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Ulster loyalism is a militant unionist
Unionism in Ireland

Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the maintenance or strengthening of the political and cultural ties between Ireland and Great Britain....
 ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
 unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims. However, others, such as Garrett Fitzgerald, argue that loyalism is simply "loyalty to Ulster not to the Union with Britain and it is mis-described as unionism."

Unionists support the continuation of Northern Ireland's status as a constituent country of the United Kingdom and oppose any joining with the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 in a united Ireland
United Ireland

A united Ireland is the term used to refer to a wholly independent Ireland. Presently, the island of Ireland is divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland ....
.






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Ulster loyalism is a militant unionist
Unionism in Ireland

Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the maintenance or strengthening of the political and cultural ties between Ireland and Great Britain....
 ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
 unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims. However, others, such as Garrett Fitzgerald, argue that loyalism is simply "loyalty to Ulster not to the Union with Britain and it is mis-described as unionism."

Unionists support the continuation of Northern Ireland's status as a constituent country of the United Kingdom and oppose any joining with the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 in a united Ireland
United Ireland

A united Ireland is the term used to refer to a wholly independent Ireland. Presently, the island of Ireland is divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland ....
. However, whilst some loyalist groups seek to maintain Northern Ireland's position within the UK they are not defined by this aim and some, such as the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association

The Ulster Defence Association is a Ulster loyalism paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Its main objective has been to reject unification of Ireland, seeking to do so through maintenance of the Act of Union 1800....
, have openly supported the idea of Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
 independence. Unionists also believe in achieving their aims through purely constitutional means, but are willing to use violence to defend the constitutional process. However loyalists support the use of militant
Militant

The word militant refers to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, usually for a cause.Journalists often use militant as a neutral term for soldiers who do not belong to an established government military organization....
 methods as the primary means to reject amalgamation with the Republic of Ireland. Consequently, anti-Unionists and anti-Loyalists frequently use the term loyalist to describe illegal paramilitary
Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
 organisations.

Upon the partition of Ireland
Partition of Ireland

The partition of Ireland between the north-eastern Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920....
 in 1921, six of the nine counties in the province of Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
 were excluded the independent Irish Free State
Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
 (later the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
). These counties, four out of the six having (at the time) Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 majorities , remained a part of the United Kingdom. Two other Ulster counties also remained part of the UK, despite having narrow nationalist
Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Culture of Ireland, Gaelic language and History of Ireland, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people....
 (pro-independence) majorities . Both unionist and nationalist communities have allowed or encouraged sectarianism
Sectarianism

Sectarianism is bigotry, discrimination, prejudice or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion or the factions of a political movement....
 among Protestants (associated with unionism) and Roman Catholics (associated with nationalism) to further political aims .

The difference of opinion between Northern Ireland's Nationalist Catholic population (which mostly supports leaving the UK in favour of uniting with the Republic of Ireland) and its Protestant Unionist population (which mainly supports remaining as part of the United Kingdom) has led to a long-running bloody conflict known as The Troubles
The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland and Continental Europe....
. However, the majority of people who live in the region do not support paramilitaries of any ideology .

Political parties

  • Progressive Unionist Party
    Progressive Unionist Party

    The Progressive Unionist Party is a small political party from Northern Ireland. They were formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill, Belfast area of Belfast becoming the PUP in 1979....
  • Ulster Democratic Party
    Ulster Democratic Party

    The Ulster Democratic Party was a small Ulster loyalism political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group....


Bigger parties like the Ulster Unionist
Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party is the more moderate of the two main Unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Prior to the split in Unionism in the late 1960s, when the former Protestant Unionist Party began to attract more hard line support away from the UUP, it governed Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972 as the sole Unionist party....
 or Democratic Unionist
Democratic Unionist Party

The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main Unionism political party in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson , it is the largest party in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom....
 parties have actively sought to distance themselves from loyalist paramilitary activity. However, Ian Paisley and his Democratic Unionist Party have worked alongside loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UDA in the 1974 Ulster Workers' Council Strike
Ulster Workers' Council Strike

The Ulster Workers' Council strike was a general strike that took place between Wednesday 15 May 1974 and Tuesday 28 May 1974 in Northern Ireland....
s and the 1977 Loyalist Association of Workers
Loyalist Association of Workers

The Loyalist Association of Workers was a militant Unionism in Ireland organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the Ulster loyalism cause....
 strike.

Fraternities

  • Orange Order
  • Apprentice Boys of Derry
    Apprentice Boys of Derry

    The Apprentice Boys Of Derry are a Protestant Fraternal organization with a worldwide membership, founded in 1814. They are based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland....
  • Independent Orange Order
    Independent Orange Order

    The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an off-shoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland....


Paramilitary groups

  • Ulster Volunteer Force
    Ulster Volunteer Force

    The Ulster Volunteer Force is a Ulster loyalism group in Northern Ireland. The current incarnation was formed in May 1966 as a paramilitary group and named after the Ulster Volunteers of 1912, although there is no direct connection between the two....
     and Protestant Action Force
  • Red Hand Commando
  • Ulster Defence Association
    Ulster Defence Association

    The Ulster Defence Association is a Ulster loyalism paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Its main objective has been to reject unification of Ireland, seeking to do so through maintenance of the Act of Union 1800....
     and Ulster Freedom Fighters
  • Loyalist Volunteer Force
    Loyalist Volunteer Force

    The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a Ulster loyalism paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright when the Mid-Ulster brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force, which he commanded, was stood down by that organisation's leadership in Belfast....
  • Red Hand Defenders
    Red Hand Defenders

    The Red Hand Defenders is a Northern Irish paramilitary group formed in 1998 and composed largely of Protestant hardliners from Ulster loyalism groups observing a cease-fire....
  • Ulster Protestant Volunteers
    Ulster Protestant Volunteers

    The Ulster Protestant Volunteers were a Ulster loyalism paramilitary group established in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, to prevent the introduction of reforms in Northern Ireland....
  • Orange Volunteers
    Orange Volunteers

    The Orange Volunteers are a break-away Ulster loyalism paramilitary group in Northern Ireland.The OV emerged during the 1998 Drumcree conflict, when the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army prevented members of the Portadown Orange Institution and their supporters from returning to the town centre down the Garvaghy road....
  • Red Branch Knights
  • Ulster Resistance
    Ulster Resistance

    Ulster Resistance was a paramilitary movement established by Unionism in Northern Ireland on 10 November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement....


Youth groups

  • Ulster Young Militants
    Ulster Young Militants

    The Ulster Young Militants are considered to be the youth wing of the Ulster Defence Association, a Ulster loyalism paramilitary group in Northern Ireland....
  • Young Citizen Volunteers
    Young Citizen Volunteers

    The Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland had its first meeting just prior to the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant , in Belfast City Hall on September 10, 1912....


Umbrella organisations

  • Combined Loyalist Military Command
    Combined Loyalist Military Command

    The Combined Loyalist Military Command was an umbrella body for Ulster loyalism paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee....
  • Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee
    Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee

    The Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee was set up in 1974 in the aftermath of the Ulster Workers Council Strike, in order to facilitate meetings and policy co-ordination between the Ulster Workers Council, the Ulster loyalism paramilitaries and the political representatives of loyalism....


Other loyalist organisations

  • Loyalist Association of Workers
    Loyalist Association of Workers

    The Loyalist Association of Workers was a militant Unionism in Ireland organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the Ulster loyalism cause....
  • Tara (Northern Ireland)
    Tara (Northern Ireland)

    Tara was a Ulster loyalism movement in Northern Ireland that espoused a brand of Evangelicalism Protestantism.The group was first formed in 1966 by William McGrath from an independent Orange Lodge that he controlled....
  • Ulster Political Research Group
    Ulster Political Research Group

    The Ulster Political Research Group is an advisory body connected to the Ulster Defence Association, providing advice to them on political matters....
  • Ulster Workers Council
    Ulster Workers Council

    The Ulster Workers Council was a Ulster loyalism workers' organisation set up in Northern Ireland in 1974 as a more formalised successor to the Loyalist Association of Workers....


Footnotes



External links

  • - A South-East Antrim organization linked with the Ulster Defence Association
    Ulster Defence Association

    The Ulster Defence Association is a Ulster loyalism paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Its main objective has been to reject unification of Ireland, seeking to do so through maintenance of the Act of Union 1800....
  • - Centre-Left
    Centre-left

    The centre-left is a politics term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political party or organisations whose views stretch from the centrism to the left-wing on the Left-Right politics, excluding far left stances....
     and Social Democratic Loyalist party linked with the Ulster Volunteer Force
    Ulster Volunteer Force

    The Ulster Volunteer Force is a Ulster loyalism group in Northern Ireland. The current incarnation was formed in May 1966 as a paramilitary group and named after the Ulster Volunteers of 1912, although there is no direct connection between the two....
    .