Unionists are being forced into a defensive role by nationalists and republicans, asserts Gregory Campbell. The fightback must centre on four vital issues
The unionist community has watched for decades the nationalist/republican agenda being pursued, even when both sides of this coin have at times opposed each other bitterly as to the best means to the end they both wanted.
Unionism found itself appearing to defend the status quo. Because Northern Ireland was in the United Kingdom and unionists naturally wanted it maintained, this meant the status quo option began there but continued into other issues.
As republicans in particular stepped up their demands, unionists became more defensive as a result. Because the demands were backed up by violence and murder, it made the defensive reaction even more acute. The outcome of this has been a shopping list of demands that unionists quite rightly resisted.
The unionist agenda has been lost in the clamour and noise of the gunfire and bombs. The unionist message needs to be presented rationally and repeatedly. Unionism can demand and campaign on four straightforward issues.
BRITISHNESS: Those who proclaim their Irishness in Northern Ireland have virtually no restrictions placed on that national or cultural identity given that they live in a part of the United Kingdom. They enjoy and celebrate that identity and get support and recognition for it. Unionism is not in the same privileged position. We want to enjoy and celebrate our British identity in Northern Ireland and obtain the same support and recognition to enable us so to do.
POLITICAL STRUCTURES: For any country to have enduring stability there needs to be a substantial number of its people in support of the political structures that are used to govern it. Many nationalists/republicans would probably echo that statement. If it was true for them of the pre-1969 Northern Ireland, it is also true for unionists in post-1998 Northern Ireland.
The reality is that persisting with this or any other system against the wishes of a sizeable section of the people is going to increase instability rather than reduce it. It is pointless for them to keep repeating the mantra that over 70 per cent of the people voted for this when it is clear the unionist section of the community is alienated from the political framework, however many nationalists voted for it.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: One of the central elements of any democracy (beyond the right to life, which has been denied to many by terrorists for 30 years) is employment opportunities. Unionists see current practices disadvantaging them.
Jobs created in recent years have not been enjoyed in the unionist community in proportion to their numbers in Northern Ireland. Unionists want the present system altered so that the merit principle allows unionists and nationalists truly equal opportunities in the labour market. Let any democrat resist the call for equality in the employment stakes.
INQUIRY: The IRA has been engaged in a murder campaign for over 30 years, there has never been an inquiry into how the IRA was founded (and funded) from the Government of the Republic, neither has it been established what part was played in that campaign by the man whom this agreement, and its supporters, have installed as Minster for the Education of our children, Martin McGuinness.
A Northern Ireland which people of every religious persuasion can be confident and proud of is not beyond us. Even in the cauldron of republican intimidation and loyalist pipe bombs, a new beginning is not just possible but imperative.
These issues will not be won in a week. The important thing for unionists is to see the gains that are possible rather than the losses the Belfast Agreement and its supporters have inflicted upon us.
What is required now is an absolute determination to continue campaigning and making the demands in the assurance that they cannot be denied us forever.
Gregory Campbell is a Democratic Unionist Party member of the Northern Assembly and MP for East Londonderry