Number 1,
Spring 1995

CCCRTE

Clem McCartney

The CCCRTE study visit to Northern Ireland by peaceworkers from the successor states of the former Yugoslavia took place as planned from February 21 to March 3. At the outset, the participants were given draft evaluation forms to think about during the course of their visit. At the end of the visit they were able to suggest modifications and each person completed the revised form. Rob Fairmichael, from Belfast, summarised and commented on them.

Eight participants took part, as planned. In many ways it was an ideal number as logistics were easier and the group was able to establish good personal rapport. On the other hand it, was a pity that more could not benefit from the programme. Very few participants had previously met any of those who came from other republics.

The group was made up of three from Croatia, one from Bosnia and four from Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), including one from Vojvodina. It was disappointing that there were not more from Bosnia and no one from Macedonia or Kosovo, especially as one funder would have increased the grant to meet the extra costs. A person from Kosovo was refused a passport and a person from Macedonia pulled out when they realised that they would have to travel to Belgrade or Bucharest to get a visa. This was doubly unfortunate because at a late stage another funder had agreed to award a grant for her costs and it could not be used for any other purpose. Perhaps someone with less overseas experience would have had more incentive to come and would have made more effort to get a visa.

The participants seemed to appreciate the programme. They were suprised that it was so comprehensive and that they met so many key people. It would have been better to send them the programme in advance but it was still being finalised up to the last minute and I didn't want to raise hopes which could not be met.

Perhaps most interesting was the reaction to meeting politicians and government officials. Many were ambivalent about the value of this, as they have a low opinion of such people. At the same time, a number said that it had made them think about their relations with such people in their home situations. For me, I felt that I had to introduce them to the full range of political perspectives to ensure balance. The meeting with the UK government officials was probably too intensive, with four sessions in one morning. We also intended that the evenings and the weekend be used to reflect and raise issues of concern to the group, but the programme was probably too intensive and the group seized every oportunity to meet people. As a result, we were often very tired for the review sessions and they were sometimes curtailed.

The group seemed to get particular insight by staying in four different residences with different ethos and programmes. I greatly enjoyed being with the group and found the whole exercise very worthwhile, mainly because the participants' experience in their own situations gave them a great deal of interest in work in Northern Ireland and an ability to look at it in a searching and critical way. They were able to cut through platitudes and they had what I found to be a healthy skepticism. On the other hand, the perspective they gained on Northern Ireland and the approaches of peace groups and others, seemed to have an immediate impact in helpng them evaluate their own work. They felt that they did not have enough time to talk about their own situations and they wanted to do this in the presence of an outside person like myself, rather than on their own.

newsletter  |  ccts