Loyalists badly need a working class hero who can deliver the type of human
\nand civil rights which Martin Luther King won for the Afro-American
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Many working class loyalists in towns, cities and even in rural
\nProtestant communities are simply pissed off with politics.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s not even a case of them not bothering to vote; the vast majority are
\nnot even registering as voters.<\/p>\nWhoever takes up the mantel of loyalism\u2019s Martin Luther King will have
\nthe uphill task of mobilising the working class Protestant community to get
\nregistered in the first place.<\/p>\nThese disillusioned Protestants are asking themselves \u2013 what have we
\ngained from the peace process?<\/p>\nTheir working class Catholic counterparts can point to the political
\nleaps which Sinn Fein has made from mere apologists for the Provos \u2019 death
\nsquads to government partners with the DUP.<\/p>\nThe Prod working class now finds itself in exactly the same place as the
\nBlack community in the American Deep South of the Sixties.<\/p>\nThe UUP has imploded in a vicious civil war; the DUP, now that it is
\nsnugly in government with the Shinners, has turned its back on working class
\ncommunities as being \u2018too politically common\u2019!<\/p>\nThe loyalist paramilitaries must not tumble into the same pitfall as the
\nProvos . The IRA disbanded its Army Council and republican dissidents got
\nthe upper hand.<\/p>\nIf IRA members had listened to my suggestion of a few years ago and
\nformed themselves into an old comrades group, known as the Irish Republican
\nAssociation, the dissidents would never have lasted.<\/p>\nLoyalist groups like the UVF, Red Hand Commando, UDA and UFF need to form
\nthe Ulster Volunteer Association, Red Hand Association and Ulster Freedom
\nAssociation to stop its members and supporters drifting steadily into crime.
\nSuch associations can also fulfil a social function in the same way the
\nRoyal British Legion helps maintain social contact among old soldiers and
\ntheir families.<\/p>\nThe Ulster Volunteer and Freedom Associations could also play a positive
\npost conflict role in working class loyalist district by mobilising
\nProtestants to re-engage with the ballot box by voting.<\/p>\nIn many working class loyalist communities across the North, voter
\nturnout is as low as 30 per cent.<\/p>\nMobilisation can often be seen as a dirty word in loyalism. How many
\nworking class Protestants ended up in prison or cemeteries because they
\nlistened to the rallying cries of middle class Unionist politicians?<\/p>\nAnd when real trouble came, middle class Unionism conveniently abandoned
\nworking class loyalists to their fate. No political support, only pious
\npreaching about how evil and un-Christian the loyalists were.<\/p>\nIt was amazing how fast political Unionism threw away the red berets of
\nUlster Resistance and the Third Force armbands once being linked to loyalist
\nparamilitaries became unfashionable.<\/p>\nIf British PM Dandy Dave Cameron gets his way, the North is in for a
\ndeluge of austerity cuts, so time is not on working class loyalism\u2019s side.<\/p>\nThere is the added problem of massive educational under-achievement in
\nworking class Protestantism. Loyalist poverty will be the next social
\nscourge of the North.<\/p>\nA loyalist underclass is rapidly emerging because of such poverty.<\/p>\n
How long will it be before Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond\u2019s
\nindependence referendum call reaches Protestant working class districts and
\nwe hear the genuine cry \u2013 Independence for Ulster !<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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