ABSTRACT
This quote is from a former member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) reflecting on his life as a republican paramilitary and political activist and shares much in common with the other voices this chapter will explore through the stories of Northern Irish people who were involved in peaceful protest, violent insurrection and paramilitarism during the conflict in Northern Ireland. The highly ‘tellable’ political stories were shared from 2003 to 2008 by people from both the Protestant and Catholic communities reflecting on the conflict and their role within it, discussing the impact it had on them, their families and others; and how the blossoming peace process had begun to offer hope for a new more peaceful future for them, their families and the people of Northern Ireland. Most of the interviewees began their journey into violence and protest in the late 1960s or early 1970s, many of them spent years incarcerated in HMP Maze for their role in the conflict and some had been significant figures within the history of the Troubles and the agitation which led to the beginning of the conflict on Saturday 5th October 1968.
