The theme for the thirty fifth John Hewitt Worldwide Summer time Faculty was “Discovering the nationwide: redefining residence and nation for a shared future”, which requested how a lot “residence”, “nation”, “id”, and “nation” matter, or ought to matter in a shared future, and the expertise of those that really feel excluded from current political buildings. Talking on the Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre in Armagh, journalist and civil activist Andy Pollak introduced an acceptable speak, “The South is just not prepared for unification”. He outlined the problems at stake, with some thought-provoking recommendations for future dialogue. But Pollak’s reflections of latest conversations he’s had with southerners knowledgeable him of the numerous chasms of views and outlooks that may must be bridged.
Andy Pollak was launched by Stephen Douds, president of the Irish Affiliation, which sponsored the occasion. Douds put the speak within the context of the revised Irish Structure, significantly Article 3, which states that every one the individuals who share the territory of the island of Eire are to be united “in concord and friendship”.
Douds additional evoked the spirit of the poet for which this summer time college is organised, reciting John Hewitt’s “Conversations in Hungary”:
“… we turned to historical past:
the savage issues of our previous:
our luckless nation the place previous wrongs outlast,
in raging viruses of bigotry,
their first an infection.”
Douds put it that the extent to which we make progress in residing nicely collectively on this island will largely rely on how nicely we come to phrases with “the savage issues of our previous” and design new methods of sharing that don’t repeat “raging viruses of bigotry”.
Andy Pollak started his speak with what he labelled as his “single transferable message” — that the individuals of the Republic of Eire haven’t begun to consider what reunification will imply to them “and are about as removed from prepared for it as one can get”. He mooted how bringing in 900,000 “largely alienated and contrarian unionists” would have an effect on ideas of Irish id, nationalist historic myths, 100-year-old political establishments, public spending, the Catholic church-controlled schooling system, and two-tier well being service.
He desires to disabuse nationalists and republicans from considering {that a} slim majority for unity would end in unionism disappearing as a philosophy on the island: “Massive numbers of unionists … will proceed to withhold their allegiance from that Irish state and can proceed to really feel, behave, and declare themselves as British. They may wave the Union flag, pledge their allegiance to the British monarchy, and reject Irish language and tradition as nothing to do with them.” Pollak mentioned that is aware of this due to his half-unionist background; his mom was from a strongly Presbyterian and unionist household in County Antrim.
Pollak mentioned that guaranteeing unionists their British ties and id in a post-unity state of affairs shall be extraordinarily difficult to “the complacent nationalism” of the present-day Republic, and that it is vitally removed from the unitary state that Sinn Féin and Fianna Fail have historically been wedded to: “We within the Republic sail blithely into an unexamined future with a brainless consensus that ultimately the great guys of Irish nationalism will win out over the Northern bigots and stooges of British imperialism, after which we’ll reside fortunately ever after in harmonious unity.”
His suggestion is that unity will contain a constitutional system someplace between federalism and confederalism, with some persevering with position for the British authorities. To this finish, Pollak made some “in opposition to the consensus” concepts to immediate future dialogue, with a purpose to redefine Irish unionism as a constructive good, “moderately than an unloved relic of hated British rule”:
- a power-sharing regional authorities and parliament to proceed in Belfast
- Irish membership within the Commonwealth
- the reactivation of the British-Irish Council
- quite a lot of Northern politicians to proceed to take a seat as British legislators within the Home of Lords
- a reversal of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Settlement, in order that the British authorities has the appropriate to intervene to guard the pursuits of unionists
- amending the Irish Structure, to codify the popularity of the British id of unionists
- a brand new flag (e.g. symbols of the 4 Irish provinces, or a small Union Jack inserted within the orange band of the present tricolour)
- a brand new, non-militaristic nationwide anthem (e.g. Eire’s Name)
- a brand new, free, single-tier well being service “with out Catholic Church involvement”
Pollak is life like that few, if any of those recommendations can be deemed acceptable to southern society. He referred to a 2021 Irish Instances ballot, which confirmed over 70% rejection of Irish unity if it meant larger taxes, much less cash for public providers, a brand new flag, a brand new anthem, or rejoining the Commonwealth. Pat Leahy, the paper’s political editor, concluded: “This sounds much less like a brand new shared nation than assimilation into the present one … It’s actually true that none of those questions — to not thoughts the solutions to them — have been remotely understood up to now.”
Pollak validated this view from his personal anecdotal expertise with some political science college students at Trinity Faculty Dublin. A number of of them agreed with the view: “The concept of adjusting what our nation is about to accommodate British colonisers [i.e. Northern unionists] doesn’t sit proper with me.” One other pupil mentioned that she wouldn’t need “to adapt in any technique to British tradition”, even when that was the worth of bringing some important aspect of unionists right into a united Eire.
Nonetheless, she added that “now we have to ensure that our personal sense of Irish nationalism doesn’t recreate [the harms of national identity] to unionists, individuals who really feel British within the run-up to, and perhaps within the aftermath of, reunification.” The converse might be seen in a comment by former Ulster Unionist Social gathering chief, Mike Nesbitt, defining himself as a “Brit”: “What I haven’t heard from nationalists is that ‘We would like you on this new dispensation and right here’s why’; someone has to clarify to me why ‘We’ve gone from “Brits out” to “Brits in”’.”
Pollak concluded his speak with a suggestion that essentially the most tough dialogue shall be about what sort of persevering with British involvement in Eire it may possibly reside with for the sake of the peace and concord of the entire island: “That, for a lot of unionists, shall be a sine qua non. For a lot of republicans and nationalists, it is going to be an enormous step too far. And naturally, this very important dimension is not going to work if the British, as they transfer out of the EU into their very own unusual post-imperial, post-European orbit, need nothing extra to do with us.”
Within the subsequent Q&A session, it was requested whether or not the southern political class has thought of the state of affairs whereby northerners vote for unity however southerners don’t, in a twin referendum. Pollak replied that that’s most likely unlikely, due to an “unthinking, bedrock republicanism within the south”, which is able to carry out a vote for unity, particularly in rural areas. Moreover, he steered a logic, significantly argued by Sinn Féin, {that a} vote for unity is a “last act within the battle in opposition to British imperialism”.
Pollak doesn’t suppose southerners are prepared for a border ballot: “Possibly that is pie within the sky, however I would love one other 50 years of studying to reside collectively on this island in our separate jurisdictions … doing all of these benign issues that got here out of the Good Friday Settlement, engaged on north-south cooperation, after which in a future technology we will speak about unity.” He described unity as an excessive amount of of a cliff edge, too cataclysmic and existentially harmful for unionists to ponder.
Pollak thought {that a} border ballot within the subsequent 10 years could be very harmful and what worries him is a violent response. Nonetheless, this was challenged by an argument that pointed to constructive social modifications in Northern Eire society and modifications in election outcomes (i.e. extra votes for the Alliance Social gathering), and that if a sequence of small steps (akin to implementing a type of joint authority or joint sovereignty) will be made, then a peaceable transition is feasible. Right here, Pollak acknowledged the management of Alliance chief Naomi Lengthy, however identified analysis on the persistent lack of people voting throughout communal blocs.
“That tribal factor needs to be whittled down over a time frame and perhaps the Alliance Social gathering are the individuals to do it,” Pollak lastly remarked.
Photos © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster
Cross-posted at Shared Future Information.
