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Great Minds of the 20th Century: John Hume.
John Hume was an Irish politician and statesman who played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland. He was born on January 18, 1937, in Derry, Northern Ireland, and died on August 3, 2020.
Before entering politics, Hume was a teacher and a civil rights activist. He was a founder member of the Derry Housing Action Committee in the 1960s and was involved in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. In 1968, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament and became the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in 1979. He served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 2004 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.
Hume's political philosophy was influenced by his Catholic faith and his belief in nonviolence. He drew inspiration from the civil rights movement in the United States and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Hume believed in the power of dialogue and negotiation to resolve conflicts and was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
One of Hume's major theories was the idea of "constitutional nationalism," which called for the peaceful and democratic reunification of Ireland. He argued that the Irish people had the right to self-determination and that the British government should respect this right. Hume…
