It has been noted that Progressive Liberals – who most forcefully decry the British history of colonialism – are themselves pretty adept cultural colonialists. As Stephen McAlpine pointed out powerfully here:
The baton of colonialism, long the historic burden of the conservative, Christianised West, can now been handed to the woke Left in our culture. The evidence is coming in in spades. The progressive narrative has created, and is the process of enforcing, a new colonialism and, in a great irony, is enforcing it upon those it once championed. For so long the progressive side of politics accused the historical nations of the West of colonising ethnic minorities, but suddenly they’ve signed up to the agenda. And it’s all come down to sex.
Specifically, he notes, that Billy Vunipola and Israel Folau had to bow the knee to the prevailing culture on sex. Never mind their Pacific Island heritage and their foreign cultural assumptions, these were to be made subservient to prevailing cultural views on sex and sexuality. Stephen comments:
For Billy, for Israel, and for a host of other players in the spotlight, they’ve come to realise that their deep ethno-religious frameworks upon which they have built their lives have to bow down the idol of sexual identity. There is no option if they wish to continue in their employ.
These other markers – ethno-religious – for so long championed by the Left, are now being viewed as barriers to progress. And we know how the Left treats barriers to progress. There is a pecking order when it comes to identity, and race and religion sit squarely below sex. It must be quashed.
He goes on:
Still not convinced? So a friend working in the public service in our home state tells me that after a long intense PD day on how to promote sexual diversity in his workplace, he approached the organisers and said that many people within the Australian indigenous community would have a problem with this. The response? “Well they will just have to get on board.”
Get on board. The bulk of the indigenous community who hold to traditional values in terms of marriage, will have to get on board the whitefella’s agenda. Since when did that become anything but colonialism? If they don’t get on board, they’re gonna get run over.
Now, forgive the extensive quote, but it is extremely relevant to the point I am seeking to make as new pressure is being put on the Westminster government, in a report by the Women and Equalities Committee, to impose abortion on Northern Ireland.
I have commented on this before (see here, here, here and here). Now, you may wonder what the furore surrounding Israel Folau and Billy Vunipola have to do with the imposition of English abortion laws on Northern Ireland by the Westminster parliament. But it is driven by nothing less than the same colonial, imperialistic paternalism that forced Folau and Vunipola to toe the line or lose their jobs despite their Pacific Island cultural commitments and their role having nothing to do with LGBT+ political agendas, either for or against.
Northern Ireland is governed by its own Stormont Assembly. It has considerable devolved powers to address issues affecting the region, of which healthcare and the provision of abortion is one such devolved power. Not only are the majority of the Stormont Assembly against de-restricting the existing abortion laws for the region, the overwhelming majority of the public are also against it. It is, indeed, one of few unifying issues between the staunchly pro-life Catholic and Protestant communities.
Interestingly, the Women and Equalities Committee launched a public consultation last September to try and press the issue. But 89% of responses to the consultation were against any relaxation in the existing laws. So it is telling that the same Committee have now written a report to put pressure on the Westminster government to impose abortion on the region against the wishes of the people that live there. Once against, progressive liberal colonialism rears its head.
It matters not that the history and culture of Northern Ireland is steeped in, and remains largely, Christian. It matters not that the people of Northern Ireland have consistently rebuffed any relaxation of the abortion laws. It doesn’t even matter that the Westminster government have made it a devolved matter for the Stormont Assembly to handle. The right thinking progressive liberals in Westminster know best and the backward hicks in Northern Ireland simply need to get on board.
In the hierarchy of balanced rights, we know all too well that sex is all. And make no mistake, the imposition of abortion has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with convenient contraception. The existing abortion laws in Northern Ireland would already permit doctors to help in cases where the mother’s life is genuinely in danger. Any liberalisation of the abortion law is merely to accommodate those who regret the consequences of coitus.
Those who have repeatedly said that their culture, their belief in moral absolutes of right and wrong, does not permit them to take life – and even less so for the sake of convenience – are now being roundly ignored. Apparently 89% of respondents to the question in the region still isn’t enough to register the message. Different culture or not, devolved matter or not, the progressive liberals in Westminster know what’s best for you and they determine you must get on board.
As the progressive liberals in Westminster continue to apologise for Britain’s colonial past, they impose laws on Northern Ireland that they don’t want so that they can feel good about signalling their right virtues to the world, making it clear to all that British colonialism is alive and well after all.