#stormont

Marbled Monday

This week's example of marbling is used in the binding of Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell printed by W. Bulmer of the Shakespeare Printing Office in 1795. English printer and typographer William Bulmer (1757-1830) established the Shakespeare Press in 1790 and published over 600 volumes during its operation.

Irish poet, novelist, and playwright Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) was a poor student but a good writer, especially noted for his pastoral style. English-Irish poet and clergyman Thomas Parnell (1679-1718) is considered one of the "Graveyard Poets," whose work often contained ruminations on mortality and were considered precursors to the Romantic and Gothic movements. Goldsmith wrote a biography of Parnell that was often published with collections of the latter's works.

The binding of this book shows great attention to detail. The marbled paper is, I believe, a Stormont Pattern in red, ten, green, and black. The corners and spine are covered with dark green goatskin featuring gold tooling and the title stamped on the spine. The corners and the edges of the goatskin leather covering the spine have a blind-tooled design on them. It's a very good example of a well-considered and designed binding.

View a post on the wood engravings in this book.

View more Marbled Monday posts.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland is meant to have devolution, with it’s own parliament. There’s a strict agreement about powersharing between the parties.

In the last 6 years, Northern Ireland has had a functioning parliament for two of them. This is largely due to the DUP blocking the formation of a cabinet that doesn’t serve their interests. The liberal ideal of “just vote” isn’t working.

One of the more recent and significant events are that in 2022, the DUP first minister resigned due to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal- a Brexit deal which very clearly disregarded the Good Friday Agreement, and Northern Ireland in general. This essentially caused the dissolution of the parliament and led to elections in May 2022.

For the first time, Sinn Fein won the most seats, meaning the first minister would be someone from the party. But the DUP were unhappy, and refused to participate in the election of a speaker, meaning the government could not function. Due to the DUP’s behaviour, just like from 2017-2020, there’s currently no NI assembly. And it seems like the DUP know if they just hold out long enough, they’ll force another election.

And presumably they’ll keep doing this until they get the result they want.

People tell us to “just vote”. Well, the people of Northern Ireland did vote, and the party in power refused to relinquish their interests. Meanwhile, catholic republican communities continue to be discriminated against in all sorts of ways- including by the police. The police, furthermore, are a symbol (and a practical force) of Britain’s colonial occupation of Northern Ireland.

Gerry Adams, born in Belfast, former president of Sinn Féin, was one of the chief architects of Sinn Féin’s shift to a policy of seeking a peaceful settlement to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. He was elected several times to the British House of Commons for Belfast West, however, following party policy, did not take his seat. He represented Belfast West (1998–2010) in the Northern…

In commemoration of the anniversary of the Easter Rising Rebellion in Ireland (April 24-29 1916) which sought independence from Britain, I would like to point out something incredibly important that is threatening hundreds if not thousands of Irish people right now.

The British government currently has plans of passing an “amnesty” proposal through its government regarding the Troubles (if you’re unfamiliar with it, it was a very recent civil war in Northern Ireland, and I highly suggest you read up on it). Essentially, this amnesty would bar any further investigations into deaths that occurred as a result of the Troubles, most prominently the ones directly and indirectly caused by British police, military, and government.

Of the nearly 4,000 deaths which resulted from the Troubles, a very large percentage of them were either A), the direct result of British forces killing both civilians and paramilitaries alike, B) the British government knowingly failing to act on information given to them about upcoming terrorist attacks (including the Omagh bombings), or C) murders targeting Catholics and family members of suspected IRA members that were committed by Loyalist paramilitaries based on information directly given to them by the British police force about their targets.

There are families who have submitted inquiries and inquests into the deaths of their loved ones that have yet to be acknowledged, ranging from 25-50 years after the fact. What little hope is left for these families to receive closure on the atrocities they’ve witnessed is threatened, putting the mental and emotional well-being of these people at risk and potentially blocking the possibility to finally heal tensions in Northern Ireland, and move past the Troubles. This amnesty means that the British government would not be forced to take responsibility for its actions in Northern Ireland. This cannot happen.

I know this is a very sensitive topic, but these families deserve to know what happened to their loved ones; there is incredibly high bi-partisan protestation against this amnesty. People have to be made aware that the Troubles aren’t over for these families. Please, spread the word.

So first, some important context. Way back in the 1920s when Ireland left the UK, the province of Ulster, by this point predominantly Protestant, remained, splitting from the rest of the nation. However, as is always the case with partition, it wasn't a clean break: people got stuck on sides of the border they weren't necessarily happy with, and over time, historical political and cultural divides were exacerbated by a new concrete separation that culminated in the Troubles, a period of violence in NI between the 1970s and the 1990s as radical nationalists (the IRA) clashed with the UK military over control of the region. This was largely ended in 1998 by the Good Friday Agreement, tearing down the hard border across Ireland and facilitating free movement of goods and people. In order to preserve the peace, a power sharing mechanism was implemented in Stormont (NI's assembly) whereby the government had to consist of two equal and codependent parties. The first minister was from the party who won the elections, the deputy minister was from the opposition, etc. This system worked well enough at suppressing Unionist/Nationalist tensions for about 20 years and was considered one of the greatest diplomatic achievements of British and Irish history.

Flash forward to 2016, and the UK votes to leave the EU. Overall. Within the nations, it's a different story, and while Scotland's desire to remain gets most of the press, Northern Ireland also voted disproportionately to remain. And as the Conservatives would discover, they kind of had to.

Because you see, a big part of the reason why the Good Friday Agreement worked is because both parties were EU members, so they were already part of the Single Market, meaning free movement of goods and services wasn't an issue since it was already European policy. Now Britain wants to leave the Single Market, we have an issue.

If you were looking at memes around 2017, you'll be familiar with the term 'Hard Brexit'. What that means is the UK is fully cut out of all the various levels of EU membership: the free trade, the external tariffs and, most importantly, the regulatory framework of the Single Market that allows goods to be easily traded across borders. As you may also know, the EU takes regulation very seriously, so ensuring imports are up to code is a lengthy and time-intensive process. If Britain wants a Hard Brexit, and they're cut out of the Single Market, there has to be a point where goods being traded in and out of countries still in the framework are checked. Say, for instance, in Ireland.

One problem: this entails a hard border. Not for people, perhaps, but for products, and people need products to make a living. On top of that as well, Northern Ireland would be cut out of the free trade area and potentially face massive import duties, massively increasing costs and threatening demand. Even on a symbolic level, its a firm dividing line across Ireland. And the Good Friday Agreement is very clear about the No Borders thing because Look What Happened The Last Time There Was A Border. If the Conservatives try and surround the UK with a hard customs border, Northern Ireland will fall.

But the alternative is either not having a Hard Brexit, the entire point of their manifesto, which would be political suicide, or leaving Northern Ireland behind basically in the EU, creating a border not across Ireland but across the UK. And if that happens, Northern Ireland will fall because of the radical unionists.

(Alternatively the solution was 'No Brexit in the first place' but too late for that now ig.)

David Cameron resigns before having to sort this out. Theresa May spends her entire premiership trying to sort this out while part of a coalition with the DUP (the leading Unionist party, at this point the largest party in Stormont and basically NI's Tories) and she can't, forcing her resignation. Then Boris Johnson comes along and finds a 'temporary' solution to get the paperwork signed: put the border between Great Britain and Norther Ireland, keeping Good Friday intact, until they can find a better way. Until then, Northern Ireland abides by EU trade regulation and future amendments: the Northern Ireland Protocol. And they wait. And they wait. And they don't.

As this shitshow is going down, Northern Ireland is getting increasingly tired of Westminster's routine (and the DUP's dumpster fire coalition attempt) and pivots towards new kid on the block, the party of compromise, Alliance. The Nationalists, led by Sinn Fein, lose votes through this too, but to a far lesser degree. DUP loses 10% of the vote share in the 2017 election, putting them and Sinn Fein neck and neck.

And in 2022, for the first time, Sinn Fein wins Stormont. The nationalists are in power in Northern Ireland. Or rather, they're half in power.

Because as we established, Northern Ireland has a power sharing system. And the DUP have boycotted Stormont. They aren't happy with the potential of being pulled away from the UK, so they decide if they can't have NI, no-one can. By refusing to participate in the coalition government, the Sinn Fein half is prohibited from governing alone, forcing the government into shutdown.

That shutdown has lasted for a year.

This happened around the time Boris Johnson started sinking over Partygate, followed by whatever the fuck happened with Truss, so NI got overshadowed in the news cycle but over the course of 2022, order has been breaking down in Northern Ireland as radical unionists begin to stir trouble. Indeed, it looks like Northern Ireland is heading straight back to the Troubles, and no-one seems to want to do anything to fix it. In fact, the Conservatives seem to want to declare war with the EU through a proposed override of the Protocol, dismantling decades of diplomatic hard work and plunging the continent into anarchy.

In October, Rishi Sunak is 'elected' Prime Minister, and he sets out to solve the Northern Irish issue. For all her many faults, Truss was pretty cordial with Europe, and Sunak continued that trend well into his premiership. Combined with the looming threat of Russia over European stability, the EU is in a compromising mood, and agrees to help work out a new system that tears down the border between the UK and Ireland. The plan is: separate goods going to Northern Ireland and goods going to the EU. Why it took them 7 years to sort that out I don't know but huzzah, a solution. But on top of this, they also implement the Stormont Brake: whereas before, EU law applies automatically in Northern Ireland, Stormont can veto proposed amendments from applying in Northern Ireland if they're too radical. This is a hugely generous concession by the EU since this is a major compromise on a lot of their core principles, since Northern Ireland is now part of the Single Market but theoretically exempt from following it, and by extension a huge win for Rishi Sunak. While the DUP have lost all credibility, this will hopefully be enough to get them back into Stormont. This new arrangement is called the Windsor Framework, and buries the final major hatchet in the Brexit divorce proceedings.

OK, LENGTHY context complete, lets discuss what's happened. Because turns out, there's opposition to this new framework.

Who from?

WHY ITS BORIS JOHNSON AND THE CHUCKLEFUCKS.

Basically, leading members of the Johnsonian and Trussian governments (including both PMs) explicitly said they wouldn't support the deal. They don't have an alternative. A plan. Anything. They just won't support it.

Joining them is, you guessed it, THE FUCKING DUP. No matter what happens, they're refusing to go back to Stormont. Just to spite their rivals.

Some more important context, the Conservatives are on the verge of self destructing since vast swathes of the party believe Johnson is a martyr and Sunak is not the True King, so getting the Conservatives to vote together is a massive challenge. If this vote passes, it'll give the Tories a lifeline to the next election, possibly their one positive achievement since 2016 outside of 'not actively backing Putin'. If it fails, the Conservatives are history. Making matters worse in the best way, Keir Starmer pledges Labour's plurality in support of Windsor, saying, to paraphrase, 'if you fucks can't get it together we'll do it for you.' Iconic. By doing so, Labour guarantee the vote passes unless the entire Conservative party rips itself in twain, but potentially force the PM to rely on the OPPOSITION over his OWN PARTY to pass groundbreaking legislation, which is almost worse for Sunak than the bill failing.

The vote took place today and the Conservatives, despite a massive rebellion, barely managed to vote in favour on their own majority alone. Barely. We're talking single digits. Two dozen Tory MPs rebelled, and 3 dozen more abstained. With no alternative. They would rather have chaos in Northern Ireland than be forced to work with the EU when the EU is bending over backwards to make this happen.