North Belfast Interface Network "Moving On"

Rab McCallum NBIN Coordinator & Michael Acheson receiving CRC Award

2011-06-01T14:08:00.000+01:00

North Belfast Interface Network

Comhghairdeas gach daoine.

NBIN Coordinator Receives Community Relations Award

2011-06-01T13:44:00.000+01:00

North Belfast Interface Network

2011-06-01T13:26:00.000+01:00

North Belfast Interface Network

Image taken during the realisation of the recent Draw Down The Walls event for Community Relations Week. The installation "Imagining a city without barriers" is in place on both sides of the Flax Street Interface Barrier affording the through view from Ardoyne To Crumlin Road and Crumlin Road into Flax Street for the first time in nearly thirty years.
The cross interface event is designed to raise conversations and promote dialogue around the future of interface walls and barriers in the city thirteen years after the Good Friday Agreement.
The installation will be in place for at least the nest four weeks.

2011-03-23T12:42:00.001Z

North Belfast Interface Network

Social Investment Fund announced

2011-03-23T12:16:00.000Z

Executive Information Service

22 March 2011

Social Investment Fund announced

The Executive has today agreed the establishment of an £80million Social Investment Fund aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment.

The Fund will be an integrated approach to enhance economic growth, employability and the sustainability of communities.

First Minister Peter D. Robinson said: “Despite the significant progress made in the last number of years towards prosperity, stability and peace there remains sections of the community that have not fully benefited from these changes. Given the current economic and fiscal situation there is a real risk that deprivation will continue, and may increase unless interventions are put in place.

“The Social Investment Fund will redress this imbalance by building pathways to employment, ending dereliction, increasing community services and tackling the systemic issues linked to deprivation. Tackling these issues will require interventions of significant scale to be delivered in partnership with communities on a cross departmental basis. The Fund will reduce poverty, unemployment and physical deterioration.

“The Fund also recognises that deprivation occurs across a number of areas. We have therefore identified eight possible Investment zones upon which we will seek to consult widely.”

Mr McGuinness said: “The most immediate and effective way out of deprivation is through quality employment. However, there are substantial structural, historic, geographical and social barriers to employment and full participation in the economy for deprived communities.

“It is recognised that to have a long term impact on issues of economic and social disadvantage government responses need to break from a silo approach, where responses operate independently of each other and replace this with an interdisciplinary approach coordinated across all government departments by OFMDFM.

“Experience of initiatives such as the West Belfast and Shankill Taskforce, Community Empowerment Programme, Areas at Risk Programme and Neighbourhood Renewal, and the Rural Poverty and Social Exclusion Fund demonstrate the way to tackle these persistent patterns of deprivation is through area based planning and of a scale to make a significant change in the socio economic standing of a community.”

OFMDFM intend to publish the Fund Proposal for consultation shortly.

Notes to editors:

Media enquiries to OFMDFM Press Office on 028 9037 8142. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Office via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.

North Belfast Interface Network

Let's Move On

2011-03-02T12:16:00.002Z

Last July I was asked to co chair a public meeting organised by CARA to discuss the twelfth parades past Ardoyne. The meeting was frank and sometimes fraught with tension and disagreement, but people were honest and expressed heartfelt sentiments. Being co chair I was unable to contribute to the discussion and in a way that enabled me to listen and reflect, more than I normally would, on what was being said rather than making sure that I got the opportunity to get my opinion across.
What struck me was the degree to which many of those present, in most cases confident, articulate and forward thinking people, elevate the Orange Order and give it a significance to which it is no longer worthy.
Gone are the days of, Where We Walk, We Rule. In its place are eleven bar one requests forms, submissions and negotiations. Not a perfect system or even a fair one, but a system that none the less places the Orange Order on the same footing as me and anyone else who is opposed to parades taking place where they are not wanted.
There is no longer an Orange supremacy or ascendancy. I will no longer be treated as a second class citizen, whether the Orange Order marches past Ardoyne on the 12th or not.
What attachments there are to the Orders in many working class loyalist communities is fed as much, if not more so, by Nationalist /Republican resistance to an outdated notion of the power of the Orange orders as by the values associated with ‘the brethern’.
Without our resistance to the Orange Order what is left but an archaic tiger rendered toothless and represented by costumed men in quaint bowler hats. We may not like what we view as triumphalist coat trailing but what if we were to view this as what it really is - the last gasping breath of times gone by. Without the oxygen of our ‘being offended’ the fuel for those who wish to assert their authority over us is denied.
If we agree that the Orange Order is not worth the effort of our resistance then it is not.
Threats of violence or potential violence not only detract from what should be the key issue, Orange Parades, but it also allows many of the less progressive elements of Loyalism to don their yellow bibs and transform themselves into the peoples protectors and guardians of their culture, at least until they get past Ardoyne, Duncairn Gdns or Springfield Rd. Their credibility is firmly tied into our behaviour. We give a lifeline to those within Loyalism who are coming under pressure from within their own communities because of their links with criminal behaviour and gangsterism
Imagine the Crumlin Rd with people shopping oblivious to the marching bands, who holds the power?
The future, whatever it is, will be defined by those who are forward thinking and who seek new ways to deal with old problems. Reverting to old outdated thinking keeps us firmly grounded in the past and unable to move forward.
North Belfast Interface Network

2011-03-02T10:40:00.002Z

Not long now before the start of the marching season and already people are beginning to talk about how they will handle the ‘riots’ on the 12th, not how they hope to resolve the parading issue and find a long term solution to the problem of contentious parades and the problems associated with them

North Belfast Interface Network

2011-03-01T15:46:00.003Z

To mark the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, NBIN & NBCDTG will host an electoral identification clinic. The event has been organised by Kate Clarke of the North Belfast Interface Network & Leanne Marshall of the North Belfast Community Development & Transition Group.

Kate Clarke states “ With elections coming up on the 5th of May, women have often been disenfranchised from their vote because they don’t have the correct identification, this event marking the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day will provide women with an official photo id issued by the NI Electoral Office. This is a cross community event, Women have an important voice and having the right identification to vote will be part of making that voice heard.”

Free of Charge the electoral office will take your photo and provide you with photographic identification which will allow you to vote in the upcoming elections.
The event is open to everyone but has a specific focus on women voters particularly young women who will be eligible for their first vote as well as senior women who may have lost out on previous votes because they do not have the correct identification.

2011-03-01T15:30:00.000Z

An Roisin Dubh

Gerorge Best Trophy League launched by Celtic's Neil Lennon

2009-06-22T10:47:00.002+01:00

The Ardoyne Marrowbone CEP has launched the George Best Trophy League along with Neil Lennon of Celtic. The Tournament runs from the 10th- 14th July on the Marrowbone Playing Fields. The tournament now in its 4th year is the first to be given the support and endorsement of the George Best foundation and Barbara McNarry (George’s sister) is one of the patrons of the event. The IFA Grassroots programmes are also partners. The event is a 7 a side league tournament and is specifically geared to provide a diversionary activity for young men from Ardoyne who have been affected by interface violence and the impact of contentious parades in their community. It has been a huge success and in its 1st year won an award from UEFA and the IFA for its impact on community relations. Registration forms can be got from the Ardoyne Youth Club or the Marrowbone Community House and Cliftonville community centre.

An Roisin Dubh

North Belfast Interface Monitoring Group Launch Poster for 2009

2009-06-22T10:39:00.002+01:00

The North Belfast Interface Monitoring Group is currently developing its “Keep Safe this Summer” campaign. Hoping to build on the successes of 2006-07 & 08, the NBIMG has been involved in a process of engagement with youth providers from across North Belfast from February this year, seeking to consolidate a unified approach to addressing the issues of youth and interfaces. This process has been paralleled with a series of engagements on a multi agency level with statutory organizations, the PSNI & Belfast City Council community safety teams.

The NBIMG has also engaged in a series of meetings with head teachers across North Belfast and has began a process of addressing school assemblies throughout the north of the city with a cross community delegation of interface workers informing young people of the issues and impact of interface violence. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Keep Safe this Summer!” and while it still maintains a primary focus on interface violence, it also seeks to highlight the other factors which can affect the safety of young people and residents during the summer in particular, Drugs, Alcohol and the growing number of incidents with knives also are issues for concern.

The message this year is very clear, drawing on the collective responsibility and powers of this multi agency approach the NBIMG are utilizing a two pronged approach to the campaign. Soliciting the support & resources of youth providers, schools and clergy, we hope to identify that there is a clear choice to make, young people can avail of support within the community and engage in the wide variety of summer programmes and activities available to them. We are relaying the message that there will be a renewed and vigorous effort to identify young people involved in risk activities. This process of identification will inform other agencies in addressing this activity, Social Services, Belfast City Council and the NI Housing Executive with the PSNI will be contacting the parents of anyone identified as being involved in risk activity and will take appropriate action. The message to schools and youth groups highlights the fun activities and summer interface intervention programmes available to young people and also focusing on the zero tolerance response to interface violence from community, statutory organizations and the PSNI. The NBIMG have also engaged with the tripartheid approach of Belfast City Council community safety team, NIHE & Youth Justice Agency to address interface violence as an equal priority to anti-social behavior.

Young people through the engagement of the NBIMG & youth providers have been invited to invent the strap line for the poster and to assist in its design. They have also been involved in discussion focus groups based on the development of the poster and its theme of “Keep Safe this Summer!” and will be a significant component of this year’s launch. The launch is planned for the 17th of June at 4:00 for 4:30pm at Westland Fire Station and head teachers and clergy will help to deliver the message.

This NBIMG initiative 2009 will (I) design, publish and distribute across youth clubs, schools and interface communities 20,000 leaflets that will highlight the options available to young people for a safe and fun filled summer while highlighting consequences of interface violence among young people and its impact on community. (An educational message will be mainstreamed and promoted at all other summer intervention events.) (II) Further highlight the “Keep Safe This Summer!” While still referencing the dangers of interface violence by advertising our message on all TRANSLINK buses that serve all North Belfast’s main arterial routes. (III) Request that OFM dFM host a symbolic Stormont reception for young people from across North Belfast to communicate a message of responsibility for the summers months and to launch the initiative. Such a high profile intervention would have the benefit of generating momentum and symbolically ensuring that our message is widely publicized and politically validated.

An Roisin Dubh

Living in an Interface Community

2009-04-24T10:36:00.004+01:00

The “Living in an interface community” photographic project was designed to engage youth at risk from and affected by interface conflict and examine the images they felt represented their life experiences within the community.

This project has been a partnership with Ardoyne Marrowbone CEP, the North Belfast Interface Network & the Golden Thread Gallery funded by the NBCAU. The images and editorial decisions were made by the young people with the simple brief that they had to represent how they felt life in an interface community affected them.
The group of young males aged between 14 & 17 years of age were brought together by the AMCEP detached youth outreach workers who in turn facilitated a series of workshops with artists from the Golden Thread Gallery. It is of note that all the individuals involved have given a full commitment to the project and continued engagement with local youth & interface programmes.
The images reflect the youth themselves, sometimes in quite a humorous way but also demonstrating just how seriously they appreciated the opportunity to show how they felt about living in an interface area.

"Do Good Walls Make Good Neighbours?" You Tube July 2008

2008-07-06T18:05:00.002+01:00

Seanchai47's Take on Interface walls dialogue which happened in May & June 2008.
To view video Click on Link

You can send photos or videos to Nb.movingon2008@gmail.com

An Roisin Dubh

KELLY AND DONALDSON WELCOME NORTH BELFAST MLAs' COMMITMENT TO INTERFACE PEACE

2008-06-26T12:23:00.003+01:00

Junior Ministers Gerry Kelly and Jeffrey Donaldson have welcomed the statement from North Belfast MLAs calling on young people to 'Say no to interface violence.'

Minister Kelly said: "Earlier this week I and my ministerial colleague Jeffrey Donaldson hosted the launch at Parliament Buildings of a poster campaign designed by young people and aimed at young people with the clear message Wise up M8. Say no to interface violence.

"These young people have shown commendable leadership and I am delighted to say that the unique statement of support which has come from all six local MLAs further endorses that message."

Junior Minister Donaldson said: "There has been a tremendous amount of work undertaken in recent times by all sections of the community in North Belfast to ensure a more peaceful summer on our streets.

"The benefits of this are obvious to all and I welcome both the initiative of the recently launched poster campaign and the statement issued by the local MLAs."

The six north Belfast MLAs are: Fred Cobain (UUP); Nigel Dodds (DUP); Gerry Kelly (SF); Alban Maginness (SDLP); Nelson McCausland (DUP); Caral Ni Chulin (SF)

The statement from the six North Belfast MLA's reads as follows :-

Say No to Interface Violence

As elected representatives for North Belfast, we want to send a very strong message of support to this year's poster campaign. We believe it is our responsibility to exercise positive political leadership by clearly encouraging our young people to say no to interface violence.

It is of great significance that the campaign has been shaped, the posters and leaflets designed and distribution carried out by young people from our part of Belfast. It is these young people who are saying to their peers "Wise Up M8 (Mate). Say no to interface violence." We agree wholeheartedly with that message.
North Belfast is a fast improving part of the city. This campaign has in recent years been a vital part of a range of initiatives which involves everyone in the community working together, which have seen summer months becoming increasingly peaceful. We don't take this improvement for granted and we don't underestimate the amount of work which has been done by many people to have achieved what we have now in North Belfast.
In making this statement of support we would want to add our challenge to everyone in North Belfast. As we see our young people take a positive stance against interface violence, we must all get behind them in agreement and support.
Everyone, say no to interface violence this year and every year.

" The historic significance of a joint statement from cross party Mla's must not be underestimated, this is the first statement of its kind and hopefully sets a precident for the future of working together in North Belfast. The work that has gone into this initiative is incredible and the message from young people is worth more than the countless volumes of rhetoric from adults on the issue of addressing interface issues in North Belfast. Let's all look forward to a peaceful and fun filled summer."
An Roisin Dubh

Dialogue is Priceless

2008-06-13T20:43:00.005+01:00

Dialogue is key to a peaceful summer; Tour of the North resolution welcomed.

(is this an image that can hopefully be consigned to the past!)

The recent developments and decisions made on this year's Tour of the North parade are a positive step forward. The Tour over past years has been one of the most highly contested and volatile of the Orange marching calendar and has often brought with it some of the most violent interface clashes seen in North Belfast. I would applaud the work & the engagement that has led to this resolution and would hope that this will become an expected normality in how the parading issue must be addressed. Entrenchment, belligerence, demands and immobility must be replaced with constructive & sustained dialogue. Parades are a massive influence on the climate of interfaces in North Belfast & hopefully a peaceful Tour will prove as a positive litmus for the summer.

The issues of addressing interface conflict must be similarly approached, sustained & constructive dialogue must be sought, brokered & fostered by those with influence in their community and encouraged between residents living across the interfaces.

Direct engagement between residents on both sides of the interface in Ardoyne, Woodvale, Glenbryn, New Lodge, Tigers Bay, Clifton Park Avenue, Lower Oldpark is central to unlocking the myths of the "Otherside" that allow interface violence and tension to fester in North Belfast. Talk may be said to be cheap, but when constructive & sustained, dialogue is priceless.

An Roisin Dubh

First Minister Paisley; Leaving on a positive note?

2008-06-04T06:55:00.006+01:00

On the 12th May 2008 during question time, First Minister Paisley responded to the request from North Belfast MLA, Caral Ni Chuilin, for the establishment of a specific North Belfast Task Force which would address issues of interface and conflict resolution.

The First Minister (Rev Dr Ian Paisley): The future that we look forward to will be one without barriers, in which society is characterised by respect, tolerance and interdependence, while sectarianism and racism are consigned to the past. In that context, significant progress has been made in the past three years to improve relationships. The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) wishes to ensure that those improved relationships in the community continue.

In his closing statement in the 22 April Adjournment debate on the interfaces in North Belfast, the junior Minister Mr Donaldson confirmed that the Member’s proposal of creating a task force for the North Belfast constituency would be considered

(The First Minister also responded to the remarks of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg re: Interface walls being a barrier to international investment);

The First Minister: During the US-NI investment conference last week, Mayor Bloomberg called for the removal of peace walls if Northern Ireland is to become a leading hub for global investment. Although I welcomed his remarks, any plans to remove peace walls must be primarily community-driven. The people must act. Outsiders pulling down walls will accomplish nothing. However, when those living on either side of the wall agree to take it down, we will have won a great victory. I look forward to that victory being sealed over and over again in the areas where there has been great trouble in the past.

(Will the N. I Assembly, the future First & Deputy First Ministers and North Belfast MLA's continue to work on MLA Ni Chuilin's proposals?)

An Roisin Dubh

Opportunity wasted to regenerate North Belfast interface.Dunne’s Stores closes on Crumlin Road.

2008-06-03T12:20:00.002+01:00

The failure of the Hillview retail park on the Crumlin Road in North Belfast is an example of how not to regenerate an interface. The site which has in the past five years only had one long term tenant, may well have, with the right consultation & vision become a vibrant and sustained example of real shared space.

How would you even begin to advertise for prospective tenants, spacious modern retail outlets, ample parking, ideally situated in prime high density residential area, complete with own interface gate and segregated community.

It should also be considered that there is not a reluctance to use the site, or to spend money here, ironically the car boot sale that runs in the car park every Sunday is jammed to capacity by people from both sides of the Crumlin Road and traders and shoppers from across Belfast and farther afield.

No strategy was considered or implemented to address the sectarian conflict which had created this interface and saw the permanent closure of Flax Street since the 1980’s, or to allay the fears of residents on both sides of the interface as to the potential impact of the effective reopening of the interface via a side door.

Local politicians, Nigel Dodds, MLA, MP and Investment minister, Alban Maginness, Councillor, MLA & Local Councillor Margaret McClenaghan have all collectively expressed dismay, Irish News may 9^th, at the failure of the retail park.

Perhaps now that the site has failed in its present incarnation, a consultation with residents on both sides of the Crumlin Road may provide an effective answer as to how best utilise the site as it stands.

The fact that we have heard a collective response from local political representatives toward the site may serve to solicit the right conditions to revision and reuse the site to meet the needs of the community. The recommendation before the Assembly on the 12^th of May for a North Belfast Task Force to address interface issues is a significant step and will hopefully bring us closer to resolving this issue.

An Roisin Dubh

Take down peace walls, NY Mayor

2008-06-01T08:57:00.002+01:00

Belfast has more than 40 peace lines

A plea for the demolition of Belfast's 40 peace-lines has come from the Mayor of New York.

Michael Bloomberg said Northern Ireland had much to offer, but suggested that "another important step was needed".

He said it was "in the interests of peace and prosperity" to remove the barriers.

The mayor made his remarks while addressing the First and Deputy First Ministers, assembly members and American visitors at Stormont.

Speaking on the benefits of partnership between Northern Ireland the United States, he said:

"The historic cultural barriers between the two communities here are slowly coming down," said Mayor Bloomberg who was in Belfast for the investment conference.

"And the sooner they do, and the sooner the physical barriers come down as well, the sooner the flood gates of private investment will open." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7390938.stm

An Roisin Dubh

Aerial view of Crumlin Road Girdwood site.

2008-05-28T07:41:00.003+01:00

Aerial view of Crumlin Road Gaol & Girdwood Army Barracks site; Clifton Park Avenue is one of North Belfast's most volatile interfaces.
An Roisin Dubh

Why do we have the walls?

2008-05-26T10:34:00.001+01:00

Why do we have the walls? Initially the walls were erected to prevent access to communities by armed groups at the height of the conflict. They restricted the movement of vehicles entering or exiting the community. They created a sense of relative safety at the time, growing into a type of comfort zone. This allowed a type of apartheid living arrangement that segregated and divided communities for the past forty years. Day to day living could go on without having to engage with anyone on the opposite side of the wall.

As the conflict changed, the walls became the focal point for community clashes during periods of community tension such as during the 1981 Hunger Strike, Drumcree & the Holy Cross Blockade. Since the 1994 ceasefires the violence at the interfaces has ceased to be any longer an inter-communal conflict and has become a problem of youth based anti-social activity.

The walls allow a sectarian mindset to go unchanged, drawing young people to them to organise rioting as a type of boredom relief, an adrenalin buzz with no sense of consequence. The walls are often the target for attack and residents living there are left to endure the consequences. Therefore the walls do not prevent trouble.

The sense of fear and mistrust that was present when the walls were erected has changed to a degree, while the likelihood of being shot or murdered by has been practically removed, the fear of physical attack is still residual. The walls still demarcate the perceived places where it is or isn’t safe to be.

An Roisin Dubh

Do good walls make good neighbours?

2008-05-25T09:22:00.004+01:00

There is an adage that good walls make good neighbours and while in Belfast we have no shortage of walls, the creation of good neighbourliness has not presented itself as a subsequent dividend. It is hard to digest the description of dividing walls as peacelines; division, segregation and estrangement are not surely conducive to peace. Interface walls, Peacelines, Security Cordons or The Divide, whatever the title used the image of these walls is synonymous with the world’s vision of Belfast.

There is often reference made to the scars and the legacy of the conflict and the miles of corrugated steel and concrete are perhaps the most visible residue of the past. The Good Friday Agreement is ten years old and we have seen a period of relative peace along with the associated dividend of regeneration and economic development come to the centre of the city and the suburbs. This new sense of urgency to build, shape and change the image of Belfast is yet to find its way to tackling the interfaces and contested spaces of the north of the city or indeed to look to remove the walls that so long have shaped the daily lives of the people living there.

Walls themselves are neutral, inanimate structures, they hold no politics, intent or opinion but the use of a wall to separate, to divide, to partition and to control is laden with the politics of its architect. Through history the role of the wall has changed from that of protection, keeping out the roaming horde, to signifying dominance, the Norman castle declaring military and technological superiority to the landscape, and the present incarnation of the wall as a tool of the state to divide, police and control.

If North Belfast is to share in the concept of the peace dividend then it must begin with a commitment by government to begin to seriously address the eventual eradication of interface walls. It would be naive to think that this is something we can see beginning tomorrow, for people living on or at interfaces, the walls have assimilated a role and created a need for their presence, but the dialogue and the will to remove them must begin now. 10 years of peace, and 14 years from the end of the armed conflict must surely have more to offer than existing in a state of benign apartheid, real peace does not need to be sustained or “secured” by walls.