John Hume: Northern Ireland's Pragmatist Peace-broker

Dublin, Aug 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Aug, 2020 ) :John Hume, who died Monday aged 83, campaigned tirelessly for peace in Northern Ireland, earning a joint Nobel prize for his efforts to end three decades of sectarian conflict there.

After initial aspirations to the priesthood, he devoted his life to politics and became a rare moderate voice during the violence over British control of the province of nearly two million people.

As leader of the mainly Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), he steadfastly sought -- and eventually achieved -- a non-violent path to reconciliation as the conflict killed almost 3,600.

"Too many lives have already been lost in Ireland in the pursuit of political goals," Hume said in a 1998 acceptance speech for the Nobel, which he shared with David Trimble of the pro-British Ulster Unionist Party.

"Bloodshed for political change prevents the only change that truly matter: in the human heart".

As the peace process progressed in the 1990s, Hume played a key role securing international involvement while also persuading the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group to put down its weapons.

His efforts were rewarded when Belfast, Dublin and London signed the landmark 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which saw devolved government return to the province.

"Right from outset of the Troubles, John was urging people to seek their objectives peacefully and was constantly critical of those who did not realise the importance of peace," Trimble said following his death.

Hume had been largely out of the public spotlight since resigning as leader of the SDLP in 2001, citing ill health.

In his later years he struggled with dementia and had been care for in a nursing home.

- Political beginnings - Hume was born in Londonderry in 1937, a city in Northern Ireland bordering the Republic of Ireland.

As a young man, he studied at Ireland's Catholic seminary St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, with initial plans to become a priest.

Instead, he graduated with a degree in history and French and returned to Londonderry to teach in 1965.

At the time, the city was riven by conflict between the largely Catholic nationalist community who wanted to join with Ireland and pro-British Protestant unionists.

Hume soon found work in local politics as well the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.

In 1968, "The Troubles" began when a Londonderry civil rights protest about housing and voting rights was met with police violence.

One year later, the British Army arrived in the city to preserve order, beginning a 38-year operation which saw them become the targets and perpetrators of some of the conflict's worst violence.

That same year, Hume was elected to Northern Ireland's parliament as an independent lawmaker, becoming a founding member of the SDLP in 1970.

One photo from the time shows him talking to soldiers across barbed wire barriers.

"I decided that as an elected representative it was my duty to do everything in my power to get peace on our streets," he said in his 1998 Nobel speech.

"I thought that one definite and direct way of doing so was in direct dialogue with those organisations that were engaged in violence." - Fight for peace - Hume went on to serve in the Northern Ireland assembly and in 1979 both became leader of the SDLP and a member of the European Parliament, seeking a solution to the plight of the province from outside institutions.

Election to the UK parliament in Westminster followed in 1983 and he worked to engage US politicians with the peace process -- including Ted Kennedy and later president Bill Clinton, who became heavily involved.

"Hume's ability to convey his political message and to build alliances was critical to the emerging peace process," noted National University of Ireland history lecturer Tomas Finn.

"Hume was novel in effectively bringing the different strands of the emerging peace process together and in his ability to internationalise the conflict." Whilst courting attention overseas, Hume continued to work locally, including talking to Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA.

He negotiated a four-year ceasefire with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, which set the groundwork for the 1998 peace deal that saw British troops leave Northern Ireland and allows for a referendum on unity to be held in certain circumstances.

"What you see with the life of John Hume is he was committed to peace," said University of East London criminology lecturer John Morrison.

"He sacrificed so much of his life to try and achieve this."