The Dark Horse, Belfast was packed last week for the launch of Northern Slant author Vicky Cosstick’s e-book Don’t Mention the War: Exploring Aspects of the Northern Ireland Troubles. In the lead up to the event short excerpts from the publication were serialised on Northern Slant – the full publication is now available to purchase on Amazon here. Vicky’s work aims to interrogate the way that “legacy” has typically been understood, particularly in light of post-20th anniversary reflections on the Good Friday Agreement. This e-book encompasses research and essays about the legacy of the conflict and is supported by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust funding.

Joining Vicky was Northern Slant Editor Connor Daly to chair a discussion about her latest work, and panellists who had contributed in various ways to the e-book: Clare Bailey MLA, Leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland; Denis Bradley, journalist; Professor John Brewer, Queen’s University Belfast; Rita Duffy, artist. Panellists considered, twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement, what are the long-term impacts of the Troubles and what will it take to move the frozen peace process forward.

Vicky kicked-off the evening by arguing that in Northern Ireland has long been, and continues to be, a ‘master narrative’ that stifles progress and drowns out the voices that need to be heard. As is covered comprehensively throughout her e-book the consequences of excluding women from this master narrative are many, as are the the realities of the societal trauma that remains from the conflict. In keeping with the themes of the e-book, Connor Daly put to the panel questions around the meaning of legacy – what it meant to them personally – and whether this has changed over the past twenty years, and what the role of the Northern Ireland could or should play.

Across the panel there was broad agreement that Northern Ireland’s preoccupation with the past is preventing the peace process from moving forward. On the role of the media, Professor John Brewer argued that Northern Ireland has “a pathological obsession with the past” – this, he continued, is exasperated by a media industry that produces political ‘slants’ (no pun intended) rather than facts. This, combined with NI’s existing political parties which do not reflect the desired progress of the people they represent, added Rita Duffy, has resulted “in a political process, rather than a peace process”.

Focusing the conversation on more contemporary issues, inevitably Brexit came to the forefront. Denis Bradley argued that while Brexit has brought back intractable British and Irish identities to the centre of Northern Ireland, it is at least forcing the conversation – this is a discourse on identity politics that is now present in Britain as well. “We were ‘sectarianised’ in this wee north-eastern corner of the island of Ireland,” he added, “unable to govern ourselves. But, now the rest of these islands find themselves in a similar situation. I just hope the expertise exists on both islands to be able to reconcile ourselves.”

As the conversation drew to a close, panellists highlighted the importance of Vicky’s perspective in Northern Ireland’s political landscape – this work follows on from her previous book Belfast: Toward a City Without Walls (Colourpoint 2015). Often public conversations about the conflict stymie at issues of morality – over whose cause was more just or who suffered the most, inevitably reducing the conflict back to ‘the oppressed and the oppressor’, perpetrator and victim. It was agreed that anything that is done to chip away at Northern Ireland’s ‘two-lane’ political highway is hugely beneficial and her perspective, writing explicitly as an outsider, is largely part of the fresh discourse that NI needs.

Summing up, Connor Daly encouraged guests to join the conversation on Northern Slant – a shared platform which welcomes perspectives from authors of different backgrounds and political persuasions and is keen to bring more constructive voices to the debate.

 

Further reading

Allison Lira from Shared Future News was also at the launch: Don’t Mention The War: The need to discuss our master narrative.

Ahead of the event, Vicky published the following article with Slugger O’TooleDon’t Mention The War: Legacies of Troubles and their impact on Brexit.

Articles from Vicky Cosstick already published on Northern Slant can be found here.