Mairead Corrigan Maguire
(1944-)

Irish Peace Advocate
1976 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

1990 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Peace Leadership Award

birthdate: January 27
birthplace:
Belfast, Northern Ireland

QUOTES

"If we want to reap the harvest of peace and justice in the future, we will have to sow seeds of nonviolence, here and now, in the present."

We have really got to create a culture in our world today where we recognize that every human life is sacred and precious and we have no right to take another human life.

I believe that hope for the future depends on each of us taking nonviolence into our hearts and minds and developing new and imaginative structures which are nonviolent and life-giving for all. Some people will argue that this is too idealistic. I believe it is very realistic. I am convinced that humanity is fast evolving to this higher consciousness. For those who say it cannot be done, let us remember that humanity learned to abolish slavery. Our task now is no less than the abolition of violence and war .... We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible.

We need now to build a culture of geniune nonviolence and real democracy.

To enable consensus politics to develop we need to empower people where they live. This means devolving financial resources and political power down to the community level. One of the greatest blocks to movement is fear. This fear can only be removed when people feel their voices are being heard by government and when they have a say in their own lives and communities.

"...I believe, with Gandhi, that we need to take an imaginative leap forward toward fresh and generous idealism for the sake of all humanity -- that we neeed to renew this ancient wisdom of nonviolence, to strive for a disarmed world, and to create a culture of nonviolence."

 

 

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