|
“He who wishes or intends to remodel the government…so that it will be accepted and can maintain itself…is under the necessity of retaining the shadow at least of the old methods, in order that to the people the government may seem not have changed its form, even though in reality the new forms are unlike those of the past…”
Machiavelli
The ruins of your Church stand on a hill, smouldering in
the cool crisp morning air, your material culture razed to the ground, another
covert move on the part of the hidden hands. The night before
Irish-Nationalist-Catholic thugs with the project in mind and under the
motivational suggestion of the hidden hands, demonstrated for the umpteenth time
their intolerance of all that is not Irish-Nationalist-Catholic in ethos.
Further up the hill, within sight of the church, is the police barracks where as
your church was consumed by fire the police watched television and read trashy
novels. Money made on the mountain that is your misery. They say that your
police force is the most professional in the world but you can only stare in
dismay as your Church is destroyed yet again. The hidden hands do not want you
to worship in a way that they don’t approve of, they do not want you to
express your culture, and so they attack all that facilitates cultural
expression, your material culture. The hidden hands know that culture within
must be given expression without; therefore they destroy your churches, your
orange halls, your schools and all mechanisms of cultural continuity. The
project does not, however, stop there and they also attack your very dwellings
and family for the project knows no humanity save Nationalism-Catholicism. It is
with regard to this project, and the role of the state system, that this article
seeks to address.
The state system is increasingly becoming an indirect
instrument of the hidden hands of Irish Nationalism, and all those who work
moves against the Loyalist people. “What is this?” many of those from a
traditional Unionist background will retort, “The state is the indirect
instrument of the hidden hands! How can this be?” In response to this knee
jerk reaction, a proposition that emanates from the heart more than the head,
let us look at two of the ideal types – not ideal in the sense that they are
desirable but ideal in that they are general instances of situations that may
not totally reflect all aspects of each individual experience – which result
from the activities of the hidden hands, and let us look at the role that the
state plays in each respective ideal type.
The first ideal type is that of the isolated
Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant family, or household, living in an area that is, or
is in the process of becoming, an Irish-Nationalist-Catholic area. This family
or household may have been present within this area for many years, probably at
one time the area would have been predominantly Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant but
now they are living with the enemy. The hidden hands will, however, at a time of
their choosing seek to remove the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant family or
household unless such a household is a quasi-Irish-Catholic household. In many
areas in Northern Ireland the only non-Irish-Catholic family or household that
will be tolerate in Irish-Nationalist-Catholic areas are those in which one
partner is married to a member of the Irish-Nationalist community, those that do
not go to their own respective Churches to worship, and those who are not
members of any Unionist-Loyalist organisation and do not seek to express their
culture within. When the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant household or family is to
be removed the hidden hands will send their thugs into the night and the result
will be violence against property and person. Windows will be smashed, threats
made, graffiti sprayed etc. The Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant family or household
will inevitably send for the police in the false hope that they can in some way
protect them only to find that the police are loathe to intervene at all. For
example, several years ago there was the publicised example of a Protestant
family in Larne that had to wait some six hours for the police to arrive despite
the fact that a gang of armed men trying to force entry into the home. This is
not an isolated incident; it is a widespread pattern, asserting itself in all
such situations. The reason for this reluctance on the part of the police is in
the words of the police “it annoys the Catholic if we go in”. The
susceptibilities of Irish-Nationalists, of let us be blunt – of thugs, is of
more import than the safety of any Protestant-Unionist family or household.
The second ideal type is something of a reversal from the
above, in this situation the Irish-Nationalist-Catholic family finds itself in
the midst of a predominantly Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant area or housing
estate. Unlike the former ideal type in which the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant
family found itself in the midst of an Irish-Nationalist area through misfortune
the family or household in this example of in this area by design, sent by the
hidden hands in order to further the project. They are there in order to prepare
the way for the next wave of Irish-Nationalist immigration. They begin to
perform their function of creating “living space”, by making life as
unpleasant as possible for their Protestant-Unionist neighbours. The community
will, to a greater or lesser extent, respond to this initial wave of immigration
with some slight, non-violent and uncoordinated actions against the cuckoo that
nestles within their community. The police will enter the fray at the behest of
the Irish-Nationalist foot soldiers who been instructed by the hidden hands to
utilise this indirect instrument in order to further their project. Unlike the
first ideal type, in which the police did not perform the function of
maintaining the safety of the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant family, now the
police are zealous in their commitment to ensuring that these families are
protected and maintained. Response times are a matter of minutes, not hours, and
the response to Loyalist-Unionist families and households is heavy handed.
In terms of each ideal type, that is a generalised example of what is a unique experience, we saw the corresponding response of the forces of law and order to each scenario. From this we can begin to conceive of that state system as acting as the indirect instrument if those that work moves against the Loyalist people. In the first ideal type, the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant family or household is afforded little or no protection by the police in the face of violence by the hidden hands. In the second ideal type we saw how the Irish-Nationalist-Catholic family dispatched to the area in order that the project of the hidden hands might be furthered, created disharmony within the majority Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant area yet were afforded resolute protection from the security forces. Thus, the state system though differential of response facilitates the project of the hidden hands in both situations. It is not that the hidden hands have direct influence, they do not tell the police to do their dirty work, because the police do it without prompting. Many within the ranks of the security forces may perform this function unaware of its latent results, yet ignorance is no defence. Those who are not against the project, and do not seek to expose and nullify it should be considered unconscious carriers of the structures of the project.
The Other
Spheres of State Influence
The state system does not just consist of the apparatus
that is concerned with the maintenance of ‘law and order’ but many other
institutions that carry out other important functions. Some of these
institutions and agencies might better be described as semi-state bodies but for
the sake of simplicity they will be encompassed in the term state system. These
institutions consist of social structures that perform specific functions
connected with things such as: social welfare, housing, and the dissemination of
information etc. Such structures are controlled by the state elites and
manipulated by other sections of the state system. As part of the state system
they too are imbued with the project that is disseminated throughout the entire
system. Those at the top of the hierarchy, the state elites, are more conscious
of this project and it is through them, and their relations with the forces that
exist within society and the world system as a whole, that the project is
configured. The ideological disposition of those that constitute the state
elites, as denoted by religious affiliation, cannot be ignored and helps to
shape the configuration of the project.
The state is a brigand. The state steals from the
Loyalist-Unionist working-class people in order to give to those that for
decades engaged in their own squalid war against not just the Loyalist-Unionist
people but also the state itself. What does the state do when it takes from you,
and all the British people, in the form of direct and indirect taxation? The
answer can be put simply as follows; it gives to the liar, the lawbreaker and
undeserving. The state is a source of injustice within our society, begetting
its own alienation. It is now the sad state of affairs that
Loyalists-Unionists-Protestants do not apply for certain social benefits as they
perceive them as not being means tested according to objective criteria, free
from bias. The most blatant example of this is perhaps with regard to Disability
Living Allowance. Whereas members of the Protestant community perceive that they
must qualify for this means tested benefit it would appear that members of the
Irish-Nationalist community are entitled to it almost by right, depending upon
their postcode. To venture into many Irish Nationalist-Catholic areas is to
venture into a car show room, with cars half of which have disabled tax discs,
sitting in sentinel rows.
As with D.L.A. so too with other benefits, such as
unemployment benefit or as it is now called Job Seekers Allowance. With regard
to this particular benefit it is not the act of assessing entitlement which
gives rise to the injustice but the enforcing of the rules and regulations
regarding fraud, with regard not just to claimants but with regard to companies
set up by, and based within, the Irish Nationalist community. To put it simply
the rule of law is not enforced as resolutely against small companies set up by
capital from the Irish-Nationalist community whereas with the more respectable
companies based upon indigenous capital or British capital the rule of law is
enforced as in any other part of the United Kingdom. As a result
Irish-Nationalist capital is able to compete against British Nationalist capital
with an inherent advantage that allows for a greater rate of profit. They are
able to do this through the practice that is known as “working off the
books” or “doing the double”. This enables Irish Nationalist capital to
remunerate their employees at a lower rate as the state benefits received by
their employees act as a subsidy. Bother employer and employee benefit to
varying extents from this arrangement, usually the employer is the main
beneficiary as they increase their profit ratio whilst the worker is enabled to
retain other state benefits and supplement them but is ultimately exploited by
the arrangement in that their labour is underpaid.
The state system also intervenes in a more direct way
with the structure of the labour market. The state agency, or semi-state agency,
whose role is to “restructure” the labour market, is known as the Fair
Employment Commission (F.E.C.) This state agency has from its conception been
little more than instrument of the Irish Nationalist community, despite its
protestations that it wishes to promote fair employment for all sections of all
community. This state agency, even when confronted with the facts of increasing
discrimination against the Loyalist-Unionist working class remains resolute in
its ideological stance, and orientation of action. The basic premise upon which
the F.E.C. works, and upon which it was founded, was that members of the Irish
Nationalist-Catholic community were more likely than member of the
Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant community to be unemployed. This is, according to
the ideology of the state system, because they were discriminated against. In
order to rectify this supposed state of affairs the F.E.C. has intervened in the
labour market, the results of which have been most detrimental, and over the
course of the next decade the effects of this, if the trend is continued, could
be that many members of the Loyalist working-class are subsumed into a growing
underclass.
That members of the Irish-Nationalist-Catholic community were discriminated against with regard to employment is not in dispute, indeed any Loyalist-Unionist who is being honest will admit that discrimination did indeed take place within the labour-market. What Loyalists should, however, dispute is that discrimination was ever as institutionalised, widespread or systematic a practice as many academics, journalists and politicians claim. It would be more accurate to say that the differential between Catholic and Protestant employment, increasingly nominal, was and is multifactoral. There are many different variables contributing to the differential. These variables are as follows:
· Demographic trends are increasingly important in terms of the differential between Catholic and Protestant employment. The Catholic population has a lower age profile relative to the Protestant population. At the younger age groupings the Catholic community are either equal in number or more numerous than their Protestant counterparts. Thus, if the Catholic population has a younger age profile than there will be more Catholics entering the labour market than Protestants which will in turn mean more chance of them being unemployed.
· Since the formation of the Northern Ireland state Catholics have been told, by the central institutions of Catholic civil society, to shun the offices of the state. The Catholic Church, and Sinn Fein (both Official and Provisional) argued that Catholics should not involve themselves with the new state, involvement would so they argue be an act of recognition of the state. There was also the very real threat of violence against those Catholics who took up a state position, particularly those who were prepared to work for the security forces.
· The violence of the last three decades has also played a part in this differential. Since approximately 1968, when the present phase of what is euphemistically termed the Troubles began, the security forces have increased in size, up until more recent times when they have been reduced in size once more. At the height of the manpower of the security forces there may have been approximately 20,000 people employed in the security sector of the economy. As the I.R.A. threatened to kill those Catholics that joined, and carried out this threat, many Catholics did not join out of fear. As a result the majority of security related positions of employment went to members of the Protestant community.
·
The very process by which unemployment is defined, and quantified,
has an inherent bias. A person is considered unemployed when they meet certain
criteria, as outlined and revised by countless U.K. governments. One of these
criterions is that the person is not involved in economic activity that is
reimbursed by an employer or by the revenue of self-employment. Within the
Catholic-Nationalist community there is, however, a tendency amongst the smaller
companies to employ people “off the books” or in other words “do the
double”. In parts of Belfast, such as West Belfast, this practice is almost
endemic. The result of this process thus overestimates, by slight but sizable
degree, the real amount of unemployment experienced by the Catholic-Nationalist
community.
The question we must ask ourselves is this, if these
variables were to be removed would sectarian discrimination account for the
differential between Catholic and Protestant unemployment ratios? The answer is,
for most Loyalists, and for those who have not shut their eyes to what
challenges their paradigm a resounding no. Sectarian discrimination was at most
merely a contributing variable, and it can in no way serve as a complete theory
with regard to such employment differentials.
The F.E.C. does not, will not, recognise this argument and continues to pursue an orientation of action that stifles meritocracy and leads to ever greater labour market inequality for members of the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant community. This structural change in the labour market, in which members of the Loyalist-Unionist-Protestant community are gradually squeezed, by demographics and policy orientation, out of the labour market is being brought about in part by the policies and orientation of action adopted by the F.E.C. Thus, the F.E.C. if compared to a guard dog may well bark at both Protestant and Catholic companies but it reserves its worst bark, and more tellingly its bite, for “Protestant” companies. The result is that in companies considered “Protestant”, where there is a majority Protestant workforce, there has been marked increase in the percentage of Catholic-Nationalist recruits. In a study of large companies, twenty-four of those companies with over 80% Protestant workforce, it was evident that more members of the Catholic community had been recruited than their proportion of the workforce. In the same survey it was found that with regard to those companies with over 80% Catholic workforce only one company had recruited more Protestants than their proportion overall within their respective workplace. Companies such as Fruit of the Loom, Norbrook Laboratories, United Technologies are some of the notable offenders.
Not only are Protestants disadvantaged in terms of
present labour market opportunities but so too in terms of future labour market
opportunities. Once of the central arguments of the “Yes” pro-Agreement
campaign was that peace would bring with it ever greater prosperity, that is,
more investment and therefore more employment. It is increasingly clear to
Loyalists, and all but the most credulous, that there has been neither peace nor
prosperity for the working-class Loyalist community. The peace dividend is still
to materialise for the Loyalist community, indeed cuts in spending on the
security forces are ongoing and will inevitably impact strongly and to the
detriment of economic development. There will undoubtedly be a knock on effect
upon other sectors of the economy with various sub-industries feeding off
security spending. Those jobs that will be created, and are in some cases being
created, are poorly paid service sector and tourist related employment. What is
apparent, however, is that if there are to be increasing opportunities they will
not fall to members of the Loyalist-working-class community. At a state level, a
local level and at an international level, there are agencies are working so
that investment flows into Catholic-Nationalist areas. That employment may be
created is true, but investment will be channelled into predominantly
Catholic-Nationalist locations, such as: West Belfast, Londonderry, and Newry
etc. The peace dividend, if it ever materialises, will not bring prosperity for
the Loyalist working-class.
Ideological
Apparatus
Of all state institutions perhaps the most important are
those institutions that are termed the ideological apparatus of the state
system. This sphere of the state system functions so as to disseminate
information, and therefore, shape opinions and belief systems. This ability to
shape the belief system of the Loyalist people derive from the power that such
institutions have to define the situation, and must be assessed in terms of the
media system as totality. In the absence of direct perception the opinions of
the Loyalist people are shaped by indirect perception, or to put it simply, if
you do not experience the given phenomenon you must experience it indirectly
through some medium. Truth is not something that floats around waiting to be
discovered, truth is fought for and won, part of a social process. One
person’s terrorist, to quote the old cliché, is another person’s freedom
fighter. The Loyalist has come to be defined predominantly as the
“terrorist” while the Irish Nationalist-Republican has succeeded, although
not completely, in being defined as a “freedom fighter”. Such terms are more
than mere symbols they are moral signifiers. In the struggle that is the process
of by which some things come to be defined as true and others as false it is to
the great misfortune of Loyalism and that Loyalist cause that Loyalists have
been less successful than their Irish-Nationalist-Republican counterparts.
That branch of the Northern Ireland state system
primarily concerned with the “dissemination of information” is the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The ideological apparatus of the state should,
however, be conceived of in wider terms incorporating not just the media but
also schools, universities, and even the executive/administrative institutions.
With regard to the B.B.C. the process by which the Loyalist cause is undermined
is not obvious in many cases in its intent and nature. It is not so much the
content of programmes, and by this was is meant is factual programmes concerned
with events in Northern Ireland, but the manner in which they are framed, or
structured. The programmes, on superficial appearance, appear to support neither
side in the political-ethnic conflict; they do not overtly favour the Loyalist
or the Irish-Nationalist cause. We have to delve deeper into the manner in which
the “facts” are reported and the attention given to particular issues with
regard to any given item that constitutes news, and also what constitutes news.
The most demonstrative example of how the ideological
apparatus of the state works moves against the Loyalist people is of course the
Drumcree situation. This single event, more than any other, exposes the
superficial neutrality of the ideological apparatus. One of the many ways to
discredit the cause of Loyalism is through misinformation. For example, during
the Drumcree 2000 protests hardly a day passed during which the media did not
give out misinformation, detrimental in all cases to the Loyalist cause. One
such tactic was to deliberately, and consistently, underestimate the numbers of
those who were in attendance at Drumcree. Numbers in attendance were on some
occasions underestimated by upwards of 50%. While it is difficult to determine
if this tactic of misinformation had a significant bearing on the protests it is
clear that the intent was to take away momentum through demoralisation. Perhaps
the most conclusive example of the power of the ideological apparatus, through
use of misinformation, to destroy the integrity of the Drumcree protest was the
death of the Quinn children. At the time the ideological apparatus, and media
system, framed this event as a simple act of sectarianism connected with the
Drumcree protest. It has since later emerged, as was said by certain leaders of
the Orange Order at the time, that the deaths were not sectarian but related to
family feuding and drug related issues.
Another method by which the state ideological apparatus,
and media system considered as a totality, work moves against the Loyalist
people is through the actual presentation of the actual event in question. This
method is subtle but all the more effective in its impact upon perception.
Misinformation is never durable in the face of direct perception; however, by
framing situations in certain ways it is possible to create a durable
ideological understanding of particular events. This ideological understanding
may even be strong enough to withstand direct perception and indeed will be so
because it is the framework through which direct perception is given meaning.
Through careful visual based manipulation of the way in which any given event is
reported it is possible to project and foster a definition of the situation that
is at odds with what might be called, the truth, or a more accurate rendering of
the truth.
One example of this is with regard to the manner in which
the respective representatives of the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road
Residents Coalition are interviewed. The Orange Order spokesperson will
typically be interviewed against a backdrop of chaos, tumult and the solidarity
of the crowd. If they can be likened to soldiers then they are interviewed at
the front lines, amidst all the unpleasantness of battle. The spokesperson for
the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition will be by contrast set against a backdrop
of carefully crafted calm, individuality and restrained articulation. The result
is that many Protestants, particularly those of the tendency and those that have
a guilt complex, come to think that if only the “dinosaurs” of the Orange
Order would disappear we could all live in peace. This is despite the recorded
and well-documented fact that the spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents
Coalition is a convicted Irish-Nationalist terrorist. This is a man who
attempted to bomb a British Legion and also held a family hostage at gunpoint.
The media projection of a myth, the deception a gift for those who seek to work
moves against the Loyalist people.
Another factor in the reporting of news is that of what
actually constitutes news, and what elements of any given item of news are
reported, and their duration of coverage. The ideological apparatus of the
state, and the media system reports certain things in general, and certain
things are not reported. For example, we hear about the countless people charged
and prosecuted whilst engaging in protest during Drumcree yet we hear little of
the multitude of trumped up charges made by the police, so ridiculous in many
cases that they are thrown out of court or never reach there in the first place.
We are shown scenes of violence against the security forces, pictures that are
but snap shots in time. In many cases such violence will be a reaction to police
heavy handedness, on many occasions the violence is set in motion by the
provocation of the security forces who are not above verbal abuse, and even
physical violence. On several occasions the violence of the security forces has
been against women and children, under such circumstances it is unsurprising
that many people are unable to constrain themselves when confronted with such
cowardly thugs. Almost exclusively, however, the media system concentrates its
focus upon violence perpetrated against the state forces, or violence that is
“justifiable”, or that can be framed as such.
Lastly, analysis must also be given to the concentration
upon certain aspects of any given situation by the media system. With protest,
particularly protest on the scale and fervour of Drumcree, there will
undoubtedly be an impact upon the community. The media system, particularly but
by no means exclusively, that branch which is privately owned and controlled
will tend to concentrated upon the impact that such protests have upon trade and
industry. From national news programmes to local organs of the press all will
concentrate upon the effects that such protest has upon what is termed the
“business community”. You will hear about the loss of trade, the days of
closure, the disincentive to investment, the uneasiness of foreign capital, yet
one thing you will hear little of is why did they situation come about in the
first place. Or why are British citizens being denied British rights. The
concentration upon the effects conceals the truth, and more important, takes
support away from the Loyalist people and their Loyalist organisations, in all
their struggles against the project.
That branch of the state system concerned superficially
with the dissemination of information should be thought of as part of a wider
system. This system is the media system as a whole, an international system that
transcends national boundaries. The opinions, attitudes and projections of the
state ideological apparatus find reinforcement in the media system as a whole.
The heart of the media system bleeds for those that it terms “oppressed
people”. The American sphere of the system is of particular note, due to its
cultural hegemony and transparent sympathies with the Irish-Nationalist
movement. Within American society the “Irish American” ethnic grouping have
risen to the point that they are a very powerful force within society, their
influence matching that of the Jewish community in America. Much of this
sympathy within the American sphere of the system derives from this force within
American society but also from a strong dislike for the British, particularly
the British political establishment. Many Americans draw parallels between the
struggle of Irish-Nationalists and that of their own struggle to
“emancipate” themselves from British rule.
The film industry, much of which emanates from
“Hollywood”, reflects this distorted picture of reality. To the casual
observer many of the films that have a Northern Ireland dimension, or
connection, appear not to be overt propaganda. The propaganda is, however, woven
into the very fabric of the film, it is subtle in many cases, but its latent
function is undoubtedly ideological. The typical film of this genre will involve
the Irish-Nationalist terrorist who is struggling with their conscience. This
Irish-Nationalist terrorist, usually played by a glamorous Hollywood actor,
which lends a certain cachet for the naïve, will encounter some threat or
problem, usually one of high morality. This threat is usually one to American
security or some notable American political figure (The Jackal). In each case
the Irish-Nationalist terrorist will, with the assistance of the American
security forces, combine to save the day. When the film is set within Northern
Ireland the basic theme will remain much the same, such as in the film
Resurrection Man in which Irish-Nationalists are brutalised, in every sense of
the word, while Loyalists are simply brutal and sadistic. Whereas the supposed
depths of the humanity that resides within Irish-Nationalists is brought to the
fore Loyalists are stereotyped. If we are not sadists then we are “fur coat”
snobs from the Malone Road in Belfast, thus perpetuating the ideological belief
that Protestants-Unionists-Loyalists did not experience poverty, or the social
problems faced by the Nationalist-Catholic community.
We should not, however, confine our analysis of the
ideological role of the state to only those institutions collectively known as
the media system. While these institutions are primarily concerned with the
function of “disseminating information” they are not the sole institution
that performs this function. Of great importance in the formation of the
personality structure and belief system of the individual is the part played by
the education system. The percentage of Roman-Catholic children, of primary
school age, who attend schools run and maintained by the Roman-Catholic Church,
is over 98%. The vast majority of such denominational schools are in the hands
of the Roman-Catholic Church. The purpose of these schools is simple, to
cultivate within all those who attend them, adherence to the teachings, practice
and hegemony of the Roman-Catholic Church, in all its manifestations. What is
all the more shocking is that the state provides these schools with the vast
majority of funding, leaving only the parents, and school, to find the
relatively slight amount remaining. The state system provides running costs as
well as over 85%+ of capital expenditure. The state funds what is a mechanism of
ideological control, reinforcing the hidden hands hegemonic control and thereby
a power relationship vis-à-vis Catholic civil society.
The teachings, practices and principles put forward by the
Roman Catholic-Church are of an anti-Protestant nature, and promote an attitude
of general intolerance towards not just Protestants but all non Roman-Catholic
ethnic groupings. The Roman Catholic Church promotes the view that there is only
one true faith, which is in contrast to the increasing relativism and ecumenism
of many of the established Protestant Churches. Within the hierarchy of the
Roman-Catholic Church there is the view, which disseminates throughout the whole
structure, that there is a hierarchy of faith. This notion has parallels with
the racialist conception of a hierarchy of race, and indeed, leads to the same
orientation of action. In much the same way as the early representatives of
imperialism justified their freed of plunder by dehumanising the “native”,
one way being to use not just their so called racial differences but also their
religious differences to create the ideological belief that they were, in some
manner, less than human so the Protestant is in a way less worthy of the title
human. According to the Roman-Catholic Church hierarchy of faith, in which
Protestantism as practiced by the majority of Protestants in Northern Ireland is
placed firmly at the base, the Protestant people and their culture are
dehumanised and denigrated. The Pope has recently pronounced, “The Anglican
Church is not a proper church”. It is but a short step, a link in a chain of
ideological based reasoning, to the view that it is okay to attack not just
Protestant culture but also Protestant people for ultimately it is people who
hold culture.
The Roman-Catholic Church know no toleration for all that
is not Roman-Catholic in ethos and that is not in accordance with Roman-Catholic
teaching. The marriage of a man and woman is perhaps the most striking, but by
no means only, example of this zealous intolerance. The official view of the
Roman-Catholic Church is that a man and a woman who are married in anything
other than a Roman-Catholic Church wedding service, conducted by a Priest in a
chapel or other designated location, are not married but living in sin. The
children that are conceived of this marriage are therefore bastards as they are
illegitimate. This is further evidence of the dehumanisation of the Protestant
community by the ideology promoted and fostered by the so-called
“religious”. The ceremony itself serves the very project of the hidden
hands, with the married man and woman, one of whom may be nominally Protestant,
required to sign a declaration stating that any children born of this marriage
will be brought up and educated in the Roman-Catholic faith. The Roman-Catholic
marriage is not an expression of commitment but a practice by which one
community seeks to materially and culturally annexes all non Roman-Catholic
ethnic groupings. Their project is a society in which you case to exist as an
ethnic grouping, in the full sense of the term, distinct and with political
power.
The question that we as Loyalists are left with is this, is the state redeemable? That is, can the state be swayed towards the project of the Loyalist people and how? In order to answer this question is may, however, first be necessary to answer a great many more questions. Do we as a people want the state system? Are there alternatives, workable alternatives to the state system? Can the Loyalist people ever articulate any kind of consensus in their project given the depth of division and disagreement that exists at present? What role can, and should, political violence have in the Loyalist struggle? Such questions may, however, be answered for the Loyalist people before they have time to properly analyse them, as it appears that the state system is in a rapid state of transition, from indirect instrument to that of direct instrument. With this and various other factors, such as the demystifying of the state system and ever greater oppression of the Loyalist people and their leaders, it may well be a case of events overtaking theoretical preparedness. There can be no complacency; our children must be given the education that their schooling and society never afforded. The Loyalist working-class youth is by conditioning almost a nihilist, one more push – one more spark, and they are potentially revolutionary.