View from the Shankill

On the Shankill Road Slugger sat down with representatives of a working class Protestant community to talk about their feelings about the political situation.

The people were friendly, but the mood was black. Although most had voted “yes” in the referendum, all now felt isolated, let down and under threat. “It’s like our identities are being stripped away,” said one.

Symbols are important. A newspaper cutting was brandished, saying that Northern Irish people weren’t allowed to join the Labour Party because they “weren’t British”. Nationalist pressure to purge the North of British symbols was also resented. “Anything that has got the word ‘Royal’ on it won’t last,” Slugger was told. “The decision has been made – let’s wipe the history out.”

Territory is important too – with many group members having been “put out” from their houses at least once. “A lot of the contentious interfaces are about Catholics trying to claim territory. Let’s stop that parade. Let’s expand around areas that are going to be contentious. The Protestants are moving back and back in everything – in their politics, their houses, their jobs. Our people have to say enough is enough. We’re not moving back any further.”

In the Lower Shankhill, of course, territorial disputes are as likely to be between Protestants as between Protestant and Catholic. There was a lively debate about whether Loyalist paramilitaries can be “part of the solution”, or whether they had become such a “curse” on their own communities that they could never now be assimilated into the body politic.

Communities were felt to be fragmenting – losing talent at a worrying rate. “The young ones in this community are packing up and moving out – the ones with education, the ones with something happening for them.”

Like many of those Slugger has talked to, the group readily explained community decline in terms of the Protestant psyche. “Someone’s living in a run-down area and he gets himself a new house. That’s his problem sorted. He’s not going to stick with the guy down the road still living in the old houses. The Catholic community are sticking together an awful lot more and they’re waiting until the very last person gets a brand new house and gets all his grants sorted out.”

This is part of a pattern of regarding some of the accomplishments of the Catholic community with a grudging respect. Sinn Fein was seen as a much more professional political operation than any of the Unionist parties. Their candidates are on message and their political analysis consistent: “it’s as if they’ve got tape recorders in their backs.”

The Unionists needs more organisation and more unity. “We need to go back to one Unionist party. At the moment, we’ve got more peas than Bachelors – UUP, PUP, DUP. On the other side, you’ve only got Sinn Fein and the SDLP. If protestants are divided, how can we win anything?”

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty