Unionism Needs That Ideological Revolution - NOW!

Dr John Coulter ✍ Northern Unionism must develop the all-island identity known as Revolutionary Unionism if it is to be in a strong ideological position to oppose any potential border poll.

Let’s remember the ‘Gud Auld Dayes’ when all of Ireland was in the United Kingdom. Unionism should stop being defensive, and go on the ideological offensive and sell the merits of being in the UK - and more!

Put bluntly - we need to convince Dublin that the future of the ‘Occupied Twenty-Six Counties’ lies within a Union of the British Isles.

There can be no doubting Sinn Fein will push for an Irish Unity referendum should Stormont be restored and Michelle O’Neill becomes First Minister and Sinn Fein also wins next year’s expected general election in the Republic.

Sinn Fein will base its entire propaganda campaign for a border poll on the assumption that Unionism will adopt a ‘Not An Inch’ and ‘No Surrender’ defensive position.

But Unionism needs to box clever politically and should take the case for the Union into any forum south of the border which is discussing Irish Unity.

Unionism should not be afraid to present its case rather than take the view ‘we’ll just have what we hold in the six counties’. It should go on the offensive ideologically and tactically and organise itself on an all-island basis, contesting Southern elections with an Irish Unionist Party, and setting up a Unionist Embassy in Dublin’s Leinster House.

Why should we be content with just a say in the running of six Irish counties when we could have a major say in the running of all 32 Irish counties if we convinced the Republic to join a new Union with the UK?

After all, the main Protestant church denominations - Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican - are all organised on an all-island basis. One of Christianity’s fastest growing denominations, the Elim Pentecostal movement, was itself established in Monaghan in 1915.

In the Loyal Orders, the Orange especially is organised in Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Donegal, with the latter hosting the increasingly popular parade at Rossnowlagh.

Following previous election outcomes, the entire Unionist family must face the reality that it must develop this all-island identity and strategy if it is to have an ideological relevance in a post-Brexit Ireland.

There is the unfortunate fear among some Unionists that Brexit could signal the start of the slippery slide to Irish unity. As a hardline Brexiteer myself, I take issue with this fear. It is Southern Ireland which long-term has more to fear from Brexit than Northern Ireland.

What Unionism must do – and do urgently – is to begin a debate about an all-island strategy as opposed to an All-Ireland focus. There is a radical difference between the two political concepts. Unionism should not be afraid to enter any debate on Irish Unity to oppose such an unworkable notion as a united Ireland.

In this respect, Unionism needs to begin considering the concepts of an ideology I have penned known as Revolutionary Unionism, built around the three agendas of one faith, one party, one Commonwealth.

The roots of Revolutionary Unionism lie in encouraging Unionists to ‘think outside the box’. For me, this was about mapping out a new ideology for Northern Unionism which took it politically beyond the realms of traditional slogans, such as ‘Not An Inch’ and ‘No Surrender’, and even beyond the geographical boundaries of Northern Ireland.

Before Revolutionary Unionism is dismissed as a fantasy, readers should take note that if there is one observation which I have made after 45 years in journalism, it is that Irish politics is about the art of the impossible. Today’s fantasy is tomorrow’s reality.

The late Rev Ian Paisley operating a power-sharing Executive at Stormont with Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, the former leading IRA commander, and Sinn Fein operating a partitionist parliament at the Assembly are two such examples of fantasy becoming reality.

So what are the core directions of Revolutionary Unionism? Firstly, it seeks to re-establish the values of the Christian faith in Ireland; secondly, it believes that Unionism is best represented by a single political movement, simply called The Unionist Party, with a series of pressure groups to represent the broad church of pro-Union thinking.

The major plank of Revolutionary Unionism is the key role for the British Commonwealth and especially the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), a political grouping comprising more than 50 national and regional parliaments, not all of them former parts of the old British Empire.

This new ideology is called ‘revolutionary’ for two key reasons – firstly, it aims to get Unionists thinking outside the box of the six counties of Northern Ireland; it wants Unionism to consider a 32-county role.

Secondly, the word comes historically from the Glorious Revolution of the late 17th century when the Protestant Ascendancy ruled all of Ireland after the Williamite war.

Revolutionary Unionism will become the ‘persuader’ of the Irish Republic that the future of Southern Ireland lies with it re-joining the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to protect the 26 counties from the financial collapse.

Supporters of Irish Unity may currently crow about the supposed buoyant state of the Republic’s economy compared to Northern Ireland. But that’s before the Republic as an EU member state has to foot the massive bill for rebuilding Ukraine when the Russians eventually leave.

Post Brexit, Southern Ireland – like the UK – must remain part of a major economic power block to survive. Either Southern Ireland must receive massive cash injections from the EU, or it must join the UK in leaving the EU and form a Union of the British Isles with Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland, as well as the Manx parliament along with the parliaments on the islands of Jersey and Guernsey.

This is the realistic Union which we Unionists must persuade the Republic to sign up to. And as part of this persuasion process, we Unionists should be prepared to confidently state our case right at the very heart of the Dublin administration.

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Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online.