Learning from others in conflict - CAIN

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common with Sinn Féin? We have everything in common. We come from thesame working-class backgrounds. It’s not the upper and middle classes whohave done the suffering, it’s us. In normal politics most people in this roomwould have been voting Labour, not some form of Unionist conservatism.[UDA] I think we know we have to sit down and talk to Sinn Féin. It’s aboutconfronting people, and it’s a matter of how we start. The Palestinians andIsraelis are going through the same as us: they have similar politicians whohave failed them, and they too have difficulty sitting down together.[Mol/Trans] I have heard a lot here about the fear of losing one’s identity.Listening to you, however, you sound strong in your identity and I don’t seehow you can lose it. I have a friend whose father died while she was away fromhome. Her relatives, in order to get hisproperty, didn’t inform her that he had dieduntil some time later. She said to me: ‘Theytook everything relating to my father exceptthe one thing they couldn’t take – my lovefor him.’ I think this plan you are trying todevelop now will help you to preserve youridentity. It is more important to strengthenyour identity on the inside rather than searchfor confirmation of it outside of you.On the last day the participants were again asked to break into small groups, todiscuss what they considered to be the key priorities for the next six months:[Council] We need to explain to our people what’s going to happen. We need tobring them along with us.[UDA] Funding is a priority to let us proceed, and a core element will be skillsdevelopment and building on work we have already done. Also bring in otherareas and their skills; they can help to support the initiative.[UDA] As we are talking about paid workers, we need to get that out in theopen. There’s people, when they see funding going towards us, will say: typical,that’s money for the boys. So it’s important that some organisation outside theUDA takes on responsibility for the finances. We want to make it clear that thehandling of all funding is transparent and independent.[UDA] We have to build community confidence, by focusing on issues importantto the community. People will be looking to us for leadership. We have to letthem know that we want to get into cross-community dialogue – and to engagewith Sinn Féin –to take on these people, but that we’re not going to be dealingwith them behind people’s backs. We have to insist on the accountability of thePSNI and not let them dictate what is happening on our communities. We needa consensus in the UDA; we need to be consulting our membership.32It’s not the upper and middleclasses who have done thesuffering, it’s us. In normalpolitics most people in thisroom would have been votingLabour, not some form ofUnionist conservatism.
[UDA] We need to inform our membership about what was discussed this weekand how we got to this stage in our thinking. And not just the membership buttheir families. And we have to explain to our widows why there is this need tomove on. We need to take on board the views of the members, it mustn’tbecome a one-way process; we can replicate this workshop on a local level. Weneed to put our own house in order before we move on. We need to remove anyexcuse people might put up for not talking to us.[UDA] While we’re engaged in thisprocess, at the same time we have to beprepared to defend our communitiesagainst dissident Republicans, criminalsand drug-dealers. We need to seek toengage soon with the DUP. Some herebelieve that the DUP don’t want toengage with us, but I think they will bewanting to, especially if they deal withWe need to take on board theviews of the members, it mustn’tbecome a one-way process; we canreplicate this workshop on a locallevel. We need to put our ownhouse in order before we move on.Sinn Féin. We need help to see that people have the skills and the training totake this initiative forward.[UDA] We mustn’t ignore the housing issue. If you look around NorthernIreland today you can see that there is a slow strangulation policy, with regardto Protestant areas, being encouraged by Republicans. Areas that were totallyProtestant are now lost. Protestants have moved out of Co. Down and Co.Antrim, never to be replaced numerically. In Belfast there is a quiet war goingon to squeeze the Protestants out and make this one big city of Catholics.[UDA] In the next six months we really need to be making a start on what wediscussed yesterday. We need to bring all our areas together to consult and formworking groups. We need to hammer out a broad-ranging but not unrealisticstrategy. We need human resources and funding; without that we will notsucceed. We have got all the skills here and we just need to build our confidence.We will need to engage soon with the PSNI, funders and other. We had becomeinsular and said that we didn’t need to engage with these people. We do need toengage with these people, for they are making decisions about our lives and ourcommunities, so we need to challenge them and anything they may do. We needto get our story out to the wider community, develop our public image. We willneed to continue to work with the international community. And ending criminalityis an absolute must. We should be on the policing boards and tell them how wewant our communities to be policed. We need to change the legal status of ourex-prisoners; there’s 5000 of them, and everywhere they go they are beingdiscriminated against. Now, in the current situation there is no chance of gettingrid of weapons. But we need to be decommissioning minds: there is a mind-setwithin our community that we have to change.33
Page 1 and 2: CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVEL
Page 3 and 4: IntroductionIn 2005 Northern Irelan
Page 5 and 6: International foundation workshopLo
Page 7 and 8: their organisation was constantly p
Page 9 and 10: allowing the public to see that our
Page 11 and 12: still here. There has to be an hone
Page 13 and 14: [Isr] Is there a consensus regardin
Page 15 and 16: ‘other side’ - relatives were o
Page 17 and 18: preserved and protected, we shouldn
Page 19 and 20: first Palestinian uprising, the fir
Page 21 and 22: [Pal] Can I say that the majority o
Page 23 and 24: [Pal] Despite modern technology the
Page 25 and 26: and that’s where we have to go. I
Page 27 and 28: [UDA] If Sinn Féin signs up to pol
Page 29 and 30: engage about; and what obstacles ar
Page 31: [Council] The 24th November 10 will
Page 35 and 36: Compared to the place where I come

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