Henry McDonald: Young loyalists should beware of false prophets

Matthew raises the alarm in his Gospel: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Throughout the history of Northern Ireland and most pronounced of all during the Troubles, there have also been a string of false prophets who emerge at times of political crises offering deliverance.

It is a phenomenon that has mainly existed within unionism and has some distinct characteristics. These ‘false prophets’ have been in the main ‘Super Prods’ who rant and rail against every step towards historic compromise, and who elevate the geo-political battle to save the Union as something much more millennial and religious.

Unlike Matthew’s false prophets however the ‘Super Prods’ are more like tempting serpents than ravenous wolves.

During the conflict from 1969 onwards we have seen these figures skulking in the background and fringes of loyalism, playing whispering games and convincing the young and gullible to carry out acts of violence which they themselves are incapable of doing.

These ‘false prophets’ have played a goading role in the shadows urging young working-class Protestants into sectarian terrorism.

From the early years of the resurgent UVF down to Billy Wright these characters have exercised influence and provided ‘justification’ for paramilitarism.

Take the example of the late extremist self-appointed pastor Alan Campbell. On the extreme edge of loyalism Campbell kept popping up in the 70s, 80s and even the 90s to stir young men into violent actions.

The former school-teacher of course never engaged in any violence himself but rather preached and pamphleteered his particular brand of ‘holy war’. He once exercised a hold over George Seawright who became one of the most notorious of the ‘Super Prod’ local politicians. Later on, Campbell sought to influence Billy Wright and even penned a tribute to the murdered LVF leader asking readers if there was room in heaven for the mid Ulster loyalist.

Today I know of at least two men who wasted years of their lives in prison because they listened to Campbell and his recurring themes about Ulster facing its Apocalypse down through the decades.

What these men now accept is that not only was Campbell a false prophet, but he was also a puppet. These ex-loyalist prisoners firmly believe Campbell was an agent provocateur whom the British state used to spy on and stir up division, confusion and dissent within the ranks of loyalism.

His recruitment may have been the result of blackmail by the security forces but there isn’t a single loyalist I know who doesn’t doubt that Campbell worked for the state.

The reason I raise the example of Campbell and indeed other self-styled saviours of unionism and loyalism is because at present there is a grave danger of young people being lured back into the vortex of political violence.

While there is genuine and deep resentment about the Northern Ireland Protocol burning buses on estates in Newtownards and Rathcoole isn’t going to change a thing about the post-Brexit deal.

The resurrection of the Protestant Action Force AKA the UVF in statements to the media or messages scrawled walls will not create the conditions in which compromise can be found over the protocol.

It will only result in misery, death and imprisonment for those mainly young loyalists who get sucked into violence and disorder. Their lives will be ruined while the new wave of ‘false prophets’ sit back and engage in armchair and laptop warfare.

The latest sabre rattling appeared last week on a gable wall in the centre of Newtownards. The menacing message had a poetic touch to it:

Warnings were made, they haven’t been heeded

Our message is clear, A war is needed…PAF

Such a warning is not like the one from the Book of Daniel when Belshazzar’s feast is interrupted by the hand of God writing on the wall a prophecy predicting the end of the Babylonian king’s reign.

Rather our poet in the Co Down town is but in a long line of false prophets whom no one least of all the young should heed.

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