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Wilbur wrote on Sun Sep 13, 2020 8:23pm:
I agree with most of what you say, but caveat it with the pattern seen by many who used to be traditional unionists, especially the young, are opting to exert their Irishness.
Britain had no place in Ireland 300 years, ago, despite the plantation of Scots in to Ulster. It possibly has less place in modern day peacetimes. And indeed, Bojo dropped the Unionists at the first opportunity once he got what he wanted. ...
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That should serve as a reminder to all on the Island and the wider EU.
There's so much room for irony in Irish/British history you almost couldn't make it up, but one trap that personally I believe is a dead-end is trying to rewrite what happened and demand it be otherwise. "It is what it is" as the saying goes. For good or ill the 'Ulster Plantation' with loyal Scots colonists laid some of the groundwork for what happened subsequently, but the fact remains that the Scots descendants are in Ireland, and indeed the flag of southern Ireland includes orange to remember William of Orange as well as Green for what could loosely be called Nationalists, and white between the colors for peace. It's ironic that the loyalists burn the orange of their own origin when they routinely burn the Irish tricolor every July as they recall a battle in 1690. History is alive and well up north. Fact is, in the south, most people, virtually everyone has some British or English connection. My neighbors in Dublin on both sides are Nelson and Foster, and my mother's maiden name was 'Montgomery.' In the south nobody cares. It simply doesn't arise as any kind of issue.
A couple of other almost farcical situations :
The same vehement DUP MP's who demand the right to 'British identity' have no issue signing Irish government applications for their constituents for Irish passports so they can travel freely in the EU.
The former UK ambassador to Ireland got an Irish passport based on his Belfast heritage. Maggie Thatcher had Irish forebears.
When British people (in mainland UK) were asked to draw the Irish border on an outline of Ireland, they weren't even approximately right.
When the DUP (democratic Unionist Party) held the balance of power in Mrs. May's ill-fated election, the largest Google search in the UK that night was 'Who are the DUP.'
Many of the historical revolutionary leaders in Ireland, were in fact, Protestants.
When Ireland staged a revolution in 1916 it wasn't widely supported. But the utter destruction of central Dublin by a British gunboat, the imposition of martial law and the execution of the leaders changed public opinion. One newspaper at the time described the executions as like 'watching blood seep from behind a locked door.' British forces also burned Cork in subsequent reprisals
The leaders of the revolution were masters in theatrics and the British played into it. They were undoubtedly brave men (and one woman) but they surrendered in the face of overwhelming force by presenting a sword to the British General, who, unwittingly accepted it, the revolutionaries thereby gained equivalence with the British army in the eyes of the world. An army commander surrendering to another army commander.
Putting their signatures of the Declaration of Independence they wrote their own death warrants and they must have known that. In fact they welcomed it. And from this, arose the concept of the 'blood sacrifice' which the IRA would deploy to devastating effects in latter years. The basic premise when confronting an enemy you simply cannot defeat is to be prepared to die, often horribly; as in the hunger strikes, to be willing to offer a 'blood sacrifice' and defeat the opponent not be force of arms. but by a capacity for suffering that knows literally no bounds. Like it or not, this tactic often worked.
British forces at the time threatened a mutiny if asked to march on the North to supress the loyalists. It was called the Curragh mutiny. So, Ireland, which had a majority of Nationalists, was forcibly divided in the final settlement of Independence. No majority rule in this case. The loyalists, to prove their loyalty, were willing to die in vast numbers in WW1 but I suspect they never trusted (and still don't) the Westminster Parliament, and loyalists has often been anything but loyal. The fearful and angry language of many 'loyalists' is often about 'sell-out' and 'no surrender.' It is a sad fact that they seem unloved in the UK mainland.
As an aside, the declaration of Independence is an amazing piece of oratorical work, and worthy of great praise, but the (southern) Ireland that emerged was hijacked by the Catholic church - the very church previously opposed to Independence.
The journey away from a church dominated state was accelerated by clerical abuse, and the attempt to cover it up, but the modern Ireland that emerged is pluralistic, multicultural, and very liberal. It was the first (and only country) to vote for gay marriage which passed by popular consent. Abortion and divorce are also legal. A gay Prime Minister, and nobody gives a damn. What an-about-face change.
The problem in Irish/British relations is often one of ignorance. The British simply don't KNOW Ireland. It is reduced to a country of quaint, simple farmers, living in a green idyll with funny accents; overly fond of drinking and fighting. Again, this is a colonial narrative. If the Irish are stupid and incompetent, they NEED smart, competent Brits to run things, so this narrative isn't just wrong, it is a tool of colonialism. And it continues, Think of "Father Ted" or more recently 'Derry Girls." The Irish often like them, not so much for the innate comic value, but just because they play on British stereotypes of which the Irish are often painfully aware and the British are not. I worked for a British company in Dublin. Visiting directors from the UK would talk about 'on the mainland.' Colleagues in Basingstoke (not exactly a million miles away) would ask is 'Dublin in the UK and do we use the pound?' We still have some distance to travel in this respect.
