My tribute to John Hume

John Hume, a founder of the peace process that ended The Troubles period of Northern Ireland and culminated in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, passed away earlier today.

John Hume's political life started when he helped found the Northern Irish civil rights movement, to counter the repression Catholics like him faced at the hands of the Protestant powers that be in Northern Ireland. He served as a member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for 3 years for Foyle (covering the western part of the city of Derry) until the Northern Ireland Parliament was abolished in 1972. He was subsequently elected as the SDLP MP for Foyle in 1983 and served as MP for Foyle until he retired in 2005, and he was also an MLA for Foyle for 10 years. He led the SDLP (which he co-founded with Gerry Fitt) from 1979 to 2001, taking it through a period of significant growth and ensuring that Catholics obtained much better representation in Northern Ireland's Westminster constituencies than before, with the SDLP achieving a peak of 4 seats in 1992. After he retired from leadership of the SDLP, however, its fortunes went south, not helped by a general trend towards both Catholics and Protestants voting for more "hardline" parties on each side. He was also one of the longest-serving MEPs, representing Northern Ireland from 1979 to 2004.

What he will be most remembered for is his determined efforts to ensure a ceasefire in Northern Ireland and ensure peace, which he eventually achieved when the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was signed between Ireland and the United Kingdom. This culminated in him deservedly winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998, alongside then UUP leader David Trimble, and it also helped bring Northern Ireland into a new era.

So farewell, John. Peace and conciliation will forever be your greatest legacies, and ones that we need more than ever in a world where hardline forms of populism, the climate crisis, and the coronavirus crisis are threatening human civilisation as a whole.

In memory of John Hume, born 18 January 1937, who departed this life on 3 August 2020, aged 83 years.

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