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This is just a short report on what INNATE has
been involved in over the last year; it is only a snapshot
and if you would like any further information, please ask.
The big event of 2002 for us was the War Resisters
International Triennial conference in Dublin in August. That
required a lot of logistical work which was mainly done by
the WRI office in London and Siva Ramamoorthy and Pat Barrett
in Dublin. But INNATE was the senior local partner and that
required support work. The event went well though with a couple
of hundred at it, the numbers were less than expected –
not helped by some refusal of visas to genuine participants
by the Irish government. A report appears on the INNATE website.
A small seminar was organised in Belfast following the Triennial
itself.
The website - which received a new domain name
during the year www.innatenonviolence.org has continued to
build up well but there is plenty more material, including
training materials, that we want to get onto it. The website
received an average of 1,292 visitors a month for the last
3 months of 2002 and we hope to build that up further (1,649
in January 2003), whatever these figures mean. Ten issues
of Nonviolent News were produced during the year (and one
short e-mail/web supplement this January); the paper edition
is kept to two sides of A4 but the e-mail/web edition averages
about 6,000 words. With ‘limitless’ space in the
e-mail/web edition we hope to increase content but that requires
receiving suitable material; while we are certainly not adverse
to carrying international material, and we do try to cover
international solidarity groups working in Ireland, the unanswered
question is how much to try to develop this. Our inclination
would be to carry a limited amount of international material
but not to try to compete with other movement publications
internationally. Your comments are welcome on the matter.
Please note that we are happy to send subscribers
both paper and e-mail editions of Nonviolent News. You can
of course print out the longer e-mail/web edition but the
paper one is handy for instant reference or passing on to
other people (though for reference please note that the website
has a search facility).
INNATE continues to answer a wide variety of
requests and queries, and while our field of specialisation
is nonviolence this obviously intersects with a wide range
of issues and concerns.
Outside of the information/publication field
we have been active in the movement against the war in Iraq
and specifically in the Justice Not Terror Coalition based
in Belfast. We have also continued to try to support the development
of the Alternatives to Violence Project, an approach to nonviolence
at a personal level which has been trying to get established
in Northern Ireland.
Nonviolence is not often very visible and sometimes
hidden away. But the ongoing crisis in international relations
since 11/9/01, and the USA’s attempt at global hegemony,
assisted by Blairite Britain, is a context in which a nonviolent
response is essential, both to counter the prospect of more
violence which will beget more violence, and to show how justice
can be established. In a similar way nonviolence is also of
great relevance in Northern Ireland where the worst of the
Troubles has departed but people and parties have not yet
shown the capacity to move on; and in the Republic where an
issue like Shannon shows the cowardice of the Irish government
in confronting the superpower (economic and military) of the
USA.
So it is all to be worked for. INNATE is a small
network and an even smaller number of people actively involved.
It is a volunteer network – there are no paid staff
– and depends on the support of a variety of people
to function. If you feel you would like to be involved and
support INNATE in your locality then please get in touch –
there may well be things you can do. And if you have comments
or suggestions for what we can do we would be pleased to hear
from you. For those of you accessible to Belfast there is
a monthly networking meeting to which you are very welcome.
Yours for a nonviolent future,
Rob Fairmichael,
Coordinator, INNATE,
February 2003
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