Future of Nationalism – Slugger O'Toole

Time for nationalism to provide representation based on an expansion of the future for ALL the people of Northern Ireland

Mick Fealty on January 13, 2018, 11:31 am

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So Brian’s cartoon made the News Letter’s editorial yesterday. I’ve only ever cited a leading article on a handful of occasions but this is worth noting… On one hand, it’s just a statement of what ought already to be obvious. But after a year of Sinn Fein propaganda, a lot of people seem to have been convinced that the strange disappearance of the Institutions of the Good Friday Agreement has no tangible cause. Others uncritically take SF’s line that we are …

“Red, white and blue” unionism: An ideological nationalism of its own

Mark Petticrew on December 24, 2016, 1:24 pm

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Irish unification and Scottish independence both ultimately involve a constitutional exit from the United Kingdom, but the northern context of Irish unity differs markedly from the Scottish question. The debate surrounding the 2014 independence referendum was no romanticised notion of Scotland the brave sending proud Edward’s army homeward tae think again, rather it was a rational scrutiny of Scotland’s constitutional future. Alex Salmond said to Scots that they would be £1,000 richer in an independent Scotland and Danny Alexander returned …

Post #Brexit northern nationalism needs its politicians to step up. Enter Fianna Fáil?

Mick Fealty on September 13, 2016, 2:57 pm

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Maybe we were far too rigid in our approach [to partition], too tenacious of our point of view, too proud to temporise or placate… whatever may have been the reason, we made no headway, so our successors must start from “square one”. Sean MacEntee, 1970 The head-quote is from Stephen Kelly’s Fianna Fail, Partition and Northern Ireland 1926 – 1971. It could fit the situation nationalism faces now that Brexit looks set to alter intra-island relations more profoundly than any …

Why is Unionism more popular with Unionists than Nationalism is with Nationalists?

Mick Fealty on May 11, 2016, 12:43 pm

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On the SluggerReport this morning I picked up on a theme raised by Malachi O’Doherty on the Guardian yesterday, and asked why does nationalism seem to be less popular amongst nationalism than Unionism is amongst unionists. In an attempt to take a long view towards the end, I offer three key points: NI arose out of protest: Unionism originates in the 1880s as a response to the transformation of the land league movement into a home rule movement. It’s the …

#AE16 A 5% drop for nationalist parties on an increased overall turnout suggests it’s time for a serious rethink

Mick Fealty on May 7, 2016, 8:50 am

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Chris Donnelly nailed it on one of the primary emerging themes during BBCNI’s coverage at the Belfast Count Centre yesterday. A 5% drop in Nationalist turnout in an election which actually saw overall turnout rise should trigger a profound review in both main parties. True it has probably been ill served by the false cover its been given over much of the last ten years out of legislate concern for maintaining a hard won peace. But in the process it …

Soapbox: A “Northern Ireland which works” cannot be built in isolation….

Soapbox on February 15, 2016, 8:59 am

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SEA CHANGE: Declan O’Loan argues that the key to “making Northern Ireland work” lies not just the pursuit of internal changes to improve relations inside NI, but in finding ways the Irish dimension can be reinforced in a more focused way.

“…laughing at unionists is not the revenge that Booby Sands had hoped”.

Mick Fealty on February 11, 2016, 2:59 pm

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Today Newton Emerson gives the most plausible explanation as to why Unionism is finally out punching and out pacing political nationalism I’ve read since the start of Slugger O’Toole. It’s a real keeper. What follows is highlights. You really do need to read the whole thing… My Irish News colleague Fionnuala O Connor has asked why unionism seems comparatively “perked-up” beside “stale nationalism”. The answer may be something many unionists do not believe in – evolution. As an unpopular people …

“Perked-up unionism facing stale nationalism is the opposite of the state of play for several decades.”

Mick Fealty on February 9, 2016, 5:15 pm

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It really has become a game of two halves. Sinn Fein has shifted most of its focus and talent (which may explain that odd screw up in FST) to the Republic leaving Fortress Shinner in Northern Ireland manned (Beau Geste style) by a skeleton crew. Fionnuala O’Connor detects a sea change… It became unchallengeable to observe that new nationalist confidence faced demoralised unionism, generally inarticulate. But the contrast has been less stark for some time now. The long, unproductive anti-climax …

Eastwood: A new North doesn’t mean an economy based on smuggling of diesel, cigarettes or waste.

Soapbox on February 8, 2016, 2:35 pm

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SPREAD OUT TO COME TOGETHER: Colum Eastwood argues that rhetoric will not tear down the border or even put a dent in it. Everyone, he argues, unionist, nationalist and the many who now don’t subscribe to either, require a much fuller idea of what is meant and imagined within the context of a New Ireland.

Why the battle over the SDLP’s leadership is worth paying attention to…

Mick Fealty on November 2, 2015, 9:21 am

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So Seamus Mallon backs Colum Eastwood to be the next leader of the SDLP. That should throw a predatory cat or two amongst the political pigeons (although in fact it can’t have been that unexpected). The SDLP leadership race has been quiet this time round. Of course that was also true at the beginning of the summer long contest for the leadership of the UK Labour party, and look how that hotted up towards the end. Keeping things tamped down suits the incumbent Alasdair …

“the North was created by a fear of numbers and re-igniting that fear won’t create a united Ireland”

Mick Fealty on August 17, 2015, 12:34 pm

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I’ll being putting together my own thoughts on our seminar on the future of nationalism, which was ably convened and chaired by Irish News Political Correspondent John Manley. But for now, this from on of the principle speakers Tom Kelly in his column in today’s paper: There is clear evidence that the nationalist vote in Northern Ireland has declined whilst the demographic evidence points to a growing Catholic population. The fight is definitely on for both unionism and nationalism to …

Is it time to consider a new confederation of the Islands?

Willie Drennan on February 15, 2015, 6:46 am

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Slugger O’Toole is undoubtedly the most successful blog site and the ultimate soapbox for debate in Northern Ireland at the moment: a Speaker’s Corner in downtown Cyberville for New-Age ranters. Not too sure if Slugger would let the likes of me have a blog on this site or not? If I could get on there I would have to be very careful what I said as Slugger’s followers love to challenge and even ridicule: especially anything that might be from a …

The SDLP needs to find its own voice…

FitzJames Horse on November 16, 2014, 5:00 pm

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As a SDLP member., I think the first thing the SDLP needs to do is start listening to its own voices. It seems to have an obsession with listening to political opponents. But the Party also needs to be honest with itself. Those most critical of the current leadership (Alasdair lost only a single council seat in May 2014) need to look to themselves. The collective leadership lost ten Assembly seats between 1998 and 2011. They also need to understand …

So, if there is a border poll, what might a Yes Ireland campaign look like?

David McCann on September 28, 2014, 5:06 pm

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On this morning’s Sunday Politics, the Bel Tel Political Editor, Liam Clarke said that a poll will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper stating that a majority of those surveyed would like to see a border poll. Clarke did not go into who would win such a poll if it is held, but I thought I would pen some thoughts I have been developing over the past few months. Last week I was in Scotland to live blog the referendum as the …

Time for political nationalism to ‘man up’ on law and order?

Mick Fealty on October 31, 2013, 10:40 am

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There are no end of northern nationalists prepared to resort to law when it suits their cause. Equality laws for instance provide a ready stick to beat the backwoods men of the DUP when it comes to some socially conservative policy. Yet so far only a nationalist minister, Conor Murphy, has been brought to book for actual discrimination in an administration which is getting more and more obsessive (and inventive when the need arises) with a need to preserve public …

With all this regressive hyperbole about NI’s past, is it time for a new sustainable narrative?

Mick Fealty on October 28, 2013, 9:57 am

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Good piece from Tom Kelly in the Irish News this morning, which subtly identifies the problem with the exaggerated claims of recent stories in the media. At a time when voter registration is falling right across the board, it’s an impoverished narrative to be offering voters who are already switching off from Stormont in droves. He tops out his analysis with a reference to the enormously useful pre publicity Gerry Kelly’s been getting on the 1983 break out from the Maze …

Seamus Mallon: “If we are going have integrity in Irish republicanism it has to be an organic thing…”

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2013, 5:13 pm

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Marian Finucane caught up with Seamus Mallon when he was in Dublin recently with David Trimble to pick up their honorary degrees from Dublin City University. She did not pussy foot around, and began by asking the SDLP’s former Deputy First Minister, what he thought [in his own words] ‘needs to be said’: Stop this interminable failure to deal with issues, to them put them on the long finger, to treat them as though they didn’t exist. To run your …

#Seanref and Northern nationalism’s missed opportunity.

David McCann on October 4, 2013, 10:23 am

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Today voters in the Irish Republic will head to the polls to decide whether to abolish their second chamber, the Seanad. This issue has dominated political debate in Dublin. The Fine Gael/Labour coalition, in alliance with Sinn Fein, has come out for abolishing Ireland’s second chamber. While the main opposition party, Fianna Fáil have come out against abolition. However, as this debate has been going on south of the border, people in Northern Ireland, particularly nationalists seem to have a …

Accepting Northern Ireland is part of the UK is what nationalists signed up for…

Mick Fealty on September 25, 2013, 11:37 am

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It’s worth noting Vernon Coaker’s intervention, which is a reminder to both sets of ‘leaders’ in Northern Ireland of the basis of the Belfast Agreement back in 1998: “I can’t help but think that to overcome the setbacks, we almost need to establish first principles again, the sort that were enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement. “Nationalists and republicans need to show that they accept Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom while the majority of people who live …

Wither the SDLP-Have they a future?

David McCann on September 8, 2013, 5:32 pm

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Conall McDevitt’s resignation from the assembly this week has provoked some debate about the future direction of the SDLP. With this in mind, I thought I would take this issue head on and ask the crucial question do the SDLP even have a future? When you take a look at the figures of every assembly election since 1998, you can sum up the SDLP’s fortunes in one word; decline. In 1998, the party took more first preference votes than any …