Unionist Voice has launched a 3 week #SUAS campaign – every day we will publish an example of republican sectarianism. This will range from contemporary Sinn Fein sectarianism to examples of IRA ethnic cleansing.
Sinn Fein’s ‘Stand Up Against Sectarianism’ campaign is perhaps the most hypocritical campaign ever promoted by a political party anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Let us start from the basis of establishing Sinn Fein’s background. Who are these great crusaders against sectarianism?
According to an independent Government report they are controlled by the IRA Army Council. The IRA is a proscribed terrorist organisation responsible for the sectarian slaughter of thousands. Their list of wicked acts of terrorism include shooting dead 10 Protestants on their way home from work, burning alive Protestants with a bomb at the La Mon hotel, bombing a Poppy Day service in Enniskillen, targeting gospel halls and shooting countless innocent Protestants in the back of the head or planting bombs under their cars in the dead of night.
So it is fair to say that the overarching body controlling Sinn Fein were involved in a brutal sectarian campaign of ethnic cleansing. This, in of itself, should be enough to have #SUAS laughed out of the room. But let us move past the terrorism and ethnic cleansing. Let us have a look at Sinn Fein’s own record.
The party are unrepentant supporters of the IRA, regularly glorifying their murderous sectarian terror campaign. Senior Sinn Fein members regularly speak at events celebrating the wicked deeds of the IRA. They remain ardent cheerleaders for terrorism and the sectarian campaign of slaughter waged by their controlling body.
A senior Sinn Fein MLA, Conor Murphy, was not so long ago found guilty of sectarian discrimination in his post as an Executive Minister in the now defunct Northern Ireland Assembly.
But most crucially, Sinn Fein has waged a relentless campaign against all expressions of Protestant and Unionist culture, regularly creating contentious interfaces and no-go areas for Protestants.
Declan Kearney’s #SUAS campaign sprung to life following the Sinn Fein contrived, and utterly bogus, threats against residents in Cantrell Close and tension whipped up by Sinn Fein activists masquerading as ‘resident groups’ around that area. This is bizarre given that Sinn Fein made it a key tenet of their cultural war strategy to have Protestants excluded from walking on particular roads or celebrating culture in particular areas.
Sinn Fein cannot have it both ways. They cannot on one hand hold themselves up as the crusaders against sectarianism and defenders of shared housing, and on the other hand actively agitate against Protestants entering particular areas. It is a contradictory position and one that has yet to be fully explored publicly.
Sinn Fein and their leadership in the IRA created sectarianism. Only recently they tried to claim a potential social housing development on the outskirts of east Belfast as their own for “their people”. How does this square with standing up against sectarianism?
How does Deirdre Hargey standing in Rasharkin campaigning against Protestants walking down a road to celebrate their identity square with standing up against sectarianism?
I believe that Unionists should indeed embrace the #SUAS campaign. We should use the hashtag to highlight every act of sectarianism perpetrated by the IRA and Sinn Fein.
To play our role in this Unionist Voice will be spending 3 weeks publishing a #SUAS article every day. Each article will give an example of Sinn Fein’s sectarianism and/or ethnic cleansing carried out against the Protestant community.
We would encourage any members of the community that wish to contribute to our #SUAS series to get in touch editorunionistvoice@yahoo.com