"The three speakers left in stunned amazement; where they had expected to find hostility they had actually found acceptance, interest and a desire for understanding." With these words loyalist members of the Protestant Interface Network (PIN), described their reactions after venturing into 'enemy territory' to face a potentially 'hostile audience' in the Royal County of Meath. They had visited Bru na Boinne, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, at the invitation of the Guild of Uriel. The Guild is composed of members of diverse traditions north and south whose members were previously welcomed, entertained and informed on both sides of some Belfast interfaces. This enabled them to begin to appreciate the anguish of people living in those impossible conditions.
PIN representatives saw the magnificent passage grave at Knowth in the Boyne Valley, an area littered with pre-Celtic monuments, among which Knowth has the greatest concentration, by far, of megalithic artwork in Europe. There they were shown remnants of a wooden henge (standing circle) more that 4,500-years-old and the tour guide explained that it was 'British' people who had placed it there. This made an immediate impact dwarfing later experiences at the Battle of Boyne site. Loyalists commented that the experience of Knowth had "dispelled forever the 'Planter Myth' from the minds of those present".
The 'Planter Myth' refers to the suggestion that Ulster planter descendants don't really belong. The fact that many were descended from the Irish or were Catholic or whose descendants are to be found right across our mixed and mongrel population tends to escape attention. The notion that people who regard themselves as British are the problem and need to conform to what they see as alien traditions actually fosters siege mentality and enmity.
The truth is that the people of this island were never exclusively or predominantly Celtic. The English and/or British mongrels made a positive contribution to the development of modern Ireland north and south.
After leaving Knowth, PIN and Guild of Uriel members continued their journey to the 'hallowed' Battle of the Boyne site where the mixed forces of William of Orange defeated those of King James. The stories and implements of 1690 made a lasting impression but nothing could compare with the impact of the ancient passage graves and pre-Celtic artwork engraved on ancient stones.
The reference to people coming from the other island and constructing these amazing ritual structures was a liberating experience for people from Belfast interfaces who have often felt alienated in the land of their birth.
In divided societies there is a tendency to reinforce divisions by defensive behaviour. Ideologues build each other up through mutually negative assessments and fail to see that both traditions contribute to mutual incomprehension and alienation.
In the past republicans took upon themselves the strange task of trying to unite people by bombing and killing them. It was probably this factor that stimulated a question from nationalist young people to PIN members: 'If republicans hate you so much and want to kill you all, how come they want you to join with them?'
The question initially stumped loyalists but they reasoned it was their homeland that republicans really wanted. Unionists also once sought to strengthen the Union by excluding their nationalist 'enemies' and some still do.
By such means and with the unwitting help of many nationalists, we make it impossible to achieve the kind of open, peaceful and democratic society we so desperately need.
Today despite significant progress we have given a mandate to representatives of parties that are most alienated from each other – the DUP and Sinn Féin.
By doing so we reinvigorate the spectre of the dreary steeples in Fermanagh and Tyrone that held us hostage for generations. However, there is some saving grace in that, after so much mutual recrimination, alienated parties are now faced with the crucial responsibility of seeking to accommodate each other.
If and when they do, they may experience the 'stunned amazement' of discovering behind the animosity and fear some degree of 'acceptance, interest and a desire for understanding'. Perhaps this is why many fear dialogue. It opens up new possibilities of challenge, understanding, change and progress. Dialogue in itself does not usually solve problems but by removing misunderstandings it can create a basis for moving forward. It opens up a space in which we may yet break the mechanisms that reinforce our mutual incomprehension, deadly division and stalemate.
