The Other View

Perturbing Perceptions

 By John Nixon

The BBC's current affairs programme Spotlight which focussed on demographic changes and projections on forthcoming censal data is undoubtedly a timely event given current media interest on increasing alienation and lack of confidence within the Unionist communities. This appears to be in contrast to a perceived growing confidence among nationalists/republicans. One clear theme emerged; Unionists feel threatened and no longer feel secure under the Union. They feel that they are becoming second class citizens in what they were given to believe was a Protestant state for a Protestant people. Their once perceived privileged position has gone and the Union is not looking so safe. Unionism it appears is again at the crossroads only this time round there are deeper divisions and a lacking in clear direction as to what route they should go. The traditional routes of displays of militarism, orange cards and threats of bloodbaths no longer cut any ice. The changes long predicted are here. Unionists are beginning to face up to stark realities. Patterns and trends of thinking within working class Unionist communities in particular have emerged since John Reid's not so well timed address to the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University. Having listened to the opinion of a number of people from grassroots Unionism I feel there is an inability to objectively assess or analyse what has happened over the past decades at both macro and micro levels as to why Unionists feel a sense of alienation. John Reid's 'cold house' theory has brought many issues into focus but has also hyped up specific grievances which from my own republican perspective are essentially of lesser substance. The predominant perception among working class loyalists is that they are being 'sold out' by politicians and by the British administration who no longer want them. There is a perception that only Catholics are the real benefactors under the new political structures. Clichés such as 'The Taigs are getting everything and we get nothing', 'violence has paid off', 'Catholics are united and we are divided' 'While we were drinking the Catholics were thinking' provide insights to current thinking among Unionist grassroots.
Maybe that is just the problem; all clichés and little articulation. Invariably there follows the blame game and the 'what aboutery' and all sides are equally prone to this and have their own sense of victimhood and who were perpetrators and inevitably the past is raked up, the present is confused and the future is uncertain. Clichés, denials and allegations tend to fog certain realities.
Quite a number of Unionists perceive that gains made by the Catholic community since the outbreak of the Troubles have been at the expense of their community. Nationalists and republicans feel that everything gained is as much to the benefit of Unionists as their own community. They feel they had little or nothing to lose. There is a perception in particular among working class Protestants that they are being held culpable by Catholics for decades of discrimination and oppression under a Unionist oligarchy despite the fact that they too were denied the franchise and were equally neglected. Many Protestants morally supported the aims of the Civil Rights Movement and undeniably there was as much deprivation and poverty on both sides of the working class divide. The advent of the republican armed struggle heralded a new dimension to communal and religious divisions that were not so dormant as some revisionists would have us believe. Now four years into a cease-fire the pain and trauma Unionists experienced as a result of republican violence appears to be made more acute by the fact that they feel violence has paid off.
The Provisional IRA's failure to express remorse is seen by them as a major obstacle to healing the divisions of the past. Gerry Adam's statement that there cannot be a united Ireland (or an 'agreed Ireland') without the assent or consent of Unionists appears to have little impact among working class Unionists and coupled with this is their sense of being abandoned by middle Unionism though many continue to vote for mainstream Unionist parties. There is also a perception among Protestants living in interface areas that loyalist paramilitaries are a necessary evil; that despite their many shortcomings they can still muster communal support even though they derive little or no electoral support. The UDA hollowly boast they have sixty thousand men on their books. They're certainly not on the electoral register. Ask nine out of ten UDA supporters who they vote for they will tell you the DUP.
In other arenas of change, e.g. legislation such as the Equality Act, the Human Rights Bill and the Criminal Justice Bill, there is a belief particularly within grassroots Unionism that proposed changes serve to address a nationalist/republican agenda .ämore concessions! In this respect they seem to be emulating the wincing and whinging going on within mainstream Unionism over the same.
While much of Unionist comment has some validity if probed it would be found wanting in quantifiable terms. Realities such as demographic changes, e.g. Catholic majorities in cities such as Derry, Belfast and Armagh, increased electoral support for republicans (things have changed at City Hall!) a diminishing Protestant population and the dilution of the border within the context of a unified Europe are issues on which working class loyalists don't seem to focus or engage more fully. Unionists can't blame the 'Troubles' or republican violence for unprecedented levels of industrial decline in aircraft or shipbuilding, in the textile or manufacturing industry or agriculture. Neither can republicans be blamed for an identity crisis within Unionism or the fact that the 'gaols are crammed with working class Protestants'. They can't be blamed for pipe bomb attacks/deaths or naked sectarian murders or the murder of those who work in the media or the legal profession or for creating or fostering divisions which stem back to the Plantation (and beyond). Republicans are prepared to listen and respond to Unionist fears and grievances. Sensitive issues such as policing, the full implementation of the Patten Report and the Good Friday Agreement remain as priorities on their agenda.
Yet there is an empathy with Unionists who feel they have been abandoned by successive British governments; republicans had been abandoned by success Irish republican governments ä or hanged by them. But differences aside there is also a need to focus on our shared history; both communities faced a common enemy during two world wars, both lay claim to a Christian heritage via St Patrick, the legacy of United Irishmen and contemporary sporting achievements, etc. Issues such the drugs culture, anti-social crime and the problems facing or created by young people are endemic on both sides of the divide as is racketeering and intimidation.
Clearly there is much work to be done to restore and build trust and confidence between the communities. Maybe more so now than at any time there is a need for republicans/nationalists to assuage Unionist fears and counteract those who are determined to exploit those fears. The reasons why such fears exist require a more thorough and informed analysis. Probably more than at any time there is a need to allay fears and suspicions on all sides. After so many years of strife and polarisation it is no surprise that there are many bitter legacies of our troubled past.

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