Taken singly, each presentation at the Peace Festival in Caernarfon was very good. Taken together, they were truly remarkable.
Mabon Ap Gwynfor spoke from the heart, recalling a tradition of peace in Wales that has a real political and cultural impact and which we must remake everyday; invoking famous names like Henri Richard but also ordinary people and processes - “meetings, writing letters, conferences...”
Nicholas Wheeler from the David Davies Memorial Institute of Aberystwyth University discussed “trust-building between enemies in the nuclear age”: trust is “both elusive in conception, but also critical to our global future”.
Patrick Magee, a former member of the IRA involved in the 1984 Brighton Hotel bombing, and Jo Berry, whose father was killed in the explosion, exhibited incredible courage in speaking together on the enormous potential of reconciliation.
Together the presentations offered the emotional, intellectual and philosophical prospect that the journey to peace is the destination, substantiating Gandhi's maxim: “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”
On a lighter note, come evening Red Stripe (see above) had us up and dancing, while Gwilym Morus' acoustic set was mellow wonder and his CD Dan Y Nen (Under the Heavens) is highly recommended.