THE deadline for registering to vote in the May Assembly election is three weeks away. And while every election is predictably and inevitably branded the most important one since the last, there’s little doubt that this one is an election of unprecedented significance given that nationalists and republicans are living in a time of such incredible opportunity – and such significant challenges.
One of the main challenges lies in the deepening sense of alienation and despondency among a large swathe of the unionist population. That sapping of morale has been brought about by a toxic combination of inept leadership and ever more desperate and nihilistic attempts to undo the worst depredations of that failure at the top. Collapsing the Executive; refusing to countenance a non-unionist First Minister; hostile Protocol rhetoric: if this irresponsible behaviour is rewarded at the polls by a failure of nationalism and republicanism to turn out, it will set back by five or perhaps ten years the slow and painstaking advances that have been made in recent years. Further, it will embolden the hardliners – many of them unelected commentators and has-been politicians – who so thoroughly dominate the unionist discourse at present; and that in turn will be a grave disservice to the majority of unionists which poll after polls tells us, despite the noise, are in favour of a reasonable and measured resolution of the Irish Sea border issue.
The May 5 Assembly poll will be important for many reasons
And, of course, any advance for hardline unionism will be a blow for the Good Friday Agreement, which one or two of the more unsubtle of the hardliners have made clear is the real target here.
Another huge challenge is the British Government’s callous and xenophobic ongoing attempt to impose legacy legislation that would effectively shut down any future interrogation of the murderous, criminal and cynical role it played in the conflict here over decades when it claimed to be an honest broker in a sectarian hatefest. The US has weighed in powerfully against this British attempt to excise its shameful past in Ireland – a strong mandate for MLAs who are determined not to allow the British Government to slam a door on the dungeon containing its darkest secrets would go a long way to ensuring that this outrageous plan is dropped, never to be revisited.
But important and all as it is for nationalism and republicanism to strike a blow against the forces of regression, it is vital that the coming election campaign is marked by positivity and that progressive parties look forward together to the future. The conversation about a New Ireland has never been louder and more vibrant. England has ripped Britain out of the EU at a time when European co-operation was never more vital. The opportunities for a New Ireland that is comfortable and at home in a community of neighbouring nations are endless. The end of partition has never seemed closer; 100 years of hostility and suspicion can be ended. Sign up for it. Get registered.
