PRC-UTE
9th October 2005, 21:43
FROM DAILY IRELAND Today:
Protestant alienation – the republican socialist view
The Irish Republican Socialist Party’s ard chomhairle rejects the idea that working-class Protestants are being suppressed and argues that gangsterism is ruining their lives
Republican ideology has never really taken into account how to deal with unionism in the north-east of Ireland.
Generally speaking, there were two approaches taken. First, the benign approach simply felt that in the struggle for freedom, unionism would be converted by the non-sectarian republican struggle against British imperialism. The more malign approach saw the unionists as a ‘settler class’ or as “planters” who either would submit to the Republic or take the boat from Larne back to where they came from.
Republican Socialists are not sectarian and not nationalists. We do not have a problem with people believing in the Protestant religion or considering themselves to be British. We believe that everyone in Ireland has the right to hold on to their own identity, culture and perceived nationality.
For example, there are Chinese people in Ireland who consider themselves to be Chinese and are holding on to their language and culture – the same with Polish or Nigerian people etc. So, if the Protestant people in the North consider themselves to be British and not Irish, our movement has no problem with it.
There are many things in the British culture and history that republican socialists can identify with. There is the democratic tradition of the Levellers, and the Chartists. However, one of the objections our movement has is that many Protestants who consider themselves to be British only hold on to one expression of British identity – the monarchy and nostalgia for the Empire etc. Republican socialists would say that there are other ways of being British.
Republican Socialists distinguish the Protestant tradition from the unionist and loyalist traditions which call for the British state to rule the six counties. Our problem is with them. The unionist majority in the North is not ethnic or religious but political in nature.
Our problem with unionism and loyalism has nothing to do with nationality or territory. Our issue with unionism and loyalism is that they are essentially anti-democratic in nature. What we are in conflict with is the unionist veto.
Every advance towards a more democratic North is perceived to be a victory for republicans and a defeat for unionism. Hence, the recent call by loyalist paramilitaries, following intense violence on the streets of Belfast, to end what they call the “suppression and containment" of Protestants in the North of Ireland.
The pathetic sight of the Orange leaders ‘doing a Pontius Pilate’ over the violence following their march on the Springfield Road in Belfast would have been funny if it had not been so sad. Sad because many loyalist working-class areas suffered in the aftermath and the violence gave the gangsters and drug dealing thugs in the UDA and UVF the pretence that they were defending their communities from the police.
Gangsterism now is ruining the lives of thousands of working-class Protestants. The greatest threat to the Protestant working class comes, not from republicans, not from the the INLA, or any of the many IRAs, but from their so-called loyalist defenders.
In response to “Protestant frustration and alienation" the British direct-ruler Peter Hain, has said that he wanted to embark on a programme of intensive engagement with elected representatives and civic leaders of the Protestant community and that more investment will be directed towards deprived areas. On the same day, he also announced that he was going to take tough financial measures to extract higher rates and water charges. So what goes into working-class areas will also come out, as these charges will hit heaviest on the poorest working-class districts, both Protestant and Catholic alike.
There is a negative leadership from the unionist leaders, saying ‘no’ to talks with Sinn Féin and refusing to meet with representatives of nationalist residents affected by Orange marches. They claim all sorts of gains for nationalists and how Protestants are being discriminated against and this only perpetuates sectarian divisions and demoralises sections of protestant working-class opinions. The unionist politicians are happy to sit and talk with loyalist paramilitaries in the hope of using their muscle to force the British government to cede to their demands and stop any further democratic advances.
Cultures arise out of certain social, economic and geographical conditions. Slavery was once considered as the norm. No one today would defend it, so why today should people in the North of Ireland be expected to treat the Orange Order as merely a cultural expression of Protestantism when it is so blatantly not. It is certainly not an expression of being British today.
In the new dispensation of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) terms or phrases like the national question, anti-imperialism and self-determination have become obsolete. The new buzzwords include “equality”, and “parity of esteem” and “a Europe of the regions”. Well-integrated into the European union the southern ruling class has a clear vested interest in putting the Northern question to bed. Instability threatens the Celtic tiger. However, the problem about equality in the North of Ireland is that under the current economic system – capitalism – to create equality where there are inequalities means in effect taking from those who have, to redistribute to those who have not. In other words, take from the Protestants and give to the Catholics.
The closure of the traditional heavy industry, which was also a main career path for Protestants, has now all but vanished. Even the major universities in the North have a predominantly Catholic/Nationalist feel to them and many Protestants feel alienated.
Hence, the flight of the Protestant middle classes to English and Scottish universities. Traditionally the Protestant working class, guaranteed jobs in industry put little or no reliance on education and now are in grave danger of becoming an underclass.
The peace process was underpinned by a belief that the conflict was ethnic and so the end result of the peace process, the GFA institutionalised communally-based politics. That is not the way forward for either the Catholic or the Protestant working class.
The IRSP believes that the emancipation of the Protestant working class should be the work of Protestant workers themselves.
The IRSP ard chomhairle
Protestant alienation – the republican socialist view
The Irish Republican Socialist Party’s ard chomhairle rejects the idea that working-class Protestants are being suppressed and argues that gangsterism is ruining their lives
Republican ideology has never really taken into account how to deal with unionism in the north-east of Ireland.
Generally speaking, there were two approaches taken. First, the benign approach simply felt that in the struggle for freedom, unionism would be converted by the non-sectarian republican struggle against British imperialism. The more malign approach saw the unionists as a ‘settler class’ or as “planters” who either would submit to the Republic or take the boat from Larne back to where they came from.
Republican Socialists are not sectarian and not nationalists. We do not have a problem with people believing in the Protestant religion or considering themselves to be British. We believe that everyone in Ireland has the right to hold on to their own identity, culture and perceived nationality.
For example, there are Chinese people in Ireland who consider themselves to be Chinese and are holding on to their language and culture – the same with Polish or Nigerian people etc. So, if the Protestant people in the North consider themselves to be British and not Irish, our movement has no problem with it.
There are many things in the British culture and history that republican socialists can identify with. There is the democratic tradition of the Levellers, and the Chartists. However, one of the objections our movement has is that many Protestants who consider themselves to be British only hold on to one expression of British identity – the monarchy and nostalgia for the Empire etc. Republican socialists would say that there are other ways of being British.
Republican Socialists distinguish the Protestant tradition from the unionist and loyalist traditions which call for the British state to rule the six counties. Our problem is with them. The unionist majority in the North is not ethnic or religious but political in nature.
Our problem with unionism and loyalism has nothing to do with nationality or territory. Our issue with unionism and loyalism is that they are essentially anti-democratic in nature. What we are in conflict with is the unionist veto.
Every advance towards a more democratic North is perceived to be a victory for republicans and a defeat for unionism. Hence, the recent call by loyalist paramilitaries, following intense violence on the streets of Belfast, to end what they call the “suppression and containment" of Protestants in the North of Ireland.
The pathetic sight of the Orange leaders ‘doing a Pontius Pilate’ over the violence following their march on the Springfield Road in Belfast would have been funny if it had not been so sad. Sad because many loyalist working-class areas suffered in the aftermath and the violence gave the gangsters and drug dealing thugs in the UDA and UVF the pretence that they were defending their communities from the police.
Gangsterism now is ruining the lives of thousands of working-class Protestants. The greatest threat to the Protestant working class comes, not from republicans, not from the the INLA, or any of the many IRAs, but from their so-called loyalist defenders.
In response to “Protestant frustration and alienation" the British direct-ruler Peter Hain, has said that he wanted to embark on a programme of intensive engagement with elected representatives and civic leaders of the Protestant community and that more investment will be directed towards deprived areas. On the same day, he also announced that he was going to take tough financial measures to extract higher rates and water charges. So what goes into working-class areas will also come out, as these charges will hit heaviest on the poorest working-class districts, both Protestant and Catholic alike.
There is a negative leadership from the unionist leaders, saying ‘no’ to talks with Sinn Féin and refusing to meet with representatives of nationalist residents affected by Orange marches. They claim all sorts of gains for nationalists and how Protestants are being discriminated against and this only perpetuates sectarian divisions and demoralises sections of protestant working-class opinions. The unionist politicians are happy to sit and talk with loyalist paramilitaries in the hope of using their muscle to force the British government to cede to their demands and stop any further democratic advances.
Cultures arise out of certain social, economic and geographical conditions. Slavery was once considered as the norm. No one today would defend it, so why today should people in the North of Ireland be expected to treat the Orange Order as merely a cultural expression of Protestantism when it is so blatantly not. It is certainly not an expression of being British today.
In the new dispensation of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) terms or phrases like the national question, anti-imperialism and self-determination have become obsolete. The new buzzwords include “equality”, and “parity of esteem” and “a Europe of the regions”. Well-integrated into the European union the southern ruling class has a clear vested interest in putting the Northern question to bed. Instability threatens the Celtic tiger. However, the problem about equality in the North of Ireland is that under the current economic system – capitalism – to create equality where there are inequalities means in effect taking from those who have, to redistribute to those who have not. In other words, take from the Protestants and give to the Catholics.
The closure of the traditional heavy industry, which was also a main career path for Protestants, has now all but vanished. Even the major universities in the North have a predominantly Catholic/Nationalist feel to them and many Protestants feel alienated.
Hence, the flight of the Protestant middle classes to English and Scottish universities. Traditionally the Protestant working class, guaranteed jobs in industry put little or no reliance on education and now are in grave danger of becoming an underclass.
The peace process was underpinned by a belief that the conflict was ethnic and so the end result of the peace process, the GFA institutionalised communally-based politics. That is not the way forward for either the Catholic or the Protestant working class.
The IRSP believes that the emancipation of the Protestant working class should be the work of Protestant workers themselves.
The IRSP ard chomhairle