Though it has been more than 30 years since she won the Nobel Peace Prize, Betty Williams still travels the globe gathering signatures for petitions, giving speeches, and taking part in human rights and peace movements.

Mention arms reduction, the Tibet issue, violence in the Middle East, and even China's missiles aimed at Taiwan, and the sweet smile of this grandmotherly figure is immediately supplanted with a forceful expression. She assumes an attack stance and relentlessly urges young people to get involved. During her speech at National Chengchi University in mid-March, Williams shared her mother's homily with the students: "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem!"

Three decades after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Betty Williams continues to be a forceful advocate of peace around the world, frequently speaking out over China's increasing military threat to Taiwan and its missiles pointed at the island.

Action is the answer

Williams' emphasis on deeds and action can perhaps explain how she, a housewife, could ascend the international political stage.

In the new century there has been massive fighting in the US-led international war on terror, but if we look back at the latter half of the last century, the word "terrorist" was often linked to Northern Ireland.

After the southern counties of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in the 1920s and formed an independent republic, the issue of whether to join the Republic of Ireland or remain part of the UK became the primary source of political division within Northern Ireland. Catholicism was the religion of most people who advocated joining the Republic; but most of the unionists, who were greater in number and preferred the status quo of staying in the UK, were Protestants. With the double division of politics and religion, the contention between the two sides soon evolved into armed conflict.

The Irish Republican Army, belonging to the nationalist camp, staged numerous bombings and assassinations starting in the 1960s. Besides British military personnel, the targets of their terrorist acts included Protestants, and occasionally even Catholic civilians were harmed. In addition to the fear-inspiring IRA there was also the Ulster Defence Association, formed by the Protestants and advocating fighting violence with violence to counter the IRA. And at that time the British government strengthened its forces in the area in order to clamp down on these self-armed groups.

Williams, who was born in Northern Ireland's darkest period, had a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. Her parents' respect for each other's religious faith allowed her to view the stances of the different camps with an equal vision as she was growing up.

Williams finished high school and married early during that violent era. Outside her work, she also looked after two children. Though she felt a sense of helplessness about the turmoil in Northern Ireland, she never thought she would be able to devote her energies toward peace.

However, it was when the constant stream of violence began affecting women and children that the resolute side of Williams' personality started to reveal itself.

In 1976, she witnessed a firefight between the IRA and British police patrols near her house. During the crossfire, a fleeing IRA driver was shot, and his car went out of control, hitting a mother and her three young children who were taking a stroll as the sun set.

Williams heard the crash of the car hitting a metal barrier on the sidewalk, and running over she saw three children lying in a pool of blood, two of whom died on the spot and one of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. Their mother was unconscious from loss of blood. Williams, 34 at the time, instantly thought of her own two children at home. She wouldn't stand for this to happen again.

After returning home, Williams paid from her own pocket to mimeograph petition forms, and then started going door to door recruiting like-minded people from among her neighbors. Within barely 48 hours, Williams had more than 6,000 signatures on her petition to end violence.

Furthermore, though she worried that engaging both sides might result in reprisals, she still received invitations to appear on local TV shows, openly appealing to all Irish women to stand up, condemn violence and bring an end to the bloodshed. In this way Williams and other mothers and grandmothers transcended the gulf between Protestant and Catholic and strode across political divisions. Some days later, they organized a peace march which went forward with vigor, drawing nearly 100,000 participants. Though the marchers were harassed by the IRA, denouncing them as "dupes of the British," this group of women fearlessly completed their route.

Subsequently, Williams and some associates founded the Community of Peace People, vowing to end sectarian strife in Northern Ireland and giving them an organizational basis for a long-term struggle. Her change of mind produced a ray of hope that the unsolvable hatred of 400 years of British colonization of Ireland could be ended, and people began to believe that the curse that "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace" could be lifted.

Williams and Community of Peace People co-founder Mairead Corrigan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. The determination that sprang from her intolerance of seeing bloodshed in real life finally thrust her onto the world stage.

Those in authority positions have more influence in the world than the average citizen, so most Peace Prize recipients are political figures. Clearly, Williams' award is an exceptional case. While she lacked powerful connections and political ambitions, and was unable to substantially change the conflict in Ireland, the sincere prayers of this ordinary mother symbolized the people's desire to pursue peace.

The fire still burns

Thirty years have hastened by, and the world is in tumult as always. While conflicts in the Middle East have held our attention for a long time, the situation in Northern Ireland remains dormant. The major paramilitary groups of the two sides signed numerous ceasefires over the years, including the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and though news of sporadic violence still appears occasionally, after the IRA announced its disarmament in 2001, turning to advocating political means, the former troubles of Northern Ireland have been steadily fading from our memories. In fact, benefiting from Northern Ireland's tranquility, Ireland has recently been striving for economic expansion, becoming the EU member nation with the fastest-growing economy.

As for Williams herself, not long after receiving the prize, she emigrated to the United States and began slowly distancing herself from the struggle for peace in Northern Ireland, not wanting her children to constantly live under her shadow. In the US she has started a new life and a second marriage.

Many years of American living has worn away her once thick Irish accent, but it hasn't stripped her of her courage and conviction from that time. In recent years she has worked hard to found the World Centers of Compassion for Children; in addition she has served with many international organizations including the Council of Honor for the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica, the Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington, the Club of Budapest, and the International Peace Foundation in Vienna. Beyond this, she can often be seen at events benefiting women, children and the disadvantaged.

However, her most impressive achievement of all was still that year, when she stood up and was able to rally several hundred thousand Northern Irish to action. The turning point she experienced that year won her the Nobel Peace Prize. She still finds it hard to believe she could win the same honor as someone like Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War.

Perhaps it's because her sense of mission is overly intense: Williams has no lack of examples of trouble caused by her words. While in Taiwan in 2004, she incurred public criticism as well as the wrath of the Central Election Commission for violating the ban on foreigners campaigning in elections when she openly spoke in support of President Chen and Vice President Lu on the eve of the presidential election.

Last year, in Brisbane, Australia, she angrily stated in a speech that the war in the Middle East is harming children. Maintaining that the US president is responsible, she said, "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush."

Williams, who preaches the politics of nonviolence, acknowledges, "I don't believe that I am non-violent."

Understanding nonviolence

"We have to admit there is violence in all of us. By doing so, we'd take the first step in seeing what's violence and the problems caused by it."

From her experience from many visits to Taiwan, she offers a suggestion for Taiwan's current state of affairs: "Ireland and Taiwan share similarity in terms of geography and the fact we have divided political scenarios," she said to the university students who came to hear her. "If a former housewife like me can do it, you can certainly contribute in bringing peace."