Carrie Twomey asks, will Lyra McKee’s death be a footnote or an endnote to the Troubles?

Lyra McKee could not know that she would be the first ‘ceasefire baby’ to be killed in the Troubles. She would probably argue, of course, that she was hardly the first; after all, she made her name championing the lost ceasefire babies, those lost to suicide in the midst of the imperfect and unfinished peace. And just as context conspired to take those young people away, so too did context, in the guise of another young person, another ‘ceasefire baby’ who allegedly pulled the trigger, take her away.

For all the crocodile tears now being shed, all the embracement of Lyra as a symbol of the so-called success of the peace process, the vows to ‘never again go return to the dark days’, the context that cruelly took Lyra away was complacency. Hypocrisy residing in a comfort zone of bile, bigotry and hatred that would rather retire on the fat tit of the tax-payer while mouthing platitudes, than do the spade work so desperately needed.

All these politicians, vultures feasting on carrion, bleating nothingness, thoughts and prayers – really, thoughts and prayers from Gerry Adams who doesn’t even write his own tweets or if he does, replies to himself, the utter lack of self-awareness and the complete overload of shamelessness never ends – they are all vacuous, empty, clueless.

For they will do nothing, nothing of substance, that will make any difference. My god, London completely forgot Northern Ireland existed when they campaigned for Brexit and even in the heat of their ridiculous negotiations barely remember it. Calls to eradicate the dissidents will only end up with more Terry Gilliam-like security forces enlarging the context for more radicalization of ceasefire babies who have been raised on a diet of Troubles folklore and myth, and will only ensure the merchants of bile and bigotry keep doing nothing but wringing their hands, and raking it in.

Look at the DUP now, kingmakers, doing nothing for the people of Northern Ireland but everything for their own paltry power. Look at SF, “standing in solidarity with the people of Derry” (as useful as a supply truck full of thoughts and prayers), as long as the people they are standing with are their people, which is to say the ones they have bought and paid for or are currently blinding with their cult-like grooming.

Was anyone ever really truly committed to the peace process in the first place? Apart from as a dirty money-making exercise, I mean?

All London wanted was an acceptable level of violence, i.e., not in England, which it got, in exchange for jobs for a lot of boys of all persuasions.

All SF wanted was the façade of power, which it got, never more beautifully illustrated than the fact that Stormont’s been mothballed for 2 years now and no one has really noticed nor cared.

All the loyalists wanted was parity of esteem with SF’s demands, and they got it via counter-intelligence funded ‘community jobs’ and the like, a field gleefully exported as a success-model to conflict regions around the world.

All the Unionists wanted was not to have to give up their Union or their marches or their bigotry, to somehow come out as the Actually Most Oppressed People Ever because the IRA are bastards and always will be, and didn’t they just get that too.

But where are the people who just wanted the violence, and the climate it existed in, to stop? The people who just wanted acknowledgement of what they went through, and who put them through it, not shown in the lenses of propaganda and point-scoring, whataboutery and willful obfuscation, but in the naked light of truth, which comes in all forms, rough and hard or softly spoken, but above all, plain, unadorned, to the point.

The war, the conflict, the troubles, was terrible. It was terrible for everyone, not just us and not just them, and there is no competition for who it was terriblest for because ultimately no one was right, everyone was wrong, everyone suffered, and we all lost. Everyone was duped, and everyone was betrayed. And everyone is still being betrayed and still being duped.

Because as much as we don’t want Lyra to be a note of any kind, and how could Lyra be dead, and how could she have been killed in such a manner - and now she is; now she’s a statistic and a name to be waved about like some kind of flag that proclaims of the bearer, “I’m doing something: absolutely nothing”.

Because as long as we keep electing politicians who don’t act like Lyra did, and don’t care what other people’s backgrounds are, or how different they may be, and actually get to know ‘the other’, and like them, and work with them, and befriend them, we’ll just end up with more of the same, 900 odd years of an endless cycle, my hurt is better than yours, and I’ll prove it, poses and phrases and dog-whistles and red meat with no substance, footnotes, addendums, ad nauseum.

Will her generation make her death an endnote, her life a coda to stopping the cycle, throwing the bums out, and build the Ireland they were promised?

So much in this world right now depends on the mettle of her generation. Across the world, her collective generation offers hope that these awful status quos of swamps and corruption and elites will be overthrown and some honesty and fresh air will blow away the squalid fetidness. We hope, we hope, we hope. What gives us hope is these young people believe. Lyra believed. She believed and now she’s dead.

The old chestnut says a pessimist was never proved wrong in Northern Ireland. Please, despite history, despite precedent and pattern and ignorance and arrogance, please don’t prove me right.

From Good Friday To Bad


Carrie Twomey asks, will Lyra McKee’s death be a footnote or an endnote to the Troubles?

Lyra McKee could not know that she would be the first ‘ceasefire baby’ to be killed in the Troubles. She would probably argue, of course, that she was hardly the first; after all, she made her name championing the lost ceasefire babies, those lost to suicide in the midst of the imperfect and unfinished peace. And just as context conspired to take those young people away, so too did context, in the guise of another young person, another ‘ceasefire baby’ who allegedly pulled the trigger, take her away.

For all the crocodile tears now being shed, all the embracement of Lyra as a symbol of the so-called success of the peace process, the vows to ‘never again go return to the dark days’, the context that cruelly took Lyra away was complacency. Hypocrisy residing in a comfort zone of bile, bigotry and hatred that would rather retire on the fat tit of the tax-payer while mouthing platitudes, than do the spade work so desperately needed.

All these politicians, vultures feasting on carrion, bleating nothingness, thoughts and prayers – really, thoughts and prayers from Gerry Adams who doesn’t even write his own tweets or if he does, replies to himself, the utter lack of self-awareness and the complete overload of shamelessness never ends – they are all vacuous, empty, clueless.

For they will do nothing, nothing of substance, that will make any difference. My god, London completely forgot Northern Ireland existed when they campaigned for Brexit and even in the heat of their ridiculous negotiations barely remember it. Calls to eradicate the dissidents will only end up with more Terry Gilliam-like security forces enlarging the context for more radicalization of ceasefire babies who have been raised on a diet of Troubles folklore and myth, and will only ensure the merchants of bile and bigotry keep doing nothing but wringing their hands, and raking it in.

Look at the DUP now, kingmakers, doing nothing for the people of Northern Ireland but everything for their own paltry power. Look at SF, “standing in solidarity with the people of Derry” (as useful as a supply truck full of thoughts and prayers), as long as the people they are standing with are their people, which is to say the ones they have bought and paid for or are currently blinding with their cult-like grooming.

Was anyone ever really truly committed to the peace process in the first place? Apart from as a dirty money-making exercise, I mean?

All London wanted was an acceptable level of violence, i.e., not in England, which it got, in exchange for jobs for a lot of boys of all persuasions.

All SF wanted was the façade of power, which it got, never more beautifully illustrated than the fact that Stormont’s been mothballed for 2 years now and no one has really noticed nor cared.

All the loyalists wanted was parity of esteem with SF’s demands, and they got it via counter-intelligence funded ‘community jobs’ and the like, a field gleefully exported as a success-model to conflict regions around the world.

All the Unionists wanted was not to have to give up their Union or their marches or their bigotry, to somehow come out as the Actually Most Oppressed People Ever because the IRA are bastards and always will be, and didn’t they just get that too.

But where are the people who just wanted the violence, and the climate it existed in, to stop? The people who just wanted acknowledgement of what they went through, and who put them through it, not shown in the lenses of propaganda and point-scoring, whataboutery and willful obfuscation, but in the naked light of truth, which comes in all forms, rough and hard or softly spoken, but above all, plain, unadorned, to the point.

The war, the conflict, the troubles, was terrible. It was terrible for everyone, not just us and not just them, and there is no competition for who it was terriblest for because ultimately no one was right, everyone was wrong, everyone suffered, and we all lost. Everyone was duped, and everyone was betrayed. And everyone is still being betrayed and still being duped.

Because as much as we don’t want Lyra to be a note of any kind, and how could Lyra be dead, and how could she have been killed in such a manner - and now she is; now she’s a statistic and a name to be waved about like some kind of flag that proclaims of the bearer, “I’m doing something: absolutely nothing”.

Because as long as we keep electing politicians who don’t act like Lyra did, and don’t care what other people’s backgrounds are, or how different they may be, and actually get to know ‘the other’, and like them, and work with them, and befriend them, we’ll just end up with more of the same, 900 odd years of an endless cycle, my hurt is better than yours, and I’ll prove it, poses and phrases and dog-whistles and red meat with no substance, footnotes, addendums, ad nauseum.

Will her generation make her death an endnote, her life a coda to stopping the cycle, throwing the bums out, and build the Ireland they were promised?

So much in this world right now depends on the mettle of her generation. Across the world, her collective generation offers hope that these awful status quos of swamps and corruption and elites will be overthrown and some honesty and fresh air will blow away the squalid fetidness. We hope, we hope, we hope. What gives us hope is these young people believe. Lyra believed. She believed and now she’s dead.

The old chestnut says a pessimist was never proved wrong in Northern Ireland. Please, despite history, despite precedent and pattern and ignorance and arrogance, please don’t prove me right.

27 comments:

  1. Powerful writing from Carrie. It makes me thing that coming from the background of blanket protesting I identify much more with Lyra than I could ever with the people who slayed her.

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  2. Powerful post Carrie , what sickens me is the indecent haste all those stalwarts of the GFA have managed to find common ground in their denunciation of the murder of Lyra , but somehow fail to see ,hear ,say anything about the day and night regular occurrence of police raids in nationalist areas , so much for a new beginning ,for well over the last year we witness video grabs of police stop and search ,house raids etc on fb. the lid on this pressure cooker was going to blow and l believe that is exactly what the spooks who run the police farce here wanted , cui bono a question which has been asked so many times here over the years and it,s just a matter of looking at the security budget and mi5 ,s share of it , last nights death of Lyra was wrong ,but until we face the truth about what really is happening here l think we can expect more of the same ,

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  3. Terrible tragedy....in fact brutal...the sight of Foster with her arms spread out like she was some sort of redeemer for the people of the Creggan on Good Friday was sickening as she and her sectarian racist party bear a degree of responsibility for heightening tensions with her narrow minded Brexit..this time next week Foster will be back to espousing her God and Ulster crap and laying it full on against the same people of Creggan who clapped her today..as for the other politicians...jostling each other to see who could condemn it the most..insincerity falling out of them....as for the PSNI...why did they not raid the house when Pelosi was in town? Like so many, the unfortunate consequence of this young woman's death will be forgotten about in a week or two.....that's the really sad aspect of it....

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  4. Thanks for that Carrie — you’ve said it all, in particular with regard to the using leeches leeching about the Creggan today for their own political gain. Vultures. But bad as that lot are, what I’ve seen today on social media has been not just eye-opening but truly shocking. That there are Republicans (who presumably feel obligated) running around Facebook attempting to defend or otherwise excuse what happened just shows how far down their list of concerns this woman’s precious life actually is. They’d want to take a long look at their behaviour and how that behaviour, not just last night’s act, reflects on our cause and struggle. Someone died here ffs and they’re adding insult to injury. I could well be wrong but I cannot imagine representatives of the Republican Movement ever WILFULLY seeking out opportunities to put forward their arguments at such a sensitive time — other than where they’d been asked to address an issue by third parties. Incredibly, that’s what I’m seeing from those laying claim to be the IRA — or more accurately from their online supporters — and it’s compounding things. They’d be better to be quiet. Now is not the time for the arguments they’re embroiling themselves in and they’d be far better to reflect on what damage has been done, starting with the damage done to Lyra McKee, destined now to be ‘Forever Young’. Of course the IRA made mistakes in its time, of course, but today is not the day to be running around social media calling everyone out. Reflect instead on the incompetent operation that saw the firing of rounds into a street with our own people massed all around — not unlike the reckless blowing up of a car a few weeks ago, with youngsters put at unacceptable risk there too. A disaster was waiting to happen and whoever has operational command here and whoever is doing the intelligence prior to operations, in their planning, would want to be looking at the seriousness of the mistakes being made — they have corporate responsibility as the relevant authority. It doesn’t matter what the IRA done in its time — worry about yourselves. And for what anyway when the war is long over? To bring it back? Why would you want that unless it were necessary? The suffering is too great for the rewards accrued by whatever gang of sell outs eventually make their way to the top. War, in any event, is a last resort — even Ó Brádaigh made that clear. In that respect, Lyra McKee most certainly should not have died. There is another way, as recognised by the IRA and the broader Republican Movement many years ago — no matter the failure of politics since. It’s time we put all of the efforts of Republicanism into that other way, before it’s too late — if it isn’t already.

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    1. Sean - sad but sums matters up succinctly. I see no sign of any politics driving this. Far removed from what motivated Bobby Sands and his generation. Politics is not just about saying you are political but that you actually act and think politically. Politics is a cloak of convenience for this lot.

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  5. Dixie Elliot writes

    Brilliant piece Carrie.

    Saturday two weeks ago, Lyra came to our group Ex-POP, he had PMed to ask me could she call in and I said yes, although I only knew her as a Facebook friend. She was like a teenager starting out on the career of her choice, eager to listen & asking permission to take notes. Excited about her book. Excited about living among us here in Derry with her partner.

    All that gone in a moment of madness, a life cut short before she got to fulfil her dreams, to finish her book.

    We are old men now, but we are seeing the same thing happening again to young people like we once had been. Young people handed guns or bombs by older people, like those who told us they had played their part, it was our turn now, that the Brits were watching them but not us. We saw our young comrades die or like us go to jail for many years while still in our teens.

    What hope is there for the present generation if they are used like we were. Used by those who went on to proclaim themselves as 'peacemakers'?

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  6. Dixie - it is a terrible situation. Lyra deserved better than what she got from these people. They are a greater threat to the lives of Derry nationalists than loyalists are. How the worm has turned. No war, no politics, just a culture of guns and homicide.

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  7. Deepest symparthies to the partner and family and friends of Lyra and utter condemnation of this murderous assault on the integrity of journalism and freedom of the press. RIP Lyra.

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  8. Another life needlessly lost to senseless savagery.

    Condolences to all who mourn and grieve for this so obviously courageous, life-affirming and talented young woman ... tragic that someone put such efforts into making a life for herself only to have it taken from her by the thoughtless and recklessness actions of others.

    (Forthright commentary from Sean Bresnahan & Dixie Elliot. 'Well said' to ye both).

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  9. whoever is pulling the strings in Derry is a gift to the six county establishment that much is obvious.

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    1. Wolfe Tone

      That is a disgraceful attempt to divert responsibility for the murder of this fearless investigative journalist and courageous LTGB role model from the actions of the gunman who acted with no mandate from anybody. A new low even for you.

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    2. Barry - Wolfe Tone is stating the obvious. It is a view very much shared by myself. Whoever is pulling the strings - Wolfe Tone never said the British were pulling them: he left it open so it could just as easily be a retarded republicanism - it is a gift to the establishment in the North amongst the many other things it is. Wolfe Tone's comment is very easily read as a statement to those behind the event to gat a grip and realise what impact they are having.

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  10. What a senseless act the killing of this young woman Lyra Mc Kee and then to have it justified this morning by the IRA.
    As I went for my morning stroll, I kept thinking about the heartache and of how much her parents and sibling’s life will be affected and changed forever.
    I also thought of the conversation I had with a good friend during and after the GFA about how hopefully this will bring about peace forever to which I completely disagreed No I said there will never be peace we will always have outbursts of trouble every generation of young men wanting to be next Martin McGuiness Bobby Sands Joe McCann Jim McVerry or whoever there Republican icon may be .
    Having purchased my copy of the Irish News I looked at the front page to find a picture of politicians from most parties showing their support for this young woman who had become the latest victim of someone’s idea to free Ireland.
    On this weekend a lot of commemorating will be done by people who condemn this type of behaviour, they will then get up on their soapboxes in graveyards around Ireland and tell us of how these gallant men fought for Irelands freedom, the pubs will have music on full volume belting out The Four Green Fields of Athenry and Sean South like no tomorrow.
    Will it cross anyone’s mind that by constantly celebrating the past we are creating the future Freedom Fighters , no not for a second.

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  11. Good piece Carrie and equally good responses from Sean and Dixie. What needn't have happened did.

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  12. I still find it incomprehensible how in this day and age seasoned observers of our past along with carpetbaggers ,wasters et al without hesitation invade the Creggan en mass with of course the obligatory press and cameras , this time the crocodile tears are shed for jurno Lyra Mc Kee ,whose needless death has given these scumbags a platform,I watched a senior police officer give a press conference yesterday morning ,he stated that the raids which led to the tragic end was "intel led "so one would expect that such operation,s would have resulted in uncovering weapons ,explosives or other paramilitary gear, nope no a single piece of equipment was uncovered to justify several night,s harassment,this should remind us of the early days of the past troubles and the kick start of a resistance to state bullies,I think it,s long past time that instead of reacting to reckless acts the communities involved need to demand that those who pull the strings here become more accountable, the PSNI are a farce and the new beginning that was promised never happened,if people really care about the death of Lyra lets have a public inquiry all cards on the table, lets sort fact from fiction about what really is going on here which resulted in this young womans death and possibly you mens live ruined incarcerated, of course that wont happen ,because those politicians and cronies who gathered there yesterday don't want the truth to ever be told .

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    1. Marty they all came in and made their speeches and the PSNI stood beside them - yet they seemed welcomed by those in attendance in a way that the killers of Lyra are not. The PSNI are in a very strong position to say their searches were intel led because of the gun that killed Lyra. Had she not have been shot, then the critics of the PSNI would have been in poll position to claim the raids were heavy handed policing. When the PSNI is more popular in nationalist communities than armed republicans even the least discerning of observers has to see who has won and lost the political argument. And these things are always political - what else were the hunger strikes and blanket protest about?

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  13. Gilheany,
    It's lucky I have a thick skin or I'd reporting you to the admin for insults.
    In no way was I 'diverting' who was responsible for that shooting. I was simply stating the obvious.
    P.s a Zionist shedding crocodile tears is par for the course. They can't help themselves trying to be whiter than white. Yawn.

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    1. As a Gentile I cannot be a Zionist.

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    2. "As a Gentile I cannot be a Zionist."

      Seeing as a man can be a woman, there's nothing stopping you being a Zionist. Just saying.

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  14. Agree on the political point Anthony, however as we all know the police force here has a very dark record in terms of policing ,they are as political as those who control them and that's not the policing board ,my point however poorly made is that Lyras death was the result of several nights searching (intel led)which initself has been part of an ongoing operation stretching back a few years now,there seems to be a deliberate provacation in these actions , all imo to justify the £ mills budget being spent on mi5 and the £mills given to quisling $inn £anny and the dup to dish out to their cronies ,a peaceful community would be a bad day for those whose budget is dependent on fighting terrorism , so I ask again cui bono ?and again the only answer I can come up with is that all our communities get are dead bodies and long prison sentences ,the state is every bit as guilty in Lyras death as those who pulled the trigger , that's my take on it a chara ,

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  15. Marty

    Making moral equivalence between the shooter and the state/establishment/ruling elite is par for the course for apologists/fellow travellers for ISIS, far right white nationalists, dissident "republicans" etc. Their ideology and narrative needs to be challenged and consigned to the dustbin of history.

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  16. So Barry do we accept the states narrative ,unquestioning ,something like Germans did circa 1938 ,,

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  17. Risible analogy, Marty. The UK is an (imperfect) democracy; Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state dedicated to racial purification. It is the use of such inappropriate (to put it mildly) comparisons that neeed to be debunked as part of the whole gamut of dissident "republican " ideology and narrative. And was Sean Russell not a poten tial "quisling"?

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  18. And, Marty, the Creggan does not want these latter day "liberators". Did you not get the memo?

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  19. Barry I would suggest that the people of Creggan and the rest of this artificial state need peace with justice,as promised by quisling $inn £anny Martybroy Mc Guinness and a police force that upholds the rule of law not the farce that carries out mi5,s script,we have witnessed scenes such as the opportunism that took place on Fri with scenes of MaryD4 loser carrying the gay fleg to get one over on bapnose bigot Arlenebefore, remember the peace people , those opportunists who voice their indignation at the totally needless death of Lyra(my words)do so to promote their own sectarian position, I have called for a public inquiry into the circumstances and events that led to this tragedy,to apportion blame on just one side does a massive disservice to Lyra,s memory, All I have called for is that the truth be told,but that seems to be one of the biggest hindrances to bring the last 40 + year,s to an end where everyone here can at last leave the past behind , As for Sean Russell I have no problem with his memory ,

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  20. Odd that Foster and her Neanderthals denied her equality in life and now display sympathy in death.....

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  21. Marty

    So Lyra's death was a "tragedy" not murder? Exactly what deaths are not "needless"? How difficult is it for you to call out this heinous crime for what it is? Exactly how does collobraration with Nazi Germany not count as the act of a Quisling?

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