Ireland has been given a unique opportunity to solve the challenges presented by the growing diversity in Irish society through thoughtful dialogue rather than through fear and violence, according to human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan when he visited Ireland to address an integration conference in Kilkenny.
The Canadian genocide expert who helped to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after the 1994 genocide teaches at McGill University as well as being involved in ongoing human rights initiatives. “For the first time in human history we cannot define ourselves through otherness, rather we have to define ourselves inclusively,” said Professor Akhavan, who nevertheless acknowledged the difficulties of reframing our identity. Reflecting on Irish emigration, Professor Akhavan said that relative to our population, the Irish diaspora is the biggest in the world and has had an enormous influence on global culture.
Professor Akhavan was joined by a number of speakers including Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental and singer-songwriter Sharon Murphy, best known for her stint in The Voice UK. Tomi Reichental described his experiences in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and emphasised the fact that genocide doesn’t begin in the gas chamber but actually starts with whispers and discrimination.
Sharon Murphy’s impassioned presentation moved the audience to tears as she described her experiences growing up as a black child in the Ireland of the 1960s and 70s. Other speakers at the Kilkenny event were Ann O’Sullivan, journalist and psychotherapist, who explored the consequences of exclusion for both individuals and society while Karen McHugh from Doras Luimni ably presented an overview of asylum seeking and how it differs from other forms of migration. Donnah Vuma, currently seeking asylum in Ireland for herself and her three children, completed the line-up and gave a riveting presentation in which she described asylum as ‘a second chance, a chance to be safe and not in constant fear for yourself and your children.’
The event was participatory and covered all the topics currently in the news around this subject from recognition of Irish traveller ethnicity to the current situation in the Mediterranean.
The one-day “The New Irish as Us” conference was hosted by the Irish Bahá’í Community and attracted upwards of two hundred participants.
