In his new book Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland, Associate Professor of Sociology Lee Smithey discusses how grassroots movements have transformed the conflicts in Northern Ireland. The book, which launched earlier this month at the Parliament Buildings of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont, recently received  the Donald Murphy Book Prize for Distinguished First Book by the American Conference for Irish Studies.

In an interview at the Stormont launch, Smithey discusses his inspiration for the book. A second launch event, also with audio, took place at No Alibis Bookstore in Belfast.

“Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland draws attention to the ins and outs of how peace and conflict are being navigated at grassroots levels among Protestants who deeply value their identities as unionists and loyalists and want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom,” Smithey says. “Many of the ways they have publicly expressed their collective identities, such as parades, bonfires, and murals, remain contentious today, but increasingly, attempts are being made to make those practices less disconcerting outside of unionism and loyalism, even if the practices are not abandoned. The implications for how ethnopolitical identities can also become less exclusive in the process lie at the heart of the book.”

Smithey coordinates Swarthmore’s Peace and Conflict Studies program and teaches about social movements and nonviolent conflict resolution. He also contributed to the  development of     a study abroad program in Northern Ireland with an emphasis on peace and conflict resolution. The program allows students to take graduate level coursework in Northern Ireland while interning with grassroots organizations involved in the peace-building process.

Smithey is currently working on a mural mapping project with Professor Greg Maney of Hofstra University. The pair walk every street of Belfast in Northern Ireland every two years to document the murals in order to analyze the shifting contents and themes of the murals in the various neighborhoods. He’s also working on a book with Professor Lester Kurtz of George Mason University on the paradox of repression, with a focus on nonviolent resistance.

Award-winning historian and former Swarthmore College president Theodore “Dorie” Friend will discuss his recently published book Woman, Man, and God in Modern Islam on Tues., Mar. 13, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. in the Scheuer Room of Kohlberg Hall on the Swarthmore College campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The Future of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Role of the United States in Resolving It, a talk by Norman Finkelstein

Wednesday, 3/14/12

4:30 p.m.

Science Center 101

Norman Finkelstein is a political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the

politics of the Holocaust, an interest motivated by the experiences of his parents who are Jewish Holocaust survivors. He is a graduate of

Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University. He has held faculty positions at Brooklyn College,

Rutgers University, Hunter College, New York University, and, most recently, DePaul University.

Announcing the “Engaging Peace” Conference, a collaborative event offered by Arcadia University and The Peace Center.

Friday, March 23 – Saturday, March 24, 2012

Check-in opens 5:00 PM Friday evening and Saturday morning at 7:30 AM.

Arcadia University

450 S. Easton Rd.

Glenside, PA 19038

(Greater Philadelphia Area)

For detailed information & to register:

www.arcadia.edu/engagingpeace

peaceconference@arcadia.edu

Registration is open to both students and the general public. Students (high school, undergraduate, & graduate) attend for free. Non-student registration = $75. Registration closes Friday, March 16, 2012. For more information please visit our website at: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org

Egyptian activists Ahmed Salah and Mahitab Elgilani shared their experiences in planning and participating in the Egyptian Revolution with the Swarthmore community on February 20, 2012. They spoke about the challenges and successes they have had in the January 2011 protests in Tahrir Square.

“There have been many groups [that have made] an impossible movement possible,” says Salah of the coalition behind the revolution which began in 2011. Salah described the strategy for motivating mass engagement among Egyptians of all ages. He asked himself, “Maybe we can solve the problem of people not being in the street, by giving the illusion there are already people in the street?” Thus, rather than begin protests in large places, then, Salah says the first protests were in back alleys and smaller streets. As the crowds wound through the smaller streets, they attracted more people, and moved to larger avenues. Thus, the movement grew exponentially.

Introducing Mahitab Elgilani, Salah referred to her as the movement’s “cover girl,” because her visible enthusiasm during protests often attracts the attention of photographers. Elgilani reported that protesters have faced physical violence and chemical weapons, some of which are made in the United States. At other times, protesters have received poisoned food. She said, “Despite all this the Egyptian Revolution, since January 25th, has remained nonviolent.” She continued, “Every time a martyr falls, it creates a wave in the streets which causes hundreds more to come down for justice.”

Salah encouraged the audience to write to their congressional representatives and ask that the US government stop allowing the Egyptian military’s money into the country. “You can do a lot,” Salah tells students in closing. “Politicians need to be reelected…if you write emails to your representatives in the Congress, in the White House, this may work.”

Salah, an Egyptian Revolutionary, was the executive director of The House of New Future Center for Legal and Human Rights Studies in Egypt and works as a freelance translator on the side.  Salah was one of the co-founders of the Kifaya Movement (the Egyptian Movement for Change) in 2004 and remained a member of the Coordinators Council of Kifaya until mid-2008. He led the first, and only, youth movement in Egypt during the years 2005-2006, called Youth for Change.  In addition, he is also the co-founder, strategist, ideologist, and foreign affairs representative of the April 6 Youth Movement, which launched in August 2008 until November 2010. In these capacities, Salah was able to coordinate political activists to stand in opposition to the Mubarak regime and served as a principle organizer for the January 25th revolution.  At present, he is working hard to create democratic representation from across Egypt, and to continue with the Egyptian Revolution until its complete success, serving as the head of The Coalition of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

The non-violent struggle for democracy in Egypt continues.