Proximity talks won't do
Unionists are in absolute turmoil over whether to sit down and
talk with Sinn Féin on 15 September. In many ways it is
understandable. Unionism has within it a supremacist philosophy
which has been sustained and nurtured by successive British
governments. Unionists have never had to countenance a society in
which they sit down with nationalists on the basis of equality
and hammer out a common future. But now, that is the prospect
with which they are faced.
No wonder the divisions among them run deep. But these are not
days for sympathy or reassurance. Unionism must go through the
painful process of realising that times are changing, that the
future can be nothing like the past. Already some - in the
Churches, the business community and in the Ulster Unionist Party
- can see that talks, and through them the prospect of a new
future, should be grasped with confidence. It is difficult to
know if that tendency is in the ascendant. That some Unionists
are speaking about `proximity talks' rather than face-to-face
negotiations shows that the Ulster Unionist leadership may not be
ready to grasp the nettle. They should be loudly told that
proximity talks won't do. They have less than three weeks to face
the next logical step.
Need for vigilance
The threatening noises from Billy Hutchinson and other leading
loyalists are all too familiar to nationalists. The UVF, UFF and
LVF were formed with one aim - to murder Catholics. They have
never targeted anyone who might possibly fight back and their
history is one of shameful, sectarian cowardice. Their sham
ceasefires are now said to be under threat - albeit, it is said,
because of in-fighting.
The feuding among the death squads has much to do with the
current political changes which are taking place. As ever, at
times of change loyalists strike out and eventually their
insecurity pushes them to target nationalists. It is right that
people remain vigilant.
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