Ulster nationalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ulster nationalism seeks the independence of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom without becoming part of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is colloquially known as Ulster by some loyalists, though the term also includes three counties from the Republic.
Independence has been supported by groups such as Ulster Third Way and the paramilitary organization known as the Ulster Defence Association which is generally associated with loyalist violence.
As long ago as 1946 W. F. McCoy, a former cabinet minister in the Government of Northern Ireland, advocated this option. He wanted Northern Ireland to become the Dominion of Ulster with a political system similar to Canada, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa, or indeed the Irish Free State prior to 1937. Some members of the Ulster Vanguard movement in the early 1970s published similar arguments, most notably Professor Kennedy Lindsay. He later founded the British Ulster Dominion Party but it faded into obscurity around 1979. Glenn Barr, a Vanguard Assemblyman and a UDA leader described himself in 1973 as "an Ulster nationalist". The successful Ulster Workers Council Strike in 1974, (which was directed by Barr), was later described by the British minister Merlyn Rees as an "outbreak of Ulster nationalism". Firm proposals for an independent Ulster were produced in 1976 by the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee and in 1977 by the UDA's New Ulster Political Research Group. The NUPRG document, Beyond the Religious Divide has been recently republished with a new introduction.
Groups such as the Ulster Independence Committee, the Ulster Movement for Self-Determination and the Ulster National Front (the local wing of the British National Front which, during the supremacy of the Political Soldiers in the 1980s, became sympathetic to the idea of independence) started to emerge. The UIC became the Ulster Independence Movement which is now defunct as a political party, although it did enjoy a period of increased support immediately after the Belfast Agreement. The Ulster Nation publication is a journal of radical Ulster nationalism. Editorially, it supports Ulster Third Way, an organisation that registered as a political party in February 2001. Ulster Third Way contested the West Belfast parliamentary seat in the 2001 general election, although candidate and party leader David Kerr failed to attract much support.
Ulster nationalism represents a reaction from within Unionism and Loyalism to the uncertain position afforded to the Union by the British government. Its leadership and members have largely all come from within Unionism and have tended to react to what they viewed as crises surrounding the status of Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom, such as the moves towards power sharing in the 1970s or the Belfast Agreement of 1998 which briefly saw the UIM become a minor force. In such instances it has been considered preferable by the supporters of this ideological movement to remove the British dimension either partially (Dominion status) or fully (independence) in order to avoid all-Ireland rule.
However whilst support for Ulster nationalism has tended to be reactive to political change, the theory also underlines the importance of Ulster cultural nationalism and the separate identity of the people of Ulster. As such Ulster nationalist movements have been at the forefront of supporting the Orange Order and upholding the 12th July marches as important parts of this cultural heritage, as well as encouraging the growth of the Ulster Scots language.
The Ulster Independence Movement has since disintegrated due to lack of support, some members joining the new party "The Third Way".
