Peter Emerson (born 1943) is a political activist in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Born in Britain, Emerson's father was from

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, and his mother from

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He served as a submariner in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, where he was promoted to first lieutenant. In 1970, he began teaching in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

. He moved to

in 1975, living just off the Shankill Road, where he worked in a

youth club A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, v ...

.Good to meet you... Peter Emerson
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 20 July 2012 There, he became active in the Ulster Liberal Party and also with Friends of the Earth. In 1980, he and Jennifer Fitzgerald were the leading founders of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in

. In 1984, he attracted attention when he broke into a civil defence bunker and obtained papers which appeared to indicate Soviet military targets in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. Ed Moloney, "Ecology unlikely to make inroads", '' Irish Times'', 12 January 1985 Emerson stood unsuccessfully as an independent in Area E of

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

at the

1977 Northern Ireland local elections Elections for Local government in Northern Ireland, local government were held in Northern Ireland in May 1977. The elections saw good performances by the four largest parties: the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Social Democratic and Labour Party ...

. In the 1981 elections, Emerson stood as one of three "Ecology" candidates; with 202 votes, he was the most successful, although he did not come close to election. This led him to become one of the most prominent founders of the Ecology Party in the province, in 1983. The party remained extremely small, with only 18 members in 1985, when it renamed as the "Green Party". Emerson stood for it in Oldpark at the 1985 Northern Ireland local elections, then again in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. Emerson also stood for the Greens in Belfast North at the 1997 general election, taking 537 votes, and in the equivalent constituency in the 1982,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, 2003 and 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly elections. His best result was in 2007, when he took 590 votes. For the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each List o ...

election in 1996, he not only stood in Belfast North, but also took second place on the party's top-up list. Ultimately, the party placed eleventh across Northern Ireland, leaving it as the best-placed party not to receive two top-up places.Northern Ireland Elections,
The 1996 Forum Elections: Regional List of Candidates
In the 1980s, Emerson was also prominent in the New Ireland Group, and was an organiser of its 1986 "People's Convention". This inspired him to devote time to promoting consensus-based methods of voting, and during the 2010s he was the director of the de Borda Institute, www.deborda.org

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Peter Living people Green Party Northern Ireland politicians Royal Navy submariners 1943 births

See also

References