Skewster

OK, I haven’t technically sorted out the long-running Parades issue just yet, but I think I’ve got a viable blueprint, provided the communities in question have the leadership and resolve to pull it off.

So, Let’s Work Out The Grievances

The Orange Order are the parading Kings (and Queens) of Northern Ireland. They organise more expeditions per year than your local hiking group and are generally well-attended by certain sections of the community.

These Parades don’t exactly knock the socks off some Nationalist residents, who steadfastly refuse to allow parades to pass through ‘their’ areas. And no wonder. We only have to look to the violence on the Springfield Road last year when marchers were denied access to the Whiterock. Would you want those yahoos ripping tiles off your roof and smashing up your car?

But then, is it possible that Nationalists are provoked into reacting by their local resident’s groups? I mean, if managed properly how long would a parade take to pass through the area? An hour, two at most. Better still, instead of pretending to be prisoners in your own home, come out and support the parade because you can. If you must get caught up in symbolism, let it be positive.

Right, are you with me so far? In summary: Orange Order – your entourage is carrying too much riff raff. Nationalist residents – you’re getting too shirty about a parade that’ll have passed in an hour.

The Spirit Of Reconciliation

OK. Swallow hard people, this is where we have to accommodate.

Orange Order & Guests: Leave the rabble behind. It may be the Queen’s highway, but this is a bridge building exercise. If anyone on the day looks like they’re geared for trouble, tell them to watch the parade via BBC1 or meet you down the Kneebreakers later. Likewise, anyone with terrorist connections should probably stay at home too.

The people of the Nationalist area you are proposing to walk through aren’t thrilled about the music. Perhaps an appropriate silence as you pass through would be a fitting mark of respect.

On the plus side, if all goes well this year, next year’s parade will be a doddle to organise and we might not need the Parades Commission to intervene.

Nationalist Residents: You are inviting the Protestant people into your area under friendly terms. Don’t underestimate the significance of this.

I’d like to see a welcoming gesture at the interface, with a selection of members of the community greeting the parade as it begins to pass through. Perhaps a banner celebrating the occasion and welcoming the parade through and an appropriate photo op handshake between the leader of the parade and one of the residents.

To come back to the issue of disenfranchisement from September, it might show that the two areas aren’t all that different. It might show Protestants that West Belfast Catholics live much the same way and have similar lifestyles. It’s not Beverley Hills on the Falls Road compared with Ethiopia on the Shankill!

A Model For The Future?

Am I being stunningly naive as usual? Are both parties so consumed by bigotry that they don’t want a solution to this? Or are they simply allowing themselves to be stirred up by their ‘community leaders’?

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I think this is a fine model for peaceful parades in Northern Ireland. On both sides.

No-one can ‘win’ the parades issue. It is something that recurrs every year and isn’t likely to stop. The best that everybody can hope for is a peaceful compromise.

Paul at The Northern Irish Magyar is hosting a very interesting debate on the subject of Irishness.

Despite my RC upbringing, I wasn’t indoctrinated with attendant Republican or even Nationalist values. I always viewed Northern Ireland as a seperate entity, quite apart from either Ireland or Britain. Paul sums it up well in the comments:

political Republicanism has succeeded in greatly narrowing the definition of Irishness for their own political ends

I would argue that similarly Unionism/Loyalism have narrowed the definition of Britishness (in Northern Ireland at least) to representing a group of pompous, bigotted, intransigent stick-in-the-muds! I’ve never been comfortable with either label.

Another well-made point is that pre-partition, everyone on the island would have defined themselves as ‘Irish’, simply because it wasn’t an issue. A history book I’ve been reading recently has reminded me of the fact.

Interesting to see a number of mostly Unionist bloggers considering national identity and playing with the concept of being Irish while remaining British. I’ll leave you with an inspirational quote:

We appeal to you not to fall into the 1916 trap and risk a fragile new relationship for the whole island, by pressing for the fulfilment of an old political romance. We in our turn will come to acknowledge an over-arching Irishness we all can share. This is an age for forging new relationships, not for breaking up old ones. Irish unity of the traditional kind is no more for our time than it was in 1916.

Works for me!