was involved in support for the Drumcree Faith and Justice group and did some nonviolence training with them and attended various meetings.

Drumcree and DFJ

The parade down the Garvaghy Road was experienced by most Catholics in the area as treating them as second class citizens and as something imposed on them. In 1986 the local Drumcree Faith and Justice group (DFJ) on the Garvaghy Road, in the Catholic area, organised a ‘tea party’ during the parade coming through the area as they paraded home from Drumcree Church of Ireland. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/46711654212/in/photolist-2eaKrou-2m1iLas-2m1sRev

The ‘tea party’ was a symbol of nonviolent resistance to the parade. But it was also proposing an alternative to IRA violence by offering resistance in a way that challenged, but also respected, opponents. This was perhaps the more important element in the demonstration, in that locals saw it as a challenge to IRA ideology.

The DFJ also stressed that there were about 40 Orange parades in Portadown in the course of a year, so the Order could not argue that its identity was not respected. Further, they said since nationalists were a minority greater weight needed to be given to their identity when there were disputes.

It should be stated that while the DFJ might have been most associated with resistance to the Orange parade coming through, they were a group committed to nonviolence and involved in other peace, cross-community and community development work. They even directly challenged republican violence and control, in one case when republicans were expelling some local men, by surveying local residents on the issue, showing there was tiny support for such action – undertaking this was bravery of the first magnitude. Here is what they wrote about it themselves:

In May 1990 the group confronted the North Armagh Brigade of the IRA who expelled three local men from Northern Ireland, apparently on the grounds of “antisocial” behaviour. Members of the Group did a door to door survey in Churchill Park of how local residents responded to this threat. Out of 162 houses approached, 4 supported the IRA position, 8 abstained, 122 condemned the IRA action, and the rest were not at home. The Group subsequently publicised the results of the survey in the press and on radio and got wide coverage. This was a difficult action for the Group to take, but they were determined not to give in to this kind of oppression from the IRA”. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/31758301747/in/album-72157717096321767/

They also put an advertisement in the ‘Portadown Times’ following a large IRA bomb in the town in 1993. This asked “As Catholic Citizens of Portadown we ask: Why Wreck Our Town?”. Again, this was a direct challenge to the IRA and its violence.

Many unionists and Orangemen felt, indeed feel, that they have the right to walk the “Queen’s Highway”, that anywhere in Northern Ireland should be open to them. The phrase is not so much used now and in any case it would currently be the “King’s Highway”. However most Orange parades only take place in Protestant, neutral or mixed areas where they are generally welcomed or tolerated. While those of an Orange or loyalist persuasion might feel this right to march is principally for loyal citizens, and not for Catholics, the DFJ were involved in an action which showed that in Northern Ireland there is no such thing as a neutral “Queen’s Highway”.

Marking the 5th anniversary of the founding of DFJ, in 1989 they tested the waters for parading by applying for permission to parade up to the centre of town and back again. Loyalist paramilitaries issued a threat. The police (who still made decisions on parades at this stage, before the Parades Commission) banned the parade leaving the Catholic area. QED there was indeed no such thing as a neutral “Queen’s Highway”, a point which ironically the loyalist paramilitaries had helped to make by issuing the threat. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/53283767509/in/dateposted/

And at that time such threats were very real. The DFJ was associated with a small Jesuit community in a local house. Some loyalists and Protestants had an idea of the Jesuits which was probably mistaken in the 17th century let alone the late 20th. A story was shared during a local meeting with renowned nonviolent activists Jean and Hildegard Goss-Mayr in 1998; a reformed loyalist paramilitary told that, subsequent to the Jesuit community house being established, he was part of a team sent to kill them – he said the Jesuits were spared because the paramilitaries could not find the house…..

After a couple of years of the tea party as a symbol of resistance, the DFJ subsequently took to sit down protests about the parade coming through. See photos from 1989 (and a short general album about DFJ) at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157717096321767/with/50659770223/

DFJ did communicate directly with police in a friendly but direct fashion during the events of Drumcree Sunday. On one occasion they succeeded in getting the police to withdraw police dogs out of sight of residents for fear that this would antagonise them if people thought that police were intending to use them.

There was one instance where for DFJ paying the piper was not necessarily calling the tune – literally. One year (1989) DFJ had a local band playing on a flatbed trailer as an attempt to provide a positive atmosphere on the Garvaghy Road as the parade came through. However as the parade approached, and totally contrary to why they were engaged, the band struck up “A nation once again”! That’s what I remember though another person present recorded it as “We shall overcome”.

It is worth telling about a detail of a meeting I attended, possibly in 1990, organised by DFJ but including some other people. An issue under discussion was the fact that the police were turning back young Catholic men from going up the centre of the town; while the police were responding to the real risk of sectarian trouble and fighting between Protestant and Catholic young men, their response was in itself sectarian (turning back Catholics and presumably only Catholics) and contrary to their human rights (freedom of movement).

There was a prominent local Catholic citizen present at this meeting, from outside the immediate area and not involved with DFJ. He asked why these young men were going up the centre of the town anyway as “it isn’t ours” (i.e. it was mainly Protestant). I was gobsmacked. He wasn’t from the area that young people were being denied freedom of movement but he seemed to be accepting an apartheid-type situation not just for Portadown but, extrapolating, for the whole of Northern Ireland. This is just one, perhaps surprising, detail at the time of acceptance of sectarianism in what was, and is, a very divided town.

INNATE monitoring

From 1989 until 1993 INNATE was involved in providing monitors during the Drumcree parade. While INNATE was invited to do so by DFJ, and in that sense supportive of them, INNATE was quite clear that it was there to observe everyone and as far as possible to feed back to the different parties what had happened and what could have been done differently – including to DFJ. INNATE developed its own model of monitoring/observing and did some work in encouraging others to use this methodology in conflict situations (the INNATE report is available in Dawn Train No.11, 1992, available at https://innatenonviolence.org/dawntrain/index.shtml).

INNATE was the first body to use monitoring in parades and potential conflict situations in Northern Ireland as the Troubles were winding down (there had been considerable monitoring type activity early in the Troubles – see e.g. article by John Watson, Dawn Train No.10, also at https://innatenonviolence.org/dawntrain/index.shtml). It was presumably nothing to do with INNATE but by the mid-1990s there could be up to half a dozen different monitoring groups at a contentious parade.

Brendan McAllister himself was an INNATE monitor on the Garvaghy Road in 1991 and 1992 – he is the guy sitting in the middle wearing a tie in a photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/3281825083/in/album-72157607571533994/. His first time monitoring with INNATE in Portadown was his first time monitoring – something which he developed extensively, with a different model to INNATE, in his mediation role – you can see some photos including Brendan himself in a photo album on monitoring and accompaniment at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157629555375796. He played a significant role in preventing escalation to violence that first day he monitored in Portadown. A policeman in a police line across a road was engaged in verbal interaction with a citizen in front of it; the situation was escalating and the likely outcome would have been the man being arrested and quite possibly subsequent violence.

However a colleague of the policeman engaged in the interaction was seen talking to him, it was presumed informing him that there was at least one independent monitor (Brendan McAllister, identifiable in that role by an armband) nearby looking at the situation; the policeman concerned calmed down, and escalation was avoided. This account is based on the report back by Brendan at the INNATE debrief immediately after the parade. The RUC was not renowned for discipline in this sort of situation at the time and it seems having a visible monitor or observer present promoted best behaviour and prevented significant deterioration and the risk of violence.

INNATE observers/monitors came from a variety of backgrounds including peace activists, Protestant and Catholic, some people who had a human rights involvement, and some international volunteers. One of the last managed the difficult task of writing an account of the DFJ tea party, sit down, the Orange parade and police activity in a humorous manner while also making serious points. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/53283768339/in/dateposted/ Another monitor, a Quaker (of which there were several involved as INNATE monitors), was originally from the Portadown area and recognised by some loyalists; he was threatened in no uncertain terms – i.e. a very deliberate threat to his physical wellbeing – not to come back and monitor again. He was viewed by these people as a turncoat or traitor in the Northern Ireland sectarian response that if you are seen as doing something for ‘them’ you are doing it against ‘us’.

In a subsequent year to when INNATE provided monitors, I presume 1994, I was engaged to assist local stewards on the Garvaghy Road in preparing for being present for the Orange parade through the area but that is another (long) story. However the relevant point is that a significant number of local residents, not just DFJ people, as part of the residents’ coalition were trying to prevent violence ensuing on their side of the metaphorical fence because of the Orange parade. A much smaller number of military minded republicans would probably have been quite happy if trouble ensued.

For a brief comparison between mediation, stewarding and monitoring there is a leaflet produced from an INCORE project in 1999; see https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/20334307318/in/album-72157629555375796/ and entry beside it. The contact information in this is out of date but it is interesting to compare the different approaches and the overlaps between them. The approach developed by Mediation Northern Ireland with Brendan McAllister and others, mentioned above, was to monitor and feed back information up a chain which could be used for mediation, in current time or subsequently. The cross-interface phone networks set up in Belfast when mobile phones were still a novelty was another approach; this enabled community workers or activists ‘on the other side’ to be advised about what was happening across the divide, or indeed coming from their side, so they could take appropriate action immediately to help defuse situations.

In 1991 as part of its follow up to monitoring the Drumcree Sunday parade, INNATE decided to make representations to the Belfast News Letter regarding their report on the parade; this labelled all those present looking on at the parade from the Catholic Garvaghy Road as republican, i.e. Sinn Féin/IRA supporters (showing a prejudiced view and/or ignorance about the area). This would not only have been manifestly untrue but also dangerous since labelling people in this way, particularly pre-ceasefire, was making them targets.

The letter sent to the News Letter was clearly headed and underlined so as to be unmissable, before the text of the letter, “This letter is not intended for publication.” They published it. They refused to apologise until a complaint went to the Press Council. INNATE’s letter included criticism of the police on the day in question which INNATE would not have been made publicly (comments were made directly and privately to the RUC on their performance).

The News Letter said the letter was typed onto their computer system by an editorial assistant and simply marked ‘Letters’ (without the ‘not for publication’ part). The only compensation they offered was that INNATE could offer a suggestion for the topic of an editorial which they would write! A reasonable gesture might have been a free advertisement. However there was one humorous outcome; in response to the mistakenly published letter which had been signed by myself (and it probably was a genuine mistake although very sloppy journalism or office management), another letter was published criticising “Mr Fairmichael and his INANE organisation….”!

Conclusions

In this period there was great variation from year to year in the feeling associated with the Drumcree parade depending on both local events (local killings and who did them as well as other factors) and the broader political situation. However one feature remained constant; once the parade was over there was relief (this was pre-1995) and no compulsion to deal with the issues, aside from residents, and when the summer loomed again the next year it was felt to be ‘too late’. Thus it was always ‘the wrong time’ for an initiative to solve the issue.

But the moral of this story is that a ‘little local issue’ – expressed in inverted commas because it was actually a big deal locally – when left to fester could blow up to be “a battle for Ulster”. The situation remains unresolved today though active and general unionist backing for the Orange cause at Drumcree waned after the killing of three young Catholic children in the one family in Ballymoney, in an attack seen as associated with it, in 1998.

Before 1995, before it did become ‘Drumcree’, a concerted initiative by the police and/or a respected civil society group outside the area might have had some chance of success in reaching at least an implicit agreement – if the Orange Order could have been persuaded it was in their interests to engage (which it would have been, and still is, to negotiate ‘safe passage’ down the Garvaghy Road). They would need to have been offered a way to talk or negotiate, directly or indirectly, which they could accept, like the Apprentice Boys in Derry subsequently. But it does also need stated that focused mediation work was only beginning in Northern Ireland at this stage. When Brendan McAllister was able to be involved it was already too late despite determined effort, after it became an international issue and a shibboleth in Northern Ireland.

In conclusion about the Drumcree parade at the end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s, I joke that our work was so successful that the word ‘Drumcree’ was never heard again…. The lack of success at this time, and the subsequent explosion in the situation, was certainly not due to the Drumcree Faith and Justice Group who were an impressive and brave group of local people seeking to make a positive contribution to their own area and to Portadown as a whole on a broad range of issues. Unfortunately the Drumcree parading situation joined the long list of unresolved matters in Northern Ireland though inclusive talking of some kind could still bring about a ‘result’ – a win-win one – for everyone.

INNATE submission to Consultative Forum on International Security

To read INNATE’s 11-page submission to the Consultative Forum on International Security in the Republic, see https://tinyurl.com/3rurehhv

It had not been the intention to publish this until the July issue of INNATE’s monthly publication Nonviolent News but due to publicity about the failure of the Department of Foreign Affairs to consider having an oral presentation on aspects of the submission – specifically nonviolent civilian defence and extending neutrality as a means of adding to Irish security, it is being published now.

Photos of the “People’s Forums” on neutrality and protests concerning the government “Consultative Forum” can be seen on the INNATE photo site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72177720309217408

INNATE Annual report for 2022

Peace seemed a long way away with war in Europe (Ukraine) as well as many other parts of the globe, Northern Ireland still not at peace within itself, and the Republic getting sucked deeper and deeper into the morass of the arms trade and EU militarisation. Sometimes all that it is possible to do is state clearly that ‘there is an alternative’ and work, and hope, that people can see that alternative before it is too late. Already it is too late to avoid some drastic effects of global warming.

In terms of public presence, we organised a demonstration to call into question Thales arms production in Castlereagh, Belfast https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/51943904438/in/dateposted/ on St Patrick’s Day – this well attended event received additional attention because of the war in Ukraine (it was organised before that started) but one TV interview conducted during it was never aired, presumably because of an – accurate – description of corruption by Thales). However we did in mid-year run a discussion programme for community TV station in Belfast NVTV, and we hope to do more in this regard. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/52245726256/in/dateposted/ We were also involved in promoting a picket of an Irish government arms event in Dublin organised by Afri; see https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/52408699982/in/dateposted/ and accompanying photos.

Early in 2022 INNATE handed over the coordinatorship of StoP/Swords to Ploughshares which INNATE had been involved in founding a bit more than a year previously. StoP is a an all-island network on the arms trade and demilitarisation and it continues to meet regularly online and organise webinars including a very useful one on ‘human security’. https://www.facebook.com/SToPIreland and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpcK1QYLk6M

INNATE completed the transfer of most of the peace movement archives it held to PRONI/Public Record Office for Northern Ireland. A full list of the material transferred is available on request. However a more extensive list of online materials on the INNATE websites was produced (https://innatenonviolence.org/ as the main website and https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland as its photo and documentary site). This listing has been included in Nonviolent News and is on the website at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/INNATE-online-listing-2023-for-web.pdf .

Nonviolent News was produced monthly in its usual 10 full issues and two news supplements (for January and August). https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/category/nonviolent-news/ The INNATE photo and documentary site now has upwards of two and a half thousand entries with many new additions during the year, both contemporary and archival, and this site has now had well over half a million opening of photos (you can see photos and a caption without opening them to see more detail).

Another production, at the start of the year was a 15-page publication, “Peace groups in Ireland through the years”. This is not intended as an exhaustive history but rather a listing since the 19th century with brief facts plus details about where to find further information, i.e. to signpost where to find out more for those interested, and the link is at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/ – it will be updated as needed.

INNATE ran a workshop on ‘Nonviolent struggle in the global South’ for the One World Festival in the North; a report appears at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/2022/11/03/the-effectiveness-of-violence-and-nonviolence/ The coordinator gave a keynote talk at the Afri Hedge School in TUD Blanchardstown on “The war in Ukraine, Irish and EU responses, and possibilities for peace”.

As with so many voluntary, political and community groups, you may get to see ‘the duck gliding serenely by’ – but not the energetic paddling going on under the water. INNATE is sustained by a small number of activists but in the Zoom and internet era ‘anyone anywhere’ can be involved – please get in touch if you might be interested in being involved in any way or have suggestions for work to be done. And as usual INNATE exists on a very frayed financial shoestring – and all work is done voluntarily – so subscriptions and donations of any size are very welcome.

– Rob Fairmichael, Coordinator, February 2023

Archival, documentary and campaigning materials available from INNATE

The two INNATE websites https://innatenonviolence.org/ (the ‘main’ INNATE website) and https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland (the INNATE photo and documentation site) have a substantial amount of material available on a broad understanding of peace, nonviolence and related matters. The following listing can only be considered partial but it is indicative of the contents; it is listed alphabetically in relation to each site.

As always, INNATE is happy to consider additions to its online material. Please contact innate@ntlworld.com This information also appears at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/INNATE-online-listing-2023-for-web.pdf

INNATE photo and documentation site

https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland

With a total of nearly two and a half thousand entries (as of January 2023), finding what you might want, or be most interested in, can be difficult so it is recommended that most users go to the ‘Albums’ (groupings of photos/entries on a theme). Below is a listing of the albums and their main content, however when clicking on ‘Albums’ online they are not listed alphabetically so you will need to scroll down to the ones you want. Some albums are very limited but photos are grouped this way to make them more accessible. Album can overlap, i.e. one entry can appear in a couple, or more, albums.

You can also use the word search facility in the top menu bar and this is useful where there is no obvious album to search or you are looking for a specific person or organisation not featured as an album. Where possible website links are given. Information about use of the material featured appears on the site (under ‘About’ on the top menu bar)

lAfri – Nearly two hundred photos from Afri events and famine walks over the years.

lAnti-Nuclear power movement – Mainly photos and documentation from late 1970s but also photo essay on wind turbines at site of erstwhile nuclear plant at Carnsore Point.

lAVP/Alternatives to Violence Project – Mainly from the international conference in Ireland,2014, but also on work in Bolivia and India.

lBishopscourt Peace Camp, 1983-86 – Photos and documentation from this peace camp at Bishopscourt RAF base, Co Down.

lChurches Peace Education Programme (1978-2005) – A small number of photos and documents on this important resource.

lCND and nuclear disarmament – Mainly 1980s photos and documentation, also Faslane in the ‘noughties.

lConflict Textiles – Comprehensively documented on its own website, this is a selection of photos from Conflict Textile events and exhibitions.

lCorrib Gas, 2011 – A short photo essay on ‘security’, monitoring and resistance at the Co Mayo site.

lCOP 26, Glasgow, 2021, a photo essay by Larry Speight.

lCorrymeela Community – A selection of photos of people and events, and documents from over the years.

lDawn (1974-85) – Scenes from producing Dawn magazine, events, and documentation.

lDealing with the past – A small selection of photos, on Northern Ireland and some international.

lDisarmament and resistance to war – A broad sweep of photos and documents from around Ireland.

lDrumcree Faith and Justice Group, Portadown – A small selection of photos and material from this important local group in the 1980s-1990s.

lEcology and green resistance – A limited but fascinating selection from actions and events.

lFellowship of Reconciliation – Photos from some International FOR events and some documentation on Irish/Northern Irish FOR (1949-1998)

lG8, Fermanagh, 2013 – Photos from Belfast and Fermanagh alternative events/demonstrations.

lGender and peace – A selection of photos on this frequent elephant in the room.

lGlencree Centre for Reconciliation – Documents from around the start in 1974 plus photos from the 1980s and recently.

lHuman rights – A small selection of photos mainly from Northern Ireland.

lHumour and satire – A miscellany showing the lighter side of entries on the site….

lInclusive and consensus decision making – A small selection with essential links.

lINNATE history – A selection of photos and entries on INNATE’s events and history since 1987.

lINNATE seminars and conferences – Photos of participants and documentation.

lIrish neutrality – A broad selection of photos and documentary entries.

lIrish Pacifist Movement (1936-1969) – Documentation and history.

lJustice Not Terror Coalition, Belfast, 2001+ – Opposition to the ‘war on terror’, post-9/11.

lKilcranny House, Coleraine (1985-2012) – Photos from this ecologically-focused peace centre.

lMediation – Some important photos and documentation from the start of focused mediation in Ireland in the mid-1980s, including MNI/Mediation Northern Ireland and MII/Mediators’ Institute of Ireland.

lMen, gender and nonviolence – Photos from international trainings for men by the Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), 2009-10

lMonitoring and accompaniment – A wide range of photos and links to informative material (see the information at the top of the album)

lMuseums for Peace, Belfast, 2017 – People and events from their 25th anniversary conference.

lNonviolence training – Photo from training events at home and abroad.

lNorthern Ireland Peace Forum (1974-88) – Documentation.

lNorthern Ireland, Troubles and Peace in – Several hundred photos and documents mainly from and about the peace and reconciliation movement, and also the general situation.

lNorthern Ireland peace process – A small selection of newspaper items, 1994-2007.

lPax Christi – Documentation and a few photos, mainly 1970s-1990s.

lPeace and Reconciliation Group (PRG), Derry, (1976-2015) – A small number of photos and documents.

lPeace miscellany, 2009-10 – A small number of photos from this time.

lPeace People – Photos from 1986 and documentary material from the beginning in 1976.

lPeace trails – A small but informative selection on peace trails, including Belfast and Mayo.

lQuaker peace work and witness – A limited number of photos on primarily Irish Quaker peace work.

lRaytheon Derry campaign, 1999-2010 – A wide range of photos from the succesful campaign to get arms company Raytheon out of Derry.

lSean MacBride – A small number of writings or interviews, taken from peace movement sources from the1980s, and one Afri event photo.

lThales arms company – Photos of demonstrations at the Castlereagh, Belfast plant.

lTom Weld artwork – Some examples of his map like work on peace and human rights.

lTrade Union/ICTU NIC action for peace – In relation to Northern Ireland and abroad.

lUS/NATO military bases, conference against, Dublin 2018 – People and events.

lWar Resisters’ International – Mainly from the Dublin 2002 international conference.

lWitness for Peace (1972+) – A small number of documents and cuttings.

lWomen Together (1970-2001) – Mainly documentation but also some photos.

lWorld Beyond War international conference, Limerick, 2019 – People and events including a visit to Shannon Warport.

INNATE main website

https://innatenonviolence.org/

Nonviolent News is the main INNATE resource with all issues available since 1990 (it was occasional until 1994 when it became monthly). It went online in 2003 when the email and web edition became longer than the paper edition which became the first two pages of news only (older issues appear as PDFs). It is still produced in email and web editions (with the same content in both) and a shorter paper edition.

The INNATE website changed to WordPress in 2021 but all the previous material is available – you just need to click on the button to the right of the home page to get to the older site. If word searching for something you may need to do it on both the new and the old sites.

Resources are listed alphabetically below, with an indication where necessary of their location.

lAn alternative defence for Ireland (Dawn, 1983)

Perhaps somewhat out of date this still indicates it can be done…. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lBishopscourt Peace Camp 1983-86

A short 4 page broadsheet analysing the history and context of this peace camp. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lChristian Nonviolence – a study pack (1993)

Originally produced by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Pax Christi, this is a useful introduction to the topic. Nonviolence and other religions have been explored in some ‘Readings in Nonviolence’ in Nonviolent News. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lConsensus for small groups

An introduction and worksheets including tools that can be used. https://innatenonviolence.org/workshops/consensussmallgroups.shtml See also https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/52550857618/in/dateposted/

lCorrymeela House Belfast

A short history of/tribute to Corrymeela House in Belfast which closed in 2014. https://innatenonviolence.org/readings/2014_11.shtml

lDawn Train

PDF copies of all 11 issues are online with contents listing at https://innatenonviolence.org/dawntrain/index.shtml This includes material on facilitating political discussion (Sue and Steve Williams, DT No.11), what enabled people in the North to change their views (Mari Fitzduff, DT10), and much more about peace and nonviolence at home and abroad.

lEco echoes

A compilation of some of Larry Speight’s columns from Nonviolent News married with his keen eye photography. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lMichael Davitt, Land War and Non-violence

An 8-page pamphlet from Dawn (1979) exploring this important person and topic. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lINNATE annual reports

All you never wanted to know about INNATE with a page per year. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/annual-reports/

lMusical musings on Irish history and culture (2002+)

An exploration of violence, nonviolence and social change in Ireland through music and ballad, by Rob Fairmichael. https://innatenonviolence.org/resources/musical.shtml

lNonviolence – The Irish Experience Quiz

A fun way to challenge our perceptions of Ireland over the centuries – with questions on one side and answers on the other. Link at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/resources/

lNonviolence in Ireland – a study guide

This can be used for individual or group study with links to material and questions for thought or discussion. Link at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/resources/

lNonviolence – An introduction

What it says on the tin – an introduction to nonviolence from INNATE

https://innatenonviolence.org/resources/intro/index.shtml

lNonviolence Manifesto from INNATE

Short and to the point in 2 sides of A5. Link at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/resources/

lNonviolent News since 1990

– News section – monthly news, all issues since 1990 online, covering a wide range of peace, nonviolence, green and human rights news and initiatives from around Ireland, with links where possible.

– Editorials – Commentary on current issues at home and abroad.

– Eco-Awareness – Larry Speight’s incisive commentary on green issues since 2004.

– Readings in Nonviolence – Reviews and material of many different aspects.

– Billy King:Rites Again – Idiosyncratic commentary on the world, the flesh and the divil else.

Each of these sections can be accessed independently or within the relevant full issue.

https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/category/nonviolent-news/ and pre-2021 issues at https://innatenonviolence.org/news/index.shtml

lNonviolence in Irish History

Dawn magazine’s pamphlet from 1978 still has important information and a wider message challenging the view of Irish history only being about violence. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lMy kind of nonviolence (2012)

Fifteen people from around the island give their view on what nonviolence is about – a direction is perhaps evident, but no party line. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lThe nuclear syndrome – Victory for the Irish anti-nuclear power movement

An extract from Simon Dalby’s thesis on this significant late-1970s movement looks at questions of organisation and strategy. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lPeace groups in Ireland through the years

An up to date listing first issued in 2022 giving a very brief profile and links or suggestions for further information. Link at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lThe Peace People Experience, 1987

An in depth study looking at the overall story after a decade of the Peace People, where the money went, the story of local groups, and interviews with key personnel. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

lPeace trails

Links for at home and abroad in a couple of newsletters on peace trails. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/peace-trails/

lPosters

Designed for home printing, there are well over a hundred small/A4 size posters which cover a multitude of issues in the fields of peace, nonviolence, violence, green issues, human rights and justice. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/posters/

lWorkshops/Training in nonviolence, and group work and dynamics

A wide range of material for workshop use – which can also be used for personal study – including one on nonviolent tactics to use in relation to a campaign, the stages a successful movement may go through (‘Workshop on strategising’), and gender and violence.

https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/workshops/

lVegetarian and vegan cuisine

A short guide for those looking for new ideas for food in this area of importance to countering global warming. https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/

Materials passed to PRONI

INNATE has passed older archival material to the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI) which is based in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. The volume would be equivalent to about 7 boxes of material of 45 x 35 x 30 cm. A small amount of this material appears digitally in the INNATE photo and documentation site on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland

Since it requires attendance at PRONI to access this material no comprehensive listing is given here but a full list of material passed to PRONI is available on request to innate@ntlworld.com What follows is a brief indication of its contents. The PRONI reference numbers for the material are D4828 (deposited 2021) and PTE 83/2022 (for additional material deposited in 2022). It includes Northern Ireland ‘peace and reconciliation’ material as well as internationally-related peace material from both sides of the border in Ireland

D4828

Includes dated peace movement ephemera (leaflets, cuttings, papers etc) from 1970s to 2018 and a wide variety of specific files and some photos.

PTE 83/2022

Includes more Dawn and INNATE materials and extensive materials on the Peace People used in the preparation of ‘The Peace People Experience’ pamphlet (1987).