{"id":67985,"date":"2024-06-07T15:02:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T15:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/from-the-i-r-a-to-the-principals-office-a-lifes-evolution-echoes-belfasts\/"},"modified":"2024-06-07T15:02:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T15:02:37","slug":"from-the-i-r-a-to-the-principals-office-a-lifes-evolution-echoes-belfasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/from-the-i-r-a-to-the-principals-office-a-lifes-evolution-echoes-belfasts\/","title":{"rendered":"From the I.R.A. to the Principal\u2019s Office, a Life\u2019s Evolution Echoes Belfast\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/31\/multimedia\/31nireland-principal-profile-01-bzfq\/31nireland-principal-profile-01-bzfq-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"From the I.R.A. to the Principal\u2019s Office, a Life\u2019s Evolution Echoes Belfast\u2019s\" title=\"From the I.R.A. to the Principal\u2019s Office, a Life\u2019s Evolution Echoes Belfast\u2019s\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jim McCann, the vice principal of St. Joseph\u2019s Primary School, made his way through the hallways, pointing like a proud father to the colorful paper butterflies crafted by his students that hung from the ceiling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He cheerfully greeted each child by name as he passed them. Then he stuck his head into a classroom, where the students addressed him in unison, \u201cGood afternoon, Mr. McCann!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The school is in the largely Catholic Falls Road area of west Belfast, which was engulfed for decades by the bloody sectarian struggle in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Outside, where multicolored fencing provides a bright backdrop to children playing soccer in the yard, gunfire once ricocheted, with army snipers perched on rooftops and armored vehicles rolling by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But since peace took hold here 25 years ago, the neighborhood feels worlds away from that past. To Mr. McCann, 68, the transformation mirrors his own evolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The now-vice principal spent decades involved in the Irish Republican Army, or I.R.A., a paramilitary organization that used violence to try to end British rule in the region. He was convicted of attempted murder and spent nearly 18 years in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like many of his generation, Mr. McCann\u2019s life was shaped not only by the Troubles, but also by the peace process that eventually ended the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is no need for violence whatsoever now, and those who are still involved in it aren\u2019t doing anybody any favors \u2014 they are holding progress back,\u201d he said, in his office at the school earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Catholics in Northern Ireland have held a nationalist and republican dream for more than a century: undoing the 1921 partition that kept Northern Ireland under British rule and reuniting the territory with the Republic of Ireland. That vision has at times left them in violent conflict with the mostly Protestant unionists and loyalists who believe the area should remain part of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. McCann\u2019s ties to the republican movement began after a series of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/04\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-troubles.html\" title=\"\">deadly crackdowns<\/a> in the late 1960s and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/29\/world\/europe\/bloody-sunday-ireland.html\" title=\"\">early 1970s<\/a> <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/04\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-troubles.html\" title=\"\">on civil rights<\/a> marches in Belfast <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/29\/world\/europe\/bloody-sunday-ireland.html\" title=\"\">and Derry<\/a>. At those marches, Catholics protested against discrimination by the Protestant-controlled government and police forces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the tensions deepened, communities divided along sectarian lines, and paramilitaries sprang up on both sides. Still a teenager, Mr. McCann watched as the city around him became a war zone. Ignoring his parent\u2019s protests, he joined the I.R.A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was a very strong sense of community, being part of that and the community asserting itself,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you knew there was no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1976, when he was 19, he was arrested while on an I.R.A. operation, driving a stolen motorcycle as another man fired off the back at a police officer. The officer was injured but survived. After Mr. McCann\u2019s conviction of attempted murder, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released in 1994.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By the time the peace accords known as the Good Friday Agreement were signed in 1998, some 3,600 people had died in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While Mr. McCann doesn\u2019t glorify the violence of the Troubles, he believes it was a necessary part of a struggle for a more equal society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI never, never, never, ever regretted it and have always been proud of what I was involved in,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve led a very fulfilling life even though I was in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Robert J. Savage, a professor at Boston College and an expert in modern Irish history, said that to some unionists, \u201cthe notion of a former I.R.A. prisoner working in a school with young children would not be acceptable. It would be upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While peace has firmly taken hold, memories of the Troubles haven\u2019t fully faded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe violence might be over, but there is still this trauma below the surface for many people,\u201d Professor Savage said. \u201cAnd the I.R.A. was part of that violence, and society remains divided.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There has been \u201ca real lack of accountability,\u201d in the years since the peace accords, he said, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s been a bitter pill for people to swallow, and not just for victims of the I.R.A. but for victims of the British-backed security forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2021, Mr. McCann published \u201c6,000 Days,\u201d a memoir of his time in Northern Ireland\u2019s notorious Maze Prison. The book chronicles the daily experiences of the hundreds of I.R.A. prisoners who protested through a series of increasingly extreme, sometimes fatal, measures, like hunger strikes. It also describes <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-41271598\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a high-stakes prison break<\/a> that saw 38 men escape. Mr. McCann and 18 others were recaptured within 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The details he shares are stark. For years, the men, including Mr. McCann, refused to wear prison uniforms in an act of defiance, becoming known as the \u201cblanket men.\u201d They staged a \u201cdirty protest,\u201d smearing their excrement on the walls. They were beaten by guards who turned fire hoses on them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. McCann wrote of the grief of watching 10 fellow I.R.A. prisoners die in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/05\/05\/world\/sands-dies-in-northern-ireland-jail-on-the-66th-day-of-hunger-strike.html\" title=\"\">the hunger strikes of 1981<\/a>. For those sympathetic to the republican movement, even those who disavowed the violence of the I.R.A., the deaths drew great sympathy and would mark a turning point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Later that year, the protests were called off and a compromise allowed prisoners to wear their own clothes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In prison, Mr. McCann struck up a deep friendship with another I.R.A. member, Joe McDonnell, the fifth man to die in the hunger strike. Mr. O\u2019Donnell attended St. Joseph\u2019s as a boy and is seen as a hero in the neighborhood\u2019s largely republican community. A plaque near the school gates bears his name. It\u2019s a daily reminder to Mr. McCann of his friend, the area\u2019s violent history and the hopes for a conflict-free future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. McCann was 38 when he was released from prison as part of the peace process. He soon became a father of three, got married and then, after earning his college degree while imprisoned, became a teacher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy father was a teacher, and from a young age, I always knew that\u2019s what I wanted to do,\u201d he said. \u201cFor all those years, it was what I knew I wanted.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of his students\u2019 families had personal connections to the conflict, and some experienced the worst of its fallout, with family members killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey are a diverse group,\u201d he said of his students, pointing out that the decades of peace have brought immigrant families. \u201cBut you still have the separation between Catholics and Protestants. Unfortunately, we do still have it. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/14\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-schools-good-friday-agreement.html\" title=\"\">We\u2019re still separated<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sitting in his childhood home, Mr. McCann looked over relics of his prison life, including small slips of toilet paper, covered in tiny, neatly written lines of text, where he had scrawled messages to friends and family to be smuggled outside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While he\u2019s still involved in the politics of the republican movement, Mr. McCann says he is committed to a peaceful pursuit of that goal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI realized that the military side of the struggle had run its course,\u201d Mr. McCann said. \u201cIt took us so far and it wasn\u2019t going to take us any further.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He has campaigned for Sinn F\u00e9in, a party that was once the political wing of the I.R.A. but that renounced violence and engaged in the peace process. Once on the political fringe, Sinn F\u00e9in has risen to become a force, winning the most seats in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/07\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-sinn-fein.html\" title=\"\">Northern Ireland\u2019s 2022 elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On an afternoon in early February, Mr. McCann went to the Great Hall of Stormont, Northern Ireland\u2019s government building, to see Michelle O\u2019Neill, a Sinn F\u00e9in politician, make history when she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/03\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-sinn-fein-michelle-oneill.html\" title=\"\">became the first republican First Minister of Northern Ireland<\/a>, the top job in the power-sharing government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. O\u2019Neill has described herself as someone who, like Mr. McCann, represents \u201cthe Good Friday generation\u201d committed to cooperation and peace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was a moment Mr. McCann thought he might never see.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was good to be with people who have spent the vast majority of their life, certainly their teenage and adult lives, struggling not just to get us into Stormont, but to help us progress toward our ultimate objective, which is a united Ireland,\u201d he said of the other members of the republican movement he stood alongside that day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBut in the interim, to make this a place where everyone can live reasonably happy, that is a place of equality, that is a place of opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/07\/world\/europe\/northern-ireland-ira-school-principal.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jim McCann, the vice principal of St. Joseph\u2019s Primary School, made his way through the hallways, pointing like a proud father to the colorful paper butterflies crafted by his students that hung from the ceiling. He cheerfully greeted each child by name as he passed them. Then he stuck his head into a classroom, where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/31\/multimedia\/31nireland-principal-profile-01-bzfq\/31nireland-principal-profile-01-bzfq-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[63797,7875,1071,63795,10129,1951,63796],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67987,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67985\/revisions\/67987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}