By John Mooney
Irish American Post New York Bureau

Unionists call him a member of the IRA's Army Council and "'the godfather of godfathers," yet Martin McGuinness looked bookish as he participated recently in a panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday hosted by New York University's Glucksman Ireland House.

Northern Ireland's Minster for Education and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator for the Good Friday Agreement was second in command of the IRA's Derry unit on that fateful day during which 27 protestors were shot by the British army. It started as a civil rights demonstration by Catholics on Jan. 30, 1972, and ultimately ended in the deaths of 14 marchers.

He was joined by lawyer Richard Harvey, journalist Peter Pringle, who spent 3 months in Derry investigating the events, academic Mary Hickman, and Trisha Ziff, who curated the exhibition Hidden Truths: Bloody Sunday 1972 at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan. The discussion began poignantly with a reading of the victims' names along with a brief personal insight of each person killed. Many were in their teens or early twenties.

A packed room of nearly 200 journalists, Irish American community leaders and some family members of the victims gained insights into one of the most polarizing events in Anglo-Irish history. The program, entitled "Bloody Sunday 1972-2002: Event, Image, and Memory," focused on why the British Army responded in the way that it did and examined the flaws in the British government's official investigation, the Widgery Report.

Dressed in a sharp blue suit with a trendy purple power tie, McGuinness was ever the politician - articulate and passionate, yet an amazingly calm and effective speaker.

"I am very conscious that we are not far from the World Trade Center," he began, scanning the crowd. "It amazes me that people are still focused on the Irish peace process."

He then began to describe his role in the events of January 30, 1972. At the time, he was 21 years old, active in the IRA, and involved in the civil rights protest. McGuinness always felt that change was inevitable and that the major problem was the inability of the British government to adjust.

"We were treated like second-class citizens, and in many ways we behaved like it," he explained. "The nationalist community was downtrodden. We demanded justice and equality - and we would march for it."

McGuinness believed that the British government did not know how to respond to this sea change, resulting in a response that was military, rather than political.

"Bloody Sunday resulted in the killing of unarmed civilians and, later, to internment," he said. "These events enraged the nationalist community, many of whom joined the IRA to fight back. It was a desperate time in Derry for a community that was, in effect, at war," he said.

While people had been killed in both the Protestant and Catholic communities before, McGuinness maintained that "Derry was different" because those killed and injured were civil rights marchers, not the "gunmen and bombers," as the British government had labeled them.

"My name is linked because I said I was active in the Derry Brigade and was willing to say what I was doing," said the Northern Ireland's minister, who was educated by the Christian Brothers and left school at the age of 15. "Some blame me for firing the first shot. The Saville Inquiry alleges this, but the people of Derry know that this is rubbish."

While McGuinness is willing talk about his actions and maintains that he had no role in violence, his decision to testify is not without risk. It could prompt demands for explanations from family members seeking to determine his role in IRA operations during which Protestant civilians, RUC men, and British soldiers were killed or wounded. Unionists have begun to call for other Sinn Fein leaders, including Gerry Adams, to speak openly and candidly about their past, particularly about their relationship to the IRA.

The 51 year-old nationalist leader asserted that his community has gotten stronger because of Bloody Sunday. "We're equal. I am no longer a second class citizen in a place that had been described as 'a Protestant State for Protestant People.' "

Other panelists were just as compelling. Journalist Peter Pringle, who was informed recently that his notebooks allegedly lost 27 years ago had been found and are being used by the Saville Inquiry, questioned many British government's actions.

"We know the army shot civilians, but we don't know why this happened," Pringle said. "Who made the decision to send paratroopers to a civil rights march? What was the role of the intelligence services that provided the information for the decision? We need to know the covert action during the march and after it."

The last speaker, Atty. Richard Harvey, was the most outspoken. He questioned where more than 1,000 missing British Army photographs have gone from the event and challenged some of the military witnesses.

"Every single victim of Bloody Sunday was unarmed," he said, noting that the RUC "sit in a wooden box they deem necessary for their protection. The British soldiers will testify at an undisclosed location in Britain because they fear facing the people they weren't frightened to kill."

"In the end, the working class families of Derry will right their own report," he said. "They know where the truth lies and how many lies have been told to cover the truth."

The Saville Inquiry

The inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday is being conducted by an international tribunal, chaired by Britain's Lord Saville. The other members are William L. Hoyt, former Chief Justice of New Brunswick, Canada, and John L. Toohey, former Justice of the High Court of Australia. Hearings are held in the Guild Hall in Derry, and the public is welcome to attend.

Witnesses include civilians, priests, media, RUC, soldiers, politicians and other officials. Thus far, the tribunal has interviewed and received statements from over 1,500 people. Martin McGuinness is expected to give his testimony in early spring.

The scale of information is enormous: approximately 122 volumes, including 12 volumes of photographs. The evidence has been saved in CD-ROM format, as well as on 30 audiotapes and 59 videotapes. Transcripts and statements are available at <http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org/>www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.

The Saville Inquiry is the result of years of outrage over the official report prepared by Lord Widgery shortly after the shootings. Commencing the new investigation, British PM Tony Blair said, "The time scale within which Lord Widgery produced his report meant that he was not able to consider all the evidence that might have been available. For example, he did not receive any evidence from the wounded who were still in hospital, and he did not consider individually substantial numbers of eyewitness accounts provided to his inquiry in the early part of March, 1972."

Blair noted that since the Widgery Report was published, much new evidence has come to light. This material includes new eyewitness accounts, interpretation of ballistic material and medical evidence.

 Seeing  Hidden  Truths

The International Center of Photography (1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street in New York City) presents Hidden Truths: Bloody Sunday 1972 until March 17, 2002. The exhibition, curated by Trisha Ziff, probes one of the great tragedies of modern Irish-Anglo history, the shooting of Irish civil rights protestors by British soldiers in Derry, Northern Ireland on Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972. This powerful exhibition addresses both the incident itself, as well as the role of photography as witness. For more information, visit http://www.icp.org>www.icp.org.