Peace People’s U.S. Visit
On Wednesday June 3, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Belfast and cofounder of the Community of the Peace People, arrived in Los Angeles airport at 3:30 p.m. — at 5:30 p.m. she was appearing on the Dennis Miller Show, a late night national television talk show. Next day she was the guest of honor at a World Affairs Dinner. Saturday she was awarded the Distinguished Peace Leader Award at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Dinner in Santa Barbara. Sunday morning she was invited to deliver the sermon for the noon service at the First A.M.E. church in South Central Los Angeles.
Her Los Angeles visit was preceded by visits to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. where she met with Senator Joseph Biden and New York, highlighted by a private audience with U.N. Secretary General H.E. Boutros Ghali and a fundraising dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with television journalist Bill Moyers as the keynote speaker.
These highly organized and focused events were not serendipitous good luck. The strategy behind this plan was driven by the need to get the issue of Northern Ireland and the work of the Peace People to as broad a spectrum of the American public as possible. Mairead accompanied by Paul Smyth, a Peace People youth counselor from Belfast, was spreading the message that a peaceful and just resolution in the North is an attainable goal.
The experience for Mairead at the First A.M.E. Church was “One of the most unforgettable events of my life. Knowing the long and difficult struggle the African-Americans have had in this country, and to see them celebrate their hope and optimism in such a magnificently loving way was utterly amazing.”
In her comments to the congregation, she said she ardently hoped that Los Angeles and America would not make the same mistake that the British government made when the troubles erupted there in the 60s. She beseeched Americans to look to the root causes of hatred and violence; fear, segregation, humiliation, lack of job opportunities and injustice.
She hoped the response to the unrest would not be the laying on more and more police with the inevitable result being the erosion of human rights and civil rights. The Community of the Peace People was created by Mairead Corrigan, Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown as a response to the tragic deaths of Mairead’s sister’s three children. A British patrol in pursuit of an IRA getaway car, shot and killed the driver, hurling the car onto the sidewalk, killing the children and critically injuring their mother Ann.
The Peace People were able to enlist an enormous amount of support from citizens from both Catholic and Protestant communities to join in condemning violence regardless of what quarter it came from.
The Peace People have three major planks in their work: Conflict resolution through nonviolent means; Cross Community programs that seek to create dialogue between individuals across the divide, with a particular focus on youth, and a watchdog committee that seeks to redress the political and judicial system in situations where violations of civil rights and human rights exist.
The Peace People, through their U.S. counterpart, Peace/ People/U.S.A., would like to hear from individuals who are interested in knowing how they can help.
– By Frank Prendergast
American Airlines Now Offer Irish Link
American Airlines is now offering through fare flights from many U.S. cities to Ireland via British destinations. The airline, which is rumored to be extremely interested in opening direct service to Ireland if the Shannon stop issue is resolved, is working with Ryanair to ensure that travelers taking in Britain and Ireland can do so with the minimum of disruption.
With more and more traffic to Ireland going through the U.K. first, the American move is an extremely timely one. It stands to reason that if your final destination is Dublin you can fly there as fast, and with far more flights offered, via London as via Shannon.
An interesting historical aspect of this is that in 1948 American Airlines offered one of the first direct flights to Ireland from La Guardia airport in New York. Writing in the Gaelic American at the time, editor Martin O’Connell marveled at the flying time (nine hours) and the extra comfort and convenience.
The added advantage for many Irish bound travelers is American’s convenient day time departures to Britain, which eliminates the tiring overnight flight to Ireland. Irish America recently sampled the American service to Ireland via Manchester from Kennedy airport and can report that the 767 service is certainly the match of anything currently on offer on the Atlantic route, to either Britain or Ireland.
American have made a major effort through the Irish Tourist Board to offer the Irish final destination as a real option for U.S. Irish travelers and those interested can call either the Irish Tourist Board at 212-418-0800 or your local travel agent.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the July August 1992 issue of Irish America. ♦
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