A betrayed Herrenvolk who have no need to fear the future

Apparently the people of Ulsturr are angry.

Ever so angry…

Now, I realise that this isn’t exactly in “hold the front page” territory.

The folk who assembled at the Con Club on the Upper Newtownards Road believe that they have been betrayed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Well, colour me unsurprised!

For the avoidance of doubt, the Rt Hon Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson MP is a serial betrayer.

In fact, he’s rather good at it.

If the current Brexit bill gets through the House of Commons then Northern Ireland will not, in terms of trade regulations, be as British as Finchley

Of course, it never was.

There is no doubt that the anger  of Ulster unionists like Sammy Wilson is genuinely felt.

Moreover, it has been building up for several years.

My take is that it has its origins in a failure of the Unionist political class to explain the significance of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.

In allowing the “the people of Northern Ireland” to “identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both” it had long term consequences for the public spaces of the Six Counties.

The statelet that as created by Partition screamed out a militaristic British monoculture

Catholics and Irish Nationalists were very openly disregarded in that cold house and hatred of the Fenians was mainstream.

Think Ibrox with letterboxes.

Ultimately it would lead to conflict.

You know the rest…

The Belfast Agreement meant that there was in law a recognition that Northern Ireland was populated by people from, in the main, two traditions and both were worthy of “parity of esteem”.

The problem is that none of this was explained to the self-defined PUL  (Protestant Unionist Loyalist) community.

Consequently, the changes that have happened in the public space have come as a shock to them.

The flag protests at Belfast City Hall in 2012 and 2013 can be seen in this light.

Inevitably the protestors, disorganised and badly led, failed in their objective and the Union flag only flies over city hall on designated days.

It was a portent that the numbers on Belfast City Council were drifting away from unionism.

There are many metrics that indicate that the demographic base of the Ulsturr Volkstaat is dying.

Faced with the anger from their base political unionism has attempted to walk back from agreements that they entered into on the Eqaukity Agenda like an Irish language act.

Back in the day speaking Irish around the good ol RUC was a high-risk endeavour.

All is changed changed utterly…

These young Gaeilgóirí will accept nothing less than Comhionannas.

Many in the PUL community now see themselves locked into an existential culture war with the Taigs.

What they probably don’t know is that the man on the plinth, Edarwad Carson, a Dubliner, was an Irish speaker and identified as Irish.

Such linguistic behaviour and expressions of  Irish identity would probably incite violence in parts of East Belfast today.

Boris Johnson, faced with a list of candidates to betray in order to get his Brexit deal done in Brussels chose Sammy in the Sevco top.

It would be the Ulsturr Scatch in Norn Airne who would be thrown under the big red hand-painted bus.

Boris is a noted classicist.

Therefore, he will be well aware that the default position of Roman statecraft in times of trouble was to buy your enemies and sell your friends.

Indeed, there isn’t anything new in this for the loyal people of Narne Airne.

Whatever the strategic thinkers behind the fleg protest can come up with it will fail.

Their time has passed and their clearly stated anger indicates that they privately realise it too.

The Northern statelet that was established to appease the threat of a fascist militia armed by the Kaiser’s Germany is gone and it isn’t coming back.

In the New Ireland, the needs of the PUL community will need to be sensitively managed.

Ironically, they might eventually find that the rest of us on this island care more about their wellbeing than the elite in Westminster.

Some people from the unionist tradition in Northern Ireland are already getting with the programme.

The smart ones get it first.

It has always been thus.

Intelligence is about being able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.

We in Ireland just have to work out how to care for those who cannot be so categorised.

It is important to acknowledge to them that they have indeed been betrayed, but we did not betray them.

Nor are we their enemy.

There is a place for them in the New Ireland and some of them already get that.

 

 

18 thoughts on “A betrayed Herrenvolk who have no need to fear the future”

  1. Have the DUP ever said what they will find acceptable – they continually oppose deals but never state what they want – for example, in the customs union but rest of uk out – nope, not having that. Ok so support everyone in the customs union – equal status with rest of uk, no border – nope, not having that. I’ve never heard anyone challenging them with “ok, so what would you vote for ?”

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  2. At Last , The D.U.P.’s “Right” to a veto is gone..Perhaps now they will attempt to work in the NATIONAL interest for ALL the People in the North who WANT to be part of 500 million Union . UNITE IRELAND UNITE THE KINGDOM.

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  3. Phil, has Boris now amended the “consent” part relating to Ireland, to gain favour again with the DUP?
    Could you ( or a n other )also explain briefly what it ( consent) means.. googled it but none the wiser.

    PS.. why do Sammy Wilson and Snarlene Arlene refer to the Good Friday Agreement as the Belfast Agreement?

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    • The title on the official document is “The Belfast Agreement: an Agreement reached at the Multi-Party Talks on Northern Ireland”. A copy of this was signed on the front cover by all those in the room, including Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. By tradition, agreements are named after the place of signing – think Sunningdale, Hillsborough, Versailles, etc.

      Some people – particularly those who supported the Agreement wholeheartedly – chose to call it by the unofficial name of Good Friday Agreement, signifying the unusual day of its signing and also binding the words “good” and “agreement”.

      I think Unionists resisted this at the time mainly because they didn’t think the Agreement was good (the DUP opposed it and the UUP leadership could only offer the most lukewarm support because they could be voted out by the Ulster Unionist Council which had built in votes for the Orange Order – most of whom probably voted DUP anyway). The Unionists explained that they did not say “Good Friday Agreement” by citing “tradition”, which was both technically correct and emotionally appealing to their membership.

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      • Thank you Salted P…..very clear explanation which is both concise and comprehensive at the same time.

        Can I ask for clarification on the ‘cross community consent’ clause also . I think this is what the DUP are livid about and not necessarily the border in The Irish Sea.

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  4. The DUP did not sign up for the Irish Language Act.The section about the language is a pledge from the British government.But what they legislated after the signing of the agreement was different from what was in the agreement.

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  5. Hi Phil. I enjoy your Sevco posts but I do sometimes think the situation in Norn Irn is more nuanced than you acknowledge. I moved to Belfast pre-ceasefires and as an Englishman, it was assumed I was a Brit. I tried very hard to be a Brit but after a couple or three years I acknowledged to myself that my close friends were nationalist, that I didn’t love the Union Jack, and I was absolutely not a Tory. I ended up working for a nationalist organisation.

    But I also made Protestant friends who were/are decent people. They kept mixed company, liked Europe, supported the GFA but were ultimately British.

    But here is the rub – I found that identity was mutable and varied according to the situation. East Belfast Protestants on holiday in Spain would be Irish and definitely not English. West Belfast Catholics would distance themselves from Dublin Jackeens. North Antrim farmers at the height of BSE were British to the core but their cattle were Irish. My Irish co-worker had her car with Dublin plates keyed on the Lower Ormeau and was referred to as “that Southern girl” by a northern Nationalist who should have known better. Paramilitaries were people who might want to shoot you in one context but down a pint with you in another. My (nationalist) friend and I were welcomed into an Indian restaurant on the Beersbridge Road by Jim Gray (we were terrified because my friend had an obviously Irish name). I also remember having lunch with David Irvine (a genuinely visionary Loyalist) who talked up the GFA and the need for parity of esteem and spoke of the difficulty the DUP faced in having opposed an Agreement that they assumed would not pass, and their need to climb down and embrace it. And they have, to a great extent, done that in order to obtain the mandate of centrist Unionism.

    Things have changed since I have moved away, but I remember being constantly surprised at people’s ability to be “British, or Irish, or both” as the mood took them, and to defy easy labelling, and to hold apparently contradictory beliefs.

    I developed a great love for Norn Irn, for its people of both traditions, for its resilience and its constant ability to surprise and exceed expectations. I believe the best future for the six counties is as part of a united Ireland within a united Europe – in the main because I believe England does not have Northern Ireland’s best interests at heart. I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon, but I do acknowledge that it it ever is going to happen, it needs to be done in a way that embraces the people that are its biggest sceptics.

    Phil, I think we’re broadly on the same side. But I think you overstate the prominence of the knuckle-draggers. I think their day has been and gone. The future is with a people who see that a working class man from the Lower Newtownards Road has more in common with a working class man from the Falls than he has with the folk from Cultra.

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    • Brilliant comment salted popcorn. Im from the New Lodge in North Belfast. Its not all black and white. There are subtle shades in between. People are realising that we have more in common than we have differences.

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    • I wouldn’t be so sure in your assessment that a UI “isn’t coming anytime soon” I think it’s approaching fast, it will be imminent if or rather when Scotland leaves the UK. I get your points that people’s identity in Northern Ireland can vary depending on the situation. This is completely true, however when it comes to constitutional issues people usually get into line under unionist, nationalist or don’t care.

      I don’t particularly like free staters, because they abandoned us and most don’t care or dislike northerners. Their politicians are also partitionist hypocrites that insult us on a weekly basis. I still want a united ireland though. I understand why they don’t care, they don’t need to, out of sight – out of mind.

      I would suggest though, that Northern Ireland has stronger feelings of identity than let’s say England or Scotland. Despite how moderate some unionists act day-to-day, they still vote the evangelical, god fearing, anti-GFA, bigoted, creationists of the DUP in at every election. Purely along constitutional lines.

      As for the klan in NI, I wouldn’t assume it’s not as bad as Phil makes out, there is an enormous amount of delusion (they share that with rangers). Loyalists are threatening violence, sorry I meant “disobedience” demonstrations. They have been in power for the last two years at the highest level of the country and yet they are the ones that are oppressed, persecuted & betrayed. Oh yeah and it’s all Dublin & the E.U’s fault. Dangerous delusions.

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    • Dear SP, great post with a wealth of information on the demographics you have experienced narrated and and analysed so well.
      For myself, all four of my grandparents had irish surnames but three were born in Scotland and the fourth – my maternal grandmother – arrived in Scotland when she was nine.
      Based mainly on this alone, I decided in my early thirties that I was Scottish and not Irish but a few years later, I couldn’t understand why I had gone that way as I grew to hate Scotland with its institutional bigotry and hatred of catholics and looked on as a younger brother opted for Irish nationality and ditched his UK passport.
      I left with a hop, skip and jump almost 40 years ago and in the interim y I have learned to live with the dissonance of all this, thinking it was at least good to have had the choice.
      As regards Hammy Sammy and Snarlin Arlin, I’m just lovin this and want it to keep going for a bit longer.
      Dissonance indeed as they stare downhill towards the inevitability of a united Ireland and – who knows – possibly albeit unlikely a Celtic Union if Scotland for business reasons get more aligned with Ireland within the EU..
      It would also make my bad decision all those years ago easier to live with.
      I can only dream – pro Celtic, and ultimately anti nobody.
      Are you ever by any chance down the Costa Blanca?

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  6. The bold Boris (DONE UP PROPER ) the DUP. Oh and how they spat the dummy out and their toys from the pram . Mrs( WIG) the leader of the DUP is totally stuck back in time. She almost tripped over her long face which was almost touching her feet because she and her party lost again oh dear . Ah think there’s a wee touch of sevco setting in there at her party as everything they try to win over they are defeated . When the bold Sammy was out to face the media last week while the (WIG) his leader was in hiding at being conned and chiseled by Boris was such a delight know and to see wee Sammy face ready to explode with anger in Westminster. The (DONE UP PROPER ) DUP are finished and they are struggling with it badly no more power to influence anything now . BYE.

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