There are many differences between the Nationalist and the Unionists but the main focus is their religious beliefs, political parties and their identity, I will be explaining in depth about these points. They both have completely different beliefs but they are both Christians. The nationalists see themselves as Irish and want a republic Ireland they have a very strong, strict religious rules. They have one central religious leader, the Pope in Rome, who decides all the matters of worship for every single Catholic in the world and they don’t want a royal family.
Unlike the nationalists the unionists consider themselves as British instead of Irish and believe they belong with Britain and giving allegiance to the queen, this is because they didn’t want a Pope and the church to have complete control which they though that it had too much influence on Ireland which might lead to laws being changed like stopping divorces, abortions and contraception from happening. Nowadays some of the Irish have accepted that they won’t have a united Ireland, but extreme actions have taken place as the real IRA use terrorism to get rid of the British.
Only last week the real IRA carried out the gun attack at an Army barracks in Antrim in which two soldiers were killed. They have also been involved in many other incidents causing several deaths. Another difference between them is that the Nationalists and Unionists have political groups. The major Unionist political groups are the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist party, otherwise known as the DUP and UUP.
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The major Nationalist political groups are the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Fein.
Who Are The Unionists
Although both the Unionists and Nationalists have hard-line and moderate views, there are some major differences between them. Firstly, the Nationalist SDLP wants reform in Northern Ireland and believes the Republic should have influence on how Northern Ireland is run; the SDLP has a moderate stance and does not encourage violence in any way, they try to achieve their views in a non violent manner. In contrast to this the UUP believes that political reform is needed, and that the Irish Republic must not be involved in this process; their aim is to defend Northern Ireland’s union with the United Kingdom.
The UUP is the largest political party in Northern Ireland, and most Protestants support it. Secondly, the more hard-line Nationalist political party, Sinn Fein, has much harsher political views. They seek the unification of the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland and the six counties of Northern Ireland in a democratic-socialist Irish Republic. Sinn Fein believes that the only way to solve Ireland’s problems is to cut all connections with Britain. Sinn Fein represents Roman Catholics who want to achieve a united Ireland through whatever means are necessary, including violence.
The hard-line Unionist political group the DUP is the second largest Unionist party in Northern Ireland, and is co-founded and led by Reverend Ian Paisley. The DUP is supported by most Working Class Protestants in Northern Ireland. The DUP believe that they have to defeat the IRA, which they think will need a huge security force. This group is less aggressive than Sinn Fein, as it does not actively support using violence to accomplish its means; however, it does support paramilitary groups defending against Nationalist paramilitary groups.
Both Nationalists and unionists have paramilitary groups; however there are differences between the two. The IRA (Irish Republican Army), up until its recent disarming, used severe violence to achieve its aims. The IRA’s aims are the same as Sinn Fein’s, which is basically the IRA’s political wing which was denied by Sinn Fein. The UFF’s (Ulster Freedom Fighters) founding aims were to protect Unionists against the IRA; however now the UFF seems more like a revenge group, killing Catholics in return for actions performed by the IRA.
The UFF is based on the same principles as the DUP and is used as security. The UDA and UDF (Ulster Defense Association and Ulster Defense Fighters) are similar and have the same views. The most prominent difference between the IRA and UFF, UDA, and UDF is that the IRA indiscriminately terrorized the United Kingdom and Ireland itself with bombs and violence, killing protestants, atheists, Catholics, etc, alike in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
An example of this was when the IRA bombed the shopping centre in Manchester, killing many people. In contrast to this, the UFF, UDA, and UDF just respond to Republican violence by killing ordinary Catholics, living in Northern Ireland, for revenge. The point I am trying to emphasize is that the IRA kills indiscriminately to achieve its aims, while the Loyalist paramilitary groups usually kill for revenge, and not indiscriminately. Nationalists and Unionists have different community and social organisations.
The Loyal Orange Order, a protestant organisation, organizes marches as a show of solidarity. The Ancient Order of Hibernians, is a similar Catholic organisation, however it has caused less problems, and is not as known. The Orange Order has been known to organize marches down predominately Catholic roads, and areas; this has caused chaos and violence in the past. An example of this was when the Orangemen had violent clashes with Catholics at Drum Cree. There are some fundamental differences between the Nationalist and Unionist.
These differences have led to decades of disputes and killings as the people of Ireland have been in conflict over how they should be governed and who by. The opinions of the republic paramilitaries are that they have the right to use armed force against the British forces and the unionist terrorism groups believe that too. Overall which ever community you live in you will have different views on different events. Examples of two events which have many views on are the Partition and Bloody Sunday.
Unionist and Nationalist. (2019, Dec 05). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/unionist-and-nationalist/
