The Traveller Peace Pin

Travellers seeking an end to conflict

Many Travellers are deeply concerned by conflict and violence within their community and the negative impact that it is having upon their lives and those of their loved ones. Conflict and violence affects Travellers as individuals and as a group, whether or not it involves them directly. Indeed, a lot of Travellers are particularly concerned about the impact of conflict on the most vulnerable and least involved members of their families and community – their children and grandchildren.

They want a future for their children not permeated by fear of conflict or violence. A future where Travellers will not fear:

that something they say or do will cause offence and spark an argument that draws in wider family members and gets out of control;

coming under pressure to get involved in conflicts they do not want to be involved in;
the possibility of loved ones being hurt or killed through violent conflict;
the possibility of having to leave their homes, jobs and schools because of conflict;
all being tarred with the one brush and perceived negatively by the rest of society because of the actions of a few members of their community.

At times of conflict, some people get caught up in the escalation of an argument. Others do not want to see conflicts spiralling out of control. They would like people to take a step back and find more constructive and non-violent ways of sorting out arguments. However, when tensions and emotions are running high and fear prevails, it can be difficult to stick your neck out and say this.

Idea behind the Peace Pin

The idea of designing a Traveller Peace Pin was inspired by the anti-racism pin designed by John Rocha. The purpose of the Traveller Peace Pin is to give Travellers who want to see peace and healing within their community an opportunity to express this view. It is hoped that the peace pin will help to build solidarity and generate dialogue amongst Travellers on conflict in their community and finding ways of preventing and managing conflict that provide alternatives to violence.

To start the process, the Pavee Point Mediation Service invited a small group of interested Travellers to work with the artist Eamon Colman on a design for a pin. The group decided not to draw on some of the more familiar symbols associated with peace such as the dove or the handshake. They wanted something new, that reflected Traveller culture and would encourage discussion on peace building. Their design includes the letters T for Traveller and P for Peace. The shape of the old Irish letters used in the design suggests a third letter C for Community and calls to mind the idea of the Traveller community embracing peace. The old Irish letters reflect Travellers’ Irish heritage, while the copper T reflects the distinct Traveller tradition of tinsmithing and working with copper and the white enamel P symbolises peace. The Traveller Peace Pin design was launched during Traveller Focus Week 2008 with the support of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Distribution of the pins

The next step, we hope, will be to make and distribute the pins so that they can be worn by Travellers who are seeking to build peace within their community and by all those who stand in solidarity with Travellers and who believe that the organisations they work for also have a role to play in contributing to the prevention and management of conflict and building peace within the Traveller community.

In order to generate funds to produce the Traveller Peace Pin, we are inviting interested organisations to pre-order boxes of 50 pins at a cost of €150 which they can then sell to Travellers and other people in their organisations at a cost of €3 per pin. If we receive sufficient orders and funds, we will be able to go ahead and produce the pin. If we do not receive sufficient orders to produce the pin by 30 June 2009, all monies received will be returned.

Contact for pre-order

We hope that organisations involved in community development and education work with Travellers will raise awareness of this initiative amongst Travellers and take this opportunity to open up discussion of conflict and how to prevent or better manage conflict and build peace within the Traveller community.

If you would like further information about this initiative or the work of the Pavee Point Mediation Service, please contact Caroline Keane (caroline.keane@pavee.ie) or Winnie Keenan (winnie.keenan@pavee.ie) at tel. 01-8780255.

Download Order Form (PDF, 4.3MB)