Global populism

Introduction

The news and current affairs programmes are anything but dull at the moment.  People are restless, and sometimes worried, to hear the latest edict from the new leader of the free world.  It’s impossible not be concerned when an experienced American newscaster[i] proclaims that 

“the time for normalising, dissembling and explaining away Donald Trump has long since passed.  The barring of respected journalistic outlets....is so far beyond the norms and traditions that have governed this republic for generations that they must be seen as a real and present threat to our democracy.”

From our little piece of earth, we observe a new era of divide-and-rule politics which has a popular mandate both in America and in Britain.  Apparently the new order has a lot to do with a loss of trust in politics, a revolt against the established system.

Are there any lessons for us in Northern Ireland to learn from rapidly-changing global events; and is it possible that the leaders of big nation states could learn from somewhere as small as Northern Ireland?  The divide and rule approach has been operated here for years.  Perhaps we could share experiences about controlling borders or about building community cohesion.

Public debate

Never has the general public become so engaged in political discourse about international events.  This is an emphatically positive outcome to emerge from the dawn of alternative facts.  Perhaps another plus is the field day that post-truth politics is presenting to cartoonists and satirists.

  

But it’s not just events on the international stage that should concern us, intriguing as they are.

The editor of the Belfast Telegraph has commented[ii] on the difference between the vigorous debate that occurs within Northern Ireland about the big stories like Syria, climate change, Donald Trump and Brexit, and the contrasting absence of discussion about what she describes as “our excuse for a political system.”  She refers to hopelessness, apathy, disillusionment and rot.  She detects contempt for “a depressing and failed political culture.”

Hers is an articulate and worrying indictment of politics in Northern Ireland.  In response to her plea that “this place needs an engaged citizenry,” here is an attempt to get a Socratic Dialogue going (some of which might resonate with our Stateside friends).

Analysis

How long are people in Northern Ireland (and for that matter in the UK to which it expresses loyalty) prepared to tolerate the inability of their elected politicians to govern efficiently?  Are the Members of its Legislative Assembly at Stormont not aware that the region’s reputation suffers and that its fragile peace is threatened when care for public finances looks negligent bordering on incompetent, when intemperate language is used in public debate, and when community integration doesn’t seem to matter?

Given the predictable regularity of political crises since the restoration of devolution in 1999, there is an ever-growing case to make in favour of a new approach.  The imperative to shake things up is underlined by radical changes which have been happening internationally, the ones that everybody is talking about.

And yet, some of the most serious implications of global change for this region fail to register on the seemingly inward-looking minds of our political leadership.  Furthermore, if other nations can defy the pollsters and punish long-established “élites” for being out of touch, should the Northern Irish not do likewise?

Is its political leadership proud of its record of promoting community division?  The results of a survey by the Electoral Reform Society provide shocking evidence[iii] of the consequences of intransigence.  Last year Canada’s Prime Minister warned the UN about the dangers of exploiting division[iv].   

Our experience shows that fostering division leads to voter disillusionment.  Rather than supporting political parties obsessed with constitutional status, many electors refuse to be involved, they don’t even want to talk about it and don’t vote; whereas others, our educated young, escape – emigrate to countries like Canada, never to return.

Voter apathy creates a low turn-out which challenges the democratic legitimacy of the elected government; and selective migration robs us of our future.   
Should voter abstention, selective migration and community division not be prioritised as major concerns for policy by our political leaders instead of exploiting divisiveness?

We are getting close to an unspeakable and previously unthinkable proposition.  An almost inevitable certainty is staring us in the face and its consequences are scary.  That is to say that the regularity of political stalemate suggests that Northern Ireland may not be a viable political entity.

Personal stance

In every aspect of daily life from raising a family to professional life and extracurricular activity, many have consciously adopted a deliberate cross-community approach as a matter of civic duty.  We are where we are whether we like it or not, so let’s make the best of it.

Because we want Northern Ireland to be the best place it can be we try to help make this happen in small ways.  We are proud of our identity, we love where we have been born and reared.  We have enormous respect for our Irish English Scottish and Welsh near-neighbours, not least because that’s where many of our relatives and friends live.  Likewise we cherish our close ties with the European mainland.

People in Northern Ireland like their home place and are proud of what it has to offer and what it can achieve.  

When there is an international emergency or a plea for help, few are better at charitable giving[v].  We feel proud of our internationally-recognised musicians and artists, we love our natural environment, we admire our poets playwrights actors and novelists, we rally behind our sporting stars when they represent us on the world stage.  When it comes to politicians in Government, however, similar sentiment is less evident.

Their constant feuding is an embarrassing distraction.  Instead of leading and building a tolerant future without bigotry, they appear averse to change preferring to look over their shoulders at the past.  Every day brings a new story reliving bloody horrors,[vi] gifting their rivals with a valid excuse to reciprocate with vitriol and venom.

The doyen of Northern Ireland journalism[vii] says that 

“most people, except those living in a political parallel universe, are dreading the upcoming election, and so far there are no signs that our politicians have realised how unattractive they are or how they are so ill-equipped to run our affairs.”

The Belfast Telegraph’s editor makes a convincing argument[viii],

“ordinary men and women are doing their best to get on with their lives; Belfast is regularly voted a top tourist destination because of the efforts of its citizens.  Our politicians in shocking contrast to our citizens aren’t doing their duty.”

Ash for Cash

Commentators have argued that any normal democracy whose governing administration had stewardship over what one prominent journalist calls “the grossly mismanaged Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme[ix],” would have forced its own leader out of office.

In place of humility and instead of expressing contrition for the dysfunctional working of her Government’s heating project, the First Minister launched bellicose attacks on all who dared to criticise.  All other political parties were excoriated, branded as cowards, the diligent media were accused of trial by television, and everybody else was condemned for attacking her on the basis of her gender.  She even posted a meme on Facebook of a metaphorical guinea pig wearing “love-glasses” through which her alleged “haters” cannot be seen[x].   

That the lady was going nowhere was the (unintentionally appropriate) ambiguous term used by her defending acolytes, justified on the basis that she had a massive majority.

Many were shocked, knowing that electors don’t actually mandate profligacy with UK taxpayers’ money and especially not during a period of austerity when benefits and other programmes for the sick and vulnerable are cut to pay for the banking crash.  
And victimhood by misogyny was the last thing on any voter’s mind.

When the most important person in Government resorts to defending the indefensible thus, leadership ratings plummet as trust in the Administration erodes.  Use of unsubtle behaviour does not befit the need for statesmanship.  The electorate looks to that Office for leadership especially in a crisis, craving for a consensual style of governing as preferable strategy to tribal bickering.

One journalist[xi] expressed her thoughts about the subsequent fall-out.  Squabbling about the apolitical Gaelic language and the consequent implication of tearing up the St Andrews Agreement 

“casts doubt over the leadership of our biggest party (the DUP) and on her strategy for advancing the long term future of Unionism itself.”

Likewise the Council of Europe has warned[xii] that Stormont may be in breach of a charter of rights by blocking requests for bilingual street names.

With hard-working electors concerned about day-to-day issues - health care, the economy, and Brexit - the sight of our political leadership evading the immediate crisis and trying to screen financial negligence with smoke is uninspiring.   

Turning the snap election of 2 March into another poll about the Union with Great Britain[xiii] rather than about the record of devolved Government provides evidence to support the questionability of retaining the status quo.

Options for change

New thinking is required now as a priority.  Something has to change in how we are governed.

Whereas we unite behind our many positive achievements and attributes, no pride is taken from the consequences of earlier decades of internal conflict.  The people have learned the lessons of intolerance and violence.  We have had an excess of Government based on division with the big political parties perpetually preoccupied with the region’s constitutional status.  Little do they realise that what we hanker after is to be treated as one single community of normal conscientious people.

Because the best laid plans devised in harmony with the Governments of the UK and Ireland with strong support from the USA and the EU are being regularly frustrated at almost every turn, it’s time to try something new.  Nobody wants the guns and bombs reappear.  The general public’s patience is running out.

Having tried majority rule with a permanent minority for several decades, direct rule from Westminster for a few more decades, and two decades of mandatory coalition, there is a prima facie case for Northern Ireland leaving the UK.  

For a combination of reasons - financial incompetence in the heating scandal, unresolved tribalism and incurable rancour in politics, the lack of collective cabinet responsibility, and Brexit - there is now a more compelling argument for separating Northern Ireland politically from the UK than has pertained heretofore.  

It could unite either with Scotland or else with Ireland.  The community of Northern Ireland has inextricable historical and cultural links with both places.

There is, of course, no guarantee that the recalcitrant attitudes of our politicians would change; but having tried everything else a new approach is overdue.  Likewise, there is no guarantee either that Scotland or Ireland would welcome us.

Having presented that as a devil’s advocate point against the proposition, a similar consideration might equally apply to the prospective attitude of citizens in Great Britain (should they be asked about their loyalty to us) given our devolved administration’s profligacy with UK taxpayers’ money.

Scotland and Ireland

Alternative options for Northern Ireland citizens who want to retain their European citizenship would be either to live in Scotland inside the EU, or else move to Ireland which is staying in Europe.  

Northern Ireland citizens might be tempted to follow those whom Nelson McCausland calls “our kith and kin” in Scotland.  Scotland’s Government has plans for a second independence referendum as a result of the national Government’s stance of a hard Brexit.

In times past, Ireland was demonised by many in Northern Ireland fearful of its Constitutional claims and the power of the Roman Catholic Church.  Those days have gone as the Republic has welcomed new residents from all over the world and has become a multi-cultural and more secular society.  Its infrastructure is superior in many instances to that of Northern Ireland, such as in its road and IT networks.

It has led the way internationally on reform of various social policies.  Apart from being the first (and seemingly most unlikely) country to ban smoking in pubs and public places, it was one of the first to impose the plastic bag tax, and it was the first country in the world to introduce same-sex marriage as a result of a referendum.  Most significantly, it was the first European country to emerge successfully from the catastrophic global financial crash and bail-out having implemented remedial measures.  Its economy is again recording growth above the EU average.

Brexit

In last summer’s UK referendum on European Union membership when the majority voted to Leave, approximately 56% of Northern Irish voters chose to Remain.  Only one party in Northern Ireland, the DUP, stands in opposition to the regional majority.  If that party is in touch with the UK majority (on this issue), they are ipso facto out of touch with their own constituency.

The referendum result was divisive regionally and like any close call, the arguments continue unabated both in the UK and all across Europe.  The picture seems similar to what we witness in the USA where many cannot be reconciled with and conscientiously object to the philosophy of new Administration.

An Irish Times journalist reported on the DUP’s support for Brexit last summer and its expensive 4-page glossy advertising aimed at commuters in London’s Metro magazine.  

He argued[xiv] that the DUP abandoned in a “breathtakingly irresponsible way” its duty to represent the majority in Northern Ireland.   
Over a month after publication of this article, the DUP named its generous sponsor, adding that feedback from the campaign had been positive.  Just like its domestic electors, London’s voters rejected the DUP’s arguments about taking back control.
What they have done with the control they already have inspires little confidence in their Brexit sloganising.

The same journalist had previously warned that the Brexit vote undermined the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement[xv].  His argument is that because the Agreement incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into Northern Ireland law, removal of the Convention would undermine the basis of the Agreement.

The challenges of leaving Europe include the prospect of a return of border controls responding to Brexiters wish to take control of EU borders.  Exit will complicate cross-border trade, interrupt tourism, and potentially lead to security concerns.   

An influential House of Lords Peer has voiced her concern about the potential for Brexit to endanger Northern Ireland’s peace process[xvi].  

And the leader of Ireland’s Government[xvii] has urged the EU to include the Good Friday Agreement clause about Irish reunification in the EU’s Brexit deal citing as precedent the reunification of Germany.

It is not beyond expectation either that the viability of Northern Ireland’s small and public-sector dependent economy could falter as a peripheral part of what Brexiters call independent Great Britain and the consequent ending of EU support for peripheral areas.

Whatever the outcomes of global populism, people cling onto optimism at local level.  

Fear and division don’t provide any jobs, to paraphrase Canada’s PM.  

All that people want from leaders is co-operative working that will nurture peace, tolerance and allow our region to fully achieve its unrealised potential for economic and social prosperity.   
Why then do ours make it so awkward to deliver?

© Michael McSorley 2017

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[i] Dan Rather on Facebook, quoted in the Observer 26 February 2017 p6

[ii] Belfast Telegraph 7 February Gail Walker.  http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/gail-walker/trump-brexit-isis-we-discuss-everything-but-our-excuse-for-a-political-system-is-off-the-agenda-35429280.html

[iii] Belfast Telegraph 17 February 2017 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/poll-survey-says-northern-ireland-voting-habits-dictated-by-tribalism-would-you-vote-for-party-from-different-community-35458352.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BT:DailyNews&hConversionEventId=AQEAAZQF2gAmdjIwMDAwMDE1YS00YzBlLWMzZWItYjhiNy0xNTE2M2VjNmE0YTbaACQyNTczNGQ0Zi1hNDUzLTQ2YzYtMDAwMC0wMjFlZjNhMGJjYzXaACQwNTNjNTVmZi05MzUxLTRjNmEtOTE2ZC00MzUzNDFlZmRjOTlXkNki3yEWJzDZS5ilPhydTj-XfxLqruDMZSOhqJto-A

[iv] Justin Trudeau 21 September 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ubeSbkkEk

[v] Belfast Telegraph 14 February 2017 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/irish-teenager-thanks-public-for-raising-425k-in-48-hours-for-lastchance-cancer-treatment-youve-given-me-the-chance-of-life-35450906.html

[vi] Eilis O’Hanlon  Belfast Telegraph 16 Feb 2017 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/fresh-start-all-michelle-oneill-offers-is-same-poison-with-prettier-wrapping-35455286.html

[vii] Alf McCreary Belfast Telegraph Review 5 February 2017 p 30

[viii] Belfast Telegraph 17 January 2017 Gail Walker. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/gail-walker/all-were-doing-is-kicking-the-tin-down-the-road-and-being-herded-into-our-sectarian-pens-35372791.html

[ix] BBC NI Mark Devenport 13 Feb 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38957629

[x] Belfast Telegraph 6 January 2017 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/arlene-foster-cant-see-all-the-haters-when-i-got-my-love-glasses-on-35346556.html

[xi] Belfast Telegraph 10 February 2017 Eilis O’Hanlon http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/arlene-fosters-attitude-to-irish-language-casts-doubt-on-leadership-of-dup-35438432.html

[xii] RTE News 12 February 2017 http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0116/498160-irish-northern-assembly/

[xiii] Belfast Telegraph 17 February 2017 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-assembly-election/dup-leader-claims-it-is-dangerous-to-transfer-votes-to-nationalists-35460405.html

[xiv] Irish Times Fintan O’Toole 17 January 2017 http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-dup-must-be-punished-for-its-brexit-folly-1.2938690

[xv] The Guardian Fintan O’Toole 24 June 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/northern-irish-peace-sacrificed-english-nationalism

[xvi] BBC NI Newsline 22 February 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-39047420

[xvii] RTE News 24 Feb 2017 http://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0223/854744-brexit/