Politics

Spurred on by Matthew Ingram’s post on blogs affecting politics (and society), I’m wondering to what extent local (Northern Irish) bloggers can challenge traditional preconceptions in our wider society.

That was a long sentence! What I mean is, can blogs like Slugger encourage a wider variety of debate than what we’re exposed to when it’s just one-way propaganda from the party press office?

I specifically mention Slugger O’Toole, because Mick Fealty and the team have done a fantastic job of creating an open forum for debate. In fact, a few people (who don’t know about my double life as Levee) have recommended Slugger to me. They’re always enthusiastic. Many can see from the comments how regressive the ‘old’ attitudes are, and biggoted commentary exposes the futility of the traditional stances (my opinion).

There are other sites which impress me due to their seeming desire to explore new avenues. For instance, Big Ulsterman regularly challenges traditional ideologies by putting forward an alternative viewpoint and trying to reconcile ‘his’ culture and background with Nationalism and (to a lesser degree) Catholicism. He too, appears tired of politics here running around in circles with nothing ever being resolved and rarely ends a post without suggesting something Big that his subject might undertake.

Can Northern Irish Bloggers Make A Difference?

Over to you. Can those of us who blog on politics here make a difference? Is our audience wide enough to make a dent in the old school? What was your motivation for starting a blog in the first place (assuming you have one)?

Update: Slugger has recently run a more detailed commentary on this subject. Worth a read.

Thursday, April 27th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I was pleased to read on Slugger this evening that NIO Finance Minister Lord Rooker has set the record straight on direct rule versus devolved government.

He claims that much of the unpopular reforms the the Northern Ireland Office are currently pushing through were originally conceived by the “locally elected Assembly”.

The inference, as Mick correctly points out, is that the Northern Irish Assembly ministers know that some form of unpopular reform is necessary but that they don’t want to risk the PR backlash of being the ones to announce it. Instead, they’re criticising the NIO for implementing their initiatives!

By the sounds of the UTV report, Jeff Rooker is as fed up with our politicians as the rest of us. Would it be too much to hope that Peter Hain has finally set a time-bomb under their collective arses?

Monday, April 24th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Paul at The Northern Irish Magyar is hosting a very interesting debate on the subject of Irishness.

Despite my RC upbringing, I wasn’t indoctrinated with attendant Republican or even Nationalist values. I always viewed Northern Ireland as a seperate entity, quite apart from either Ireland or Britain. Paul sums it up well in the comments:

political Republicanism has succeeded in greatly narrowing the definition of Irishness for their own political ends

I would argue that similarly Unionism/Loyalism have narrowed the definition of Britishness (in Northern Ireland at least) to representing a group of pompous, bigotted, intransigent stick-in-the-muds! I’ve never been comfortable with either label.

Another well-made point is that pre-partition, everyone on the island would have defined themselves as ‘Irish’, simply because it wasn’t an issue. A history book I’ve been reading recently has reminded me of the fact.

Interesting to see a number of mostly Unionist bloggers considering national identity and playing with the concept of being Irish while remaining British. I’ll leave you with an inspirational quote:

We appeal to you not to fall into the 1916 trap and risk a fragile new relationship for the whole island, by pressing for the fulfilment of an old political romance. We in our turn will come to acknowledge an over-arching Irishness we all can share. This is an age for forging new relationships, not for breaking up old ones. Irish unity of the traditional kind is no more for our time than it was in 1916.

Works for me!

Monday, April 24th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

A thought-provoking piece by Dr Crawford Gribben about the relationship between Unionism and Protestantism, something which has been on my mind recently.

Dr Gribben makes the assertion that, demographically, Unionists no longer represent a political majority in Northern Ireland and that they need to broaden their appeal in order to regain their strength.

As the population statistics of Northern Ireland no longer reflect a Unionist majority, so Unionist leaders must make the case for the Union to a population broader than the conservative Protestants whose votes they have traditionally taken for granted.

Surely the same argument applies to Nationalists and Republicans in that they need to somehow broaden their appeal to attract new voters, not existing ones? This harks back to what I blogged about earlier - can the political parties broaden their appeal by actually tackling issues that affect the public?

Similar questions were being asked after the Whiterock riots last September, with some citing social differences between Nationalist and Unionist areas of West Belfast as a potential starting point for Gerry Adams to prove that Sinn Fein really wants an Ireland Of Equals, and that it’s not hollow rhetoric.

Friday, April 21st, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I’ll make this short.

I’m tired of hearing about Republican ’struggle’ and British oppression and occupation. I can honestly say that not once in my life have I felt oppressed or discriminated against on the grounds of my religious background. I have not been held back from getting gainful employment, nor buying a house, nor living to a relatively decent standard.

While I have little knowledge of the background to the Easter Rising, and subsequent events in Ireland, I am coming to the conclusion that certain parts of our history on this island were inevitable. This is courtesy of Mr Joe Cahill, whose biography I am reading at the moment. It really is food for thought as to how we might have reacted in the same circumstances.

However, we are not in the same circumstances. Northern Ireland has changed. Nobody here is an ‘oppressed people’, except for the daft prejudices that rattle around inside their heads.

This post is in response to Mr Gaskin’s Official Easter Address To The People. I have nothing against the celebrating of the Easter Rising, but don’t bang on about the injustice that is British rule. Especially not when trying to espouse Liberty and Justice for all where all of the children of the Nation, when Sinn Fein (Mr Gaskin is a proud member) have shown absolutely no interest in the welfare or rights of the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist population here. That just stinks of hypocrisy.

All this talk of comrades and struggles reminds me of that Give My Head Peace episode where an old Republican who’s been hiding in an attic for years comes down thinking the Republicans are still fighting.

Ah, who cares? The only Easter Rising I was interested in last Sunday was the one I woke up with…

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I saw on Slugger this morning a piece about a new Ulster Scots website for children, and it reminded me that I’d meant to post about this some time ago.

The funniest thing about Ulster Scots is that I grew up listening to it, and talking it to some extent. While I don’t agree that it’s a language, it is a dialect which marks out parts of Northern Ireland as culturally unique. Up in North Antrim and the Glens, the air is peppered with Ulster Scots phrases.

And there’s no harm in it, either. I don’t understand why folk get so emotional about Irish or Ulster Scots. Alright I do - they buy into the political ownership of our cultural capital. I mean, why do Republicans ‘own’ Irish and Loyalists ‘own’ Ulster Scots? My upbringing in Ballycastle was non-political, but the home was Roman Catholic. Yet my parents and others around me were supposedly speaking this “Loyalist” language?

For my part, I think Ulster Scots has tremendous tourist potential for Northern Ireland and shouldn’t become bogged down in sectarian politics. Same goes for Irish. Visitors don’t care about our borders, they travel to Northern Ireland from far and wide to soak up our culture and the remarkable scenery.

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Did you not know? Not content with bringing peace to these Emerald Shores, the venerable Gerry Adams has been applying pressure on other terrorist groups to come in from the struggle, wipe their feet and get involved in politics.

According to the Sinn Fein website:

“Sinn Fein has been in dialogue with all of the Basque political parties and in particular Batasuna. [Gerry has] also written to the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero.

Sinn Féin’s objective has been to promote conflict resolution and to assist in whatever way we can the development of a peace process.”

It’s a bit like one of those annoying ex-smokers running around trying to get everyone else to stop smoking too, isn’t it?

As you would expect, Gerry lapses into a bit of Provie-speak that wouldn’t sound out of place in our own peace process. “The government needs to respond creatively and stop political policing trails, etc, etc.”

Part of me is sceptical about this, but another part is thinking “Fair play to Sinn Fein if they’re serious about the political path.” Let’s face it, after the Denis Donaldson business, the party could have faced an almighty backlash from supporters who felt they had been duped into accepting a political solution. I’m glad that didn’t happen.

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

In a move destined to shock absolutely no-one in Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley Jr is

a) angry
b) offended
c) outraged
d) all of the above

by Tony Blair’s remarks about the Protestant Bigot. The gist of Blair’s outburst was aimed at Muslin extremists, but used a local analogy to spice things up:

“They are no more proper Muslims than the Protestant bigot who murders a Catholic in Northern Ireland is a proper Christian.

“But unfortunately, he’s still a Protestant bigot.

“To say his religion is irrelevant is both completely to misunderstand his motive and to refuse to face up to the strain of extremism within his religion that has given rise to it.”

Somehow, the outrage filter that exists in Paisley Jr’s head has picked up on this and amplified it into a mass insult of the entire Protestant population! Aided and abetted by “Friend of the DUP”, Reg Empey and former Presbyterian moderator Ken Newell, this formidable threesome have launched (seperate) attacks on Tony Blair on behalf of all Protestants. Hooray! Champions of the cause!

Is it possible that Tony Blair is speaking about a more distant period in (Northern) Ireland where the Catholic population were less well treated than they are now? I think so.

If Blair had launched an attack on ruthless Athiest murderers, I - as an Athiest - would not be offended. Because I am not a murderer. Therefore if I were a common-or-garden-Protestant, I would not be offended at the “Protestant Bigot” statement, because Tony Blair is patently not referring to me. Understand?

Now, if I was a Protestant bigot, or my father was a Protestant bigot, perhaps I’d be more pissed off. But let’s not blow the whole thing out of proportion, shall we?

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

A University of Ulster report that suggests that Northern Ireland’s politicians are “badly out of step with ordinary people“.

Interestingly, the research shows that a growing number of DUP supporters think the party needs to learn to compromise.

I’m slightly sceptical of this, and the claim that “support among DUP voters for power-sharing had doubled between 1998 and 2003″. Obviously, this doesn’t sit comfortably with the DUP claim that they’ve been elected on an Anti-Agreement ticket.

Which is it? Do the majority of people want working institutions in Northern Ireland, or do they prefer “The Jerry Springer Show” that the previous Assembly represented? Would they have voted for the DUP if they wanted peace?

Sectarian Headcount

The research also criticises the Good Friday Agreement for failing to move politics in Northern Ireland away from the traditional ’sectarian headcount’ model.

While there’s truth in that, I don’t feel there’s any way to move beyond that model when most people in Northern Ireland designate themselves Unionist, Nationalist or Other. And when the GFA was negotiated from these polarised viewpoints, it’s no shock that this is the form the Assembly took too.

The question I am asking - to anyone who cares to answer - is are we ready to move beyond the failed politics of Unionist v Nationalist? I know I am. I know others who are. But are the majority of people on the street ready to come out and say to the politicians “Stop dicking around and make the Assembly work!”

Because, if this report is correct (and I hope it is), it hints at an attitude shift in hardcore Unionism that might eventually lead to practical, mutually beneficial solutions in this part of the Emerald Isle!

I just wonder if our politicians (particularly the hardcore) are brave enough to embrace the will of the people, or if they’ll find some way to twist the agenda yet again. I’d love to see the Jerry Springer-style politics put to bed permanently.

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Who’d have thought it guys and gals? The Levee Breaks is on Keele University’s Northern Ireland Government & Politics On The Internet list under weblogs.

Joining the Levee Breaks team on this esteemed list are the guys at El Blogador, the Balrog crew, Ireland Free, JoBlog and United Irelander.

One of the most rewarding things about running a blog is being able to see who’s linking back to you. Having said that, I had no idea that my opinions and those of my part-time collaborators were so well regarded in the academic community! Congratulations to everybody else who’s listed on there too!

Question to other bloggers: What’s the strangest site to link back to you?

Monday, February 27th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics