Tuesday, September 11
8:00 p.m.
Sutherland Hall
Lecture--Progressive Loyalism: A Vision of a Shared Future in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.
Dr. Anthony Novosel form the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh will kick of this year's Academic Forum with his talk "Progressive Loyalism: A vision of a Shared Future in Northern Ireland in the 1970s." The "accepted wisdom" concerning the "peace process" in Northern Ireland posits that the IRA, Sinn Fein and the "pan-Nationalist Front" (Irish-America, Bill Clinton, The Republic of Ireland, the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and even the Pope, drove the Northern Ireland Peace process. One cannot understate what Republicanism to end the conflict, between 1988-2007. However, the Republican narrative is only part of the story of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. Another process that underpinned Northern Ireland's current peace process, took place within Progressive Loyalism in the 1970s. This process, if allowed to develop and find its own voice could have transformed Northern Ireland and ended the bloodshed 20 years earlier. However, for reasons not always clear, it was not allowed to develop and in fact found itself under attack from all sides in Northern Ireland. Therefore, this talk will focus on the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Volunteer Political Party, and the Progressive Unionist Party and examine what they proposed and why. Then we will study the pressures, problems, resistance, and political attacks they faced and why they faced these, as they attempted to create an independent and progressive Loyalist voice and a vision of a "Shared Future" for all, Catholic, and Protestant, in Northern Ireland.
Audience: ISLLC members and CBA LLC members
Cost: FreeSponsored by: European Studies Center, Global Studies Program, International Studies Living Learning CommunityFor more information, contact Veronica Dristas - 412-624-2918 dristas@pitt.edu
