The May Street Covenant
We wish to reflect deeply on the issues facing our community and the wider world, and we believe we have a special mission to spearhead a forthright, pragmatic and honest discussion on how we can impact the welfare and economic success of Belfast, Ulster (and the Island of Ireland along with its principle Cities).
We are committed to providing an open, welcoming forum for the discussion of all economic issues without reference to ‘The National Question,' as we believe this is now resolved by the acceptance of the principle of consent by all the people of Ireland in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
Debate shall be entered into on the essential economic topics of today with the minimum use of certain words that we consider as having a negative impact on the development of economic reconciliation.
Words such as Republican, Unionist, Loyalist, British, Border, Exchequer, Nationalist, Sterling, Euro etc. will be progressively proscribed over an agreed time period and ultimately ‘decommissioned’ from use in the debates as a new progressive vocabulary is developed mutually by the participants.
We aim to draw on the expertise and experience of all willing speakers from across the globe and we will implore them to honour our May Street Covenant in creating a positive economic debate without reference to partisan terminology. Essentially we are declaring a verbal ceasefire within the bounds of the May Street Economic Forum and welcome all to join with us in this great mission of building a healthy and sustainable economic structure for our society which in turn supports the well being of all, especially the under privileged and marginalised.
We can only decide our futures with human integrity and self respect as we develop a vibrant economy and lay to rest the culture of dependency which has so typified life in Northern Ireland. In so doing, we encourage all others within the private and public sectors to embrace the future with true spiritual verve and honesty.
