This Thursday, on the eve of the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Lyra McKee, the 29-year-old Author, Journalist and tireless LGBTQ Activist was shot dead while covering disturbances in Derry, Northern Ireland – the violence on the streets mirroring the old days. From the darkness, a gunman emerged and fired aimlessly at police vehicles. Lyra was standing behind those vehicles and was hit. She died a short time later. Today those attending her funeral will include British Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn, alongside the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Sinn Fein's Mary Lou MacDonald and the DUP's Arlene Foster.
After Lyra's death, Dissident Republicans under the name ‘Saoradh’ released a statement saying her killing was an accident. If you fire shots into crowds and leave bombs on the street, it’s likely someone will be killed. In so far as there was any specific objective, it may have been to kill or injure a member of the police force. Tensions in Derry have been simmering for some time – it’s one of the poorest cities in Northern Ireland and massively deprived of any economic benefits of the peace process. A minority who thrives in the marginalized communities of the city romanticises about armed struggle and ignores the peace.
Lyra McKee just wanted to give people who didn’t have a platform a voice, yet It appears that Lyra’s voice, which had struck a chord with so many, was tragically cut short by so called ‘revolutionaries’ in a reckless, cruel act.
‘She disarmed people,’ her friend Alison Millar told me whilst standing outside her vigil on Friday night 'with her smile and just the way she was. Soft-spoken and small in stature, Lyra knocked on any door and people let her in. Religion or politics never came into it. She was an unbelievable human being – fearless, beautiful, magical.'
Lyra’s death is shocking for many reasons – she is only the second journalist ever to be killed in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Loyalists in Belfast had deliberately targeted Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan – who had previous paramilitary links - in September 2001.
And at a time when the Good Friday Agreement is central stage in Brexit negotiations, her death and the underlying tensions in Derry on Thursday night serve as a stark reminder that the Irish peace process can never be taken for granted:
Michel Barnier, chief Brexit negotiator said of her death that it was ‘a reminder of fragile peace still is in Northern Ireland,’ adding ‘ we must all work to preserve the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement. Former US President, Bill Clinton, tweeted: ‘Heartbroken by the murder of Lyra McKee and the violence in Derry. The challenges in NI today are real--but we cannot let go of the last 21 years of hard-won peace and progress. This tragedy is a reminder of how much everyone has to lose if we do.’
But Lyra’s death is shocking for those who knew her because of the type of person she was – a fierce advocate for the rights of young people, a courageous campaigner for LGBTQ rights in Northern Ireland, and a voice for the disenfranchised. Lyra was part of the 'Good Friday Agreement generation' who were supposed to never again witness violence and to reap 'the spoils of peace'. 'But the spoils didn’t reach us', she’d said. She was drawn to subjects coming out of the Troubles usually met with silence – division, suicide, sexuality and those who felt left behind. She was researching her upcoming book ‘The Lost Boys’ about the unsolved disappearance of children and young people during and after the Troubles and on the night in question was observing rising tensions for her presentation on 'Life in Conflict Zones' at an Amnesty International event next month.
Her powerful 2014 blog post 'Letter to my 14 year old self,' about growing up gay in Belfast, went viral and was made into a short film. She was courageous and accessible in addressing the real stuff. In 2016, Forbes named her as one of the’30 under 30 in media’ for daring to tell stories few others seemed to care about.
I did not know her well at all but I was impressed by her ferocious determination and bolshiness in challenging conservative societal norms in Northern Ireland through dialogue and harnessing the power of social media to engage, educate and break down barriers. As Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the NUJ said: 'She was a mentor to a lot of young people, a journalist with a high degree of empathy and wasn’t shy about using social media to get her points across.''
A published author, she wrote ‘Angels with Faces’ a book about the deaths by suicide of young people born since the end of the Troubles. In her TEDx talk she spoke eloquently about the impact of religious teaching on the suicide rate of LGBT people and the need for change. 'Fight for the hearts and minds of those who oppose us,' she’d said. Start a conversation. Lyra urged anyone who had an issue with her sexuality to come and talk to her, 'I will show you that I am a human, just like you,' she said.
Lyra was set to have dinner on Easter Saturday night with author Anna Burns and two other friends, documentary film-makers Darragh MacIntyre and Alison Millar. Lasagne and chips were on the menu a ‘treat’ from Weight Watchers, Lyra had said. But the four friends never got to have that dinner.
“Everything about her was just a wonderful surprise. She loved the world and the world loved her back. She wore her talent lightly”, MacIntyre told Grazia. He first met her in 2006 as the winner of Sky News Young Journalist of the Year; here was a soft-spoken articulate 16-year-old young lass from the deprived Ardoyne area. Lyra did not see an absence of public school education as a barrier; from an early age she choose to believe in the value of journalism and education. She was witty and extremely kind. Referring to Derry as 'County LegenDerry' in her TEDx talk, she said "I avoid that Derry-Londonderry thing. I hate that." Lyra wasn’t concerned with Brexit, she had friends right across the political spectrum and ‘not a sectarian bone in her body’ said MacIntyre who says he hopes she’ll be remembered for her sense of ‘inclusivity’ for those who struggled to find their voice.
Ironically, Lyra was set to give a special speech for Amnesty next month on ‘Life in Conflict Zones’. But she will not do that now. The soft-spoken inclusive woman on the front line who used the power of conversation to bridge the divide is dead. She was quite the brilliant young writer and thinker and loved Derry with all her heart. She thought it was the ‘bees knees’.
But what’s next for the peace process in Northern Ireland following Lyra’s killing? There’s a real sense of anger, revulsion and frustration at this senseless act of violence. Lyra’s death has united communities and political leaders on all sides, but whilst many will hope this is a defining moment, it shouldn’t have come to this.
Both the Irish and British government have turned a blind eye to problems in Northern Ireland in recent years. Whilst much of the rhetoric around Brexit is unhelpful at best, tensions in Derry in particular have been simmering for some time. There is no sense, rhyme or reason to Lyra’s death but the social, political and economic issues will not go away unless we adapt Lyra’s approach – start a conversation, mend the bridges and tell the stories.
As Lyra’s partner, Sara, said in a vigil for Lyra in Derry on Friday night: 'This cannot stand. Lyra's death must not be in vain because her life was a shining light in everyone else's life. Her legacy will live on in the light that she has left behind.'