Ciaran McKeown

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Ciaran McKeown (* 1943 in Derry , † September 1, 2019 in Belfast ) was an Irish journalist and peace activist in Northern Ireland .

Life

McKeown was born into a Roman Catholic family in 1943. He grew up in Belfast, where he also spent most of his life as a journalist. After eight months as a novice monastery in a Dominican monastery, he studied philosophy at Queen's University Belfast , where he became the first Catholic president of the student body. He was active in the National Democrats , a political association with ties to the National Democratic Party . He became President of the Union of Students in Ireland in Dublin in 1969 .

McKeown became a reporter for the Irish Times in 1970 and later worked for the Dublin Irish Press as a correspondent in Belfast. Through his experience as a reporter during the Northern Ireland conflict , he founded the Women for Peace , a Northern Irish peace movement , in 1975 with Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan . The organization changed its name to Community of Peace People and was known by the simpler name Peace People .

Although McKeown represented the organization in his even-handed and thoughtful manner, his criticism of church officials' refusal to negotiate with the other side created tension within the movement. His colleagues Corrigan and Williams were honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 , but he did not receive it himself. The Ford Foundation supported the group financially, enabling McKeown to become full-time editor of Peace by Peace newspaper and co-editor of Fortnight Magazine in 1977 .

McKeown, Corrigan and Williams resigned as directors of the organization in 1978, McKeown remained the editor of Peace by Peace . His articles created more and more disagreements with the group's new board. Further conflicts within the group led to the separation. McKeown was not able to find a job as a journalist again because of his previous work, so he worked as a typesetter. He published his autobiography The Passion of Peace in 1984.

Awards

literature

  • Richard Deutsch: Mairead Corrigan, Betty Williams. Two Women Who Ignored Danger in Campaigning for Peace in Northern Ireland. Woodbury, NY 1977, ISBN 0-8120-5268-4
  • Ciaran McKeown: The Passion of Peace. Blackstaff Press, Belfast 1984, ISBN 0-85640-325-3 .
  • Judith Stiehm, Champions for peace: women winners of the Nobel Peace Prize , p. 75, ISBN 978-0-7425-4026-2

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerry Moriarty: Peace People founder Ciaran McKeown dies aged 76. In: Irish Times Logo. September 2, 2019, accessed on September 10, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Susan Muaddi Darraj, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams: partners for peace in Northern Ireland , pp. 16-17
  3. ^ Peter Badge: Nikolaus Turner (Ed.): Nobel Faces: A Gallery of Nobel Prize Winners . Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-527-40678-4 , p. 474 (accessed on March 9, 2011).
  4. ^ Seamus Deane et al., The Field day anthology of Irish writing: Irish women's writing and traditions , p.388
personal data
SURNAME McKeown, Ciaran
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish journalist and peace activist in Northern Ireland
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Derry
DATE OF DEATH 1st September 2019
Place of death Belfast