Politics

Ok this was a long day all about politics in Northern Ireland, which is more complicated than you'd imagine. Lets start with the basics.

From some of my previous posts you may or may not be familiar with the terms Unionist, Loyalist, Nationalist and Republican. Lets get some definitions.

• Unionist- A person who wants to remain a part of the Union with the United Kingdom. Predominantly Protestant.


• Loyalist- loyal to the United Kingdom, also predominantly Protestant. Tends to be more concerned with the Loyalists in Ulster as a community with only conditional loyalty to Brittan.


• Nationalist- Member of a community that is defined by blood, language, church, ect. Concerned with winning independence. (Traditionally Catholic


• Republican- Want of a representative government, emphasis on citizenship. More concerned with power exercised within the State. (Traditionally Catholic)

We visited Stormont, the home of NI parliament, as well on this day. We got to hear from a panel of representatives of the different parties, including Sinn Fein, DUP, SDLP and UUP. Stormont was constructed in 1923 and occupied in 1931. 1922 was the first session of Parliament. The way the political parties work is Sinn Fein is a Republican party, they have what is known as an all Ireland Agenda, the SDLP (Social Democratic and Labor Party) which is a slightly more middle of the road group than Sinn Fein, then there is the UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) who wants to stay with Britain but is more middle of the road than the DUP. The DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) is the leading party in NI and its leader, Rev. Ian Paisley, has been throughout the Troubles one of the most vocal about staying with Britain.

Things got heated when these people got into the room together. Keep in mind this is the first time that Stormont has held parliament in more than 50 years. Most of the DUP party considers Sinn Fein to be terrorists. I personally liked the SDLP party as their beliefs made the most sense to me, however they aren't the strongest party. The two strongest parties are the polar opposites, Sinn Fein and the DUP.