Life

Examples

Betty Williams

Born 22 May 1943 in Belfast

married, 2 children

Secretary

Hobbies: Sewing, gardening, reading and swimming

Mairead Corrigan

Born 27 January 1944 in Belfast

Secretary

Hobbies: Swimming

Voluntary work including work with handicapped children and prisoners

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan founded the organization known as the "(Community of) Peace People" together with Ciaran McKeown". Their spontaneous action led to the most influential peace movement ever in Northern Ireland. They were awarded the following awards in recognition of their work:

Carl von Ossietsky Medal, honorary doctorate at Yale University, Peace Prize from the Norwegian people (1976) and The Nobel Peace Prize (1976).

[Left: The three founders of the Peace People organization: Mairead Corrigan, Ciaran McKeown, Betty Williams]

Even after the Peace People peace movement had reached its zenith in Northern Ireland, they continued to work around the world for peace (more detailed information on this is available in the quotes and materials section. They were both awarded a great number of awards in the years that followed.

A world of peace will only be built by millions of tiny efforts by all of us. [Mairead Corrigan]

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan lived a normal life in Belfast - insofar as the troubles would allow. Until the 10th of August 1976. An accident in which three children died changed their lives. But what was it that started a chain of events that would lead to the two women receiving the Nobel Peace Prize? Egil Aarvik of the Nobel Committee provided a moving account of these events during the presentation ceremony [to the speech].

Yes, but in reality the solution of each and every human conflict is to be found in the simple and obvious action of someone taking the first steps on the road to reconciliation and cooperation. [Egil Aarvik]

Book tips

The French journalist and authority on Northern Ireland, Richard Deutsch, wrote an interesting book about the two Nobel Prize laureates, which was published in 1977 in English and French:

Richard Deutsch: Mairead Corrigan, Betty Williams. Two Women Who Ignored Danger in Campaigning for Peace in Northern Ireland, 1977.

Both prize winners continue to work for peace and are involved in projects such as PeaceJam, which is presented in the link list to this Main Subject Group of Examples. So it's perhaps not surprising that a further book - appearing in 1999 - 22 years after the peak of Northern Ireland's peace movement - for children and youth was published entitled:

Sarah Buscher, Bettina Ling: Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams. Making Peace in Northern Ireland.

There is one thing though of which I'm absolutely certain. Everything else is up for question but the one thing that I have come to know is that human life is sacred. It's precious. It's a gift from God. I have a right to this gift from God and I give thanks for it and I rejoice in it and it's painful and it's hard but it's also joyous and it's also great fun. As I have my right to life then I acknowledge that in all justice that you too have your right to life and I have no right to take your life and I will live by that principle today.

[Máiread Corrigan Maguire]

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Subjects: Human Rights I Democracy  I Parties I Examples I Europe I Globalisation I United Nations I Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods

This online service on the subject of political education was developed by agora-wissen, the Stuttgart-based Gesellschaft für Wissensvermittlung über neue Medien und politische Bildung (GbR) (Partnership for the Exchange of Information Using New Media and Political Education). Please contact us with your questions or comments. Translation from German into English by twigg's Übersetzung deutsch-englisch.