Jim, of course, argued that marching was 'an integral part' of the unionist/Protestant culture which nationalists/republicans and 'IRA/Sinn Fein' was intent on destroying. (You notice what he did there? Implied without saying that you were at least a supporter of 'IRA/Sinn Fein' if you thought there was something wrong with 3,500 marches happening here every year, the huge majority of which are aimed at reminding Catholics/nationalists who won in 1690.)
My suggestion was, end all marches. They're a daft practice, it's harder to play a musical instrument when you're moving than when you're standing still, and since violence clearly is a product of these marches, cut the marches and you'll cut the potential for violence. Simplistic? Maybe, but worth trying. If you must celebrate your Orange (i.e., anti-Catholic) culture, do it in one spot. Preferably outside your own front door rather than at the entrance to a Catholic Church. What does marching have to do with culture?
But Jim would have none of it. Marching was 'integral'. No march, no culture. Calls for an end to marches was to call for an end to Protestant culture. I wonder how it feels to belong to a culture which is totally dependent on a political version of restless legs syndrome?
This won't be a popular plan, but it is worth considering.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine if, across the North, the residents of the areas that the OO wanted to march through came out of their houses, sat in their gardens and just laughed at them?
Just laughed at the spectacle of fully grown men in silly trousers, playing silly songs on a silly march.
Most Orangemen want to cause offence. One of their most outspoken former spokesmen said "there's no dignity to marching with the permission of nationalists" - so not only give them permission, encourage them. Clap them through, even wear imitation suits and bang drums.
They are a farcical organisation. Laugh at them and they'll stop.
And charge them for the cost of policing their idiotic tribal attention seeking.
That could be the answer, you knnow.
DeleteOne thing I did pick up on, Jude was the issue of the so-called 'Famine Song' and how nationalists/republicans would find it offensive. Anyone with a grasp of history would suggest that any Irish person, regardless of political affiliation, would find it offensive, not least people from Ulster, which was the third-worst affected of the four provinces.
ReplyDeleteUnionist/Orange revisionism, particularly since partition, has seen to it that An Gorta Mór is regarded as a problem for the Catholic, southern pesantry, when, in actual fact, the whole of Ireland felt its wrath.