A-Infos (en) Anarkismo.net: Ulster Loyalism, Flag Protests & the failure of zero sum politics

The continuing opposition by loyalists to the decision by Belfast city council to limit 
the flying of the Union Jack  is a product of a deeply sectarian colonial settlement that 
smothers the importance of class.  The disturbances were pretty predicable in the context 
of summer riots over parading, intra unionist rivalry and rising anger in traditional 
protestant working class communities over shortage of jobs, housing and perceived gains 
made by the ‘nationalist’ community.  The mass inflammatory leafleting by unionist parties 
in the days leading up to the council vote served to heighten fears in a constituency 
which is easily inflamed and mobilised in defence of the realm. This is not the cause of 
the disturbances; but the logical conclusion of capitalist decay and opportunist 
politicians battling for the hearts and minds of protestant working class communities- 
disenchanted and disillusioned with the peace dividends promised over 10 years ago.

Since December, roads continue to be sporadically blocked across the North for short 
periods of time along with pockets of rioting, while Alliance Party offices were attacked 
and in some cases burned and council chambers stormed - representing a challenge for the 
PSNI. The attempted storming of Belfast City Hall on the night of the vote was the fuse 
which lit the media fire as sections of the liberal press, business and political class 
lined up to condemn the violence as bad for business and the brand image of the new era. 
Incidentally, although reactionary by nature, these protests serve as a timely reminder 
that our ruling class only take notice when we actually move beyond the ritual art of 
‘peaceful protest' and engage in civil disobedience and 'violence'.

Jason Walsh, a journalist based in Dublin, hit the nail on the head writing, ‘Press 
coverage has focused on outrage among the middle classes and the threat that the violence 
poses to traders and wider investment in the ‘New Northern Ireland’. Neither of these 
claims is inaccurate, but both are beside the point. The most revealing thing about the 
riots is that they show the vacuity of identity politics – on both sides of the sectarian 
divide.  Walsh added, ‘’Smug, middle-class Unionists, republicans and liberals who can’t 
understand why there is all this kerfuffle over a flag would do well to ponder just who it 
was that transformed a territorial conflict into a cultural one and what the endgame was 
actually supposed to be.(1)

Flag Smokescreen?

Predictably various shades of republicans have cashed in on the flag riots in a 
triumphalist bemusing fashion, full of irony and humour- much of which has been documented 
on social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube. Rather than seeking to understand the 
underlying root causes of the disturbances, and their failure to make their politics 
relevant to the protestant working class beyond sound bites of ‘national liberation’ and 
references to the United Irishmen, their focus has been on the low level of policing and 
arrests in comparison to republican protests.

As anarchists we recognize the fact that imperialism has no progressive role to play in 
Ireland or anywhere else and has left a partisan legacy of collusion, torture and state 
sponsored terrorism.  At the same time we are not surprised by the nature of state repression.

It is only natural that the ruling class and its armed wing will utilise all instruments 
of repression at its disposal against any perceived threat to ‘national security’ and its 
monopoly over the use of violence. In Ireland, republicanism has been traditionally cast 
as the main threat and ‘bogeyman’, while in other countries it has been anarchists and so 
forth.

However, anti anarchist scaremongering is never far away from the media discourse even in 
the wee north. In a sensationalised headline in the Newtownabbey Times in December, 
following rioting in the staunchly loyalist estate of Mossley Hill and Rathcoole, the 
paper led off with ‘anarchists hell-bent on damage and destruction’.

According to The South and East Antrim Community Federation spokesman, Tommy Kirkham, a 
former independent loyalist councillor who previously represented the UDA-linked Ulster 
Political Research Group, described claims that known paramilitaries were behind the 
trouble as “convenient”, adding that young people intent on anti-social behaviour and 
“anarchists hell-bent on damage and destruction” were responsible for the disturbances.(2) 
While it would be a welcome development if there was a growing class struggle anarchist 
presence in Newtownabbey, these allegations are ridiculous and a complete distortion of 
reality as anarchism is opposed to all forms of nationalism and patriotism. We the working 
class have no business getting involved in the petty squabbles over flags between 
political parties who we have nothing in common with, as we need to get rid of the entire 
capitalist system.

While acknowledging the legacy of partisan policing, the reality is it is much easier to 
police, gather intelligence and make arrests at a peaceful sit down protest with the 
annual ritual of rioting which takes places in a small densely populated and confined 
community like Ardoyne than at illegal blockades and rolling demonstrations across the 
North. We also need to take into account that policing tactics have considerably evolved 
in the North over the last 30 years (in conjunction with policing ‘reform’) as the police 
tend to gather intelligence and make arrests (due to the higher threat level) after the 
event rather than using ‘snatch squads’ as in other parts of Europe.  This is not an 
attempt to justify and legitimize state policing but to merely understand the PSNI 
facilitation of illegal protests and other dynamics at work which underpin some degree of 
policing in the 21st century.

Beneath the media spectacle and claims by Sinn Fein that this is a victory for the 
nationalist community is the ugly reality of a pacification zero-sum process which has 
strengthened and entrenched sectarianism, as symbols and emblems are used as cultural 
weapons to both hide internal class contradictions and instil fear. It is worth referring 
to Rudolf Rocker on the subject of nationalism and patriotism; “we must not forget that we 
are always dealing with the organised selfishness of privileged minorities which hide 
behind the skirts of the nation, hide behind the credulity of the masses. We speak of 
national interests, national capital, national spheres of interest, national honour, and 
national spirit; but we forget that behind all this there are hidden merely the selfish 
interests of power-loving politicians and money-loving business men for whom the nation is 
a convenient cover to hide their personal greed and their schemes for political power from 
the eyes of the world.’

For the Provisional movement this limiting of the number of days the Union Jack flies 
outside Belfast City Hall is in reality a compromise rather than any real victory. This 
strategy is underpinned by a movement which is more concerned about playing the green 
card, ‘identity politics’ and the ‘parity of esteem’ rather than any notion of radical 
transformation and class unity. (Read- 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/review-politics-sinn-fein-kevin-bean-insurgency-identity) By embarking 
along this path,  Sinn Fein have only served to alienate an important constituency which 
it needs for its long-term aim of an Ireland of equals and national reconciliation. In 
doing so republicanism and its most progressive currents is dealt a further blow being 
perceived as merely being a form of ‘catholic nationalism.’

The reactionary nature of Ulster Loyalism

For Ulster loyalism and unionism this is another PR disaster but one which a community 
that perceives itself to be under siege will have little empathy for. The riots bring to 
focus growing mistrust and alienation between ‘working class loyalism’ and ‘big-house’ 
unionism which has often been an ambiguous relationship (despite uniting when perceived to 
be under threat by the 'other’)  that republicans ignore at their own peril. (3) It also 
provides a useful ‘cause’ for rival and divided loyalists to rally under as their 
credibility and image has been undermined in protestant working class areas by years of 
internal turmoil and conflict.

As expected, unionist politicians exploited the fears and tension of the flags debate, 
scapegoating the Alliance party and standing shoulder to shoulder with demonstrators on 
rallies and picket lines, while far-right elements  facilitated by elements of loyalism 
are more than happy to fill the vacuum in loyalist heartlands. Former BNP members Paul 
Golding and Jim Dowson (with past offences for loyalist gun-running) who are now members 
of the British First party were guest speakers at rallies organised by a group called the 
United Protestant Voice outside the city hall. While links between loyalist paramilitaries 
and fascists is nothing new, this latest development sets a dangerous precedent for 
anti-fascists and progressive forces.

Anyone with any lingering notions in the ‘socialist’ Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 
should take note as they seek to outgun and out-British each other in a manner and style 
similar to the English Defence League. Paradoxically they agreed a number of years ago to 
fly the flag on certain designated days.  Despite the organisers promising that tens of 
thousands will take to the streets in villages and towns across the North nothing has 
appeared on this scale and they have been largely confined to 'unionist' working class 
areas. An indication of the steady decline from the days of the Drumcree standoff but this 
will provide little comfort for those living in interface areas.

Unlike Irish Republicanism, with all its faults, which at times developed significant 
’left strands’’ only to be recuperated by green nationalism and the logic of ‘labour must 
wait’, Ulster Loyalism has once against revealed its true chauvinistic colours and 
reactionary sectarian agenda while conveniently ignoring the reality that any future Irish 
unity depends on its consent. It serves a reactionary agenda in all its forms providing 
foot soldiers and henchmen for the ruling class and the far-right- a threat to any 
progressive movement that espouses real freedom and social equality.

However, despite claims by some shades of republicanism, variants of unionism are not 
simply dupes of British imperialism and at times exert their own agenda which can be in 
conflict with the crown.  But it would be foolish to assume any progressive outcome of 
this ambigous relationship and this latest flashpoint hightlights this. In this dangerous 
vacuum the wider left and labour movement needs to step up to the challenge and provide a 
principled alternative which provides a gateway to the politics of class and a better 
society from the ashes of sectarianism and imperialism.

It is worth dispelling some of the myths and fears over housing and deprivation that 
provide the wider backdrop to the continuing loyalist ‘grievances’’ which sections of the 
media help to legitimise without challenging and exposing.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) produced The Northern Ireland 
Multiple Deprivation Measure 2010, and it is viewed as ‘the official measure of spatial 
deprivation in Northern Ireland.’ It collates data relating to the status of individuals 
residing in every one of the 582 wards in Northern Ireland, using these figures to rank 
the status of each ward in relation to a range of domains including Income, Employment, 
Health Deprivation and Disability as well as Education, Skills and Training amongst others.

Whilst separate rankings exist for each domain, an accumulative overall multiple 
deprivation measure ranking is also provided. 14 of the 20 most deprived wards are 
predominantly catholic, including 8 of the most deprived 10 wards The Peace Monitoring 
Report 2012 made reference to the facts regarding greater catholic levels of deprivation, 
an enduring feature of northern Irish life, when it reported that “the proportion of 
people who are in low-income households is much higher among Catholics (26%) than among 
Protestants (16%).”

The figures outlined above collectively point to a conclusion that, across the range of 
poverty and deprivation indicators, there is no material basis other than pandering to 
sectarianism in suggesting that working class protestant communities are losing out to 
their catholic neighbours, who continue to predominate the range of lists ranking the most 
deprived communities in the State. (4)

The anarchist alternative

As we enter 2013 it is worth remembering that the Union Jack will continue to fly over 
Belfast city hall for 17 days of the year despite hundreds of protests and road blockades 
taking place since mid-December. The flag controversy and cries of 'no surrender' iare the 
tip of the iceberg illustrating the continuing reality of a sectarian statelet propped up 
by Westminster which Northern Ireland Tourist Board cannot simply brand away.

In a wider context, the 'flag riots' help to gloss over class conflict providing a useful 
distraction for an unprecedented austerity programme of privatisation, cuts to public 
services, workplace/welfare rights which were won for by struggle over the years. The 
British state with their junior partners at Stormont are plunging working class 
communities into deeper levels of poverty, deprivation, rising cost of living and job 
insecurity - continuing the savage neo-liberal agenda of successive governments. Our 
response needs to be pro-active and aggressive because being right is not enough in a 
society built on protecting the wealth and privilege of the ruling class.

Quite clearly the future for any sustained working class resistance to these measures 
across the sectarian divide is quite bleak as long as we remain captive to the politics of 
fear and scaremongering that is promoted and fostered by those in power for their own 
selfish and strategic interests.

However there is hope, which does not lie in putting our faith in sectarian politicians 
and any so-called vanguard. The question we need to ask ourselves is not what flag we want 
to live under but what type of society do we want. By winning small battles in the 
workplace and community such as the Visteon workers struggle in 2009 we can make small 
steps that build confidence, a culture of self-organisation and direct action that can 
steadily erode what may divide us. Yes, the task is a great one. But of course, we only 
want the world.

For those of us on the progressive left and wider labour movement it is important that we 
expose and exacerbate these contradictions from a revolutionary class perspective, in 
theory and practice, while providing a space to build an alternative movement to the 
rotten politics of zero-sum which at the end of the day only benefits our common enemy the 
ruling class.

Anarchists are "proud of being internationalists." We seek "the end of all oppression and 
of all exploitation," and so aim "to awaken a consciousness of the antagonism of interests 
between dominators and dominated, between exploiters and workers, and to develop the class 
struggle inside each country, and the solidarity among all workers across the frontiers, 
as against any prejudice and any passion of either race or nationality."- Errico Malatesta

Words: Sean Matthews

1)       http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/13161

2) 
http://www.newtownabbeytoday.co.uk/news/anarchists-hell-bent-on-damage-and-destruction-1-4579988

3) ‘Protestant Socialists’? Ulster Loyalism and Working-class Politics: 1969-1974 
(http://www.ucc.ie/en/history/scrinium/FrenettUlster.pdf)

4) 
http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/10/03/dispelling-the-myths-sustaining-loyalisms-grievance-narrative-part-one/
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