As your average Orangeman opens his eyes today, shading them from the sun’s glare, I wonder what he’s thinking of. That he should have passed on that last bottle of stout? That the flute band played out of tune but nobody noticed? That being a drummer must be nice, able to thump and thump and thump and think of uppity taigs?
Or maybe his thoughts return to the hated protocol. The marchers yesterday were commended for not mixing two things up: the Twelfth honoured the great King William, who saved us from a Popish King James, and the Protocol which has exposed the lying nature of that tub of lard Johnson. . One a victory, one a betrayal. Victory celebrated; now what to do about the betrayal called Protocol?But can unionists avert disaster? They’ve been betrayed, as they were 100 years ago, by English Tories. They somehow managed then; can they manage now?
Frankly, I think unionists are up against it. Johnson signed an agreement that, to keep the north as though it were still in the EU, requires checks on goods entering NEI. Is it possible to bend this protocol so that NEI at the same time remains firmly within the economic unit called the United Kingdom?
Politically, except Johnson decides to do another back-flip, unionism is snookered.They can rally and protest, but Johnson and Co will do what benefits Johnson and Co, not the loyal people of NEI.
Which leaves unionism one last resort: violence. It doesn’t have to be lethal violence – a riot, some car hi-jacking, maybe even a strike of some kind, like the Ulster Workers strike way back. But there’s no doubt that violence gets the attention of those who otherwise ignore you, and the threat of further and more extreme violence can shake even the most smug of Tories. Besides, young working-class unionists are faced with a long, tedious summer. Maybe now, with lock-down lifting, they can be encouraged to make it a long, hot summer.
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