________________________________________________________________________________ 13, 14 Sherwin, Sean, Fianna Fail (Apr 2014) interviewed in person Society and south may also wish to move from being prisoners of the past to one which commemorates whilst celebrating and thus a situation by moving from one perspective to ‘depoliticise’ another and events that could be delivered could encapsulate or project a whilst ‘commemorating celebrating’ theme has been said by others that commemoration is often not so much a case of “It remembering the past but making a political point about the present. Therefore issues ‘depoliticising’ is challenging. Moving from one perspective to another actually might not necessarily depoliticise things but more so emphasise that different political and cultural perspectives and interpretations of these events that exist. But that’s not a bad thing. It is not asking people to agree or buy into the interpretation of the side’ merely helps to builds openness to and perhaps understanding of ‘other – the views of others” and part of the theme could therefore be a consequence of “the ‘celebration’ inclusive approaches to commemoration i.e. that such approaches promote tolerance and inclusivity – and an acceptance of difference. This is more so an implicit of diversity in a modern ‘celebration’ context rather than a celebration of an actual anniversary. Many people could find the concept of events such as WW1 and Civil War etc. (and the loss of life etc) as a difficult and ‘celebrating’ putting concept. If dissonant groups want to display force or put their particular view up a flagpole there is very little that can be done to stop that and it’s probably futile even trying but what we can do is take every effort to present a shared story and shared approach where that can be organised” 14 H.E. Chilcott D. (British Ambassador to Ireland Apr 2014) concurs with this and stated that the British embassy Ireland wishes be part of an approach to commemorations allows people to express “to themselves in the way they want to but in a context where doing that isn’t seen by other groups as being hostile” 15.
________________________________________________________________________________ 13, 14 Sherwin, Sean, Fianna Fail (Apr 2014) interviewed in person Society and south may also wish to move from being prisoners of the past to one which commemorates whilst celebrating and thus ‘depoliticise’ a situation by moving from one perspective to another and events that could be delivered could encapsulate or project a ‘commemorating whilst celebrating’ theme “It has been said by others that commemoration is often not so much a case of remembering the past but making a political point about the present. Therefore ‘depoliticising’ issues is challenging. Moving from one perspective to another actually might not necessarily depoliticise things but more so emphasise that different political and cultural perspectives and interpretations of these events that exist. But that’s not a bad thing. It is not asking people to agree or buy into the interpretation of the ‘other side’ – merely helps to builds openness to and perhaps understanding of the views of others” and “the ‘celebration’ part of the theme could therefore be a consequence of inclusive approaches to commemoration – i.e. that such approaches promote tolerance and inclusivity and an acceptance of difference. This is more so an implicit ‘celebration’ of diversity in a modern context rather than a celebration of an actual anniversary. Many people could find the concept of ‘celebrating’ events such as WW1 and Civil War etc. (and the loss of life etc) as a difficult and concept. If dissonant groups want to display force or put their particular view up a flagpole there is very little that can be done to stop that and it’s probably futile even trying but what we can do is take every effort to present a shared story and shared approach where that can be organised” 14 H.E. Chilcott D. (British Ambassador to Ireland Apr 2014) concurs with this and stated that the British embassy Ireland wishes “to be part of an approach to commemorations allows people to express themselves in the way they want to but in a context where doing that isn’t seen by other groups as being hostile” 15. putting
Decade-of-Commemorations-Leveraging-the-Past-to-Impact-on-the-Present.docx