Ireland resisted colonization for many centuries, managing to be at once so inviting that everyone wanted it, and so welcoming that it simply assimilated its invaders. Saxons, Angles, Vikings, Phoenecians, all gave their rich cultures to Ireland, evidenced in the incredible art and architecture and stories of this land. The eventual domination by the British Empire was very different. The Empire weaponized religion and fostered tribal divisions, fracturing the country and making it vulnerable to military conquest.
In 800 years of colonization, the Empire used Ireland as a proving ground for techniques of repression and division. Those tools were used all over the Empire, and continue to be used and developed in Israel today.
As the Empire began to crumble, its bureaucrats used political divisions to try to retain control over places where they no longer had military power or direct governance. South Africa, Israel, Ireland - all are victims of this policy, and each of them struggle to overcome this disastrous legacy. Both South Africa and Ireland are now exemplars of how conversation can heal divisions and create unity, healing from war and building local governance.
Our trip to Ireland showed this so clearly. The last time we were in Belfast together was in the 1990s, when it was fully at war and occupied by the British military. This time, the many checkpoints were gone. The omnipresent helicopters - gone. The patrols of foot soldiers, Saracens and tanks - gone. There was no-one driving down the potholed roads scanning citizens through their weapon’s scopes.
Instead, we visited a cultural centre teaching Irish, with classes in all kinds of subjects, including helping people finish schooling interrupted by the war. We saw museums and displays all over the city (and in Derry) reflecting on the divisions and on the slow, painful and successful road to peace. We visited a community centre using alternative therapies to heal PTSD and disseminating this training throughout the community.
What we heard, over and over, was the need for conversation. It was only when people began to talk, despite the rage and pain, that peace could be built. It was only when people listened that change could begin. That change isn’t starting with repararations, either. It’s starting from now, changing the conditions for people today. This is in part because the remains of the Empire will not consider any admission of responsibility (sound familiar?) but also because making concrete changes now is critical to social health and the creation of a peaceful future.
It’s not easy – the Northern Irish government was completely non-functional for three years, only just now returning to Stormont. Work on the community and personal level continued regardless.
The main thing is to listen and talk, to hear and feel each others’ pain and history, letting it be real even if you disagree politically. This makes people real to each other, putting a face to the “enemy”, which makes bigotry a whole lot harder. As it goes on, the connection broadens from the individual to the group. It goes from “one good person” to the whole community being acceptable.
What would happen if we did that here, seriously? If we actually made occasion to listen to each other, to recognize each others real pain and accept it, and to share our own?
In Ireland, the centuries of guerilla ware left one excellent legacy: grassroots activism. People there take action in their community, not waiting passively for government intervention. Here, we’ve given over our responsibility to others, limiting our democratic involvement to voting (or not) every few years. Then we blame others for what they do, even though we haven’t actually engaged ourselves.
If we want change, we have to start by doing two things: listening to each other deeply, then taking community action to solve the problems. The real issues of poverty, lack of medical care, poor infrastructure like water and sewers, food insecurity, all underlie the fear that makes people lash out at each other. If we start to solve some of these issues in a more community-based way, the fear reduces and conversation and unity strengthen.