The Steel Shutter Revisited: The Importance of Encounter

Abstract

The author provides a personal perspective on the legacy of the Troubles and relevance of the Steel Shutter project, a community-based initiative aimed at promoting peace and reconciliation. Drawing on their experience as a peacemaker and psychotherapist, the author emphasizes the transformative power of human encounter and highlights unique cross-community initiatives, which have brought people from different communities together. The author argues that such initiatives have played an important role in building bridges between divided communities and promoting empathy, understanding, and healing. The author also notes the challenges posed by the language of polarization, dehumanization, and othering in contemporary political discourse, emphasizing the need to protect and promote human encounter in the face of such challenges.