Not going to happen, at least for a long time yet.
SF have made a nice place for themselves in the RoI as a valid left wing alternative. Even removing the “Tiocfaidh ár lá” boys there is a lot of support for them.
They have a very strong and impressive local visibility in working class areas and work very hard on a local level to keep that strong. They get a huge amount of 1st preference votes in elections but few transfers which indicates that their support is solid but quite static as all other parties get a lot of transfer votes from other parties.
There were a lot of riots though. There was also the Black Panters and other groups but over all you’re right. There was no history of armed struggle going back hundreds(Robert Emmet, Tone etc) of years though like there was in the republican world.
Different situation, vatly different geography and they didn’t need to. In Northern Ireland the Stormont government did nothing to stop Protestant violence and the sectarian police were also the base membership of Protestant terror groups.
Remember the British Army was initially sent in to protect Catholics from Protestant mobs. It’s difficult to keep turning the other cheek when all that happens is you get another punch.
The Protestants provoked the violence and the IRA seized the opportunity. Then all sides, including the Brits, behaved with savage disgrace.
As I said in my post Republicanism isn’t in and of itself sectarian. I’m aware the specific “Brits Out” slogan refers to the apparatus of the British state but the violent Republicans acted as if just getting the army, British admin etc, to leave would be enough to secure their avowed goals ignoring the fact you would still have roughly a million citizens who wanted no part in a United Ireland. I should have made myself clearer in that regard though.
Quartz, here’s an interesting link about the Protestant population of the Republic. It seems that discrimination was a contributory factor towards the migration of Protestants out of the south. It is worth nothing that the Free State/Republic has had at least two Protestant Presidents. Although the job is largely ceremonial it is perhaps indicative that the discrimination in the south was not as pervasive as in the north.
Neither did Catholics. Please show me a route from bombs in places like La Mon, Warrington, Omagh to civil rights for Catholics.
Which is why Stormont was wound up early on in The Troubles remember. And it’s quite a leap to declare that the entire police force moonlighted as paramilitary death squads :rolleyes:
John Hume seemed to do alright plodding along behind the scenes. It took a while to get things together but he played a pretty vital role I understand.
I still had to take a moment to get my head around seeing Martin McGuinness with a government ministerial title behind his name, calling these people “traitors to the island of Ireland.”
Wow.
Even 15 years ago, I’d have said you were a fool if you told me how far we’d have come by now.
Don’t mean to sound a tad cynical, but the Sinn Fein apologies were pretty carefully trodden. Being “traitors to the island of Ireland” is pretty close to being people who may adversely affect the Sinners’ votes come election time. Killings that impact more on the public than usual have traditionally been a real boost and a real drain (depending on who died) for Sinn Fein.
If the Protestant leaders were not such a bunch of hateful bigoted bastards the issue should have been moot.
The police force was known for its members dual role in loyalist paramilitary groups and the B Specials particularly. So if you don’t like the facts at least spare me your silly emoticons.
Absolutely none officially, and about as much socially in modern times as you’d get against catholics socially in the UK.
It’s one of the canards that floated by the likes of the “Love Ulster” brigade in order to instigate a fear of the Republic.
Speaking only for myself, I see the protestant community in the six counties as being as Irish as they are British. We’ve a hell of a lot more culturally in common than I think they would realise, and there’s as much Protestant culture in the Irish flag as there is Catholic.
Personally, I’d love to see the Orange Order at the head of a St. Patricks Day parade. A cultural (re- )unification would show they have little to fear from a political one.
Even 15 years ago, I’d have said you were a fool if you told me how far we’d have come by now.