Opinion

Patrick Murphy: Council elections a catwalk for sectarianism

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy is an Irish News columnist and former director of Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education.

Muppet mock election posters in Belfast Picture Mal McCann.
Muppet mock election posters in Belfast Picture Mal McCann. Muppet mock election posters in Belfast Picture Mal McCann.

MARK Twain said that if voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it. This, of course, is a scurrilous and cynical attack on democracy and one which cannot remain unchallenged in the light of next Thursday's local council elections.

As a society which has enjoyed several epidemics of voting in recent years, we are only too aware of the wonderful benefits which elections have brought us and we are eternally grateful to our politicians for the enlightened and enriched nature of life here. (I hope you believe this.)

So, to prove the cynics wrong, let us look at the main parties' election literature and broadcasts to illustrate the difference which these magnificent parties will make to our humble lives.

The biggest change will come from Sinn Féin. Its manifesto promises to build "a new, agreed and united Ireland". Oh good, that's Mark Twain put in his place. Mind you, we are not sure when it will happen.

The party says it is working to achieve (a lovely phrase) a border referendum "in the next short number of years". (I have heard of odd numbers, even numbers, prime numbers, whole numbers, decimals and fractions, but I am not quite sure what a short number means.)

Meanwhile, in a rival construction project, the DUP wishes "to build a prosperous, growing and global Northern Ireland." (Can't you just visualise armies of competing cranes along the border?)

The relevance of these two promises to having your bin emptied is not quite clear, but both projects will presumably put the rates up.

Perhaps the most exciting change will be SF's delivery of "a united Ireland of shared prosperity".

Since the only way to share prosperity in an Ireland of equals is through some form of communism, this electoral pledge will presumably mean government control of industry and commerce, the end of social and economic class and the abolition of private property. (That should knock Brexit off the news for a few days.)

In fairness, the DUP manifesto makes references to local government, including better play facilities for children with disabilities and greater efficiency targets.

But this is largely outweighed by sections on the benefits of union with Britain (with a photograph of the RAF's Red Arrows) the centenary of the northern state (including a proposed Armed Forces Day) and dealing with the past (with an emphasis on "setting the terrorist campaigns in proper context").

Of the three other main parties, only Alliance has concentrated primarily on local government issues in their manifesto.

The UUP broadcast probably best captures the public mood of political apathy, but it will be difficult to translate that into votes.

The SDLP largely avoids local government in its broadcast, identifying issues such as same-sex marriage, partnership and prosperity (although the SDLP's promised prosperity does not appear to involve the same degree of social upheaval as Sinn Féin's.)

There are also other smaller parties and a wide range of excellent independent and community candidates, most of whom focus entirely on local government issues.

But in terms of the main parties, Thursday's poll is not about bins, parks or planning. It is not an election. It is a political fashion parade.

And the current fashion is sectarianism, which has been in vogue for some time. Sinn Féin will "stand up to the DUP", and the DUP says it will "stand up for Northern Ireland". (With all that standing, there will not be much building done.)

Even the local government system is a sectarian creation. The previous model stemmed from the demands of the civil rights movement. It was based on the Macrory Report's recommendation of identifying larger towns as centres of local administration to match patterns of human activity such as shopping, work and recreation.

For the first time in the north's history, local administration was based on people, not politics. But Sinn Féin and the DUP changed all that in 2014 and butchered the 26 scientifically-based council areas into 11 sectarian ones, which bear little relation to human or other administrative patterns. It was the north's greatest gerrymander and undid the work of the civil rights movement.

We are now guaranteed six unionist councils, four nationalist councils and a divided Belfast.

This election will reinforce that pattern and change nothing. Analysts will later explain which parties did well, but it will not matter, because politics here has always been about electoral process, not social or economic product.

So this column was wrong to condemn Mark Twain and owes him an apology. Sorry about that, Mark. When it comes to elections here you were quite right. They make little difference. But then fashion shows rarely do.