Borderlines: The Future of Northern Ireland
Arlene Foster assumed the role of Northern Ireland’s first minister in 2010, and became the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader in 2015. A year later, the DUP emptied its pockets to support eurosceptic campaigning, hoping to “Take Back Control” despite never campaigning beyond NI borders before. The Brexit referendum was leveraged onto a quaking pedestal through whispers of overzealous promises, resulting in a bird’s-eye exposure of historical trauma and conflict left behind by The Troubles of the late 20th century. Although the Good Friday Agreement made leaps and bounds in establishing a common ground of transparency, Brexit placed a few extra hurdles in the way of harmonious progress. Now, the sudden resignation of Arlene Foster is symbolic of the ‘unionist’ institution’s twisted moral compass: one which claims to be geared towards uniting the people, but is actually tailored for power-hungry politicisation and hyper-discrimination. As protests continue across Northern Ireland, Foster’s talk of “new and emerging” identities that are “removed away from division” continues to be met with growing intolerance and distaste.
Image: Flickr/ Joshua Hayes
The irony lies in Foster’s own identity and moral beliefs; coinciding with the classic protestant social understanding of the old age unionist party, Foster is a stark homophobe. In the 1970’s, she campaigned to ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’, and consistently blocked same-sex marriage passing into legislation for decades. In a 2018 speech made at the first LGBT+ event she ever attended, she stated, “ all I ask in return is that my and my party’s view are also respected, if not agreed with.” The view in question? A blatant protest against the basic human right to a private family life and marriage for all. Foster’s DUP has also made it extremely difficult to make the age of consent equal to that of heterosexual couples, and has either abstained or vetoed any pro-LGBT legislation.
The DUP is a coalition of the Protestant Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party pioneered by Ian Paisley, whose sole motivation behind his ‘religious crusade’ was to maintain religious sanctity in Ulster and the interrelationships developed through the union. He often stood in church and preached his political values about safeguarding the union, which would often directly contrast the moral values of the Presbyterian cause (Smyth, 1986). ‘The Troubles’ were a result of ethno-nationalist separation caused by the creation of the Union, and segregation of the state through border enforcement - the late 1960s demonstrated that while this was never really a war on religion, this variable was certainly an underlying trait that made tensions worse.
Fast forward to the present, and the next DUP leader likely to take Foster’s place is Edwin Poots, a Young Earth creationist who believes our planet is only 6,000 years old. He is also responsible for banning gay men from donating blood and adopting children in the Northern region. While this appeals to far-right religious conservatives of the region, and he has received endorsement from other likely candidates, he has been remarkably selfish towards neighbours in the South. By rejecting a health deal to assist with infant heart surgery procedures across Ireland, Poots established a deal for only Dublin, leaving the rest of Northern Ireland and the South in neglected hindsight. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is another candidate, who announced his campaign six days after Foster’s forced resignation. At present, Donaldson takes a more liberal approach to his opponent; this being said, he was an aide to Enoch Powell, later defecting to assist leadership of the Orange Order, an organisation in direct opposition to the Good Friday Agreement.
The recent protests seen across tabloids are associated with the Ulster loyalists, who share similar beliefs with unionists and the DUP, but are specifically against different ethnicities being in Northern Ireland. One could argue their position on the Union is contradictory. They began throwing petrol bombs and cordoning off roads in Derry at the end of March , continuing in Belfast and Newtownabbey in April. This timeline of protests was mainly ignited after Sinn Fein politicians attended the funeral of an IRA head with no legal repercussions, alongside issues with the Northern Protocol sea border between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Ultimately, this series of events has been unfolding since the division of Irelandover 100 years ago. Cultural, ethnic and religious tensions have arisen and still exist today, making the political climate across Ireland tender and tricky to manage. Essentially, all far-leaning political parties throughout Northern Ireland have thrown their hat in the ring and instigated violence over the years, and all must share some level of accountability in the present matter. Brexit really did throw a spanner in the works of the Good Friday Agreement, but in a modern democratic nation, one ought to believe representatives can come together to negotiate cultural and economic terms on a level playing field. It is simply a shame that the decades worth of vicious religious scars taint opportunities for real, monumental social development.
