Stencils produced by young people of themselves and the writer to promote Equality and Diversity
A DONEGAL writer helping to build peace in England’s troubled inner cities has offered to help settle neighbour disputes in his home county.
Rathmullan writer, Patrick Kearney, is leading a major creative writing and visual arts project in some of the more deprived cities and towns in England in the aftermath of the riots there in 2011.
‘People Make Cities Not Buildings’ will run for three years and involve hundreds of young people.
Patrick told us: “There was serious unrest among many young people in England prior to the street riots in 2011. And contrary to what the press and media said, not all of them were unemployed and from ethnic communities.
“Indeed, many were indigenous white English, middle-class, and in full employment. Speaking with them, I discovered that most were angry at what they perceived to be blatant acts of corruption and abuse by politicians, bankers, celebrities, and the religious, for which no one was seemingly held accountable.
“Stoking their anger too was the increasing levels of unemployment, the rising costs of living, and huge amounts of public money being spent on ‘white elephant’ projects whilst at street level society was fracturing.
“To make an immediate and direct intervention to defuse street tensions and the likelihood of further riots, my project takes place on street corners and in back alleys where young people hang-out.
“When, at the start of the project, one rather hostile young fella demanded to know from me, ‘Why are you over here…what do you know?’ I think I successfully broke the ice by replying, ‘Well, being a Belfast lad, I thought I’d show you lot how to riot properly!’
“Once securing the trust of the young people, the other project workers and I have enabled the young people to refocus and redirect their amazing energy, talents, and aspirations into positively promoting themselves and other young people as valuable and active citizens with much to contribute to society.
“Now, through their street poetry and art, the young people are promoting Human Rights and Fairness for young carers caring for relatives with Dementia, young people experiencing homelessness, disenfranchised from wider society, volunteering in communities as peer mentors in peace-building. This experimental project has been such a success so far, it will be rolled-out to other locations in the UK and Ireland in the future – and that can only be for the common good.’”
If you are a community group in the Border Region and would like to discover more about the intervention work that Patrick Kearney does to build better communities experiencing civil conflict including gang warfare, anti-social behaviour, disputes between neighbours or family feuds, please contact the writer via: patrickkearney@mail.com / www.patrickkearneywriting.com