Unionism and nationalism

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The Loyalist/Unionists are mostly from the protestant community. They are names Loyalists because they see themselves being loyal to the British crown and they are called unionists because they want to stay in union with the United Kingdom.

The group’s main belief is that they are British and because this is their main belief they strive to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Even thought they where born in Ireland they cannot identify themselves as Irish because once again they see themselves as being British.

Their Irish culture or language bares no link to them and thus has very little meaning to them. This is due to the historical background from an early age. Loyalist/Unionists are taught within their community of the four hundred year old battle they have to endure to remain British, and this therefore makes them more determent to fight the “loyal” fight, chanting their cry made famous by the Rev Ian Paisley “No Surrender!”

The Loyalist/Unionist main celebration takes place every eleventh evening and the twelfth day of July. This is because community celebrates King William’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne. This celebration reinforces their Britishness and they claim also their religion.

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Another common belief that the Unionist and Loyalists share is that they do not place their trust in the British government. They know that the North of Ireland is a large drain on the British purse strings, and that this is probably the main reason why Britain would retreat from the North of Ireland for it to become a one nation Ireland, or as the Nationalists call it ‘A United Ireland’.

This belief keeps the community on guard to protect their Britishness and makes them determined that partitions must be maintained. Many Unionist have attempted to maintain ...

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