Tributes to John Hume - a “champion of peace” in Northern Ireland - BBC News 

The people who died for the cause are the real heroes

Well said p j Nugent x

Very well said PJ. Couldn't agree more with you on that.

Hear hear

Hear hear!

ironic that you would choose a quote from the racist former Ulster Unionist MP , Enoch Powell , to illustrate your point about political careers . Nothing personal against John Hume but I'd like to see careerists out of politics altogether .

That was really nice

This isn’t to take away from the achievement, but to expand upon it: John Hume had to share it with David Trimble. The Troubles also generated Nobel Peace Laureates in Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams for their founding of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement.

@@maireadnic8280 Sean McBride was another Irish winner of the Nobel peace prize.

@kevin gallagher, thank you. I didn’t mention MacBride’s laureate, as I was referring more specifically to the Troubles, whereas his award was reflecting a broader sphere, including Amnesty International, UNESCO, his work in Africa etc.

Shin fame? *Sinn Féin

Nor should Tony "weapons of mass destruction" Blair.

@eman987 10 tbh he also played a HUGE part in sexually abusing young girls

HistoryFan476ad he was vetter than maggie at solving it

@@endahynes2596 Yeah but Maggie was better at killing IRA members.

@@Historyfan476AD and good at finding the UDA

@Northwest River thank you!

Very true Martin. Jeremy Corbyn worked hand in glove with him to broker Clinton's ceasefire and they had enormous respect for each other. Yet Corbyn has been airbrushed out of it by the right wing establishment and their media flunkies, including the BBC.

@@frankygib great point. They should've interviewed Corbyn or perhaps the Beast of Bolsover Dennis Skinner. Hume had more in common with both.

Northwest River, and Phil Coulter.

@Jack Cade I absolutely agree. I am totally ignorant to Troubles. 98 is not that long ago as well. Wow :(

Jack Cade I was literally born in 1998. First generation to know peace and I’m greatful.

Joshua Phillips it’s not nearly as bad as it was. If you believe in perfection, you believe in a fantasy.

@KingintheMountain what alot of people dont get is there were more organisations than the ira that committed murder, none more so than the British goverment, john hume shouldn't of had to do the great work he did if the British goverment and unionists had given catholics the same rights as protestants, this could of saved alot of lives and after all who are the government to look down at the ira when they were colluding with loyalists in the murder of alot of innocent catholics and gave the death squads a free pass. But rest in peace john hume, a man who seen the bigger picture long before alot of people did. Shows you dont need to kill people to be a hero.

Your channel is cringe as is the idea of being a "centrist".

The good Friday agreement is a joke, their still planting bombs and shooting up the place to this day.

@Mac Toirdealbhaigh www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/dissident-bomb-was-intended-to-blow-up-on-board-brexit-day-ferry-1.4163813 Yea they are you spoon

@Mac Toirdealbhaigh yes they are so. Do try to keep yourself up to date. You are obviously not current at the moment. Update required.

@Mac Toirdealbhaigh The name ain't Billy, you dope, why haven't you addressed the FACTS pointed out to you via the comments on here. You still updating your IQ?

@Mac Toirdealbhaigh oh, we're talking tea cups now are we, this is getting really serious 🤣🤣🤣

What a stupid comment. First of All, this is BBC in the UK not Fox News in the States. This has a local, national and International context for viewers of this program. Bernell Trammell is know by very few over here. I had to google him. F**k s*ke man, maybe learn and understand before engaging in whataboutery.

fongfeen You cant see the point can you.

​@@harleyblue999 Enlighten me.

fongfeen morcambe and wise both with nothing to offer,enlightened enough.

@@harleyblue999 sorry, i feel guilty now. you're clearly senile. please ask the man in the blue uniform if he can up your dosage. Also i heard Irish step dancing helps, (something to do with the combination of memorising steps and physical activity) that might be a fun activity for you.

?

No. He demanded equality and social justice. And was an individual who possessed massive integrity.

@@paulduffy4585 I accept that you believe in the official narrative that John Hume altered the face of British/Unionist, overt racism. But those cosmetic changes were inevitable and in accordance with the removal of apartheid in South Africa and the USA. You may also dislike what I say, and I understand that, but it is irrefutably the reality. We can pretend that the British occupation of a part of Irish territory, established by violence and kept by violence and the threat of violence, is somehow now acceptable, but we can only do that until the British start another conflict just as they started the last one. That was another great myth: that the Irish people started the conflict, when it was started by the racist, British colonial state and its racist mobs. When they were driven out of nationalist areas, the British sent in their army, killing and marauding, thereby starting the military conflict. And no amount of eulogies to John Hume's political role can change these facts. In reality there were some cosmetic changes, but nothing has changed to alter the nature of British occupation in Ireland. Only the total removal of Britain from Ireland and its sectarian entity will take away the constant underlying threat of violence.

@@mikki3562 a lot of assumptions there pal. The irrefutable reality is that we are no longer shoveling body parts off the fuckin street. That doesn't mean that I accept the Brit narrative. On the contrary, I spend way too much time crushing it. But none of this has anything to do with the integrity of John Hume. I knew John Hume, knew Mc Guinness too. Both men dedicated their lives to their people. Don't lecture me. Your absolutism is every bit as boring as "No Surrender." As boring as the Brit narrative of "neutral arbiter in an intractable sectarian conflict." I'm going to say - rest in peace John. And you're going to leave it alone.

@@paulduffy4585 Or what? I can tell I touched a nerve but your belligerent tone doesn't disguise your false attempt at attributing to me a personal criticism of John Hume. I said nothing about him in a personal way, and I did not try to impugn his personal integrity. This is just your own mendacious way of attacking a correct and legitimate political argument. I made no assumptions, I simply gave a political critique of the man, but you can't take that. Enough said, you have no genuine counter argument to my political critique. You appear to use belligerence as your only position. You would be wrong if you think I would be intimidated by that, I'm not a novice or a newcomer to these questions. Reply if you want to, but I won't bother reading it.

@@mikki3562 alright then. Good. But, for the record, your assumption was that I accept the British narrative.

@Sheep so whats the solution?? keep infiltrate violence till u all die? i have learned that IRA even killed own irish citizens too. hate against an hate never create any solution . i really wish/hope one the you all sidelined past hate,ignorance,division,religious tension & 4 tiny countries (eng,ire,scot,welsh)jointly became a republic. even we indian have over 33 regional languages,culture & also different variation of traditions on same religion but we all stay together united as a indian. even we indians have a history of fighting between us for power and empire before brit of other europeans came to india. by division the hate will rise but by united we all can live happily. its very sad to see how all european countries gets divided or getting divided . may be we asians don't used to it we really love to stay together so there is no division or hardly any separatism movement between us. in past one powerful empire or tribes may oppressed others but fighting or hating for that was a foolishness.

Bollocks. It was an intractable mess with no sign of a winner by military means. The British Army made things worse by being deployed their beyond their original peace keeping remit and then acting in an offensive manner (clearly with unionist interests). Because of this many British Soldiers died needlessly. John Hume recognised this very early. He was more responsible than anyone for the relative peace there is now.

@@fongfeen It was not intractable. To bring peace all that was required was for the IRA to stop killing. The uncompromising stance of Thatcher and the success of the intelligence services in the intelligence war they waged against the IRA brought Adams et al to the realisation that they could not win and had to accept a political agreement which included the principle of unionist consent. I repeat, it was not Hume that stopped the IRA it was the security forces.

@@jonoessex by saying "it was not intractable" you are inferring that had it continued there would have been a winner (for want of a better word). That didn't happen and hasn't happened because IT'S NOT OVER. It's moved into a different phase. The intractability of this comes from the 2 diametrically opposing aims. The British want to keep NI in the UK (a desire i think is diminishing because it is basically a dependant state). The IRA/SF/Republicans want to the opposite. That hasn't changed The aim of the IRA/Sinn Fein/Republicans is to expel the British armed forces and achieve Irish Unity by any means. That includes politics. Which became a strategic choice to achieve this aim. If British Army intelligence were so effective what happened with the docklands bombing? That single event illustrates the opposite of your point. The Tory government were not interested in coming to the table for talks, the IRA bomb the financial centre of the world, the tory government change their mind and come to the table. That started a process that would eventually end in the Good Friday Agreement. Essentially they were forced to the table because to them bombing business in London is more damaging than bombing war veterans in Enniskillen (which was a gruesome disgusting act). You seem to be leaning heavily on the British Army's self assessment (operation banner). It's conclusions are predictable and obvious. Of course they would conclude that their operations led to the cease fire. Or else what was it all for? And Margaret Thatcher only exacerbated a bad situation. John Hume's message was consistent and correct. The British position of "not talking to terrorists" was counter productive and false. He knew it, they knew it and eventually everyone listened to him. He was right I doubt i'm ever going to convince you by pointing out anything that raises doubt in your world view or that contradicts the British perception of themselves as valiant, righteous victors.

@Mick Williams So Hume Trimble and Mcguiness made the peace not the army who were partly the reason there was no peace. There was not peace in NI because an organisation called the Irish republican Army were trying to violently overthrow the state. The Army and the British intelligence services waged a campaign to stop the paramilitaries. By the 1980's the republican movement was coming to the realisation that they couldn't beat the Brits and they were probably looking at a slow defeat so they began negotiations to end their campaign and that is where Hume, Trimble and Mcguinness came in. The IRA ended their campaign because of security force pressure not because of the aforementioned politicians.

@@fongfeen The winners were the British because they forced the IRA to end it's campaign without achieving it's objective of expelling the Brits from NI. The IRA chose peaceful politics because the violent route was closed to them by the strong line taken by Thatcher and her insistence on not giving in to them. The intelligence war against the IRA was so effective the leadership of the IRA decided their only course was to accept a deal or risk eventual total defeat. The British wouldn't negotiate but were forced to do so by IRA bombs you say. Then when they'd been forced to negotiate there was peace. British intelligence was not so effective that it could stop every bomb. It had though in the words of IRA commander Brendan Hughes created a situation in which IRA violence had been contained. THe British had been negotiating with the IRA since the conflict began. They did not start doing so in the early 90's in response to Bishops gate etc. Talks took place between the IRA and British governments in 1972, 1974 in the early eighties etc. Talks were taking place throughout the whole conflict but eventually the IRA agreed to accept a unionist veto, something they would never have done if not the realisation in their organisation that they could not win and were staring at eventual defeat. Are you really suggesting to me that the actions of the security forces played no role in bringing peace to NI?? I'm perfectly prepared to listen to views I disagree with but I still believe that it was the security forces not Hume that brought about the peace process.