Folks on the Hill must shape our future
Comment by Mario Ledwith • Published 9 Feb 2012 09:00
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When Time magazine gave the magnanimous Person of the Year award to 'The Protester' in 2011 some twitched an eyebrow. No famous face emblazoned the cover, just the scarved profile of an unnamed activist. Because no person was more symbolic of 2011: a year when our brethren in the Arab nations shaped global headlines, realising that they were more powerful than the dictators who had long destroyed their lives.
Blood is still being spilled and lives destroyed in the Arab nations touched by revolution, as the death of more than 70 football fans in Egypt highlighted last week. In Syria, the inhumane regime of Prince Assad continues to slay those who oppose his reign. But, with the fervour of last year's Arab Spring, it seems inevitable he'll fall. In a part of the world where authoritarianism was for too long accepted without recourse, one very simple sea change occurred: Mohammed, Dick and Yusef realised that their lives were of too much value than to sit idly while the powerful lick their lips considering methods of abuse.
Light bulbs flashed and tempers snapped. People accepted that their freedoms and futures were theirs to decide. If they had to die in the fight for freedom and democracy so be it. Enough was enough. Indeed, their will has served its purpose. Peace and equality are still fermenting ideals and difficulties persist. But those in power who seek to take advantage have been warned: 'try subjugate us and we will rise again'.
The aura of revolution is a strange beast considered from Northern Ireland. For a country once bashed by an insensitive and untouchable regime, we have reached a finely balanced plateau: one where freedom of speech has taken pride of place and our people have been given a suitable democratic forum in which maintaining peace and cherishing it is the ultimate goal.
Our story is not one of revolution but evolution. On the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, an event described by David Cameron as 'unjustified and unjustifiable', we were reminded of the lopsided rule that once shaped this pocket of land - of the quash on civil liberties still very much alive in the minds of many.
Northern Ireland's fate was much too complex to be shaped overnight, or by the meeting of thousands in a crowded square. The men with the guns and bombs tried to murder their way to freedom, no doubt inspired by the heavy-handed enemy before them. We all know how that campaign went and, inevitably and regrettably, minds and lives are still scarred by the loss of life, the non-existence of reason and the smell of burning flesh that welcomes their every waking day.
It is no surprise that our grey matter has defined today's Northern Ireland - the organic and peaceful social developments we, the people, have instigated and believe in. It is early in the process; indeed our evolution has only just begun. But our elected politicians, on both sides of the fence, have gradually opened their eyes to the changes around them.
Stand on a parapet and spit nails, conspiracy theories and imagined truths at leaders like Adams, McGuinness, Paisley and Robinson if you will. They once incited hatred and suspicion on a quite phenomenal scale. That is a truth we have to deal with. But we also need to take a breath of the same realisation they have -the realisation that nationalism, unionism, green, orange, us and them are no longer life-defying ideals for the masses.
Politicians, whether they like it or not, have a responsibility to us: to do what is right for us. Northern Ireland's citizens are clever and mature enough to realise what it is that we need to cherish and encourage: togetherness.
This is not cliché or rhetoric. It's real, grown-up stuff. We don't need revisionists or talking heads, we need statesmen and stateswomen who are going to do right by us. That is their duty.
Symbolism, the irrational beast that is, plays a defining role in what we are and how we see ourselves in Northern Ireland. This has its cultural advantages but also its drawbacks: when something like Irish language use or Orange Order membership can somehow paint us as an enemy in the eyes of another.
It is for this very reason that I was so warmed to see Peter Robinson attend a GAA match. The cynic in me says it was only a political stunt. But who cares. It's a stunt that very boldly says: "I am Peter Robinson. I am a Unionist - a staunch one at that. But I'm here and why wouldn't I be. We're in this together…and it's really quite fun."
Robinson is the kind of politician who will help Northern Ireland heal and burn bright. He has shown enormous courage in the last couple of years pursuing a course of integration. It may be the case that attending that GAA match pained Robinson, but he acted selflessly and with conviction. That's what matters. He realised his responsibility and he should be praised.
By the same token, sitting all the way over in London I was apoplectic with rage reading Tom Elliot's reaction to Robinson's attendance. Describing the event as 'tokenism', Elliott shone a light on the inner-workings of a political mind firmly rooted in the dark, muddy past. The UUP leader's comments essentially translated as 'integration equals tokenism'.
I ask myself 'what sort of message is this?' It is the language of a toxic, bitter man. A politician who cares more about flinging haymakers at his opponents than the effect his crass words have on the thousands of malleable minds who are subject to them. And we deserve better. Yes, there are people who will support Elliott's comments and in a democracy everyone deserves their say. But those with one eye on progress and another on our children's futures will know that his comments, as so often, are running backwards.
We need politicians who can serve us for the better; who don't see an integrated existence as a laughable utopia but an ideal which should be pursued with zeal and vigour. Our politicians, those who define the country's narrative, should be setting examples: scratching a green back with one hand and an orange back with the other.
And those in the streets, those in the media, anybody with a voice, needs to point the finger at politicians like Tom Elliott and tell them that we are better than this. Tell them that we can progress and strive.
Northern Ireland will never have revolution. We rely on the Folks on the Hill to shape our society for us. We are owed it.
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