Republican News · Thursday 19 November 1998

[An Phoblacht]

Naming the beast

  • Anti-Catholicism In Northern Ireland 1600-1998
    The mote and the beam
    By John D. Brewer with Gareth I. Higgins

    Queen's University Sociology Professor John Brewer talks to Ned Kelly about his book on anti-Catholicism in the Six Counties.

    Professor Brewer explained his central premise: ``anti-Catholicism has been used to divide groups. It acts as a marker in group competition, to protect Protestant access to resources and to close off Catholic access.''

    Brewer, himself a Presbyterian, claims such anti-Catholicism has existed in many forms in many different countries throughout history.

    ``In Britain in the 16th and 17th century, it was wrapped up in debates about absolutism, the political nature of the world and the role of the state.

    ``The British state became secure by the 19th century and the role of anti-Catholicism in securing it was replaced by an anti-Irish sentiment. This was used to protect access to resources (for example, jobs) for the English working class versus Irish migrants.''

    Such prejudice surfaces again and again in British culture as racism is enacted against people from all of Britain's former colonies.

    Professor Brewer sees anti-Catholicism being used to consolidate the power of the British state and subsequently to acquire privileged access to resources for specific groups.

    ``The anti-Catholic project has continued here because the structural cleavage of society has not changed since the plantation settlers.

    ``These lines of cleavage have remained the same and adhered to theology and not developed. In other places, social cleavage around class or ethnicity have weakened the anti-Catholic divide.

    ``What is important is to decommission the Protestant mindset, it is a mindset that kills. It is the mindset of communal conflict and the loyalist murder gangs. From the earliest sectarian riots last century to the murder of Bernadette Martin this mindset has been evident.''

    Brewer claims that the role of Orangeism is fundamental to the anti-Catholic project.

    ``Orangeism in the North represents a clever class alliance between the Protestant working class and wealthy land owning and industrialist Protestants. It was important in the development of Unionism here, it is fed by Orangeism, itself fed by anti-Catholicism.

    ``On the occasions when a common class response seemed likely, during the 1907 dock workers strike or the 1930's poor law riots, the Orange card was played to draw on aggressive anti-Catholicism.

    This anti-Catholicism is used, in part, to divide the working class in such a way as to fracture society.''

    The book looks at how anti-Catholicism is used to socially mark boundaries and protect privileged access. Whether the biblical claims are true or not, anti-Catholicism has dominated the landscape.

    Brewer uses a system he calls the ``four Ds: Distortion; Distancing; Denial; and Deletion''.

    ``Ian Paisley frequently claims that the IRA are a Catholic organisation, he deletes from his consciousness the numerous statements to the contrary. Or the common denial that under Stormont there was no discrimination.''

    Turning to the powerful language of anti-Catholicism, Brewer says: During the research for his book Brewer spoke to Pastor Kenny McClinton, Gary McMichael and David Ervine to get an insight into the current mindset of Unionism.

    He related an Ervine quote, `sectarianism is like warm piss down your trouser leg, it instantly gives you a warm glow but quickly goes cold'.

    Brewer says, ``the cross-class alliance gives force as the social glue in Orangeism'' and perhaps hopefully, claims Unionists like Ervine, ``recognise that they have been used as cannon fodder and that they don't really get much out of the alliance.''

    For Brewer, challenging the anti-Catholic and by extension anti-Nationalist and Republican mindset is crucial to creating peace here.

    But he admits, ``it is ingrained and inbred. It is what I call part of the holy remnant. The Free Presbyterians and Billy Wrights of this world see the present as nothing more than a representation of the past.

    ``The present represents the internal conflict between truth/falsity and good/evil, it is the same universal conflicts of the past and the same choices must be made now. They are secure in the past and it has a tremendous political and ideological hold on them.

    ``What everyone else sees as negative, looking to the past, these people have no problem with, they are happy to go backwards.

    ``These `grand narratives' have not changed in Ireland for four centuries as it they have changed elsewhere because of the continuity of religion that straddles the other cleavages in society.''

    Brewer describes himself as an ecumenical Christian driven by the need to ``name the beast'' that has led to the systematic attack on and attempted destruction of the Catholic people by Protestantism in the Six-Counties.

    ``There is something broader, it's not just negative language, it is the mechanism used to draw boundaries and allocate resources unequally. The Protestant community needs to challenge its own prejudices,'' he says.

    Referring to the sub-title of his book Brewer said, ``you must first get the beam out of your own eye before you can criticise the speck of dust in others.''

    Focusing on the theological aspect of anti-Catholicism, Brewer says the ambiguous nature of the new and old testament is used to legitimise anti-Catholicism.

    ``Where McClinton might say love your neighbour, he restricts this to those who adhere to his understanding of the blessed land, and are fellow citizens of his state fulfilling the obligations of the citizen, that is, not Nationalists.''

    With a great focus on Abraham with its smiting, destruction and loyalty of those who take God's blessed land, Brewer claims many have found such ideology very attractive as a justification for the crimes against humanity they have committed.

    ``Anti-Catholicism is about identity and territory, marching is a prime example. It is only about placing the stamp on Nationalist areas, about who owns that space. Religion is standing for other conflicts in the way they no longer do in other places.''

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