The peace process is not just about us, but about what we can share and do for others; about how we help those who visit this peace of ours and look for the compass points that lead away from conflict. We can help with some things, but not everything.
As we reflect on our journey in Northern Ireland, so we look out at the slaughter and starvation in other areas of conflict allowed by those who should know better. History will judge these so-called leaders for their failures, for their lack of caring and for the human toll this takes.
We have found in our conversation that the discussion always extends beyond the Northern Ireland peace process and into that wider world frame. That conversation, like the archive itself, is a work-in-progress.
A selection of photographs from the meetings.
A selection of photographs from the meetings.
Impossible Peace 2: Explore the collection
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28 July 2005: 4 o'clock and all is well
Read now to access more details of 28 July 2005: 4 o'clock and all is wellThe archive follows the next phase of the Northern Ireland peace process through the years 2005-2010 and what happened after the IRA decision to end its armed campaign at 4pm on Thursday, July 28th 2005.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: Introduction
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: IntroductionThis publication builds on our previous work -‘Impossible Peace’. Our focus now is the period 2005/10, and what happened after the IRA decision to end its armed campaign at 4pm on Thursday, July 28th 2005.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: Tea for two
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: Tea for twoThe old receipt takes me back twenty years to a Saturday morning - July 23rd 2005. I was in one of those meetings of words and silences; sitting with Richard McAuley a senior aide to then Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: Thrown to the political wolves
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: Thrown to the political wolvesA seismic shift. A rapid sequence of events. What were the sentiments around the decision to demilitarise?
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: "The taigs are getting everything"
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: "The taigs are getting everything"Tense conversations. Lists of grievances. A day of rage.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: On a wing and a prayer
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: On a wing and a prayer"The job is done. It can't be done twice." What were the doubts and narratives around IRA decommissioning?
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: The bunker in the peace
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: The bunker in the peaceNew steps and ideas after 2006: "How do you build new policing on that battlefield?"
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: Bullets in their socks
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: Bullets in their socksBrian Rowan reflects on trying to make the pieces of the peace process narratives fit together.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: The murders at Massereene
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: The murders at MassereeneMarch 7th 2009: another murder scene painted onto the canvas of an imperfect, troubled, tortuous peace.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: The missing legacy voices
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: The missing legacy voicesBrian Rowan reflects on the voices and stories of those no longer with us.
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: Where have all the leaders gone?
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: Where have all the leaders gone?The peacebuilding project took leadership - where are the leaders today?
Level: 1 Introductory
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Impossible Peace 2: An everyday kind of miracle
Read now to access more details of Impossible Peace 2: An everyday kind of miracleThe afterword to the project archive by Declan Lawn - the screenwriter and director behind BBC's "Blue Lights".
Level: 1 Introductory
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Ceasefire anniversary in Northern Ireland: 30 years of an impossible peace
Read now to access more details of Ceasefire anniversary in Northern Ireland: 30 years of an impossible peaceA story of change, drawing on the thoughts of some of those who made the ceasefires and the political agreement in Northern Ireland possible.
Level: 1 Introductory
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