Transforming the Brighton Bomb - Building Bridges for Peace

Event Details

Time: October 18, 2009 from 1:30pm to 3:45pm
Location: Sussex, UK
Street: Duke of York's Picturehouse
City/Town: Brighton
Website or Map: http://www.buildingbridgesfor…
Phone: +44 871 704 2056
Event Type: world, peace, march
Organized By: Building Bridges for Peace, Jo Berry
Latest Activity: Sep 23, 2009

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Event Description

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Transforming the Brighton Bomb – Building Bridges for Peace

DUKE OF YORK’S PICTUREHOUSE, BRIGHTON, UK
Sunday 1.30pm, 18 October 2009

Trust is often the first casualty of terrorism and can be further undermined by punitive forms of counter-terrorism. At the same time, trust-building is central to establishing dialogue, the conflict resolution process and long-term conflict transformation.

When Sir Anthony Berry MP was killed in the IRA Brighton Bombing during the 1984 Tory Party Conference, his daughter Jo was thrown into a conflict she knew very little about.

Since then she has visited Ireland many times and worked with victims and former combatants from all sides.

In November 2000 she met Pat Magee, the man responsible for her father's death. Belfast-born Pat Magee, former IRA activist, was given multiple life sentences for the Brighton Bombing.

Released under the Good Friday Agreement in 1999, he has since been actively involved in peace work.

In the Soldiers Of Peace film, Jo and Pat come together outside the Grand Hotel for the first time.
The film is narrated by Michael Douglas and features Sir Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others.

You now have a chance to see the film, and to see Jo and Pat together again in Brighton, as part of the World Peace March events, discussing the way forwards towards a peaceful world.

Jo is launching her organisation, ‘Building Bridges for Peace’ at the event.
Jo’s organisation endorses the world peace march, which promotes:

Nuclear disarmament at a global level;
The immediate withdrawal of invading troops from occupied territories;
The progressive and proportional reduction of conventional weapons;
The signing of non-aggression treaties between countries;
The renunciation by governments of the use of war as a means to resolve conflicts.

Booking:

Duke of York’s Picturehouse,
Brighton
Tel: +44 871 704 2056
http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/

Tickets: £7.20
Concessions: £6.20

If you’d like to wear a World Peace March T shirt you can purchase one here, and proceeds will go to The Women for a Change International Foundation to help women in need.

If you’re unable to get to see the film in Brighton, you can purchase it here – again, The Women for a Change International Foundation gets a contribution for each film sold.

You can watch the trailer here:

Find more videos like this on The Women for a Change Community
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Comment by David Gould on September 23, 2009 at 2:08am: One more thought about this approach.

The word is understanding...not agreeing. the path to peace is not always through agreement but through respect of each other's point of view. This is the secret of the success of Jo's journey and probably of Pat's as well. Never in a million years could I ever agree with Pat but in respecting what he stood for and understanding his point of view has allowed these two to share an important place in bringing peace and an understanding of the nature of peace.

Comment by David Gould on September 23, 2009 at 1:59am: Jo Berry is one of the most inspiring people you could ever meet. Last year she was on tour with Pat Magee who answered questions after a performance of The Bomb which was a play reconstructing the events when her father was killed. We saw it in Keswick at the Theatre by the Lake. I must admit that Jo has travelled a path few of us take...even those of us who have lost family to terrorism as I have.

What was fascinating for us was that although they are both committed to peace their approach is still very different. While Jo is totally opposed to violence of any kind Pat still feels it was right for him to have been in the IRA and in some respects still supports the causes that led him to bomb the Conservative Conference Hotel...of the two their separate journeys were of great interest to us...and the fact that this trusting relationship has been built between them.

It posed the question as to whether I would have wanted to meet the man that took my step-daughter's life...although I can't as he was a suicide bomber...but the question raised by Jo and Pat is still an important one. Gandhi said that an enemy remained an enemy for as long as hate exists but ceases when understanding is born between the parties to the conflict. This is very much the conflict resolution model used by "Building Bridges for Peace" organisation whose website is an inspiration as well. It was certainly what has led me to actively seek to be involved in Interfaith dialogue with my special field of study being the religion claimed by my step-daughter's killer. Understanding has taught me that it was not a fault of the religion but of the interpretation of the politics that lead people to commit appalling crimes.

If you can get to Brighton for this it will be good...unfortunately I cannot but my best wishes go to both Jo and Pat as they continue to try and spread the light of understanding in our dark world.