Shared and ethical remembering

The conference was jointly organised by the Junction, Towards Understanding and Healing and partly funded through Peace 3, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the Henry Smith Charity. The conference is the beginning of a three year programme headed up by The Junction.

Participants met to explore the possibilities of developing a "shared and ethical" basis for centennial commemorations, perhaps now being planned, of such momentous events in Irish/British/European history in the second decade of the 20th century as the Ulster Covenant campaign of 1912, the Battle of the Somme, 1916, the Easter Rising and Proclamation of 1916, the War of Independence 1919-20 , Treaty and Partition, 1921 and the Civil War 1922-23.

Maureen Hetherington, manager of the Junction, in welcoming all of the participants to the event, expressed her hopes that the conference could prove to be a powerful stimulus for future-oriented thinking that would at the same time both honour and critically examine the past. Eamonn Baker, training co-ordinator of Towards Understanding and Healing, spoke of the crucial importance of developing "a culture of questioning" which challenges the de-humanisation of others by affixing to them labels such as "legitimate target".

In his keynote address, Johnston McMaster of the Irish School of Ecumenics examined the meanings that might be attached to the phrase " shared and ethical remembering" and proposed that any centennial commemorations can provide an unique opportunity to create inclusive programmes and events which nurture greater community understanding and healing. Johnston went on to raise the possibility of developing a " new covenant" for all the peoples of this island , a covenant where " all the children of the nation" are indeed "cherished equally."

Duncan Morrow, chief executive of the Community Relations Council and the final guest speaker for the morning's proceedings, underlined in very moving and direct terms the urgent need for all of us here to work together to build a shared and ethical future, creatively constructed out of the legacy of the past.

A wider European dimension to the conference was added when Marco(Italian) and Meike (German) international representatives from "Europe for Citizens 2007-2013 Project E-FoR, outlined the vision behind their "Education for Remembrance" project and described some of their programme initiatives.