AUGUST 2018 FIRST EDITION Kate Hoey MP writes exclusively on the Zimbabwean elections Exclusive interview with rangers legend nacho novo The ‘glenanne gang’ myth is exposed And much more…. Inside this issue: Editorial 3 News Snippets 4-7 The myth of the ‘Glenanne Gang’- 8-9 Kate Hoey MP on Zimbabwean elec- 10-11 tions In Pictures– Criminalising culture 12-13 Paul Peterson writes on our current 14 Follow us on Twitter prison system @Unionist_Voice Exclusive interview with Rangers leg- 15 end Nacho Novo Editorial Moore Holmes writes on Brexit 16-17 @JamieBrysonCPNI Why Loyalism must oppose the pro- 18 posed legacy structures ‘Progressive’ Pan-Nationalism is try- 19 ing to use Brexit to destroy the union A Loyalist perspective on the target- 20-21 ing of east Belfast bonfires Alison Blayney writes on the chal- 22 lenges facing women’s education Legacy Statistics 23 @RealUnionistVoice www.UnionistVoice.com Page 2 By Jamie Bryson also community issues that have an ling. Walk into any bookstore and go effect on citizens’ day to day lives. to the Irish history section and you This month’s first edition of our will find shelves and shelves of books Welcome to the first edition of newsletter carries a range of articles written by, or about, Irish republicans. Unionist Voice’s monthly covering a broad spectrum of politi- You will find very little, if any, books downloadable magazine. cal, community and social issues. written by loyalists or unionists. That Unionist Voice began in August These include an exclusive article by story hasn’t been told and Unionist 2017. The concept was to provide prominent Labour MP Kate Hoey, an Voice is currently working to develop grassroots unionism with a platform exclusive interview with Glasgow a mechanism for older generations of to articulate political views and opin- Rangers legend Nacho Novo, a focus loyalists to commit their experiences ions, but also to launch a unionist on Brexit and women’s education on to writing. fight-back to the relentless stream of top of a plethora of news snippets and However, let me be very clear. propaganda emanating from nation- other contributions. There is a vast difference between alism and the wider ‘progressive’ We have reproduced an in-depth writing about experiences, and self- pan-nationalist coalition. critical analysis of the recently released incriminating yourself or others. Of- I am confident in saying that the ‘Glenanne Gang’ film, and highlighted ten for loyalism there has been no initial year of Unionist Voice has the trajectory of the republican propa- distinction between the two. I person- been a success. The site has broken ganda woven throughout such legacy ally would urge all loyalists to keep a number of ‘news’ stories, but most projects. their own counsel in relation to mat- crucially played a key role in rallying I am proud to say that Unionist ters for which they have never been grassroots opposition to the pro- Voice has launched such an ambitious convicted, and instead to focus on posed DUP-Sinn Fein deal. Along- project as our monthly magazine, and telling their stories in the context of side this we have focused heavily on I think the level of contributors sets it hardships faced by their families, the highlighting the legacy imbalance apart within Unionism in terms of a loss of friends or loved ones and of and keenly followed the Loughinis- dedicated publication. more light hearted memories of com- land case through the courts, being Our plans for the next year are munity camaraderie. If such experi- the only site to consistently highlight numerous, and we have mapped out ences aren’t properly documented and the mistruths being spread within an ambitious strategic development shared, then not only will the one- the mainstream media. We were plan for Unionist Voice. This in- sided republican legacy narrative as- eventually vindicated on this front cludes, as part of our re-launched site, sume a pseudo ‘factual’ status, but when it became clear that Mr Justice providing regular email bulletins to those memories, experiences and Weir had not previously represented those that wish to sign up. In the hardships will die with the ‘conflict any of the applicants in the coming months we also plan to host a generation’ of loyalism. Loughinisland judicial review case. number of discussions which will be Finally, we are passionate about In November we launched Un- available to view on YouTube. These encouraging political engagement ionist Voice Policy Studies, a grass- discussions will bring together grass- within grassroots unionism, especially roots unionist think-tank designed roots unionism and critical voices within a younger generation. As such to debate innovative policy ideas. from within journalism, civic society we are always keen to hear from any We provided a substantive written and the legal sector to debate live po- young unionists that have an interest submission to the Northern Ireland litical issues. This, we hope, will pro- in journalism or digital media, or who Affairs Committee at Westminster vide a further forum for grassroots simply want to engage in debate and and were invited to give verbal evi- unionism to engage in the ‘battle of commit their ideas to writing. dence to the committee sitting in the ideas’ and to formulate and develop Thank you for taking the time to Thatcher Room in Westminster. political positions that can advance download or purchase our first edi- Unionist Voice exists to allow the cause of unionism. tion. We hope you will join with us disenfranchised sections of union- One of our strategic objectives is over the coming months and years to ism to have a platform and the addressing the one sided legacy narra- build a strong unionist voice. space to debate and discuss not only tive through the medium of storytel- the political issues of the day, but Page 3 “It has been interesting 2 (sic) Niall O’Donnghalie stung by Shinerbot criticism watch the impact SINN FEIN senator Niall of their prominent mem- party would operate an of dehumanising O’Donnghaile took to twit- bers, from Short Strand, anonymous site to troll ter recently to complain administers the online troll- political opponents? nature of about Sinn Fein social me- ing site ‘LAD’. Is it really Shinnerbot myth dia activists being labeled appropriate that a political play out over the ‘Shinerbots’. The Short Strand man last few days.” even went so far as to pre- sent the ‘Shinerbots’ as Niall online victims. This is bi- O’Donnghalie zarre given that Sinn Fein takes to Twitter are not only prolific trol- lers, with O’Donnghalie to complain encouraging other Sinn about Sinn Fein Fein members to troll po- litical opponents, but one trolls being challenged. Foster again rules out standalone Irish language act THE DUP leader Arlene The comments come as able. Foster has again ruled out SF demanded that the pre- Opposition to any form “No, absolutely any stand alone Irish Lan- vious ’deal’ was the base- of Irish language act was not. It wasn’t a guage Act. line for any further talks. reaffirmed by the largest Speaking on BBC Good Grassroots unionism sent a unionist grassroots organi- sensible or Morning Ulster on 1 Au- clear message to the DUP sation, the Orange Order balanced deal gust, Ms Foster made clear at the time of the previous on the 12th July. back in February, that there were no circum- proposed ’deal’, which later The unionist commu- stances in which she could collapsed, and this message nity will not accept or tol- so I cant see how support a standalone Irish was that no form of Irish erate any further conces- it would be a language act. language act was accept- sions to Sinn Fein. sensible or balanced deal Sinn Fein demand media censorship of ‘unhelpful’ unionists today.” SINN FEIN have stepped son McCausland. In the panels with unelected un- Arlene Foster up attempts to force the case of Mr Bryson and Mr ionists such as Sophie mainstream media to boy- McCausland Sinn Fein Long and Linda Ervine. MLA on whether cott unionist voices of claim this is because they It appears Sinn Fein’s the February which they do not approve. are unelected. This is de- real position is that they deal would be a Sinn Fein press officer spite the fact that Sinn Fein want to censor ‘unhelpful’ Sean Maguire has repeat- regularly engage with un- unionists and amplify those baseline for edly told BBC producers elected nationalist com- they deem to be ‘helpful’ further talks that Sinn Fein will not ap- mentators such as Chris unionists. This coming with Sinn Fein. pear on programs with Un- Donnelly, Andree Murphy from a party that cried ionist Voice editor Jamie and Allison Morris. ‘censorship’ for years and Bryson, Jim Allister or Nel- Sinn Fein also share had their voices banned. Page 4 “Peter Robinson Unionists blast Robinson’s dangerous border poll comments is entitled to his SENIOR DUP MP unionists. SDLP all welcomed Mr own opinion as a Sammy Wilson has blasted The former DUP leader Robinson’s comments. A comments by the party's drew even stronger criti- clear indication perhaps of member of the former leader Peter Robin- cism from East London- how damaging his com- public but I think son. derry MLA Maurice Brad- ments have proved to be. he is out of touch Speaking at a summer ley who said Mr Robinson Peter Robinson contin- school in the Republic of was “out of touch” with ues to work for property with unionists on Ireland, Mr Robinson said grassroots unionism. developer Paddy Kearney. the ground, that people should prepare Many unionists outside During the Nama scan- certainly for the possibility of a of the DUP, including the dal the then DUP leader United Ireland and accept UUP’s Lord Empey and denied any relationship unionists in my the result.