Exposing bigotry or exposing their own bigotry? Loyalists Against Democracy: part 2

Part 2 continues with responses that I received from people who wished to comment on the Loyalist Against Democracy website.

From a male church leader with a long history of involvement in peacebuilding:

‘I’m not a huge fan of the site though I have dipped in and out from time to time. I suppose my main problem with it is the same problem I had when the church made statements condemning violence (in either camp) but there was little going on on the ground to change things. The megaphone approach of condemnation or satire by middle class Christians or secular-humanists, unmatched by a willingness to get hands dirty and change hearts and minds is ultimately self-defeating… driving those you pontificate about further into a corner… Especially when LAD has turned its ire on those like John Kyle, who are trying to make a difference. This only serves in fulfilling the paranoia of those who claim to be on the margins already by forcing them further out of “respectable” society. My other problem with it as a satire site is that a lot of it just isn’t funny… That said, the campaign against the facebook site by those within loyalism, be it the repeated claims of harassment getting it banned, or the denigration of it as “Republican” is further proof that large swathes of loyalism are not interested in democracy or free speech, but only in hearing their own perspectives and prejudices repeated… But then they have learned that trick from established unionism with it’s constant criticism of the “liberal” BBC because it shines a light on the poor behaviour of the PUL community… The BBC (and media in general) doesn’t need to do any investigative journalism to uncover the shadowside of the PUL community – we parade it for the world to see… putting it on facebook and youtube… Yet when the BBC or LAD or anyone else draws attention to it then there is a loud cry of foul republican plot… If the PUL community put its own house in order then LAD would be out of business and the BBC would only be reporting the misdemeanours of republicans…’

From a female writer involved in education:

‘I suppose I would start by saying that if they are serious about challenging sectarianism then the way to go about it probably isn’t to only have a go at one side of the community. But aside from that…

The PUL people (who also actually count as ‘the people’ despite the fact that LAD seem to think they represent, er, everyone) may not have legitimate fears but they are certainly real fears, and those fears won’t dissipate through ridicule. I am angry at the flag protestors too. I’m angry that they have harmed their own community so much. The LAD group wants to suggest that they’re only having a go at flag protesters but their page is full of nasty comments about working class PUL in general. Last Christmas I sat and listened to a taxi driver in East Belfast who said he felt suicidal because he’d lost so much business. Those were his people on the street- very possibly people that he agreed with ideologically- and they were crippling him. So when everyone gets lumped in together they include him, and they include the bus driver who, that same evening, had his bus bricked as [my partner and I] sat at the back (the brick bounced off the window but the window completely shattered). He was really rattled, and he had to continue his round.

LAD like to make fun of people for poor grammar and spelling, they like to suggest that working class PUL people are thick. I say, if they’re so clever then why are they spending their days on photoshop making crap jokes? If they’re concerned about sectarianism then perhaps they should be championing those people doing community work is difficult areas. Low literacy isn’t a joke, neither are the suicide rates in East Belfast. There are plenty of working class PUL people spending *their* days trying to keep kids off the streets and trying to sort this shit out.’

From an elected PUL male politician:

“LAD was apparently born out the flag protests and quoting them “L.A.D. is a cross-community, non-political group set up to combat the growing tide of sectarianism in Northern Ireland through the use of satire” in effect they have evolved to be an instrument which mainly parodies some within the PUL community. Yes they undoubtedly highlight sectarianism but do seem to ignore other types of sectarianism from within republicanism for example. At times I find myself occasionally agreeing with them when they highlight the unelected ‘leaders of on the ground loyalism’ doing or saying simply stupid things, in fact things that I would imagine would embarrass many Unionists and Loyalists.

I’ve read comments on Facebook from a very unrepresentative section of the PUL community [LAD has then highlighted] which is appalling, sheer hatred of the RC community which has no place in our society. But I would feel confident that similar stuff is written on Facebook about ‘Pradisans’ but LAD choose to ignore it. Perhaps their core readership wouldn’t find it so funny?

One final issue that I would have is how funny does LAD think it is to highlight some within the PUL community who have difficulty spelling? How is that tackling sectarianism? Rather it is simply making light of an issue of educational under achievement which should be addressed but this is certainly not the way to do it. Is LAD then achieving its core aim?  Not by my standards.”

From a male community development worker in a Loyalist area:

‘Mmmmm. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure…I laugh, but I know I shouldn’t. The ludicrousness of loyalist incompetence is vying with genuine compassion for a struggling community. But I’m also aware that there is a darkness to loyalist culture that needs to be exposed and satire is a critical tool in exposing it. So I welcome the satire, though is it just me that detects that whilst in the early days there was genuine comedy in it, in recent weeks a really nasty streak seems to be emerging in the material.

Wonder too whether is is possible to be satirical about republican culture. Maybe I’m just not aware of where it’s happening.’

Male community development worker and peace worker:

If I’m honest, I’ve laughed out loud at some LAD posts and sworn out loud at others. LAD is a sign of the times we live in, lacking depth or accountability. It’s own haste trips itself up and is reactive which is always easier than creative. I find it cruel yet I laugh so what does that make me?

It’s unwillingness to engage face to face is worrying but not untypical of Norn Iron.’

This is more what I was trying to say:

‘It is easier to be against something than for something. And yet, it is much more gratifying to create than to destroy.’ – Miroslav Volf

A final thought from a very experienced community relations worker:

Step back. Point. Laugh. Call it satire. Call it whatever you like (and “satire” can cover a multitude of sins) but when it starts and stops there then in the final analysis its falls far short of any constructive address of Loyalism’s often genuine short-comings. In the final analysis it is very little real use to anyone. It’s easy though (far easier than a genuine involvement) and will get you attention if there are a few laughs to be had (and yes I have laughed at some of their material).

At this point I should also declare my own bigotry. I am from protestant working class unionist stock. Truth be told i jettisoned my unionism many years ago so LAD’s material doesn’t offend my pretty much non- existent Unionism/Loyalism. However when it openly declares its middle class credentials and castigates and ridicules entire working class communities then my working class bigotry can get a quick re-visit. So who am I to talk eh?

Exposing bigotry or exposing their own bigotry? Loyalists Against Democracy: part 1

Having grown concerned about some of the discourse that those behind the ‘parody’ Loyalists Against Democracy (LAD) website were using I contacted them and asked them to meet up and discuss what they felt they were contributing to peace.  I asked them politely several times, all of which they declined.

Following their refusal to meet up, I decided to address my concerns about LAD on here.  In order to do this I asked a range of writers, academics, church leaders, politicians, and community workers to give their opinion about LAD. The response was so great that I decided that the best thing to do was to publish their opinions in full. The amount and depth of responses mean that I will publish them in two parts.  I have ordered them in the order they were sent to me.

Because LAD are faceless and hide behind a mask, making them unaccountable, I promised my contributors anonymity if they wished. However, I will give a little general information about the background of each person.  What follows are not my opinions, these are the unedited opinions of very experienced practitioners and thinkers who have contributed significantly to building peace in this part of the world.  They are a mix of voices from the Catholic and Protestant communities.  Cumulatively they have hundreds of years of experience in peacebuilding.

Firstly, from an experienced male community relations worker from the Catholic community:

‘You know, I haven’t “liked” it – some of the things I’ve seen linked to from other people’s posts about it are funny, but I have a problem about it – and I reckon that any loyalist friends of mine would feel like it does their cause damage. I’m not a loyalist, and I have major problems with the idea that loyalism is under attack (I don’t believe that at all) but I don’t think that the loyalists against democracy page is helpful.’

From a female community worker in a Loyalist area:

‘whilst sections of their sectarian satire posts can witty, it is a dangerous dark humour which serves no purpose other than to crank up already heightened tensions.’

From a male community worker in a Loyalist area:

‘The LAD site can occasionally be quite humorous and the political satire chewing gum for the mind. However I once heard a phrase about another column entitled Wit & Wisdom and LAD fits the same bill, very little wit and absolutely no wisdom.’

This from a widely published male community worker and writer and on Loyalism and Unionism:

‘..my opinion is that the growth of this kind of satire is fascinating, painful to see and that it will grow. For what was it Karl Marx said about history occurring the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce?  You see the loyalist cultural project is now so eaten through with incapacity that it seems entirely farcical for bands calling themselves Young Conquerers to be so patently losers – and so this invites the kind of vicious comic treatment that LAD offers, made all the more potent because twenty five years ago, loyalism still had tragic muscle and in certain quarters a sharp, grounded and innovative ethos. Yes, LAD is cruel, as all humour can be very cruel and it makes the abasement of the PUL psyche even more grievous but I doubt if the tide of ridicule can be turned, until enough PUL people come to see that one needs to exercise self awareness in order to know how to stop being a butt of humour and a laughing stock. Any school teacher knows that a kid who is mocked will only stop being mocked either when he learns to modify his behaviour or when he is protected by an authority figure, and that authority figure ain’t there so there has to be some quick learning going on, in the art of self-scrutiny and self-remodelling.

[There is] nothing more delicious to a nationalist or to someone who was a rotten Prod than mocking the deposed and neutered Loyalist bully, risky too as he may still have strength for one more knuckleduster punch. Dangerous too. As Nietzsche pointed out, he who fights with monsters must beware lest he too becomes a monster. The mockery of Bryson is in part a fearful class based thing, the derision for the uppity wee skitter from the estate, who wears cheap sports gear and a gold chain and gives you lip at the bus stop.

..superladtube [is] taking it to a whole disconcerting new level of cruelty…however some of the deconstruction of the infamous uvf remuralling project on you tube is utterly brilliant and morally impeccable.’

A female writer wrote:

‘It comes across as really superior and snobbish. As we heard on the news yesterday Northern Ireland’s literacy levels are terrible. It’s nothing to make light of. If they’re so clever, what are they doing to help?’

The final extract of part 1 is from Dr. Gareth Mulvenna, a visiting research fellow at Queen’s University, who did not mind his name being used:

‘LAD Fleg may claim to be the creation of a cross-section of our community, including working class Protestants, but one wonders what it actually adds to the debate. Rather than move things forward this type of parody only serves to reinforce liberal, middle-class, stereotypes of a community which is felt to be holding the ‘peace process’ back. More out of step with modern society are dissident Republicans yet we rarely see social media being used to the same extent to highlight the ridiculous, but more threatening, nature of their activities. The loyalist flag protestors, like the white working class ‘chavs’ which Owen Jones wrote about in England, are easy meat for those who have a delusional sense that Belfast begins and ends in the Cathedral Quarter. The dissidents are harder to challenge and pose the most severe threat to the peace due to their violent nature. Flag protestors, particularly the younger ones, should be given the opportunity to be understood – what are their social and economic concerns? Can we educate them about the welfare state and the best aspects of their British culture? That way we can move forward. Laughing and sneering at the loyalist community won’t fix anything.’

Part 2 will contain extracts from other writers, community activists, a PUL politican, and clergy.

Dear BBC NI and ‘The Blame Game’….

Dear BBC Northern Ireland and ‘The Blame Game’,

I would like to draw your attention to a recent incident on your show ‘The Blame Game’, in which one of your ‘comedians’ did an impression of someone with a speech impediment.  Clearly the standard of comedy on the show was not high when you resort to making fun of someone who suffers from this type of disability.  This type of ‘comedy’ – which I find neither funny nor entertaining – falls well below the high standards I would expect from the BBC.

It seems to me like it should be self-evident that jokes that mimick those with speech impediments are an utterly unacceptable form of public entertainment.  That this show is being funded by the public via the licence fee causes me great unease, as it should you.

The question I would like BBC Northern Ireland and ‘The Blame Game’ to address is this: on what planet are you living where it is acceptable to make fun of people with speech impediments?

If you don’t mind, perhaps then you would also clarify for me what other disabilities you find it acceptable to make fun of?

I wonder if you think it is funny to laugh at those who have learning disabilities?

I wonder if you also laugh at people in wheelchairs?

What about people with downs syndrome?

Where do we stop?  What about people with AIDS or cancer?

It would be useful for future reference if BBC Northern Ireland and The Blame Game would send me a list of disabilities and conditions that you regard as fair game to ridicule.

I know that those at The Blame Game are comedy fans, so perhaps you have heard Stewart Lee’s piece about Top Gear making fun of Gordon Brown’s sight?  It starts at 8:33 in the clip below.

The person in question that was made fun of on your show was Jamie Bryson.  I have no objection to you disagreeing with Mr Bryson’s political views – quite frankly, I don’t agree with him myself – but his views are irrelevant as to whether it is acceptable to use a speech impediment as a point of mockery.

I asked a friend for some feedback before I published this article and this is what he said: ‘I like a laugh as much as the next guy but the secret in comedy is knowing the limits. Evidently the Blame has crossed the line. I have a speech impediment and it is not funny – it is damned difficult and far from funny.’

A final note for the comedian who made the comments.  I don’t know your name, which probably says something of the quality of your comedy and why you need to resort to mocking disabilities to get a laugh, but what I would say to you is this: the type of people who make fun of people with disabilities are unintelligent bullies.  When you mock someone for having a speech impediment you don’t make a d***head out of them, you make a d***head out of yourself.  I hope you have a child or grandchild someday who develops a speech impediment.  I hope every day when they go to school that they get bullied and mocked because of it and then they come home in tears and they look to you for comfort and support.  (I don’t really wish the final part – no normal person would – but if you’ve watched the clip above you’ll understand what I’m saying.)

I look forward to hearing back from you on this matter.

Dave Magee

p.s. I asked BBC NI for someone to email about this and they couldn’t/wouldn’t give me an email address to send it to.  I hope that by publishing it on my blog it will get a response.

Jun Tzu: from East Belfast to Ardoyne (stopping at Bangor and Ards)

Last week I had the great pleasure of setting up poetry and rap workshops with various youth groups and schools for ‘Norn Irish’ rapper, Jun Tzu.  It was a very busy couple of days, but he delighted his old fans and made many new ones.  Watching the young people walk out of the workshops with big smiles on their faces and free signed cds in their pockets was a sight to behold.  Many thanks to Jun Tzu for taking the time out and traveling over from Manchester to do this work.  Below are some of the highlights of the two days:

Tuesday:

Firstly, we met a group from Dundonald High School at the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road, organised through Charter NI (see below).  Big thanks to David and Caroline from Charter NI for organising and to the headmaster of Dundonald HS for bringing the pupils out of school at the beginning of term.  During the workshop Jun asked the group to write down everything they associated with their school.  They then wrote their own individual poems about the school and read them aloud to each other.  After this each participant took a line from their own poem and composed a collective poem about their school based on the ‘Save Dundonald High School’ campaign.

On Tuesday evening we visited North Down Community Assistance in Newtownards.  It was a brilliant evening with some of the local teenagers from the Bowtown estate.  Thanks to Laura and Walter for hosting and organising the group.  Jun Tzu performed some of his own poems and then got the young people to write and perform their own.  Below are two shots of the workshop:

Wednesday:

On Wednesday morning we visited Holy Cross Boys Primary School in Ardoyne.  While there Jun Tzu performed a rap to the senior classes in the school (see below) and afterwards held a question and answer session with the boys.  The best question of the morning was, ‘Do rappers get taxis or buses?’ The answer, of course (as everyone knows), is buses.  Thanks to the staff of Holy Cross Boys’, especially the headmaster, for making us so welcome.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Bangor Alternatives in Kilcooley.  Thanks to Jim, Jim and Ruth for hosting there.  A special mention must go to Dylan – aka Yland – a 13 yr old rapper who Jun Tzu told was better than he was when he was 13.  Dylan is definitely one to watch for the future!  Below are a couple of photos of some of the particpants with their signed cds and the workshop:

After the workshop Jun Tzu did a gig in Kilcooley Community Centre for the local community.  Despite some dodgy acoustics he pulled through and put on a great show for his young fans (and a few older ones too).  Thanks to all who helped organise, publicise, and lend equipment to make it happen.

Not finished yet, Jun Tzu then went and performed a gig in the Menagerie which went on late into the night.  Below is a clip from ‘Wee Johnny’, one of the stand out tracks of the night and a firm fans’ favourite (as you will see from the singing along).

A huge thanks to Jun Tzu for all the hard work he put in and to all the individuals and organisations who worked together to make the trip such a success.  A final thank you to Chris Eva for videoing the workshops and for Darren Anderson for taking photographs.

For anyone who still wants more, there is an article about Jun Tzu and a video of him performing on the Newtownabbey Times website here.

Jun Tzu’s album ‘The Troubles’ will be out later this year – in the meantime you can check out his music on Youtube.

Where do we go from here: chaos or community?

No matter who you talk to in the political landscape of Northern Ireland there’s a good chance they’ll tell you Martin Luther King, Jr. would be on their side.  Nationalists have long associated themselves with King because of the civil rights movement.  In Republican areas murals of King can be found on walls alongside other iconic figures.  Interestingly, King’s name has also started to be mentioned by Unionists and Loyalists as an example of someone who used civil disobedience to protest against laws he believed were unjust, albeit in different circumstances.  Perhaps they are also aware King was a Protestant minister, and King’s father (known as Martin Luther King, Sr. or ‘Daddy King’) changed both his own name and his son’s name as a tribute to the father of the Protestant reformation.  If so, this will add to the appeal.

In 1967, towards the end of his life, King published the last of his three books about the civil rights movement in the U.S.A., entitled, Where do we go from here: chaos or community?  In it King writes:

‘We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation.  This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos and community.’

The first point to make is that we can safely assume that were King alive today he would have used gender inclusive language.

Secondly, it seems to me that after the violence seen on the streets of Belfast in the past week we could do with asking ourselves the same question as King: Where do we go from here: chaos or community?

Chaos is easy.  In fact, if all we want is chaos then we don’t really have to do much at all.  We can just keep doing what we’re doing year after year after year.  My friend Francis Teeney likes to remind me that Einstein once said: ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

If we want community we are going to have to take a different path.  Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman describes ‘community’ like this:

‘In here, in the community, we can relax – we are safe, there are no dangers looming in dark corners (to be sure hardly any ‘corner’ here is dark).  In a community, we all understand each other well, we may trust what we hear, we are safe most of the time and hardly ever puzzled or taken aback.  We are never strangers to each other.’  (2001: 1-2)

If we want to ‘understand each other well’ and be ‘never strangers to each other’, then things are going to have to change.  It’s not impossible, but it will take a lot of work.  Listen to the testimony of this political ex-prisoner to see what is possible through hard work:

‘We went, I went to a seminar, conference…. you’re talking about maybe three hundred, four hundred people, at a conference for the weekend.  INLA, UDA, IRA, UVF, I mean, sitting doing work, classes for the weekend.  I mean, first night, after you got your dinner, went into the bar, that was your free night, and to see people from the IRA, UVF, UDA sitting in the bar drinking, talking and telling jokes.  It proves to me that things are changing.  You know what I mean?  People can get on, you know what I mean?  And to me that was a big big thing.’

This didn’t happen overnight.  It started by people talking to each other.  We need leadership from everyone in positions of influence, it’s no good relying on politicians.  On last weeks Sunday Sequence William Crawley rightly rebuked religious leaders on both sides for not leading the way in talking to each other.  After we start talking we might have to have more talks.  And after those talks, we may need more talks.  And so on and so on.  And if this sounds like too much effort, then there is an alternative: chaos – we can just keep doing what we’ve always done.

Those who think the situation is hopeless are ignoring the many examples where dialogue has happened, and accommodation and compromise has been reached.  It’s possible but it won’t be done without hard work.  Both the Orange Order in North Belfast and the local residents groups that oppose them need to ask themselves how the Orange Order manages to have marches in the Republic of Ireland every year with no trouble, as well as in Derry/Londonderry and other areas of the North.  This does not happen by accident.  It is only achieved through dialogue, hard work, and understanding by all involved.  This is the side Martin Luther King would be on.

Ross Kemp won’t tell you this: some reflections on the 11th and 12th

For my latest blog post, Ross Kemp won’t tell you this: some reflections on the 11th and 12th, click HERE 

On bonfires and sacred statues

After seeing the photograph of a sacred statue on a bonfire (which it’s important to stress has since been removed, was not burnt, and is absolutely not the norm) I was reminded of this story written by Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello.  I thought about writing a post with my thoughts on the subject but the thing about stories like this is they have a way of reaching into the deepest parts of us and speaking to us without any help at all.  For that reason, here is just the story.

The mystic was back from the desert.

“Tell us,” they said, “what God is like.”

 

But how could he ever tell them

what he had experienced in his heart?

Can God be put into words?

 

He finally gave them a formula –

inaccurate, inadequate – in the hope

that some might be tempted

to experience it for themselves.

 

They seized upon the formula. They made it

a sacred text. They imposed it on others

as a holy belief.  Some went to great pains

to spread it in foreign lands. Other even

gave their lives for it.

 

The mystic was sad. It might have

been better if he had said nothing.

Review of Belfast Baby by Jun Tzu

Jun Tzu was brought up on the outskirts of North Belfast, on the large Loyalist public housing estate of Rathcoole, Newtownabbey.  Rathcoole is the type of place where it is impossible to grow up and not be affected in some way by the legacy of 30 years of ‘the troubles’, and Jun Tzu was no exception.  Jun’s Dad was a Loyalist prisoner during the conflict, something he explores in Wee Jonny, one of the stand-out songs of his album Belfast Baby.

At the age of eight Jun moved to Manchester, where he would have hoped to escape the harsh reality of growing up in a society at war with itself, but instead he experienced bullying and prejudice in England as a result of being perceived Irish.  He wrote in the comment section of my previous blog post on him: ‘i could not understand this because my whole life i was told i was British. I was left with a nationality and identity complex; was i British or Irish?‘   It is this tension in his identity that informs much of Belfast Baby and makes it much more than just another hip-hop record.  It is a deeply personal reflection on the struggles facing young men and women growing up in the new Northern Ireland – post-Good Friday Agreement – and trying to make sense of who they are.

You will never have heard an album like this before.  Jun Tzu is crafting his own unique genre of Belfast hip-hop.  Belfast Baby might not be for everyone.  This is not polished pop-rap about money and girls, designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  It’s hard hitting and pulls no punches.  It’s authentic, gritty, and real.  It’s deeply rooted in pain and suffering.  This, of course, is what true art is about – coming to terms with the dark underside of our existence.  The language in many of the songs is profane (although there are radio edits available for those of a more sensitive disposition) but the message is one of hope and perseverance through catastrophic circumstances.

Belfast Baby is a rich cocktail of emotion, creativity, and power, mixed with Jun Tzu’s own personal reflections and social commentary.  Highlights are many but, for me, the outstanding tracks on Belfast Baby are Wee Jonny and The Bridge.  Wee Jonny is a deeply personal response to the reaction of some of Jun Tzu’s critics to his music.  In The Bridge he explores themes such as social segregation, peace walls, and fear of the ‘other’.

I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more from Jun Tzu in the future.  For a taste of what is to come post- Belfast Baby check out the following video.  If you don’t listen to all of the clip fast forward it to 8:45 for a song that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  I played this video to a Loyalist ex-prisoner I know and he was speechless throughout.  When it came to the end of the song all he said was ‘That was powerful.’  It’s Jun Tzu at his brilliant best:

Check Jun Tzu on My Space, follow him on twitter, or like him on facebook.

The Idolatry of God #iog13

I spent last week at #iog13 – the Idolatry of God conference organised by Peter Rollins in Belfast.  I have known Pete for over a decade now and consider him a friend, so this review will be very ‘pro-Pete’ (I’ll leave the critique to his nemesis ‘Real Pete Rollins’).  The conference was a three and a half day event that pulled together practitioners and those interested in what he calls ‘pyro-theology‘, a term that emerged from the Belfast collective, ‘Ikon’.

Peter took several sessions during the daytime on themes such as ‘Death and decay’, ‘The hellish pursuit of heaven’, and ‘Life before death’.  He also gathered up an impressive list of other contributors, including: Jay Bakker – (interviewed by BBC journalist William Crawley); Katherine Moody (pictured below); Barry Taylor; and Kester Brewin (who joined in via a dodgy skype connection).

Other parts of the conference included: the opportunity for participants to sample the social and political context of Belfast via a tour of the city expertly guided by Susan Mcewen; and the choice of workshops on magic and foraging.

There were also other ‘fringe’ events open to members of the public. These included: an ‘Ikon’ event; the interview with Jay Bakker; a film night that showed the films Kumaré and The Prestige; and a brilliant gig with John Hardt and Duke Special.

You can see some pictures from the event here.

There is little doubt that the questions Peter is asking in his books and talks are resonating with many people as they explore issues of contemporary faith and belief.  Participants traveled from far and wide to join the conversation.  Many of those who attended claimed the best things about the conference were: the chance to hang out in Belfast for the best part of a week; make new friendships; and to enjoy the kind of conversations that this type of event creates the space to have.

One of my favourite quotes from the conference (and there were many) was from Barry Taylor (pictured below), who said: ‘The task of the leader is to guard the great questions’.

‘Guarding the great questions’ is a pretty accurate way to describe the overall spirit of the conference.  Such questioning was not only directed outwards but also turned inwards.  On the final day there was space given to talk about the successes of the event, to discuss how such spaces for conversations could be opened up in different contexts, and to raise any questions the event had failed to address.

In his summing up of the conference Peter used a well known story from Winne the Pooh:

‘Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.’ – A. A. Milne

To conclude: #iog13 was a hugely enjoyable experience and a big success. I hope some sort of #iog14 is in the planning.  I would thoroughly recommend it.

Brennan Manning

When I was an young theology student in the late 90s my friend, Carl Appleby, told me that there was a book I really must read.  I think he might have even put the book in my hand and insisted I read it.  Typically, when someone tells me I need to read a book my reaction is to do the opposite but, for whatever reason, I did read this one.  In the years since then I have reread it several times and bought more copies of it than I can remember, to give to friends, insisting that they read it.  I still regard it as one of the books that has most influenced my life.  Today I learned that the author of that book, Brennan Manning, passed away.  Manning was a veteran of the Korean war, and a former Franciscan priest.  There is so much that one could say about his writings and their enormous appeal, but perhaps it is best to say that they appeal most to those who feel they are at their wit’s end, those who have had enough of religion, and those who may feel like their lives have been a grave disappointment to themselves and everybody else.  I never met Brennan Manning, but I felt like I knew him.  Today I feel a bit like I’ve lost an old friend.  I’m grateful to my friend for giving me that book all those years ago, and I’m even more grateful to Brennan Manning for writing it.

The following is one of my favourite stories from the book:

‘A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers ‘the Little Flower’ because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself.

Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. “It’s a real bad neighborhood, your Honor.” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.” LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions–ten dollars or ten days in jail.” But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.’

From The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.