And then there's that colourful branch of unionism, the Orange Order. They're demanding to be allowed to march where they want to (Ardoyne, Drumcree, wherever), and the Parades Commission must go and boil its head if it rules differently.
And so it goes. Every move towards reconcilation, every internal examination that results in changed republican behaviour, is met with suspicion and even hostility. Stop the violence and engage in politics!...Oh, you already have? Then stop using residents' groups to hide behind and foment hatred of the Orange Order!....Oh, it wasn't you, it really was residents groups. Mmm Give us a minute and we'll think of something else we're outraged about.
Maybe you've noticed a pattern here? Republican contortions to accommodate the fears of unionists is pocketed as being the least they could do (You've stopped being violent? No, most definitely NOT maith sibh - you're disgusting because you engaged in violence in the first place. You've settle the Apprentice Boys thing in Derry? Well it's the least you could have done, and look at how long you objected to it, and by the way use Londonderry, not Derry, if you don't mind.)
And now the call for prosecution of the killers of 14 people on Bloody Sunday (you have to smile wryly if not guffaw - a murder investigation that's started over thirty years after the event) is met by whataboutery cries. What about McGuinness and his tommy gun? Yes, you fixed the Apprentice Boys thing in Derry, but what about Ardoyne? Drumcree? In three words, the unionist chorus is less a constant request and more a never-ending demand: we want more.
Sometimes the most loving thing you can say to an indulged child is the word No. This morning, with the Eleventh Night coming at us like a cloud over Cavehill, it's time republicans stood up and said the N word.
Take comfort in the fact that the only thing modern-day unionism is doing is putting its head in a noose for the future.
ReplyDeleteThey are consistently failing to learn the lessons of the past, they're repeating every stupid bloody mistake in the book.
As a Brit, it saddens me that i'm lumped in with a bunch of idiots who are going to ruin it for us.
Tá an ceart agat a Jude ach ní amhain na poblachtóirí ag rá níl, na sasanaigh, an SDLP, an Parades commission agus an eaglas caithliceach.
ReplyDeleteRyanm29 is on the money, however it's the OO who is doing the damage to Unionism. They have wrecked the UUP now Jackie Mc Donald and the UDA are getting the benefit of their intelect. The DUP were burned by them hotter than any fire reserved for Lundy. Don't say no to the OO say YES YES YES. They don't get it, I doubt if they ever will, they believe their own propaganda.
ReplyDelete"in three words, the unionist chorus is less a constant request and more a never-ending demand: we want more"
ReplyDeleteJude, on the contrary, I would argue that rather than set an agenda of their own, they are uniquely reactive.They merely try to stop any change at all usually by using whataboutery. The only movement they seem to seek is often to go backwards:- eg, the tragi-comedy going on up at the Causeway.
As any 1st year business student can tell you, If you stand still, you're dying, If you're going backwards, you're dead.
Please clarify: what do you want Republicans to say No to? How do you want that No Expressed?
ReplyDeleteYou see, there are Irish Republicans saying No; to partitionist settlements,to orange parades where they are not wanted, to strip searching, to internment of political dissenters without trial, to the quartering of those 5000 British soldiers you are always going on about, to MI5 and undercover British operatives, to political policing, to interference by unappointed British ministers, to the provocatively displayed union flags, arches and loyalist paramilitary regalia near catholic schools, churches and nationalist districts. So you see there are Republicans saying No. You just havent been listening because the alternative analysis was force fed to the lot of us. And truth be told, we all wanted to believe it.
The problem is that these Republicans that say No are airbrushed from the media. They are ridiculed and accused of living in the past, of not wanting to move forward. They are castigated as opponents of the peace process simply because they refute the narrative that life is better now that the masquerade of local politics has replaced British rule.
You need not worry one iota about Martin McGuinness or Gentry Adams for that matter being investigated. The British Government and Intelligence Services have a long history of looking after their Yes men.