Opinion

Patrick Murphy: Brexit means we are destined to be perpetual pawns on the international stage

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy

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

Brexit has enabled sectarianism to go international, says Patrick Murphy - the DUP wants to remain in a British colony while Sinn Féin supports colonial allegiance to an EU dominated by Germany. Picture by Aaron Chown/PA Wire
Brexit has enabled sectarianism to go international, says Patrick Murphy - the DUP wants to remain in a British colony while Sinn Féin supports colonial allegiance to an EU dominated by Germany. Picture by Aaron Chown/PA Wire Brexit has enabled sectarianism to go international, says Patrick Murphy - the DUP wants to remain in a British colony while Sinn Féin supports colonial allegiance to an EU dominated by Germany. Picture by Aaron Chown/PA Wire

SECTARIANISM here received a boost this week when two developments elevated it from the grubby politics of Stormont to the more sophisticated, but equally grubby, level of international affairs.

The first event highlighted Stormont's failure to deal with the past. The second illustrated its inability to address the future.

Predictably, sectarian divisions surfaced when the Secretary of State refused a public inquiry into the Pat Finucane killing.

The Dublin government and Sinn Féin criticised Britain's unwillingness to investigate government collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.

The DUP reacted by seeking to manufacture a similar level of collusion between the Irish government and the IRA.

But there is no comparison between the activities of the two governments during the Troubles.

The evidence suggests that Britain used its own forces, loyalist paramilitaries and high level informers such as Stakeknife to kill its own citizens. (For example, the UDA remained legal from 1971 to 1992.)

The Irish government had no policy to kill anyone. It did not collude with the IRA, which it regarded as a threat to the Irish state.

Some within its security forces gave the IRA information, but always as individuals and not as part of a wider government policy.

So Sinn Féin and the DUP settled into opposing international camps: the DUP supported Britain (despite regular abandonment by Boris Johnson) and Sinn Féin sided with Dublin, despite constant criticism from government there. Sectarianism had become international.

This was reinforced later in the week during the Brexit negotiations.

The Irish government, mainly through Fine Gael, has been on an anti-British crusade over Brexit, urged on by much of the Dublin media. Only President Higgins has called for restraint.

Ireland's anti-Brexit arguments might reasonably be expected to be based on economics.

Instead comments from Dublin have described the British as little Englanders and would-be imperialists, even though the House of Lords and the City are strongly anti-Brexit. (Oddly, at the same time RTÉ fawns over British royalty, crucially reporting this week that 'Kate Middleton updates winter coat with faux fur trim'.)

Sinn Féin welcomed it, seeing it as a step towards a united Ireland. But they do not understand that unity comes not from tinkering with customs posts, but from the hearts of people

While this column has highlighted the inhumanity of British imperialism (and its relic in the form of British royalty), it recognises that much of Britain's pro-Brexit vote was a protest against inequality.

Both Britain and the EU then used the border (and its sectarian implications) as a bargaining chip.

This shepherded Sinn Féin and the DUP away from seeking common ground on what could have been an economic opportunity by creating a special economic zone here.

Freeport status for the north, for example, would have allowed the free movement of goods to and from the EU and the UK thereby creating new industries here based on processing or adding value to those goods.

It would also have attracted new investment from across the globe.

At the very least, a unified Stormont could have sought Freeport status for Derry, Larne, Belfast and Warrenpoint harbours. (When the Seatruck vessel from England turns around in Warrenpoint harbour, half of it is in southern waters. Imagine the potential development of a cross-border Freeport.)

Instead, Sinn Féin and the DUP engaged in predictable arguments over whether the EU/UK border should be on land or sea. When it was located at our seaports, Sammy Wilson said it diminished his Britishness.

Sinn Féin welcomed it, seeing it as a step towards a united Ireland. But they do not understand that unity comes not from tinkering with customs posts, but from the hearts of people.

So sectarianism has gone international: the DUP wants us to remain a British colony and Sinn Féin supports colonial allegiance to Germany. (If you disagree with the German colony reference, you have forgotten Germany's role in bankrupting the Irish state to boost the profits of German banks in 2008.)

So both major Stormont parties find comfort in their respective international support.

Which is why Stormont will now be even less of a normal government and why we are destined to be perpetual pawns on the international stage.