October 2018 - Hume O'Neill Peace Blog

Hidden Barriers Tour

Ulster University partnered with Build Up and the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building to host the fifth international Build Peace Conference on 29-31 October 2018. The conference brought together practitioners, activists, academics, policy makers, artists and technologists from across the world to share experience and ideas on using technology, arts and other innovations for peacebuilding and conflict transformation. As part of the conference, Dr Coyles and Brandon Hamber arranged a tour for participants of “Hidden Barriers” in Belfast which is linked with ongoing research in this area. The tour focused on Ligoniel focusing on social division linked to architecture and design. To read more about “hidden barriers” research click here.

Dr David Coyles, Ulster University, discussing “hidden barriers” with a tour of conference participants to Ligoniel

Digital Technology, War and Peace

As part of the BuildPeace Conference that Ulster University hosted the Chair arranged for a special lecture to take place on the Magee Campus on 26 October 2018. The lecture was delivered by Helena Puig Larrauri, Co-founder & Director at Build Up, and was entitled “Digital Technology, War and Peace: Three provocations”. The lectures considers whether digital technology is creating the conditions for more polarisation, discord and (eventually) violence. Or do digital technologies offer new and exciting ways to connect, find common ground and build peace? Drawing on practical experiences of local peacebuilders around the world, the lecture explores the way digital technology interacts with the dynamics that drive war and peace.

The lecture is available below.

Public Lecture “Us versus Them”

On 24 October 2018 the Chair hosted , with the Evens Foundation, a lecture by Bart Brandsma, a leading expert on dealing with the fall-out of polarisation. Brandsma argued that “us versus them” comes in many forms such as EU versus UK, Muslim versus non-Muslim, believers versus non-believers, left versus right, man versus woman, teachers versus parents… the list is endless. Brandsma argued that underneath we can see a universal pattern – and a dynamic of polarisation that we urgently need to understand.

Bart Brandsma lecturing on “us versus them” at the MAC in Belfast

Civil Rights Movement 50th

Many see the 5th of October 1968 as the beginning of the contemporary conflict in and about Northern Ireland, the day when the so-called second civil rights march took place in Derry. In 2018 the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Festival took place with events held across the city. The Chair hosted the organising committee and friends of the festival for a dinner at the Magee Campus on 7 October. It was a fitting occasion to mark this important moment in history, and to thank the committee for their work in organising the festival. To acknowledge contemporary rights issues the dinner also included inputs from the Chief Executive, Adrienne Darragh, from the Hibiscus Initiative working on contemporary slavery and trafficking issues, as well as Kay Glynn from Birnberg Peirce who worked on the Hillborough Inquest and are currently working on Grenfell inquest.

Organising committee of the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Festival

Brandon Hamber, Paul Arthur, Kay Glynn, Pat Hume
Adrienne Darragh, Paddy Nixon, Malachy O’Neill

Public Engagement Basque Country

On 5 October 2018, The Chair was invited to the “5th Social Forum” (hosted by Bake Bidea) in the Basque Country. This civil society structure aims to engage the wider society in the peace process and it took place in Pamplona. The title of the conference was the “Right to know the truth: mechanisms for the recognition and reparation of the victims of the conflict” and The Chair gave the keynote address followed by discussion with the wider public.

Speaking at the 5th Social Forum in Pamplona

The event was covered in a range of newspapers provoking a range of different reactions:

Brandon Hamber: “La búsqueda de la verdad tiene aspectos incómodos para todos”

El Foro Social pide que se priorice la verdad por encima del interés político

Un foro insistirá en Pamplona en blanquear el pasado de ETA: “Se deben respetar todos los relatos”

Sexual Violence against Men

On 2 October 2018 the Chair hosted a public lecture on the Magee Campus by Dr Chris Dolan, Honorary Professor at Ulster University and Director of the Refugee Law Project. The lecture was entitled “Spheres of Harm: An Exploration of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence against Men”. The lecture focused on conflict-related sexual violence against men, and highlighted some of the major practical, conceptual and disciplinary challenges to dominant models for addressing sexual violence. Dr Dolan proposed an alternative approach to thinking about sexual violence in conflict which has a major impact on enhancing progressive models of gender justice.