Unique. Unprecedented. That’s what they called the storming of the Capitol building in Washington last night, where windows were broken, police barriers breached and the mob, egged on by their leader’s words, tried to subvert the democratic decision to elect Joe Biden.
It may have been unique and unprecedented for people in Washington, but for those of us living in North(east)ern Ireland (NEI), it had a weird sense of familiarity. A mob trying to subvert the rule of law? Think Garvaghy Road. Think Ardoyne. Think Belfast.
Between 1995-2000, the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown was the scene of violence, sometimes lethal, as Orangemen and loyalists massed in their thousands to declare their right to march down the Garvaghy Road. The area was described as being “under siege”. At least six Catholic civilians were killed.
The Ardoyne area suffered from Orange Order insistence that they be allowed to march where they chose, with their banners that featured the UVF and the UDA. It drew world-wide attention again in 2001 when school-going primary-school girls and their parents were showered with abuse and worse by loyalists lining the route.
In 2012, Belfast City Council voted to end the custom of the Union flag flying over City Hall all year and confine it to a number of occasions significant for unionists. There followed riots, where police were attacked with petrol bombs, bricks, stones and fire-works. The homes of Alliance Party members were attacked by loyalists. On the evening of 3 December 2012, hundreds of loyalists broke into the back courtyard of Belfast City Hall as the decision on flag-flying was being taken. They tried to force open doors leading into City Hall itself, with one unforgettable clip showing a smashed pane through which a female rioter peeked her face, screeching “No surrender!”
So yes, Virginia, we are no stranger to the ugliness that erupted in Washington last night. Unionist politicians struck attitudes frighteningly similar to that taken by Donald Trump. They didn’t say “Go and engage in violence” but they declared restrictions on marches and school-going. and flag flying as attacks on their Britishness.
Here in NEI and across the Atlantic in Washington DC, we need to ask the question: Cui bono? Who gains from what happened? At first glance it might be seen as those engaged in violence or the politicians supporting them. A moment’s consideration, however, will show that the people who lost out were those who violently rejected democratic decisions. After Garvaghy, Ardoyne, Belfast City Hall, unionism was weakened as its ugly supporters tried by violence to impose their will and failed. In Washington last night, Trump’s followers broke into the Capitol building, smashed windows, left law-makers in fear of their lives. But those Republican politicians who, like Trump, would have supported the lie about a rigged election – those Republican politicians for the most part now see the ugliness of Trumpism laid open to the public gaze and are scrambling to avoid association with that ugliness.
Cui bono? Not Donald Trump, for sure. The invading hordes of the Capitol building have ensured that Donald Trump ends his reign as the thing he most despises – a loser. Just as, after every violent crisis, unionism has emerged as enfeebled further and closer to the loss of their precious Union.
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