{"id":18389,"date":"2021-03-09T16:53:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T16:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=18389"},"modified":"2021-03-09T17:13:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T17:13:00","slug":"continuing-shambles-from-brexit-to-ex-brit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/09\/continuing-shambles-from-brexit-to-ex-brit\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuing shambles from Brexit to Ex-Brit"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article by Peter Middleton was first posted on Facebook. It looks at the links between the Loyalist paramilitaries and the DUP<\/acronym> and how Brexit is reinforcing these.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As I wrote a few weeks ago, during the decades of the so-called Troubles while unionist terrorists may have pulled the triggers it was unionist politicians who pointed the guns. Yes, the close institutional link that latterly existed between the military and political wings of the (Provisional) Republican movement did not exist within the pro-union community. But when it came to loyalist violence, whether it was from gunmen-without-uniform or gunmen-out-of-uniform, the dogs on the streets knew who the militant pro-union gangs were taking inspiration or direction from, either in private or in public. The author and journalist Susan McKay, noting the coming together in the Six Counties of Brexit-supporting politicians and the representatives of ideologically similar armed groupings, makes much the same point in the Irish Times<\/cite>:<\/p>\n

As the Proud Boys are to Trump, so the loyalist paramilitaries – Ulster Defence Association (UDA<\/acronym>), Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF<\/acronym>), Red Hand Commando (RHC<\/acronym>) – are to the Democratic Unionist Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will fight guerrilla warfare against this, until the big battle opportunity comes,\u201d the DUP<\/acronym> MP<\/acronym> for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson, declared last weekend in respect of the Northern Ireland protocol. His comments followed a meeting between First Minister and DUP<\/acronym> leader Arlene Foster and a group that included retired former paramilitary leaders. Deputy leader Nigel Dodd was there as well.<\/p>\n

It came after threats were issued and incendiary devices left at the offices of the SDLP<\/acronym>, Alliance and Sinn F\u00e9in politicians. One of those at the meeting, former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP<\/acronym>) adviser David Campbell, recently said on one of BBC<\/acronym> NI<\/acronym>\u2019s angry men shows that if loyalists had to \u201cfight physically\u201d again, \u201cso be it\u201d. After all, he reasoned, we didn\u2019t put up with Hitler or Stalin.<\/p>\n

Unionism is crashing backwards. The Ulster Unionist Party is by now completely incoherent.<\/p>\n

The DUP<\/acronym> has decided chaos is the best plan.<\/h3>\n

Even the Associated Press’ long-time Ireland correspondent Shawn Pogatchnik, whose simplistic reporting on Irish politics has been a boon for British government propagandists for years, has been forced to explain to international readers where the danger now lies to peace on this island.<\/p>\n

Outlawed Protestant groups have written menacing letters to the prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Boris Johnson and Miche\u00e1l Martin, warning they will shun Northern Ireland\u2019s peace agreement until the post-Brexit \u201csea border\u201d is removed. (from Politico – current affairs site)<\/p>\n

The proxy group sending the letters, the Loyalist Communities Council, is legal \u2014 but the three paramilitary gangs it represents are not- UDA<\/acronym>\/UVF<\/acronym>\/RHC<\/acronym><\/p>\n

These shadowy groups still seek to wield political influence and, if denied this, reserve a full-fledged resumption of bloodshed as their only compelling card to play.<\/p>\n

Loyalist outlaws, however, proved incompetent at running their own political fronts and have virtually no directly elected representatives today. Instead, they provide a vein of grassroots support for the Democratic Unionists.<\/p>\n

That relationship is what makes the letters\u2019 words more than hot air \u2014 serving, rather, as the sharp end of Democratic Unionist demands for the protocol to be scuttled.<\/p>\n

During previous crises, unionist political parties and loyalist militants coordinated tactics and strategy \u2014 sometimes openly at protests and rallies, more often secretly. Having a legal umbrella group like the Loyalist Communities Council, founded in 2015, makes this behind-closed-doors dialogue more politically palatable.<\/p>\n

Democratic Unionist leaders met Loyalist Communities Council representatives a week before the loyalist letters were sent. Democratic Unionist MPs<\/acronym> since have insisted the timing was a coincidence.<\/p>\n

Yet those Democratic Unionist MPs<\/acronym> \u2014 reflecting the instincts of a party that for decades whipped up loyalist violence for its own ends \u2014 now cite the potential for loyalist mayhem in its own militarized anti-protocol rhetoric.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Unionist Party, along with like-minded groupings, has only one card to play. The same one unionist leaders have played for the last two hundred years. And it is a card stained blood orange<\/p>\n

Peter Middleton, 7th March 2021<\/p>\n\n

also see:-<\/p>\n

1. Eyes wide shut \u2013 Nothing to see in Northern Ireland in the Brexit dispute – Socialist Democracy (Ireland)<\/a><\/p>\n

2. The Stranglehold of the Hard Right is Tightening in Brexitland – Mike Small, bella caledonia<\/a><\/p>\n

3. There Isn\u2019t Going To Be A Border Poll \u2013 Republic Media<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Political Lockdown In Ireland As Unionist Border Fever Rages<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article by Peter Middleton was first posted on Facebook. It looks at the links between the Loyalist paramilitaries and the DUP and how Brexit is reinforcing these. As I wrote a few weeks ago, during the decades of the so-called Troubles while unionist terrorists may have pulled the triggers it was unionist politicians who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1873,1846,1876],"tags":[8995],"class_list":["post-18389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-against-unionism","category-british-imperialism","category-ireland-against-unionism","tag-author-peter-middleton"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":1410,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18389"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18396,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389\/revisions\/18396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}