Cá estou eu de novo a saldar mais uma grande personagem que se vai, desfalcando a humanidade.
Desta vez é um irlandês. Neste dia 21 de março, Martin McGuinness deixou para trás uma vida valorosa e movimentada, dedicada à sua pátria e à defesa de oprimidos além das fronteiras de sua ilha. A família McGuinness não era politizada, muito menos militante republicana. Era uma família católica de Derby, e portanto, cidadã de segunda classe da Irlanda do Norte. Sua rotina era missa aos domingos e comunhão junto com os sete filhos, criados em uma casa de três cômodos, sem banheiro e sem cozinha.
A família ajoelhava-se para rezar o terço toda noite. Eram definidos pelo catolicismo, portanto, oprimidos pelo domínio britânico que impunha a lei na Irlanda do Norte apoiando a população protestante nos abusos contra seus compatriotas que queriam libertar-se do domínio da Grã-Bretanha.
Apelou para a violência para conquistar a liberdade de uma Irlanda livre unificada, mas quando teve oportunidade de reconciliação, fez tudo ao seu alcance para que a paz fosse alcançada. Depôs as armas do IRA, aderiu ao Sinn Féin, partido republicano, e galgou os escalões até o topo no Pode Legislativo em Belfast.
Martin McGuinness foi fiel a suas convicções do início ao fim da vida.
Nunca renegou seu passado. Dizia-se orgulhoso de ter combatido no IRA, sem o qual, a paz jamais teria sido conquistada.
Foi taxado de terrorista pelos ingleses que subjugavam sua pátria. Mas era mesmo era um combatente pela liberdade.
Martin, Deus o guarde!
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness,
a former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and IRA commander
who was a key figure in Irish politics for five decades, has died at 66,
prompting tributes from allies and enemies alike.
He died as he lived, in Derry, Northern Ireland, with his family by his side. His wife Margareth and his four children.
His parents, the McGuinness family, was not a known republican family nor a political family in any sense. Both his parents were daily communicants and as a large family of seven - six boys and one girl - they were brought up in a two-bedroom house with no toilet and only a scullery, not even a kitchen.The family knelt down nightly and said the rosary. Religion was their politics, unlike many West Belfast inheritor families of the 1916 flame.
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| Martin and his brother carry the coffin of IRA friend Charles English |
Furthermore, he earned widespread respect across Britain and Ireland by embracing his bitterest rivals to cement a peace deal in 1998 that allowed Northern Ireland to slowly return to normality. He was unjustly excluded from the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to awarded jointly to John Hume and David Trimble "for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland", but he didn't mind. His work had been done. Peace was signed.
As a young Irish Republican Army (IRA) fighter, he saw his mission as defending the Catholic minority against the largely pro-British Protestants who for decades dominated Northern Ireland.
For his critics, the cause for freedom was never enough to justify the IRA's lengthy armed campaign for the northern province, which is part of the United Kingdom, to be united with the independent Republic of Ireland in the south.
In 1973 he was convicted of being an IRA member after being stopped in a car packed with explosives and bullets and was briefly jailed.
He went on, though, to serve as deputy first minister in a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. Key to its success was his close relationship with Ian Paisley, a firebrand preacher many Catholics see as a key player in the genesis of the conflict.
A partnership many thought would prove impossible was soon dubbed by the media "the Chuckle Brothers" and allowed McGuinness to become Northern Ireland's deputy first minister in 2007.
"As a Chistian, as someone who reflects on life, it's not how you start your life that is important, but how you finish your life."
McGuinness was hailed as a peacemaker for negotiating the 1998 peace deal, sharing power with his once bitter enemy Paisley and shaking hands with the British Queen, though the gestures were condemned by some former comrades as treachery.
Unlike his close Belfast friend, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, McGuinness was always open about the fact that he had been a senior leader of the IRA - classed as a "terrorist organisation" by the British government.
He appeared unmasked at early IRA press conferences, and the BBC filmed him walking through his native Bogside area of Derry discussing how its command structure worked.
During one of his two Dublin trials for IRA membership, he declared from the dock he was "a member of the Derry Brigade of the IRA and I'm very, very proud of it."
Martin was brave, was bold, was just, was whole.
Martin was brave, was bold, was just, was whole.
Gerry Adams has led tributes to his friend and former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness with the following words: "Martin McGuinness never went to war, it came to his streets, it
came to his city, it came to his community. He was a
great man in my opinion and he will be missed.It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of the death of
our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness who passed away in Derry
during the night. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Throughout
his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it
was no different during his short illness. He
was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and
reconciliation and for the re-unification of his country. But above all
he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud
of both. On
behalf of republicans everywhere we extend our condolences to Bernie,
Fiachra, Emmet, Fionnuala and Grainne, grandchildren and the extended
McGuinness family. I measc laochra na nGael go raibh a anam dílis.”
I chose a quote to close this hommage: "I don't really care how history assesses me, but I'm very proud of where I've come from," said Martin McGuinness.
He can be.
He can also be proud of the life he built for himself and of the dignity and peace he brought to his compatriots.
From IRA to political leader to History.
Martin, God rest your soul.
He can be.
He can also be proud of the life he built for himself and of the dignity and peace he brought to his compatriots.
From IRA to political leader to History.
Martin, God rest your soul.
Head to head: Terrorists or Freedom fighters?
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