Lyra and the future of Northern Ireland

In this past week the brilliant 29-year-old writer, activist and friend Lyra McKee, who was tragically murdered in Derry/Londonderry last week, was laid to rest at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. The ceremony was attended by leaders of all of Northern Ireland’s main political parties, as well as UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Irish President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Attendees were encouraged to wear items from the Harry Potter books and Marvel films to reflect Lyra’s love for the films. Parallel vigils were held at the same time in London, Glasgow and Derry.

One of the most poignant and noteworthy moments of the funeral service came when Father Martin Magill asked the question: “Why in God’s name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get to this point? [having all of political leaders together]”. The priest received a standing ovation for challenging the politicians in the wake of Lyra’s murder, and has since referred to a “political vacuum” in Northern Ireland that risks being exploited by extremist elements in Northern Irish society. In a statement to The Irish News this past week, the New IRA admitted to the murder of Lyra McKee.

Father Magill’s statement at the funeral was followed by a series of calls for a fresh round of talks with the aim of reviving the power-sharing government at Stormont. The British and Irish governments subsequently announced a resumption of talks to restore Northern Ireland’s devolved government. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley has confirmed that the new talks are set to begin on 7th May. Thus far the negotiating parties have failed to find a compromise on a number of issues including Irish language rights and the legalisation of same-sex marriage. Despite friends of Lyra calling for same-sex marriage to be made legal in Northern Ireland after hearing at her funeral that she had planned on proposing to her partner Sara Canning in May, the DUP leader Arlene Foster has stated that Lyra’s death has not changed the party’s stance on gay marriage.

You can find Northern Slant’s tributes to Lyra here:

 

Sri Lanka attacks

In this past week Sri Lanka has been recovering from a series of coordinated bombings that killed over 200 people and injured more than 500. The bombings targeted three Christian churches across the country where worshippers were celebrating Easter, and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital of Colombo. These bomb attacks were the worst violence seen in Sri Lanka since the country’s 37-year-long conflict with Tamil rebels ended a decade ago.

Shortly after the attacks the Sri Lankan authorities stated that they believed that the Islamist group known as National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ), who previously defaced Buddhist statues, were responsible for the attacks. It is believed that NTJ had assistance from jihadist groups from outside of Sri Lanka, with ISIS having also claimed responsibility for the attack. US President Donald Trump has previously stated that the terrorist group has been defeated in Iraq and Syria, with these attacks in Sri Lanka raising new questions – and fears – about the ideological hold that the group will continue to have even when its territorial hold is erased.

It has been reported that ten days before the attack, Sri Lanka’s security services were warned that NTJ was planning on targeting churches. However, no action was taken against the group. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he would change the heads of the defence forces following their failure to act on the intelligence. In addition to this, an emergency law has gone into effect which gives police and the military in Sri Lanka sweeping new powers to detain and interrogate suspects without a court’s appeal. So far more than 70 people have been arrested, and a raid by Sri Lankan security forces on suspected safe house for the terrorists has left 15 people dead following a shootout between police and alleged militants. The failure of the Sri Lankan government win both preventing and investigating these attacks has led to serious questioning about the country’s ability to respond to this attack and deter future ones.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka following the attacks. It is believed that eight Britons were among the victims of the bombings.

 

Comedian wins in Ukraine

In this past week Volodymyr Zelensky, a political novice who is best known for playing a teacher who unexpectedly wins the presidential election, won the presidential election in Ukraine. Because, you know, art imitates life and all that.

Zelensky took more than 73% of the votes, with the incumbent Petro Poroshenko trailing behind with 24%, despite having no prior political experiencing and not offering a blueprint for how he would govern. Poroshenko has fought to integrate Ukraine with the EU and NATO, while strengthening the military. Zelensky’s campaign was based on a promise to fight corruption and upend the political elite in Ukraine, with his victory coming in the midst of dissatisfaction among Ukrainians with both with both their political establishment and their war with Russia which has killed 13,000 people since 2014. He will not take charge of one of the poorest countries in Europe, which exists on a fault-line in the stand-off between the West and Russia. Ukraine’s economic and political struggles have led millions to flee in search of a better life in recent years.

Throughout his campaign he offered little information about his policies or plans for the presidency, instead relying on viral videos, jokes and his ability to woo an audience instead of traditional campaigning. In his TV show Servant of the People, Zelensky played an ordinary person who became president and takes on the country’s oligarchs. Now he is expected to do the same in real life. Experts say that Zelensky’s success stems from Ukrainians’ dissatisfaction with decades of failed political leadership, with the election amounting to a referendum on political corruption in the region. However, one aspect of his newfound political career that wasn’t written into his campaign script is Zelensky’s relationship with Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Servant of the People appeared on Kolomoisky’s TV channel, and the oligarch is a long-time rival of the now former president Poroshenko. Some now suspect that this anti-corruption, anti-establishment candidate was in fact a tool of another Ukrainian oligarch attempting to gain more political power. Zelensky denies this accusation.

Another interesting aspect of Zelensky’s presidential election win – to me, at least – is that Ukraine is now the only country outside of Israel to have both a Jewish president and prime minister; with Volodymryr Groysman taking the latter post in April 2016. Zelensky comes from a secular intellectual Jewish family in Ukraine, which has the world’s third- or possibly fourth-largest Jewish community (estimates of its size vary from 120,000 to 400,000 people, depending on who you ask).

 

Launch of MEP candidates

New political parties the Brexit Party and Change UK (aka the Independent Group) unveiled their list of candidates for the European elections in this past week.

Change UK received 3,700 applications from people who wanted to represent the new party in the European elections next month. The candidates chosen include ex-Newsnight journalist Gavin Esler, the columnist Rachel Johnson (Boris’s sister), the former Conservative Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell and former MPs, parliamentary candidates and councillors, as well as first-time campaigners. However, the party’s campaign launch has been slightly tarnished by two resignations by candidates. Ali Sadjady, a former Tory who was standing for the European parliament elections in London was forced to resigned the same day as the campaign launch after it emerged that he had tweeted in 2017 that he was tempted to support Brexit if it stopped Romanian pickpockets coming to the UK. Change UK’s second resignation came from Joseph Russo, who was the party’s lead MEP candidate for Scotland, after it emerged that he had previously tweeted derogatory comments about women and minorities.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has been rolling out the names of MEP candidates gradually. The party’s candidates include a nurse, a marine veteran, a small business owner, a former lads’ mag editor, and former Tory minister Anne Widdecombe, who will be standing for England’s South West region. The party claims to have signed up more than 60,000 supporters and more than 175,000 online followers, and to have raised more than £750,000 in under a month.

A total of 11 candidates will be standing for three European seats in Northern Ireland, including the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and the Alliance Party leader Naomi Long. The outgoing MEPs Martina Anderson from Sinn Féin and the DUP’s Diane Dodds are standing for re-election, while the former UUP minister Danny Kennedy has launched his candidacy after the party’s MEP Jim Nicholson decided to step down. The DUP and Sinn Féin claimed more than 45% of the vote combined in the 2014 poll and are expected to retain their seats. Neither Change UK nor the Brexit Party will be fielding a candidate in Northern Ireland.

 

2020 US presidential race

I know, I know – it seems a bit mad to think about the 2020 elections when they are, you know, in 2020 and we’re currently living in 2019 – but they’re still a big deal. For example, in this past week former US vice president Joe Biden announced that he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination next year.  

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that the current race for the Democratic Party’s nomination is pretty crowded, with Biden becoming the twentieth candidate to announce his bid in a crowd that has been celebrated for gender and racial diversity. This is espcially significant to Biden’s campaign as he has been accused by several women of touching them inappropriately, and is also likely to face criticism on his conduct throughout his time as a senator, including his behaviour during the Anita Hill hearings. Ms Hill has told The New York Times that she would not endorse Biden, while Biden has stated that he was “sorry for the way she [Hill] got treated” when she accused a Supreme Court nominee of harassment before Congress in 1991.

Although he just announced his official campaign, Biden has been included in many 2020 polls as the frontrunner early in the race. Fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, has already taken a jab at Biden for attending a “swanky private fundraiser” following the announcement of his candidacy. Biden has, coincidentally I’m sure, also announced a $6.3 million fundraising haul within the first 24 hours of launching his campaign. Warren has also made the news this week for her proposal to eliminate the student loan debts of tens of millions of Americans while making all public colleges tuitiion-free. Warren’s new plan would forgive $50,000 in student loans for Americans in households earning less than $100,000 a year. Warren’s team says that this would cost $1.25 trillion over 10 years, and that she would pay for it by upping taxes on the wealthy. While some have dismissed this idea as a program that would benefit Americans who already have higher earning potential because of their degrees, this seems to be only the beginning of Warren’s ambitious education plans for America.

 

While you’re here, it’s worth looking to the week ahead too…

On Thursday 2nd May, voters in Northern Ireland head to the polls in local elections. You can find the full list of candidates standing in each council area on the Electoral Office website here. No matter your persuasion, we encourage you to weigh up the options and head to the voting booth on 2nd May. Make your voice heard.

If you’re interested in reading more about these elections, check out these interviews from our #MeetTheCandidate series.