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Originally Posted by Ayatollahgondola
Isn't there more at issue in Ireland than imperialism? I thought there was a religious factional dispute there as well.....catholics and protestants?
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The Protestants are "unionists". They maintain loyalty to the United Kingdom and independence from the very Catholic Republic of Ireland. The Catholics in Northern Ireland claim to be oppressed and are "nationalists" and wish unification with the Republic of Ireland, but there are no Protestants in the Republic of Ireland to speak of. The unionists are accused of being "imperialistic" with the United Kingdom posed as an empire with Northern Ireland representing the colonization of Ireland. Sympathetic Irish in the US frequently cite the American Revolution as being the same thing the Catholics are struggling for in Northern Ireland.
More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland