Historical Figure
Mairead Maguire
b. 1944
Northern Irish peace activist (born 1944)
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Biography
Mairead Maguire, also known as Mairead Corrigan Maguire and formerly as Mairéad Corrigan, is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, the Women for Peace, which later became the Community for Peace People, an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.
Timeline
The story of Mairead Maguire, told in moments.
Born Mairead Corrigan in West Belfast. Catholic family, working class. One of eight children. Grew up during the Troubles. Sectarian violence was the background noise of childhood.
Her sister Anne's three children are killed when a getaway car driven by a shot IRA member mounts the pavement. Danny, two. John, eight. Andrew, six weeks. Anne survives with severe injuries. Mairead sees the aftermath. She decides to act.
Co-founds the Community of Peace People with Betty Williams. Thirty-five thousand women march through Belfast, Catholic and Protestant together. They march every week. The movement spreads across Northern Ireland. Death threats come from both sides.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Betty Williams. She's 32. The prize is backdated to 1976 even though it's awarded in 1977. She donates most of the money to the peace movement.
Marries Jackie Maguire, widower of her sister Anne, who took her own life in 1980. She raises Anne's surviving son and has two children of her own. Continues peace activism for decades, including campaigns in Gaza and Iraq.
In Their Own Words (2)
But, why are we surprised at this cruelty of military when they are doing what they are trained to do – kill, at the behest of their politicians and some people? It is shocking to listen to politicians and military boast of their military prowess when in lay persons’ terms what it means is killing of human beings.
The means of resistance are very important. Our message that armed groups, militarism and war do not solve our problems but aggravate them challenges us to use new ways and that is why we need to teach the science of peace at every level of society.
Artifacts (11)
fun as hell but ... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary
convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but ... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album...
has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't co...
release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't...
. The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, sellin...
. The album was described as "fun as hell but ... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in...
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