Andrée Murphy hails from Dublin but has lived in Belfast since 1994.
She is the Deputy Director of Relatives for Justice, a national victim support NGO which provides advocacy and therapeutic support for the bereaved and injured of the conflict. Holding a Masters Degree in international human rights law, Andrée's particular expertise and research on women affected by conflict trauma has seen her provide evidence to the United Nations in Geneva and to Congressional hearings in the US.
Andrée is a columnist for Belfast Media Group and is a regular contributor to broadcast media, providing political analysis and commentary.
This has been a week of hope, despite the desperate loss of life and irreparable crimes against humanity. Simultaneous to the horror and fear we all see and feel, we are starting to see the turn of history arching, at last, towards better days.
The first time I heard “Something Inside So Strong” by Labi Siffre was one of those seminal musical moments in my life, when lyrics and melody conjured something more. The pressure on the Apartheid state of South Africa was intense and at last the momentum was with the people of a land brutalised and oppressed as part of Europe’s 19th Century Colonial adventure and shame. Nelson Mandela was still in prison, but when Labbi sang we knew that would end soon.
THE crisis facing community and voluntary organisations as we go into April is not a new story. Following Brexit (remember that?) many groups, organisations and citizens warned that this would happen. Leaving the European Union meant leaving an infrastructure that has been designed to develop innovative and progressive programmes which support conflict resolution and address economic deprivation.
It is impossible to imagine a world without violence against women. Impossible to even imagine living in a region where women might be safe. In a week where we see Natalie McNally’s murderer Gareth McCullagh convicted, and watch in despair as the details of Amy Doherty’s life and loves are shared in the wake of her murder in Derry, we must face the truth that living in the most dangerous place in Europe to be a woman has become our normal.
Political unionism is a study in small man syndrome. You don’t even need to be male, but you do need a brass neck. Sometimes you wonder if they just do it to get some high off feeling righteous, or are they just inherently bad mannered?
The issue of the definition of victims and survivors must be the most tawdry and reductive part of our political discourse.
IT is the role of the creative arts to poke at the status quo and provoke wider, broader and imaginative thinking. It is how we pay attention to the often unnoticed, appreciate the glory and beauty around us, and how we shift ourselves into creating change for the better.
IN this century law and society has determined that definitions of sexual violence are expanded to include the range of harms actually experienced, to ensure victims are at the heart of processes, rather than traditionally disbelieved or diminished. Sadly, last week the lens by which sexual violence was discussed and examined was narrow and harming for many.
ON a freezing cold Saturday night Dublin footballers won their first league game of the year against Monaghan. In post-game interviews team members refused to be filmed beside the hoarding of the League’s sponsors Allianz due to that company’s strong links to the Israeli state. Simple but determinative moments like this tell us where the people of Ireland stand on gross human rights violations, and crimes against humanity. That GAA officialdom is not listening to this is as instructive as it is shameful.
CATHERINE Connolly is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air to the Irish Presidency. Her daily lessons in how quiet respect can be more lasting, effective and powerful in a world dominated by the exact opposite qualities is something we can all be very proud of.
IT'S amazing and instructive where the red lines are drawn. Red lines should and need to be drawn on sustained engagement with an international extortioner and procurer of children for rape. It is long overdue, even if the line is a little more light pink than red if we are colour-coding actual accountability for such crimes. But I am simultaneously interested in the crimes, and the criminals, and the people with contact with criminals, that go without sanction.
WE live in a world where fascism is here and just about in the ascendancy.
COLONIALISM is back, baby! And it's as greedy and inhumane as it ever was.
WHEN the American Department of Homeland Security ICE militia murdered Renee Nicole Good they followed a tried and tested method for state murder: justification and cover-up.
THE New Year’s honours from the British King always have an added frisson here. Who in our shared society with a contested view of the legitimacy of the King’s dominion over us will accept the 'honours'?
