For the past 100 years unionists have been at pains to stress that this little corner of the island is a country in its own right. They insist on having their own football team, they like to refer to this ‘country’ (we’ll say nothing about the biggest show), they like to act as if they are an equal partner on the world stage, and when they had a government for the first 50 years they mirrored the government in London for ministries and the like.
Of course for a large section of the population this was never a country in its own right. Call it what you will, the Six Counties, the North, a failed entity or whatever, the fact that so many people could not even agree on what it should be called says something about its legitimacy or lack of it.
Despite unionist protestations every time they come to the attention of the rest of the world they simply prove that this is not a normal country and probably never will be. To digress slightly: how could it ever be a ‘normal’ country when it owes its origins to a simple sectarian headcount designed to ensure the dominance of one section of the community over another? But if you disagree with this assessment, unionist actions show clearly that this is not a normal country.
The election today of Edwin Poots as leader of the main unionist party here says a lot about unionism and this corner of the island. In any normal society political parties tend to at least pretend they stand for something that will benefit society or at least a section of it. However, unionism has never put forward policies that look to the future. It has always been no surrender, what we have we hold and they have been implacable opponents of social change and indeed political change.
For the main party here to elect as leader a man who does not believe in science, believes the earth is only 6,000 years old, thinks that women belong at home and opposes any sort of equality for people of a different sexuality, never mind being totally opposed to abortion, clearly demonstrates just how far from a normal country this place really is.
Let’s be honest. The DUP in any normal society would be a party on the extreme fringes of society. Maybe not quite the Monster Raving Looney Party but close enough. Their extreme views and lack of any spirit of generosity would ensure that they remained on the fringes. Even the Tories in England for all their faults are aware that there are certain things, especially as regards rights and equality, that they should and do support. Not so the DUP: they cling to their quasi- religious views, and by the fact that they are the largest unionist party here portray just how far from normal this place will ever be.
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