Aaron Luke Meredith | Contributing Writer
t had been a well-known secret in the northern grapevine that Ian Paisley had been in poor health for quite some time. In Belfast, we understood the inevitable media storm was en route: an obituary was prepared in advance, radio documentaries spawned and speculation thrived surrounding when he would pass on. This is exactly the sort of relationship Paisley enjoyed with the people of the North: love him or loathe him, he will always crop up in conversation. A controversial public figure through and through, Paisley’s demeanour resembled a reactionary preacher of the American South, hardline and undeviating from his own beliefs in the face of conflicting ideals.
However, it is very difficult to outweigh the negatives with positives when considering his achievements. Paisley was sectarian for the vast majority of his life, openly mocking the Catholic faith. His quotes from everything before the nineties are akin to a caricature of a racist they’re so over the top. Paisley, by all means during my childhood in post-ceasefire Belfast, served as the perfect example of an intolerant, archaic politician. Paisley’s politics, to me, set out to further divide communities rather than unite Northern Ireland in a common strive for improvement regardless of sovereignty.
My fellow student and Northerner, Sam Johnston, makes the point that Paisley’s attitude during the Troubles exacerbated the situation with poisonous ideas. Besides, if you ask a Northerner – or even many people down south – of the first word that comes into their head upon hearing the name of the man, it would be unsurprising to hear many say “never”.
If anything this just serves to reiterate the status of Ian Paisley. His legacy for many in the North is built on something of a tyrannical image, the face of the radical, the fanatic. Within plenty of DUP-voting, Protestant communities, it is obvious he will be revered. In some, he will be idolised.
The timeless “Chuckle Brothers” image of Paisley, standing side by side with McGuinness on the steps of a newly reformed Stormont, serves to demonstrate the multifaceted Paisley, as well as one of the most extraordinary political friendships anywhere on this globe. It is perhaps one of the only documented examples of a demonstration of progressive politics from him, especially given a somewhat extreme shift from the positions he held previously against Sinn Fein being accepting into a NI executive at all, let alone sharing power. In my eyes, this is perhaps the greatest positive the often intransigently conservative preacher can be remembered by, at least to the neutral.
Despite this, I cannot ever say Paisley was a force of good overall for the people of Northern Ireland. To me he serves as a political giant, a colourful figure who happened to be remarkably easy to satirise. Yet ultimately, he was another politician preaching exactly the same, troubled ideas that kindled sectarian division by putting a flag and a denomination in the way of progress.
Ian Paisley’s death will guarantee divided opinion among the people of the North, the Republic and the UK, but he will never be forgotten in the history of the North, on his notoriety alone.
Aaron Luke Meredith, from Belfast, is a second-year English literature and philosophy student.
