Time for Opposition Coalition?

 

Willie Drennan

The flag dispute has managed to highlight the fact that there is clearly a growing disconnect with our government, and yet no real opportunity to vote in an official opposition: as is the norm in the Western world. While Abuse of Power by government in London, Dublin, Brussels and Washington has been exposed in recent times; there prevails in Northern Ireland a confident sense of immunity. This is due to a fear in London, Dublin, Brussels and Washington, and Belfast, that if the Ulster political boat starts to rock we’ll all start shoving each other overboard again. Best to turn the blind eye.

The reasons for the recent decision at City Hall and emotional ‘flag protests’ have much to do with the cultural war-game that has been raging in Northern Ireland since the Big Agreement of 1998: a cultural war-game that is not going to end as long as we have a political institution, that by its structure and it’s nature, depends on and thrives on Orange and Green division. We all agree we can never go back to a situation where a Unionist/Protestant party dominates over an opposition Nationalist/Catholic party but equally we shouldn’t tolerate the potential for 50 years of misrule by a closed-shop ‘coalition’.

 An opposition coalition, of course, would not only have to include those with British and All-Ireland aspirations but also the so-called Left and the so-called Right; the Liberals and the Radicals, and significantly those from  working-class backgrounds who presently feel unrepresented.  It would definitely be a strange fusion of folk but no stranger than the strange bedfellows currently at Stormont.

The Opposition Coalition would need to be in agreement on a creative economic strategy that would be supportive of local sustainable enterprise, without feeling the need to sell off Ulster’s heart and soul to far-off foreign corporations. It would need to have the common goal of providing an accountable, transparent form of government for all of the people. While respecting everyone’s political aspirations there would need to be an agreement to put the constitutional issue to bed for a reasonable period to allow for regeneration of a confident and stable economy. 

There is no reason for confidence that a new ‘coalition’ at Stormont would do any better at governing than the present ‘coalition’. Many of the present establishment are professional and sincere enough in their approach to politics: but nonetheless, they are part of the murky world of party-politics that necessitates keeping the head down at times; and saying nothing about unethical goings-on. 

What we the electorate would gain though, would be the basic right of opportunity to vote for real change at election time.  It would probably take a few elections to get it sorted as those in power seem comfortable with the present carve-up: they have the cash and the big corporate connections to fuel their election campaigns and keep things as they are. In the interim we could hope to edge-open some doors of transparency for the present ‘coalition’ at Stormont - and for all those on their pay-roll.

 

United States of the Atlantic Isles?

 

 By Willie Drennan [From Issue 11 of the Ulster Folk}]

 

Fifteen years on from the Big Agreements as we each try to decipher the Good Friday, Belfast or St Andrews versions: as we listen to the experts deliver their indisputable analysis on what it all clearly means; in contradiction to other experts, is it time to think outside the box?

 

Okay ‘outside the box’ is an over-used buzz term these days but we really do need to get out of the boxes that the government, or governments, have stuck us in. There really is not much glimmer of hope just now as the powerful ‘who call the shots’ are happiest when the local tribes are at each other’s throats. It keeps them in power: keeps their employees on big salaries and pensions, keeps the Peace and Conflict Industries afloat.  Any genuine move to a harmonious free tolerant society is not going to come from any of the five main parties at Stormont: they simply have too much invested. We don’t even have an official opposition to address the lack of basic accountability and  transparency.

I’ve had notions for many years now, notions too idealistic and off the wall for me to even think about putting out there: but ever since an IRA commander and a Free Presbyterian commander became partners in government and close buddies, perhaps my ideas might now be entertained by some.

If you examine the history of the British Isles and then pause to wonder why we are where we are today, most of us will probably conclude that we just been pawns in the big game of chess played out by the lusters of power and the masters of war. And there really is no end to 400 years of conflict and division in sight until we all fully grasp this.

It is interesting what is happening in Scotland with the referendum, and how even the thought of the break-up of the United Kingdom gets the other regions all fired up.  Then there are the calls for a UK referendum on the EU, not to mention Sinn Fein’s call for an Irish border poll. Is it time to consider a new political alignment of the British Isles (that’s a geographical term, not trying to get political here)? There’s no chance of a Dublin controlled United Ireland that would be separate from the rest of the British Isles. Absolutely no chance. For one thing it’s too late now as we are all starting to understand that the capital city of a new United Ireland would be Brussels, not Dublin anyway.

I understand those in Ireland who feel it is important to respect their forefathers who fought for liberty for Ireland: but I don’t think their ancestors would be too happy about how the cause they fought for has evolved. Similarly those of us in Ulster who had ancestors who fought and died for our right to freedom will wonder if it was all worthwhile defending Derry, charging at the Somme or taking on the IRA. 

What we need is a dream that we can aspire to where there are no winners and no losers. Okay that’s too idealistic: there always have to be losers, but the losers should only be the handful who haven’t had the foresight to jump ship and join the revolution before they get booted out.

So, can we explore the possibility of a new political alignment of the British Isles?   I’m even willing to leave out the British geographical bit and just call it the Atlantic Isles or something. Is this too radical of a notion in these times when it looks like the United Kingdom is in for an overhaul whether we want it or not? Is it too much to ponder the notion that people in Ireland just might be better off having a federal-style government arrangement with its closest neighbours and ancient kinfolk – with real potential for a high degree of self-determination?  Would it really be out of the question for the people of Northern Ireland to have a mutual agreement with the wonderful folk across the Irish Border?

 

Okay for those of you who are still hinging in there with me, if only for amusement, what would you have to lose?  In Ulster we would get to celebrate the Twelfth in an atmosphere of tolerance -The Sash or Fields of Athenry causing offence to nobody - the Twelfth even in Dublin perhaps as Ireland gives the go ahead to promote its other distinct and rich culture. We could jointly sell our rich diversified culture world wide: we could make our own clothes and furniture again, promote our own food; we would never again feel the need to sell our souls to big foreign masters of wealth and war.  We could figure out minor details like the Royal Family, European Landlords and the Euro later.

 

The big winners would be the next generation.  Well okay then: anyone got a better idea?

 

My Work as an Ulster-Scot's artist.

 Overview of my work in Northern Ireland 1997 to 2014.  

Willie Drennan

[This is for the benefit of those who have expressed an interest in how much money I have sucked out of the government’s Ulster-Scots pot].

First of all, I am an Ulster Scot. Everything about me is Ulster Scots: my family background, the area I grew up in, my natural form of speech, the music, songs, poetry and stories that I grew up with. As a teenager in the late 1960’s I was writing songs and poems in Ulster Scots.

 I left Northern Ireland in 1976 to travel and work in different countries before settling in Canada for fourteen years. While in Canada in the early 1990’s I helped form the Ulster Scottish Society of Canada. When I returned to Northern Ireland in 1997 I immediately found work as a folk musician/ storyteller who primarily worked within the Ulster Scots genre.

I applied to the Arts Council for funding in 1997 to develop, workshop and promote an Ulster Scots stage show in relation to the 1798 Rebellion in Mid Antrim. I receive a small grant. We toured the show successfully, both in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. This was before the government’s Ulster Scots Agency was invented and long before it was operational.

 Since that I have continued to be a self-employed artist and have not directly applied for personal funding. I have however been hired to participate in concerts, projects, and festivals that would have received some government assistance.  The majority of my Ulster Scots work, up until 2009 would have been through the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra Association, which I fronted and coordinated  for much of that time-period . The vast majority of the work of the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra did not receive direct funding. We performed just over 800 concerts: the majority of which were paid for via  ticket sales. We produced 12 CD recordings and 2 DVD’S which were simply financed through sales. We did not receive public funding to produce the recordings as we simply did not need any. 

The only direct funding that we applied for, and actually the main reason for the formation of the association, was to develop a Youth Programme. We did not teach beginners but we engaged a large number of already trained young musicians to perform our material and style on stage. We also gave workshops and performances in schools. We received some funding from the Arts Council and the Ulster Scots Agency towards this. I personally was heavily involved in this project but, for the record, due to a strange set of circumstances resulting from dysfunctional government practice, I possibly ended up with no government money at all for the extensive work that I carried out.

It is necessary to point out that while I was involved in the funding application process with the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra this is not money that I required for myself as I was already well-known and regularly engaged as an Ulster Scot performer. And, as a matter of fact I would go as far as to state that the small amounts of funding that the orchestra did receive for the Youth Project was a curse.

Outside the orchestra the only other funding that I received, through another cultural association, was towards my second book on Ulster Scots. This small grant was spent on costs related to research, design and marketing. The book was printed and published without the aid of government funding.

 Someone also queried the TV shows that I presented. I was hired by an independent media company and I have to assume they received their payment from BBC. All in all, it is difficult for me to say exactly how much of my work since 1997 has been paid for indirectly from public funding as I often would not have been aware if the hirers received any government money or not. I would guess  that it would have been less than 50%.

 

There may have been other connections to public funding that I have overlooked. If that is the case it is because they would have been so trivial that I have no recollection of it.

 

 It is essential for government to support the arts to some extent and I have been pushing for a change in bureaucratic system to allow for more private sector initiatives and less dependency on public funds. The present massive amounts of funding currently available for arts and culture, most of which gets absorbed in top-end bureaucracy, is not sustainable.  Younger people involved in the arts would do well to consider this. Those already wrapped up in the system, understandably, do not want to address this as their livelihood has become dependent upon that system.

In the interim, until the scale of squandering of public arts money is exposed: until a more sensible strategy for promoting the arts is put in place; I will continue to take whatever work comes my way, whether it is indirectly subsidised by government or not.   That is the reality of the present system in Northern Ireland and I have bills that need to be paid.  I trust this approach will be deemed reasonable by those who have expressed interest in how I manage my livelihood. Also see my blog on Creative Industries.

 I do make one exception: I refuse to do gigs which I get  indirectly paid for via the Ulster Scots Agency.   I believe that outfit should be shut down as it is controlled politically from the very top and it is represents massive squandering of taxpayers money.

 

Proposals for Creative Industries

 Extracts from letter sent to DCAL 2011)

 

 A new approach needs to be developed to create a level playing field between existing funded arts organisations and new groups with new initiatives, who presently cannot compete with heavily funded groups.

 Some government money is still essential to avoid the collapse of existing groups and to stimulate new innovative, well managed projects which would be reluctant to take off in this economic climate.

Pilot projects could be set up for which partial up-front funding could be provided for proposals with sound artistic and management content; proposals that can be held accountable and be fully transparent through the delivery of the goods. They simply wouldn’t receive further support if they couldn’t deliver.

 

There needs to be a drastic cut back on bureaucracy. The reality for organisations that receive core funding is that they have to engage employees just to deal with the bureaucracy and for the purpose of constantly applying for more public money.

 

 The current artificial “tendering” process that has become a growing stipulation for receipt of public money. This needs to be restructured to allow for more efficient hiring of services.

 

 Under present guidelines for funding organisations need to have committees. Committees are notoriously a tremendous waste of time and energy.

 

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The Flag Thing.

 

Willie Drennan

The Richard Haass team may be costing the tax-payers, especially of Southern England, a small fortune: it may be an affirmation of dysfunctional government at Stormont; we may be dubious of it as we are beginning to understand that all government-employed tribunals and quangos tend to work for, and facilitate, their paymaster. At worst it could make matters here only slightly worse and at best it could facilitate rational debate that just might eventually lead to a majority of people in Northern Ireland agreeing: on a process that could possibly, maybe, lead to a sane harmonious society for future generations.

This is where we are at and so we should at least give it a go especially as we are paying for it anyway:  too bad we didn’t have something like it in place before last year’s controversial decision at Belfast City Hall.  I think most of us now accept that we can no longer quote the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement as it means three different things to three different sets of people. This touches on the fundamental problem in relation to which flag we fly as we are not sure what country we live in.

Ian Parsley, in one of his recent thought-provoking blogs, points out that we can’t have a debate on what a new flag might be until we figure out what Northern Ireland is. I will expand on that by saying, once again, that we really should have a serious examination of the language of the GFA. We need it translated into Standard English, try to agree on what it really means, or at least have the differing politicians spell out why their interpretation of the Agreement  language is correct: then let them take it to the electorate.

This really is at the heart of the flag dispute.  Unionists say the Agreement means that we are part of the UK, until such times as the majority want change; therefore the Union Flag is the proper national flag of our country. Nationalists say it means we live in some sort of unique evolving joint-state and therefore the tricolour should fly alongside the Union Flag. The third-way liberals say it’s all very clear: there is a distinction between nationality and citizenship; we are really just some sort of unique independent state, so let’s get a new Northern Ireland flag and forget about the other two contentious flags.

Well, I’m sorry it’s anything but clear to me and so it’s back to requesting translation of the Agreement as the essential first step. But, I do have optimism as I know the spirit of the Northern Irish and I believe that the vast majority of us do want a solution and are prepared to compromise. Perhaps if we could get agreement on flags then everything else could fall into place.

Here is yet another angle for Richard Haass et al. to consider. How’s about if all government buildings in Northern Ireland fly the Union Flag, in a dominant position, acknowledging it as a national flag? Alongside that there could be several flags: a new NI flag, the flags of the neighbouring states of Scotland (independent or not), Wales, England and Republic of Ireland? This would confirm Northern Ireland as a confident state which fully understands who manages it’s income-tax and yet has healthy exchange, trade and a sharing of mutual respect with All of its neighbours.

Okay, I know, that is probably a bit out there for about 51% of the population: but at least I’m making an effort. The only other thing I would say is, that no matter which flags fly they should all be manufactured in Northern Ireland and not in the Far East.