Originally Posted by
Jolly Red Giant
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British Imperialism has been trying to get out of the North of Ireland for 50 years - the problem is that they have created a sectarian nightmare that would flare up into a sectarian civil war if Britain announced that it was leaving the North in the morning - and worse for the imperialist elites, the conflict would spread to British cities.
These days Johnson is digging in on the North in order to undermine the demand for independence in Scotland - after Brexit he cannot afford the break-up of the UK.
Unfortunately it has nothing to do with playing nice - the imperialist elites created sectarianism for political purposes and then spent nearly three centuries whipping up sectarianism whenever it felt that British rule and/or the rule of capital was threatened. It is now deeply engrained in society in the North - e.g. more than 70% of teenagers have never even spoken to someone from the 'other' religion. Moreover, any attempt to impose a united Ireland will create widespread sectarian conflict. The Good Friday Agreement, while bringing an end to the sectarian conflict of the previous 25 years, actually institutionalised sectarian division through all sectors of society in the North.
At the moment republicans are promoting a 'border poll' - a referendum on unity (the mechanism is in the GFA). This is extremely dangerous. In 1973 the British government held a border poll to reassure Protestants that they would remain under London. The result was a foregone conclusion - so Catholics boycotted the poll and the result showed something like 98% in favour of remaining in the UK. The problem was that the period running up to the vote and immediately afterwards was the most vicious and bloody of the entire Troubles. Republicans think that if they get 50% +1 in favour of a united Ireland in a border poll that Britain will say bye-bye and the Protestant community will simply put their hands up and say 'well, we had a good run - time to accept our fate'. The reality is that it is likely to be more like 1973 except this time the Protestant community would boycott the border poll and sectarian conflict would be inevitable. The last 100 years have shown that the Catholic working class in the North could not be coerced into accepting the Northern state - similarly the Protestant working class will not be coerced into a united Ireland against their will (nor should they be). Any unitary state in Ireland founded on the basis of a border poll would be a highly repressive state with the intent of coercing 1 million Protestants into a state they do not want to be part of.
