Sinn Fein's Culture War - Union Flag Speech
10 December 2012
Below is the speech delivered by TUV leader Jim Allister in the Assembly today in which he sets out the political background of the protest:
“It was a seminal moment when the Union flag was torn down from the prime civic building in our capital city. That was not an isolated assault on our Britishness, but a new high point in insult and republican action in an orchestrated process that began in the Belfast Agreement. It has touched a nerve with many people who are frustrated by a treadmill of concessions, which is just as the Belfast Agreement intended. It, of course, was and is designed to trundle us out of the United Kingdom and to ease us and fuse us into an all Ireland, and every step of the way requires dilution of our Britishness. Culture is Sinn Féin's new theatre of war.
“Although some people in the republican movement are resting the Armalite, they have moved seamlessly to take up the weapons of cultural warfare. Hence, parades and flags must go. Those who orchestrated and justified terror must rule over us. Perpetrators of terror must be equated with victims. We must have play parks named after their evil heroes. Sinn Féin Ministers must be allowed to discriminate in appointments with impunity. The unionist community is expected to sit back and consent benignly to the trampling underfoot of its culture and identity by forces that are insatiable and still live by the mantra of "Brits out". That is what the taking-down of the flag crystallises in its own particular way.
“I want to address directly those loyalists outside the House who have fallen into the trap of spoiling legitimate protest by attendant violence. I understand completely the sentiment that I hear being expressed that, when they look at the Stormont structures, people conclude that violence pays. However, I say to them that their cause — the cause of the British flag — is far more noble and honourable than that, unlike the cause of rebellion that brought terrorism to our streets. Do not sully that cause by treading the violent path for which republicans set the way. The violence of recent days has only added to the glee of those who removed the flag. I say to young men that if they cannot go to a protest without a stone in their pocket, they should stay at home. If they have any pride in their flag, they do not need to cover their face. They should be proud to be seen to support the flag.
“Let me make it very clear: I abhor and condemn all the violence of the hangers-on and the threats, arson and intimidation. There is no justification for any of it, and it should stop. It should never have started.
“The House has a responsibility. It glibly talks about shared space but gives no thought to those to whom it gives no space and who see their cultural space being relentlessly suppressed.
“I hear people talk about an attack on democracy, but look at the perversion of democracy that is practised here. Think of the two fundamental cornerstones of democracy; the right to change your Government; and the right to have an opposition. We continue to fail to address those issues by clinging to the absurdity and anti-democratic structure of mandatory coalition. Do not be surprised if there is a growing disconnect with those who are being denied those basic tenets of democracy. There is no point in lecturing people about not voting and then constructing a system that denies them the right to vote a party out of Government and the right to even have an opposition. Those issues need to be addressed.
“It is not just the people looking for trouble on our streets who need to pull back but those who, day and daily, sustain the very structures that deny the opportunity of real democracy in action. Stormont needs to tackle the beam in its own eye.”
