DR JOHN COULTER is a Northern political columnist with the Irish Daily Star. He analyses what steps need to be taken to get Northern Irish Unionism singing from the same hymnsheet, and suggests that a united Ireland may be the bitter pill which Unionists have to swallow to attain the Holy Grail of Protestant unity. This is the first in a short series to introduce the concept he calls Revolutionary Unionism.
By Dr John Coulter
Urgent shock treatment is required to re-start Northern unionism’s heart. What is realistically required is certainly not another political party, pressure group or leader claiming to defend the Union with Great Britain.
What unionism needs is a new ideological direction; one which will unite rather than divide all shades of unionist, Protestant, Orange and loyalist thinking in the North. The last generation has witnessed unionism indulge in the luxury of internecine fragmentation to the point that some groups are reduced to ‘fringe’ status, such is their insignificance.
What unionism needs is a political revolution and a new sense of destiny in a digital world which is rapidly seeing the evolution of a European super state. If unionism does not experience this revolution, but clings to past ideologies, by 2016 Ireland will be a single political entity.
Other ideological forms of unionism have failed, or are failing. Traditional unionism as espoused by Lord Carson relies purely on Protestant numerical superiority. Fragmentation and voter apathy will be its epitaph. Fundamentalist unionism is essentially built around the persona of DUP leader Ian Paisley. In spite of DUP electoral successes over Ulster Unionism, this one-man ideology will collapse with the death of Paisley as the DUP’s rival Free Presbyterian and loyalist wings battle for control of the party.
The working class loyalist labour ideology slashed its own throat as rival paramilitaries immersed themselves in bloody street feuds and turf wars over drugs. Liberal and ecumenical unionism has been equally dealt a fatal blow by emphatic announcements from the Vatican that Roman Catholicism is the only one and true Christian Faith.
Trimble’s New Unionism will suffer the same fate as former Northern Ireland Prime Ministers Terence O’Neill and Brian Faulkner as UUP rebels hatch one last Jihad against Trimble which will see him toppled by Hallowe’en.
Revolutionary Unionism is based on the concept that Protestants should no longer see themselves as being ‘hemmed in’ to the six geographical counties of Northern Ireland.
It asks unionists to face the unthinkable – that they have been so busy squabbling with each over during the past generation that they have not noticed the greening of Ulster by the increasing Catholic vote. Which is it better to save – the Union with Britain, or the unionist identity in Ireland? It is better to be a powerful 20 per cent voting block in Ireland, or an insignificant 2 per cent in a multi-cultural UK?
The real reason the republican movement has suggested an all-Ireland dimension to Northern unionists is because Sinn Fein actually fears the thought of Protestants having a major say in the running of a 32-county state.
An all-Ireland scenario would leave Northern unionists effectively as the major power broker in Irish politics. The problem is, many Northern unionists see any talk of a relationship with the South as treasonable. However politically unpalatable an all-Ireland concept may be to Northern Protestants, it will become a hard political reality in less than a generation. This is not because Northern nationalists will outbreed or outvote their Protestant counterparts, but because of the increasing power of Europeanisation.
As more former Soviet republics are integrated deeper into the ever-expanding European Union, the island of Ireland will find itself not only geographically, but also economically and politically on the fringes of the United States of Europe.
But why should Northern Protestants confine their political influence to six counties; why not have a say in the running of all thirty-two?
This would not be the first time that Northern Protestants have exerted such an influence on the island of Ireland. The success of the Glorious Revolution and the Williamite Settlement in the late 17th century saw the birth of the Protestant Ascendancy throughout Ireland.
Revolutionary Unionism is based on the need for the countries comprising the British Isles to unite and give themselves a voice against a European Union’s political and financial domination. In reality, the only political grouping which could have any effective and meaningful voice against a European super state is the British Commonwealth of nations. Revolutionary Unionism’s all-Ireland scenario would see the Republic rejoining the British Commonwealth with the Monarchy as head of state. The countries which formed the geographical British Isles would be ruled by a Council of the Isles.
From a Southern point of view, being in the British Commonwealth would mean that Southern Ireland would not become politically marginalised as the Euro cash well runs dry. For Northern Protestants, they would be part of a structure that was both British and had the Monarch as head of state.
Revolutionary Unionism is not about concessions to Dublin or the republican movement. Revolutionary Unionism is about securing the future of Northern Protestants in the wider European Union. Revolutionary Unionism is about building the ethos of one party, one people, one Commonwealth amongst Northern and Southern unionists.
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
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