In
Mr Dowds' article on
a dual presidency as a solution to the Irish problem,
I am faced with Late Sinn Fein Republicanism, republicanism
in general being a secular religion with secular
saints and secular martyrs, has to do with dogmatic
belief about Ireland, a one true faith about Ireland,
and a one absolute truth about Ireland, anyone dissenting
from these could be kneecapped as a heretic. Federal
Unionism - Late Sinn Fein is far removed from all
of that. That stance has nothing to do with martyrs,
dogma, a one true faith, or an absolute truth (Thackery
has said - There are TWO truths in Ireland, the
Catholic truth and the Protestant truth.) Federal
Unionism - Early Sinn Fein mistrusts all of that
absolutely. The approach of Early Sinn Fein to Ireland
and its problem is wholly pragmatic and eclectic,
ideas being drawn from many and varied sources.
Early Sinn Fein looks at the island as it is nowadays
and asks the pragmatic question -- Is the constitutional
get up of the island acceptable and if it isn't
what can be done about it in a pragmatic way?
On
observation the island is partitioned into two sectarian
statelets, a six county statelet called Northern
Ireland constituted as being within the United Kingdom
and a twenty-six county statelet which has had problems
with its constitution in its history being constituted
originally as an Irish Free State then as Eire and
nowadays as a
Republic.
These
statelets are foreign to one another. If a minister
from Dail Eireann wishes to visit Belfast officially
the visit has to be made through the foreign office
in Dublin. This would be a joke if it wasn't rooted
in the tragic folly of Republican extremism in past
times. I would assume that such daft constitutional
practice is acceptable to Mr Dowds.
Charles
Haughty has declared that N. Ireland is a failed
entity. There is some truth in that but N. Ireland's
failure is of a constitutional nature and can be
rectified by finding a new reformed written U. K.
constitution, which enjoys cross community support.
Such a constitution cannot be written for N. Ireland
but has to be written in the first place on an all
Ireland basis.
But
what of the 26 county statelet, is it a success?
If this statlet is looked at carefully it can also
be seen as a failed entity. The 26 county state
is sectarian in that its population is almost wholly
Catholic has a cosy Catholic President, and a cosy
Catholic Dail Eireann and a constitution written
originally by the Catholic De Valera with the Cardinal
holding his elbow and whispering in his ear as he
wrote. That constitution is now old hat and is out
of date and needs replacement but if it is to be
replaced that can only be done for the 26 counties.
An all Ireland constitution can be conceived of
in a United Kingdom basis. But the hard fact of
the 26 county statelet has to be faced that since
its inception in1921 the Protestant populated has
withered away to a miniscule remnant. On the other
hand since the inception of the 6 county statelet
the Catholic population there has increased and
multiplied. So being within the United Kingdom was
not detrimental to the Catholic community, but being
in a 26 county statelet proved to be a disaster
for the Protestant community. That community voted
against the nature of the state by walking out.
For that reason the 26 county statlet must also
be rated a failed entity. If Charles Haughty had
been consistent he should have declared two failed
entities on the island.
Federal
Unionism is not prepared to accept an Ireland that
is in such a constitutional mess that constitutional
mess having been created in past times by the folly
and excesses of Republican extremists. Late Sinn
Fein (and in their ranks I include Mr Dowds) are
prepared to live in this constitutional mess and
put up with it because they haven't a clue what
to do about it. Late Sinn Fein is now straining
at the bit to get into Stormont and prop up a Right
Wing Union Jack Unionist Statelet in the 6 counties
and in so doing copper-fasten partition, and in
the Belfast Agreement institutionalise sectarianism.
A garrison of 5000 British troops are to be stationed
permanently in the 6 counties with the whole-hearted
approval of Late Sinn Fein heedless to the reality
that the British garrison's purpose is to impose
a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist Unwritten Undemocratic
constitution on those who don't want it. In return
for accepting all of this Late Sinn Fein will pocket
a fat cheque at Stormont paid by the British Exchequer.
This is done with the applause of partitionist Dail
Eireann and I would assume with the applause of
Mr Dowds. Federal Unionism - Early Sinn Fein can
tackle this in a pragmatic manner because if the
National Government of Ireland Act were in place
either in the whole of Ireland or in the 6 counties
then it would be a constitutional imperative that
the British garrison leave, lock, stock and barrel,
and take the Union Jack with them.
In
his article Mr Dowds puts forward his solution to
the Irish problem This solution rests on the Republican
wishful dream that the monarchy is soon to go out
of business and the United Kingdom will be replaced
with the United Republic of Great Britain and Ireland
with a dual Presidency and the two islands will
work closely together, Republicans being victorious,
the Irish and British will live happily ever after.
I find this solution so simple minded, so far fetched,
and so improbable as to be amusing.
Instead
of pontificating a wishful dream of a Republican
victory to the faithful as an exercise in realism
Mr Dowds should meet the Loyalist people of the
Shankill and the Loyalist Orange Order and find
out how they see the long-term future of the United
Kingdom and its monarchy. Mr Dowds should then break
the bad news to the Loyalists that the United Kingdom
and the monarchy are soon to disappear from the
face of the earth (Mr Dowds would be advised the
bad news very gently on the Shankill). Mr Dowds
should listen carefully to what the Loyalists have
to say and take it on board. He should then drop
the Republican dogma because dogma of any sort doesn't
go down well with Protestants and accept the Loyalist
people as constitutional equals, and not as a people
to be put down defeated and their rightful heritage,
their rightful tradition and their rightful culture
which is loyalty to the Crown trampled underfoot
as was the fate of the loyalist community in the
26 county statelet.
If
Mr Dowds were to accept the Loyalist people as people
this would be a happy change from the practice in
the past of brute force Republicans blowing up the
Shankill because the people are Loyalist. It would
also be a happy change from a more recent incident
in Dublin in which Loyalists in an attempt to parade
their heritage tradition and culture in the city
were set upon by sectarian Republican extremists;
so much for Dublin being the capital of a mature
nation.
In
his article Mr Dowds suggests that the Irish nowadays
want nothing to do with a monarch. But who are the
Irish? Are the Irish sectarian Catholic Republican
extremists waving an Irish tricolour and singing
a belligerent national anthem -- A Soldier's Song?
Non-sectarian Federal Unionism - Early Sinn Fein
regards each and every inhabitant of this island
as Irish and that includes the loyalist community
and envisages in the future An Irish Christian Liberal
Democracy on the entire island in which the Loyalist
community can be Irish and at the same time freely
and proudly parade and celebrate in public their
rightful heritage, their rightful tradition and
their rightful culture which is loyalty to the Crown
anywhere on the island. In an illiberal and oppressive
Republic such freedoms would be denied as has been
denied to loyalists in the 26 counties.
Federal
Unionism - Early Sinn Fein will again state its
position. That stance regards traditional unionism,
traditional nationalism, and traditional republicanism
as failures on the island. Nationalism is a half
way house towards Republicanism and Republicanism
has been tested to destruction by the I.R.A in the
6 counties; and Republicanism has been shown to
be flawed, faulty, and defective and should be rejected
and discarded. The 1801 Act of Union has been rejected
by the vast majority of the Irish and needs replacement
in a new acceptable Act, The National Government
of Ireland Act. The 1801 Act of Union came about
when the Irish parliament was removed by corruption
and trickery in reaction to the folly of Republican
extremism in '98. When the parliament was removed
the constitutional centre was removed with it and
this loss has bedevilled Ireland ever since. The
6 counties are now polarized between the extremes
of Republicanism and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism
and the centre has been abandoned. This is a repeat
of 1918 when the country polarised into constitutional
extremes and the centre was lost. Yeats was conscious
of this loss of centre in The Second Coming.
A
way out of this can be found in the 6 county statelet
of N. Ireland by first of all establishing a constitutional
centre there. This can be found under the banner
of Federal Unionism - Early Sinn Fein, which occupies
a moderate constitutional centre. If An Irish Liberal
Christian Democracy were in place in the whole island
with the National Government of Ireland Act as its
constitution, then Ireland would be a genuine nation
(not a 26 county statelet masquerading as a nation)
and Emmet's epitaph could be written. It is the
contention of Federal Unionism - Early Sinn Fein
that a constitution for the whole island can be
drawn up in a U.K. context using imagination and
ingenuity which should be as acceptable to the Catholics
of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry.
There
is little point in Mr Dowds getting hot under the
collar and describing the Act as madness When eventually
the Act is published in full in The Blanket,
it will be clear the people of the 26 counties won't
be dragged kicking and screaming back into the United
Kingdom. They are free to opt to remain locked away
and live apart on the island in a cosy Catholic
foreign 26 county statelet called a Republic if
that is their democratic wish. When the Act is read
in full it should be clear the Act is pragmatic
common sense about Ireland, not a one true faith.
Eventually
the harsh reality will have to sink into the mindset
of Late Sinn Fein that there isn't going to be a
United Ireland as a Republic, and for this reason,
Republicanism wounds the cultural psyche of Loyalist
Ireland, which is loyalty to the Crown, and that
culture is deeply embedded in the Protestant psyche.
To have a United Ireland as a Republic, Late Sinn
Fein will have to bring about a cultural revolution
among the Loyalist community-Chairman Mao style-with
Chairman Adams reading his thoughts from his little
green book, the green thoughts of the Chairman being
enforced by the Green Guard, the I.R.A.
I
wish to thank Mr Dowds sincerely for reading and
considering my material in The Blanket and
responding to it. I encourage Mr Dowds to follow
the articles in the journal detailing The National
Government of Ireland Act. Perhaps when he has done
so, he will abandon a failed, sectarian, Catholic,
destructive Republican extremism and adopt a vital
non-sectarian constructive moderate Federal Unionism
- Early Sinn Fein.
Finally,
I challenge Mr Dowds to write Emmet's epitaph, because
if the 26 county statelet is now a mature nation
as Republican dogma would have us believe, why hasn't
Emmet's epitaph been written in Dublin decades ago?
