1.3 Breaking the mould

As you have seen, there are many different things that can restrict the choices you have (the options that are available to you) and influence your decisions – what you choose to do. Some are easy to identify. But many are harder to see. People are influenced by what they know and the surroundings social systems and structures they grow up in. For example, the values of the political system you grow up in, whether you live in a wealthy area or an area of high deprivation, an urban or rural area, whether you live in a mixed/diverse/international community or one rooted in its local history. The society we are born into has its own history, tradition and culture as well as economic, political and social factors which shape how we grow up. In turn, these factors can condition or constrain or limit us in what we believe and how we think.

Activity 3: William’s story: Part 1

Timing: 15 minutes

Now watch this short video in which William who you met earlier, tells his story of how he became involved in the conflict in Northern Ireland as a 15-year-old boy and the decisions he made at that time.

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Transcript: Video 1: William’s story: Part 1

I was born and reared in an area not far from here. So, although I’m not from the Shankill, I’m from another area of North Belfast. And this is a community that I lived in, very similar to the boys you’ve heard about during this course. And as a boy growing up in the early '60s, it was easy to navigate my way through this community. And by that, what I mean is, born into a Protestant Unionist Loyalist family my mother taught me religiously to be a respectful child, to attend Sunday school, to attend church, to attend all those things that more or less young people at the time took part in

What she inducted me into was a way of life that was about respect, and that was about understanding of others. And I say that because the community I lived in at the time was a mixed community. And in Northern Ireland terms, mixed is usually denoted as Catholic Nationalist Republican, as it’s now known as, and Protestant Unionist Loyalist And in those days, there was quite a lot of work, which was why people moved towards this community

That changed significantly in 1969, because my previous comment of being able to navigate this community easily that became harder because at the time with the outbreak of conflict in 1969, it wasn’t safe if you were in a minority in some of these communities. In actual fact, families were moving to communities where they felt safer because they were in the majority. And in some instances, people were forcibly removed from their communities. And with the development of the area that I lived in, this resulted in the displacement of people from this part of North Belfast. So, Protestants by and large moved outside of the inner-city suburb to the outskirts of North Belfast.

I moved in the early '70s to one of these communities, which was at the time, the second biggest housing project in Western Europe, to an area called Rathcoole.

And at this period of 1972, bear in mind that with the rise in the extremism within the conflict - by that, what I mean is in 1969, less than 30 people had died; but by 1972 almost 500 people were killed in a single year. So, at this time, young men - like the young men you’re hearing on this course, albeit from a different generation - were faced with a number of choices that in some cases, may have been enforced on people, but by and large a lot of young men from both communities made the decision, rightly or wrongly, for some of them for personal or public reasons to become active within the conflict, and I was one of those young men. As a boy at 15, I engaged in the armed conflict from a Loyalist perspective and was active for the next two years until my subsequent incarceration in Long Kesh.

You may be forgiven for questioning me for my reasons for making the choices that I made, but at the time, particularly within Loyalist communities, there was a perception from within the community that these were communities under siege, and young men felt that the conventional response to the armed activity from what at the time was considered indiscriminate Republicanism, was that the only option was to fight fire with fireI was a young boy at the time who had this perception, so my choice I believed at that the time was limited. I wasn’t articulate enough, or au fait enough with the political situation to see beyond the immediacy of the situation I felt that young Loyalists were in, so I took the course, as did hundreds of others, and joined paramilitaries. But of course, as I’ve said, that led to my incarceration in Long Kesh prison camp.

End transcript: Video 1: William’s story: Part 1

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Video 1: William’s story: Part 1

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• What questions does his story raise for you?
• What kinds of social issues might have limited William’s choices?
• From hearing his story as a 15-year-old boy what do you imagine his future might have held?

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Discussion

In your own lives, there are some things you can’t easily change or that are outside of your control, whether personally or in the society in which you live. But there are things that you do have some control over right now, such as how you use your own mind to think about things and how you use this thinking to inform the decisions you make. This can also change how others see you and can help you make a positive contribution the world.

The South American educationalist Paulo Freire (1921–1997) described how people’s freedom to be more than what they already know, is conditioned by their social context – or the reality in which they live. But that wasn’t the end of the story for Freire. He was also interested in how change happens. Freire developed a radical approach to education with communities, empowering people to use learning and knowledge to expand their understandings of themselves, their social structures and how to change things.

This use of knowledge is something that William has done in his life. In the next video, William is reflecting on his choices and decisions, while in prison and after he returns to his community from prison. His story begins in the compounds of the Maze and Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland, where William was imprisoned for 13 years. From here he talks about the choices he made after this release from prison following the paramilitary ceasefires in 1994 and following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Activity 4: William’s story: Part 2

Timing: 15 minutes

Watch the video and then consider the questions that follow.

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Transcript: Video 2: William’s story: Part 2

WILLIAM

Within this regime in Long Kesh, a number of things occurred. So, you were encouraged by the older men, particularly to think differently about the circumstances that led to your incarceration in Long Kesh. So, by that, I use the term politicisation because you were being called on to self-reflect. And in that self-reflection, one of the things that you were being directed to was self-directed education. And I welcomed this with both hands, I did some short courses with The Open University, I’m still collaborating with them to this day. And I think on my release then I was a self-directed, more analytical thinking young man.

In returning back to the community, the North Belfast community that I had been arrested from, things hadn’t changed significantly much. We were still living separately; we were still worshipping separately; we were still employed separately; we were still housed separately; we were still socialising separately and so on.

And in actual fact, the Unionist community were not very welcoming of former Loyalist prisoners. And for a number of years, I struggled to reintegrate back in this community.

And at the time also, I had a family of my own. So, I made my own way in life. On being released, I set up home with a woman that I had settled down and married, and I set out not to have my children brought up in the similar circumstances that I had been brought up. So, I moved to a mixed community, I should say - where Catholics and Protestants were encouraged to do all those things that I’ve just mentioned that they didn’t do in other communities. And one of those things was to educate our children together, and I sent two of my children to an integrated school, that was at the first time, the original integrated school in Northern Ireland. And my rationale for doing that, was to widen their horizons. So, I would argue that at the time, being a young man, having the limited choices that I have outlined, recognising that in retrospect, I had a limited imagination. I didn’t aspire to be anything beyond the immediacy of my situation. I didn’t want my own children following the similar path as I followed.I know that the world is a smaller place these days and I aspire beyond the immediacy of Northern Ireland. And I wanted my children to do the same.

So, in 1998 the opportunity was afforded me to play a different role within my community because in the mid '90s we had the development of ex-prisoners projects that emerged following the ceasefires in 1994. I began volunteering with the Ex-Prisoners Interpretive Centre [EPIC] and one of the things I volunteered in doing, was working with young men. And my rationale at the time was I could see in those young men, me 30 years earlier, and what I wanted them to do was deter them from following the path that men like myself had followed previously. And I set out then to be a youth worker by getting a diploma in Informal and Community Education; following that up with a degree in Youth and Community Work and then subsequently in 2011 graduating with a Doctorate of Philosophy.

So, I argue at times that I have a foot in both camp, and what I mean by that is I can argue that I’ve lived the experience of being someone who was immersed in the conflict, but also have sufficiently become a more intelligent, articulate individual to talk about the circumstances of that situation. And this then brings me right up to the present situation. What I’m attempting to do is ask these young men to think about the choices they make in their lives; ask them to think about the pathways they follow; ask them when at times they’re drawn in the negative decisions to consider what the consequences might be on them and others, so that ultimately, they have a wider horizon and a raised opportunity and aspiration to be more than they currently are now.

End transcript: Video 2: William’s story: Part 2

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• Is there anything that surprised you about William’s story?
• Can you give some examples of the decisions he made as an adult, after returning to the community?
• What are some of the changes William describes in his ways of thinking about the world?

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Discussion

You may be surprised that William chose such a different pathway than the one he pursued as a teenager. In his reflections, William gives different examples of decisions he made as an adult, based on his personal values, that contrast with those he made as a young man. He describes choosing to live in a mixed community and to educate his children in in an integrated school [cross community]. He chose to return to education and to work with young people to support them in making different choices. William mentions becoming a more articulate and self-aware person and when talking about his children, and the young people with whom he works, the importance of seeing beyond the world in which you are living or growing up.

William’s story hints at the possibility within all of us to learn to think differently and to use these skills to open alternative options or pathways. As you have seen, when making decisions, people often stick with what they know or is familiar to them. For example, when thinking about work or their future career, people may follow the same pathways as their parents or friends. You too may want to follow what you know already in life, but you can also explore different pathways. To do this you need to ‘use your head’ or thinking skills.

Let’s look at some tools to help you to develop your thinking so that choices you make are your own and not just following the crowd.