Thursday November 30 1995

Still Paisley after all these years

BY HILDA MAC THOMAS

To understand unionism, it is not enough to listen to OUP spokespersons calmly explaining why Articles Two and Three should be removed from the 1937 Constitution, or why there should be a Stormont Assembly. It is equally important to listen to the fundamentalist rant of the DUP.

For years the DUP has voiced gut unionist feelings - a narrow band of three - distrust, fear and rage. Last Saturday's DUP conference displayed all three in good measure: rage at republicans and their `co-conspirators' in the peace process, distrust of the British government and the OUP, fear of constitutional change, of any change.

By the end of the conference, the DUP faithful had left no one in any doubt of what they stood against. They rejected the peace process - the ``piece by piece'' process - as a conspiracy by ``John Hume, Dublin, Clinton and the Vatican''.

They rejected the proposed twin-track approach, in which DUP leader Ian Paisley said they would be expected to speak to republicans on equal terms. Paisley could not resist a bit of Thatcher rhetoric: ``My answer to that proposal is no. No, unconditionally. No, emphatically, and no surrender, finally.'' DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson added that in a Stormont assembly the DUP would only talk to Sinn Féin in plenary sessions, not in small committees. The British government's hard line on decommissioning cut no ice with the DUP. What they want is for the IRA to disband as well.

The DUP also rejected the British government's whole strategy in the peace process, which they view as giving in bit by bit to republican demands - hence the quip ``piece by piece process''. This ``weak-kneed and vacillating'' government would have unionists ``barter their liberties and sell their Protestant birthright''. Treachery was everywhere, from the involvement of the Dublin government in managing the twin-track approach, to the `parity of esteem' promised by the various joint declarations and documents. The decision of Queen's University to stop playing God Save The Queen at graduation ceremonies - in line with British universities - was another sign of this conspiracy to remove this `Protestant birthright'.

The cease-fire has clearly destabilised the DUP's world. Paisley complained about the number of people laid off in the private security sector. The cease-fire put jobs at risk! The cease-fire turned everything upside down, `murderers' released and victims ignored.

As Peter Robinson pointed out, ``liberty is more important than peace''. `Liberty' is code word for their freedom to rule the Six Counties unchallenged, as a Protestant state for a Protestant people. The majority rules, the minority lies down. Paisley's remark about the IRA without arms being a ``toothless monster'' suggests that in a sense the DUP would nearly prefer a return to armed conflict, so that boundaries would become clear again.

The result of the divorce referendum hopefully points to a more tolerant and pluralist ethos in the 26 Counties. There were no such pointers at the DUP conference last Saturday. The DUP has been politically marginalised by the British and the media over the past four years. Their refusal to talk to the Dublin government as part of Strand Two of the Mayhew Talks in 1992 was accepted as a predictable irrelevance.

Their attitude to the loyalist cease-fire of October 1994 was met with anger and disbelief - they were reported as having advised loyalists against declaring a cease-fire. Their attempt at setting up a pan-unionist forum received a cool response from the OUP, who delegated a few members of the lower echelons of the party to attend the meetings.

Yet the DUP remains the voice of unionist fears. Because these fears are expressed, the OUP can afford to adopt a rational tone and defend the same territory with the force of argument. Both sets of unionists can afford to remain entrenched because of the British government's patronage. It is time the British government accepted its own responsibility for the sectarian nature of the Six County set-up.