Tag Archives: Ireland

August 2026 Supplement to Nonviolent News 341

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SUPPLEMENT to Number 341, Belfast, 1st August 2026

Please note this is a relatively short supplement with mainly time-limited or immediate information, not a full issue (the next one will appear at the start of September)

ICND: Annual commemoration of Hiroshima bombing, Dublin

This year will mark the 81st anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which took place on 6th August 1945. Irish CND will be holding the customary annual commemoration in Merrion Square in Dublin. 

The ceremony will take place at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square Park, Dublin, at 1.10 pm o Thursday 6th August. There will be short speeches by Lord Mayor of Dublin Daryl Barron, Japanese Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission in Ireland, Mr Koji Hirohata, and Afri Board member, Dr Patrick Bresnihan (Maynooth University). There will also be contributions of music and poetry, and a wreath of flowers will be laid at the tree at the close of the commemoration. Both Irish CND and Afri are members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), so it is fitting that both organisations are involved in the commemoration.  

An estimated 80,000 people were directly killed by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, with casualties reaching 140,000 within a year. Approximately 12,500 nuclear weapons remain in the world today, more than enough to destroy life on earth as we know it many times over.

ICND continues “Sadly, the dark shadow of the possibility of nuclear war looms more grimly than perhaps ever before. Spending on nuclear weapons reached more than $119 billion last year, a shocking new high, with more than half of this expenditure deriving from the United States. Nuclear weapons states are all engaged in modernising their arsenals and delivery systems. Five of the nine nuclear-armed states have engaged in international military attacks in the past year alone. It would only take a moment of madness to plunge the world into an irreversible nuclear war.

Yet there are positive signs of progress. More countries continue to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons each year. The Treaty has now been signed or ratified by 100 countries, more than half the recognised states in the world. The first Review Conference of the Treaty will take place later this year. 

We must meet darkness with the light of positive hope and determination. We look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to our commemoration in Merrion Square, remembering eight decades of the legacy of nuclear destruction. Wherever you are, even if you are not in a position to join us in person this year, please do join us in spirit to stand in solidarity with the victims of these horrific weapons of mass destruction, and to affirm our determination to work for their elimination, the only way to ensure that the ghastly events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will not be repeated.”  http://irishcnd.blogspot.ie/ www.afri.ie

Hiroshima, Nagasaki lantern vigil, Belfast, 5th August evening

There will be a commemorative lantern vigil held at the Big Fish/Donegall Quay/Lagan Weir from 9.00pm – 11.30pm on Wednesday 5th August to mark the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and stand for nuclear disarmament today. As Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is on in Belfast at this time with a main stage at the City Hall, the Big Fish was chosen as an alternative venue….but attendees can combine a visit to the Fleadh with the vigil (or vice versa!). Bring a lantern or failing that a candle in a jar. The event is organised by INNATE innate@ntlworld.com and see flyer at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hiroshima-Nagasaki-vigil-26.08.pdf Lantern vigils are being promoted by Pax Christi International https://paxchristi.net/lanterns-for-peace-from-hiroshima-to-the-world/ and this address includes instructions for making your own lantern……

Afri Doolough walk video, sponsored cycle in September

Afri’s Doolough ‘Famine’ Walk is always a powerful occasion and you can visit or revisit the June event of this year in a 14 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayK0TILHiLk and there are photos at https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/1e90b33ca4a643bfb8d64e8f7aa35e0f Donnah Vuma’s reflections at the walk are at https://www.rundale.org/2026/07/21/what-doolough-asks-of-us/ and Patrick Bresnihan’s at https://www.rundale.org/2026/07/21/republic-or-empire/ The 2027 ‘Famine’ Walk will be on 19th June next year.

Meanwhile on 12th September there is a sponsored ‘Famine’ Walk Solidarity Cycle on the same Louisburgh-Doolough-Louisburgh route (both ways) led by Joe Murray, former Afri coordinator, and Richard Moore, of Children in Crossfire. This will support Afri’s work for peace, justice, human rights and sustainability. The start will be in Louisburgh Town Hall at 12 noon. More info at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O3vp3_a8Cy5MEXA2KTn6pVfZNyt57rN9/view

Demilitarise for the Just Transition!

The third annual Week of Action for Peace & Climate Justice, backed by a wide variety of groups, is taking place from 21st – 27th September and will address the links between war, militarism/militarisation and social, economic and climate injustice; the title of the week is Divest from War – Invest in The Just Transition! It will promote grassroots action and policymaking to confront both genocide and ecocide – for peace and a just systemic transition. As the Week of Action website states “amid escalating climate change effects and their disastrous toll on social and economic well-being, governments across the globe are militarising at pace. Over the last two years, a majority of NATO and EU states have committed to historic increases in military spending while gutting public funds for real climate and biodiversity action, overseas aid, social welfare, migrant justice, civil society and peacebuilding. This trend is echoed globally and, indeed, has global consequences for people and planetary health.”   See https://climatemilitarism.org/weekofaction/ Source: War Resisters’ International www.wri-irg.org

Peace News rides again

British peace publication Peace News (founded 1936) restarts publication in September with a relaunch pilot issue after a couple of years hiatus. The new ‘PN’ will be quarterly in full colour magazine format. They state “PN will continue to be a space for news, reflection, analysis and promotion of pacifism, anti-militarism, and nonviolence, of campaigns and actions for social, economic and environmental justice. We aim to have a wide range of contributors and book reviewers, and encourage broad discussion through comment articles and a lively letters page.” A new editor has still to be appointed – the post will be advertised in the first issue – but an admin worker, Maryam Namazie, is in place. Subscription rates are still to be announced. editorial@peacenews.info

From Othering to Belonging

john a. powell is director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley   https://belonging.berkeley.edu/ and a highly regarded thinker in the US on racism, identity, democracy and belonging. He visited Ireland in early June as a guest of Social Change Initiative and the Community Foundation Ireland. His thinking provides a very useful counterpoint to concepts about scapegoating and division, as in Northern Ireland. See https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/from-othering-to-belonging-creating-a-world-where-everyone-belongs

l Attitudes in the Republic of Ireland towards immigration, trans rights, class, wealth and public housing are more progressive and inclusive than the narrative of polarisation dominating national debate – according to Hope and Courage Collective‘s first Ireland in Focus report, which tracks key developments, trends and events from 2024 to 2025. https://tinyurl.com/36sa3n7x with full report at https://hopeandcourage.ie/ireland-in-focus-mind-the-gap/

On democracy

Deciding how decisions are made is often the most important decision that people make. There is a new short exposition of the de Borda Institute www.deborda.org approach; “Democracy is for everybody, not just a majority, and definitely not just the majority. True democracy leaves no community behind.” See https://www.tasc.ie/blog/2026/07/24/democracy-is-for-everybody-not-just-a-majority-and-definitely-not-just-the-majority/

Síolta Chroí courses

Síolta Chroí run regular courses and you can sign up to receive their news at https://sioltachroi.ie/ and click on ‘Get updates’. Their aim is to “teach people how to grow food in ways that heal the land, strengthen communities, and create a healthier future.” Upcoming courses include ones on food fermentation (15th August) with Laura and Ruairí of Bio Cultures and one on 3rd October on seeds and seed-saving with Conor O’Kane, to mention just a couple. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sioltachroi Síolta Chroí, Aghacloghan, Carrickmacross, Monaghan A81C998.

News, July 2026

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Monitoring as a response to racial tension in Northern Ireland

The Migrant Centre NI https://migrantcentreni.org/ recently ran a training series for monitoring (a k a observing) in situations of racial tension; the idea is in part to be able to report factually what happens, if anything, and deter violence by being present. Facilitation for the training was provided by INNATE – and ironically one of the training sessions took place the day after racist rioting. The Migrant Centre will provide time-limited follow up and it is possible Mediation Northern Ireland www.mediationni.org which in the past had an extensive monitoring involvement in situations of community tension, in partnership with TIDES and Belfast Interface Project, may pick up the baton. For further details contact julia@migrantcentreni.org INNATE will continue to promote monitoring, contact innate@ntlworld.com See also photo album on monitoring and accompaniment at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157629555375796/

New Glencree CEO, NextGen4Peace

Dr Aisling Hearns is the next Chief Executive Officer of Glencree and has just taken up the role. She was previously Director of Services at Towards Healing, where she provides leadership for a national counselling and support service for survivors of religious, clerical, and institutional abuse; she previously held a senior leadership position with Spirasi – the Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture, where she led therapeutic services supporting survivors of torture and forced displacement from diverse backgrounds. Her work has involved extensive engagement with refugees, survivors of human rights abuses, and communities navigating the challenges of trauma, identity, and social exclusion. See more at https://glencree.ie/news/

l Meanwhile Glencree has launched its joint programme with Mediation Northern Ireland, NextGen4Peace, which will bring together people from across Northern Ireland and the border counties, with a particular focus on those from marginalised communities. The programme aims to strengthen relationships, foster mutual understanding, and support the development of a more peaceful and inclusive society. https://tinyurl.com/mw5af6yu and Mediation NI is at https://mediationni.org

War in Sudan: IPB briefing offers clarity

While there has – rightly – been a mass movement in Ireland regarding the war on Gaza and on the Palestinian situation in general, and the war in Ukraine is continually in the news, another war which is more difficult to get to grips with has been taking place, with brutal consequences, in Sudan. A very useful 14-page briefing on the Sudanese civil war is available from the International Peace Bureau/IPB at https://ipb.org/ipb-situational-brief-the-sudanese-civil-war/

This includes a summary look at the background, the international support for the two sides, the perpetrators, the victims, and the lifeline of the 800 ‘Emergency Response Rooms’ (ERRs) providing all sorts of humanitarian support to the civilian population in the absence of state support. The report also looks at the failure of the international community to respond adequately and makes recommendations in a situation where over 12.5 million people have been displaced and upwards of half a million killed.

IPB is calling on the international community, among other things, to recognise and protect ERR volunteers as humanitarian actors under international humanitarian law, ensuring that protection is enforced and that both warring parties are held accountable for attacks on civilian aid workers: Pressure all foreign states – in particular the UAE – to cease arms transfers to parties engaged in documented genocide and war crimes: Support the expansion of ICC jurisdiction and the existing Darfur arms embargo to cover all of Sudan: Urgently restore and increase humanitarian aid funding for Sudan, reversing the devastating cuts of 2025: Call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and the protection of humanitarian corridors.

Éamon Ó Cuív on neutrality

Éamon Ó Cuív, senior Fianna Fáil figure – and grandson of Dev – spoke at Lex Innocentium’s Can Ireland remain neutral? conference in Dublin in March. While INNATE would not agree with his stand on a variety of issues, he was strongly opposed to ditching the Triple Lock (removing UN authorisation on the deployment of more than 12 Irish troops overseas) which the current Irish government is hell bent on doing. With 20 Fianna Fáil TDs raising questions about the move more recently, the issue is still running. His talk at the Lex Innocentium conference is available at https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Eamon-O-Cuiv-paper-on-neutrality.pdf and the Lex website is at https://lexinnocentium21.ie with their conference recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEkw7PJ20Ug and Éamon Ó Cuív coming in at 1.22.25.

Chornobyl: Adi Roche speaks out on another reckless attack

Chernobyl Children International founder Adi Roche has again felt obliged to speak out about another attack, by drone, hitting a nuclear waste storage facility at Chornobyl in early June. “I appeal, on behalf of all humanity and as a first-step towards peace negotiations, that the deadly and toxic Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, with its thousands of tons and gallons of highly radioactive material, no longer be targeted, or used as an area of shelling, bombardment, and ground fighting.  We must invoke the Hague Convention which defines any attack on a nuclear facility to be a ‘war crime’. My greatest fear in this conflict is that the next Chornobyl will be Chornobyl itself….In the name of humanity, in the name of the children, please stop this war and declare Chornobyl and all Nuclear Power Plants as ‘No War Zones’ as a starting point.”   https://www.chernobyl-international.com/chornobyl-nuclear-power-plant-attacked-by-drone-statement-from-adi-roche/

World Beyond War: Call to Ireland on its EU presidency

World Beyond War and others have called on the Irish government to use its EU Council presidency for peace. The open letter to Thomas Byrne TD and Helen McEntee TD includes the steps to “Resist mandatory military spending benchmarks as an increasingly normalised condition for EU member states, and resist any weakening of EU arms export control frameworks under the pretext of ‘simplification’ and ‘efficiency’. Recommit the European Union to full compliance with international law and to its own founding values as a peace project……Place peace, conflict prevention and mediation on the agenda of the European Political Community summit, which will be hosted in Ireland in November 2026.” See https://tinyurl.com/mwtf7jbt

The CO issue becomes more critical

As militarisation progresses in Europe and worldwide, the issue of conscientious objection (CO) becomes even more critical with the possibiity of conscription coming to a country near you very soon. A new publication from four different organisations – Quaker Council for European Affairs, War Resisters’ International, Connection e.V., and Agir Pour La Paix – brings together testimonies of people who have refused participation in war and military service across different countries and contexts. Entitled “Voices of Peace – Stories of Conscientious Objectors from Europe and Beyond”, Türkiye, Israel, Russia, Eritrea, Belgium, Greece, Spain, and Finland all feature in this 64-page pamphlet. Available at https://wri-irg.org/sites/default/files/public_files/QCEA_Voices_of_Peace.pdf

What Pax Christi International has been up to, Hiroshima lanterns

You can read what has been happening with Pax Christi International (PCI) in 2025, its 80th year, in its extensive annual report at https://paxchristi.net/pax-christi-international-2025-annual-report/ You can also find information on the PCI interaction with Palestine and the Kairos II document, https://paxchristi.net/kairos-ii-and-pax-christi-international-from-reflection-to-concrete-action/ and about the campaign “Lanterns for Peace: from Hiroshima to the World”, developed by Pax Christi International and the Hiroshima Coventry Club (Touro Project). This is a global initiative inspired by the lantern ceremonies held each year in Hiroshima, the campaign invites communities around the world to organise local commemorative events using traditional lanterns as symbols of remembrance, peace, hope, and nuclear disarmament. See https://tinyurl.com/mu7awfav

ICCL: Facial Recognition Technology and the Garda Síochána

ICCL, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, is continuing to campaign on issues relating to FRT (Facial Recognition Technology) in the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025 including tension with EU law. There is a petition form at https://www.iccl.ie/I-do-not-consent-to-frt/ and detailed analysis at https://www.iccl.ie/news/garda-ai-bill-iccl-trinity/

FOE: Blow ins and blow ups – LNG Clare terminal case

Friends of the Earth is continuing its campaign to oppose the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Clare – with them quoting the head of an oil and gas company pushing for LNG to be brought to Ireland admitting he wouldn’t want to live beside such a facility for fear it would blow up! As FOE say “At a time when the Government should be pulling out all the stops to end our dependence on fossil fuels – the very reason why all of us are grappling with high energy bills – they’re pushing for (new) dirty, expensive fossil fuel infrastructure.”  26 county residents can sign a petition to keep Ireland LNG free at https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/act/stop-the-lng-bill/

Peace and climate justice – inseparable

The Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate justice takes place from 21st – 27th September this year with the theme “Divest from War – Invest in The Just Transition!” This will address the links between war, militarism/militarisation and social, economic and climate injustice and aim to promote grassroots action and policymaking to confront both genocide and ecocide. https://climatemilitarism.org/weekofaction/

Global Education in Ireland book, podcasts

Global Education in Ireland: Critical Histories and Future Directions edited by Eilish Dillon, Niamh Gaynor, Gerard McCann and Stephen McCloskey is published by Bloomsbury Academic and available to order at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk and also available in an open access format online at: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350380417 Meanwhile the Centre for Global Education (CGE) has four new podcasts including https://tinyurl.com/mztx8j9s and click on ‘See all episodes’ to see the rest. CGE website is at https://www.centreforglobaleducation.com/

Amnesty calls for enquiry into faith-based child abuse, safeguarding

Amnesty International and a clerical abuse survivors’ group have called on Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister to establish a public inquiry into clerical child abuse, implement all recommendations from a government-commissioned report into abuse in faith settings and meet directly with survivors. The organisations said the Jeffrey Donaldson conviction demonstrates why allegations of abuse disclosed within a faith setting must be subject to robust safeguarding processes and independent scrutiny. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/northern-ireland-donaldson-case-exposes-urgent-need-for-inquiry-into-faith-based-child-abuse-and-safeguarding-failures/

2,999 and counting

The INNATE photo site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland now has almost 3k photos or entries in 57 ‘albums’ (the best way to see photos you are most interested is to go to the appropriate album). Recent photos include ones of an anti-racist rally in Belfast and the Doolough ‘Famine’ Walk organised by Afri.

Billy King: Rites Again, 341

Billy King, Nonviolent News, , , ,

Billy King shares his monthly thoughts

The Headitorial in this issue deals substantially with the recent racist violence in Northern Ireland so I won’t do more than mention it – and Kate Laverty’s piece in her column portrays community resistance to hate so wonderfully. Racial hate is just one other issue that has to be dealt with in the North and while the stick of the law needs to apply to those involved in racist violence, the carrot of positive multiculturalism needs to be dangled too and is most important in the long run. It is fair enough to believe ‘our’ culture is the best or at least what we want to be mainly a part of. However there are many slow learners of the lesson that we already benefit from the presence of other cultures and people. The health and care systems in both the North and the Republic would fall apart without workers who have come from elsewhere. While not advocating meat eating, meat factories – providing an economic outlet for farmers – would cease working without migrant workers.

And one of the most obvious but sometimes overlooked features of ‘foreign’ culture present in our society is food. It began with Italian chippies and ice cream. Today Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine is on the menu for most people – and probably for the vast majority of those involved in the recent racist rioting! We need to learn to appreciate what we have. There is a wonderful couple of lines in a satirical song by Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle where the racist man in the song says “I never eat wog meat / I always eat at the Chinese caff / Just across the street”; in other words ‘the other’ has become so much a part of ‘us’ and what we want that it goes unnoticed and unappreciated.

Black and white tales from the dark lake

The Doolough ‘Famine’* Walk, organised by Afri, is a unique event. It is an amazing combination of detailed analysis of violence and injustice – sometimes with considerable emotion such as when a Gazan has spoken, along with solidarity, camaraderie, scenery, physical exercise, sociability, and maybe even a bit of craic unwinding in the evening. Some photos of this year’s event, which took place in mid-June, can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/55335011397/in/dateposted/ and photos beside that. *’Famine’ is in inverted commas here because ‘there was no famine’ – food was being exported in great quantities but the peasantry, dependent on the potato, had no access to it or had to sell what they had to pay rent.

Happening this year in June, it turned out excellent walking weather, dry and not too hot. My companion in life remarked on the fitness of President Catherine Connolly who participated in a personal capacity (as she has done before being president); a fast walker, come to a hill and, instead of slowing down, she accelerated, virtually running up it. Wow. She is 70.

There is a big contrast between the life and health of the walkers today and the plight of the original starving, and dying, walkers in 1849, condemned to death by an exploitative system that washed its hands of helping the people it exploited. The parallels with affairs in the world today are always explored and it is both memorialising and acting in solidarity with struggles in the world today.

You learn something new every year, not just from the information and analysis from the speakers/walk leaders but also the participants who you chat to on the way. This year one story I learnt was of Affy Dillon. Sitting on the bus to the start beside Imelda O’Grady who lives locally, she told me about Affy Dillon and the song written by her husband, Michael O’Grady, about him. https://michaelogrady.bandcamp.com/track/affy-dillon Affy was a babe in arms, well a babe strapped to his mother’s back on the Doolough ‘famine’ walk – the route we were travelling on – when his mother died and he was still alive, strapped to her back, when found; he was rescued by a local family and fed on ewe’s milk but lack of sustenance previously had left him blind. So while Affy lived a normal lifespan, as Michael O’Grady’s song says he “never viewed the pleasant scenes that abound around Clew Bay / The sunset red on Old Head hill, Croagh Patrick’s stately cone / Like luxuries were unknown to him though amid them he had grown.“ It’s a fascinating and tragic story but also one of local care and resilience.

The title of this piece is partly a reference to Afri’s 18-track CD of music associated with the Doolough walk, “The Doolough Famine Walk – Music from the dark lake” which I would recommend – available on the Afri website www.afri.ie Afri has had brilliant singers/musicians contribute over the years, as it does at other events it organises; this year it was Declan O’Rourke singing and his moving song ‘Connaught Orphan’ is on the CD.

The Phoenix falls to earth and burns

I am very sad to see the end of the fortnightly Phoenix magazine whose circulation, like so many printed publications of various sorts, has nosedived over the last couple of decades. While often described as the Irish equivalent of the British Private Eye, it had its own unique features – and an uphill struggle to survive in a relatively small country like Ireland. I was only once in their higgledy-piggledy office upstairs in south central Dublin; I was looking for an old Phoenix cartoon on the North and staff were welcoming and friendly, I was coming by arrangement.

It covered numerous issues that the mainstream media were afraid to touch and in particular took a courageous stand for Irish neutrality when the mainstream media has been bending over backwards to back EU militarisation, NATO, and pro-government stances on an issue such as the Triple Lock. It was, for example, scathing about the government-sponsored so-called Consultative Forum on International Security in 2023 which was a Department of Foreign Affairs stitch up. It also covered news about some NGOs and other bodies that, again, the mainstream media did not handle.

It will be missed. Whether anything like it arises from the ashes, a phoenix arising again, I doubt though there may be opportunities online. And on a more humorous note, as a cartoon aficionado [I thought you were a bit of a cartoon character yourself Billy! – Ed] I will miss it too. Here is a couple of them almost at random. “My wife didn’t give them a good reception” says a man as he returns a pair of boxer shorts to a clothing store returns desk; the cartoon is titled “Dodgy boxers” (the issue of ‘dodgy box’ illegal TV streaming is an ongoing one in the Re:Public). And regarding a mega-Euro Lottery jackpot, a guy in a bar says to another guy, “Apparently the rumour started that I had won the €250 million when I was overheard in the state agents enquiring about a one bed apartment in Kanturk!”.

Something fishy

The guilty verdict for Jeffrey Donaldson, two years after he was charged with child sexual abuse concerning two young girls, including rape, is a shocking turnaround for someone who was once top of the pile in Norn Iron. It has dominated news. There has been that much commentary and coverage of the trial in Ireland, and the guilty verdict, that I won’t add much more. It must have taken a huge amount of courage for the two women concerned, now adults, to confront such a towering figure when, years after the events, it was largely their words against his, and he was top dog.

It is also a feather in the cap for the PSNI to have investigated such a case and be proven right against the then most powerful political figure in the North. I won’t say much more except to note that throughout the lead up and the court case itself he wore his evangelical Christian ‘fish’ badge. This was an early Christian symbol, a fish, ichthus in Greek, which was an acronym for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour”. It became a Christian symbol in the second century CE and it also fitted since (loaves and) fishes also appear in the Christian story; the fish became identified as a secret or not so secret Christian symbol.

The simple ‘line drawing’ Christian symbol badge tends to be an evangelical Christian symbol in this part of the world these days. Did Donaldson continue to wear it because he wore it before he was charged with the child sex offences, did he wear it because he thought it would show his ‘Christian’ moral character – and therefore proclaim that he was innocent? However before his conviction I thought it is not a very good advertisement for Christianity, or its fish symbol, if he was guilty. As it turned out there was something rotten and it stank. Commentators have explored whether he weaponised his proclaimed Christianity to try to silence the victims. There might be a few less people wearing the fish symbol these days and the DUP which Donaldson led is wondering how it escape the repercussions – and who knew what about him within the party.

I expected the jury to take longer than it did to reach a verdict though a journalist who covered all the case thought it was open-and-shut and would be shorter; having been on a jury I know it takes a while even to agree that everyone is agreed. However to me it is an indication of the jury’s certainty in accepting the testament of the women victims/survivors and the prosecution case, especially in finding him guilty on all 18 charges. Meanwhile the stories and the speculation will run for quite some time.

Chickening out

Why do I feel the need to say “I am not a meat eater” before I go on to say I think there is something severely amiss with a society which gets its protein and favourite meat from the abuse of animals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c982d389em7o Ireland is awash with chickens and Moy Park in the North, population 1.9 million, produces 6 million chickens a week. It would only take it 9 days to produce one chicken for everyone on the island.

And of course the industry has its own ‘standards’ which, typically for such non-independent voluntary regulations, is a con job. I find it difficult to fathom how such ill treatment of animals, and I presume antibiotic use entering the food chain, is tolerated. Not a good advertisement for unregulated capitalism. Of course people have a choice to buy more expensive organic and relative cruelty free chicken but with the advertising industry at work, and the price differential, it is not a choice that crosses many people’s minds. With so many vegan protein sources available – some very cheap such as pulses – it is very sad but the chicken industry sees itself as responding to the demand for cheap food – excuses, excuses.

I also object to the description that most chicken is produced on ‘family farms’ – free range chicken being the exception. This conjures up a cosy image rather than the nightmare reality. They are not on a ‘farm’, they are on a cruel production line which is so unlike what I would call a ‘farm’ as to be preposterous. In the children’s story, Chicken Licken is afraid the sky is falling down; the poultry producers do what they want and know that the sky – that their chickens never see – will not fall on their heads and there will be no restrictions or repercussions for their cruelty to living beings. And this is a sad state of affairs for the chickens – and for the morality of humanity.

–

Hopefully we are coming to an end of war in relation to Iran though it splutters on. The USA may have had the big guns, metaphorically and practically speaking, but the stupidity of that country going to war is incredible and it has lost far more than it has ‘gained’. When you have a doctrine of ‘might is right’ you are not only likely to end up in the wrong morally but exacerbating the situation. The human and ecological cost of the war is incalculable and the economic cost, for the USA and the world, has been massive. The War Resisters’ International motto/basis is that “War is a crime against humanity” (you can get a fine print great ‘broken rifle’ poster by Lynn Finnegan at https://warresistersint.teemill.com/product/war-is-a-crime-against-humanity-art-print/ and this was never truer.

Anyway, on to the summer and I wish you a peaceful time and hopefully a chance to get your head showered – which with typical Irish weather may happen naturally in the open….. There is no full issue of this e-steamed publication in August, just a news supplement, so I will talk to you [‘talk at you’? – Ed] again in September – the summer is only here and I am talking about autumn already! Billy. l

News, June 2026

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Corrymeela leadership change

Corrymeela leader Alex Wimberley is resigning to return to church ministry in the USA at the end of July after seven years in post, and a couple more before that also working for Corrymeela. A photo of him with the children of Ray and Kathleen Davey appears at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/55283530297/in/dateposted/ For more info including on Corrymeela’s decision making process on leadership, see https://www.corrymeela.org/news/276/thank-you-alex-corrymeela-leader

l The exhibition “Corrymeela – an unfinished journey towards peace”, on 60 years work, which was on display at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast now has a permanent home in the Croi at the Corrymeela Centre in Ballycastle and can be seen there. The Corrymeela archive is held at the Linen Hall Library. Current Corrymeela programme info and news can be read on their website at https://www.corrymeela.org/

Data centres cost €€€ as well as climate

Campaigning groups like FOE and Afri have been trying to publicise the climate cost of data centres for years – but now it is clear there is a huge financial cost for consumers as well. Households in Ireland (Republic) have paid an estimated €715 million more in electricity bills between 2015 and 2023 due to the rapid expansion of data centres in the country, a new report from Friends of the Earth finds; this equals €360 a household on average for 2015-2023. This total could rise to €1.6 billion over the next decade – and as FOE states “This is outrageous” and “Ordinary people in Ireland have effectively been paying a hidden data centre tax on their electricity bills.” The data centres industry disputes the figures. See https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/news/the-cost-of-data-centre-growth-in-ireland-households-paid-an-estimated-715-million-more-in-electrici/

l FOE is currently, along with Client Earth and Friends of the Irish Environment suing the energy regulator, the Commission for the Regulation Utilities (CRU), over its recent decision which allows the data centre industry to expand further with only limited restrictions on fossil fuel usage. See https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/

Afri ‘Famine’ Walk at Doolough: A road to remember, a call that remains

This iconic event is on Saturday 13th June this year, registration in Louisburgh, Co Mayo, from 10am where the opening ceremony will take place at 11am sharp before participants are bussed to Delphi Lodge to walk the 18 km back to Louisburgh (shuttle car will pick up those unable to walk the whole way). This event commemorates a real and tragic walk by starving people in 1849 but linking this with realities in the world today. See https://tinyurl.com/mtwaxz6e for more info and booking link. Walk leaders are Donnah Sibanda Vuma, Patrick Bresnihan, Moya Cannon and music by Declan O’Rourke. Participation fee €30, concessions €20, gathering sponsorship welcome.

INCORE: Seminar on racism in NI, disappearances conference

A year after race related rioting in Ballymena, INCORE is organising a seminar in Derry on the morning of 22nd June on “Racism, Intolerance and Misinformation: Conversations for Change”. This event aims to bring together community voices, practitioners, and researchers for a reflective and forward-looking discussion with input from some key people in the field concerned. See https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/racism-intolerance-and-misinformation-conversations-for-change-tickets-1990575079648?aff=oddtdtcreator for more info.

lThe INCORE annual conference will take place from Sunday 30th August to Tuesday 1st September in the Derry campus on a variety of aspects of forced disappearances including disappearances as a human rights violation and state responsibility for disappearances by non-state actors. It is being run in conjunction with the Journal of Disappearance Studies. The deadline for submitting papers has passed but booking is possible until close to the event, see https://www.ulster.ac.uk/faculties/arts-humanities-and-social-sciences/events/incore-annual-conference-2026 INCORE website is at https://www.ulster.ac.uk/incore

Irish solidarity with Palestine continues unabated

It would be impossible to describe in a small space the ongoing level of support for Gaza and Palestine from people in Ireland with regular and special activities around the country and also involvement for years in international flotillas sailing to Gaza (…and blockade breaking is a classic nonviolent tactic). Fourteen Irish citizens, including Margaret Connolly, a sister of President Catherine Connolly, were part of a large flotilla or flotillas recently and illegally hijacked in international waters with participants ill-treated in Israel before being deported leading to the Irish government – extremely belatedly – promising to bring forward the Occupied Territories Bill (covering goods but without inclusion of services). Word search and see also https://www.globalsumudflotilla.org/delegations/ireland/ The IPSC website https://www.ipsc.ie/ has lists of upcoming events (under ‘News’), an amazing list – or look out locally.

ICCL: 50 years fighting for civil liberties

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is this year celebrating 50 years and will be marking the occasion in June with a major conference entitled “Fifty years of fighting or civil liberties: What next for democracy?” in conjunction with TCD School of Law. This will include the launch of the ICCL Strategic Plan for 2026-2029. See www.iccl.ie for current news and areas of work and concern.

Neutrality Roadshow online, video

After an amazing 47 meetings or seminars held by the Neutrality Roadshow around the country, one took place online and can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/kxzvzth9 with speakers Fionn Wallace, Rory Rowan, Patrick Bresnihan, and Clare O’Connor acting as question master. This hour long video covers the main issues in relation to Irish neutrality in a very perceptive manner. See also https://keepirelandneutral.ie/ and the event was co-sponsored by World Beyond War Ireland https://worldbeyondwar.org/ireland/

Lex Innocentium: European Peace Manifesto

Lex Innocentium has again participated in the European Peace Project on the 9th of May, Europe Day, calling for peace and an end to hostility and wasteful militarisation; the Manifesto for Peace was read at the German War Cemetery at Glencree, close to the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, County Wicklow. See 14 minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q09nBiyTaG4 See also https://lexinnocentium21.ie/

Good Relations Week: Include everyone, everywhere, everyday

Good Relations Week in Northern Ireland is an opportunity for many groups to showcase their work in this area. This year it runs from Monday 12th to Sunday 18th October with the above theme. Registration is now open and can include workshops, exhibitions, discussions, performances, cultural events or community celebrations, in person, online or hybrid. More info at https://goodrelationsweek.com/get-involved/

Integrated education in NI

Integrated education in the North has moved from educating 0% of children 45 years ago to 8% today with a consistent majority of parents supporting it if not necessarily sending their Johnny or Seana to an integrated school, sometimes for reasons of geography. Estimates of its importance to a peaceful future vary wildly. A free access exhibition at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast, entitled “All Children Together and the story of integrated education in Northern Ireland” is on display until 9th July and looks at the story from its beginnings up to today. https://linenhall.com/event/all-children-together-and-the-story-of-integrated-education-in-northern-ireland-free-exhibition/ and more generally https://nicie.org/

SCI: Belonging beyond borders

The Social Change Initiative in partnership with Ulster University (UU) is organising a public lecture on ‘Belonging Beyond Borders: From Othering to Belonging in an Age of Division’ with Prof. john a. powell who is Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California Berkeley and is one of the world’s leading thinkers on race, identity, and belonging. It takes place in the Belfast UU campus at 6pm on Thursday 11th June. https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/ and booking at https://tinyurl.com/36d3sm3r

Chornobyl: Context and 40 years of CCI work

A new short video from CCI/Chernobyl Children International at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1o0RcJC5sI looks at what happened at Chornobyl 40 years ago, the ongoing effects, and CCI’s work to mitigate some of the effects of the disaster. CCI has continued to speak out about the effects and dangers of war in the area in releasing deadly radiation https://tinyurl.com/5cbtc2wf Meanwhile CCI are running their specially designed summer camps for children in the affected areas. More information, including about supporting CCI, at https://www.chernobyl-international.com/

Racism on the rise in the North

Statistics from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show that police recorded 1,507 racist hate crimes and 2,367 racist incidents in the 12 months to the end of March 2026 – the highest annual figures since records began in 2004. As Amnesty International point out, “The figures represent a dramatic year-on-year increase, with racist incidents rising by 561 and racist hate crimes increasing by 320 compared to the previous 12 months.” Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director, said: “Racist violence is spiralling out of control in Northern Ireland.  These shocking figures must be a wake-up call for political leaders.” https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/northern-ireland-year-hate-and-fear-racist-crimes-hit-record-high/ https://www.facebook.com/amnestyni/ See also Belfast Telegraph report https://tinyurl.com/yztahknm on Stormont committee discussion.

Military spending profligacy

The world spent $2.88 trillion on the military in 2025, an increase of 2.9% from the year before, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI). For details see https://www.sipri.org/publications/2026/sipri-fact-sheets/trends-world-military-expenditure-2025 and https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/29/five-charts-that-show-the-rise-of-global-militarisation

Cost of Growth film to be shown in Dublin

A variety of green or related groups have come together to show the Dublin premier of ‘The Cost of Growth’ documentary film in the Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin, at 6pm on Wednesday June 24th. There is a very reasonable admission fee. The film challenges Europe’s growth story by exposing the extractive systems it relies on and the communities that pay the price. See https://www.ticketsource.com/null/the-cost-of-growth-dublin-film-premier/2026-06-24/18:00/t-aazaeqr for booking.  *It seems this event is sold out.

British security input to forming infamous NI Legacy Act

As The Detail details, “Minutes from a secret policymaking group involved in devising the Legacy Act reveal that attendees had close ties to security services and state agencies, despite the fact the act was supposed to investigate the state’s role in many killings.” https://www.thedetail.tv/articles/secret-group-security-services-devise-legacy-act-icrir The emergence of this info is courtesy of persistent sleuthing by Daniel Holder, director of CAJ https://caj.org.uk/ 

British Supreme Court ruling a knock back for human rights in North

A recent UK Supreme Court judgement in May on issues regarding the Windsor Framework, the ICRIR, and the 2023 Legacy Act and victims’ rights, has implications not just for victims but for other aspects of human rights in Northern Ireland. In particular it has handed the Secretary of State and government more power on what information it can withhold, but various aspects remain to be teased out. See https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/uk-supreme-court-judgment-a-bitter-blow-to-victims/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7pv5gj4xxo

Billy King: Rites Again, 340

Billy King, Nonviolent News, , , , ,

Billy King shares his monthly thoughts

Hello, I was hoping that this Colm [I think you are trying to be Uncle Colm from Derry Girls? – Ed] would be a TFZ – a Trump Free Zone – but it proved impossible. However I will keep it short and sweet and not mention the Donald again, this issue, I promise. You may have read that according to Atlantic magazine, the occupant of the POTUS post has stopped comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and decided he is more in the league of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon. Maybe that makes him a bit of a dick-tator but on a serious note it also makes him incredibly dangerous when in his last few years of insuperable military power he can obliterate what he wants to destroy with no repercussions for him personally.

So we may be in for a rollercoaster ride at best and a downward spiral at worst. Lets hope he gets wrapped up and obsessed with his boorish monuments to himself so he can’t be obnoxious and violent to others. He is a walking illustration of the perils of militarism (the egotism perhaps goes without saying though I have just said it) – as have many US presidents before him. Actions can have a myriad of consequences; for example, the US blockade of Cuba has doubled of even tripled the infant mortality rate there, with much other hardship too.

Meanwhile here we are into meteorological summer which in Ireland means the rain is warmer, or if you are logical and look at a clear night sky long enough you are likely to see a meteor. Well, you never know what will be thrown at us. Cue the old old story about someone from Norn Iron trying to book holiday accommodation in Britain by phone “for the Twelfth fortnight in July” and wondering why they were getting an incredulous response…. The longest day comes later this month and it always strikes me as strange – though obviously not meteorologically – that ‘summer’ comes when the days are already getting shorter. Mind you we have had a few days of record heat in late May which for most people in Ireland were pleasant – but not as a harbinger of ongoing global heating, and not in some places in Europe where temperatures were 10°C or more hotter than in good old Atlantic facing Ireland – tourist slogan “Come for the craic and stay for the cool”….

Own goal

There are own goals and own goals, and would you like to own a goal? [I will keep you goal posted on that – Ed] But the biggest own goal of the last month in relation to Northern Ireland was scored by Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party in Britain. Her office issued a social media post on the usual – and totally discredited – theme that there is a vendetta against British army personnel, veterans, who operated in the North and that Labour government proposals would facilitate that. In fact the number of cases taken show that this is a non-issue but it has become an English/British nationalist shibboleth (as well as a means to try to avoid state culpability).

However the post carried film footage of British soldiers in Derry during Bloody Sunday in 1972 when 14 unarmed people were shot dead by the British army. Her post was withdrawn when it was pointed out that this was what the clip showed. But by including this what it unintentionally said is that the full rigour of the law should be applied to soldiers who were involved in shootings and violent activities outside of human rights law. This was bad enough for her and it was the opposite of what Badenoch and her office were trying nothing should exonerate those much higher up the military and political chains of command who set the parameters for engagement and sent the soldiers in, but that isn’t how these things work, is it? If anyone gets done it is the people at the bottom and in the Norn Iron case that hasn’t even been happening.

Dream time Fianna Fáil

As the two recent by-elections in the Republic show, it is not a dream time for Fianna Fáil, even losing their deposit because their vote was so low in the Dublin election. As regular readers will know, I try to take an interest in polly-ticks on both sides of the border [Shouldn’t that be ‘regular reader’, singular, rather than ‘regular readers’? – Ed] [That is just you being singularly unpleasant again – Billy]. However I was surprised by a recent dream and its vividness in remembrance of it on waking; in the dream I was responsible for putting up an exhibition about Fianna Fáil with various panels and these included accounts of FF misdemeanours and mishandlings – but activists from said political party had stolen the panels which were especially critical of them. I had to threaten that I would publicise their theft if they didn’t return them – which they did, considering that that was the lesser of two evils.

Well, how do you interpret that dream? Where did it come from? I consider said party should have gone out of existence entirely after the economic crash debacle of 2008; Bertie Ahern and the powers that were in Fianna Fail (sic) stupidly did nothing to rein in the property and housing bubble and they made the boom times boomier – which then led to the crash times being crashier and very significant hardship for many different kinds of people.

Their current embrace of NATO and EU militarisation is, I feel, a negation of the positive foreign policy which it has undertaken at various times in its existence, and also a betrayal of what soul it possessed – if a political party, especially a populist conservative one like FF, can have a soul. Micheál Martin being friendly with, and to, unionists is a Good Thing – but not at the expense that he refuses to plan for what a united Ireland would look like. On the latter, let the people decide, as is their right – but they need to know what they are deciding on and such thinking is best done outside the febrile atmosphere of a referendum vote or votes (north, south, east and west) on a u-nighted Ireland.

I am a political animal but not a party political one and I don’t think I could toe the line to be in a political party; I made that choice while (just) still a teenager. So I could do the same critique of many’s another political party. But that was what I dreamt about (see also my next two items which concern FF…) and I have provided a dream interpretation which is not dreamy. Maybe I should dream on. [Are you sure it wasn’t a large dram you had rather than a dream, even a bottle of Dreambuie? – Ed] [That would make me sic – Billy]

T-shock* and nuclear power

Micheál Martin has said Ireland should think seriously about nuclear power, e.g. Irish Times 4/5/26. I have a one word response to this; ‘Rubbish’ – nuclear rubbish or waste that is. Would he like nuclear waste in his back garden needing to be guarded for ten millennia? Of course fossil fuels need to be eradicated from Ireland’s energy mix but the idea that Ireland with its wind, waves, water and sun (yes!) might need to rely on what is the dirtiest fuel of all (and not all it is cracked up to be in terms of carbon dioxide emissions too) is unimaginative and extremely expensive nonsense. High tech junkies keep coming up with their feeling Ireland needs nuclear power – when what it needs is green energy and devolved green energy at that.

*In this case the ‘T’ is for ‘Threat’. I have told you before about a mention of the word ‘Taoiseach’ in the British Parliament many decades ago, at the start of the Troubles, before the word was known on that island; it could have been Gerry Fitt but anyway a Norn Iron nationalist mentioned “a speech given by the Taoiseach in Sligo” – and this was reported in Hansard, the official parliamentary record, as “a speech given in a tea shop in Sligo”!

There has always been hype and spin about nuclear energy from the very beginning. The attractions of small modular reactors is the latest in that hype. There remains the dangers of accidents, environmentally or humanly caused, or even sabotage or attack. Costs can go through the roof. Waste issues haven’t even begun to be resolved. We would do well to steer clear of dangerous white elephants even if that dangerous white elephant is smaller than previously proposed white elephants.

INNATE’s photo album on nuclear power issues, much of it on the 1970s anti-nuclear power movement, is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157607158367565/with/53807053772 See also Caroline Hurley’s article in this publication https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/2024/02/01/nuclear-power-is-a-regrets-industry-some-facts/

Proud of lethality

Irish people in general have been proud of the role the Irish army has played in international peacekeeping of the military variety. This has been as part of a contribution to peace in the world and has been done without fear or favour and for altruistic reasons. Those of us of a nonviolent persuasion would of course like to see support for unarmed civilian protection (UCP) and other involvements in creating and maintaining peace – including urgent work at home to prevent further climate change which is likely to cause so much conflict on a global scale in the next century.

However the Irish government has been changing tack to align the Republic much more with NATO and with EU militarisation. This has been done by a process of stealth moves so that it does not look like neutrality is being affected – but each chip at the block of neutrality wears it away; removing the Triple Lock on the deployment of Irish troops overseas is just one ingredient in the stage we are at with this. Part of this has been active and increasing engagement with NATO while not formally being a member – to the extent it won’t or doesn’t matter whether we are formally a member of not, that it makes no difference.

While public opinion is clearly in favour of neutrality, the government and Irish elite (sic) have usually been skilful in moving things in their direction; ‘Nothing to see here’ they continually opine while they know damn well they are not just gilding the lily but actively deceiving the population because they, stupidly, imagine that to be a ‘good European’ you have to be a good European militarist. This has repercussions for the Irish army and for expenditure on the military which has, thankfully and rightfully, until now been low by international standards.

But one illustration of the change that has happened appeared in that paper of establishment record, The Irish Times of 21/5/26 https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/05/21/it-was-embarrassing-for-them-irish-army-crew-beats-us-military-teams-at-their-own-game/ An Irish army team is proudly recorded as beating the USA in military ‘games’ in the USA which was defined as a “lethality competition”. And you know what ‘lethality’ is – killing people, and in war or military engagement that usually includes women, children and men who are not engaged in armed action, i.e. those traditionally labelled as ‘innocent’.

The Sullivan Cup after a week of military competition was won by an Irish army team and, as the IT proudly recorded, “In the end, the most “lethal” team came not from the US military but from Ireland”. This was despite the Irish team never having previously operated the M2 Bradley, a 35-tonne tracked vehicle, used for the exercise. Yes, armies are trained to be able to kill people but in a neutral state like Ireland which has not been under threat the main active role, international peacekeeping, has been the prevention of lethality. Taking part in a ‘lethality’ competition is a new and unwelcome departure and just one sign of a changed role for the Irish army, and taking part in one organised by the army of the most belligerent – and unlawfully belligerent – country on this planet is disgraceful.

–

That’s me for now as summer is a-comin’ in and in a short while it will be July, aye, and holliers for many. But if you are a peace or political activist there is never a shortage of things to do at any time of the year….which is why we all need a break. Cue Christy Moore’s ‘Lisdoonvarna’ which emphasises that we all do need a break….and which I usually quote around this time of year with the best description of a holiday ever – “When summer comes around each year / They come here and we go there”. See you soon, Billy.

News, May 2026

Nonviolent News, ,

Chornobyl Mother sculpture, 40th anniversary of nuclear disaster

There has been significant publicity about the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl/Chornobyl (the latter being the now UN recognised Ukrainian spelling) nuclear disaster. Events included the unveiling in Cork of a Chornobyl Mother sculpture marking the work of Chernobyl Children International (CCI) based in Cork which was founded by Adi Roche. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/55236435943/in/dateposted/ At a commemoration ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin, President Catherine Connolly said “€110 million in aid delivered to children, families and communities still living with consequences they did not choose. 26,500 children given rest and recuperation with host families in Ireland. Neither pandemic nor war has interrupted that work. I want to say to Adi, and to every staff member and volunteer of CCI: what you have built matters. What you do matters. This country is proud of you, and I am honoured to stand with you.” The CCI website is at https://www.chernobyl-international.com/

Big boosts for arms production in the North: Thales, government

The largest arms company in Ireland, Thales, has announced that their ‘third site’ will actually be a development at their existing second site near Crossgar, Co Down; this is in addition to their existing, primary site at Castlereagh, Belfast and total employment will increase to around 900. Meanwhile the British government is ploughing £50 million (more than £26 per head) into a Northern Ireland ‘Defence Growth Deal’; this will help small and medium enterprises and start ups to enter the ‘defence’ supply chain and in addition to that funding they will work with industry and colleges to provide potential workers with ‘defence-based skills’ in engineering and technology. Word search for more sad details.

l Regarding Northern Ireland historical exports to Israel of security-related equipment, in a company backed by Invest NI, see e.g. https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2026/04/22/invest-ni-israel/ and https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1257824469899516&set=pcb.1257824516566178

Afri Doolough Famine Walk

The moving and memorable Doolough Famine Walk organised by Afri in Co Mayo takes place on Saturday 13th June, meeting in Louisburgh from 10am where the opening ceremony will take place before participants are bussed to Delphi Lodge to walk the 18 km back to Louisburgh (shuttle car will pick up those unable to walk the whole way). This event commemorates a real and tragic famine walk in 1849 but linking this with realities in the world today. See https://www.afri.ie/category/afri-doolough-famine-walk-2026/ for more info and booking link.

Glencree is recruiting

The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Co Wicklow is recruiting for a financial controller, and a couple of posts for the NextGen4Peace joint project with Mediation Northern Ireland to be partly based in Belfast – a Programme & Communications Administrator and a Monitoring & Evaluation/Assistant Programme Manager. They are also looking for volunteer Trustees to support and guide the work of the Glencree Visitors Centre. Details on all these are on the website at https://glencree.ie/

Triple Lock fact sheet / Galway Triple Lock meeting

A clear and concise factsheet from Keep Ireland Neutral (KIN) on the Triple Lock is available at https://keepirelandneutral.ie/knowledge-base/ including a dissection of government claims on the need to get rid of it. If you want an excellent summary on the issue this is it. See also https://www.instagram.com/neutrality_now/

l Galway Quakers have organised a meeting at 8pm on Thursday 7th May on Neutrality, the Triple Lock and the Quaker Peace Testimony; this takes place at the Mechanics Institute, Middle Street, Galway with speakers Éamon Ó Cuiv, Karen Devine, and John Lannon. Donations accepted for Quaker Faith in Action work in Gaza.

MNI training: Mediation and more

Mediation Northern Ireland have published their open training schedule for the next year which includes multiple courses on Constructive Professional Dialogue (1 day, online), Principled Negotiation (3 days, online and in person), Workplace Conflict Management (1 day, in person), Mediation Training and Practice (8 days, online and in person). Full details are available on their website at https://mediationni.org/ where you can also find out about the mediation services they offer.

Financial Justice Ireland: New director, wealth tax webinar

Hilary Darcy is the new director of Financial Justice Ireland (FJI) she was formerly FJI’s Global Citizenship Education Coordinator; she has replaced Thomas McDonagh. FJI (formerly Debt and Development Coalition Ireland) is a global financial justice organisation working for a financial system that serves the needs of all people, rather than just some people, and which does not take the planet for granted. They have a webinar entitled “Who owns the future? Wealth taxes, fairness and power” taking place 1-2pm on Wednesday 13th May; this is aimed primarily at teachers/educators and the speaker will be Dr. Tom McDonnell, co-director of the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) and a lead researcher on Oxfam Ireland’s recent report on wealth inequality. https://www.financialjustice.ie/

ICCL: National identity card question, encryption

Issues which ICCL/Irish Council for Civil Liberties are continuing to deal with include the move by the government to turn the Public Services Card (PSC) into a national identity card – despite last year the Data Protection Commission (DPC) finding that the Department of Employment and Social Protection unlawfully processed the facial biometric data of up to 70% of the population over a 15-year period. On 14th April the government announced that it wanted to expand the use of the PSC. As ICCL says, “There has been no public debate about introducing a national identity card and no clear plan has been outlined for how such a system would be developed or governed, or how it would impact Irish society.”  See https://www.iccl.ie/press-release/public-services-card-expansion-national-id-card/

l On encryption, “ICCL understands that encryption presents a challenge for law enforcement but this position” [referring to a report by Independent Examiner of Security Legislation Judge George Birmingham] “misunderstands the issue and what’s at stake. Creating “appropriate safeguards” won’t solve the fundamental problem – any piercing of encryption on the supposed basis of creating pathways solely for An Garda Síochána introduces vulnerabilities that would be exploited by others, ultimately undermining the security and privacy of everyone.” See https://www.iccl.ie/news/we-cant-safeguard-problems-breaking-encryption/

CGE – Responses to the meta crisis; IDEA – Education for liberation

A new edition of CGE’s Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, has just been published on the theme “Pedagogical Responses to the Meta Crisis: The Role of Development Education”.  The entire issue is available in an open access format at: www.developmenteducationreview.com CGE/Centre for Global Education website is at https://www.centreforglobaleducation.com/

l The Irish Development Education Association’s 2026 Annual Conference will take place in The Grand Hotel Malahide, Co. Dublin, on Wednesday 24th June. The theme this year is Education for Liberation: GCE* in an age of Crisis. *Global Citizenship Education. See https://www.ideaonline.ie/idea-annual-conference-2026

Feasta: Finding steady ground in a time of crisis

Feasta has an online workshop Thursday 14th May  2026 from 7pm-8:30pm which aims provide a space to understand our predicament in relation to current world crises, to process our emotions and to explore how we can cultivate courage, and emotional resilience to act constructively in response. The format consists of two short inputs, from John Sharry and Oana Marian, and two small supportive breakout discussions. Participation is free. See https://www.feasta.org/ or book at https://tinyurl.com/bdfcbxvp

Judgement later in Supreme Court Shannon Airport case

It may be some months before the five judge Supreme Court makes a judgement in an appeal concerning the case of Dan Dowling who with Edward Horgan was involved in an action at Shannon airport nine years ago. The two men had been acquitted of criminal damage but found guilty of trespass. The issue in the appeal is whether the defence of necessity, to protect lives, applies to the charge of trespass with alleged intent to cause criminal damage. https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2026/04/16/peace-activist-tells-court-trespass-at-us-aircraft-in-shannon-was-to-protect-lives/

Amnesty on NI human rights, journalist murder case

Human rights protections came under severe strain in Northern Ireland during 2025, according to Amnesty International’s annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights, published in April. Legacy issues, unlawful PSNI surveillance, attacks on press freedom and record levels of racist violence have contributed to what Amnesty described as a shameful year of human rights failure.  See https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/0320/2026/en/ Meanwhile there has been a call on the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland to release its long-delayed report into the investigation of the brutal murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan in 2001.  AI’s 2025 report on threats against journalists in NI is available at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/knowledge-hub/all-resources/occupational-hazard-protect-journalists-in-northern-ireland-report/

Global appeal to nine nuclear states

World Beyond War has a global appeal addressed to the presidents, prime ministers, and legislatures of China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

It is an appeal from the people of the world to these nine nuclear governments to each commit to a nuclear policy of no first strike, not ever, not for any reason; and to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and to collectively agree to immediately begin disarming on a schedule to completely eliminate all nuclear weapons from the earth no later than August 6, 2045. https://tinyurl.com/4v7nwby6 https://worldbeyondwar.org/

Dalradian gold mining enquiry ongoing

The public enquiry concerning Dalradian’s gold mining plans in the Sperrins began on 13th April and may extend for a couple of months with a decision stretching into 2027. You can keep up to date with community scrutiny through https://linktr.ee/saveoursperrins and the podcast at https://dontmineus.com/the-sperrins-podcast/ From the latter we quote from the 25th April report which laments the lack of information; “There is no current feasibility study underpinning this project, none, none at all. Instead what we are told is the entire economic case is based on a detailed planned mine which turns out to be a spreadsheet – a spreadsheet that hasn’t been published, hasn’t been independently tested, and hasn’t been seen by most people in the room.” It goes on to detail the lack of detailed scrutiny by the government department and that “There is a serious gap right across the board. We are talking about missing reports, incomplete environmental statements, data that hasn’t been available to the public, and even reference to a report from the University of Edinburgh which simply doesn’t exist.” It questions about confusion on whether gold is 99% of the value of extracted materials, or multiple minerals, and mentions waste that lasts in perpetuity but a closure plan that only lasts for 15 years. Another question is how many jobs would be local. INNATE’s A4 mini-poster on goldmining is available in the poster section of the website https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/posters/

Editorials: Blockades and nonviolence, European security

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Blockades and nonviolence

The recent fuel price blockades by some farmers and hauliers in the Republic raise a significant number of questions about what constitutes peaceful and nonviolent action. There have been very variable, and mixed, reactions and emotions involved and these are understandable. The government chose to negotiate with official, existing bodies representing the sectors involved rather than the protesters themselves and there were concessions made. The protests were in that regard partly successful, even if the concessions were rather less than protesters wanted. There has been a contrast between the strength of the protests in the Republic, dealing with a local and sovereign government, and the lack of protests in the North where the chances of influencing the government in London, who decide on fuel duties, are very slim.

The first thing to say is that the blockades were peaceful but they were blockades. Some protesters refused to use the term ‘blockade’ but they clearly were that; preventing people going about their normal business and stopping traffic by placing vehicles in the way is clearly a blockade. But it is important also to distinguish between what is ‘peaceful’ and what is legal; something can be illegal but peaceful and indeed something can be legal but not peaceful or it may even be violent. What is legal is defined by the laws of the state. What is ‘positive’ socially and economically is another question.

The issues involved include matters to do with fossil fuels, the right and need to make a living, the right of people to go about their normal workday lives, and questions about what is democracy as well as the role of government. Ireland has not moved away from fossil fuels in the way it should have done and that is largely the fault of the government – and the people who elected them. If we were less dependent on fossil fuels then the issue of a considerable jump in fuel prices would not have been the issue it became. On the other hand, if people were unable to make a living because of the cost of fuel then something needed to be done – either government subsidies (by way of reduced fuel tax) or an increase in prices by those using the fuels, or both.

The main issue or problem was people being unable to get where they wanted or needed to be because of their form of transport being blockaded. This was obviously frustrating even if those stopped were supportive of the protesters – and infuriating if they were not, feeling they were being ‘held to ransom’. Did the protesters have the ‘right’ to do what they were doing? In nonviolent theory – except in cases of authoritarian regimes where protesters need to have their identity hidden – the general rule is that nonviolent protesters doing illegal acts ‘take the consequences’ and this is part of the protest, being willing to stand up and deal with what is thrown at them by the state while still challenging the state on it. After a partial victory in concessions being made by the state, and the army being called in to remove blockades, the protesters went home however the possible use of the army in such circumstances is a dangerous move regarding dealing with protests.

But were the protesters justified in causing severe inconvenience to other people​? This is a value judgement. ‘Nonviolent tactics’ can be used in negative ways – e.g. if racists organised a boycott of black and minority ethnic businesses that would be using a ‘nonviolent tactic’ for a negative and indeed violent cause. So it depends on whether you consider the protesters to be ‘right’ in their demand for government action on fuel prices. However in terms of positive nonviolent action by the protesters, other tactics could have been chosen which were more interactive with government and other citizens.

There is no category for the kind of blockade engaged in by the fuel protesters in Gene Sharp’s classic analysis of nonviolent tactics in his book “The Politics of Nonviolent Action” perhaps because such blockades were not much a feature of action when that book was written in 1973. Sharp’s category of ‘Nonviolent interjection’ (using human bodies) is rather different and involves people putting their bodies on the line – not their tractors and trucks.

However other analysis, e.g. https://www.nukeresister.org/2024/07/13/blockades-block-liberation-how-blockades-obstruct-nonviolence-and-democratic-revolutions/ condemns blockades as a nonviolent tactic – “Blockades replace the uncertainty of democracy and the vulnerability of nonviolence with military notions of politics: win and lose, strength and dominance, tactics and strategy.” “Blockades are reactive rather than proactive” and “The blockade becomes part of an order of power that strengthens the one who is already strong.”

A look at disruptive protest activities https://commonslibrary.org/disruptive-protest-tactics-helpful-or-harmful/ has a comparison table of costs and benefits. However its point of “Little evidence of impact on policy change” does not apply in the fuel protests as clearly the government did change its tune. The question is whether that was democracy in action, extortion and holding others over a barrel, or something in between. In 1974 in Northern Ireland the loyalist ‘strike’ or stoppage against the Sunningdale agreement power-sharing government succeeded in bringing down the new political arrangement; blockades were a prominent part of this but there was also a substantial threat of violence behind them.

And this brings us on to the question of what responsibility the government holds. Clearly action was needed of some kind. Should they have negotiated or changed policy faster? Should they have acted earlier to clear blockades? Would that have inflamed feelings? What about the possible or threatened use of the army in this situation? And what is the government’s responsibility in relation to an economic matter like this which is clearly beyond their control (the international market price for fossil fuels); is giving away money the answer? The extent to which the government could or should take action to subsidise fuel prices is a moot point, and using a comparison like still getting the same overall ‘take’, despite higher prices, is one possibility for arriving at a just solution or at least a measuring stick. A windfall tax on increased fossil fuel profits in this situation could also be a possibility which could be used to subsidise fuel prices, even if retrospectively.

Democracy is far more than the workings of a parliament or assembly and elections every number of years. The workings of civil society and NGOs is an important part of democracy and its health (just look at how Putin has hollowed out the civil society which had developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union). Citizenry are entitled to protest whether that be for progressive or reactionary causes and reasons; they have that legal and civic right. When there is a heartfelt issue where the government’s actions are not in accord with the views of a significant number of citizens then there is almost bound to be ongoing protest. The majority of citizens in the Republic are in favour of neutrality and opposed to US military use of Shannon but the craven politicians in the government have been too afraid of US economic power to take positive action – hence ongoing protest and actions at Shannon airport, some of which have been ‘illegal’ but they have also been morally just. This is part of democracy too and it can be argued that it is the government that has been acting undemocratically and in opposition to peace and neutrality.

How you judge the justice issue involved in the fuel blockades will determine how you see the rightness or the wrongness of the actions involved and the disruption to the rest of the population. The protesters were entitled to protest. The state was entitled to react. How civil society saw the issue was an important factor in the equations involved. Some commentators have pointed to the right wing sentiments of some of the protesters and this may be an issue but the overall question is one of justice and fairness to all, protesters and those affected by the protest. Nonviolent theory does of course include the need to disobey unjust laws – but, if need be, it also includes the possibility of disobedience of ‘neutral’ laws which are not immediately connected with the issue at hand.

The lesson in all this is, of course, to have urgent transition from fossil fuel use and prioritising local green energy supplies rather than being dependent on large corporations for either fossil fuels or the provision of clean energy. Decentralised systems are much more difficult to be abused by the powerful and more difficult to disrupt when things are falling apart.

Just like the mixed sentiments of many in the population regarding the fuel blockades, nonviolent theory does not provide an immediate and clear answer on the fuel protests however questions of justice and equity should be to the fore in any analysis. And imagination and positivity in protest is part of nonviolence.

European security

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said (e.g. in Berlin) that security will be one of the key issues of the Irish EU presidency, coming up shortly for the second half of the year. He has also previously said, last December, that there was too much “squeamish debate” about Ireland working with other countries’, including NATO, militaries. He is quite right about an emphasis on security but not in the way he thinks – which evidently only concerns military security against Russia including EU-NATO cooperation. Here are the security issues which need tackled on an Irish, European and world level:

Human security:

The idea that ‘security’ is about military security is dangerous and deluded. Covid 19 was the greatest threat to world wellbeing for a long time and it had nothing to do with military security. Global heating is the largest endemic, global threat. Human security includes the right to life and freedom from violence, adequate food and housing, and civil freedom. The following issues of security all contribute to ‘human security’.

Ecological security:

Global heating is already a monumental disaster and stabilising global temperatures is of paramount importance. For Ireland there is the danger, analysed in a couple of recent reports, that the chances of the Atlantic AMOC current (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation a k a Gulf Stream) shutting down are greater than previously thought, which would leave Ireland with similar weather to Newfoundland and heightened sea levels. But this would affect the rest of northern Europe too and disastrously change weather patterns on a wider scale with likely catastrophic consequences for food production and wellbeing.

Food security:

Ireland is a net exporter of food but it is only in a few fields like dairy and beef. Most other food is imported. The island nature of Ireland and being on the western extremity of Europe adds a complicating and dangerous factor to food importing in times of chaos. At the very least contingency plans need to be in place for emergency times; at the moment the ‘just in time’ nature of food importing leaves countries very vulnerable but an island like Ireland especially so.

Security against war:

The arms build up in Europe is unsustainable in different ways, both economic and in terms of risk. The war in Ukraine, partly caused by NATO expansionism, is brutal but a wider European war, including the possible use of nuclear weapons, would be suicidal. The way to get rid of enemies is to turn them into friends; this is obviously easier said than done but current policies keep upping the level of threat. Ireland in particular, with its positive history of neutrality, should be working flat out on conflict mitigation and transformation. Standing up against the warmaking of the USA should be imperative.

Economic security:

The world is using its resources at an unsustainable rate. Apart from any questions of national and global equity, financial and trade justice are needed to help stabilise migration and avoid the chaos of migration beyond what is bearable for both sending and host countries. Obviously this relates closely to ecological security but it is much more. And developments in AI threaten both the economic and social wellbeing of many workers and would be workers; new parameters and paradigms need to be set for people’s involvement in economic activity and wage-earning. And relative economic prosperity does not guarantee the right to housing, for example, as people in Ireland, especially Dublin, and other places have been finding out.

We all deserve to feel secure. Current economic, military and international relations policies are creating massive insecurity. Emphasis on military security rather than human security is is part of a downward spiral of negativity and violence.

News, April 2026

Nonviolent News, ,

91-year old Lelia Doolan walks from Shannon to Dublin for peace

At 91 years, (national institution) Lelia Doolan has seen too much of the devastation caused by wars, apartheid and genocide and will walk for peace from Shannon to Dáil Éireann. She will be joined by community groups and peace activists along the old road to Dublin as they express the frustration, shame and anger felt by the many Irish stalwarts who have for over 30 years (since 1981), regularly protested at Shannon against the use of the airport by US military planes – whose personnel and cargos the Irish government refuses to inspect. Starting on March 31st from Shannon Airport, the walk should arrive in Dublin around April 14th/15th. This is a walk for peace, for closing Shannon Airport to US military planes and personnel, for passing the Occupied Territories Bill, and for protecting Irish neutrality from war mongers.

The route is Shannon – Cratloe – Limerick – Birdhill – Nenagh – Moneygall – Roscrea – Mountrath – Portlaoise – Monasterevin – Newbridge – Naas – Rathcoole – Dáil Éireann. All are welcome to join for a step, a mile, a song…. Email walkwithlelia@proton.me for a sign-up form; Follow the walk on socials @walkwithlelia Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/walkwithlelia?igsh=eGlveXczdGFnYWVx Upscrolled – https://share.upscrolled.com/en/user/d02bcbbf-48a9-4052-90f2-e24423a03d3c/

Vigils at Shannon & Aldergrove USA war supporting airports

Regular vigils take place to protest at US military use of Shannon Airport and Belfast International Airport at Aldergrove (15 miles west of Belfast) – and resultant complicity in war, death and destruction. Currently there is very significant US military traffic through Aldergrove with the supposition that to some extent Aldergrove is replacing Shannon – because of protests there – as a primary route for the US military (see e.g. Belfast Telegraph 27/3/26) with some planes heading on directly to the Gulf. lThe oldest vigil for peace is a Shannonwatch one at Shannon Airport on the second Sunday of the month from 2 – 3pm. www.shannonwatch.org (see also round up on Shannon court cases on this website). lAt the same time (2pm on second Sunday of the month) a vigil takes place at Aldergrove; about this you can contact +44 7766 168083 or email cairdepalestine@riseup.net lMeanwhile there is now a weekly vigil at Shannon organised by Shannon Vigil Group, 9.30am – noon except on the 2nd Sunday of the month when the Shannonwatch one happens; you can join their WhatsApp group for this at https://chat.whatsapp.com/EdDacVu9s3e9Bmy3PkJSJe?mode=gi_t

l Look out for a national pro-neutrality demonstration in Dublin on 18th April organised by the Irish Neutrality League.

Corrymeela An unfinished journey towards peace exhibition, Belfast

The Corrymeela Community has an exhibition (free entry) with the above title running at the Linen Hall Library, Vertical Gallery, in Belfast from 1st April to 15th May (open 9.30am – 5.30pm Monday – Friday). Corrymeela is the oldest peace and reconciliation body in Northern Ireland – 60 years old last year – and this exhibition explores Corrymeela’s six decades of quiet, sustained peacebuilding and reconciliation work — and poses a question that feels especially urgent in the current moment: who actually builds peace, and how? An Unfinished Journey Towards Peace traces the origins and founding vision of Corrymeela in 1965; the role of everyday peacebuilders alongside the formal political process; Corrymeela’s response to key moments in Northern Ireland’s history, from the Troubles to the peace process and beyond; and the challenges of peacebuilding today — including the rise of nationalism and authoritarianism globally, and how Corrymeela’s current programmes respond. The exhibition also foregrounds the voices and stories of young people and next-generation peacebuilders.

A variety of lunchtime supporting events take place (and one in the evening) – booking necessary. See https://linenhall.com/event/corrymeela-an-unfinished-journey-towards-peace-exhibition/ for more details and also on Corrymeela’s own website at www.corrymeela.org where you can also sign up to receive their monthly newsletter.

MNI & Glencree border training in mediation and conflict

Mediation Northern Ireland (MNI) and Glencree are working together on a Peaceplus funded programme in the border region. The project aims to build and sustain a regional network of diverse grassroots peacebuilders by delivering conflict resolution, mediation, restorative practice and dialogue training to marginalised communities across Northern Ireland and the six border counties of the Republic. Staff recruitment has been taking place (applications now closed). https://mediationni.org/ and https://glencree.ie/

l Glencree is recruiting a new CEO to replace Naoimh McNamee who has been in post for 8 years. Closing date for applications is 8th April.

Report on protest policing in Republic

The Irish Network of Legal Observers has published its first annual report on the policing of protest in Ireland in 2025. The Network observed 70 protests around Ireland in 2025 [Quite some going – Ed]. While the report finds that most of the protests observed by the Network were policed in a human rights-compliant manner, it also identifies issues of concern which include excessive use of force, misuse of Section 8 of the Public Order Act and gardaí not wearing badge numbers when policing protest. “Protests observed outside Dublin were generally policed in a friendly, accommodating manner. However, observers reported more aggressive policing of protests at Shannon Airport…..In Dublin, while the majority of protests were facilitated without significant intervention, legal observers documented a higher tendency for gardaí to intervene and to use force……” The Irish Network of Legal Observers was established by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Dr Illan rua Wall of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, in late 2024. See https://www.iccl.ie/press-release/new-legal-observers-report-policing-of-protest-2025/ for the report and info about the network at https://www.iccl.ie/iccl-irish-network-of-legal-observers/

Falls Troubles exhibition

Falls Community Council has recently opened a new permanent exhibition entitled The Falls – Where The Troubles Began. It is located in St Comgall’s – Ionad Eileen Howell on Divis Street, a short distance from the city centre. This exhibition opens a unique window into one of the most pivotal chapters of Irish political history. It tells the story of the outbreak of the conflict on the streets that surrounded this old school from August 1969 to July 1970 when the area was devastated by destruction of homes and businesses, loss of life and military curfew. The exhibition also recounts the development of the peace process in the area. The exhibition can be booked through the website https://wherethetroublesbegan.com or through Visit Belfast or directly through St Comgall’s – Ionad Eileen Howell, Divis Street, Belfast BT12 4AQ.

Good Relations Awards 2026

The Community Relations Council (CRC) Good Relations Awards for Northern Ireland were announced at an event in late March. Community Relations Council Exceptional Achievement Award – Brian Dougherty; Volunteer of the Year – Jesus Castaneda; Good Relations Youth Award – Jordan Doran; Community Champion Award – Dr Marianne Doherty; Connecting Communities Award – Newry Mela 2025 (Newry Indian Arts Club); Sport for Good Award – TAMHI – Tackling Awareness of Mental Health Issues; Housing for All Award – Valerie Walker. Full details at https://www.community-relations.org.uk/news-centre/community-champions-recognised-good-relations-awards-2026

Earth Day 2026 is 18th April

Earth Day is Saturday 18th April and Friends of the Earth (FOE) is encouraging people to host a Cuppa for Climate around then, to talk about climate issues and fundraise and funds raised will go to “power work pushing for a fast and fair transition away from fossil fuels, challenging harmful data centre expansion, opposing LNG, and fighting for warm, affordable homes for all”. https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/cuppa-for-climate/signup

Dichotomies and dualities in decision making

On Monday 13th April, at 4 pm, INCORE is hosting a talk by Peter Emerson of the de Borda Institute, online, on the theme: “Majority voting may be fair if, and only if, its dichotomy is a duality”. https://tinyurl.com/y2v95w8c “’Shall we drive on the left or the right?’ Is fine…..In contrast, “Do you support Yīn or Yáng?” would be just silly; the two are not a duality, more a unity…..Pluralism is possible.  An egalitarian society needs an egalitarian voting procedure!  And one was devised in 1770.” https://www.ulster.ac.uk/incore The de Borda Institute website is at http://www.deborda.org/

Antimilitarist campaigning for younger people

WRI/War Resisters’ International is organising an online training in 8 participatory sessions from 15 April to 3 June 2026 for young activists (18–35) who want to strengthen their organising skills, connect with activists around the world, and take action for antimilitarism, for conscientious objection, and against the arms trade. Details at https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2026/third-cycle-antimilitarist-campaigning-lab-call-applications 

Videos: Neutrality, Troubles violence, NATO warships in Cork

l A video of Lex Innocentium’s recent conference speakers on Irish neutrality with numerous excellent contributions is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEkw7PJ20Ug This includes a hugely important contribution by senior Fianna Fáil figure Éamon Ó Cuiv strongly backing neutrality and the Triple Lock – his talk has been pointedly ignored by the mass media….. 105 minutes. A second part will follow with more informal discussion from the conference.

lThe video of INNATE’s recent online discussion as part of the Imagine! Festival, “Was nonviolence an option in 1969?” regarding Northern Ireland, with Felicity McCartney and Niall Fitzduff, is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJsHwKvoR5I 73 minutes. This explores the situation at the start of the Troubles and what was lacking in nonviolence being effective as well as community and peace initiatives.

lFrench NATO warships in Cork, see 6 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRf4YuPPUrI

Chernobyl is forever exhibition, Cork

Presented by Chernobyl Children International, this exhibition is a tribute to the strength of survivors and a reminder that the story of Chernobyl is not confined to the past… It is on at Cork City Library, 57 – 61 Grand Parade for the month of April, open 10.00 – 17.30. https://www.chernobyl-international.com/

Carnsore anti-nuclear festivals

Village magazine has recently published a report by Caroline Hurley on a sold-out event organised in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, in March to mark free festivals protesting Irish government nuclear energy plans back in the late 70s. See https://villagemagazine.ie/back-to-the-point-of-carnsore/ An edited version of Simon Dalby’s account of the anti-nuclear movement of the time (referred to in Caroline Hurley’s text) is available in the pamphlet section of INNATE’s website https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/pamphlets/ and INNATE’s photo site has an album on the anti-nuclear power movement at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157607158367565/

Editorials: Shannon and Iran, Food security and sovereignty

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Shannon Airport and Iran

Lies and excuses

Both the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee, have seen it necessary to state that Shannon Airport is not being used by the USA in relation to the USA and Israel’s war on Iran. Perhaps this is so. But we do not actually know since the Irish state refuses to search US planes at Shannon, accepting assurances from a state which is headed by a Liar in Chief. In any case Shannon is still being used as a de facto US military base and the USA in regard to its military policies is clearly a rogue state – especially so under President Trump but under most other presidents too. Ireland has not even had the courage of Spain – a NATO member – in banning US military flights and use of bases and this says something clear about Ireland’s supposed neutrality.

The Irish state is supporting a regime which kills – murders – with impunity. This is disgraceful from any moral or ethical standpoint and obviously a negation of neutrality. And still the state makes excuses and accepts lies, and lies itself. And the USA would not use Shannon unless it was advantageous to its enormous global military empire. Transporting troops is an essential part of any military engagement and the fact of whether there is or is not military equipment being transported as well does not take from the facilitation of war by allowing troops to pass through.

Government inaction is even more bizarre given Helen McEntee’s and Micheál Martin’s restrained but implicit criticism of US policies in the Middle East. Helen McEntee even stated that she agreed with President Connolly’s assessment of recent events in the Middle east as a breach of international law. She also stated “I am deeply concerned that the US and Israel have decided to launch widespread armed conflict against Iran at this time.” Micheál Martin said that Ireland always believed that conflict should be resolved through diplomacy and negotiation, in line with the UN Charter and international law. However it is cowardice that neither would explicitly say USA actions were illegal or take action over Shannon.

Helen McEntee has also said that the Government has “no reason to believe” the US is using Irish airspace as part of its operations linked to the war in Iran – something which they actually have no way of knowing. Micheál Martin said similar things to his Minister for Foreign Affairs but stated that false claims about Shannon would damage Shannon airport itself. This is incredible. His concern about damage to Shannon shows no concern about ‘damage’ – obliteration – to those on the receiving end of US warmaking. He did admit that it was difficult to investigate if the USA was breaking the rules – another incredible statement because if he and the government had the courage they could routinely search all planes at Shannon which might be carrying weaponry. This is aside from the fact that allowing the transmission of troops is also breaking Irish neutrality.

In relation to all of this Niamh Ní Bhriain, writing in the Irish Examiner, https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41811128.html made the powerful point that “This failure to call out blatant violations of international law, and name those responsible for them, highlights precisely why we cannot trust the Government to decide on overseas troop deployment, and underscores why we must protect the Triple Lock. If the Government can’t say that a war is illegal, how can it decide whether to deploy troops to it?”

Meanwhile Belfast International Airport at Aldergrove (15 miles from Belfast to the west) is used freely by UK and US militaries with US flights refuelling there which go directly to the Gulf, presumably with war supplies. Aldergrove is thus directly complicit in the US-Israeli onslaught on Iran and the atrocities which have taken place as part of that. As the North is part of the United Kingdom which belongs to NATO, there are no legal grounds to object beyond facilitating wars illegal under international law – but there are huge ethical and moral grounds to do so.

In relation to the USA and Israeli war on Iran (and by the latter on Lebanon) more generally it is clear that US-Iranian negotiations were on the cusp of success, or at least a good chance of it, when Trump decided to bomb Iran into hell. International observers have stated as much. Presumably Trump, emboldened by his ‘success’ (from his point of view) in Venezuela, thought a couple of days bombing would overthrow the theocratic regime in Iran; he clearly wasn’t listening to advice, including from Gulf states. He knew best, as always. But military attacks tend to strengthen the regime in a country being attacked. Another factor is presumably that the US government decided to back Israeli bombing which was going to happen anyway. The environmental costs of war are also extremely severe, an issue of no concern to Trump but another nail in the coffin of a stable climate.

Whether Donald Trump will have a TACO moment (Trump Always Chickens Out) or will continue to exacerbate the complete mess he has got the region and the world into remains to be seen. Saving face may be his primary objective at this stage. The USA projects itself as a world peacekeeper when historically it has been a warmaker. Western states need to cotton on to this and no more so than a supposedly neutral state on the western extremity of the continent of Europe. Meanwhile everyone suffers from the economic fallout of the war, and poor people and countries most of all. The repercussions of this astoundingly stupid war have only just begun, most drastically for the families of those killed and for the displaced in Lebanon and Iran.

–

Food security and sovereignty

The related issues of food security and food sovereignty tend to trundle on in the background, raised and discussed by groups like Afri, Feasta and some organic growers or educators but never or seldom reaching mainstream concern, even when a war, such as the current USA-Israel onslaught on Iran, disrupts the global economy. However you do not need to be a doomsday merchant to have concern in this whole area. Food security is just that, being secure in your food supply with adequate quality and nutrition. Food sovereignty is having control of your food growing, supply and distribution and not being dependent on outside corporations or multinationals who can turn the screw on you as soon as bid you the time of day. While these are major issues in poor countries (seed sovereignty was saved in Kenya with a contribution to that made by Clare O’Grady Walshe) this is also an urgent issue for Ireland.

The world has – just – avoided nuclear war which would herald a nuclear winter and possibly the starvation of most of the people on the globe. If that particular apocalypse comes about we are pretty much all doomed. However there are all sorts of lesser scenarios where food chains are at risk. One of these is clearly regional warfare not escalating to nuclear but which nevertheless manages to cause major disruption – the Iran war is an example of the kind of thing possible. Global heating will affect many, primarily poor, countries in their food production and it is hard to know what the repercussions will be. There are all sorts of unexpected circumstances which can, and will, arise, including natural disasters which may affect our ‘bread’ basket. And given the likely food crisis arising from global heating, as crops become impossible to grow though excessive heat and insufficient moisture, it is incumbent on us to be proactive in providing more, varied, food ourselves in an ecological and sustainable way.

Ireland exports food but it is mainly meat and dairy products. We are highly dependent on food imports for much of our diet. We might be all right for a bacon and cabbage diet (and that bacon may come from intensive factory-farming) but for most of what we eat today we are dependent on international trade, and most of that on a ‘just in time’ basis – meaning there are no stocks to fall back on. It is also true that a vegan or vegetarian diet, or at least a low meat consumption one, is an important contribution to avoiding global heating. Of course it may be more efficient ecologically for some crops to be grown in warmer countries than Ireland but these are at risk in crisis situations, and the supply of local seasonal food for our diet is the most sensible option.

Encouraging citizens to grow their own food is part of an appropriate response, and the 2024 law to have local councils provide community garden and allotment spaces in the Republic is a good one (all councils are obliged to be active in working on this and Ireland lags way behind other European countries in provision). The respective governments should be seeing what they can do to encourage responsible and diverse agriculture – not the intensive animal variety which has led, for example, to the destruction of Lough Neagh (still not being sorted out). But there could also be a lot more imagination applied, for example in public planting of trees to include a substantial number of fruit trees – birds and insects will benefit from these even if we humans do not. Education in sustainable and organic horticulture is never more needed,

This is all before we even broach the topic of Ultra Processed Foods, bad for us and often bad for the environment. Exercising food sovereignty and denying the power of large multinationals to control food and thereby control people’s (ill) health and livelihoods will be an ongoing struggle.

We live in a very uncertain world. We may wish for stability but we are unlikely to find it, and global heating will disrupt a huge amount of what we have previously taken for granted. We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet in terms of (forced) migration. We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet in terms of disruption to food production and food supplies. We would be wise to plan ahead while we can so that we are in a better place to ride out the coming storms – and not, as a rich country, be taking the food that belongs on poor people’s plates elsewhere if and when food supplies dry up.

Billy King: Rites Again, 338

Billy King, Nonviolent News, , ,

Billy King shares his monthly thoughts

Well, it is back again to war, death, environmental destruction on a MAGA scale, and potential world recession thanks to POTUS. I do believe Donald Trump is very keen on getting awards for his (dire) contributions to humanity and human history. I apologise if I don’t have a golden eagle to give him, at golf he probably cheats to get an eagle anyway. However I can proudly announce that the inaugural Billy King Award (First Class) for Sociopathetic Dangerous Eejit is hereby awarded to Donald John Trump.

I was going to substitute the work ‘Chump’ for ‘Trump’ but that did not seem appropriate given his victim count is growing all the time – and he knows what he is doing but is devoid of empathy, it is a concept unknown to him. It is all so sad and so very, very, unnecessary and unwarranted.

On another note, the news section mentions a video on French/NATO warships in Cork. There are lots of things I don’t get but ‘friendly’ visits by warships is beyond me. How is a visit by warships ‘friendly’? They are not designed to be friendly. If you want to be friendly, please send a mobile patisserie or an exhibition of your best contemporary artists. Warships have a different purpose altogether.

Fear and consternation

The more I look at it, the more amazed I am at it as a photo. It was used as the visual for INNATE’s online session entitled “Was nonviolence an option in 1969?” as part of the Imagine! Festival in Belfast. The photo is by (Nonviolent News columnist) Larry Speight and shows two soldiers in Castle Street, Belfast, in autumn 1972. It clearly shows the fear and consternation in their eyes. And we more typically get the fear and consternation in the eyes of civilians, or children, so seeing it in soldiers can be somewhat unusual, maybe even powerful or is it them powerless to cope with the situation they have been dumped in.

www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/18063000674/in/album-72157614893100575

British soldiers were thrown into a situation in the Troubles which, largely speaking, they were not trained or properly trained for, and they were certainly at risk. That in no way excuses military policies and ill treatment by soldiers, nor should it be used as a ‘keep out of jail’ card as veteran and pro-military parties in Britain wish to do. You would expect ‘state-sponsored’ soldiers to act in a more responsible and accountable manner than non-state paramilitaries. But it should raise questions about what these soldiers were tasked to do by their political masters.

Fear and consternation. Bitterness. Hatred. Revenge. All these are words associated with violence and war. But we do well to remember that on all sides in war there are human beings, most of of whom find themselves in situations they would have wished to avoid. Northern Ireland has moved past the Troubles but not yet ‘beyond’. And if this was the result in a little war with a few thousand deaths over thirty years, it is difficult to imagine what it is like when that many are killed in a much more violent situation over a day or a couple of weeks.

War is a crime against humanity.

People with greenhouses shouldn’t throw scones

With an average suburban garden I was wondering whether to get a moderate sized greenhouse both to grow a bit of summer veg and bring on little seedlings, mainly summer flowers but some herbs as well. I was hoping to buy local but in the end I decided just to get a modest (1.8m square) lean-to greenhouse for against a wall only just taller than that – you don’t enter it at all, it is only half a metre deep. And to acquire that I had to go online. Maybe I shouldn’t have been swayed by aesthetics (ascetics?) but I decided a larger, freestanding one would ‘take over’ the space in our back garden. It was all pondered long, and at my age I wondered in the expense was worth it.

As I have written here before, I grow herbs in tubs or window boxes outside, most of the ones we might want at least as far as fresh ones growable here go; parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, chives including an early and later variety, garlic chives, Welsh onions (like a larger chive with stems like scallions), red veined sorrel and a bit of wall rocket, if they counts as herbs, oregano, tarragon, mint. With the greenhouse I hope to grow basil there – to date it has had to be indoors as slugs liked it as much as myself when grown outdoors. Maybe coriander will be an option in the greenhouse, it just went to seed before when I tried it outdoors.

Clearly I have personally gone to seed. Though constructing a kit greenhouse, even a small one, has been a challenge, I hope the rewards will be worth it. I did build a large cloche, the clochasaurus as I called it, from scrap wood years ago, that in due course rotted and fell to bits and that is a Bargain Solution if you fancy doing it. This one is metal, mainly aluminium, and will see me out. It is beside our picnic table so I would hope to have the odd scone there or cup of tea and enjoy watching nature at work. People who have greenhouses shouldn’t throw scones, they should sit down in our beautiful warm weather [What country are you in? – Ed] [Sarcasm seems to pass you by – Billy] to take a break and eat one.

The devil’s buttermilk

I am not the only commentator to note the DUP’s opposition to minimum pricing on alcohol in the North (e.g. John Manley in the Irish News 25/3/26), particularly in relation, and contrast, to their founder’s (who later foundered or was foundered out of the church he founded) opposition to “the devil’s buttermilk” (alcoholic beverages). Not many people drink buttermilk now so the phrase is totally archaic, it even was in Ian Paisley Snr’s time but he had a clever and nifty if often brutal turn of phrase.

Anyway, the DUP stand is totally illogical. Spokespeople for the party point to minimum pricing being only one part of an appropriate response to alcohol abuse but don’t go on to say “but one part is better than none”. They also point to more research being needed whereas research from as close as across the nearest water shows it can have a positive effect. With deaths attributed to alcohol rising in the North surely it would be better to act now and review the matter, if required, at a later time. Minimum Unit Pricing exists in the Republic and in Britain.

Speaking of buttermilk and its origin in the dairy industry, and pollution arising from agriculture including the devastation of Lough Neagh (“Say Neagh to pollution”) it is fascinating that the DUP has also been responsible for the failure to have an independent environmental protection agency in the wee North. Whether in both cases, alcohol and pollution, change is held up by DUP pandering to its supporters plus the farmers’ lobby and the alcohol industry, well, I couldn’t possibly comment but if I did I would say ‘quite possibly yes’. However all the larger parties in Norn Iron backed intensive farming previously so they have company, or did, on that or a closely related issue.

None of this reflects well on Storm-ont’s atrocious reputation in failing to make effective decisions on issues that matter.

Corrymeela 60+

There is only one peace and reconciliation group in the North which predates the Troubles, and still is going strong, and that is Corrymeela, founded 1965. One fact it is also notable for is that ‘the founder’, Ray Davey, and many of the early members and supporters were Presbyterian. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late but there have always been progressives in its ranks though, it would seem, their number has been depleted in recent years.

Ray Davey developed his thinking on community and had a commitment to reconciliation growing from his experience as a prisoner of war in Dresden (including during the bombing) in the Second World War (see e.g. https://innatenonviolence.org/readings/2015_09.shtml ). A community grew around him as Presbyterian chaplain at Queen’s and a slightly ramshackle former holiday centre on a small cliff edge outside dulse and yellowman Ballycastle (Co Antrim) was purchased; cue the old joke about early visitors who were staying there being told they would have to make their own beds….and being handed a hammer, nails and wood.

Anyone who was even of student age in 1965 would be at least around the 80 years old mark now so many of those people involved from those times are, sadly, dying. But Corrymeela has been pro-active in recording and archiving its story and the story of those involved. You can find out about current work at www.corrymeela.org and there will be an exhibition on the Corrymeela story in the vertical gallery in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast running until mid-May (see news section this issue). A publicly accessible archive on Corrymeela can be found at https://corrydocs.028ni.org.uk/index.php/documents but serious researchers would need to get accredited for documents mainly available to Corrymeela members. And a short history of Corrymeela House in Belfast appears in these pages at https://innatenonviolence.org/readings/2014_11.shtml with our photo album on Corrymeela being at https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/albums/72157654407818544/

Anyway congratulations to Corrymeela on being over 60 years young and all the best for the next 60……I look forward to visiting the exhibition at the Linen Hall Library.

Divis-ion

You’ve heard this one before from me but given the news item in this issue about the exhibition in the former St Comgall’s in Divis Street, Belfast, I’ll repeat it. The reason is the location of the story was outside the school in 1980 in an interaction with a school crossing warden in this inner city Catholic neighbourhood. A group of Buddhist monks (and one nun) came to Ireland on a peace pilgrimage https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/19216126103/in/photolist-vh4EP2 and while their visit in the context of Norn Iron was focussed on reconciliation, more generally they addressed issues of nuclear weapons and uranium mining (which was a possibility in Donegal at the time).

I borrowed a book from the monks at their Belfast meeting, some of the attendees are pictured in the link above, as there was a Hiroshima illustration I wanted to copy it professionally for possible use as a poster. I said I would return it to them the next day when they were doing a walkabout in north-west Belfast. However I couldn’t find them on either side of the divides; I hadn’t allowed for them taking a sandwich break in Woodvale Park which I hadn’t ventured into. Anyway, frustrated at not finding them I was on the (old unreconstructed) Divis Street and stopped to ask a school crossing warden. As Buddhist monks wandering about the place were not that common in Belfast I hastened to add to my enquiry that the monks were dressed in orange robes. Quick as a flash, with dead pan humour and inwardly smiling but with little hint of an outward smile, he replied “It’s the wrong road for orange men!”.

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Meanwhile the issue of the terrible level of femicide has been aired in relation to the North with judgement in the Natalie McNally trial and around the same time the killing of Amy Doherty in Derry. It is not just at the societal or international level that us humans have problems with violence. Most women in our society who are murdered are killed by someone known to them, even their partner as in the Natalie McNally case. We have a long way to travel in relation to violence at all levels of life – and us men in particular have the furthest journey to make.

Well, that’s me for another month, we are now into Summer Time and the brighter half of the year, past the spring equinox. Long brighter evenings beckon even if we cannot say they will be warm or dry. And for another change I wish the world some peace, not very likely, but more likely if we hold to our principles and our struggles for dealing with conflict in a humane manner and not beating the tripe out of other humans and the environment. C u soon, Billy.