A man of peace

In the pantheon of Irish politics, John Hume will take his place alongside Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O’connell, the twin giants of 19th century nationalism. It is a status he has earned by dint of his refusal to support the men of violence who sought to achieve their ends with the gun and the bomb. Hume, who died yesterday, came to prominence in the late Sixties as a nationalist campaigner against the injustices of a system that largely excluded Roman Catholics from political power. The burgeoning civil rights movement led to a Protestant backlash and the arrival of the British Army on the streets in August 1969, initially to protect Catholic homes.

But the sectarian clashes spawned a new movement in the province, the Provisional IRA, which sought to expel the British and bring about a united Ireland by force. Hume, a member and eventual leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, rejected violence and spoke out against IRA atrocities at great personal risk.

As a Londonderry MP, however, he maintained connections with republicans that led to his being denounced by Unionists for giving legitimacy to the IRA. These relationships would prove critical to preparing the ground for the process that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

By rights, the politicians who should have taken Northern Ireland forward were the leaders of the two parties that represented moderate opinion on either side, Hume and David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists. In the end, they were supplanted as Martin Mcguinness and Ian Paisley came together in an unlikely partnership to lead the power-sharing government. Sinn Fein and the DUP now dominate politics in the province. Ironically, the legacy of a life committed to moderate politics was the triumph of the extremes because that proved to be the only route to peace.