So, big Ian Paisley retired from politics at last. Dr. No, the most aptly applied moniker to the thundering preacher, left the Northern Ireland political scene through the side door rather than the marble exit as the forces of negativity in his own party got their way.
To judge by the acres of newsprint devoted to his leaving last week, one would think that Paisley was some sort of a saint, on whom praise was heaped for the wonderful achievements in a lifetime of work in the fiery cauldron of Northern Ireland politics.
There is no doubt that the last few years in Ulster politics have been hard to digest. Almost forty years of conflict, terror and massive loss of life across both Catholic and Protestant communities ended with Paisley as First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly and his arch-nemesis, Martin McGuiness of Sinn Fein, as his deputy leader.
Five years ago if somebody dared to predict such a scenario, they would immediately be carried away by the men in the white coats and never seen again.
It is without doubt astounding to see what has happened since the St. Andrews Agreement was signed two years ago. Decades of negotiation and intervention by American Presidents and political leaders, such as George Mitchell, failed to bring the two sides to any agreement. When it appeared on so many occasions that a final deal was about to be struck, Dr. No said exactly that and failure was a certainty.
Ever since the extremist DUP, led by Paisley, routed the more moderate UUP in various elections and became the Loyalist standard-bearers, the future of Northern Ireland seemed destined for more decades of decay. Exactly the same scenario was occurring on the Nationalist side of the fence where Sinn Fein created a powerful voting machine in working-class areas of the North to overcome the moderate SDLP and become the hard voice of the Republican movement.
Moderation was replaced by polar opposite extremity. Those watching on sidelines could not contemplate the possibility that anything remotely positive would happen in Northern politics because of the differences and historical hatred between the two sides.
Yet, incredibly, it did. The two sides settled down to working on practical day-to-day issues and genuine political problems. Paisley and McGuiness became known as the “Chuckle Brothers” such was the warmth of their working relationship.
Paisley came to Dublin, all smiles and bonhomie, to greet Bertie Ahern as though the man was a life-long friend.
The world looked on in amazement. This was a modern-day conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. The immovable object that was Ian Paisley had seen the light on the M1 to Dublin! We rubbed our eyes in disbelief.
We were not alone. So too did the members of the DUP. What they saw was betrayal by an ageing and unwell egotist that wanted a grand epitaph on his tombstone. After years of being the hard-line bigot that blocked every peace initiative, Paisley had melted like ice cream in the summer sun as he prepared to meet his maker.
Peter Robinson and his cohorts wanted rid of him before any more harm was done. So, Big Ian and little Ian were shown the door last week no matter what way it was purveyed by the spin-doctors. The red flag of Ulster conveniently hid the knives in both their backs.
It was in retrospect no more than Paisley deserved. He should not be remembered grandly or graciously by history. His was the loud, inciting and unreasonable voice of prejudice when the troubles started in 1968.
The denial of civil rights to the minority Catholic population by the people and institutions he represented lit the fire that was to follow. Paisley and his “No Surrender” outpourings fanned the flames. His malignant influence created the loyalist terror gangs on the streets and the political thugs in chambers of power that undone the efforts of moderate and good men to bring peace about in those early years of conflict.
The real heroes of the torturous and protracted journey to where Northern Ireland stands today were conveniently forgotten last week in the hype surrounding Paisley’s conversion and departure.
The courage of John Hume to take the quiet, but momentous, step of engaging in secret talks with the IRA in 1994 kick-started this whole process. His name barely received a mention in all the demented rhetoric last week.
The ability of the leaders and doers in the Republican movement to convince their members to a cease-fire first in 1994, and then to give up their arms before any concessions from the Loyalist Para-militaries, are the foundations on which the existing power-sharing assembly is built.
When all the hard, ungrateful work was being done in the years since then, Paisley stood in the middle of the narrow road to peace, arms held wide, obstructing and halting the journey at every opportunity. Only at the last moment did he make concessions
Why he changed attitude so dramatically we will never know. Senility or conscience perhaps? Alternatively, the desire to be remembered benignly in the history books of the schoolchildren not yet born.
Shed no tears at his forced departure or sing no songs of praise.
Paisley had the power to this in 1974, not 2008.
A last minute conversion will not dismantle the structure of hatred and division that he built in his time.
He chose to use his influence not in search of peace but the pursuit of intolerance.
A suitable epitaph, perhaps?
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