Stormont; The Election of the Century!

Let us think back to the 2011 assembly elections. Peter Robinson was leader of the DUP, Brexit was only a dream for the little Englanders and Irish Unity was laughed at as an impossible fantasy.

Now, only 10 years later, the DUP are in chaos, The “United Kingdom” has left the European Union and Irish Unity is the Irish political hot topic with every political party shifting positions to ensure they have a say on the matter.

Either this year or next, the North of Ireland electorate will be taking to the polls to elect a new Stormont assembly, in what could be the final election before a Border Poll and the inevitable ending of partition.

To many observers, Stormont is in its death rattle. Exactly a century after the founding of the state and the implementation of partition we find ourselves in a position that nobody could have predicted in 2011. The harsh truth to many is now an unavoidable reality that Stormont and partition does and will never work.

Unionism, under threat from the middle ground electorate will be left with no choice but to eventually concede and fall back to its final defence of a “put up or shut up” referendum on Irish Unity, a referendum in which Nationalists and Republicans are confident in winning.
In the event of a successful border poll in the next term of the Stormont assembly, the elected representatives in place will be seen as the transitionary body that will shape the aftermath of such a poll which brings me to its importance.

Republican Socialists need to ensure that there exists a voice within this body that represents the socio-economic interests of the working class, while also containing a voice that is not afraid to challenge the revisionism, status-quo maintenance and speak unreservedly in the interests of the Irish Republican electorate.

The political power of the Irish Unity movement will never be in the elected chambers, nor will it exist in the halls of Westminster or the Dáil, its power will exist at a street level and within our homes and communities, there is no parliamentary road to a 32 county Socialist Republic, but in this rapidly changing political environment every vehicle will need to be fully utilised to ensure the direction we take as a nation evolves around the interests of the people.

Joe Matthews, Yes For Unity