John Hume
John Hume
John Hume, KCSGis an Irish former politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth18 January 1937
CountryIreland
educational opinion week
In my opinion, what changed the situation eventually - and, of course, it took a lot of time to change it, things like that don't change in a week or a fortnight - was the new educational system.
children perception important
These are the influences that everybody has. Some individuals might stand out because of one thing or another, but whether one's perception as a child of what was important or not is accurate, I don't know
thinking use violence
They believed that Britain was in Ireland defending their own interests, therefore the Irish had the right to use violence to put them out. My argument was that that type of thinking was out of date
age curriculum awful
Like everybody at that age, I read an awful lot of pulp fiction. But at the same time, I also read quite a bit of history and read that as much for pleasure as part of a curriculum.
would-be language speechless
If the word 'No' was removed from the English language, Ian Paisley would be speechless.
differences race diversity
All conflict is about difference; whether the difference is race religion, or nationality...
hands two mind
There were two mentalities, and both mentalities had to change. There was what I called the Afrikaner mind set of the Unionist politicians, which was holding all power in their own hands, and discriminating, and their objective was to protect their identity
class people credit
Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn't borrow from banks.
grateful opportunity differences
I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that.
leadership kids people
I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.
respect lying essence
Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.
school years games
The only thing I shall talk about is my sporting achievements at school. My primary sporting achievement at school was that I dodged games for two complete years and was well through the third year before they discovered that I had completely avoided all games