What Beliefs Of Republicans/ Nationalists And Loyalist/ Essay Example

who achieved power and influence peacefully either by protest or the vote, these people include Daniel O'Connell who in 1829 was granted Catholic emancipation following a successful campaign, Redmond and Parnell. Daniel O'Connell is the main moderate Nationalist hero as he got what he wanted through peaceful methods and the modern day moderate Nationalists such as the SDLP try to follow in his footsteps and completely dismays anyone who tries to achieve what they want through other such violent methods.The SDLP manifesto for 2004 enclosed tells us of what they intend to do in Europe and what they have achieved in the past, on the page in both sectors the word peace is in capital letters which indicates to the reader that this is how they aim to achieve what they want to get.

The aims which the SDLP intend to achieve with the help of your vote are given on the manifesto for 2004 and tell us that they want; more jobs, more investment, more for the community, more for farmers, more for the environment, and more for developing countries, these agree with what the general moderate Nationalists aims are. Read about similarities between federalists and democratic-republicansModerate Nationalists who follow the SDLP political party are predominantly Roman Catholic they tend also to be middle class citizens who are university educated, aside from this the SDLP's power and number of people voting for them is declining. The lifestyle of the moderate Nationalists is also very different from the Unionists/Loyalists; they tend to use Irish names for their children such as Siobhan, Shaun, and Seamus etc.Nationalists in

general are more loyal to the green, white and gold flag (tri-colour), this is further proved by the colour of the SDLP's manifesto for 2004 which is mainly green indicating that they are loyal to the flag. The sports which Northern Irish Nationalists play such as Gaelic football, Hurling and Camoige are sports which the Southern Irish community would play and this shows their loyalty to the South of Ireland.

The Nationalists try to show their loyalty even more by reading certain newspapers such as the 'Irish Times' and the 'Irish News'.Nationalists also try to use the Irish language as much as they can in street signs, schools and names they also tend to watch Southern broadcast television channels such as RTE. Overall the Moderate Nationalists are predominantly Protestant and set out to achieve their aims by peaceful methods. Republicans are the second type of Nationalists and they are also predominantly Catholic. The main Republican party is Sinn Fein which is written in Gaelic and when translated means 'ourselves alone'.Sinn Fein's main party leader is Gerry Adams who is closely followed by Martin McGinnis and Gerry Kelly.

Another up and coming leader is Bairbre de Brun, she has was the spokesperson for Sinn Fein in the recent European elections (manifesto for 2004 is enclosed). The aims of Sinn Fein are exactly the same as the aims of the SDLP. Although the main difference between these two types of Nationalism is the fact that the Republicans are prepared to use violence to achieve their aims. The Republicans i.

e.Sinn Fein are a political party who have been, up until recently, prepared to use violent methods. They

claim that their violence is directed towards legitimate targets i. e.

security targets. Recently there has been a shift from when the Good Friday Agreement happened in 1998, they have decided to try peaceful methods, and this peaceful move is seen as more a tactical one rather than one which by choice they would have made. Some people do not agree with this such as other shadowy Republican Paramilitaries like the Provisional IRA, Continuity IRA, Real IRA, and the INLA.These Paramilitaries want to keep such violent methods and have shown this by an event such as the Omagh bombing in 1998, of which the Continuity and Real IRA were behind.

They did it because they wanted to show that they were going to keep using violent methods until their aims were met. Although recently there has been so called ceasefires announced by the Provisional IRA and the INLA, but as Gerry Adams infamously once said "they haven't gone away you know". Sinn Fein has been linked to the IRA but constantly denies these accusations, even though Gerry Adams was 'once' ironically the leader of the Provisional IRA.Sinn Fein are now using their less violent methods to try and enter local elections, European elections, Southern Irish elections, and Westminster elections to achieve what they want to get, and that is a 32 county state with rule from Dublin. The Republicans live very much the same lifestyle as the moderate Nationalists but the Republicans are supported more so by the working class as they tend to like these violent methods, Sinn Fein as a political party are on the up and are beginning to annihilate the SDLP.

The

Republican parties look back in Irish history for events or people who they can adhere to, these people tend to be martyrs i. . people who have died at the hands of the British, people such as Wolfe Tone who led the United Irish Men into rebellion in 1798, the 1916 Easter Rising when 15 leaders were executed by the British Army, and the Hunger strikers such as Bobby Sands, these events and people all used violent methods and this is why the Republicans see them as their heroes. The manifesto enclosed shows the aims of what Sinn Fein plans to achieve in Europe.

The colour scheme of it is green, white and gold reflecting the Irish flag, the aims are firstly written in English and then translated into Gaelic showing that they are loyal to the Republic of Ireland.Overall within Nationalism, there are two different types, there are the moderate Nationalists (SDLP), who use peaceful methods and the Republicans (Sinn Fein, IRA) who are prepared to use violence to get what they want. Unionists in Northern Ireland are generally Protestant, Unionists want to keep the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, they want this for many reasons such as they want to keep their identity as British citizens, they want to keep their religion alive and also for economic prosperity as they feel that Britain gave them this prosperity and therefore they should be loyal to it.Within Unionism there are several different types, the two largest are the Anglicans and the Presbyterians but there are some others as well such as Methodists, Free Presbyterians, Elim Pentecostal, and Brethren.

In the Unionists quest to

keep the Union between Britain and Northern Ireland, there are many different political parties and ways in how they intend to do this, these are the Moderate Unionists and the Loyalists, they both are Unionist but are very different with. The Moderate Unionists are represented by two main parties: the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party).The DUP is led by a man named Ian Paisley who is closely followed by Jim Allister (whose manifesto is enclosed), Peter Robinson, Jeffery Donaldson and Nigel Dodds, and, the UUP (Ulster Unionist Party), the leader of this party is David Trimble who is in power with Jim Nicholson (whose Manifesto is enclosed). Both Parties aim to protect the Union with Great Britain because they want to keep their religion, their economic security, and their cultural identity. The UUP tend to be more flexible and tolerant whereas the DUP are very hardcore and will not even by in the same room as Sinn Fein.The manifesto for the DUP in the 2004 European Parliamentary Election (enclosed) is a booklet which would indicate that overall this is the biggest party in Northern Ireland, it gives all of the aims in detail and what other people's views are within the DUP some of the aims given are, defending Ulster's interests in an enlarging Europe, keeping the pound, cutting waste, standing against terrorism working for farmers, battling for funding, protecting the fishing industry, and opposing a super state.

The UUP manifesto also gives detailed aims which are much the same as the DUP's above. The moderate Unionists aim to achieve what they want by peaceful arguments, and by the ballet box (election). Both the UUP and the

DUP have the same vies of history and the same aims, although the UUP have so far been more inclined to work with Sinn Fein e. g. Good Friday Agreement/Belfast Agreement.Both Parties look back with pride to 1690 when King William defeated the Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne, they also see Carson and Craig who were Protestants leaders in the early 20th century as their heroes, and want to keep Partition.

Both of these Political Parties are predominantly Protestant, the UUP tend more to be Church of Ireland whereas the DUP tend to be more no-conformist i. e. Free Presbyterians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Brethren, however this is extremely broad brush.The UUP's electorate numbers are beginning to fall and they are becoming a minority whereas the DUP are on the up, the UUP tend to be middle class citizens and the DUP are generally supported by the lower middle class.

The DUP's and the UUP's loyalty to Britain is emphasized in their manifestos enclosed as they display the British flag on the front and the main colour scheme is red, white and blue. Unionists use a very British like lifestyle, they tend to use name such as John, Peter, Reginald, and Elizabeth.They are very loyal to the British flag (red, white and blue) and London. The sports which Unionists tend to play are very British such as hockey, football, and rugby, also children tend to go to state school. Even the newspapers which they read are British such as the 'Newsletter', they also tend to get their information of the television from the 'BBC' channels. Overall the Moderate Unionists consists of two

parties- the DUP and the UUP who are predominantly Protestant and believe in using peaceful methods to achieve their aims.

The Loyalists are the second type of Unionists in Northern Ireland and these are generally Protestant. The main Loyalist political party is the PUP (Progressive Unionist Party) led by David Irvine. The PUP have the same aims as the Moderate Unionist parties but there is one significant difference and that is that the PUP are prepared to use violence to achieve these aims. These violent Loyalists are prepared to use violence but argue that their violence is reactive i.

e. they only kill a Catholic if a Catholic kills a Protestant.Although in recent developments other shadowy Paramilitary organisations such as the UDA (Ulster Defence Association) led by Jackie McDonald, Andre Shoukri, and Jim Gray, the UVF (Ulster Voluntary Force) but it is not publicly known who its the leader of this organisation, the UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters) who are connected to the UDA and is led by the same people including a man named Johnny Adair, have reached ceasefires which have been recognised by British government , they have said that they will stop violence, decommission in return for a British investment in Protestant areas.Although there are other Paramilitary organisations which have not reached a ceasefire, these are, the Red Hand Commandos but to date the leader is unknown, and the LVF (Loyalist Volunteer Force), we also do not publicly know who leads this organisation. These Loyalists groups look back to the same historical heroes as the Moderate Unionists, for which the Moderate Unionists hate them as they do not want to share their heritage with

'thugs', although the Loyalists and the Moderate Unionists do link on their hatred towards Sinn Fein.

These Loyalists like to call themselves Protestants but they do not go to church and be protestant by religion they see it more as a title that isn't Catholic. Most of the loyalists tend to be working class the organisations tend to dominate working class areas through intimidation, bribery and drug dealing but they share the same British lifestyle as the Moderate Unionists. Overall Loyalists are predominantly Protestant and the main party is the PUP although there are other shadowy Paramilitaries who some of which have called a ceasefire.Recent developments are that now we live under direct rule, Stormount has shut down i. e. local government has ceased to exist.

Sinn Fein hate this, SDLP hate this because it is a foreign government who are ruling. The DUP and UUP like this, but would prefer to have local powers with local people. It seems to be forcing the groups together and they want to bring back Stormount because if they did they would have more local power, on i. e. education, and they also think that Great Britain will give them money to do this. Soon Sinn Fein and the Dup are going to get together.

This happened recently in Leeds Castle on the 17th of September 2004 and they were going to come to a solution but it did not work, but it seems to have started something and things are looking more optimistic than they have ever been. Even more recently, due to their supposed involvement with the Northern bank robbery, which happened on the 19th December 2005, Sinn

Fein have become the targets of a backlash within the Northern Irish community. Their association with the murder of Robert McCartney along with the robbery has made Sinn Fein's struggle increasingly difficult.