{"id":1146596,"date":"2026-08-13T17:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T17:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1146596\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T17:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T17:30:19","slug":"the-blogs-northern-ireland-and-lebanon-shared-destinies-owen-kirby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1146596\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blogs: Northern Ireland and Lebanon: Shared Destinies | Owen Kirby"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the day my 94-year-old Irish mother passed this year, a neighbor \u2013 a retired Anglican vicar \u2013 stopped by and asked to pray by her bedside, despite, as respectfully explained, his being of a \u201cdifferent tradition.\u201d I have thought much about this exchange in the days since, and not just for my own clumsiness in responding with something along the lines of \u201cwell, there is only one.\u201d It has stuck with me for the simple fact that even at a time of shared loss, there was a perception of difference that felt in need of expression and acknowledgement.\n<\/p>\n

Historically, acknowledging religious differences (divides, for some) in Ireland has, at times, been uncomfortable, given the association of Protestantism with the long history of English colonialism; though, whether my Roman Catholic parents\u2019 neighbor was a descendant of old English transplants or Irish converts at some point in the past, I have no clue. And why should it have mattered? As we stood together, he reciting a prayer from his \u201ctradition,\u201d we were two neighbors, human beings, acutely aware, in the moment, of a certain shared destiny.\n<\/p>\n

In the Good Friday Agreement<\/a>, which in 1998 brought to a close a quarter century of civil conflict in Northern Ireland (aka \u201cThe Troubles\u201d), there is a term that stands out: \u201cparity of esteem.\u201d It can be defined in different but mutually inclusive ways; politically, legally, culturally, socially. At its core, \u201cparity of esteem\u201d is the acknowledgement and respect of the differences between individuals and traditions in the community, sometimes living side-by-side. Simultaneously addressing the past, the present and the future, it is the recognition that the common interests and aspirations of all citizens in Northern Ireland, in this instance (and across the entire island of Ireland), can only be realized through commitment to:\n<\/p>\n

\u201crigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions\u2026on the principles of full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social and cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination for all citizens, and of parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos, and aspirations of both communities\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Such principles of respect might seem self-evident to citizens in most western, democratic societies, but the road to their acceptance in Northern Ireland has been fraught with tragedy. The very lack of parity of esteem \u2013 respect for the \u201cdifferent tradition(s)\u201d of the other \u2013 that condemned Northern Irish to decades of bloodshed is at the root of most conflicts around the globe today; its absence between and within states and communities perpetuating ignorance and facilitating a demonization of the other that is all too common.\n<\/p>\n

Take Lebanon. Like Ireland, the country has endured its own tragic history of colonialism, followed by bloody civil strife stemming from seemingly immutable and exclusivist communal narratives. In a recent publication<\/a> by the Washington, DC-based Middle East Institute (MEI), eight authors, including Lebanese from \u201cdifferent traditions\u201d, lay out a series of steps aimed at capitalizing on recent regional developments to bring much-needed attention and, hopefully, peace to the country. Over 69-odd pages of detailed recommendations, some arguably a tad\u00a0 ambitious given the state of local affairs at present, the primary causes (and cures) for Lebanon\u2019s chronic instability are laid out; all that is but one, and it is the big one.\n<\/p>\n

Of the thousands of words in the document, only 158 (one paragraph) \u2013 contributed by a former US ambassador \u2013 hint at something other than institutional corruption, Hezbollah or Iran as a root cause of Lebanon\u2019s many ills, with just one sentence, alone, making the crucial point:\n<\/p>\n

\u201cLebanese should consider how to structure a new social contract with the Shi\u2019a that reassures them of respect for their democratic voice in the state\u2019s power-sharing formula.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

No one can dispute that in Lebanon\u2019s case, an external actor, Iran, and its local proxy, Hezbollah, are threats to regional peace and stability, and need to be tamed (and Israel\u2019s borders secured); from a US and Israeli perspective, this is the primary objective of current peace talks. But if respect for the rights of 30+ percent of the Lebanese population is just an afterthought or something to be considered along the way, then there is a fundamental problem with the construct here. Absent parity of esteem \u2013 first and foremost between all of Lebanon\u2019s confessions (or sects) \u2013 there will never be a Lebanon-Israel breakthrough, no Northern Ireland-type moment, and no end to the parasitic behavior of Lebanon\u2019s political elites. It just won\u2019t happen. The spoilers, of which there are many, won\u2019t let it. It is foolhardy to think otherwise. And \u201cthe state\u2019s power-sharing formula\u201d? Sorry, even with Hezbollah out of the picture, it doesn\u2019t offer a framework in which the Shia community will find resolution to age-old issues of prejudice and second-class citizenship; just as old arrangements in Northern Ireland, prior to the Good Friday Agreement, offered no way forward for the aspirations of that corner of the globe\u2019s disenfranchised.\n<\/p>\n

Acknowledgement of and respect for the \u201cdifferent tradition(s)\u201d of the other, when it comes to resolving conflict, especially those of a civil nature, is not some elective, aftermarket pursuit \u2013 a pleasant byproduct to be imagined when the fighting ends. It is rather the starting point, the bedrock of peace, requiring dedicated, intentional efforts and sustained, generational cultivation. It is by no means easy and not without risk. In the case of Northern Ireland, it took years of confidence-building measures, and setbacks were frequent and sometimes bloody. But through patience, local political courage and risking taking \u2013 backed by supportive, neutral third party diplomacy \u2013 the sides eventually came to accept the futility of further bloodshed and the need to \u201cfirmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all.\u201d This doesn\u2019t mean forgetting the past and those lost but rather \u201chonoring them through a fresh start\u201d (Good Friday Agreement Declaration of Support).\n<\/p>\n

The Good Friday Agreement, 28 years old this year, was not the end of the road for Northern Ireland or its southern neighbor, the Republic of Ireland, as there is still unfinished business under the terms of the agreement. It was merely the start of a long, overdue journey that will end when the majority fully recognize their common destiny; when the \u201cdifferent traditions\u201d no longer need to be acknowledged, but instead are accepted and embraced as part of the mosaic of a vibrant, stable society.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the day my 94-year-old Irish mother passed this year, a neighbor \u2013 a retired Anglican vicar \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1146597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[836,774,678,235072,311775,838,1144,16,15],"class_list":["post-1146596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-israel-at-war","tag-jewish-christian-relations","tag-lebanon","tag-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1146597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}