Letter: Years of unionist apathy and neglect have taken their toll on our community and rendered us powerless

Indoctrinated, many in the unionist community, especially the middle-class, are displaying an Irish mindset.

People are increasingly comfortable with the term ‘Northern Irish’ it seems so innocuous, and has crept up on them almost unnoticed.

Through sport, music and the Irish language, people are being conditioned and prepared for change.

The British and Irish governments are promoting this and moulding public opinion. They have weaponised immigration to create a ‘New Ireland’ cult and that has introduced another problem. The media, and the churches, flying blind, are useful tools, to promote this, and have been harnessed to wear down resistance.

This radical approach is not without risk because it could spill over in both communities and provoke a reaction. Both sides are victims of their past, and it has conditioned us to live in it, this is dangerous because it has blinded us, and shifted our focus from more sinister forces at work, forces that threaten all of us.

Globalism is the Trojan horse wheeled in to introduce change, it seems harmless and looks good, till they spring the trapdoor! The genie is out of the bottle and the enemy at the gates is now on the inside.

The nationalist community is much better equipped to deal with change, but even they will notice towns and cities set in a different landscape. Their church, the schools, and the GAA, have laid solid foundations that promote their culture and renders them less vulnerable to change, they are not immune from it, but it buys them more time.

By contrast the unionist community, badly equipped, is already on the slide, years of apathy and neglect have taken their toll and rendered us powerless. We have neglected our history and our community, and won’t survive the culture shocks building and shaking the ground under our foundations.

Our unionist politicians have failed to spot the danger of uncontrolled immigration, and the failure to integrate; we are in danger of creating more ghettoes, we should know better, but we haven’t learned a thing.

To add to our woes, Britain has betrayed us, yes they make a habit of that, and we have failed to rise to the challenge, they have shaken us off like a bad flu, and left us to flounder, and we are struggling to find a cure.

Our fathers were men of their time, but they were men! Britain cut them off, but they carved Northern Ireland from the wreckage. We had leaders then, but they’re now thin on the ground, and having run out of options we are ill-equipped to deal with a crisis, and locked in a struggle to fight a modern war of words, with slings and arrows.

Clive Maxwell, Bleary