Welcome to my first newsletter! After what I know is a long time since the last one, from now on we will be sending them out every two months with our and related news. So please encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe on our website. Of course, if you don’t want to receive it, there is an UNsubscribe link and the bottom. 35th Anniversary “Last weekend was the 35th anniversary of the Brighton Bomb that changed my life. I…
The Building a Stronger Britain Together (BSBT) programme supports civil society and community organisations who work to create more resilient communities, stand up to extremism in all its forms and offer vulnerable individuals a positive alternative, regardless of race, faith, sexuality, age and gender. The programme allows organisations that share these aims to bid for in-kind support and grant funding for specific programmes that deliver goals set out in the Counter Extremism Strategy. Building Bridges were successful in their bid…
In September 2019 Jo went back for a third time to Sacred Heart school in Liverpool. She spent a day with the first year of six form and another day with the second year. After starting with her story, she then asked them to look at themes throughout the day in small groups. The areas they covered were, forgiveness, media, their anger and sense of injustice and questions such as what is a terrorist. In the afternoon they worked on…
26 May 2019 Hundreds of people took park in three-day walk in memory of murdered journalist Lyra McKee. Lyra was shot dead by a dissident republican group, the New IRA. The 70 mile walk from Belfast to Derry took place five weeks after the journalist was murdered. Jo Berry was among the walkers. On the flight I was remembering my first moment landing in Belfast in 1985, when I saw British tanks out of the aircraft window and was stopped…
Jo Berry with some students at Langdon Park School which is one of the schools we will be working in. New Funding Building Bridges is thrilled to have received funding to work in school in Tower Hamlets. The project will be carried out in schools, ‘Schools partnership for empathy based mutual respect’. As well as being deliver the work we love to do we are now part of a network of others countering extremism. We are providing a positive alternative to…
Discussion: Building Bridges for Peace with Jo Berry and Patrick Magee November 13 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm £4 – £5In 1984, the IRA bombed the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, killing five people, including Jo Berry’s father. Pat Magee was later imprisoned for planting the bomb. In an incredible feat of human forgiveness and reconciliation, they now work together to promote peace and conflict resolution throughout the world. This powerful talk is part of a series of events at Left…
We need your help right away to prepare for our splash of autumn activity which will build our impact: • getting a book and a film about empathy as the route to peace out in the world • helping vulnerable young people in this country stand up to radicalisation • attending gatherings to influence leaders seeking better approaches to securing peace around the world Promoting more widely We have a publisher interested in Jo’s story and we are very keen…
C General Information 9-10 May 2017 – Dublin, Ireland – “Conflict in Europe: Meeting the Challenge,” the IIRP’s Europe conference, will address significant issues manifesting in the current world climate. Leading practitioners and thinkers who are shaping the emerging social science of restorative practices will discuss radicalisation, migration and immigration, the disruptive impact of political movements, and sexual abuse and exploitation. “A lot of things that were somewhat fixed in our society are becoming more fluid,” says IIRP…
I spoke at three events in the last week of November and each has been amazing and powerful. The first event was Rising 2016 held in Coventry Cathedral where there were speakers for two days, the panel on violent extremism interested me greatly and Lord Alderdice asked us all in challenging times to find new ways to live and engage with those we don’t like, how true. I saw a powerful film on Northern Ireland called ’Born and Reared’…
Jo Berry and Patrick Magee spoke to the Scarriff Foroige Youth Club as part of the Scariff Festival in Country Clare, Ireland. Tracey Doyle, the youth leader, wrote after, ‘It was an absolute pleasure to meet you both and listen to your story. Our members are carrying on the valuable conversation that was started during your workshop. I hope that they continue on to make the world a better place and continue to be ambassadors for peace and resolution following…