One Road, Two Perspectives: Hughie Beag and Macha on Drumcree

Fellow Slugger poster Hughie Beag and I have crossed swords a few times in the comments section, particularly over my attempts to understand unionism and his challenges to how I’ve approached it. We’ve occasionally managed to get under each other’s skin, and we eventually decided we’d probably get further talking over a pint than continuing to argue in the comments. So, back in August, we met in Maddens in Belfast, along with Brian O’Neill. We still disagreed about a fair …

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Does the Secretary of State’s decision about Drumcree serve social justice, or victors’ justice?

feet on asphalt between two directional arrows

Gadfly is a political geographer from Belfast with a particular interest in the relationship between democracy and the creation of more sustainable futures. Northern nationalists and republicans have long aimed to differentiate themselves from unionists through a strong commitment to social, as opposed to legal, justice. These respective commitments have been on clear display throughout the recent disputes at Drumcree. Whilst unionists claim to have stood on the side of law and order, the SDLP reinstated its commitment to civil …

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