What is "Cothrom"

(1)Cothrom (pronounced "kohrom" is a Gaelic word originally deriving from two words:-
"comh" (pronounced "ko" and meaning "equally") and "trom"( meaning "heavy") - hence "equally heavy" and thus "even" or "level" and finally "fair" or "equal".

(2)Cothrom is an organization that is campaigning for a peaceful settlement in N.Ireland that is equally fair and equally just to both communities there. The main aims of Cothrom are as follows:-

i)to encourage both sides in N.Ireland to accept the idea that any settlement must have the support of a majority in BOTH communities;

ii)to encourage people on both sides to see and try to understand the other side's view;

iii)to get politicians to see the humanitarian costs of some of the extreme policies that they sometimes advocate;

iv)to get all sides to accept that this problem must be worked out peacefully; (This means getting people to accept that BOTH the present violence of Republicans AND the present results of past violence (the threats of war and terror used to force the N.Ireland state into existence) are wrong and that reaching a solution will mean facing up to the past and accepting that the present results of past violence are also unacceptable.)

v)to eventually get the media and public figures to come out and publically state that neither of the two extremes are acceptable and that a solution must be sought that respects protects both traditions;

vi)to get all sides to accept that the violence will not go away (however desirable that may be) unless there is a political settlement that is just to both sides;

vii)to facilitate the move away from violence by paramilitary groups and into proper negotiations by getting them to agree to accept ANY settlement which had the support of a majority of their own people;

viii)to get the two Governments and politicians to be realistic and to come off their "high horse" when dealing with paramilitaries and more specifically to get them to accept that the existence of paramilitary groups is partly a result of their own refusal/failure to come to terms with the fact that any settlement must accept both traditions and that the people in both communities have a fundamental right to freedom;

ix)one other aim is probably to drag all the stuff that is below the surface out into the light of day as possibly one of the conditions necessary for a settlement is for people to look honestly at all aspects of the situation (for example , getting people to look honestly at the past and at the violence of the past and how in affects the present).

(3)It is inhumane, not to mention pointless , to try to impose a political settlement that leaves the people in either of the two communities unfree.We are almost at the dawn of the 21st century-Violence,oppression and the desire to subjugate people are all sicknesses that the members of the human race should be seeking to leave behind as the human race matures out of a deeply troubled adolescence.

The answer to the problems should not involve eradicating the traditions of the two main communities-the people in these two communities have much to be proud of,their history and what they have lived through as peoples have made them what they are. It is the bonds of the lack of freedom and the threats to freedom that have brought out the worst in some of the people in both communities.The answer to the problems has to involve finding some settlement that leaves the people in both communities free.

(4)It is l time for some people , including the following:-

-ALL those engaged in the use violence and terror to try to impose their will on free people;

-ALL those engaged in the use of violence and terror to try to subjugate free people and keep them in a state of oppression;

-ALL those spreading hatred through politics and advocating policies which would lead to a state of oppression and suffering for other people
to ask themselves -

"Is this the way for the human race to live?"

"Is this the way for human beings to treat each other?"

"Is this the way the human race should be moving forward towards the future?"

What use is either Republicanism or Unionism if it is going to be based on the tyranny of oppression of the people in one of the two main communities in N.Ireland?

It is time for deeply held views on both sides to be held up and measured against the yardstick of humanity.

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Note: All pf these Cothrom pages that relate to Northern Ireland were originally created at the end of the '90's/early 00's.