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Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?. Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector. Katy Radford Sara Templer. Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector. Commission: Northern Ireland Community Relations Council (CRC) Aims:

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Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

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  1. Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns? Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector Katy Radford Sara Templer

  2. Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector • Commission: Northern Ireland Community Relations Council (CRC) • Aims: • Capture voices and experience • Consider challenges and opportunities • Explore commemoration, memorialisation, trans-generational issues • Develop recs. for Govt., the Commissioner and the Sector (http://www.community-relations.org.uk/filestore/documents/crc-voices-report.pdf) "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  3. Five key themes • Language • Relationships and Trust Building • Networks of Support • Trans-generational Issues • Material Memorialisation "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  4. Focus of Presentation 1. Methodology • KEY OBSERVATION: Research methodologies need to be tailored to suit the needs and circumstances of individuals in this sector. 2. Theatre of Change • Language • Commemoration in the changing context • Symbolic and Material Memorialisation "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  5. 1. Methodology Relationships, Trust building and networks of support • ‘Open Heart’ (relationships and community and personal development) • Ethics (use of language, encourage dialogue) • Action-based (common ground, direction, recommendations) "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  6. 2. The theatre of change Language, Commemoration and Trans-generational issues • Changing policy and governance context • Role players: • OFMDFM • Victims’ Commissioners • Statutory Service Providers • Community-based Victim/Survivor Support Groups • Families, Young People • ‘Remembering’ as: • Commemorative sites and activities • Service delivery, listening, acknowledgement "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  7. Language – Definitions and key words • Victims • Typology • Victims of paramilitary, sectarian and anti-state action • Victims of actions taken by the state • People who have ‘disappeared’ or been disenfranchised, exiled, killed by ‘their own’ or otherwise vanished • People who have been traumatised or suffered as a result of witnessing, incorporating, embedding violence in their psyche. • Perpetrators • Combatants, Paramilitaries, Sate Actors, Armed Groups • Conflict/War/Troubles • Survivors • Other Terms and Concepts "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  8. Commemoration and Memorialisation (1) • The purpose of remembrance • “To hold the sacrifices made by loved ones in honour and respect.” • “To ensure that the sacrifices and suffering of the past are not forgotten.” • “To communicate the message that “never again” should such loss be suffered.” • “To ensure that the stories and experiences of the past are not lost to our own and future generations: to keep the stories alive.” • In the case of memorials: “to provide a visual focus and in some cases a beautiful physical place for remembrance and peaceful reflection. "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector“ - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  9. Commemoration and Memorialisation (2) • Private and public commemoration • The role of education • ‘Sharing’ and commemoration • Shared memorials "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  10. Recommendations made in relation to ‘remembering’ • For Government • For Commissioner(s) • For Community Groups "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  11. Victims, Survivors and Political Power • In international experience • In the local context Memory can be “manipulated to serve political power, and the ability to manipulate memory is, in itself, a measure of that power”. - Hirsch, Genocide and the Politics of Memory (1995:22) "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

  12. Contact details Dr Katy Radford katyradford@rocketmail.com 078 08586842 • Institute for Conflict Research 2, Duncairn Gardens Belfast BT15 2GG 028 90742682 Sara Templer saratempler@gmail.com 078 66842122 "Hearing the Voices: Sharing Perspectives in the Victim/Survivor Sector" - Victims, Survivors or Political Pawns?

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