Mairead Corrigan
Encyclopedia
Mairead Maguire also known as Mairead Corrigan Maguire and formerly as Mairéad Corrigan, is a Northern Irish peace activist
. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown
, the Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles
in Northern Ireland
. Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize
. Maguire has also won several other awards.
In recent years, she has become an active critic of the Israel
i government's policy towards Palestine
and the Palestinian people
. To draw attention to this policy, in particular to the land and naval blockade of Gaza, in June 2010 Maguire went on board the MV Rachel Corrie. The ship was the remaining member of an international flotilla bound for the Gazan coastline, but finally was prevented from going there.
, spending her evenings and weekends working with children and visiting interns at Long Kesh
prison. When she was 21 she began working as a secretary for the Guinness
brewery, where she remained employed until December 1976.
(PIRA) operator who had been fatally shot by British troops
while trying to make a getaway. Danny Lennon had been released from prison in April 1976 after serving three years for suspected involvement in the PIRA. On 10 August, Lennon and comrade John Chillingworth were transporting an Armalite
rifle through Andersonstown
, Belfast, when British troops, claiming to have seen a rifle pointed at them, opened fire on the vehicle, instantly killing Lennon and critically wounding Chillingworth. The car Lennon drove went out of control and mounted a sidewalk on Finaghy Road North
, colliding with Anne Maguire and three of her children who were out shopping. Joanne (8) and Andrew (6 weeks) died at the scene; John Maguire (2) succumbed to his injuries at a hospital the following day.
Betty Williams, a resident of Andersonstown who happened to be driving by, claimed to have witnessed the tragedy and accused the IRA of firing at the British patrol and provoking the incident. In the days that followed she began gathering signatures for a peace petition from Protestants and Catholics and was able to assemble some 200 women to march for peace in Belfast. The march passed near the home of Mairead Maguire (then Mairead Corrigan) and, joining it, she and Williams thus became "the joint leaders of a virtually spontaneous mass movement."
The next march, whose destination was the burial sites of the three Maguire children, brought 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women together. The marchers, including Maguire and Williams, were physically attacked by PIRA members. By the end of the month Maguire and Williams had brought 35,000 people onto the streets of Belfast petitioning for peace between the republican
and loyalist
factions. Initially adopting the name "Women for Peace," the movement changed its name to the gender-neutral "Community of Peace People," or simply "Peace People," when Irish Press correspondent Ciaran McKeown joined. In contrast with the prevailing climate at the time, Maguire was convinced that the most effective way to end the violence was not violence but re-education. She received the Nobel Peace Prize with Betty Williams in 1977 (the prize for 1976) for their efforts. 32 at the time, she is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate to date.
In January 1980, after a prolonged battle with depression over the loss of her children in the 1976 Finaghy Road incident, Mairead Maguire's sister Anne finally committed suicide by slashing her wrists and throat. A year and a half later, in September 1981, Mairead married Jackie Maguire, who was her late sister's widower. She has three stepchildren and two of her own, John Francis (b. 1982) and Luke (b. 1984).
In 1981 Maguire co-founded the Committee on the Administration of Justice
, a nonsectarian
organisation dedicated to defending human rights.
She is a member of the pro-life
group Consistent Life Ethic
, which is against abortion
, capital punishment and euthanasia
.
Maguire has been involved in a number of campaigns on behalf of political prisoners around the world. In 1993 Maguire and six other Nobel Peace Prize laureates tried unsuccessfully to enter Myanmar
from Thailand to protest the protracted detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
. She was a first signatory on a 2008 petition calling for Turkey
to end its torture of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan
. In October 2010, she signed a petition calling for China to release Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo
from house arrest.
Maguire was selected in 2003 to serve on the honorary board of the International Coalition for the Decade
, a coalition of national and international groups, presided over by Christian Renoux
, whose aim is to promote the United Nations' 1998 vision of the first decade of the twenty-first century as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.
In 2006, Maguire was one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with fellow Peace Prize laureates Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi
, Wangari Maathai
, Jody Williams
, and Rigoberta Menchu Tum. The Initiative describes itself as six women representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa who decided to bring together their "extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality" and "to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world."
in August 1990, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 661
, imposing various economic sanctions on Iraq in order to compel it to withdraw its troops from Kuwait. In January 1991, after Iraq’s refusal to comply with Resolution 678
, the United States and Britain led a coalition of thirty-four nations to war, with the goal of expelling Iraq’s troops from Kuwait and liberating it by force. Though the Gulf War
officially ended in March 1991, the economic sanctions
continued until May 2003 and are believed to have resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths.
Mairead Maguire voiced strong opposition to the U.N. sanctions, calling them "unjust and inhuman," "a new kind of bomb," and "even more cruel than weapons." During a visit to Baghdad with Argentinian colleague Adolfo Perez Esquivel
in March 1999, Maguire urged then-U.S. President Bill Clinton
and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
to end the bombing of Iraq and to allow for the U.N. sanctions to be lifted. "I have seen children dying with their mothers next to them and not being able to do anything," Maguire said. "They are not soldiers."
In the aftermath of al-Qaeda
's attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, as it became clear that the U.S. would retaliate and deploy troops in Afghanistan, Maguire campaigned against the impending war. In India she claimed to have marched with "hundreds of thousands of Indian people walking for peace." In New York, Maguire was reported to have marched with 10,000 protesters, including families of 9/11 victims, as U.S. war planes were already en route to strike Taliban targets in Afghanistan.
In the period leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq
, Mairead Maguire campaigned vigorously against the anticipated hostilities. Speaking at the 23rd War Resisters' International
Conference in Dublin, Ireland in August 2002, Maguire called on the Irish government to oppose the Iraq War "in every European and world forum of which they are a part." On 17 March 2003, St. Patrick's Day, Maguire protested the war outside the United Nations Headquarters with, among other activists, Frida Berrigan
. On 19 March, Maguire addressed an audience of 300 people in a chapel at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. "Armies with all their advanced weapons of mass destruction
are facing the Iraqi people who have nothing," she told the crowd. "In anybody's language, it's not fair." Around this time, Maguire held a 30-day vigil and began a 40-day liquid fast outside the White House, joined by members of Pax Christi
USA and Christian church leaders. As the war got under way in the days that followed, Maguire described the invasion as an "ongoing and shameful slaughter." "Daily we sit, facing Mecca in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Iraq, and we ask Allah for forgiveness," she said in a statement to the press on 31 March. Maguire would later remark that the media in the U.S. distorted news from Iraq and that the Iraq War was carried out in pursuit of American "economic and military interests." In February 2006 she expressed her belief that George W. Bush
and Tony Blair
"should be made accountable for illegally taking the world to war and for war crimes against humanity."
as winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. "They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples," she said, "and yet he continues the policy of militarism and occupation of Afghanistan, instead of dialogue and negotiations with all the parties to the conflict. [...] Giving this award to the leader of the most militarised country in the world, which has taken the human family against its will to war, will rightly be seen by many people around the world as a reward for his country’s aggression and domination."
After declining to meet with the Dalai Lama
during his visit to the U.S. in 2008, citing conflicting travel schedules, Obama shirked a visit with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader again in 2009. Maguire condemned what she considered Obama's deliberate refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama, calling it "horrifying."
Speaking at the Carl von Ossietzky
Medal Award Ceremony in Berlin in December 2010, Maguire imputed criminal accountability to President Obama for violation of international law. "When President Obama says he wants to see a world without nuclear weapons and says, in respect of Iran and their alleged nuclear weapons ambitions, that 'all option are on the table,' this is clearly a threat to use nuclear weapons, clearly a criminal threat against Iran, under the world court advisory opinion. The Nuremberg Charter of August 8, 1945 says the threat or use of nuclear weapons is criminal, so officials in all nine nuclear weapons states who maintain and use nuclear deterrence as a threat are committing crimes and breaking international law."
In May 2009, following a visit to Guatemala, immigration authorities at the Houston Airport in Texas detained Maguire for a number of hours, during which time she was questioned, fingerprinted and photographed, and consequently missed her connection flight to Northern Ireland. "They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities," she explained. In late July that same year, Maguire was again detained by immigration authorities, this time at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia, on her way from Ireland to New Mexico to meet with colleague Jody Williams
. As in May, the delay resulted in Maguire missing her connection flight and she was forced to seek overnight accommodations in Washington.
and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
. The two groups had taken upon themselves to defend Ahmed Shamasneh in an Israeli military court against charges of illegally constructing his home in the West Bank town of Qatanna
, and Maguire came to observe the court proceedings and support the Shamasneh family.
Maguire has at times been fiercely critical of the State of Israel, even calling for its membership in the United Nations to be revoked or suspended. She has accused the Israeli government of "carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians...in east Jerusalem" and supports boycott and divestment initiatives against Israel. Concomitantly, Maguire has also said that she loves Israel and that "to live in Israel for Jewish people, is to live in fear of suicide bombs and Kassam rockets."
, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear defence program to the British press in 1986 and subsequently served 18 years in prison for treason. Maguire flew to Israel in April 2004 to greet Vanunu upon his release and has since flown to meet with him in Israel numerous times.
Maguire has described as "draconian" the terms of Vanunu's parole – including a special order prohibiting contact with foreign journalists and a refusal to allow him to leave Israel – and said he "remains a virtual prisoner." In an open letter addressed to the Israeli people in July 2010, after Vanunu was reincarcerated for violating the terms of his parole, Maguire urged Jews in Israel to petition their government for Vanunu's release and freedom. She praised Vanunu as "a man of peace," "a great visionary," "a true Gandhian spirit," and compared his actions to those of Alfred Nobel
.
In January 2006, close to Holocaust Memorial Day
, Maguire asked that Mordechai Vanunu be remembered together with the Jews that perished in the Holocaust. "As we, with sorrow and sadness, remember the Holocaust Victims, we remember too those individuals of conscience who refused to be silenced in the face of danger and paid with their freedom and lives in defending their Jewish brothers and sisters, and we remember our brother Mordechai Vanunu – the lonely Israeli prisoner in his own country, who refused to be silent."
In a speech delivered in February 2006 before the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
in Santa Barbara, California, Maguire again invoked a comparison of Israel to the Nazis. "Last April some of us protested at Dimona Nuclear Plant, in Israel, calling for it to be open to UN Inspection, and bombs to be destroyed. Israeli Jets flew overhead, and a train passed into the Dimona Nuclear site. This brought back to me vivid memories of my visit to Auschwitz concentration camp, with its rail tracks, trains, destruction and death."
Maguire firmly denied comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in an interview with Tal Schneider of Lady Globes
in November 2010. "I have for years been speaking out against nuclear weapons. I am actively opposed to nuclear weapons in Britain, in the United States, in Israel, in any any country, because nuclear weapons are the ultimate destruction of humankind. But I have never said that Israel is like Nazi Germany, and I don't know why I am quoted like that in Israel. I also never compared Gaza to an extermination camp. I visited the death camps in Austria, with Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, and I think it is terrible that people did not try to stop the genocide of the Jewish people."
. Being that the protest was in a no-access military zone, Israeli forces used tear-gas grenades and rubber-coated bullets in an effort to disperse the protesters, while the protesters hurled rocks at Israel's troops, injuring two Border Guard policemen. One rubber bullet hit Maguire in the leg, whereupon she was transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment. She was also reported to have inhaled large quantities of tear gas.
In October 2008, Maguire arrived in Gaza aboard the SS Dignity. Although Israel had insisted that the yacht would not be permitted to approach Gaza, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
ultimately capitulated and allowed the ship to sail to its destination without incident. During her stay in Gaza, Maguire met with Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh. She was photographed accepting an honorary golden plate depicting the Palestinian flag draped over all of Israel and the disputed territories.
In March 2009 Mairead Maguire joined a campaign for the immediate and unconditional removal of Hamas
from the European Union list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
On 30 June 2009, Maguire was taken into custody by the Israeli military along with twenty others, including former U.S. Congress member Cynthia McKinney
. She was on board a small ferry, the MV Spirit of Humanity (formerly the Arion), said to be carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip
, when Israel intercepted the vessel off the coast of Gaza. From an Israeli prison, she gave a lengthy interview with Democracy Now!
using her cell phone, and was deported on 7 July 2009 to Dublin.
In May–June 2010, Maguire was a passenger on board the MV Rachel Corrie
, one of seven vessels that were part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
, a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists that attempted to bust the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster while still at sea, Maguire called the blockade an "inhumane, illegal siege." Having been delayed due to mechanical problems, the Rachel Corrie did not actually sail with the flotilla and only approached the Gazan coast several days after the main flotilla did. In contrast with the violence that characterised the arrival of the first six ships, Israel's takeover of the Rachel Corrie was met only with passive resistance. Israeli naval forces were even lowered a ladder by the passengers to assist their ascent onto the deck. After the incident, Maguire said she did not feel her life was in danger as the ship's captain, Derek Graham, had been in touch with the Israeli navy to assure them that there would be no violent resistance.
On 28 September 2010, Maguire landed in Israel as part of a delegation of the Nobel Women's Initiative. She was refused an entry visa by Israeli authorities, citing that she had twice in the past tried to run Israel's naval embargo of the Gaza Strip and that a 10-year deportation order was in effect against her. A legal team filed a petition against the order with the Central District Court on Maguire's behalf, but the court pronounced that the deportation order was valid. Maguire then appealed to Israel's Supreme Court
. Initially, the Court proposed that Maguire be allowed to remain in the country for a few days on bail despite the deportation order; however, the state rejected the proposal, arguing that Maguire knew prior to her arrival she was barred from entering Israel and that her conduct amounted to taking the law into her own hands. A three-judge panel accepted the state's position and upheld the ruling of the Central District Court. At one point during the hearing, Maguire reportedly burst out and declared that Israel must stop "its apartheid policy and the siege on Gaza." One of the judges scolded her and rejoined, "This is no place for propaganda." Mairead Corrigan-Maguire was flown to the UK the following morning, 5 October 2010.
As preparations for a second Gaza flotilla
got underway in the summer of 2011, expected to include the Irish MV Saoirse among its ships, Maguire expressed her support for the campaign and beseeched Israel to grant the flotilla passengers safe passage to Gaza.
, Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
, Fr. John L. McKenzie, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Maguire rejects violence in all its forms. "As a pacifist I believe that violence is never justified, and there are always alternatives to force and threat of force. We must challenge the society that tells us there is no such alternative. In all areas of our lives we should adopt nonviolence, in our lifestyles, our education, our commerce, our defence, and our governance." Maguire has called for the abolition of all armies and the establishment of a multi-national community of unarmed peacekeepers in their stead.
awarded Maguire an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1977. The College of New Rochelle followed suit in 1978, awarding her an honorary degree, as well. In 1998 Maguire received an honorary degree from the Roman Catholic Jesuit Regis University
in Denver, Colorado. The University of Rhode Island
awarded her an honorary degree in 2000. She was presented with the Science and Peace Gold Medal by the Albert Schweitzer
International University in 2006, for meaningfully contributing to the spread of culture and the defence of world peace.
In 1990 she was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award
, named after a 1963 encyclical
letter by Pope John XXIII
that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. The Davenport Catholic Interracial Council extolled Maguire for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland and for being "a global force against violence in the name of religion." Pacem in Terris
is Latin for "Peace on Earth."
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
honoured Maguire with the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in 1992, "for her moral leadership and steadfast commitment to social justice and nonviolence."
commented, "The Nobel committee has made controversial awards before. Some have appeared to reward hope rather than achievement." He described as sadly "negligible" the two women's contribution to bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
Alex Maskey
of Sinn Féin
charged that at the time of the Troubles, the Peace People movement was hijacked by the British government and used to turn public opinion against Irish republicanism
. "For me and others, the Peace People and their good intentions were quickly exploited and absorbed into British state policy," Maskey opined.
Belfast correspondent for The Guardian
Derek Brown wrote that Maguire and Betty Williams were "both formidably articulate and, in the best possible sense, utterly naive." He described their call for an end to violence in response to the will of the people as an "awesomely impractical demand."
In his extensive study of the Peace People movement, Rob Fairmichael found that the Peace People were seen by some as being "more anti-IRA
than anti-UDA
," i.e. less loyal to republican factions than to loyalist ones. "Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were beaten up numerous times and at times the leaders were threatened by a hostile crowd," Fairmichael noted, as examples of forms that some of the extreme negative reactions took.
Deputy head of the Israeli foreign mission to Canada, Eliaz Luf, has argued that Maguire's activism plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist organisations in Gaza.
Chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee
Pacific Region, Michael Elterman, warned that Maguire's actions, though probably motivated by good intentions of endeavouring to help the Palestinian people, have been promoting an agenda of hatred and antisemitism.
In an October 2010 editorial, the Jerusalem Post called Maguire's comparison of Israel's nuclear weapons to the gas chambers of Auschwitz "outrageous." Maguire was accused of "undertaking actions that undermine Israel's ability to defend itself" and of trying "to exploit charges of a 'humanitarian crisis' in Gaza in order to empower Hamas terrorists."
However, Jewish and Israeli opinion is not all negative. Following the June 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
was careful to distinguish between Mairead Maguire's nonviolent resistance aboard the Rachel Corrie, which he referred to as "a flotilla of peace activists – with whom we disagree, but whose right to a different opinion we respect," and the conduct of the activists aboard the other six vessels, which he described as "a flotilla of hate, organized by violent, terrorism-supporting extremists." Gideon Levy
strongly defended Mairéad Maguire in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
in October 2010, calling her "the victim of state terror" after Israel refused to allow her to enter the country and kept her detained for several days.
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown
Ciaran McKeown
Ciaran McKeown is a former peace activist in Northern Ireland.Born in Derry to a Roman Catholic family, McKeown served as a Dominican novice for eight months in his youth. He then attended Queen's University Belfast, where he studied philosophy, becoming the first Catholic to be elected president...
, the Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. Maguire has also won several other awards.
In recent years, she has become an active critic of the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i government's policy towards Palestine
State of Palestine
Palestine , officially declared as the State of Palestine , is a state that was proclaimed in exile in Algiers on 15 November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's National Council adopted the unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence...
and the Palestinian people
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
. To draw attention to this policy, in particular to the land and naval blockade of Gaza, in June 2010 Maguire went on board the MV Rachel Corrie. The ship was the remaining member of an international flotilla bound for the Gazan coastline, but finally was prevented from going there.
Early life (1944–1976)
Maguire was born into a Roman Catholic community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the second of seven children – five sisters and two brothers. Her parents were Andrew and Margaret Corrigan. She attended St. Vincent's Primary School, a private Catholic school, until the age of 14, at which time her family could no longer pay for her schooling. After working for a time as a babysitter at a Catholic community center, she was able to save enough money to enroll in a year of business classes at Miss Gordon's Commercial College, which led her at the age of 16 to a job as an accounting clerk with a local factory. She volunteered regularly with the Legion of MaryLegion of Mary
The Legion of Mary is an association of Catholic laity who serve the Church on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, Ireland, as a Roman Catholic Marian Movement by layman Frank Duff. Today between active and auxiliary members there are in excess of 10 million members worldwide making it...
, spending her evenings and weekends working with children and visiting interns at Long Kesh
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
prison. When she was 21 she began working as a secretary for the Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
brewery, where she remained employed until December 1976.
Northern Ireland peace movement (1976–1980)
Maguire became active with the Northern Ireland peace movement after three children of her sister, Anne Maguire, were run over and killed by a car driven by Danny Lennon, a Provisional Irish Republican ArmyProvisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(PIRA) operator who had been fatally shot by British troops
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
while trying to make a getaway. Danny Lennon had been released from prison in April 1976 after serving three years for suspected involvement in the PIRA. On 10 August, Lennon and comrade John Chillingworth were transporting an Armalite
ArmaLite
ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954...
rifle through Andersonstown
Andersonstown
Andersonstown is a suburb of Belfast, Northern Ireland.It is overshadowed by the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain and contains a mixture of public and private housing. It is largely populated by the Irish nationalist and Roman Catholic community...
, Belfast, when British troops, claiming to have seen a rifle pointed at them, opened fire on the vehicle, instantly killing Lennon and critically wounding Chillingworth. The car Lennon drove went out of control and mounted a sidewalk on Finaghy Road North
Finaghy
Finaghy is an electoral ward in the Balmoral district of Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland. It is based on the townland of Ballyfinaghy...
, colliding with Anne Maguire and three of her children who were out shopping. Joanne (8) and Andrew (6 weeks) died at the scene; John Maguire (2) succumbed to his injuries at a hospital the following day.
Betty Williams, a resident of Andersonstown who happened to be driving by, claimed to have witnessed the tragedy and accused the IRA of firing at the British patrol and provoking the incident. In the days that followed she began gathering signatures for a peace petition from Protestants and Catholics and was able to assemble some 200 women to march for peace in Belfast. The march passed near the home of Mairead Maguire (then Mairead Corrigan) and, joining it, she and Williams thus became "the joint leaders of a virtually spontaneous mass movement."
The next march, whose destination was the burial sites of the three Maguire children, brought 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women together. The marchers, including Maguire and Williams, were physically attacked by PIRA members. By the end of the month Maguire and Williams had brought 35,000 people onto the streets of Belfast petitioning for peace between the republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
factions. Initially adopting the name "Women for Peace," the movement changed its name to the gender-neutral "Community of Peace People," or simply "Peace People," when Irish Press correspondent Ciaran McKeown joined. In contrast with the prevailing climate at the time, Maguire was convinced that the most effective way to end the violence was not violence but re-education. She received the Nobel Peace Prize with Betty Williams in 1977 (the prize for 1976) for their efforts. 32 at the time, she is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate to date.
After the Nobel Prize (1980–present)
Though Betty Williams resigned from the Peace People in 1980, Maguire has continued her involvement in the organisation to this day. It has since taken on a more global agenda, addressing an array of social and political issues from around the world.In January 1980, after a prolonged battle with depression over the loss of her children in the 1976 Finaghy Road incident, Mairead Maguire's sister Anne finally committed suicide by slashing her wrists and throat. A year and a half later, in September 1981, Mairead married Jackie Maguire, who was her late sister's widower. She has three stepchildren and two of her own, John Francis (b. 1982) and Luke (b. 1984).
In 1981 Maguire co-founded the Committee on the Administration of Justice
Committee on the Administration of Justice
CAJ is an independent human rights organisation with cross community membership in Northern Ireland and beyond. It was established in 1981 and lobbies and campaigns on a broad range of human rights issues...
, a nonsectarian
Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private educational institutions or other organizations either not affiliated with or not restricted to a particular religious denomination though the organization...
organisation dedicated to defending human rights.
She is a member of the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
group Consistent Life Ethic
Consistent Life Ethic
The consistent life ethic, or the consistent ethic of life, was a term coined in 1983 by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to express an ethical, religious, and political ideology based on the premise that all human life was sacred and should be protected by law. The ideology opposes legal abortion,...
, which is against abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, capital punishment and euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
.
Maguire has been involved in a number of campaigns on behalf of political prisoners around the world. In 1993 Maguire and six other Nobel Peace Prize laureates tried unsuccessfully to enter Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
from Thailand to protest the protracted detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
. She was a first signatory on a 2008 petition calling for Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
to end its torture of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
. In October 2010, she signed a petition calling for China to release Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
from house arrest.
Maguire was selected in 2003 to serve on the honorary board of the International Coalition for the Decade
International Coalition for the Decade
On 10 November 1998, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.Since 2001, some national...
, a coalition of national and international groups, presided over by Christian Renoux
Christian Renoux
-Education and teaching:Born in 1960, he is alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud , agrégé in History , alumnus of the Ecole française de Rome, the French Historical Institute of Rome , doctor in Early modern History of the Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University and...
, whose aim is to promote the United Nations' 1998 vision of the first decade of the twenty-first century as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.
In 2006, Maguire was one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with fellow Peace Prize laureates Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's,...
, Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...
, Jody Williams
Jody Williams
Jody Williams is an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the campaign she worked for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines...
, and Rigoberta Menchu Tum. The Initiative describes itself as six women representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa who decided to bring together their "extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality" and "to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world."
United States
Mairead Maguire is an outspoken critic of U.S. and British policy in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has also been personally critical of U.S. President Barack Obama’s leadership. Her activism in the U.S. has occasionally brought her into confrontations with the law.Iraq and Afghanistan
Following Iraq’s invasion of KuwaitInvasion of Kuwait
The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait, which resulted in the seven-month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, which subsequently led to direct military intervention by United States-led forces in the Gulf...
in August 1990, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 661
United Nations Security Council Resolution 661
In United Nations Security Council Resolution 661, adopted on August 6, 1990, reaffirming Resolution 660 and noting Iraq's refusal to comply with it and Kuwait's right of self-defence, the Council took steps to implement international sanctions on Iraq under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter...
, imposing various economic sanctions on Iraq in order to compel it to withdraw its troops from Kuwait. In January 1991, after Iraq’s refusal to comply with Resolution 678
United Nations Security Council Resolution 678
United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, adopted on November 29, 1990, after reaffirming resolutions 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674 and 677 , the Council noted that despite all the United Nations efforts, Iraq continued to defy the Security Council.-Details:The Council,...
, the United States and Britain led a coalition of thirty-four nations to war, with the goal of expelling Iraq’s troops from Kuwait and liberating it by force. Though the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
officially ended in March 1991, the economic sanctions
Iraq sanctions
The Iraq sanctions were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on the nation of Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 , and certain portions including reparations to Kuwait...
continued until May 2003 and are believed to have resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths.
Mairead Maguire voiced strong opposition to the U.N. sanctions, calling them "unjust and inhuman," "a new kind of bomb," and "even more cruel than weapons." During a visit to Baghdad with Argentinian colleague Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine sculptor, architect and pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize.-Biography:Pérez Esquivel was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish fisherman who emigrated to Argentina...
in March 1999, Maguire urged then-U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
to end the bombing of Iraq and to allow for the U.N. sanctions to be lifted. "I have seen children dying with their mothers next to them and not being able to do anything," Maguire said. "They are not soldiers."
In the aftermath of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
's attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, as it became clear that the U.S. would retaliate and deploy troops in Afghanistan, Maguire campaigned against the impending war. In India she claimed to have marched with "hundreds of thousands of Indian people walking for peace." In New York, Maguire was reported to have marched with 10,000 protesters, including families of 9/11 victims, as U.S. war planes were already en route to strike Taliban targets in Afghanistan.
In the period leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, Mairead Maguire campaigned vigorously against the anticipated hostilities. Speaking at the 23rd War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International is an international anti-war organization with members and affiliates in over thirty countries. Its headquarters are in London, UK.-History:...
Conference in Dublin, Ireland in August 2002, Maguire called on the Irish government to oppose the Iraq War "in every European and world forum of which they are a part." On 17 March 2003, St. Patrick's Day, Maguire protested the war outside the United Nations Headquarters with, among other activists, Frida Berrigan
Frida Berrigan
Frida Berrigan is a peace activist and research associate at the World Policy Institute, specializing in arms trade.She is also a columnist for and Foreign Policy In Focus.She is the daughter of Philip Berrigan of the Catonsville Nine and Liz McAlister....
. On 19 March, Maguire addressed an audience of 300 people in a chapel at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. "Armies with all their advanced weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
are facing the Iraqi people who have nothing," she told the crowd. "In anybody's language, it's not fair." Around this time, Maguire held a 30-day vigil and began a 40-day liquid fast outside the White House, joined by members of Pax Christi
Pax Christi
-History:Pax Christi was established in France in 1945 as a reconciliation work between the French and the Germans after the Second World War. In 2007, it existed in more than 60 countries...
USA and Christian church leaders. As the war got under way in the days that followed, Maguire described the invasion as an "ongoing and shameful slaughter." "Daily we sit, facing Mecca in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Iraq, and we ask Allah for forgiveness," she said in a statement to the press on 31 March. Maguire would later remark that the media in the U.S. distorted news from Iraq and that the Iraq War was carried out in pursuit of American "economic and military interests." In February 2006 she expressed her belief that George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
"should be made accountable for illegally taking the world to war and for war crimes against humanity."
Criticism of President Barack Obama
Maguire expressed disappointment with the choice of U.S. President Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
as winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. "They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples," she said, "and yet he continues the policy of militarism and occupation of Afghanistan, instead of dialogue and negotiations with all the parties to the conflict. [...] Giving this award to the leader of the most militarised country in the world, which has taken the human family against its will to war, will rightly be seen by many people around the world as a reward for his country’s aggression and domination."
After declining to meet with the Dalai Lama
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
during his visit to the U.S. in 2008, citing conflicting travel schedules, Obama shirked a visit with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader again in 2009. Maguire condemned what she considered Obama's deliberate refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama, calling it "horrifying."
Speaking at the Carl von Ossietzky
Carl von Ossietzky
Carl von Ossietzky was a German pacifist and the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. He was convicted of high treason and espionage in 1931 after publishing details of Germany's alleged violation of the Treaty of Versailles by rebuilding an air force, the predecessor of the Luftwaffe, and...
Medal Award Ceremony in Berlin in December 2010, Maguire imputed criminal accountability to President Obama for violation of international law. "When President Obama says he wants to see a world without nuclear weapons and says, in respect of Iran and their alleged nuclear weapons ambitions, that 'all option are on the table,' this is clearly a threat to use nuclear weapons, clearly a criminal threat against Iran, under the world court advisory opinion. The Nuremberg Charter of August 8, 1945 says the threat or use of nuclear weapons is criminal, so officials in all nine nuclear weapons states who maintain and use nuclear deterrence as a threat are committing crimes and breaking international law."
Confrontations with the law
Mairead Maguire was twice arrested in the United States. On 17 March 2003, Maguire was arrested outside the United Nations compound in New York City during a protest against the Iraq War. Later that month, on 27 March, she was one of 65 anti-war protesters briefly taken into custody by police after penetrating a security barricade near the White House.In May 2009, following a visit to Guatemala, immigration authorities at the Houston Airport in Texas detained Maguire for a number of hours, during which time she was questioned, fingerprinted and photographed, and consequently missed her connection flight to Northern Ireland. "They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities," she explained. In late July that same year, Maguire was again detained by immigration authorities, this time at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia, on her way from Ireland to New Mexico to meet with colleague Jody Williams
Jody Williams
Jody Williams is an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the campaign she worked for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines...
. As in May, the delay resulted in Maguire missing her connection flight and she was forced to seek overnight accommodations in Washington.
Israel
Mairead Maguire first visited Israel at age 40. She came then as part of an interfaith initiative seeking forgiveness from Jews for years of persecution by Christians in Jesus' name. Her second visit was in June 2000, this time in response to invitations from Rabbis for Human RightsRabbis for Human Rights
Rabbis for Human Rights-Israel is an Israeli human rights organisation describing itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights"....
and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is an Israeli peace and human rights organization dedicated to ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians...
. The two groups had taken upon themselves to defend Ahmed Shamasneh in an Israeli military court against charges of illegally constructing his home in the West Bank town of Qatanna
Qatanna
Qatanna is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank part of the Jerusalem Governorate, located twelve kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of approximately 7,500 inhabitants in 2006...
, and Maguire came to observe the court proceedings and support the Shamasneh family.
Maguire has at times been fiercely critical of the State of Israel, even calling for its membership in the United Nations to be revoked or suspended. She has accused the Israeli government of "carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians...in east Jerusalem" and supports boycott and divestment initiatives against Israel. Concomitantly, Maguire has also said that she loves Israel and that "to live in Israel for Jewish people, is to live in fear of suicide bombs and Kassam rockets."
Mordechai Vanunu advocacy
Mairead Maguire has been a vocal supporter of Mordechai VanunuMordechai Vanunu
Mordechai Vanunu ; is a former Israeli nuclear technician who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was drugged and kidnapped by...
, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear defence program to the British press in 1986 and subsequently served 18 years in prison for treason. Maguire flew to Israel in April 2004 to greet Vanunu upon his release and has since flown to meet with him in Israel numerous times.
Maguire has described as "draconian" the terms of Vanunu's parole – including a special order prohibiting contact with foreign journalists and a refusal to allow him to leave Israel – and said he "remains a virtual prisoner." In an open letter addressed to the Israeli people in July 2010, after Vanunu was reincarcerated for violating the terms of his parole, Maguire urged Jews in Israel to petition their government for Vanunu's release and freedom. She praised Vanunu as "a man of peace," "a great visionary," "a true Gandhian spirit," and compared his actions to those of Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He is the inventor of dynamite. Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments...
.
Remarks in reference to the Holocaust
At a joint press conference with Mordechai Vanunu in Jerusalem in December 2004, Maguire compared Israel's nuclear weapons to the Nazi gas chambers in Auschwitz. "When I think about nuclear weapons, I've been to Auschwitz concentration camp." She added, "Nuclear weapons are only gas chambers perfected ... and for a people who already know what gas chambers are, how can you even think of building perfect gas chambers."In January 2006, close to Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day or Holocaust Remembrance Day may refer to one of several commemorations of the Holocaust.-See also:* United Nations Holocaust Memorial* List of Holocaust memorials and museums...
, Maguire asked that Mordechai Vanunu be remembered together with the Jews that perished in the Holocaust. "As we, with sorrow and sadness, remember the Holocaust Victims, we remember too those individuals of conscience who refused to be silenced in the face of danger and paid with their freedom and lives in defending their Jewish brothers and sisters, and we remember our brother Mordechai Vanunu – the lonely Israeli prisoner in his own country, who refused to be silent."
In a speech delivered in February 2006 before the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit international organization on the roster in consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council...
in Santa Barbara, California, Maguire again invoked a comparison of Israel to the Nazis. "Last April some of us protested at Dimona Nuclear Plant, in Israel, calling for it to be open to UN Inspection, and bombs to be destroyed. Israeli Jets flew overhead, and a train passed into the Dimona Nuclear site. This brought back to me vivid memories of my visit to Auschwitz concentration camp, with its rail tracks, trains, destruction and death."
Maguire firmly denied comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in an interview with Tal Schneider of Lady Globes
Globes
Globes is a Hebrew language daily evening financial newspaper, published in Israel. According to TGI 2009 media survey Globes' market share rose 15% over the year to 4.4%. Its main competitors in printed media are TheMarker of Haaretz group and Calcalist published by Yedioth Ahronoth Group...
in November 2010. "I have for years been speaking out against nuclear weapons. I am actively opposed to nuclear weapons in Britain, in the United States, in Israel, in any any country, because nuclear weapons are the ultimate destruction of humankind. But I have never said that Israel is like Nazi Germany, and I don't know why I am quoted like that in Israel. I also never compared Gaza to an extermination camp. I visited the death camps in Austria, with Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, and I think it is terrible that people did not try to stop the genocide of the Jewish people."
Palestinian activism
On 20 April 2007, Maguire participated in a protest against the construction of Israel's security fence outside the Arab settlement of Bil'inBil'in
Bil'in is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Bil'in has a population of 1,800, mostly Muslims.-History:...
. Being that the protest was in a no-access military zone, Israeli forces used tear-gas grenades and rubber-coated bullets in an effort to disperse the protesters, while the protesters hurled rocks at Israel's troops, injuring two Border Guard policemen. One rubber bullet hit Maguire in the leg, whereupon she was transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment. She was also reported to have inhaled large quantities of tear gas.
In October 2008, Maguire arrived in Gaza aboard the SS Dignity. Although Israel had insisted that the yacht would not be permitted to approach Gaza, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
ultimately capitulated and allowed the ship to sail to its destination without incident. During her stay in Gaza, Maguire met with Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
leader Ismail Haniyeh. She was photographed accepting an honorary golden plate depicting the Palestinian flag draped over all of Israel and the disputed territories.
In March 2009 Mairead Maguire joined a campaign for the immediate and unconditional removal of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
from the European Union list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
On 30 June 2009, Maguire was taken into custody by the Israeli military along with twenty others, including former U.S. Congress member Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...
. She was on board a small ferry, the MV Spirit of Humanity (formerly the Arion), said to be carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, when Israel intercepted the vessel off the coast of Gaza. From an Israeli prison, she gave a lengthy interview with Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
using her cell phone, and was deported on 7 July 2009 to Dublin.
In May–June 2010, Maguire was a passenger on board the MV Rachel Corrie
MV Rachel Corrie
MV Rachel Corrie is a 499 GT coaster owned and operated by the Free Gaza Movement. The ship is named in honour of Rachel Corrie, a former member of the International Solidarity Movement...
, one of seven vessels that were part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
, a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists that attempted to bust the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster while still at sea, Maguire called the blockade an "inhumane, illegal siege." Having been delayed due to mechanical problems, the Rachel Corrie did not actually sail with the flotilla and only approached the Gazan coast several days after the main flotilla did. In contrast with the violence that characterised the arrival of the first six ships, Israel's takeover of the Rachel Corrie was met only with passive resistance. Israeli naval forces were even lowered a ladder by the passengers to assist their ascent onto the deck. After the incident, Maguire said she did not feel her life was in danger as the ship's captain, Derek Graham, had been in touch with the Israeli navy to assure them that there would be no violent resistance.
On 28 September 2010, Maguire landed in Israel as part of a delegation of the Nobel Women's Initiative. She was refused an entry visa by Israeli authorities, citing that she had twice in the past tried to run Israel's naval embargo of the Gaza Strip and that a 10-year deportation order was in effect against her. A legal team filed a petition against the order with the Central District Court on Maguire's behalf, but the court pronounced that the deportation order was valid. Maguire then appealed to Israel's Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
. Initially, the Court proposed that Maguire be allowed to remain in the country for a few days on bail despite the deportation order; however, the state rejected the proposal, arguing that Maguire knew prior to her arrival she was barred from entering Israel and that her conduct amounted to taking the law into her own hands. A three-judge panel accepted the state's position and upheld the ruling of the Central District Court. At one point during the hearing, Maguire reportedly burst out and declared that Israel must stop "its apartheid policy and the siege on Gaza." One of the judges scolded her and rejoined, "This is no place for propaganda." Mairead Corrigan-Maguire was flown to the UK the following morning, 5 October 2010.
As preparations for a second Gaza flotilla
Freedom Flotilla II
"Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human" was a flotilla that planned to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel by sailing to Gaza on 5 July 2011. Ultimately, the sailing did not take place....
got underway in the summer of 2011, expected to include the Irish MV Saoirse among its ships, Maguire expressed her support for the campaign and beseeched Israel to grant the flotilla passengers safe passage to Gaza.
Personal philosophy and vision
Mairead Maguire is a proponent of the belief that violence is a disease that humans develop but are not born with. She believes humankind is moving away from a mindset of violence and war and evolving to a higher consciousness of nonviolence and love. Among the figures she considers spiritual prophets in this regard are Jesus, Francis of AssisiFrancis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
, Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was an Afghan, Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India...
, Fr. John L. McKenzie, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Maguire rejects violence in all its forms. "As a pacifist I believe that violence is never justified, and there are always alternatives to force and threat of force. We must challenge the society that tells us there is no such alternative. In all areas of our lives we should adopt nonviolence, in our lifestyles, our education, our commerce, our defence, and our governance." Maguire has called for the abolition of all armies and the establishment of a multi-national community of unarmed peacekeepers in their stead.
Awards and honours
Maguire has received numerous awards and honours in recognition of her work. Yale UniversityYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
awarded Maguire an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1977. The College of New Rochelle followed suit in 1978, awarding her an honorary degree, as well. In 1998 Maguire received an honorary degree from the Roman Catholic Jesuit Regis University
Regis University
Regis University is a private, co-educational Roman Catholic, Jesuit university in the United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1877, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
in Denver, Colorado. The University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
awarded her an honorary degree in 2000. She was presented with the Science and Peace Gold Medal by the Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
International University in 2006, for meaningfully contributing to the spread of culture and the defence of world peace.
In 1990 she was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award
Pacem in Terris Award
The Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award is a Catholic peace award which has been given annually since 1964, in commemoration of the 1963 encyclical letter "Pacem in Terris" of Pope John XXIII...
, named after a 1963 encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
letter by Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. The Davenport Catholic Interracial Council extolled Maguire for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland and for being "a global force against violence in the name of religion." Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who died from cancer two months after its completion ....
is Latin for "Peace on Earth."
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit international organization on the roster in consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council...
honoured Maguire with the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in 1992, "for her moral leadership and steadfast commitment to social justice and nonviolence."
Nobel Prize decision and Peace People movement
Referring to the decision to award Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, journalist Michael Binyon of The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
commented, "The Nobel committee has made controversial awards before. Some have appeared to reward hope rather than achievement." He described as sadly "negligible" the two women's contribution to bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
Alex Maskey
Alex Maskey
Alex Maskey is an Irish politician who was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Belfast's Lord Mayor. He is Sinn Féin's longest sitting councillor and is currently an MLA for South Belfast as well as being a councillor for the Laganbank area of Belfast.-Early life:Maskey was educated at St...
of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
charged that at the time of the Troubles, the Peace People movement was hijacked by the British government and used to turn public opinion against Irish republicanism
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. "For me and others, the Peace People and their good intentions were quickly exploited and absorbed into British state policy," Maskey opined.
Belfast correspondent for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Derek Brown wrote that Maguire and Betty Williams were "both formidably articulate and, in the best possible sense, utterly naive." He described their call for an end to violence in response to the will of the people as an "awesomely impractical demand."
In his extensive study of the Peace People movement, Rob Fairmichael found that the Peace People were seen by some as being "more anti-IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
than anti-UDA
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
," i.e. less loyal to republican factions than to loyalist ones. "Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were beaten up numerous times and at times the leaders were threatened by a hostile crowd," Fairmichael noted, as examples of forms that some of the extreme negative reactions took.
Prize money controversy
While most Nobel Prize laureates do keep their prize money, it is not uncommon for prize winners to donate prize money to scientific, cultural or humanitarian causes. Upon announcing their intention to keep their prize funds, Maguire and Williams were severely criticised. The move angered many people, including members of the Peace People, and fuelled unpleasant rumours about the two women. Rob Fairmichael writes of “gossip of fur coats” and concludes that the prize money controversy was perceived by the public, in the context of the Peace People’s eventual decline, as specifically problematic.Jewish and Israeli reactions
In the wake of the 2009 Gaza flotilla, Ben-Dror Yemini, writer of a popular column for the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, wrote that Maguire was obsessed with Israel. "There is a lunatic coalition that does not concern itself with the slaughtered in Sri Lanka or with the oppressed Tibetans. They see only the struggle against the Israeli Satan." He further charged that Maguire chose to identify with a population that elected an openly antisemitic movement to lead it – one whose raison d'etre is the destruction of the Jewish state.Deputy head of the Israeli foreign mission to Canada, Eliaz Luf, has argued that Maguire's activism plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist organisations in Gaza.
Chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee
Canada-Israel Committee
The Canada-Israel Committee was the official representative of the organized Canadian Jewish community on matters pertaining to Canada-Israel relations....
Pacific Region, Michael Elterman, warned that Maguire's actions, though probably motivated by good intentions of endeavouring to help the Palestinian people, have been promoting an agenda of hatred and antisemitism.
In an October 2010 editorial, the Jerusalem Post called Maguire's comparison of Israel's nuclear weapons to the gas chambers of Auschwitz "outrageous." Maguire was accused of "undertaking actions that undermine Israel's ability to defend itself" and of trying "to exploit charges of a 'humanitarian crisis' in Gaza in order to empower Hamas terrorists."
However, Jewish and Israeli opinion is not all negative. Following the June 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
was careful to distinguish between Mairead Maguire's nonviolent resistance aboard the Rachel Corrie, which he referred to as "a flotilla of peace activists – with whom we disagree, but whose right to a different opinion we respect," and the conduct of the activists aboard the other six vessels, which he described as "a flotilla of hate, organized by violent, terrorism-supporting extremists." Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist.Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories...
strongly defended Mairéad Maguire in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
in October 2010, calling her "the victim of state terror" after Israel refused to allow her to enter the country and kept her detained for several days.
External links
- Peace People
- Mairead Corrigan Maguire Peace People
- Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Peace Heroes
- Mairead Corrigan – Curriculum Vitae Nobel Prize
- Irish Nobel Prize winners The Best Question
- Nobel Women's Initiative