Best of - John Hume and David Trimble: A Vision of Peace

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4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

These two remarkable men, from opposite sides of the 30-year "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, bravely reached across the divide and waged peace. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. David Trimble, who died on July 25th, 2022, was the leader of the Protestant pro-British Ulster Unionist Party. John Hume, who died in 2020, was a Catholic civil rights and political leader. In a poll several years ago, he was voted the greatest person in Irish history. They talk here about the underpinnings of the brutal fighting that tore Northern Ireland apart, and they explain how and why they were able to negotiate a peace deal and begin the healing. They also offer some important lessons to the rest of the world. This episode originally ran two years ago. We are re-posting it this week in honor of David Trimble. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2020-2022

Transcript

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0:00.0	Archbishop Desmond Tutu II of South Africa once said,
0:07.0	If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends.
0:11.0	You talk to your enemies.
0:13.0	Hi, this is Alice, and today we are revisiting an episode about two of the greatest
0:19.0	peacemakers in modern history, John Hume and David Trimble. They crossed a canyon of hate and mistrust and
0:27.6	decades of violence to forge peace in Northern Ireland. David Trimble died last week at the age of 77,
0:36.0	in honor of his courage and his dedication to peace.
0:40.0	Please take a lesson.
0:42.0	When people are divided, victories are not solutions.
0:47.0	The only solution is agreement.
0:49.0	Good evening, a historic day at Stormant, after two years of talks and after a generation of
0:54.9	bloodshed and decades of division. After 30 brutal years of violence in
1:00.0	Northern Ireland two men from opposing sides had the guts to talk and talk and talk some
1:08.1	more. They brought others into their talks and, on Good Friday in 1998, a deal was signed, bringing a promise of peace,
1:18.3	an end to the seemingly endless cycle of attack and retaliation between the Protestants loyal to Britain
1:26.0	and the Catholics who favored unity with the rest of Ireland. The two men I'm
1:31.6	talking about here were John Hume and David Trimble. They were awarded the
1:36.8	Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts later that same year. Well, as you may have read, Mr Hume died earlier this year. Well, as you may have read, Mr. Hume died earlier this month on August 3rd, 2020.
1:47.0	Since there are interviews with both John Hume and David Trimble in the Academy of Achievement's remarkable archive.
1:55.7	We want to revisit their story today, a story of hope against the odds, a story of what can
2:01.7	be accomplished by rather understated people who have a bedrock belief
2:06.8	in justice and peace.
	...

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