I read an article recently in which it was argued that Reconciliation in the northern jurisdiction is a prerequisite for a Border poll on Irish unity. I would argue that there will never be true reconciliation without a new constitutional arrangement on the island of Ireland which is free from British interference.
The Dublin government has a crucial role to play in bringing this new arrangement about. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, they are obliged to work to bring this about in an orderly way involving as many parties, groups and citizens as possible in discussions that prepare for a Border poll.
The only way that real political change will come about is through a Border Referendum. It was that provision in the GFA that convinced me and many others in the Nationalist/Republican community to vote for the GFA in 1998. For the first time in our history the Irish people were given a say in deciding their future of this island.
The great obstacle that prevents this from happening is the Colonial mind-set.
The Colonial system was intended to create a colonial mind-set among a section of the community –those who would be utterly loyal to the Colonial power. Very few manage to shake off that mind-set. It is a mind-set that thinks it is superior and that despises all things Irish. It has been promoted by the Orange Order and other pro-union groups.
It has even infected the political system in the 26 counties. It is, as the late Seán MacBride often pointed out, a slave mentality that resists change and adopts an inferiority complex towards the British.
The colonial mind-set is still the predominant mind-set in the unionist section of the population. The colonial mind-set was strengthened by Partition and one-party rule for 50 years and it still divides the people in the north. It will continue to divide them so long as the constitutional position remains as it is.
It is the British colonial system of government that prevents any movement towards real reconciliation between the Orange and the Green communities. So long as the Six Counties is ruled from Westminster the unionist section of the population will continue to believe that they are superior –that they are ‘the chosen people’. They believe that they must be given special privileges and must maintain their link to the British system of government. They still maintain their loyalty to the English crown -and many always will.
The out of date mind-set that results from centuries of British colonial rule in Ireland cannot be allowed to continue to determine the future of Ireland. It needs to be curtailed as has happened in other former colonies which have achieved independence.
It does not mean that the unionist community have to abandon their culture and their long-held loyalty to the Crown –but it does mean that they can no longer prevent the rest of the Irish people on the island of Ireland from creating a new and fully representative democracy and introducing a new Constitution to safeguard the rights of all citizens.
Only in the context of an independent sovereign all Ireland can true reconciliation take place.
The only way that that new political system can be created is when the majority vote for it in a Border referendum in which the choice is continuing British rule in the 6 counties with a local Assembly or a new all-island political framework which will be detached from Britain and allow the Irish people their right to self-determination.
It is most disappointing to hear the present leaders of FF and FG repeating the worn out argument that reconciliation must come about before a Border poll can be held. They clearly do not understand the impact of colonial rule and Partition on the minds of a small section of the people living on this island. That section will always resist any form of reconciliation so long as they are supported by the British government.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael do not respect the right of the large number of nationalist/republican people in the 6 counties to independence and the right of the Irish people as a whole to self-determination.
Partition entrenches the sectarian divide, and makes elections in the North little more than a vote on constitutional preference. The divide will still linger in a New Ireland, but when we go to vote it’ll be more so centred around which party we believe is best equipped to deal with the ‘bread and butter’ issues. The new Governments will likely be coalitions featuring a range of issues that don’t get the same hearing in the North, it’s a much more preferable arrangement to power sharing between Unionists and Nationalists.