Monthly Newsletter of Open Unionism, Issue 03, January 2013
www.openunionism.com
www.openunionism.com
This edition went out in mid-January. To sign up to State of the Union, please email openunionism@googlemail.com.
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Editorial:
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Welcome to the third issue of State of the Union, Open Unionism’s monthly e-newsletter. In it we try to bring you our best items from the previous month as well as Paul’s roundup of the most important unionist news and developments from around the web.
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From a unionist perspective, December was dominated by the outbreak of demonstrations and attendant political violence in Northern Ireland following the decision of Belfast City Council to restrict the flying of the Union Flag. As you might imagine this issue also got a lot of attention on Open Unionism, with several of our regular and guest writers offering articles from various perspectives. A selection of these can be found in the ‘Best Of’ section below.
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But we strive ever not to be a one-track site, and several other issues were covered last month. The impact of the riots served to cut short what looked to be an interesting debate within unionism about how to respond to the latest census results, which showed for the first time a minority within the province identifying as British but only 30 per cent identifying themselves as ‘Irish’. The tension between addressing loyalist concerns on the one hand, and reaching out to persuadable Catholics on the other, will be the next defining challenge for Northern Irish unionists.
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To round it off, we conducted a Q&A with Samuel Morrison, press officer to the Traditional Unionist Voice, and published an article by Rachel Banner, a prominent figure in the True Wales campaign group.Please enjoy the issue.
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Henry CH Hill, Editor
@Dilettante11
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The Best of Open Unionism, November 2012:
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“A House Divided: A Welsh perspective on the West Lothian Question (Part 1/Part 2)” – In a two-part article, True Wales chief spokesperson Rachel Banner assesses the long-term threat to the Union posed by the West Lothian Question, and highlights the increasing disconnection between parties in the devolved chambers and their Westminster MPs.
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“In the Arena: Q&A with TUV Press Officer Samuel Morrison” – TUV press man Sammy Morrison fields questions from OU’s deputy editor about his role at Stormont, his previous pastime as a unionist blogger, inter-party relations, and the state of Northern Irish unionism.
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“Belfast Flag Dispute: Microcosm of a wider problem for unionism” – Ulster-born young Conservative Will Burstow makes the case that the flag protests were merely symptomatic of a wider disconnection between the main unionist parties and a big section of the pro-union community, and backs his case up with voting statistics.
“Wave a White Flag!” – In typically bracing form, commentator and former TUV parliamentary candidate David Vance aims both barrels at Sinn Fein, their ‘handmaidens’ the SDLP, and all the parties he considers culpable for permitting the ‘salami-slicing’ of Northern Ireland’s British identity.
“Wave a White Flag!” – In typically bracing form, commentator and former TUV parliamentary candidate David Vance aims both barrels at Sinn Fein, their ‘handmaidens’ the SDLP, and all the parties he considers culpable for permitting the ‘salami-slicing’ of Northern Ireland’s British identity.
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“Not Just a Flag: The Alliance have done long-term harm to their cause” – Stephen Goss, a Catholic unionist, Conservative and PhD student at Queen’s University, makes the case that the APNI’s “ill-conceived, short-sighted and disappointing” flag decision has done long-term damage to their dream of a non-segregated province at ease with itself.
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“A sense of Scottish identity does not require independence” – Effie Deans draws on her experiences of mitteleuropa – in particular the cases of Germany, Bavaria and Austria – to make the case that Scots don’t need to be sovereign to be Scottish.
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“A sense of Scottish identity does not require independence” – Effie Deans draws on her experiences of mitteleuropa – in particular the cases of Germany, Bavaria and Austria – to make the case that Scots don’t need to be sovereign to be Scottish.
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“The logical outworkings of ethno-nationalism’s ’100% Irish’ policy” – ‘O’Neill’, former author of A Pint of Unionist Lite, examines the attempts of Republicans to whitewash cultural persecution of Protestants past and present, and examines the common ground between such behaviour and the ethno-nationalist response to the census figures.
“How the flag was brought down from Belfast City Hall” – OU regular Andrew Charles provides a narrative of the events that saw the lowering of the flag and the furious loyalist response.
The Best of the Web, November 2012:
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A month of contradictions online for the pro-Union cause starts with Carwyn Jones’ (quickly becoming Open Unionism’s regular Cassandra) pessimistic predictionthat “Scots YES vote could leave Wales on its own” being contradicted by… well, Adam Price who retorted:
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“Independence isn’t a realistic option for Wales just yet.”
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Indeed, one of the more perceptive comments offered up by nationalists in the last month and it will be one which will have been greeted with a huge sigh of relief from the 85+% of the Welsh electorate who are pro-Union. But despite that sudden reality attack, one can’t fault Adam and his Plaid Cymru colleagues for pure wall-head-butting persistence in the face of hard-cold logic…
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Just as you have to admire the sheer chutzpah of certain Irish ethno-nationalist *creative* interpreters of a census figure which had delivered a percentage of less than 30% in Northern Ireland who consider themselves as “Irish”. Somewhat more rational analysis pointed out the incongruities of plastering on religious labels to those who were quite content to stay as “other”. Certain journalists also saw a contradiction in the continuation of the “flag” protests when those census figures delivered as good a set of results in terms of national identity as could have been hoped for from a pro-Union point of view.
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The English census results were, if anything, even more intriguing, delivering up less of a solely “British” identity there than in Northern Ireland. London, as was pointed out on our Facebook page is well on its way to becoming the “Fifth” Nation. Most informed opinion online considered the widening of “Britishness” as a good thing.
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And what of the SNP this month? Any more well-aimed pot shots at their own feet? I suppose contradicting the President of the European Commission with regards Scotland’s position in the EU post separation could qualify for yet another incident of self-harm.
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Having said that two late pieces of news should have sent a chill through the Scottish pro-Union heart this month:
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1) Tony Blair is on his way to “save the Union”
2) The promise (or should that be “desperate attempt at bribery”?) that the SNP would disband in the event of Scotland separating.
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We are doing all right, fellow Unionists, but the fight for our nation is not yet over, stay vigilant, stay online!
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Connect with Us:
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Website: http://www.openunionism.com/
Twitter: @OpenUnionism
Email: openunionism@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/oneill1912
1 comment
1 ping
Wildgoose
February 1, 2013 at 8:20 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Actually, Alex Massie’s risible article was pretty universally condemned – try reading the comments.
Its main thrust (written by a Scot from virtually mono-ethnic Scotland) was that immigrants were better and more hard-working than the English, especially Northern English (such as myself). Furthermore he argued that it was good that these immigrants weren’t identifying with the English and the country of England that they were overwhelmingly living in, instead adopting a “some-kind-of-British” label for convenience.
No mention of course that unlike Scottish (or Irish, or Welsh) identity, English identity is frowned upon and actively discouraged. Basically, England is the part of the Union that is suffering from out of control immigration and because it isn’t a problem where you live you simply don’t care.
What is the point of a Union with people who are either nationalists (and thus hostile to England) or “Unionists” who simply don’t care about England?
Open Unionism – More Like An Open Goal | An Sionnach Fionn
January 31, 2013 at 10:27 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
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