Eamonn McCann (1943- ) is an Irish socialist, journalist and writer who was politically active during the Troubles. He has since written extensively about them. McCann was born in Derry and raised in the Bogside. His family was Catholic, working class and actively involved in the trade union movement. McCann was educated at St Columb’s College then enrolled at Belfast’s Queen’s University to study psychology. He was later expelled from Queen’s due to his involvement in radical politics. McCann became active in the civil rights movement. He was a member the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) and the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). In October 1968 he became a founding member of People’s Democracy, alongside Bernadette Devlin and others.
In February 1969 McCann stood as a Labour Party candidate in the Northern Ireland elections but failed to win a seat. McCann’s politics emphasised socialist economic reforms: unlike Catholic Nationalists he was a staunch atheist who rejected sectarianism, instead calling for policies to alleviate class inequality. Despite McCann’s insistence on non-violent methods, security forces identified him as a potential troublemaker. McCann was present in his native Derry during the Battle of the Bogside and the Bloody Sunday shootings. He later penned a 15-page pamphlet, “What Happened in Derry”, that documented the events of January 30th 1972. The following year McCann authored a book called War and an Irish Town. Ostensibly about growing up in a Catholic ghetto, it became a popular account of the sectarianism that eventually led to the Troubles.
After the Good Friday Agreement McCann continued to work as a writer and media commentator. He courted controversy in 2013 by attending and speaking at the funeral of Provisional IRA bomber Dolours Price. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2016 but lost his seat in elections the following year.
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