My great grandmother Maud Gonne was English, the daughter of a Captain of the British Army. She adopted Ireland as her home country and was an activist for people's rights her entire life. She never stopped. To the end she called out injustice where she saw it.

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My great grandfather Major John MacBride was executed in 1916 by the British Army for fighting to create an Irish Republic. He wanted to look the British firing squad that executed him in the eye.

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"I have looked down the muzzles of too many guns in the South African war to fear death and now please carry out your sentence." They wouldn't look him in the eye. They blindfolded him. They shot him.

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The ideal my great grandfather died for was "religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens".

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Their son Sean MacBride co founded Amnesty international in 1961 to protect prisoners of conscience defined as people who were imprisoned for an opinion honestly held that did not advocate or condone personal violence. He won a Nobel peace prize for his commitment to peace.
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