The penny is dropping
Gwern Gwynfil, CEO YesCymru
Wallace Thompson is not well known in Wales, Scotland or England but his evolving view on Irish unity matters to all of us.
For readers who’ve never heard of Wallace, he was a founding member of Northern Ireland’s Unionist party, the DUP. An evangelical Protestant, a special adviser, member of the Orange Order, faithful follower of Dr Ian Paisley. In short, a dyed in the wool, fully committed, lifelong Unionist.
No longer.
The penny has dropped for Wallace when it comes to Northern Ireland and the inevitability of reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
‘’We are in an inevitable move towards that…there is an inevitability in my mind that we are moving towards a new Ireland…This is the problem with Unionism, we’re in denial’
What Wallace shows is that the Union in its current form is over. There will be a new Ireland and he believes Irish Unionists should engage with and help shape that new Ireland.
Leo Varadkar
The other side of the border, just to underline the point that Wallis is making, Irish premier Leo Varadkar has predicted there will be a united Ireland in his lifetime.
The Taoiseach made the comments after being asked about the Wolfe Tones, an Irish band that drew huge crowds to a tent at the Electric Picnic music festival at the weekend.
The band regularly spark debate over their song Celtic Symphony, which contains the words: “Ooh, ahh, up the Ra”.
Asked about the popularity of the group, Mr Varadkar said he was at the music festival but “didn’t get a chance” to see the Wolfe Tones.
“I probably have a more sanguine view of this than maybe other people,” he told RTE Radio’s News at One.
“People like ballads and they like songs that they can sing along to.
“I think some people maybe read too much into the politics of this.
“But there is one thing that I would say: I believe we are on the path to unification.
“I believe that there will be a united Ireland in my lifetime, and in that united Ireland there is going to be a minority… and you judge the success and the quality of a country by the way it treats its minorities and that’s something we’re going to have to think about.”
New Britain
There will be a new Britain too, the independence movement in Scotland is well established with roots so deep it won’t ever be quashed. Scottish independence is also inevitable.
In Wales support for independence is growing incredibly strongly, becoming wider, deeper and more present across the length and breadth of the country.
Only England lags behind. But, as with Wallace, the penny will drop, realisation will dawn that the UK is not fit for purpose, that it does not work as a relatively small and less important part of the international landscape.
In a world where the restoration of the old Empire is impossible, for those English leaders who have the bravery to follow the logic, the conclusion that England too will be better off as an independent nation must follow.
Like Wallace, who believes that engagement and constructive discussions on the creation of a new, united Ireland is the way forward for Irish Unionists– so too for the rest of Britain. Engagement and discussion across and between the nations to find the best way to part ways will be the pathway to success for all three newly independent nations – England, Scotland and Wales.
Unwind
The history of the Empire can end on a positive note. The Union can unwind in a ‘conscious decoupling’ rather than a messy divorce. New, close, mutually beneficial relationships between the nations of the new British Isles can blossom and grow immediately.
The people who live in each nation can enjoy the fruits of the renewal that independence brings. A 21st century renaissance of smaller, independent nations.
There are plenty who are still wedded to the Union in spite of the weakness of the arguments they make for its preservation.
There are plenty who believe in an incremental approach, a path which soothes their fear of the unknown and ameliorates their natural resistance to change and innovation. But the place with the most rapid growth in support is amongst those who have realised that this should happen now.
Prevarication
Why wait? There is nothing to gain in procrastination and prevarication. Wallace gets it. The writing is on the wall and the wall is already falling down. Instead of waiting for it to crumble, be part of tearing it down so that something new and better can be built in its stead.
The UK is in decline, schools are crumbling, food banks are multiplying, the poor are getting poorer whilst the rich get richer.
This is an unhealthy picture of terminal decline. Changing the constitutional make up of the UK creates an opportunity for renewal for all parts of the UK. Independence is not the only option but it is the best way to achieve this.
As independent nations, each of us can choose to what extent and how deeply we integrate and co-operate with our immediate neighbours and with other friends and allies.
As independent nations, each of us can create constitutions reflective of our cultures. As independent nations, each of us can have vibrant democracies, setting our own priorities and making our own decisions.
We will all be better off with independence. Annibyniaeth for all!
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Can’t come enough.
I am coming up to 73 i live and hope to see an end to the it has achieved nothing for Wales we have always been kept in poverty its not an a Nation of four equal countries it does not treat England as a country of equals London and the South east and then the rest it was called the British empire but in reality it was the English empire they got rich of the back of other nations including the Celtic nations where over the years they inflictated misery on the people and not if we become independent… Read more »
A Republic should be the ultimate goal. However, the ‘stepping stone’ solution might be necessary to bring our people round to the idea that we do not need to lean on our neighbours and can stand on our own. The ‘first and last colony’ will need to develop self confidence and determination if independance is to succeed.
The fault lines for this current UK break up scenario were unwittingly laid a century ago with the formation of the ‘temporary’ Ulster frontier that ultimately led to the unsolvable Brexit Irish ‘back stop’ riddle. David Cameron recklessly gambling and losing the 2016 Brexit referendum led to this constitutional quagmire that is sapping the life force out of the British political establishment.
The work of David Lloyd George.
The simplest way to resolve this is through an in/out referendum. A 10,000-signature petition would be considered for a debate in the Senedd. Although the power over it lays at Westminster, at least Cardiff Bay could make representations. Let’s face it, none of them are actually interested in it. Even Plaid has ruled out an independence timeline.
“The simplest way to resolve this is through an in/out referendum.” I suspect the above really means – The simplest way to resolve this to my satisfaction is through an in/out referendum before support for independence grows to a level that I find uncomfortable. “Even Plaid has ruled out an independence timeline. “ When an independence referendum has the support of the people of Cymru it will be the Tory and Labour parties that will rule out an independence timeline including referenda as they are doing with Scotland. Am I right to think that you already have the ‘once in… Read more »
Difficult for them to be able to ditch their last vestige of Liberal Imperialism that has been the driving force for centuries.They fail to see the irony of their push for Brexit to be ‘free’ of Europe and the obvious comparison with our own downtrodden nations wanting to shed the yoke of imperialism on their doorstep!
The UK has/had two functions. One is to extend the political hegemony of the landed gentry over the islands of Britain and Ireland. This morphed in time as the wealth and influence developed into the manufacturing and banking capitalist class. Secondly, as their means to project their power grew, the constitution of the UK geared around its’ inner empire and outer empire. Its sole purpose; to grow the wealth of its’ ruling capitalist class. To this end (and the perpetuation of the status quo), that class has been active in promulgating a faux nationhood, a homgenisation of culture to its… Read more »
The Labour party in Cymru have their own self-serving fiefdoms across our country and lack vision to be radical and take Cymru forward. Ultimately, Labour in Wales are merely a bunch of sycophantic cap doffers to their Westminster bosses.
In 1921 the leader of the Ulster unionists Sir Edward Carson said, ” what a fool I was , I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland , in a political game that was to get the Tory party into power”. Over a century later they have done exactly the same. The antics ofLabour and the Tories will never cease in the quest for the preservation of the union. It has taken the unionist this latest episode to wake them up, and now is the beginning of the end of the union, we must also… Read more »