Connected Citizens

on my 18th birthday

i was given a book called the passion of

peace which was to change

my life it was given to me by its author

dr kieran mckeon who was one of the

founders of the peace people here in

northern ireland

and on the inside cover he wrote to me

may you dedicate your life

to how we as human beings might better

relate and those words have been

inscribed in my heart

as my life mission ever since

and how we’re going to better relate and

connect and understand each other

is an enormous challenge especially when

you consider

that our generation will witness more

change in our lifetimes than has

happened in the whole of the last

century

due to the technological and digital

revolutions taking place

and how we make the needs of our society

compatible with the needs of our planet

means that how we live and work and

share our world

is going to profoundly change but i

believe that that is what makes this one

of the most exciting times to be a

citizen

because never before has the individual

citizen

have the ability to shape change as they

can

right now the era in which a privileged

few will power is

over we are entering a new era

one of civic participation one

in which connected citizens drive change

through building relationships based on

shared values

and mutual respect think of greta

thundberg

and her solitary protest outside her

parliament in sweden

her call to action inspired a generation

around the world

to act and you have that power

you have that power right now

you see throughout my life as both a

lawyer and civic activist

i have become convinced of one thing

here in northern ireland

and that is that we have everything we

need

to realize the enormous potential of

both our people

and our shared home place why because of

the inspirational citizens

who quietly drive change here every day

and you are going to be part of this

connected citizens movement

of this new era of civic participation

and i’m going to share with you today

three principles three interlinked

principles that i believe we will need

as citizens

if we’re going to meet the challenges

both locally

and globally that we need to face

together they are to

listen inform and

act so first to better connect as

citizens

we need to listen we all have something

we believe in

it might be our faith our identity

our political cause and of course that’s

a really important

part of being human of being a citizen

and a lot of our life

is spent seeking out our fellow tribe

those people

who share those beliefs but if we’re

going to truly understand each other and

if we’re actually going to solve the

really complex

problems that we have to face together

then we need to do something that

requires

both courage and humility

and that is to engage with the people

with whom we

disagree now a number of years ago

i was on a leadership program in japan

with young people from

a range of nationalities from right

around the world and one evening over

dinner

a young arab man and i were talking and

i discussed with him that i was

openly gay and he told me that in his

religion

homosexuality was a grave sin

and over the coming days i could feel he

was avoiding me and this caused me to

feel

upset and a bit angry but i decided

that i would try to understand the issue

from his perspective

now the muslim delegates on the program

on a friday afternoon would go

to a prayer room to pray and i decided

to join them

i was made very welcome and at the end

of the prayer session

this young arab man came towards me he

had tears

in his eyes and he embraced me

and he said you have shown respect for

my religion

you are my brother

now neither of us changed in that moment

i am still a gay man he is still a

devout muslim we are still friends

but something much greater brought us

together

mutual respect and compassion

so what can you do to listen better well

first of all

we need to get out of our comfort zone

we need to engage with the unknown

we need to listen to the stories of the

people we don’t understand

or with whom we disagree because it’s

much easier to relate to people’s

stories

than it is with a label and we also need

to judge people

only on their values not on what church

or political party they support

you see values like compassion and

respect respect

bring us together in a way that

ideologies simply cannot

and perhaps this is what a new era of

citizen solidarity will look like

one in which we come together on based

on shared values

not on the ideologies political and

religious which have kept us apart for

far too long

and we need to tune out from the noise

we’re all guilty of shouting at the talk

radio show of being outraged on twitter

perhaps next time we need to find ways

to turn our energy

into positive action elsewhere

second to better connect as citizens we

need to inform

one of my life heroes is eileen weir who

works at the shankar women’s center in

belfast

an island has dedicated her life to the

empowerment of women

and during the brexit referendum i was

working on a civic

engagement program which worked with

groups like islands

we weren’t trying to tell people how to

vote we were simply listening to their

hopes and fears

and presenting them with informed

evidence on both sides of

the debate so that they could make up

their own minds so eileen asked me to

deliver one of these workshops to the

women in her

group and at the end of the session this

woman raised up a heart and said

i just want to say thank you no one ever

comes here to explain these things

these things to us we just get leaflets

through the door

but you came here you lessened and now i

know what i have to do

for my family those words

speak a truth to all of us because we

need to talk

more about our democracy we need to talk

about the kind of society we want to be

we need more places and spaces

in which a diverse range of citizens

with a diverse range of opinions

can come together to share their stories

to listen to each other

and to feel that they matter and they

belong in this society

we all have a responsibility to make

sure

that all citizens have access to

evidence

independent information to allow them to

make decisions

to solve challenges for their

circumstances

their community and their family not to

be told

what to do or what to think and perhaps

all of this will help to create a

culture in which

compromise is an ideal not a sellout

we also need to be more like ireland

we need to get behind the everyday

change makers

the artists the collaborators the

disruptors the entrepreneurs

those people who drive change every day

driving change isn’t easy so let’s

get behind them and perhaps we can start

by

getting our children to follow these

kind of influences

i’m convinced of one thing binary

outcomes

rarely resolve complex issues

what works far better is a diverse range

of

citizens coming together based on a

shared set of values

and collaborating to co-create outcomes

to solve the challenges that they face

together

this is far they will have far better

ideas than individually collectively

they can do much more

thirdly in order to better connect to

citizens

we need to act it said there are two

parts to our lives

the first where we grow and develop and

the second where we live out our purpose

and when your purpose awakens within you

it is a privilege

so act that voice within your head that

says

this isn’t right or i could do this

better

raise it up and act and when you act

it creates an energy to inspire and

engage others to act

too so speak up don’t

ask for permission join a political

party set up a campaign group

donate money to a cause you believe in

and whatever you do

vote you see here’s the question

what kind of society do you want for

your children

are you going to answer that question or

are you

going to continue to leave it to others

to answer

and there’s an urgency to that question

because

this generation this generation right

now

could be the first generation in the

history of this island

to grow up knowing nothing but peace and

to realize

the promise of reconciliation no

other generation has gone from cradle to

grave on this island

with that possibility we simply

cannot fail as citizens

of this connected world how will we

better relate

listen no child is an outsider

inform educate and empower others

act fire by kindness compassion

and grace know this your power as a

citizen

lies in your imagination and in our

collective imaginations

lie infinite possibilities for change

and that’s how we’re going to better

relate

that’s how we’re going to build up and

realize our home of hope and of peace

and prosperity

so let us as connected citizens arise

and go there now

you