Tag: Loyalism
Unionism’s Identitarian Path? Were Does Loyalism Fit into Yookay Decline
The phased decline of the DUP isn’t just about scandals or the Windsor Framework. It reflects a deeper truth that loyalism was never fully integrated into the post-GFA state it defended. Typical of this, in 2016, the DUP championed Brexit...
Borderline Treason: Why Nationalists Should Push for an Irish Sea Border on Migration
The following was published on the 'An Barr Buadh' Substack and is syndicated with the permission of the author. The proposal—floated at the protest by Michelle Keane, and likely influenced by her association with Loyalist Mark Sinclair—for a hard border...
Ballymena Burns: Has Loyalism’s Containment Zone Broken Down
The uninitiated should abandon all pretence of knowledge when examining northern street politics. Beyond the sweet nothings of Stormont lies a sectarian web of covert deals, narco-politics, and a strategy of containment through the enabling of hooliganism by British intelligence....
Belfast: Sectarianism Through Rose Tinted Glasses
Belfast, Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical movie about being a Protestant in Belfast at the outbreak of the Troubles, has been nominated for seven Academy awards, one of which will almost certainly go to British Quaker Dame Judi Dench for playing the...
For All his Faults, Higgins is right on Northern Centenary
Michael D. Higgins has caused consternation amongst the John Brutons of this world by his non-attendance at a religious ceremony in Armagh that was to "mark the centenaries of the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland." The...
Exit Edwin: What the Poots Resignation Means for Unionism
A new First Minister has been crowned, and fast falls the Sword of Damocles on Edwin Poots for his temerity. Less than a month after a bitter and public backstabbing that saw Arlene Foster toppled, her successor has suffered the...
Sinn Féin Abandons Northern Nationalists
You would be forgiven for thinking that nothing has happened in the North for the last week, given the myopic nature of the southern media’s coverage of issues in the North. It took the worst night of rioting the North...
The North : Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Republican activist Des Dalton recently drew both praise and ire from active Republicans for his statement regarding the continuing armed campaign by various groups. And while there has been some discussion on the topic of the justification (or lack thereof)...
Siol na hÉireann: Jim Dowson’s Irish Chicanery?
Jim Dowson — The Man and the Controversy A stalwart of loyalist street activism since the 1990s, Jim Dowson is perhaps the last person on planet earth that should be associated with Irish nationalism. For those fortunate never to have...