I travelled to Northern Ireland to ask the most fundamental question of this election that few are taking seriously: Will a Tory victory, and the subsequent imposition of Boris Johnson’s deal, lead to unionist disillusionment—or something more sinister? theatlantic.com/international/…
“The unionist cause is not about customs-clearance forms but in the harder-to-define concepts of identity and belonging. It is tied up in history and inheritance, identity and nation, great-grandfathers killed for king and country at the Somme and fathers killed by the IRA...”
“The unionist cause is tied up in the sense that what is being threatened is about more than which flag flies over Belfast City Hall, but a way of life, a culture and country that someone wants to take from you without your permission.”
The most toxic concern, raised again and again on my trip to Northern Ireland was the perception, real or not, that the threat of Irish Republican violence had been appeased. “If you’re sending a signal that the threat of violence gets you somewhere, that’s a really bad signal.”
There is already talk, repeated back to me in Belfast and rural Fermanagh, of blockading the ports into Northern Ireland to make the new economic border checks unworkable. Other scenarios set out included disrupting trade with the Republic of Ireland
The threats are not as hollow as they might seem. The Brexit deal states, “If the application of this Protocol leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist … the United Kingdom may unilaterally take appropriate safeguard measures.”
How serious to take these threats? Impossible to say. What’s clear: “Like the Belfast rain, feelings of betrayal, anger, and fear come and go, but never quite leave entirely. There’s a growing sense another downpour is coming.”
