Post by earl on Jun 11, 2007 13:33:29 GMT
So who's winning?
By Jude Collins
In Coleraine, the sun beats down on the marquees and the septuagenarian monarch and the octogenarian First Minister and his baroness wife, and the grass is the only thing that's green in the rainbow of pink gloves and blue hats and white shirts and red ties.
The First Minister chuckles as reporters ask him about inclusivity.
“This is for everyone. On an occasion like this, no one asks you where you hang your hat on a Sunday”. The First Minister's wife says that she has never met anyone who wasn't in favour of these visits from the present occupant of the British throne.
Happy
The words and images join to send a message that is as bright and unambiguous as the day itself: the people in this part of the United Kingdom are happy with where power and authority lie, and anyone who isn't is some sort of nutter. It could be 1957: the people feel honoured by a visit from their monarch, unionism is firmly in control.
Cut to Stormont's Long Gallery. Like Coleraine, the place is crowded. Sinn Féin are here to launch its Charter for Unionist Engagement, and as Martin McGuinness notes in his speech, several strands of unionism are among those in the audience. Dawn Purvis of the PUP is here, admittedly unsmiling but still here. And we're assured that a number of Protestant church and community representatives are also present.
IRA bomber
But – and it's a big but – mainstream unionism has steered clear of the Long Gallery today. No UUP, no DUP. Next day, unionists read their newspaper and are reminded that Sinn Féin's Outreach person Martina Anderson was once an IRA bomber, that keynote speaker Martin McGuinness was once an IRA commander, and that Michelle Gildernew 'blundered' when she concluded her talk with a quotation from Bobby Sands: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”
Last laugh
Blundered? Well, Gregory Campbell says that this comment had always been understood to mean 'We republicans will have the last laugh'; such mockery, he says, doesn't augur well for any attempt at reconciliaton with unionists. Willie McCrea says he's glad the event happened, but only because “it is encouraging to see the Sinn Féin leadership stand their republican philosophy on its head and to see their MLAs crawl up the steps of Stormont under the jurisdiction of the Queen.” Nigel Dodds is scathing about the whole affair: “Sinn Féin would be better looking to do a bit of outreach to the people of the South, given their total rejection at the polls there last week.
“At the moment this simply looks like propaganda and PR”.
Unionism
Who's winning? Well, it looks like unionism by a country mile. 'God Save The Queen' is played in Coleraine as the monarch talks to her subjects without let or hindrance, the sun shines, Ian Paisley says he's delighted to have the woman he once compared to a parrot here today, his hands are now firmly on the state's steering wheel and he says a united Ireland is a hundred years away. At least.
In contrast the Long Gallery mood is more subdued. Republicans had hoped the Outreach to Unionism launch would come hard on the heels of a doubling of Dáil numbers, but it's not to be.
Instead they are nursing some heavy electoral wounds and their hand of friendship is being batted contemptuously away by mainstream unionism.
Coleraine
But appearances, like the sun, can sometimes dazzle. Check out Coleraine again. Ian Paisley may declare the event inclusive but in fact it's 99 per cent unionist. All those bows and curtseys are coming from the converted; the unconverted nationalist/republican half of the north's population has stayed away, as it always has, some of them no doubt watching but shouting impolite remarks at their TV sets.
Anti-royal
Behind the unanimous façade, half the hearts and minds here continue anti-royal and unBritish.
As for the Long Gallery launch, Nigel Dodds got it right: of course it was about PR and propaganda. Sinn Féin has set itself the task of breaking down the barriers between Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.
Infuriating
They're not going to sweat at that task without letting the world know how hard they're working. Which is fair enough. No political party can be expected to hide its light under a bushel.
No, it's not the PR aspect of this event that's grated on unionist nerves. What's infuriating Nig and Greg and Willie is a conviction that Sinn Féin are up to something.
And so they are. They're after a united Ireland and don't mind who knows it.
It's the central element of their political ambitions. But if they are to achieve it, a majority of the people in the north must agree to it, because that's what the Good Friday Agreement says. So Sinn Féin must somehow win unionist hearts and minds.
Not all unionism, or even a majority of unionism. Somewhere between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of unionism can stay opposed to reunification and that'll be OK.
Long march
All Sinn Féin need win over is between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of unionist voters. Maybe even less. The long march towards that goal officially began in the Long Gallery last week.
Who's winning? Before you answer that one, better find the answer to another question. If a united Ireland is indeed a hundred years away, why are Greg and Nig and Willie acting so jumpy?
www.irelandclick.com/home.tvt?%5Fticket=SF8246KACK3SMLDEIOQNBO2DALOLQEHFURUSKONHATUFCNNHFORGUU21S0MAAQ6EAKLAEUTITRRHVR29ANVROXKACJ5S2QRFK10L9NTHLF3NBHSJ7WQFIRY4X9SEAOY9CHYKTRRLRNNADY31N0&%5Fscope=DailyIreland%2FNorth+Belfast+News%2FComment&id=28333&psv=12
I'm putting this article up to try and stir the pot a little!
