THERE have always been links between unionist politicians and the far right. The axis of sub-fascist loyalist ideology, Old Testament fundamentalism and political unionism was central to the chaos and unrest of the mid- and late-60s that exploded into a 30-year conflict.
More recently, the main unionist parties have been on-board during the sharp rightward shift of British politics, and with the raising of tensions brought about by the Brexit disaster, the nasty nativist populism of the likes of Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson has chimed with unionist nostalgia for a golden age of the union that never existed. More liberal elements have either been browbeaten into silence or their voices have been drowned out by their more strident unionist colleagues.
Meanwhile, unionist approval for the unhinged rapist man-child in the White House has only grown the closer he moves towards totalitarianism.
The explosion of violence this week in Ballymena and, to a lesser extent, in parts of greater Belfast has precisely nothing to do with concern for the women young and old of North Antrim and everything to do with the crude racism gripping western politics at present.
For a medium-size town of just 30,000 people, Ballymena has problems more proportionate to a city. Its 30-year-long drug crisis and attendant criminal and social problems show no sign of abating, and it is of course not immune from the epidemic of male violence that has made the North of Ireland the most dangerous place in Europe for women and girls. But neither the destruction of young people’s lives by UDA heroin or the targeting of women by their boyfriends, partners or husbands has been of sufficient concern to bring people on to the streets. It is an odd kind of community concern for women and girls that leads people to set fire to homes containing... women and girls.
But it stops being odd when we consider that the only difference between the victim of the alleged sex attack that sparked this unrest and the victims of the Ballymena arsonists is the colour of their skin.
The words of unionist politicians brought the racist thugs on to the streets of Ballymena on Monday, and their craven refusal to issue the necessarily unambiguous rejection of the violence was what brought them back on Tuesday night. A response which consists of a single line containing a boilerplate rejection of the general idea of violence followed by a lengthy peroration on the dangers of migration is not a dog whistle, it’s a World War Two air raid klaxon. ‘Burning people out is wrong but...’ is not a plea for an end to violence, it is a side-of-the-mouth confirmation not only that the racist thugs have a point, but that the crime of attempted murder is less important than their own perceived grievances.
We could at this point issue a call for unionist politicians to quit their equivocating and instead tell the people of violence what they need to hear. But – and, yes, here’s another but – they simply wouldn’t listen.
