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The
Good Friday Agreement, the Ceasefires, the Assembly,
Elections and the myriad of other events in the North
of Ireland in recent years must have engendered enough
written material to fill the World's Libraries.
Just
about all of that mass of literature is complete hogwash,
written by people who see the World as they wish it
to be, not as it actually is.
There
are two fundamental and horrible errors that are committed
by all of these pundits each time they produce any
utterance on the North.
The
first one is their acceptance of the existence and
legitimacy of a Country called Northern Ireland.
These
commentators would seem to be quite content to live
with the idea that Northern Ireland is a seperate,
if not sovereign, power, and has the same position
in the pantheon of Nations as America, France, Australia
or any other Country with natural Boundaries and a
historical Culture.
None
are prepared to bite the bullet and state the obvious.
Northern
Ireland is NOT a Country.
It
is not even a State.
Northern
Ireland is merely a small slice of of one Country
annexed by force, and maintained by force, by another
Country.
The
History of the appearance of Northern Ireland on the
World stage is a subject that has had revision after
revision heaped upon it, and explanation after explanation
to justify the unjustifiable.
Facts
are facts, however, and saying that black is white
and white is black does not make it so.
Northern
Ireland cannot, by any stretch of imagination or manipulation
of fact, be regarded as a legitimate Nation, nor will
it ever be.
The
idea of such an entity, with it's pretentious Parliament
and its numerous Political Parties is the sort of
thing that made the Goon Show famous.
The
second is the ridiculous belief that, somehow, someday,
the Unionists and Nationalists will grow to love each
other and all will be sweet harmony in the Ulster
Eden.
Once
again, facts are facts and one of those facts is that
there is a complete and utter absence of any common
ground whatsoever.
The
Master and Slave mentality is part of the very bedrock
of the North and, as long as that place exists, there
will be no meeting of minds, nor meeting of anything
else.
Just
because some self- important Politician shakes hands
with another of the same ilk, but of a different persuasion,
or somebody else signs an elaborately constructed
Agreement does not mean that the Slave will suddenly
love his condition and his Master, nor that the Master
will look upon his untrustworthy Slave with a benevolent
eye.
The
hatreds in this part of Ireland run very, very deep
and will never be excised and extinguished as long
as the place called Northern Ireland exists.
It
is said that Germany and England fought two bitter
Wars and now they are Friends again.
The
Spanish Civil War, the American Civil War AND the
Irish Civil War are often used as examples of how
a Nation can be split asunder, soaked in blood and
still reconcile their opposing forces and live in
Peace.
If
so, why not in this part of Ireland?
The
answer is very simple.
None
of the offered examples can be compared to the Northern
Irish situation.
There
was no actual hatred between the ordinary German and
English population.
After
it was all over, the Victors were magnanimous towards
the Conquered and, despite the horrors endured by
both sides, no enmity developed.
The
English and the Germans may not love each other, but
they do not hate each other.
The
Spanish, American and Irish situation were extremely
bloody affairs and engendered deep hatreds that lasted
for many decades.
These
conflicts were Civil Wars in the true meaning of the
phrase.
The
Americans were fighting Americans, the Spanish fought
Spanish and Irish man was pitted agaonst Irishman.
For
all their differences they were all of the same Nationalities,
and, when all was done, they had much more in common
than not.
The
situation in the North bears no resemblance to any
of those oft quoted examples.
The
Unionist inhabitants of the North, almost without
exception, state and swear with great vehemence that
they are British, not Irish.
They
claim loudly, and at every opportunity, that all things
Irish are abhorrent to them and that they will never,
ever agree to become part of an Irish Nation.
Thus
speaks the man and woman in the street.
The
Politician is almost irrelevant when it comes to politics
in that benighted place.
There
can be no Nation building since there is no Nation.
There
can be no reconciliation since the Unionist can never
be reconciled.
After
all the wasted efforts, after all the wheeling and
dealing, after all the talking is over, the final
resolution will be as it was predicted from Day one.
A
return to the War that never ended and, this time,
no more talking.
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