Martin

The funeral of Martin McGuiness, 66, was held today. Martin was from Derry’s Bogside, where the civil rights movement for Catholics in Northern Ireland began. He was already a leader in the IRA in 1972 on Bloody Sunday, when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed peace marchers.

Martin went on to negotiate a ceasefire that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He became the leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing, and went on to be deputy first minister for Northern Ireland, serving with a series of leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (who are as strongly pro-union with the UK as Sinn Fein is nationalist). He took the decision a few months ago to bring down the NI Assembly over the RHI “ash for cash” scandal, demanding that the first minister, Arlene Foster, stand down while an independent investigation is undertaken. She refused. RHI was set up while she was head of the agency that ran the program.

He was a controversial figure, to put it mildly. To those whose loved ones died in the Troubles, he was an unrepentant murderer. To Catholics in Derry, he is Nelson Mandela--their deliverer. To those who have promoted peace and reconciliation, he was someone whose power and charisma within nationalist circles was indispensable to disarming the IRA and bringing them into the political process. One of the Good Friday negotiators said that if it weren’t for McGuinness, the troubles would have lasted much longer and many more would have died.

My first reaction was one of sorrow. Everyone who knew him personally described him as kind, a good listener, gracious, and considerate. But as the people who were glad to see him dead were given air time, I remembered how much I hated the IRA when I lived here and, when I went back to the states, how angry I was at Irish Americans who sent money back to the old country--never having to deal with the consequences. So many innocent people died--children, bystanders, people who had nothing to do with the troubles. The IRA were reckless and cruel and I have sympathy with those whose hearts have never healed. Here’s a sample article from the widow whose husband served in the Ulster Defense Regiment, a division of the British Army. He died in a car bombing. He was a target either because he was identified with the “occupying" British army, or because he was among the UDR members who colluded with Protestant paramilitaries. She wrote:

"McGuinness, a former high-ranking officer in the provisional IRA – the organisation that murdered my husband – died at the age of 66. It is the exact age that Dougie would have been today had he not been ripped from our lives.

"I would never take any pleasure in anyone’s death, but it is undeniable that he has had a long, fulfilled life compared to my husband and the many, many others. Unlike these men, McGuinness raised a family, saw his children marry, and had a chance to spend time with his grandchildren.

"His wife Bernadette outlives him, but the obituaries got it wrong saying he left behind a widow. He left behind hundreds of us - mothers and wives who never had the opportunity to bring up our children alongside our husbands; there are children whose only memories of their fathers are from faded childhood photographs, and there are parents who have been forced to deal with the unnatural tragedy of losing their children. Because the IRA didn’t just murder adults, they also took the lives of children too.”

You can’t not feel that. At the same time, his ability to successfully negotiate a truce and a peace agreement makes him a formidable leader. Catholics have come a long way in Northern Ireland--progress that wasn’t going to happen without Ulster Protestants relinquishing the chokehold on power they enjoyed. Could progress have been achieved by peaceful means? I don’t know. When McGuinness was young he witnessed countless acts of cruelty and violence toward his family and neighbours and responded in the way he thought would bring about change.

At the end, he was eulogised by the leaders of the Republic of Ireland and Britain, by religious leaders of all stripes, and by Bill Clinton--who pleaded for the work of peace and reconciliation to continue. Even Arlene Foster attended his funeral--the congregation gave her a round of applause when she walked into the Catholic church. The IRA tried to kill her father; her attendance was in doubt until the last minute. McGuinness’s replacement, Michelle O’Neill, reached out to shake Arlene’s hand in what has become an iconic photo--hopefully one suggesting better times ahead:

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