Speech by Sabina Higgins at the launch of the newly formed group ‘The Sisters of Faith for Peace’
Islamic Cultural Centre, Clonskeagh, 19th March 2015
I am very pleased to be here with you this evening and I would like to congratulate the Sisters of Faith for Peace for organising this important event at the Islamic Cultural Centre under the wonderful title ‘Building Bridges and Nurturing Peace through Dialogue and Understanding’. I wish to thank Doris McCann and the Committee Members for inviting me to come here today. May I also thank all of you for your warm welcome.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to pay tribute to the vision and wisdom of those generous and concerned women who decided to come together to uphold the values of peace and inclusion that we want to remain at the heart of Irish society.
This gathering is taking place at a time when there is a great need for people of good will to work at creating a real understanding through dialogue – to create and to nurture the enduring peace that can come from inclusion.
If we are to achieve this we must all be committed to the task of facing, opposing and exposing any and all of the incipient forms of racism, exclusion or invitations to hate and violence that unfortunately are again rearing their heads in too many parts of our planet. An intolerance that is often grounded in ignorance and fear of the Other; and a violence that is often carried out in the name of a very narrow, appallingly distorted, interpretation of sacred texts. Far too many are placed at risk – available to the purveyors of competing fundamentalisms. These threats were again brought home to us recently in Paris through the murder of a satirical paper’s entire editorial team, and a further four men coldly assassinated in an act of pure anti-semitism. Today we are learning of the tragic developments in Tunisia. Our sympathies and love to all concerned.
The task of responding to the root causes of such threats is of immense complexity. Indeed these new forms of violence are arising at the intersection of global geopolitical tensions, individual trajectories and beliefs, and complex structures of social inequalities.
Recent wars, deep inequalities, failed economic expectations, large scale unemployment, particularly among the young are providing a context which provides a seed-bed for those who wish to exploit those who are, and feel, excluded – who are often located in the ghettos of European cities, and in the ghettoes of cities in many parts of the world.
There are, moreover, great risks inherent in the responses that might emerge from fear and anger among our citizens, as well as in the obvious potential for political exploitation of these fears. The anti-Islamic marches that have recently taken place in Germany and seem to be gaining traction in other parts of Europe; the rise of populist and xenophobic parties in so many European countries – all these phenomena are grave matters of concern for all of us, women and men of different faith and of no faith at all, who wish to craft a citizenship that is shared and carried by all, beyond the diversity of our particular social, cultural, religious, or ideological backgrounds.
There is a lack of knowledge of History that is fuelled on ignorance and distortion. There is a failure to have an informed understanding of both each other’s belief systems and different ways of understanding our shared world. This is the significance of the task that gatherings like this are undertaking.
In all of the belief systems of the planet, in most of the human rights approaches of the world, there is a shared use of the concept of dignity – the dignity of the human person. That surely is a good place to begin.
This is exactly what The Sisters of Faith for Peace are aiming to achieve: by drawing on an open version of their respective beliefs, and values they are working to foster an atmosphere of dialogue and mutual understanding that can obviously benefit Irish society as a whole, but also go beyond it.
It is particularly meaningful that this project be carried by women. Indeed, as you are all keenly aware, women and their rights are often the first targets of religious fundamentalisms of all sorts, and it is both appropriate and important that women of all backgrounds, unite in order to voice their alternative vision of the world – one that rejects exploitation - one that promotes equality, dignity and peaceful co-existence; a world where the UN Women’s Global Great Goal of full equality for women and complete gender equality and an end to gender violence, can be achieved by the target date of 2030.
In January of this year, President Michael D. Higgins and I had the pleasure of welcoming the current UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the post-2015 sustainable development goals, Ms Amina Mohammed, to Áras an Uachtaráin. She spoke of the terrible problem of gender violence and she also emphasised the connections that exist between socio-economic development, human rights, and the rights of women. Indeed many of the conflicts that currently tear our world thrive on poverty and a new geography of inequalities, which sees ever increasing and unsustainable difference between the very rich, and those in the enclaves of misery and exclusion characterised by unemployment and lack of opportunities. These inequalities and appalling conditions threaten the basics of democracy itself.
Dear Friends,
It is of immense importance to seek to build friendships and understanding between peoples and to construct peaceful collective resolutions to the root cause of conflicts.
What can be done?
Education is fundamental to the formation and transformation of young people both as a subject and the formation of agents in society. Our schools curricula and pedagogical methods reflect the kind of humanity a society seeks and wishes to nourish a society that seeks the formation of good character and good values; a society whose value is grounded in knowledge, is ethical, inclusive, tolerant and one that sees nobody or no people on the planet as the outsider – the feared Other. It is particularly relevant that education be accommodating of plurality, of multicultural realities, of multi-faith, humanitarian, or agnostic or atheistic beliefs.
This curricula needs to have a very broad base. It needs religious culture education so that students come to know diversity; come to know and respect what is at the core of all the different religious beliefs and values; be aware of their traditions and festivals, and their significance. Celebrating the various cultural festivals of different countries brings a sense of the multi ethnic global communities living on the planet, allows one to enter their experience and develop appreciation and celebration.
Much great work is being done by so many excellent teachers in so many schools now. The Educate Together - Integrated Schools and Schools with multi-racial and multi ethnic students have developed a wonderful ethos of inclusion and celebration of difference, indeed to the point of it being the norm. I find particularly impressive those schools who have their school songs which celebrate their school – with their themes of happiness, care and inclusiveness. In the last two weeks I was so overjoyed to hear the glorious happy school songs of the 650 children at the multi racial school in Castleknock and in another school in Waterford. Such a daily affirmation must so beneficial in character formation and create confidence to resist bullying and exclusion.
To sum up then about education:
I think education should be within an integrated education system where young people are educated together in multicultural and multi religious schools where the curricula could include:
Education in Religious Culture and their Cores;
Education in moral formation through knowledge of human rights and civil rights common to all faiths and secular systems;
Knowledge of International Human Rights as laid down by UN charter on Human Rights and on Children’s Rights and signed up to by many countries.
To develop an understanding of ethics;
History;
Philosophy – so as to learn the history of thought and to learn how to think and how to evolve into a consciously authentic person; a person with good values and critical ability and judgment; so as to be able to discuss and argue for one’s good values, and the dignity of the authentic self, with moral authority, compassion, love and understanding.
From such an education we might come to understand that we have responsibility in the face of discrimination, intolerance and inequality - to take a stand that we are morally obliged to behave with courage and to break silence. We must not drift towards helplessness or despair in the face of new challenges. Silence, historically - certainly in retrospect - can be regarded as complicity.
I think ones biggest regrets looking back on ones life can be the times when one had the understanding and impulse but failed to call up ones courage to act or to speak out. It might have, had one spoken, achieved good or help prevent unhappy consequences.
Ours are times when democracy and social cohesion are being gravely challenged by new forms of fanaticism and intolerance and inequality, whose ramifications reach out to the heart of our societies.
I know that all of us here this evening share a particular sense of urgency and gravity as we are challenged to rekindle, and make conscious the values of pluralism and tolerance that we want to remain firmly rooted at the heart of Irish society.
Ireland is unique in that it is the only Western European country without a political party that promotes an explicitly racist and xenophobic agenda; be we should never take this state of things for granted. We are not immune from the consequences of wider conflicts or from the atmosphere of distrust and identity closure that is gaining ground in other parts of the world. Peace and social cohesion are treasures that need constant nurturing.
For all these reasons, I want, once again, to commend very warmly the open and inclusive conversation instigated by The Sisters of Faith for Peace. Their shared commitment to overcome any barriers grounded in prejudice, ignorance or fear; their willingness to push the boundaries of their own beliefs and values, and their conception of religious faith as a wellspring of genuine intercultural dialogue.
May I, then, wish you all every success in your future endeavours and assure you of my solidarity and support: I am wholeheartedly with you to affirm that the world we want to bequeath to our children and the future generations is one of peace, of open religious practice, and of harmonious intercultural relations. Let us then continue to craft, together, a world of inclusion for and openness to the Other.
Thank you for your attention.