PRC-UTE
20th July 2007, 23:26
The 12th as Orangefest – Critics hit the wrong target
John McAnulty
15 July 2007
While the media in the North was filled with facepainting and pageants of
the newly labelled Orangefest, the usual carnival of reaction and
sectarian intimidation that is the 12th continued as usual.
The season opened with a savage attempt to murder a catholic schoolboy in
North Belfast. The boy was attacked by a group of UDA men, had his head
smashed in with a golf club and was dragged along the street with a wire
garrotte around his neck.
There was the usual crop of Orange banners commemorating loyalist killers,
including a leading loyalist involved in the massacre of customers at a
bookies shop on the Ormeau Rd.
Loyalists in Coleraine decorated their bonfires with daubs celebrating the
deaths of two local Catholic teenagers.
At a slightly lower level was the 80 foot high bonfire made mostly of
tyres – although burning tyres in now an offence.
There were plenty of complaints about the Orange and their supporters, but
those complaining were aiming at the wrong target – the sectarian state it
not composed simply of bigots, but mainly of those institutions that offer
invisible support and give the bigots impunity.
So no-one blinked when the fire brigade appealed to the Orange supporters
not to attack their crews – saying that the crews had been ordered under
no circumstances to put out any bonfires.
In a wonderful show of hypocrisy a spokesperson for the Environment Agency
urged witnesses to complain about the Antrim bonfire. Were the police and
environmental agency unable to see the 80 foot pile of tyres for
themselves?
In fact many of the bonfires are subsidised by the state, and the Loyalist
were paid to restrict the emblems on display to Ulster flags and Union
jacks and to reduce the display of death squad emblems.
One of the banners commemorating loyalist killers went through the
nationalist Springfield Rd area with the blessing of the Parades
Commission. They accept the assurances of the Orange that there will be
no provocation – even though every year the Orange break their word.
One should not forget the role of Sinn Fein. The IRA policed North
Belfast after the attempted murder, using force to disperse nationalist
youth. At Ardoyne those on the Sinn Fein payroll stood with printed
protest posters, having pushed local residents off the streets. No-one
seemed to remember that this display of ineffectual protest had been
proposed initially by the Orange order!
The famous Orange phrase is ‘croppies lie down’ now this new dispensation
depends on them lying down. An example of how things can go wrong came in
Coleraine, when the father of one of the dead boys whose name topped the
bonfire went to the police. He was told that the complaint would have to
go to the community relations branch and then to community leaders (the
bigots). It might take some time to remove the slogan, he was told. He
took it down himself. The next night his house was under siege from a
raging mass of loyalist thugs.
The reaction of the 12th can be portrayed as Orangefest only as long as
the Catholic workers turn away. If they shake off the Sinn Fein police
and protest the ramshackle structures hiding the sectarian reality will
quickly fall away. Their target should not primarily be the organised
bigots, but the sectarian state structures that nationalist parties have
helped construct in the name of peace.
John McAnulty
15 July 2007
While the media in the North was filled with facepainting and pageants of
the newly labelled Orangefest, the usual carnival of reaction and
sectarian intimidation that is the 12th continued as usual.
The season opened with a savage attempt to murder a catholic schoolboy in
North Belfast. The boy was attacked by a group of UDA men, had his head
smashed in with a golf club and was dragged along the street with a wire
garrotte around his neck.
There was the usual crop of Orange banners commemorating loyalist killers,
including a leading loyalist involved in the massacre of customers at a
bookies shop on the Ormeau Rd.
Loyalists in Coleraine decorated their bonfires with daubs celebrating the
deaths of two local Catholic teenagers.
At a slightly lower level was the 80 foot high bonfire made mostly of
tyres – although burning tyres in now an offence.
There were plenty of complaints about the Orange and their supporters, but
those complaining were aiming at the wrong target – the sectarian state it
not composed simply of bigots, but mainly of those institutions that offer
invisible support and give the bigots impunity.
So no-one blinked when the fire brigade appealed to the Orange supporters
not to attack their crews – saying that the crews had been ordered under
no circumstances to put out any bonfires.
In a wonderful show of hypocrisy a spokesperson for the Environment Agency
urged witnesses to complain about the Antrim bonfire. Were the police and
environmental agency unable to see the 80 foot pile of tyres for
themselves?
In fact many of the bonfires are subsidised by the state, and the Loyalist
were paid to restrict the emblems on display to Ulster flags and Union
jacks and to reduce the display of death squad emblems.
One of the banners commemorating loyalist killers went through the
nationalist Springfield Rd area with the blessing of the Parades
Commission. They accept the assurances of the Orange that there will be
no provocation – even though every year the Orange break their word.
One should not forget the role of Sinn Fein. The IRA policed North
Belfast after the attempted murder, using force to disperse nationalist
youth. At Ardoyne those on the Sinn Fein payroll stood with printed
protest posters, having pushed local residents off the streets. No-one
seemed to remember that this display of ineffectual protest had been
proposed initially by the Orange order!
The famous Orange phrase is ‘croppies lie down’ now this new dispensation
depends on them lying down. An example of how things can go wrong came in
Coleraine, when the father of one of the dead boys whose name topped the
bonfire went to the police. He was told that the complaint would have to
go to the community relations branch and then to community leaders (the
bigots). It might take some time to remove the slogan, he was told. He
took it down himself. The next night his house was under siege from a
raging mass of loyalist thugs.
The reaction of the 12th can be portrayed as Orangefest only as long as
the Catholic workers turn away. If they shake off the Sinn Fein police
and protest the ramshackle structures hiding the sectarian reality will
quickly fall away. Their target should not primarily be the organised
bigots, but the sectarian state structures that nationalist parties have
helped construct in the name of peace.