New Glencree CEO / LIVE Convention
The new CEO of Glencree Centre for Reconciliation is Máirín Colleary. She is a founder of the Educate Together initiative in Ireland and has been involved in Glencree for a number of years as a Council member and later as chairperson; her professional background is in business.

Meanwhile this year’s LIVE (Let’s Involve the Victims Experience) Convention takes place at Glencree from 25th – 27th June with the theme “Our visitors to these shores – their experience of conflict in other lands’, people currently living in Ireland who have come from other countries that are experiencing or have experienced conflict, looking at how they have managed their conflict, particularly the aftermath from the point of view of the victims/survivors. For details contact Hillary Doyle or Jacinta De Paor by 17th June. Phone 01 – 2829711 or e-mail LIVE@glencree-cfr.ie 

For details of Glencree work in general, see NN115. Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Glencree, Co Wicklow, phone 01 – 282 9711, e-mail info@glencree-cfr.ie and web www.glencree-cfr.ie 

  Cyclical visit to major arms dump in Co Down countryside
Thales Air Defence (ex Shorts Missile Systems) is the North’s biggest arms producer and dealer, with a turnover now around £100 million a year, supplying weapons around the world, e.g. its Hellfire missiles are regularly used by the Israelis to attack Palestinian targets. On Saturday 19th June BLEIC (Belfast and Lisburn Ethical Investment Campaign) is organising a cycle run from Thales plant at Alanbrooke Road, Castlereagh, Belfast, to their storage and testing facility (arms dump) at Loughmann, near Drumaness, Co Down, where there will be a picnic at 12.45 and speakers at 1.30 pm (the site is 4 miles from Ballynahinch on the Downpatrick road).  Meanwhile the cycle (20 miles each way) leaves from outside Thales, Alanbrooke Road, at 10.30 a.m., or Ormeau Park main entrance at 10.15. All welcome at any point and by any means of transport.  Enquiries to BLEIC at  0771 – 5110517 or c/o INNATE. 

Bating about the Bush
Protesters are unlikely to get within some distance of the US President on his short visit to Ireland on 25th - 26th June for the US-EU summit but many would be keen to put a different worldview forward and also reluctant to seem acquiescent to a president with so many policies inimical to the wellbeing of the world.  Here are just some of the events – there will be others, so keep your eyes and oranges peeled:

10.00 a.m. Saturday 26th June in Co Clare (let the message to GWB be loud and Clare) for the main menu at the venue, called by the Stop Bush Campaign ( www.stopbushcampaign.org which is supported by NGO Peace Alliance, Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM), Peace and Neutrality Alliance, some trade unions and  political parties).  This will be followed by a march to Shannon. Look out locally for news of buses. The previous evening there is a major demo in Dublin at 7 pm at Parnell Square (Friday 25th); IAWM is organising simultaneous demos at 7pm in Galway (City Hall), Waterford (Red Square), Tralee (Brandon Hotel) and Sligo (Town Hall); see www.irishantiwar.org for further details.  And at 4pm on Saturday 26th there is a Picnic for Peace near the US Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.

Other websites worth consulting include www.ngopeacealliance.com (click on ‘latest news’) and www.ambush2004.org   the site of the ‘Grassroots’ unwelcome Bush campaign which has news of Grassroots actions including ones in Galway and Dublin, and a peace camp at Shannon from Thursday 24th to Saturday 26th June.  Ambush will be supporting a Reclaim the Skies with Light and Noise protest called by Anti War Ireland, gathering at Lidl, Shannon town centre at 7.00pm on Friday 25th June as George Bush lands, see website for details; it also mentions a critical mass bicycle rally leaving Dublin on 19th June for Shannon.  Remember to check out the always useful  www.indymedia.ie for reports.

Amnesty International; Stop Violence Against Women, Arms
Amnesty International Irish Section has a number of campaigns underway; the main ones currently are the Stop Violence Against Women campaign, the Control Arms campaign and Crisis response to the situations in Sudan and Haiti. The Stop Violence Against Women campaign is a two-year campaign which began in March and aims to highlight violence against women as a global human rights crisis and calling for adequate protection from authorities. It aims to underline the varying social, cultural and economic factors oppressing women. For more info on this campaign visit www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/1382 and to download the report “It’s in our hands, Stop violence against women” visit (same prefix) …. /full/1707/  The Control Arms campaign has two recent useful reports, ‘Undermining Global Security, the European Union’s Arms Exports’ which is available at www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/2107  and the other on Ireland’s arms exports, ‘The Claws of the Celtic Tiger’, available at www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/2127  Information on Sudan is at the same prefix … /view/full/2235/   Amnesty International Irish Section, 48 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, phone 01 – 677 6361  and website www.amnesty.ie    

For a listing on Amnesty local groups in both the Republic and Northern Ireland see NN113.

Amnesty International in Northern Ireland has now achieved its highest membership ever, some 4,000, a remarkable increase on a few years ago. Information about the UK Amnesty campaign to Stop Violence Against Women can be found at the website www.amnesty.org.uk/ni  Amnesty is involved along with other groups in Refugee Week 2004 from 14th – 20th June which includes on 17th June the launch of ‘Measuring Misery, the detention of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland” by Cornelius Wiesener and Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty.  AI-NI, 397 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 3GP, phone 028 – 9064 3000, e-mail nireland@amnesty.org.uk

INCORE’s new website / NGOs book
INCORE has a new website with easy navigation from the top of the page to your preferred destination; the listed topics of ‘Home  / Research / Courses / Services /  Policy & Evaluation / Publications /  Events’ open up to a variety of sub-headings. INCORE is the international conflict research unit of the University of Ulster and is affiliated to the United Nations University.  Visit the site at www.incore.ulster.ac.uk 

Meanwhile you can also order Mari Fitzduff and Cheyanne Church’s new book “NGOs at the Table: Strategies for influencing policy in areas of conflict” via the INCORE website.  This is published by Rowman and Littlefield, 216 pages, ISBN 0-7425-2849-9 at £20.95/€35.94. It looks at how differently focused NGOs of different sizes in different parts of the world have successfully influenced policy in conflict situations. [This book was mentioned in e-mail and web editions of NN119].

Land of Unlikeness
“The Land of Unlikeness – Explorations into Reconciliation” is a detailed and perceptive study of reconciliation from a Christian perspective written by David Stevens, leader of the Corrymeela Community.  It is well illustrated with stories from Northern Ireland and around the world and deals with a number of aspects in relation to reconciliation, its meaning, forgiveness, biblical reflections, churches and reconciliation, and dealing with the past. Much of it, particularly chapters on the meaning of reconciliation and dealing with the past, will also be of considerable interest to those not identifying with Christianity. Published by the Columba Press, ISBN 1-86607-437-4, 149 pages, it retails at €9.99/£6.99.   -For general information on Corrymeela, see NN117.

Cwlwm Cymod Cymru-Corrymeela
Nia Rhosier, founder and coordinator of this Celtic Knot link between Wales and Corrymeela reports that the All Wales Corrymeela Sunday service was held this year in Cardiff on 21st March, with David Stevens, leader of the Corrymeela Community, as guest speaker. The Cardiff cell of the Fellowship of Reconciliation was responsible for arrangements and hospitality, and a couple of members of ‘Cwlwm’ attended the Living Spirituality Network gathering at Corrymeela in April.  For next year’s 40th anniversary of the founding of Corrymeela, the ‘Cwlwm’ will join with links in England at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, London on Sunday 13th March at 10.30 a.m. for the Corrymeela Sunday service. Contact Nia at 01938 500631 or Honor Alleyne on 0118 926 1062.

Whose Rules Rule? Debt and Development Coalition Ireland
The Debt and Development Coalition Ireland is organising a seminar on ‘IMF and World Bank’s 60th Birthday: Whose Rules Rule?’ on Tuesday 22nd June from 11  am – 1 pm at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, followed by their AGM. The annual report for 2003-4 gives a detailed account of work done recently. Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, All Hallows, Gracepark Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, ph 02 – 857 1828, e-mail ddc@connect.ie and website www.debtireland.org

Community, Nonviolent Direct Action and the Gospel
This is the topic of the Church and Peace regional conference for Britain and Ireland taking place from 16th – 18th July at Launde Abbey, East Norton, Leicestershire. Speakers include Chris Cole (FOR), Beccie D’Cunha (SPEAK), Bishop Colin Scott (Anglican Pacifist Fellowship), Vic Thiessen (London Mennonite Centre) and a representative of the Bruderhof Community.  Cost is £110 single room, £100 double, £65 nonresidential. As the formal booking deadline has already passed, contact ASAP; Tony Kempster, 11 Weavers End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes MK19 7PA, ph. +44 (0)1908 510642.  The Church and Peace European network brings together groups, communities, organisations and churches committed to becoming the peace church of Jesus Christ in daily life and action. The website of Church and Peace is at www.church-and-peace.org  

Of Public Concern…
is a useful new  British-based video hire library on social, national and international issues, with some classics and others that may be of use. Of public concern, Nacton, Ipswich IP10 0LA, ph. +44 (0)1473 717088, e-mail ericwalker@gn.apc.org See also www.concordvideo.co.uk the website of Concord Video and Film Council.

All at Sea
‘All at sea’ is the featured topic for the latest issue of the excellent international quarterly magazine ‘Peace News’, looking at various aspects of maritime existence including different aspects of nonviolent action at sea, and rising seas in an era of global warming. Peace News, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DY, phone +44 20 7278 3344 and website www.peacenews.info