Northern Ireland's peace wasn't negotiated into being — two grieving women started it
A 1976 car crash in Belfast killed three young children. Their aunt and a woman who witnessed it founded the Peace People; violence in Northern Ireland fell by 70%, and the two won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Seven years of British troops hadn't stopped it; neighborhoods became urban guerrilla war
The narration sets the scene: Northern Ireland was already seven years into sectarian violence. On one side were the mainly Protestant "unionists", who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom; on the other, the mainly Catholic "nationalists", who wanted it to join the Republic of Ireland. Britain had sent troops in as early as 1969, and the situation kept getting worse. Jerry Graham, who lived in West Belfast, says the community had degenerated to the level of urban guerrilla warfare, where an ordinary trip to and from work could put you in the middle of a gun battle or a riot.
— narrationIn Belfast, the news was how you checked whether someone you knew had died
Jerry remembers that afternoon, around three o'clock, hearing three or four shots from inside the house; they sounded very close. For years the family had listened to the news to find out whether anyone they knew had been caught up in something. The four o'clock bulletin reported that pedestrians had been caught up in an incident on Finaghy Road North. Jerry says he sometimes gets a premonition, and he turned to his wife and said: "I think that could be Anne." When he went in, he saw someone sitting there with their head in their hands. That, he says, was the beginning of the nightmare.
— Jerry GrahamThe funeral wasn't the end: the mother took her own life four years later
The next day, Mairead went with the children's father to the morgue to identify the bodies. She said in an interview that she had seen two of the wee ones, that the third was gone too, and that there would be a triple funeral on Friday. She publicly condemned everyone carrying out the violence: the people who call themselves Christians cannot manage what God said — to love one another, to forgive and forget. A baby from the incident was in intensive care. The narration adds that the mother, Anne Maguire, was thought never to have recovered from the mental trauma of losing her children, and took her own life four years later.
— narrationPeace started with knocking on doors, not with a negotiating table
Betty Williams, who witnessed the crash, began going door to door collecting signatures condemning the violence — the starting point of the Peace People. Four days after the tragedy, 10,000 women, Protestant and Catholic alike, carried banners from the spot where the children died to the cemetery, the first of dozens of peace marches to come. On BBC radio, Mairead described the cross-community turnout: the women came from the Shankill, came by bus from East Belfast, came from Turf Lodge carrying banners.
— narrationCalling for peace was first read as siding with British unionists
The campaign did not have an easy run. The narration says they had to withstand the suspicion that they were "taking the side of the British unionists". In BBC footage, Betty stands in a room packed with women and says, with real feeling: for seven years, every time there was an explosion we repaired it, every time someone was shot we cried and we buried them, but it cannot go on like this; a future has to be built for everyone, whatever their political views, and "nobody gets a future out of the barrel of a gun".
— Betty WilliamsThe achievement wasn't cutting violence 70%, it was putting peace on the agenda
The narration gives the key number: the Peace People brought violence down by 70%. Violence later flared up again, and it was only the political negotiations of 1998 that really settled it. But the program quotes Jerry saying the movement's greatest achievement was "putting peace, in capital letters, on the agenda". In 1976, Mairead and Betty collected the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo City Hall. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement passed in referendums on both sides, ending thirty years of conflict in Northern Ireland.
— narrationThe founders died one after another; the movement did not stop with them
The program closes by accounting for the people in it: co-founder and journalist Ciaran McKeown died in 2019 at the age of 76; Betty Williams died in 2020, also 76. Jerry Graham is now chair of the Peace People, and together with Mairead Corrigan Maguire continues to campaign for peace around the world. The program trails two episodes to follow: The Good Friday Agreement, and the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
— narrationIn their own words · checked verbatim
There have been seven years of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, between the mainly Protestant unionists who want the province to remain part of the United Kingdom and the mostly Roman Catholic nationalists who want Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland.
narration0:50
You know, we were forever listening to the news. It was all about trying to find out, as that someone I know, as some been killed and quite often it was.
Jerry Graham2:00
We went down this morning to the morgue, and we saw two little ones.Just to hear an eye that the third's gone.We having a triple funeral on Friday.It's pretty hard.
Mairead Corrigan3:30
Anne Mcguire was said to have never recovered from the mental trauma of losing her children, and she took her own life four years later.
narration4:40
The woman came from the Shankle.They came from East Belfast on the buses, they came down from Trf Lodge carrying their banners, they came from Baalamurrphy
Mairead Corrigan6:10
We have to build a future for everybody. no matter what their political opinion is, you'll never get a future from anybody during the barrel of a gun.
Betty Williams7:30
The peaceace people reduced the violence by 70%.
narration9:00
Figures
| How long the conflict in Northern Ireland had already run | 7 years | 0:50 |
| Year British troops were deployed to Northern Ireland | 1969 | 1:20 |
| Date of the tragedy | 10 August 1976 | 2:30 |
| Children killed in the crash | 3 | 3:40 |
| Turnout at the first peace march | 10,000 women | 6:00 |
| Drop in violence brought by the Peace People | 70% | 9:00 |
| Year of the Nobel Peace Prize | 1976 | 9:10 |
| Year the Good Friday Agreement passed | 1998 | 9:40 |
| Total length of the Northern Ireland conflict | 30 years | 9:50 |
| Deaths of the two founders | 2019 and 2020, both aged 76 | 10:00 |
Glossary
- unionists
- The mainly Protestant political camp that wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.
- nationalists
- The mainly Catholic political camp that wanted Northern Ireland to join the Republic of Ireland.
- Good Friday Agreement
- The Northern Ireland peace agreement reached in 1998, ending thirty years of conflict.
- Peace People
- The grassroots peace movement founded in 1976 by Corrigan and Williams.
How to listen
Founders working in social movements, nonprofits or policy research; editors and investors who want to understand the background to the Northern Ireland conflict quickly.
The roughly 47 seconds of promos at the top can be skipped; everything after that is worth hearing.