Peace by Piece

For this special Peace by Piece conversation I was joined live on stage at the Duncairn Arts Centre in north Belfast by Megan Phair.  Megan is an all round activist and justice campaigner. She’s a programme co-ordinator for Invisible Traffic and a member of Stop the Attacks, a group that aims to spotlight and challenge the injustices of paramilitary assaults. Megan is also part of an amazing community well-being space and farm in north Antrim called Origin.

In this chat, recorded at the end of last year as part of an event focussed on the live issue of human trafficking, Megan shares how an international experience of injustice ignited her passion to speak out against paramilitary coercion here.  She speaks searingly about battles she's faced in her own life and how that fuels her zeal to help young people experience real freedom and peace.

David Eagleson was deputy director of the NI Prison Service and has held leadership roles in a number of prisons. David had an interesting vantage point at a key period of our history, working within the Maze Prison in the run up to the release of prisoners under the 1998 peace deal.  It is that pressure cooker time, he says, helped fuel a passion he has for restorative justice.  

In this conversation he shares some powerful stories of bringing victims and perpetrators together with the aim of helping people find answers & peace.  David has recently retired but is now lobbying for restorative practises to be more widely used in prisons. 

His is a perspective we don’t hear too often and offers interesting insight into the burdens and stories that people with proximity to the Troubles continue to carry.  David also shares his hopes for this place and lays down a challenge for much more courageous conversation making to take place.  

Sarah Lorimer is a young woman who is leading conversations in communities impacted by peace walls.  She works on the International Fund for Ireland’s Peace Barrier programme in north Belfast.  

Sarah has 15 years experience in peace and reconciliation work, with particular passions for oral history, legacy and the impact of trauma on interface communities.

In this conversation Sarah shares how childhood in north Belfast was the birthplace of her passion and how she was inspired by youth workers and ‘quiet peace makers’.  

If you’re keen to understand some of the challenges interface communities are currently facing and how those conversations about life beyond peace walls are going, then Sarah has some telling insights.

Fr Martin Magill is known by some as a peacemaker priest.  He is parish priest at St Johns on the Falls Road in Belfast and is also an author and organiser of the Four Corners' Festival.  He’s someone who is constantly crossing divides and brings much energy into behind the scenes conversations on issues of justice & peacemaking.

Here, he shares how his journeys to school in north Belfast exposed him to the fraught reality of Troubles’ life.  He also talks candidly about the cost of raising his voice on contentious issues such as policing and issues a heartfelt plea to churches here to end ‘religious wars’.

*Show notes*

/Edgar Graham - an Ulster Unionist politician and academic who was shot dead by the IRA at Queens’ University in December 1983. He was 29.

/Commemoration event to remember the five people murdered at Sean Graham bookmakers in 1992 - A survivor of the loyalist paramilitary shooting was arrested as part of a police operation at the anniversary vigil in February 2021.  This was after officers challenged family members over coronavirus regulations.  The Chief Constable apologised to families.

/Courage Pentecost - an initiative that emerged out of a diverse group of Christians seeking ways to be courageous together in the face of sectarianism and paramilitary violence.

Sipho Sibanda is a Zimbabwean refugee activist who has made Belfast home for her and her son.  Sipho fled her native country in 2015 amid ongoing political unrest and didn’t even get to hug her family goodbye.  

She works for PPR, a community organisation here that helps marginalised people know their rights and lobby for more equitable communities.  Sipho has been involved in Black Lives Matter protests here and is passionate about raising her voice to support those without status or a home.

As someone who grew up in a contested space she has much to say about the post conflict features of life she encounters in Belfast.  In this conversation Sipho shares her vision for a home city where reconciliation overrides the worn narrative of two communities and where diverse voices get to contribute in the healing of divisions.

*Show Notes*

/Gukurahundi - a series of massacres of Ndebele civilians carried out by the Zimbabwean National Army in the 1980s.

Debbie Watters is co-director of restorative justice project NI Alternatives and is a former vice chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

In this conversation Debbie takes us back to her childhood to share how her faith has always helped her defy labels and challenge the status quo.  Here she talks candidly about a passion that drives her to move beyond her own perspectives and the struggles that this can throw up.

Debbie speaks passionately about the hurts and hopes she sees within loyalist communities.  She has  a challenging message about how we need to be prepared to own the sectarianism she believes is part of all of us.   She also pleads for issues of discrimination and poverty to be urgently addressed; advocating that this offers us a path to greater peace.

Sue Divin is a Derry based writer and community relations worker who has much to say about the impact of post conflict life on communities.

She has recently published her first novel Guard Your Heart; it focusses on the relationships of young people brought up post Good Friday Agreement & how segregation, labels & subconscious prejudices still take their toll.

Sue, whose writing often touches on themes of identity, diversity and reconciliation, is currently working on her second novel - Truth Be Told.

In this conversation she chats about why she is totally committed to peacemaking and sparking conversations that lead to altered perspectives.  She also opens up about challenges in her home life that have deepened her empathy, as well as her desire to write from the heart.

*Warning you may find some details in this story triggering and distressing*

Anne Walker is a peace facilitator and a participant in the powerful Theatre of Witness programme in Derry’s Playhouse Theatre.  Through this transformative project, she was able to put words to a childhood shaped by her own family’s tragedy on Bloody Sunday, as well as her experience of being in the IRA as a young woman.

Anne has gone on to bravely share her story around the world and lead others in difficult peace dialogues.  She has also helped develop a peace programme being used in a number of refugee camps across the world.

In this conversation Anne opens up about a childhood shaped by conflict (as well as a love of David Bowie) what it was like to be in the IRA as a schoolgirl & how telling her story has brought her freedom. 

*Show Notes*

/Bloody Sunday - 30th January 1972.  13 people were shot dead by British soldiers during a civil rights' march in Derry.  Another man died 4 months later from his injuries.   In 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British Government, describing what happened that day as "both unjustified and unjustifiable".

/Theatre of Witness - is a form of testimonial performance, developed by founder Teya Sepinuck, that aims to give voice to those whose voices are rarely heard.  Stories are performed on stage by the people themselves, as they put words to suffering and experience.  Workshops are run from Derry's Playhouse Theatre.


/Glencree - a centre for conflict resolution in Co Wicklow, that specialises in inclusive dialogue, mediation, negotiation and peace education.

/Patsy Gillespie - The father of 3 and husband of Kathleen, was killed in an IRA bomb he was forced to drive to an army checkpoint at Coshquin in October 1990.  Five soldiers were also killed in the blast.

*Warning you will find details within this story distressing*

Kathleen Gillespie courageously shares her family’s story of extreme trauma, and how she has fought hard to salvage peace from pain.  Her husband Patsy was killed in an IRA bomb he was forced to drive to an army checkpoint at Coshquin, in October 1990.  Patsy & five soldiers were killed.

In this conversation, Kathleen opens up about the darkness that descended and how she battled within herself to create a legacy of peace for her husband.  She chats honestly about the challenges of embarking on peacemaking conversations, that led her into engagement with people she didn't want to encounter.

This podcast was recorded prior to the British government’s recent announcement of intent to create a statute of limitations for all Troubles related killings.  But here, Kathleen puts on record her views on justice, forgiveness & what she would say if she met those who took Patsy’s life.

Keep listening right to the end - where Kathleen shares a gorgeous story of a family miracle that has brought her hope!

*Show Notes*

/Patsy Gillespie - a dad of 3 children and husband to Kathleen.  He was strapped into a van by an IRA gang and forced to drive a bomb into a British Army checkpoint on the border between Derry and Donegal on 24 October 1990.  He and 5 soldiers were killed.

/Glencree - a centre for conflict resolution in Co Wicklow, that specialises in inclusive dialogue, mediation, negotiation and peace education.

/Wave - an organisation based in Northern Ireland that offers care and support to anyone bereaved, injured or traumatised through the civil unrest here.

In episode 1 internationally renowned artist Colin Davidson talks candidly about a challenge in his own back story that has shaped his deep passion to give voice to victims and survivors of the Troubles.  In this conversation Colin articulates rage about the British Government's recent legacy announcement - which they contend will facilitate reconciliation, but which he argues crosses a line.  Ulster University's new Chancellor also gives us a sneak peak into his studio and who he's recently been painting.  He takes us back in time to powerful encounters he had with people he painted during the creation of his powerful Silent Testimony exhibition.  Colin Davidson speaks thoughtfully from the heart - and so this is a listen full of insight about this current moment we're in, as well as the spirited hope he retains for us as a society.

/Show notes/

*Silent Testimony - an exhibition of portrait paintings by Colin Davidson, which captures the stories of 18 people who lost loved ones during the Troubles. The collection of powerful pieces of art is a powerful response to the conflict and the profound impact it continues to have on thousands of people.  (http://www.colindavidson.com/)

*The British Government’s legacy plan - released on July 14th 2021.  The command paper sets out a direction of travel for proposed legislation that would introduced a statute of limitations to end Troubles-related prosecutions, establish a new information body and set up an oral history initiative.  

*Operation Kenova - an investigation being headed up by former Chief Constable Jon Boutcher into a range of activities linked to an alleged state agent codenamed Stakeknife.