Tributes have been pouring in from across the political divide since Martin McGuinness’ death was announced on March 21st. Indeed a significant date…The spring equinox.
Martin’s story is one of darkness and light. How he and so many catholic young nationalists found themselves imprisoned by lack of opportunity, prejudice and totally disconnected from an occupying establishment. The bog-side was indeed a place of great challenge.
The Bogside, where Catholics were poor and oppressed, civil rights marches turned into riots and the British army was deployed on the streets. McGuinness joined the IRA, believing armed struggle was the only way to achieve a free Derry. Bloody Sunday, which resulted in the deaths of 14 men and boys, bolstered support for the IRA and McGuinness. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Provisional IRA, as its campaign of violence targeted unionists, and Catholics who did not toe the line.
McGuinness, who resigned as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister in January over the ‘cash for ash’ scandal, had been ill in recent months.
Born into a Roman Catholic family in Derry in 1950, McGuinness became involved with the Republican movement at a young age. By 21, he was the second-in-command of the IRA in his home city – a position he held at the time of Bloody Sunday in 1972. A divisive figure, he was pivotal in Northern Ireland’s peace negotiations, ultimately choosing politics over violence.
As the countless deaths continued, the IRA began to realise that it was not going to end this by military means. A ceasefire was announced and negotiations began, resulting in the Good Friday Agreement.
Rev Harold Good, one of the independent witnesses to oversee the decommissioning of the IRA weaponry, said: “Had he [McGuinness] not come from that place he would not have been able to bring other people with him on that journey. That must not be forgotten”.
But McGuinness had a tough battle persuading republicans to decommission weapons and support policing and the rule of law, and the negotiators knew it.
Peter Hain, former secretary of state of Northern Ireland, said: “At one point it got so heated that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness cornered me in a cupboard, in Hillsborough Castle, and really tried to threaten me. Threaten me that I would get sacked by Tony Blair the prime minister, from my job. I knew it was nonsense. Eventually a deal was struck.
Deal
The DUP’s Ian Paisley said: “Doing a deal with that person was probably the most important arrangement we had to come to because if we could do a deal with Martin McGuinness and we could work with Martin McGuinness, we could do a deal with any republican because he was the authentic voice.”
Once bitter enemies, Ian Paisley Snr and McGuinness created a devolved government representing their sides as equals.A partnership, even friendship, developed and they were dubbed the “Chuckle Brothers”.
His unlikely but genuine friendship with the Reverend Ian Paisley, the late DUP leader, was seen by many as symbolic of how far the North came after the Troubles, the three-decade period of conflict before the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.
Former US President Bill Clinton – who phoned the McGuinness family to express his condolences – tweeted that McGuinness was “steadfast and courageous” in his pursuit for a “shared future for Northern Ireland”.
In the UK, former government minister Norman Tebbit, whose wife was paralysed by an IRA bombing of a Brighton hotel in 1984, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he hoped McGuinness was “parked in a particularly hot and unpleasant corner of hell for the rest of eternity”.
However, Jo Berry, whose father was killed in the same hotel publically shared her compassionate hope in a peace process that McGuinness played such a massive contribution too.
Volatile
These are volatile days as we await a new assembly for shared leadership in Northern Ireland. I suggest the Spirit of pragmatism, conciliation and acceptance of diversity personified by McGuinness will indeed prevail. Nobody wants the dark days of brutality and deep division to return.
As we welcome the longer and brighter days of Spring may we also always embrace the light of hope, reconciliation and new beginning. May the people of Northern Ireland continue to embrace diversity, and be a living bridge of tolerance, acceptance and compassion. May Martin McGuinness…..whose life longed for true justice Rest in Peace.
SEE ALSO – Fr Paddy: We should be so grateful for the blessings we do have
