Mr. Eastwood is trying to present himself as the youthful face of a rather greying old collective of right-wing Catholics and pro-Brit stooges. He may be from Derry, but he’s definitely no John Hume. Never, at any party conference, does he or any of his colleagues dedicate any substantial portion of time to the subject of Irish reunification in our county; and nor does he afford any effort to the subject of economic and social equality – the two pillars which his party was apparently founded upon.
Anyone who follows an SDLP conference, with a few stimulants at hand to stay awake, is bound to see not just a dismal lack of members but a total deficit of ideas. The whole thing is a stage managed critique of Sinn Fein, and that’s literally what it is. No exaggeration intended. These people have nothing else to talk about and even less to offer. What you have is a grouping of bitter middle class Catholics and Church-oriented interests, who have a dull agenda of trying to stymie Irish republicanism in the North. They’re old Tsarists in a fresh Bolshevik society.
After this election, Colum and his colleagues are going to be reduced to mere single digits in their seat numbers. But the questions to ask are; Can Colum Eastwood survive? And can the SDLP survive? The answer to the first one is, authoritatively, no! After losing a second election on his watch and with an ever decreasing vote, I predict that one of the young ladies in the SDLP will administer the knockout blow to remove Mr. Eastwood from the sinking ship he is so adamant on captaining. All eyes on Claire Hanna.
What makes me think that? Well, he hasn’t attracted many, if any, new members to his party. The policies are still much the same as they were almost two decades ago (to get into bed with the Ulster Unionists). There are people there who are slightly more able than him. And the same betrayal he inflicted on his former leader may well be emulated against his own best interests in the same Shakespearean fashion. Looking at images of him lately, he neither appears nor sounds like a man with fire in his belly. There is no fight left in the lad and he knows his legacy will be naught.
But onto the second question – Can the SDLP survive? They can continue to linger around on political life support, at least for another election or so. But inevitably they will go the same way the Progressive Democrats and the Labour Party did in the Free State. Why? Because you can’t be a part of the problem (the bourgeois political class) and then ridicule it at the same time, in the hope that people will believe you capable of changing anything. They are the most Europhile party in the North, for rather circumspect reasons to be honest, yet they don’t even have a seat/voice in the parliament they would hand all our sovereignty over to. Likewise, they made no impact on the Brexit vote at Westminster. They make no impact at who forms or will form a government in the Dail. And they will again make no impact on what happens after this Assembly election. The final curtains are falling, Colum.
Before you cast your vote on March 2nd remember this, the SDLP have no red lines with the Unionists. There are no preconditions to a return of power-sharing with them. They aren’t going to guarantee an Irish Language Act, they aren’t going to deliver equality for same sex couples, and they aren’t going to ensure the British state honours its commitments regarding legacy inquests. Their sole ambition is political office for the sake of it. They have no country and they certainly have no soul. So they’ll allow the Devil to take the hindmost for the luxury of “mercs and perks”.
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He stoops to conquer but merely ends up shafted. BOHICA
The stoops were relying upon Fianna Fáil to found, in the rest of Ireland, as an electoral force, in 2019, just in time for the next Assembly election.
Fianna Fáil Dail Party are frightened of the six Ulster counties, and all the baggage that part of Ulster contains, Colum may do better than you predict Donal, but not if, for electioneering on the wireless, he keeps putting their west Belfast representative up, I heard him this AM, it was an attempt to be both Irish and orange at the same time, even putting Naiomi Long up to put their case would have been better, does she refer to Colum’s city by two names?
As above, I do think they may even gain one seat but, there’s always PBP/AAA lurking for the disillusioned.
The SDLP are an obstacle to Irish unity, and therefore an obstacle to stability and peace in Ireland. To fall on their sword would be to do Ireland a lasting justice.
If unity is to happen it will need all shades of nationalism backing it. SF cant do it on their own. A strong SDLP is needed. The sooner the southern parties organise north the better. Unionists perform better than nationalists at elections because they have more choice which improves turnout. The ukip cons tuv pup and whatever else votes will very often filter back to the dup. SF dont get this. Even today lucid poll has them almost level with the dup for vote share but they will still end up 6 or more seats behind. The sooner nationalists wake up and stop being dumb the better.
Fine Gael are organised here already, their ‘northern leader’ used to work for UTV.
And to boot, they are not loyal to us. They have taken their sworn oath to the German Queen, the British Parliament and to the state of ‘Northern Ireland’. But Colum describes himself as a republican. Where else would you get such a band of Quislings? And we haven’t forgotten 50p Currie either.
I think a better Russian style comparison would be the SDLP are Mensheviks to the SF Bolsheviks.