Slugger O'Toole

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Latest posts from Chris Donnelly (see all)

Chris Donnelly has posted 633 times (2 in the last month).

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Chris Donnelly has commented 915 times (1 in the last month).

1. Comment on Stormont’s falling turnout is the reason it is losing touch with wider public opinion
   on 25 May 2013 at 8:12 am

   I agree with a lot of what Brian Walker says above, but there are a number of other factors at play.

   On the decline in the numbers voting post-GFA, it is worth noting the role played in this of the stringent electoral registration procedures that came into play in the aftermath of the Agreement.

   Tens of thousands were made to jump through hoops just to get registered. Some did, others didn’t bother and got into the non-voting habit which, as evidence suggests from other Western democracies, is a hard habit to break.

   Those blaming SF and the DUP are generally people hostile to those parties. Though I don’t disagree with much of Brian’s analysis, the truth is that there is no cross community middle ground consensus and no evidence exists to suggest that there are political parties interested in devising such a platform nor an electorate willing to endorse parties wedded to such a stance.

   Those seeking to construct arguments on the basis of what media polling suggests people want, instead of what elections results tell us, have long been left disappointed in this society.

   I do think it is possible for an alternative axis to be developed, but that would require a nationalist and a unionist party willing to agree a shared platform distinct from that being articulated by SF and the DUP.

   That is possible, but the teams- and players- currently available don’t inspire confidence.

   The SDLP is in a dreadful state at present, unable to capitalise on any of Sinn Fein’s mistakes (just look at the mess they’re now in over the SPAD Bill), whilst the UUP under Nesbitt have sought to blur the lines between the UUP and DUP (think Unionist Forum, Maze opposition and recent Stormont faux outrage at, of all things, the teaching notes accompanying the Carnegie-medal winning novel, Bog Child.)

   Only Alliance have made noise suggesting a differing platform to SF and the DUP, and I expect they will have solidified an electoral base within the former soft unionist UUP voting constituency in the suburban Belfast districts of the predominantly unionist crescent stretching from East Antrim around to North Down.

   The SF-DUP era will pass, but it’s going to take a game changer along the lines of the rise of a northern Fianna Fail to shake the political and electoral consensus which has SF and the DUP comfortably masters of the Big House.

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2. Comment on Has the Protestant Working Class lost out in the Peace Process?
   on 19 May 2013 at 8:13 pm

   DC
   Judging by S McCaffrey’s report referenced above, the supremacist tendency is being acknowledged even by loyalists now.

   It is not about unionists having to embrace Irish nationalism, but rather find an equal place for it within their narrative in the same manner that nationalism/ republicanism is challenged to find a role for expressions of the unionist tradition- political and cultural- in their vision of the future.

   That’s going to mean unionists accepting a legitimate place for the Irish National flag within the northern state at some stage. After all, Peter Robinson’s Castlereagh Council found a place for the Orange Order’s flag to be flown.

   Nevin
   As ever, spot on with the shared sovereigntly angle but ridiculously off mark with Athboy. Read a history book: we’ve had centuries of trouble with Loyal Orders’ marches. Ormeau and Garvaghy long preceded by Longstone etc

   Malcolm
   The second part will arrive in the coming weeks.

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3. Comment on Has the Protestant Working Class lost out in the Peace Process?
   on 19 May 2013 at 3:12 pm

   So the perception of the loyalist working class losing out is surely real enough.

   Brian Walker
   ‘perception’ being the operative word, and that needs to be underlined.

   Ownership of the state was precisely the problem; a shared future by its very nature implies joint ownership, and an acceptance that the state will reflect the differing traditions, and not be the preserve of just one tradition.

   The problem is to be found in political unionism’s failure to emotionally come to terms with the GFA, never mind failure to sell the idea of a shared NI.

   The parades issue, like flag flying and opposition to power-sharing, is but one manifestation of the residual supremacist tendencies within political unionism which must be faced down by a unionist leadership conscious of the fact that the ‘culturally Irish’ who they now accept will form an electoral majority in the not too distant future will require more than a Party Conference speech once every couple of years to be persuaded to join the cause of the Union.

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4. Comment on Round-up of the PUP conference (including audio from speeches)
   on 19 May 2013 at 9:57 am

   A PUP actively seeking to transform itself to make it attractive to working class protestants can only be a good thing for our society as, along that journey, they’ll quickly realise that antics such as agitating for sectarian violence at interfaces and erecting hundreds of flags along roads are not vote winning strategies.

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5. Comment on Has the Protestant Working Class lost out in the Peace Process?
   on 19 May 2013 at 9:52 am

   Alan
   I’m very glad to see you blogging on this topic, and discussions such as those which have taken place are essential to moving politics forward in this society.

   The answer to the headline question is a very decisive ‘No,’ and it is very important that the inconvenient nature of the facts pertaining to the relative socio-economic and cultural status of the protestant working class community vis a vis their catholic neighbours is emphasised throughout the discussion to prevent the cycle of myths fuelling discontent from being perpetuated and used as an excuse for the periodic outbreaks of violence emanating from loyalist quarters. See Newton Emerson’s article in the Irish News mid week for more on this.

   Of course, I have blogged on this topic in the recent past (linked below) and will be returning to it again shortly:

   http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/10/03/dispelling-the-myths-sustaining-loyalisms-grievance-narrative-part-one/

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6. Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
   on 4 April 2013 at 12:05 am

   Mick
   Flags and anthems, like mission statements, work best when they ‘say’ something, though in our increasingly pluralist nation states, contradictions can become apparent.

   The ‘crosses’ within the Union Flag, like many other flags with crosses, confirm a Christian ethos within a country, whilst the Crescent Moon and Stars- and green colour- signify the Muslim tradition within many countries.

   Similarly, the Star of David’s place in the Israeli flag confirms the Jewish identity of the state.

   Old Glory makes the direct link between the 13 original colonies and the 50 States of today.

   The original message behind a flag, like that of a country’s anthem, can appear outdated and somewhat anachronistic, uncomfortable almost in a changed environment.

   The unflattering reference to the Scots in God Save The Queen, coupled with the absence of a place for the Welsh and non-Christians in the British flag, could be reasons to question the relevance of that flag to a modern, multi-cultural Britain which incorporates the whole of Wales but merely a fraction of Ireland.

   Similarly, the Star of David and symbols of Islam in many flags clearly identify the Nation State with single religious groupings.

   But the flags will likely remain for the simple reason that they take on a greater symbolism and benefit from an emotional attachment long after the original reason for their design is forgotten.

   And so it is for the Irish National Flag, internationally recognisable as the standard of the Irish and adored as such by its citizens, north and south, and Diaspora alike.

   Getting bogged down on the symbolism is a mistake quite simply because it misses the fact that the flag represents the people of a particular Nation, warts and all. It’d be akin to rubbishing the Union Flag on the grounds that no effort was ever made to attract the Irish catholic people purportedly represented by Patrick’s cross to the Union.

   I do personally like the idea of Irish nationalism challenging itself to define how the British identity of unionists will be guaranteed in the present and future constitutional arrangements, and have often articulated the view that it’d need to be by recognising and legitimising the Union Flag as the National symbol of that community, and that is one way of respecting the people symbolised by the Orange third.

   A reciprocal move with regard to legitimising the place of the Irish National Flag within the north would show that unionists were interested in taking steps to recognise those represented by Patrick’s cross in their own National Flag.

   To me, that’s a significant advance on the mindset that previously held sway within both communities (and still does to varying extent), which sought to ‘claim’ people for one side or the other, even using the symbolism of a flag as justification. Respecting the Other as they/we are, as opposed to how we’d like ‘them’ to be, is a pressing problem in this society.

   This was a good idea, and I do hope you’ll follow with a similar thread on the Union Flag as it would be important for each community to hear the Other’s views on that flag (with the hope that they’d see how the mirror tends to reflect….)

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7. Comment on What does the Irish flag mean to you?
   on 3 April 2013 at 9:05 am

   It symbolises the Irish people and nation, designed with a wonderfully reconciliatory aspiration in mind. A flag instantly recognised and associated globally with Ireland and Her people. A source of National pride.

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8. Comment on Aftermath of a riot as it used to be done in Belfast…
   on 22 February 2013 at 10:08 am

   Mick making an early pitch for ‘The Whataboutery Post of the Year’….;)

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9. Comment on Attwood announces a new Windsor Park…
   on 20 February 2013 at 12:52 pm

   Blue Hammer

   Is your glass always half-empty?

   Linfield get a spanking new stadium, continuance of a revenue stream keeping them financially on a different level to every other club in their league…and you complain?

   GAA grounds are rarely one-quarter filled for club or non-Senior County Championship fixtures, but I don’t think they’ll be complaining over Casement direction about their new stadium!

   Certainly a better future as far as stadia, Mick….

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10. Comment on Time for Unionism to find a place for the Irish National flag in Northern Ireland
    on 19 February 2013 at 11:40 am

    Chris
    Ughhh! Not a niggle at all- an appalling oversight on my behalf. In my (feeble) defence, it was composed in the wee small hours of the morn, but thanks for flagging (no pun intended) it up!

    Mick and keano

    You are correct about Sinn Fein, and I shall be visiting that matter at a cinema near you soon….

    As a taster, two things.

    Firstly, it has a lot to do with the psyche of northern republicans: deferential and loyal to the point where such an initiative would have to be passed on from High before even being considered by local councillors.

    Secondly, northern nationalists remain uncomfortable with the notion of exercising their power unilaterally from positions of authority in the north in a way that has never inhibited unionists, no doubt a legacy of the latter’s history and practice of being in a position to so do. Hence majority nationalist councils mistakenly opted for positions of ‘no flags’ (‘let’s offend nobody’ trumped ‘let’s challenge everybody’) in the past generation and failed to address the issue of how institutions of the state down to the names of roads, bridges and buildings reflected exclusively the unionist tradition.

    Consider this: after 14 years of a Belfast-based Irish president in the Oireachtas, nationalists did not even have the self-confidence to propose even a road being named in her honour, never mind statue erected nor bridge named for her.

    Contrastingly, Larne’s unionists have recently erected a crown contraption at a roundabout and Antrim unionists paid for a massive Union Flag floral display at Antrim Castle for the British Queen’s jubilee celebrations, not to mention Lisburn’s decision to give land for a UDR statue in the town centre and naming bridges at its civic centre for the British Queen.

    And then there’s Castlereagh’s Robinson Centre, named in honour of our First Minister.

    We’ll know when nationalists have psychologically shifted when either Derry or Magherafelt Councils consider proposing a McGuinness Centre in honour of the Deputy First Minister.

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