Artist: I was naive and wrong to agree with LAD satirists that loyalists block progress when in fact republicans are the problem

If I questioned the street action in America I would open myself to severe (possibly career-threatening) criticism from the online lobby; a lobby that claims the mantle of equality, justice and kindness .

Yet, I’ve been thinking these past few weeks, when I questioned and even heavily criticised the loyalist street protests of 2012/2013 I was positively celebrated by that same lobby.

I was warmly embraced by republicans. They wanted to know more about my views and speak about them. But as soon as I levied the same criticism on the republican movement that I did on loyalism I was positively abandoned, even blackballed.

I can see now, they mistook my criticism of unionism/loyalism for a rejection of unionism/loyalism.

I can also see now, I had made a mistake in fully embracing the satire group Loyalists Against Democracy (LAD).

With the huge set piece political acts of theatre that happened between 2007 and 2012 — from the Chuckle Brothers to the McGuinness handshake with the Queen — I was fully signed up to the world of “equality, respect, parity of esteem”.

On the latter spectacle, David Cameron said, “I think it was the most transformative bit of diplomacy I have seen.“

I barely looked at politics, it was all something to be seen from afar; so I knew nothing of the actual chemistry and background dynamics, nor much detail about our history.

That naivete began to crumble as I looked deeper into the undergrowth of Irish politics.

I remember Martin McGuinness pleading with Number 10 that the peace process was precariously fragile, then that night a motion was made by Sinn Fein to remove the prefix London from Londonderry.

I remember Pearse Doherty parroting the lines of respect and equality, then a short time later he made headlines saying that the Irishmen who fought in WW1 were fighting for a foreign power.

I travelled to Dublin in 2015 to watch the state commemoration of O’Donovan Rossa, and in the afternoon watched a celebration by Sinn Fein and the republican movement.

As I listened to Gerry Adams oration at Glasnevin, where Patrick Pearse has spoken nearly a century before, I listened to the words and realised there was no remorse of change of mindset from Sinn Fein, just a change of tactics.

Expressed explicitly by Mary Lou McDonald in Soloheadbeg when she paid her tributes to Dan Breen and spoke of the need to honour “our Fenian dead” and to “finish the journey, where Tipperary leads Ireland will follow. Tiocháidh ár lá.”

So yes, it’s true to say, the scales had truly fallen from my eyes.

For a while I was totally on board with the McGuinness PR and statescraft blitz.

If you look at it from afar, its hard to argue with. And compared with what unionism and loyalism are doing, it’s light years ahead. But it doesn’t mean it’s genuine or sincere.

Just look at the recent controversy surrounding the planned RIC commemoration. What was to be a quiet dignified ceremony in Dublin to last not more than 10-20 minutes caused national uproar.

The police force of Ireland of pre-partition, that almost every unionist would support, was condemned as being a wicked and evil foreign force equivalent only to the Nazis. And Sinn Fein vociferously drove this narrative.

You only have to look down south to see the true soul of the republican movement.

They want to remove to statue of King Edward that sits outside Leinster House. Sinn Fein supporters and elected representatives regularly lambast the cross-community anthem ‘Ireland’s Call’ that plays when Ireland plays a rugby international.

So we can see, when republicans have total control, they will have no truck, space or place for anything British.

When I supported LAD, while a unionist, I thought loyalists through their public displays of protest were the hindrance to progress. But now I can see that while people in the republican movement may be able to perform sweetheart public displays of tolerance and affection, through their total blind commitment to their own selfish agenda, they are the true hindrance to progress.

And so, I was naive and wrong to jump on the LAD bandwagon.

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