BELFAST, Northern Ireland — It was meant to be a year of celebration.
But Northern Ireland, created in 1921 when Britain carved six counties out of Ireland’s northeast, is not enjoying its centenary. Its most ardent upholders, the unionists who believe that the place they call “our wee country” is and must forever remain an intrinsic part of the United Kingdom, are in utter disarray. Their largest party has ousted two leaders within a matter of weeks, while an angry minority has taken to the streets waving flags and threatening violence. And the British government, in resolving Brexit, placed a new border in the Irish Sea.
The writing is on the wall. While the process by which Ireland could become unified is complicated and fraught, one thing seems certain: There isn’t going to be a second centenary for Northern Ireland. It might not even last another decade.
One can only hope. And hope it is for a peaceful transition. Sith gun robh so!
The United Kingdom’s government has demanded the European Union re-negotiate post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland after rioting and business disruption hit the restive province.
But the European Commission immediately poured cold water on the plea on Wednesday, saying Britain had to respect its international obligations. The EU has long insisted that it is up to London to implement what it agreed in their drawn-out Brexit divorce. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/21/uk-demands-new-post-brexit-eu-trade-deal-northern-ireland
Northern Ireland, which suffered thirty years of sectarian conflict until a peace agreement in 1998, has been rocked by unrest this year, in part against the protocol.
Many pro-UK unionists see it as creating a de facto border in the Irish Sea with mainland Britain and say they feel betrayed.
“Northern Ireland unrest: Four key questions answered” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/8/northern-ireland-unrest-four-key-questions-answered
“Why is the Northern Ireland protocol still an issue? Actions have consequences”
Fintan O’Toole https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/23/northern-ireland-protocol-boris-johnson-oven-ready-deal-sausage
Fintan: “There used to be a gameshow on American radio and TV called Truth or Consequences. It was so popular that a whole city in New Mexico is named after it. It’s where we live now. In each episode, the contestant was asked a deliberately daft question – and when they failed to answer it, they had to perform a zany or embarrassing stunt.
We’ve reached that point in the Brexit show. The question is: why did you divide one part of the UK from the rest, creating a chimerical country in which most of the body is outside the EU’s single market while one foot is still inside? Since it is unanswerable, we get the embarrassing stunt: the demand that the EU should tear up a crucial part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement – or else.”
Re: T or C (“Trrsee”) New Mexico https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/20-things-to-love-about-truth-or-consequences/