Dean Bonner

The greatest danger to the Union may be unionism itself

Dean Bonner on July 6, 2022, 3:28 pm | Readers 5235

I don’t agree with the Tánaiste on many things, but I found myself in total agreement with something Leo Varadkar said to Mark Carruthers last week regarding the UK government’s Protocol Bill: “I think it’s a government that’s…siding with [unionism]…and I think that’s a strategic mistake for people who want to preserve the Union…because if you continue to impose things…that the clear majority of people of Northern Ireland don’t want…more people will turn away from the Union…” Much is indeed …

Thoughts about “Irishness”

Dean Bonner on April 12, 2022, 7:21 pm | Readers 4214

There are unlimited understandings of what it means to be Irish. There may be millions. “Irishness” likely means something different to everybody who is Irish! Unfortunately, “Irishness” often gets identified via narrow lenses. Some people believe being Irish means being from the Republic. Some believe it means being Roman Catholic. For some, it means being nationalist or being an uncompromising, Anglophobic republican. And some hold that to be really Irish, you must be white. But all of these myopic notions …

To disagree with dignity, we must “play the ball, not the man”

Dean Bonner on March 1, 2022, 2:08 pm | Readers 1393

I recently joined Twitter. While I’ve observed some enlightening and respectful debate, much of what I saw was indignant self-righteousness from both sides of many disagreements. I’ve witnessed grown adults of all ages tweeting schoolyard slurs in response to those whose beliefs and arguments they disagree with. I wondered whether many come to Twitter to exchange thoughts or ideas, or whether most come to assert their own ideological orthodoxy and attack all who don’t share it. I’m no saint here. …

Why Ireland has needed good Neighbours

Dean Bonner on February 22, 2022, 2:00 pm | Readers 9933

Many of us were shocked to learn that Channel 5 has recently axed Neighbours, the juggernaut that has captivated millions of viewers worldwide for almost 40 years and that catapulted Kylie Minogue and countless others to global stardom. Much has been written about why Neighbours was (and remains) so popular in Britain, yet little has been written about its popularity in Ireland, North and South. In the 1980s, Ireland was a fairly bleak place to be. The Republic was in …

Want to change hearts and minds? Debate is the answer

Dean Bonner on February 14, 2022, 7:30 am | Readers 2848

I spent (wasted?) a minute watching GB News the other day. The topic was, of course, the cause célèbre of the right-wing media: freedom of speech. While I think a lot of the right-wing rhetoric about “cancel culture” is hyperbolic, there does seem to be a tendency among certain groups to avoid open debate and stifle dissenting voices. However, it doesn’t do anything to help their cause. Three examples are illuminating. I proudly support transgender rights and I reject the …

Casting off our cognitive binaries will create a better society

Dean Bonner on February 3, 2022, 10:25 am | Readers 1029

“ “Understanding languages and other cultures builds bridges. It is the fastest way to bring the world closer together and to Truth. Through understanding, people will be able to see their similarities before differences.” – Suzy Kassem Twenty-four years after the Good Friday Agreement, much of our society remains deeply divided along sectarian lines. These overlapping societal dichotomies are reinforced by the dualism between the two largest parties, both intoxicated by their supposed ideological infallibility. Increasingly, more of us are …

Why Unionism must wake up, shake up and sell the virtues of the Union – to everybody…

Dean Bonner on January 28, 2022, 9:51 am | Readers 4108

refugees, economic refugees, financial equalization

I recently wrote about how Sinn Féin aren’t selling a united Ireland to those outside steadfast republicanism. As talk about a referendum on reunification intensifies, unionism’s complacent failure to promote whatever virtues there are to remaining in the UK now merits discussion. From its foundation, Northern Ireland was dominated by unionism. The UUP governed absolutely until 1972. The Catholic/nationalist community were a silenced, oppressed minority within a state that was designed to maintain unionist hegemony in perpetuity. There was no …