Do we really want pro union voices?

As a 24-year old I had a boss who was a great mentor to me. I was a young East Belfast Protestant and he was a 40-year old veteran of the Civil Rights movement and a staunch republican from Andersonstown. We agreed about very little politically and frequently had heated arguments on the issues of the day (it was 1986/87) and on the constitutional issue. Yet I revered him as both advisor and friend and he treated me as a close protégé and confidante.

One of our debates has occurred to me a lot in recent months, and particularly this week in the aftermath of the Stormont fall out over Coronavirus policy. Once he asked me what was my biggest objection to a United Ireland, apart from national identity. A great question that focused the mind pretty well. The answer is one that has taken on a greater resonance of late than for a long time.

Basically, my position was that I feared a lengthy period of extreme triumphalism and score-settling in the aftermath of unity and that was something I – not alive when Stormont was in its pomp,  hardly a product of the ascendancy and whose family had never been near the levers of power – was never prepared to accept.

In the intervening years this became less of an issue as memories of the troubles subsided and the Stormont institutions bedded in. Also, as both sides of the border appeared to assume a more secular and socially liberal demeanour and ideas of the Republic as an avaricious predator became redundant in all but the most throwback of unionists. Indeed, I commented to a republican colleague that I felt I had more in common with the likes of Kenny and Varadkar than I did with most of my own leaders. Certainly, in terms of the sort of society they and I envisaged.

During that period, I wouldn’t say that unionists ceased to be pro-union, but the stridency disappeared from much of our political exchanges and the two parties of the extremes appeared to be embracing that new mood as they strengthened their respective leadership positions. We knew they were still at heart the same people as before, but both parties seemed to be fostering a new generation blessed at least with a pragmatism absent from their forebears. As a natural optimist, I was content.

It’s a cliché to say Brexit changed everything but some clichés are justified. Since the 2017 Stormont election and the loss of the unionist assembly majority (due to the reduction in available seat numbers), the tone has changed dramatically, and not just between the parties. For the first time, there is a sense among some that a United Ireland may be finally on the horizon. I’m not sure that’s the case but that perception has injected a new level of poison into our political discourse, and it’s a scary turn. In short, we are starting to see – very prematurely – real signs of the triumphalism and score-settling I mentioned earlier.

We are now in a world where there is a very real sense that the possibility of the 50% plus one means that the concerns of the broad PUL community no longer need to be heard, let alone considered. Primarily on social media but also some elements of the mainstream media, in fact, they are widely ridiculed and dismissed as the old regime hankering for days of domination.  It’s a long time since I’ve read so many suggestions that unionists should leave Ireland if they don’t like it (though Arlene Foster’s comments didn’t help).

Also, I’ve read far too many comments boldly stating that there is no place for certain named unionist figures in a United Ireland. These comments often command tens or even hundreds of “likes” or comments of support. That has coincided with the rise of the concept of Civic Nationalism full of confident voices of successful, professional individuals.

Self-confidence is always to be encouraged but, in this case, it is coming to represent a new establishment, just as exclusive and one dimensional as its predecessor.  An establishment that sees itself as inclusive and progressive but  doesn’t see the contradiction in casually dismissing a contrary voice as a “flegger”.

The demonisation or trivialisation of pro-union people and their communities has helped ensure that there is no equivalent brand of Civic Unionism.  Literally no “commentators” have emerged from unionist communities in the past decade (people who lost their seats because unionism rejected them really don’t count). That is incredibly unhealthy for society both now and in the future.

The venomous reaction to Ben Lowry as commentator or columnist is a perfect example. I often disagree with Ben’s content and tone but nothing he says can justify the vilification he consistently receives.  Even when solidly non-contentious pro-union voices like Alex Kane veer into the realms of saying something unambiguously unionist he is rounded on as some sort of supremacist.

Sam McBride – who I have no doubt has cost his paper a significant number of readers through his diligent and forensic dismantling of the DUP machine since 2016 – is revered for his RHI work, but dismissed as playing to a hardcore, fundamentalist base when he comments on any subject other than the flaws of the DUP.

Even Naomi Long – hardly the poster girl in orange halls the length and breadth of the province – has been contemptuously portrayed as a unionist (like that’s an innately bad thing) since her intervention in the Coronavirus debate this week. Even if she was a unionist, that wouldn’t in any way invalidate her criticism of Sinn Fein this or any other week. But clearly she overstepped an unwritten mark.

This all reeks of a deliberate and organised dehumanisation of even the most liberal and moderate pro-union voices. I’m not talking deliberately provocative figures like Jim Wells or Nelson McCausland, but voices that have spoken in favour of the campaigns for social liberalisation we’ve seen in recent years.  Voices representing people who are comfortable with an evolved, inclusive society and want nothing more than to play their part.

People who have had their certainties challenged by Brexit and DUP resistance to social change. Who feel uncomfortable with the way the UK as a whole is evolving. People who in many cases – especially younger ones – do not feel any innate hostility to the possibility of Irish Unity in the medium term.

In short, people are ready for very real bridge-building with nationalism across the island. If nationalism wants to make these people and their parents feel wanted or valued in the Ireland they envisage, they need to start demonstrating it. With sincerity.

Photo by Free-Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Photo by Free-Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Ian Clarke

Ian Clarke spent 36 years in sales & marketing for newspapers in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland – including the Belfast Telegraph, Wolverhampton Express & Star, Northern Echo and The Herald (Glasgow) after graduating from QUB in Political Science. Glentoran supporter.