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Loyalist violence has been ignited but unionist hearts are left cold

(William Graham, Irish News)

The IRA seems to be preparing to leave the stage, but somehow the political future seems more uncertain for unionism. Political Correspondent William Graham reports.

Ironically the return of devolved government could now be further away than ever if the bitter mood within unionism and loyalism is an accurate barometer of disillusionment with the political process.

The dangerous situation now developing in Northern Ireland may be being underestimated, although in the past there have been many crises of confidence inside the unionist community.

The language being used by some prominent unionists is significant.

Nationalists used to talk about alienation and that the British government could not be trusted.

Ulster Unionists now talk about alienation and say that the unionist family "no longer trusts the British government".

The rhetoric is building day by day as evidenced by Ian Paisley's language in claiming that there is some kind of "apartheid" operating against unionists; or that "the black spots of deliberate discrimination against employment of Protestants must be tackled".

Yet the statistics show that Catholics are twice as likely as Protestants to suffer unemployment.

Research has also shown that many working class communities, irrespective of whether they are predominantly Catholic or Protestant, are characterised by low morale and low expectations about their future.

But it should be acknowledged that there is a very significant degree of what is called fragmentation in some of these Protestant areas.

If you drive through certain areas some at least superficially appear to be in a worse condition than other areas.

Ask a unionist what is going on in terms of the current upheaval and street trouble – the answer is complex and confusing.

According to unionists the problems are deep seated and represent reaction to the British government's handling of the IRA statement earlier this year.

Ask the obvious question – what will be the reaction of unionists if the IRA does destroy a large amount of weapons and explosives? – the answer is that unionists don't really know.

"It depends on how it [decommissioning] is done. If it is going to be another de Chastelain, all private and nobody really knows and it is a wink and a nod, then you are almost better off not doing it. We will have to wait and see," a unionist source said yesterday (Thursday).

Unionist representatives also say they are hearing on the ground three key points that are repeated over and over again.

These key points, in the words of unionist representatives, are that: "The Provos seem to get everything and we get nothing; that the parades issue every year seems to get worse and culture and identity are being eroded; and that in these working class areas they have not really had a share of the peace dividend.

"People in these areas say – what bloody agreement what peace pro-cess – it has not changed our lives."

It should of course be pointed out that the Orange Order has been anti the Good Friday Agreement all along.

Certain unionists also use somewhat colourful language in stating that "the Orange Order are making a complete b***s of the whole bloody thing... and it is excruciating to watch Dawson Bailie [County Grand Master] and Robert Saulters [Grand Master]".

However, when considering the Order's public relations disaster and failure to accept blame for bringing people out on the streets with the resulting violence, it is still the belief of some unionists that the current trouble did not come out of the blue.

Certainly a political vacuum does exist in the north and in the absence of progressive politics trouble often waits in the wings.

Issues have to be tackled and it would be ironic if what is happening now further pushes back the return of devolution.

Without their own northern assembly the politicians are powerless to tackle deprivation wherever it exists, whether in Protestant or Catholic communities. In Wales one of the priorities of the assembly there is to tackle poverty.

Republicans and nationalists pose the question to unionist and Orange leaders: will their demand to force a parade through a nationalist area do anything to tackle the poverty which exists in both north and west Belfast?

The rioting over recent days will certainly do nothing to address poverty and if it continues the real danger is that someone will be badly injured or lose their life.

Some of the rioters themselves look very young. There are children blocking roads and throwing rocks and petrol bombs. The children of the new troubles?

Who remembers 16-year-old Glen Branagh, a UDA child, who died in November 2001 in a premature explosion while throwing a pipe bomb during street disturbances?

History has a habit of repeating itself particularly in the north.

Northern Ireland is supposed to be emerging from the troubles, the killings and the riots of the last 35 years.

Trouble is nothing new in this part of the world. The history books record riots in Belfast back in 1857. It was reported then that there were confrontations between crowds of Catholics and Protestants on a July 12 evening which turned into ten days of particularly violent rioting.

The Belfast riot inquiry of 1857 said that the Pound district for many years 'had been chiefly inhabited by a Catholic population while Sandy Row district had been chiefly inhabited by a population of Orangemen and Protestants'.

The 1857 inquiry reported: 'Since the commencement of the late riots the areas became exclusive.

"The few Catholic inhabitants of Sandy Row have been obliged to leave and the few Protestant inhabitants of the Pound have been obliged to leave.

"They were given notices to quit by a certain date and if they didn't their houses were wrecked."

All of this sounds depressingly familiar in 2005 – where for the outside world looking in, "the Troubles" still represent the key defining image of Belfast.

September 18, 2005
________________

This article appeared first in the September 16, 2005 edition of the Irish News.

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