During the summer, Emily Rodriguez, OLLU graduate student in the English: Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice master’s program, had the opportunity to attend a peacemaking and conflict resolution conference in Belfast, Ireland, through support from the university. This is her story:
By Emily Rodriguez
Spring 2024, I attended a meeting that outlined the conference’s focus on conflict resolution and allowed San Antonio attendees of the upcoming conference to exchange contact information. I then scheduled my flights and coordinated with the conference organizers. Dr. George Williams’ office covered my travel and stay at the Corrymeela Culture Center in Northern Ireland in July 2024. Vice President for Mission and Ministry Gloria Urrabazo and English Program Chair Dr. Wallis Sanborn also ensured the conference would count towards my course credits. All that was left was to attend the conference and give a presentation on all I learned from the conference to the OLLU board and potential OLLU community upon my return. After a 14-hour flight, I arrived at Belfast Airport and was taken to Corrymeela, near Ballycastle. I settled into my room, received my name tag, and joined other attendees in the community lounge. We explored the Corrymeela’s surroundings, admiring the fields, hills, and the beach below with Scotland visible across the water.
The conference itself began shortly after dinner that first night, when we gathered in the CroĂ. CroĂ, pronounced “cree,” which is the Irish word meaning “heart.” The building itself is shaped like the cochlea of the inner ear, since the “heart of Corrymeela is listening.” We gathered in the CroĂ repeatedly each day for lectures on conflict resolution, prayer, and community-building activities. In the CroĂ, we discovered 70 people were present at the conference, representing 15 to 16 different nations in one room, ranging from age 18 to just shy of 65. We first learned about mimesis, which is part of human nature from an early age, seeing what another person has or is doing and mimicking the characteristics – just like a child imitating his or her relatives to learn how to behave. We also see mimesis in adults who choose particular products based on seeing other people using those particular products. There were two specific types of mimetic relationships we focused on: model-model mimesis and model-rival mimesis. Model-model is where we get the definition of a role model. This is where one person or group admires another and what they have, choosing to improve upon themselves to be more like the person or group they admire. Model-rival mimesis is where one person or group sees another and desires to be better than who they now view as their rival or enemy. When ‌rivalry is small, this can create healthy competition but can easily spiral out of control to the point where one side is willing to harm the other person or group in order to be better than them. This can also result in destroying what the other person or group has, if the first side cannot have it, just so the other person or group cannot have it anymore. This toxic relationship can grow into war, with each side attacking the other and retaliating from being hurt, continuing the endless spiral until there is no end. The contributing factor to endless war is seeing the enemy as “the other” rather than as human beings. To put an end to the continuously rising conflict, both sides have to acknowledge humanity in one another, see one another’s faces, to start returning to a model-model mimesis. Reconciliation is choosing forgiveness, whether choosing to forgive or choosing to be forgiven. There are people who will refuse to accept forgiveness because in order to do so, they have to acknowledge the hurt that they caused. Forgiveness is not forgetting the hurt. Forgiveness is acknowledging the pain inflicted and moving forward. The pain is never really forgotten, only left behind to fade away to the point where one may forget the pain to be present anymore. For those seeking reconciliation, reconciling face-to-face can be beneficial but may not always be possible. Some people can forgive easily while others need more time. It is perfectly acceptable to not be ready to forgive. We discussed how maintaining peace involves accountability without scapegoating, which is an innocent individual or group of people who are blamed for something and shunned for the blame. Every person and nation is fighting for their own definition of peace and justice, using what they deem as an acceptable amount of violence to accomplish that definition of peace. Some people believe no amount of violence is justifiable, while others will use up to a nuclear bomb to accomplish their definition of peace. Differences in defining peace and justice result in further complications and potential further conflict. Some are able to avoid further conflict by being polite and avoiding triggering issues, while some require separation for peace to ensue as seen with the peace walls throughout Northern Ireland. We learned how communities can be created when people gather together to sing, dance, and practice the arts.
We learned about the history of the Troubles between the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland during our second week at the center. There were 20 of us from San Antonio. We were gathered in Belfast and spent a day in Derry, exploring museums, going on tours of the cities and peace walls, and talking to locals who had experienced the Troubles. We got to explore both the walls and a few monuments, youth centers, and parks. We got to speak with various people who had been affected by the Troubles both directly and indirectly, from being unjustly imprisoned for being in the wrong place at the wrong time to losing family members in the crossfire. The Troubles began after Britain invaded Ireland, fearing other countries would use Ireland as a backdoor to attack Britain. Catholic Ireland wanted nothing to do with Protestant Britain, leading to conflict for centuries between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Eventually, a border was put up between the two to stop most of the fighting. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants within Northern Ireland raged until the late 1990s. Corrymeela was one of the communities that provided a safe place for both sides during the Troubles to meet and have difficult discussions, contributing to eventual peace and leading toward the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which brought most of the Troubles to an end. Just shy of 30 years later and we are seeing intermingling on both sides of the conflict and peaceful progress being made, though there is still work to be done.
Looking around at our own society, I see the same conflict here in America that has occurred in Northern Ireland. The issues here are just as political as in Northern Ireland, but here it is less clear which side a person is on based on religion. In America, there is violence over ethnicity, sexuality, and political party. I have noted scapegoating, model-model, and model-rival relationships around me. The conference taught me the importance of seeking humanity within our society to work towards peace. If we stop worrying about choosing sides and just focus on coexisting and human beings, we will find peace in our society.
