>From MCELROY@zodiac.rutgers.edu Sun May 23 13:43:11 1993 Myth and Reality of Unionist Fears by Hilda Thomas (from An Phoblacht/Republican News) May 13, 1993 ********** Northern Protestants feel alienated in much the same way as Catholics did in the 1960's, according to Archbishop Robin Eames. In his opening address to the Church of Ireland Synod on Tuesday, 11 May the Archbishop warned that while Protestants acknowledged that "the pendulum had to swing" to redress past injustices, if any political settlement was to have any chance of success the pendulum should not swing too far. Eames referred in particular to the "unbelievable" tolerance of Protestants in border areas who in spite of feeling very threatened had not resorted to violence. Robin Eames' speech is quite amazing in a number of ways. First of all by its openly reactionary tone. It seeks to impose limits on how far injustices are to be redressed in the Six Counties, because the community which for decades enforced, or colluded with these injustices now feels that its privileged position is under serious threat. Secondly, because of the implied threat: unlike the UDA and the UVF we northern Protestants do not all resort to violence, Eames says, but that is only because we are unbelievably tolerant. "Unbelievable tolerance" is not how northern nationalists would describe the attitude of unionists towards them. They are more likely to use terms like 'violent', 'discriminatory', 'bigoted'. Thirdly, because Eames speech is not really aimed at the IRA, even though his comments on Protestants living on the border areas to the recent execution of UVF member David Martin in Pomeroy. The Archbishop clearly directs his words at all the nationalists who are currently involved in proposing a political settlement to the conflict, from Sinn Fein to the SDLP and the Dublin government. Eames does all but mention the 'pan nationalist alliance' which loyalists have used as a pretext for killing nationalists. Finally, Eames' speech is quite remarkable in the way it manages to frame the very real threat of loyalist violence in the careful, diplomatic language of 'perceptions': it was a "widespread perception" in the Protestant community that they were the "real victims" of the Troubles, they "felt" insecure and alienated, they had "apprehensions", "feelings of uncertainty". The point of all this is not to dismiss Eames' speech. His address to the Synod has certainly been triggered by real apprehensions and fears in the unionist community, and all he does is echo them in a more forceful way than Cardinal Cahal Daly ever echoed the feelings of injustice and anger of many northern nationalists. It is nationalists who after all have had to live with the real injustice of partition and discrimination, the pogroms, the random killings, the second class citizenship. Unionists are now fearful that the pendulum might swing the other way. They fear victorious nationalists might do to them what they themselves dished out without scruples fop decades. They fear revenge. Their fears have found many voices throughout the entire spectrum of unionist opinion. At one end, the relatively 'moderate' Robin Eames who concedes nationalist grievances were somewhat founded; than all the Protestant clerics who in recent weeks have unashamedly abused the term of 'ethnic cleansing' (introduced by James Molyneaux in 1992) to describe the killing in Pomeroy; the unionist politicians who constantly harden their preconditions and refuse to talk to republicans, or to the SDLP because John Hume is talking to Gerry Adams, or to Dublin until it amends the 1937 Constitution to suit them; and, at the other end of the spectrum the UDA and the UVF who see any refusal by Dublin or the SDLP to give in to unionist demands as evidence of a 'pan-nationalist alliance', and make this a pretext for an unprecedented escalation of their murder campaign on nationalists. In the context of this intensified campaign by loyalist death squads deliberately directed at Catholic civilians, unionists are talking about genocide by the IRA. The old myth that the IRA targets Protestant farmers on the border has been trotted out repeatedly and has been promoted by some sectors of the media. Unionists have all bought into the 'pan-nationalist alliance' idea which loyalist death squads are using for such a sinister purpose. DUP spokepersons who were criticized for using the term were unrepentant last week. There was not a word of condemnation from unionist quarters for the UDA's murder of Alan Lundy. And while every IRA action sparks calls from Protestant clergymen for a return to the death penalty, all the Protestant Moderator could find in his heart to say about Alan Lundy's killing was that it would be 'hypocritical' not to condemn it. When it comes to an all Ireland settlement, it is absolutely true that nationalists must address Protestant fears, and defend their right to equality with the same vigour as they defended their own. This situation has not yet come about however. The reality is still that in this partitionist state Catholics are two and a half times more likely to be unemployed as their Protestant counterparts. If it comes to that, in recent months loyalist death squads have killed twice as many people as the IRA, which presumably makes it four times as likely for a nationalist to be killed by the UDA or the UVF than a loyalist by the IRA. The British government is still underwriting the unionist' veto on any constitutional change. The reality of life for nationalists in the North has not changed. This is the real, as opposed to the 'perceived' backdrop to Robin Eames' address. And this is what makes it yet another unionist statement in defence of continued unionist intransigence and domination. ***** An Phoblacht/Republican News is available by subscription: Ireland...35 pounds Britain...35 pounds sterling Europe (surface)...40 pounds sterling Europe (airmail)...58 " " USA...US$90 Canada...Can$100 Australia...Aus$105 Elsewhere...Stg50/ Ire.Pounds 58 send to An Phoblacht/Republican News 58 Parnell Square Dublin 1, IRELAND