Brian Feeney and the Future of Unionism
Brian Feeney and The Future of Unionism
“Unionism is a fraud and a deception. The people who have been most defrauded and deceived are the political minority on this island who have been deluded into believing that unionism offers the only salvation to their tribe."
Picked up this piece concerning Brian Feeney’s views on Unionism over at United Irelander. The debate has moved on a bit there and anyway I’ve more than enough to say about this matter to justify my own post, so here we go!
“Unionism is a fraud and a deception. The people who have been most defrauded and deceived are the political minority on this island who have been deluded into believing that unionism offers the only salvation to their tribe."
Fraud and deception?
The basis of Unionism was/is ensuring that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Whatever else has happened, that is still the case. Bearing in mind that the Republic of Ireland (or Free State as it was) was not only an economic backwater and to all intents and purposes a theocracy until the mid 1980s, but also inherently and instinctively anti-British, there was no other viable alternative for Unionists, even if they had wanted one.
The Republic, however, has changed for the better economically and matured politically and this does pose questions and challenges for Unionism.
"The Republic of Ireland is a modern, skills-based, technological economy producing for example most Intel chips for Europe near Leixlip and all Dell computers for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa at Limerick. Ireland attracts about 10% of all US investment in Europe. In 2004 alone, there was 10 billion dollars of new US investment in the Republic, whereas the British taxpayer funds two-thirds of the North's salaries”
And the UK :
1. Is the 4th biggest economy in the world.
2. Is the 4th biggest exporter in the world.
3. Is the third biggest invisible trader in the world.
4. Has the 5th largest industrial output in the world.
5. Has the 4th largest service output in the world.
and so on.
Puts all Brian’s showboating on the Republic’s behalf into perspective doesn’t it?!
Now, I’m not for one minute deriding the Celtic Tiger, simply pointing out the fact that although Irish economic growth has been phenomenonal over the last decade, the UK economy is working on a completely different scale.
It can afford to effectively subsidise Northern Ireland, I’m not convinced that the Republic could. I’m also not convinced that a simple transfer of sovereignty would solve all our economic problems. It’s also interesting to note the reluctance on the part of any Irish nationalist party to commission from independent auditors, a full economic study of the consequences of Irish Unity. More often than not, it’s back of the envelope calculations that are delivered in the flowery reports of the SDLP or Sinn Fein. Let’s have it out in the open( if they dare!)- for a start, what will the Irish taxpayer have to pay for Unity and where will Northern Ireland’s public sector workers find new employment?
"Inevitably, time moves on. Now unionism has no future, only a past. Unionism has delivered its adherents nothing.”
As I said answering the first point, it guaranteed its "adherents" their British nationality and identity. Regarding the future...
"You never hear anyone, even a unionist, talking about the future of unionism. No unionist can tell you where he wants to be in 10 years. The closest you will get to an answer is that they want to be in the same place as they are now.’
Not,no Duper nor UUPer, but no Unionist full stop can tell you where he wants to be in 10 years! And how many ordinary Unionists exactly has Feeney asked (my comment section is always open, Brian!) to determine this “fact”? As per his weekly ”Bash-the Jaffas” column in the Irish News, he’s engaging in a bit of sectarian stereotyping here, but as I said earlier this week, I’ve come to expect this from the vast majority of nationalist and republican hacks. It's more the pity that it comes from Brian Feeney, who can be an intelligent commnetator and whose occasional pieces on BBC WOrld have been both thought-provoking and challenging but minus the sneering undertones.
But back to the original question(!), where do I want Unionism to be in ten years time?
Well, actually, slowly going out of business. I’d like to see class not religion becoming the main determinant of who people vote for in Northern Ireland. In the perfect world, this would be happening within a N.Ireland secure and comfortable with its two national identities and with its place within a multi-cultural, secular and liberal UK.
For that to happen, political Unionism has to wake up and realize its potential strength and the fact that this power will only be activated by a widening of its appeal. It has to forget about the old fault-lines in the political landscape and start attracting the “non-traditional voter”. Are either party capable of doing that? On present evidence “no”, but individual Unionists working outside the formal parties ,do also have a responsibility to sell the benefits of the Union and it may well be their efforts in the end that ensures Northern Ireland stays British.
“All change is viewed as debit, loss, negative. Yet change happens despite unionists””
Once again, stereotyping. Of course in “Brian’s World” we’re all mini- “Big Ian’s, shouting NO,NO,NEVER at any whisper of change. What Brian conveniently forgets is that the majority of Unionists did vote for change when they agreed to the Belfast Agreement.
I want change.
I want my children to grow up feeling comfortable with both their British and Irish identities, something that was denied to most Unionists of my generation. When they hear a Sinn Fein representative speak, I don’t want them to automatically think of the IRA terror campaign and I want them to think of Irish Unity as an interesting political concept, rather than a humiliating surrender to “themuns” who've been fighting us in one form or other for over 400 years.
Sadly, I don’t believe that political Unionism, or more importantly,Irish Nationalism in their present forms can deliver that kind of lasting change.
9:29 PM | Permalink | links to this post
“Unionism is a fraud and a deception. The people who have been most defrauded and deceived are the political minority on this island who have been deluded into believing that unionism offers the only salvation to their tribe."
Picked up this piece concerning Brian Feeney’s views on Unionism over at United Irelander. The debate has moved on a bit there and anyway I’ve more than enough to say about this matter to justify my own post, so here we go!
“Unionism is a fraud and a deception. The people who have been most defrauded and deceived are the political minority on this island who have been deluded into believing that unionism offers the only salvation to their tribe."
Fraud and deception?
The basis of Unionism was/is ensuring that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Whatever else has happened, that is still the case. Bearing in mind that the Republic of Ireland (or Free State as it was) was not only an economic backwater and to all intents and purposes a theocracy until the mid 1980s, but also inherently and instinctively anti-British, there was no other viable alternative for Unionists, even if they had wanted one.
The Republic, however, has changed for the better economically and matured politically and this does pose questions and challenges for Unionism.
"The Republic of Ireland is a modern, skills-based, technological economy producing for example most Intel chips for Europe near Leixlip and all Dell computers for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa at Limerick. Ireland attracts about 10% of all US investment in Europe. In 2004 alone, there was 10 billion dollars of new US investment in the Republic, whereas the British taxpayer funds two-thirds of the North's salaries”
And the UK :
1. Is the 4th biggest economy in the world.
2. Is the 4th biggest exporter in the world.
3. Is the third biggest invisible trader in the world.
4. Has the 5th largest industrial output in the world.
5. Has the 4th largest service output in the world.
and so on.
Puts all Brian’s showboating on the Republic’s behalf into perspective doesn’t it?!
Now, I’m not for one minute deriding the Celtic Tiger, simply pointing out the fact that although Irish economic growth has been phenomenonal over the last decade, the UK economy is working on a completely different scale.
It can afford to effectively subsidise Northern Ireland, I’m not convinced that the Republic could. I’m also not convinced that a simple transfer of sovereignty would solve all our economic problems. It’s also interesting to note the reluctance on the part of any Irish nationalist party to commission from independent auditors, a full economic study of the consequences of Irish Unity. More often than not, it’s back of the envelope calculations that are delivered in the flowery reports of the SDLP or Sinn Fein. Let’s have it out in the open( if they dare!)- for a start, what will the Irish taxpayer have to pay for Unity and where will Northern Ireland’s public sector workers find new employment?
"Inevitably, time moves on. Now unionism has no future, only a past. Unionism has delivered its adherents nothing.”
As I said answering the first point, it guaranteed its "adherents" their British nationality and identity. Regarding the future...
"You never hear anyone, even a unionist, talking about the future of unionism. No unionist can tell you where he wants to be in 10 years. The closest you will get to an answer is that they want to be in the same place as they are now.’
Not,no Duper nor UUPer, but no Unionist full stop can tell you where he wants to be in 10 years! And how many ordinary Unionists exactly has Feeney asked (my comment section is always open, Brian!) to determine this “fact”? As per his weekly ”Bash-the Jaffas” column in the Irish News, he’s engaging in a bit of sectarian stereotyping here, but as I said earlier this week, I’ve come to expect this from the vast majority of nationalist and republican hacks. It's more the pity that it comes from Brian Feeney, who can be an intelligent commnetator and whose occasional pieces on BBC WOrld have been both thought-provoking and challenging but minus the sneering undertones.
But back to the original question(!), where do I want Unionism to be in ten years time?
Well, actually, slowly going out of business. I’d like to see class not religion becoming the main determinant of who people vote for in Northern Ireland. In the perfect world, this would be happening within a N.Ireland secure and comfortable with its two national identities and with its place within a multi-cultural, secular and liberal UK.
For that to happen, political Unionism has to wake up and realize its potential strength and the fact that this power will only be activated by a widening of its appeal. It has to forget about the old fault-lines in the political landscape and start attracting the “non-traditional voter”. Are either party capable of doing that? On present evidence “no”, but individual Unionists working outside the formal parties ,do also have a responsibility to sell the benefits of the Union and it may well be their efforts in the end that ensures Northern Ireland stays British.
“All change is viewed as debit, loss, negative. Yet change happens despite unionists””
Once again, stereotyping. Of course in “Brian’s World” we’re all mini- “Big Ian’s, shouting NO,NO,NEVER at any whisper of change. What Brian conveniently forgets is that the majority of Unionists did vote for change when they agreed to the Belfast Agreement.
I want change.
I want my children to grow up feeling comfortable with both their British and Irish identities, something that was denied to most Unionists of my generation. When they hear a Sinn Fein representative speak, I don’t want them to automatically think of the IRA terror campaign and I want them to think of Irish Unity as an interesting political concept, rather than a humiliating surrender to “themuns” who've been fighting us in one form or other for over 400 years.
Sadly, I don’t believe that political Unionism, or more importantly,Irish Nationalism in their present forms can deliver that kind of lasting change.
9:29 PM | Permalink | links to this post
