A few people have said to me that they feel unsure about who to vote for and whether to vote come this election. Of course I would encourage everyone to vote early and vote often, but we need to be clear as to what they would be voting for. One thing’s for sure, there can’t be any going back to simple business as usual like it was before RHI but with the addition, benefit if you consider it so, of the DUP putting on a smile through gritted teeth. An old order has come to pass and something different needs to occur; a new precedent which restores not just credibility concerning who governs but also how they govern and why.
Let’s be clear about something, unlike in the bad old days of the by-gone Orange State, Stormont is not a semi-sovereign government; it only has legitimacy where nationalists deem it acceptable, because we as a community have brought things to the point where no British government could ever revive what was a syndicate for fascist bigots from the inception of this state. We have no allegiance to a parliament in Stormont; We’re citizens of Ireland and we owe our faith to the tradition of the first Dail. Although, we must have the temperament to accept that this is a long term process towards that eventual end; A dilution of bitter resentment via constructive and necessary engagement.
It must be hard to be a Unionist in some ways; Their government, in London, has sold them down the river time and time again to the very enemies who make their blood boil. Just like with Southern Rhodesia, the sovereign parliament in London cares nothing for their past sacrifices made for a lost imperial power. To know that the people you most want to identify with are willing to stab you not just in the back but also in the front, is a Shakespearean-type of pain which knows no aspirin. After all, it was a Tory government which abolished the gerrymandered Stormont in the 70’s – the only guarantee they had against Irish reunification. It was a Tory government which introduced political status for paramilitary prisoners. It was a Tory government which administered some of the OTR letters. And it was a Tory government which sewed the seeds of their eventual destruction in the 90’s – all when they were using the Unionists for their Westminster votes, too.
Lord Carson warned these people, with shrewd foresight, to never mistreat the Catholic minority in the North. He told them to have an embracing cordial and fraternal relationship with the people in the rest of Ireland. And he told them that they are just pawns in a game to help the Conservative Party into power; disposed of when no longer required. Now as much as I consider his historical example flawed, Carson knew that right wing authoritarianism and a systematic abuse of power in the North would be the rocks upon which the Union would split. He never believed in Northern Ireland, he tolerated it.
One poet, Rudyard Kipling, wrote extensively about the emotions and mindsets of that time. He penned, “We asked no more than leave, To reap where we had sown, Through good and ill to cleave, To our own flag and throne. Now England’s shot and steel, Beneath that flag must show, How loyal hearts should kneel, To England’s oldest foe.”
This isn’t a religious division; We have a conflict of identity between Irish people. Until the national question is finally resolved on this island, all I would ask of Unionist politicians is that they follow the advice of their hero, Lord Carson. That the rights, treatment and liberties enjoyed by people in Edinburgh, Cardiff or London, be equated to the people in the North. That parity of esteem be the order of the day. That while people in Wales, England and Scotland face real austerity, they work in trying to ensure that the vulnerable here know no such injustice. While I think the non-conformist heart will only be freed upon upon Britain’s final departure, I would hope, that whatever agreements unfold, they succeed in resurrecting the radical Presbyterian conscience over Empire-Loyalist antagonism.
A fine piece , Donal. It contains many home truths.Unionism has really only realised that the very idea of the British Empire is as ancient now in the consciousness as the long-gone Roman Empire. It is forgotten. Also , the last thing that Carson ever wanted was a divided Ireland.He knew ,at heart ,that it would be unworkable.
Not being too familiar with the period, Harry, but isn’t there a lot of similarities with our situation and that of the French settlers in Algeria and their eventual sell out and downfall?
I’m not over-familiar with it myself fiosrach but the French ,like the British elsewhere in the world, faced the same kind of backlash in their empire -building .This was their scond stab at empire -building and they were competing with Portugal , Spain and later Britain in terms of world power. The quest for riches, sugars and spices drove these people and slavery of the native peoples they conquered , in one form or another ,followed. There had to be eventual backlash.Look how the French retreated from Vietnam in the mid 1950s before the Americans also waded in only to get bogged down in a useless war.The French had been in Vietnam since the early 1800’s, remember .The got out of Algeria, North Africa in 1962. That’s really not so long ago .It ‘s only twenty years now that Hong Kong was transferred to China in 1997 and that really was the full stop on the British Empire. Here in Ireland, it’s only a matter of time before there is some new arrangement made between ourselves Scotland , Wales and the UK, but certainly the capacity to cling on to part of Ireland is diminishing .
And let’s be clear about something else – nowhere is the partitionist mindset more tenaciously embedded than in the Dáil and, increasingly, in the consciousness of southern civic culture.
Any time over the last century it could have been written:
‘It must be hard to be Irish in the north. Their government, in Dublin, has sold them down the river time and time again … the sovereign parliament in Dublin cares nothing for their past sacrifices.. To know that the people you most want to identify with are willing to stab you not just in the back but also in the front, is a Shakespearean-type of pain which knows no aspirin’.
The annexation of Irishness into southern hands can be varied when required (Heaney and Friel were great Irish writers but Bellaghy and Omagh are in Northern Ireland) but when somebody on RTÉ says Ireland or Irish you can be sure they don’t mean us.
This Free State model of national identity suited the Dáil lounge lizards as much as it did unionists and both used the same refrain, “The Free State/Ireland couldn’t afford Northern Ireland”, as if the north was a dependent child with no contribution to make to the family income and therefore necessarily loyal by obligation to the half crown.
That may have been a genuine concern for much of the last century but the Reich of aggressive austerity and Little Englander Brexit should give even the Truest Bluest unionist pause for thought.
I would direct them, and those in the Free State bubble, to the ‘Modeling Irish Unification’ report compiled by a team of international scholars of economics (ie with no parochial political axe to grind)
http://prcg.com/modeling-irish-unification-report/
It is a detailed report, too long to present a decent summary here but the stand out conclusion is:
“The report presents the first comprehensive economic models simulating the political and economic integration of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The study is particularly timely given current debates over Irish economic growth and the U.K.’s continued participation in the European Union. Three unification scenarios were presented, with the most aggressive estimating a 35.6 billion Euro boost in an all-island GDP in the first eight years of unification.”
Is propping up partition worth 36.6 billion, even for the conservatives of the Free State?
My thoughts exactly Gerry but it was difficult reading after we got to “vote early and vote often”
“And let’s be clear about something else – nowhere is the partitionist mindset more tenaciously embedded than in the Dáil and, increasingly, in the consciousness of southern civic culture.”
You say that as though there is something wrong with a ‘partioniist mindset’. I see nothing wrong with respecting the GFA and the wishes of the people in NI.
“‘It must be hard to be Irish in the north.”
What a strange thing to say.
“Their government, in Dublin, has sold them down the river time and time again …”
The Dublin government doesn’t represent people.in NI so it’s not ‘their’ government. As for ‘selling them down the river’, what does this mean?
“the sovereign parliament in Dublin cares nothing for their past sacrifices..”
What past sacrifices and why should it care for them?
“To know that the people you most want to identify with are willing to stab you not just in the back but also in the front, is a Shakespearean-type of pain which knows no aspirin’.”
Who has stabbed whom in the front?
“The annexation of Irishness into southern hands can be varied when required (Heaney and Friel were great Irish writers but Bellaghy and Omagh are in Northern Ireland) but when somebody on RTÉ says Ireland or Irish you can be sure they don’t mean us.”
This point is valid and perhaps stems from De Valera’s constitution, which shamefully arrogated the name Ireland for that of the state.
“That may have been a genuine concern for much of the last century but the Reich of aggressive austerity and Little Englander Brexit should give even the Truest Bluest unionist pause for thought.”
If the relative economic backwardness of the South for most of its history didn’t five the Truest Greenest northern nationalist pause for thought, why do you think Brexit would do so for the Truest Bluest unionist?
“I would direct them, and those in the Free State bubble, to the ‘Modeling Irish Unification’ report compiled by a team of international scholars of economics (ie with no parochial political axe to grind)”
Why? Don’t they can have a laugh? A non-peer-reviewed report commissioned by Friends of Sinn Fein with zero academic credibility?
Hahahahahahaha
http://prcg.com/modeling-irish-unification-report/
It is a detailed report, too long to present a decent summary here but the stand out conclusion is:
“The report presents the first comprehensive economic models simulating the political and economic integration of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The study is particularly timely given current debates over Irish economic growth and the U.K.’s continued participation in the European Union. Three unification scenarios were presented, with the most aggressive estimating a 35.6 billion Euro boost in an all-island GDP in the first eight years of unification.”
Is propping up partition worth 36.6 billion, even for the conservatives of the Free State?
“Given the nature of the undertaking, this report involved quite a number of researchers who contributed to various aspects of the project. Kurt Hübner from KLC provided the overall lead.Renger van Nieuwkoop from Model Works in Switzerland was in charge of the modeling exercise. Yuri Tricys was the project researcher and also in charge of data compilation. Kurt Hübner is overall responsible for the final report.”
I expect MT to unmask Hubner, van Nieuwkoop and Tricys as anagrams of a crack team of republican propagandists.
Maybe Simon Hamilton had a skim through it while he was waiting for somebody to write the ‘Economy 2030’ draft – Simon’s ambitious industrial strategy which will see ‘Our Wee Country’ eventually catch up with the Small Advanced Economies currently ranked as most competitive – ie Singapore 1st, Denmark 2nd, and Republic of Ireland 3rd.
2030? He’ll have cleared the RHI monies by then, surely?
“Of course I would encourage everyone to vote early and vote often,”
Shameful. But no surprise coming from a provisional republican.
“Shameful. But no surprise coming from a provisional republican.”
Phew, it was a good job voter identification came in and stopped this “provisional republican” voting fraud. I’m sure it weeded out the “provisional republican” frauds from real voters…
…oh wait…
Gerry,with regard to Heaney and Bellaghy,it never ceases to amaze me how the media north and south tiptoe around the fact that Bellaghy is one of the most republican areas in Ireland.The Bellaghy area election tallies consistently show a SF vote of well over 80% as indeed do several other areas of South Derry.
“After all, it was a Tory government which abolished the gerrymandered Stormont in the 70’s”
Stormont wasn’t gerrymandered. Gerrymandering only occurred in some.local councils.
“– the only guarantee they had against Irish reunification.”
But it was replaced with another guarantee.
“And it was a Tory government which sewed the seeds of their eventual destruction in the 90’s – all when they were using the Unionists for their Westminster votes, too.”
Do explain this. What happened in the 90s to “sew” the seeds of unionists’ eventual destruction.
“Gerry,with regard to Heaney and Bellaghy,it never ceases to amaze me how the media north and south tiptoe around the fact that Bellaghy is one of the most republican areas in Ireland.The Bellaghy area election tallies consistently show a SF vote of well over 80% as indeed do several other areas of South Derry.”
Why would anyone be interested in voting habits in Bellaghy any more than in any other village?
Because Heaney is not Bellaghy’s only famous son.There are monuments worldwide to 2 of them who died on hunger strike and surely that fact would be of interest to visitors and also showing the political make up of the area would indicate that locals still remember them with pride.
“Because Heaney is not Bellaghy’s only famous son.There are monuments worldwide to 2 of them who died on hunger strike and surely that fact would be of interest to visitors and also showing the political make up of the area would indicate that locals still remember them with pride.”
I don’t think it’s the media’s job to be promoting Bellaghy to political tourists.
That is the future Michael.
We cannot deny the need to grow our tourist industry and whether anyone likes it or not, the numbers of people coming here expecting to learn about the troubles and will travel for authenticity and to learn what happened is growing rapidly and will continue to do so.
The conflict museum and tourist attractions exactly like you outline is what is going to happen. In time, the IRA will be honoured in Ireland and nothing less will be accepted.
Those throughout this island who don’t like the sound of that better start getting used to it.