Northern Ireland: Politics

I saw this and thought of you lot…

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? It is because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.
~ J. Krishnamurthi

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Well, I couldn’t let this week pass without some comment on the restoration of the Assembley.

Is this the beginning of a bright new future for Northern Ireland? That was the burning question yesterday. It’s really too early to tell, but surely the signs are hopeful?

I’m not sure what to make of Ian Paisley in the role of First Minister. Let’s face it, the man made his career out of opposing whoever held this (or equivalent) role in the past. In bringing down just about every ‘moderate’ attempt at peaceful governance, Paisley was the anarchist, the mixer, the organ grinder. He effortlessly roused the passions of paranoid Protestants in bigotted tirades against Catholics/Nationalist or anybody who looked at him squinty.

And now he’s the head honcho?

Over the last few years, The Reverend Paisley has had plenty to say about the IRA and Sinn Fein gaining the trust of the people. Today, Ian Paisley still has a long way to go before he has my trust. Too many stunts, posturing and double-speak from Paisley have left me rightly suspicious of his intentions for this Assembley.

My hope for the future is that Paisley decommissions his bigotted rhetoric the same way the IRA put their weapons away. Is it too vain to hope that he has seen the damage he has done to Northern Ireland and that in this late stage of his career (and life) he wants to finally be a force for change?

I hope so. Peace be with you, people…

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Seeing Ian Paisley, the representative of everything wrong with my tribe, and Gerry Adams, the representative of everything wrong with his, trying it seemed to find a “final solution” to the “Irish question” - was for me not surprising. It was what both Sinn Fein and the DUP wanted all along, not peace necessarily, but power - the former to join Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic to fulfil the “1916 prophecy” and the latter to “keep Ulster free from Dublin interference”. Two polar opposite positions have now been brought to the middle ground, which sounds good for Tony Blair and Peter Hain, but is not the reality as far as I can see.

Of course I welcome any move to bring our province into the 21st century, and peace is what I desire, but I am not convinced (yet) that Paisley and Adams can bring that about. Watching them together, I felt a nervous hope, but for a brief moment I wished it would have been David Trimble and John Hume! Not because I like Trimble or Hume, but because I believed they could have had a genuinely equally beneficial working relationship, that they would truely have embraced the middle ground - rather than just talking about it.

Ian Paisley has not fundamentally changed his position, he himself said it was more pressure and threats from Peter Hain and the British/Irish governments, than a genuine desire on his part to make a deal. Gerry Adams has also not fundamentally changed, he has made it his lifes work to destablise and destroy Northern Ireland, he is not seeking reconciliation within our country but a United Ireland “by any means necessary” - even if it does mean turning his back on certain, what Republicans wrongly call “principles”, he will do it all for a United Ireland and more.

I am more of a realist, I do not believe a few photos and nice words are enough, as the British and Irish governments do, to hear them you’d think Paisley and Adams peacenik photo-op was the solution in and of itself. Of course I’d welcome the reconciliation of Loyalism and Republicanism (Paisley is no Unionist) but are these polar opposite idealogues the way of the future or the past?

Paisley is still the old fundamentalist preacher who sees Rome and Leinster House as one, and perhaps believes the devil is behind both, there is a conspiracy behind it all involving the Republican movement as well perhaps?

Republicans accuse him, quite rightly perhaps, of living in the 17th century - of course their enlightened socialists and revolutionarys? Perhaps Adams and his comrades spout Wolfe Tone quotes (a man of the 18th century) about uniting the religious communities, but it means little in reality, they are a sectarian movement with little or no support from Protestants - and their campaign of murder…”armed struggle” has set back their cause by decades - yet Adams and the Volunteers cannot admit that it was a complete and utter failure; Paisley may well live in the 17th century but Adams and Sinn Fein are right there along with him: of course Republicans think living in the 1960s/1970s makes them so much more…”groovy”?

Hugging Fidel, supporting Basque separatists, drawing support for Fatah/Hamas isn’t about ebracing the future; its about clinging on to the past. Fidels Cuba is a relic of the 1950s, complete with that unwashed revolutionary zing, its funny when Republicans talk of the UN Charter on Human rights - when possessing such a simple document in Cuba can get you thrown in prison - as for the Basques, their decades behind the Provos, and for the anti-semites in Fatah/Hamas who strap bombs to small children - their light years away from the 21st century. You can always know someone by their friends, Sinn Fein are not representative of the future or of the 21st or any other century, so the question remains on mine and i’m sure others, lips:

Can Yesterday’s Men Become Today’s Future? We’ll have to wait and see…

Sunday, April 15th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I asked a few weeks back about new voices in the Northern Irish blogosphere, and got a less than stunning response. One blogger who left a comment was Hanson, who I’ve seen around comment threads on NI blogs for a while now.

Judging by his blog, Hanson appears to take the stance of an anti-Agreement Unionist, though I won’t hold that against him! His writing is very opinion-based, which I like, and he holds a healthy degree of scepticism for Unionists and Nationalists alike. Read the rest »

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I don’t want to get into the ins and outs of collusion or make too much of a judgement without evidence, as many in Northern Ireland no doubt will or indeed have already done. I am not surprised by the supposed “revelation” of RUC collusion or that certain members of the old Police force colluded with paramilitaries. Nobody can claim that our conflict was in anyway clean, even the terrorists called it a “dirty war”, and so to claim surprise when a dirty little secret is revealed makes little sense outside of political point scoring. I am not attempting to justify the crimes of people in the past or excuse them but to highlight that they were not uniquely evil. Policemen, many of whom came from the communities targeted by Republicans could not have all remained as decent as the majority of rank and file officers did, its just the impossibility of human nature, just like those Catholics in 1969 who watched their homes being burned by Loyalist gangs could not all have remained decent as the majority of Catholics did.

Within the context of our conflict the informants system was tragically going to fall prey to the instances of murder highlighted, however collusion is different from turning a blind eye, in order to collude the officers in question would have had to set up or help organise the murders - which some may well have done - but I don’t possess the evidence. However accepting that terrorists are going to kill and turning a blind eye to those few murders may have prevented greater acts of terrorism. Within the context of the dirty war we cannot see what was necessary from what was morally unjustifiable and plain sectarian murder with regards to the RUC. If evidence suggests otherwise then no one can morally argue against it.

What I will say is I am not surprised by the Republican hypocrites reaction to the whole sordid affair who of course jumped on the moral high ground.

Calling for heads to roll, people to be fired, prosecutions, justice and using the murder of 15 people to excuse or justify the terrorism of Nationalists. In an ideally moral country yes, certainly evidence of murder and collusion should be fairly dealt with, in an ideally moral country paramilitaries who murdered innocent civilians for sectarian reasons would be jailed and serve their full sentences for those crimes…but you see, we don’t live in either an ideal or a moral country, we live in Northern Ireland.

I will agree with Martin McGuinness that ex-RUC members, Special Branch officers, former Chief Constables and the like be imprisoned for acts of supporting or overlooking acts of murder; when Mr McGuinness is put on trial for his crimes, when OTR terrorists are hunted down and locked up. When those who did not serve their full sentences thanks to the GFA are returned to prison or when Mr McGuinness gives up those members of his organisation who were not prosecuted for acts of sectarian murder. Until then Sinn Fein members and supporters have no moral high ground on which to stand to accuse others or hold people to standards of prosecution they themselves feel exempted from because of their ‘political idealism’ or supposed ‘cause’.

If I may indulge my own idealism: we should have an amnesty for all those involved in the 30+ year conflict, if we cannot be consistent with our standards, and should seek to build a better future for all of us and our future generations. I cannot change the dark days of what we allowed to occur in our country, nor do I wish to go on a moralistic revenge trip, rather I’d be happy to remember only so that it spurs us on to never again allow ourselves to return to such a dark place. I don’t believe a South African style “Truth & Reconciliation” commission would be anything more than a sop or a cynical exercise, but perhaps we require something similar, which allows a blanket amnesty for those who partake in it in order that it is firmly placed in the past once and for all, I believe it would be a welcome relief for many…apart from of course most Republicans and most Loyalists.

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Right, imagine you were approached by a friend or colleague and asked to recommend a good Northern Irish political blog….

Who would you recommend?

I’ve lamented the state of the Northern Irish blogosphere a while back, and now that I’m starting to get back into the flow of things I’d like to update my reading list. Damien Mulley pulled out a good list of Irish political blogs late last year.

I’d like to see something similar for Northern Ireland specifically. Roll up your sleeves, and help me out with your suggestions in the comments below!

Monday, January 22nd, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

While surfing the Internet I came across a number of Irish-American websites excitedly counting down to ‘Paddy’s Day’. I began thinking about Christmas and its annual countdown and the similarities between it and St. Patrick’s Day. For St. Patrick’s day celebrations have as much to do with a 5th century teetotal Christian fundamentalist, as Christmas has to do with the birth of Christ.

I for one am amused by Paddy’s day. Not least by the sight of “Plastic Paddy’s” everywhere bedecked in green, with leprechaun hats, black thorn sticks, the obligatory pint of Guinness and sometimes an Irish tricolour. Indeed even I, in the past, have been known to join in the festivities of celebrating our “Patron Saint” (minus the hat, stick and tricolour) and from what I can remember I thoroughly enjoyed my indulgement of Paddywhackery culture (for it is anything but authentic Irish culture). But the most amusing thing of all about March 17th or there abouts, is the seriousness with which both our tribes and Irish America take it. Some DUPer will always be waiting in the wings to inform “us Prods” that Saint Patrick “Is ours too, you know”, like somehow we didn’t?!

And the small but dreadfully annoying ‘grumpy Prod brigade’ so disdainful of supposed “Irishness”, however unauthentic, plastic or non-threatening it is, must insist on projecting their misery onto others by demanding parades with no green, no tricolours (mmm…what about the orange bit?), no alcohol, basically no fun for anyone!

Lest I should forget all those “liberal internationalist” Republicans out there, I’m also equally amused by their idea of what an “authentic” St. Patrick’s day is, much like the one mentioned above, only with Celtic shirts, Armalite T-shirts, Toicfaidh Ar La key-rings and various pro-IRA tack! “We’re not alienatin’ anybody, so we’re not” is the cry from rebel whiners when you question their precious sacrosanct expression of “Irishness”, considering they’re supposedly defenders of traditional Irish culture its surprising their clinginess to a decidedly unauthentic display of pure plastic paddyness.

As with most things in Northern Ireland St. Patrick’s day is a means by which to express our ingrained sectarianism and hatreds for one another. I do not believe St. Patrick’s day is something of great importance or significance, to either our culture, identity or conflict, rather it is a non-issue made into a sectarian mud flinging exercise and propaganda battle. Of course I can see the fun side to it and am not a complete dreary sod, I don’t think it should be banned, suppressed or excluded, nor do I believe it has much authenticity or relation to Irishness. After all Irishness defined as a celebration of the Irish Nationalist identity and republican cause, is only a narrow view of what it means for someone to be ‘Irish’. There are the Anglo-Irish, Ulster-Scots, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Atheists, non-indigenous people of various backgrounds and religions. If I am to celebrate my Irishness as I see it, I cannot express it fully in the context of a republican “triumphalist coat trailing exercise”, my symbols of identity, culture, history and heritage are not respected in the context of such a supposed celebration of Irelands ‘Patron Saint’.

Solution? I’m not sure if there is a solution beyond my own idealism. Ideally I’d like to see a celebration in Northern Ireland that was truly inclusive, all embracing, open minded and welcoming. Where not only are tricolours, Gaelic culture and nationalist symbols celebrated, but were all the other strains of Irishness were equitably accounted for and given space. If it were up to me I’d have everybody bring as many flags as they’d like, British, Irish or other. Imagine if you would a sea of red, white & blue; green, white & orange? If you think it would be a colour clash then perhaps you should tell that to Irish-Americans where Paddy’s day parades in the USA are awash with tricolours and stars & stripes. Think about a lively music performance of bodhrans, tin-whistles, fiddles, flutes and bagpipes…and dare I suggest lambegs? If you believe lambeg drums are threatening then you’ve never heard one played well (yes such a thing is possible) and it is regarded amongst ‘Prods’ with the same passion as a bodhran player regards his small but worthy tool.

There is more than one musical tradition in Ireland, one identity, one type of cultural tradition, if inclusiveness is supposedly the bottom line of a multi-cultural society - which Britain and Ireland pride themselves on being - then we should be able to incorporate each others culture into our celebrating St. Patrick’s day and beyond that limited scope as well, by doing so we might be able to strip away the negative sectarian cloud hanging over our various traditions and cultural celebrations. I have no doubt this will NOT happen. Sectarianism appears to be Northern Ireland’s main cultural tradition - and until people are brave enough to truly be inclusive and tolerant - then we’ll forever be going around in circles.

“Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it”

Friday, January 19th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian writer), Vaclav Havel (ex Czech President) and Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese pro-democracy activist) are all, for different reasons and in different parts of the world, very courageous people. They were also (and in the case of Aung san Suu Kyi still is) dissidents. And. no, that doesn’t mean they firebombed DIY stores or they couldn’t bear having a fenian about the place.

For, despite what the Sinn Fein/DUP Politburos and lazy N.Irish journalists may tell you, “dissident” is not a dirty word, a person to be shunned by all those naice people “committed” to the *Peace* Process.

Back to faithful Wiki, for a rather broader definition of the word “dissident“:

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively opposes an established opinion, policy, or structure. The term is most often used to refer to political dissidents, usually against authoritarian regimes or established constitutional order (although there are rare uses of the phrase philosophical dissident). Political dissidents use non-violent means of political dissent, including voicing criticism of the government or dominating ideology, or protesting individual actions by the authorities.

“Dissent”, “Protest”, “Opposition to the Established Norms” and even,”Dissidents” are, (but whisper it gently in Norn Iron), generally recognised as good things for democracy.

Fact: party apparachniks and an electorate who obediently nod at everything Gerry and Big Ian tells them is not going to push forward the democratic process in N.Ireland.

Whilst I’d much rather that the present challenges to the DUP/SF were coming from secular, liberal Unionists and genuinely socialist Republicans respectively, if the end result is the same –the splintering of the DUP and Sinn Fein monoliths and the future development of a non-sectarian, fully functioning political system in Ulster, then I ain’t going to complain.

So, good luck to all the political dissidents!

Paul
A Dissident Unionist
(http://www.betterunion.co.uk)

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

This post was submitted by CJ, one of our new contributors at The Levee Breaks…

After hearing about the incident in Clifftonvilles match with Glentoran, I was reminded of something about Northern Ireland, and its not that a lot of us can’t get over our respective “dislike” of each other or our political differences enough to even respect the dead; I was reminded that Northern Ireland is the most hypocritical nation in the world.

The reaction of certain Clifftonville fans to the minute silence was disappointing yes, but I had to laugh at the reaction of many who were struck with moral outrage and disgust, many but not all of them Loyalist or Unionist (like myself) the Newsletter summed up the C’ville fans behaviour as “Shameful”. I’m not saying I agree with those C’ville fans but did anybody really expect it to be otherwise? David Ervine was a member of an organization that murdered Catholics (Nationalists), so it would have been more hypocritical I suppose of certain C’ville fans (a majority of whom are Catholic/Nationalist) if they hadn’t reacted the way they did. But also the reaction of “Loyalists” was predictable and of course totally hypocritical, if Gerry Adams had popped his clogs would certain Glen’s fans have reacted any differently? Also I’m probably not defaming C’ville fans when I predict that a portion of its fans are supporters of “political parties” such as Sinn Fein whose members are responsible for the murders of innocent Protestants (Unionists).

Not only was I thinking of the hypocrisy of footie fans, but hypocrisy in the wider context . Take the DUP moral outrage brigade for instance, never too shy to boast about its independence from terrorism or paramilitarism, the DUP behave as though they’re as clean as baby angels in this whole mess. Ian Paisley may be a reverend, but his memory lapses sure to seem as close to lying as he’ll admit to getting, because they seemed to forget about the past connections to groups such as the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Resistance (UR). Big Ian’s also guilty I’m afraid of sparking the distrust and hatred of many young Protestants towards Catholics in the 1960’s who went on to join paramilitary groups.

Sinn Feiners also never fail to make them selves’ look like the innocent victims, they accuse the Police of being murderers and colluders, as though the IRA were some sort of boy-scout troop. The PSNI are unacceptable to Catholics is a constant rejectionist theme of Republicans, despite the increase in Catholics joining, and if the news is anything to go by a number of Polish people seem to be eager to fill up positions, yet they cannot promote that more Catholics (including those from Ballymurphy, Andersonstown and the Falls) should join? Of course they want their “own” community Police force with influence most likely from IRA volunteers to keep on top of their own ghettos, yet they pretend they couldn’t allow those senior Republicans to cooperate with the PSNI (like some of them haven’t already?).

While the hypocrisy of politics blocks progress towards the continuity of the peace process, those who believe you can’t get more extreme than SF/DUP should beware of those extremists on the fringes of both sides preparing to take the reigns away from Sinn Fein and the DUP; if that happens then any chances of a peaceful future for Northern Ireland goes down the toilet.

Friday, January 12th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

You know, there’s been a big hole in the political satire market since Newton Emerson hung up his boots for a semi-respectable career as a journalist. Thankfully, he’s done the decent thing and bundled the last couple of years worth of material into a book (did someone say “cash-in?”), The Last of the Portadown News.

The Portadown News was one of those sites that literally had me in stitches laughing. I’d check the site each week for new material, and within 5 or 10 minutes, I’d be getting told to shut up and stop laughing to myself.

Whatever you think of Newton Emerson, he’s got a sharp wit that cuts straight through all the bullshit and political rhetoric that gets spun around here. He can expose a double-standard in his sleep.

Anyway, I got a copy of The Last of the Portadown News for Christmas this year. Needless to say, I was doubled over laughing yet again. I know this is juvenile, but the names of the reporters really got me started (Billy Shootspatrick, Reg Empty, etc) to the point where I wondered if Emerson’s own name wasn’t made up (Newtown-emerson, anyone? No?).

Anyway, despite the fact that it’s freely available online, get yourself a copy! You never know when they’ll pull the plug for good.

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics