Judging by his blog, Hanson appears to take the stance of an anti-Agreement Unionist, though I won’t hold that against him! His writing is very opinion-based, which I like, and he holds a healthy degree of scepticism for Unionists and Nationalists alike.

Of course, I can’t agree with everything he says. Take for instance his comments about political progress:

The other Unionist on the panel, UUP leader Reg Empey, on the other hand did say something interesting:
Remember what this country was like twenty years ago. We were shovelling people into plastic bags.

Exactly Sir Reg. Lets remember that Sinn Fein/IRA (and loyalist terrorists for that matter) spent thirty years blowing people to bits. There are precious few public representatives who remind us of that fact.

However, Sir Regs next comment was strange: Lets recognize the progress that has been made.

What progress is that? Putting people who put people in plastic bags into government as a reward for not doing it any more?

I think that’s indicitave of anti-Agreement Unionism, that unforgiving, unflinching attitude of “not putting terrorists in Government”. Always failing to acknowledge that some of the Unionists currently in Government aggitated and helped bring about the Troubles through their bigotted sectarian campaigns.

I think it’s telling that every Unionist leader since Carson has eventually recognised the need for conciliation with Catholics/Nationalists. More telling that Paisley – the great agitator – has joined their ranks.

Anyway, differences aside, Hanson’s blog is highly recommended and helps to blow a good deal of bullshit out the window.

Firstly, I like the Shankill Road. I can’t stress this enough. Along with the Falls Road, the Shankill has been at the epicenter of Northern Irish news and politics for many years. There’s no doubt that the Shankill Road harbours a colourful (deadly? murderous?) array of paramilitary characters, but aren’t there aggressors on all sides of our conflict?

A few weeks ago, as I was passing through the Shankill, I had to smile when I realised that the vast majority of shop fronts and buildings along the way were painted some combination of red, white or blue. I chuckled to myself: was this accidental or by design?

In the intervening weeks, the Shankill Road has been decorated from top to bottom with Union Flags and bunting and banners on every lamppost, supported by local orange lodges and businesses. The thing is, it’s a bit much. Looking up or down the road, your view is hazed by Union Flag bunting, like an Impressionist panting done by a Loyalist! Comes across as a wee bit insecure, if you ask me.

From Belfast City Centre to the Woodvale Road

As you come up the Shankill Road (from the City Centre), there is a lot of dereliction to deal with. You get that a lot around interface areas – no man’s land.

However, in the last seven days, a portion of waste ground on the lower Shankill has been fenced off. It looks like there’s some construction work about to begin.

Further up the road, the 12th of July is being built. Instead of the usual “Dump Wood Here” sign, a board cockily announces “Carlsberg don’t do bonfires, but if they did this would be the best!“. The structure is massive – that’s going to be some inferno when they light it.

As you pass the traffic lights up the road, you’re entering UVF territory (note the PUP office on the right-hand-side past the junction). The Shankill (like the Falls) is still the bastion of local businesses, and like its Nationalist counterpart is a bustling, busy community. I’ll always maintain these people have much more in common than they’ll ever admit – those steely, hardened faces are pure Belfast…

Pass The Rex bar on the right, marked by serious Loyalist murals – it was the scene of a Loyalist turf war a few years ago. I saw some tourists taking pictures last week (and I wonder if they visisted the bar for a drink, did they get served?). On up the road, there are some posters where waste ground has been fenced off. I must stop there someday to read them.

Stream of Consciousness

Sorry if that was a bit muddled, but I have conflicted impressions of the Shankill. On one hand, it’s the ‘home’ of mindless Loyalism (don’t start me on the cock-eyed portrait of the Queen Mother!), but on the other, the people of the area have come through their own Troubles, coupled with the decline of many local trades. Nothing has risen to take the place of those trades, and the area has fallen into decline, the people represented badly by the mainstream Unionist parties.

We talked quite a bit last year about Protestant/Unionist disenfranchisement. Well, the Shankill’s not that bad, as far as I can see. What it’s really crying out for is to have the paramilitary element removed. How can kids on the Shankill grow up normally when they have gang wars and ‘brigadiers of bling’ on their doorstep? They need and deserve something better, but no-one’s there to give it to them.

Regardless, everyday life continues as normal on the Shankill Road, just like everywhere else…

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.

Dr Gribben makes the assertion that, demographically, Unionists no longer represent a political majority in Northern Ireland and that they need to broaden their appeal in order to regain their strength.

As the population statistics of Northern Ireland no longer reflect a Unionist majority, so Unionist leaders must make the case for the Union to a population broader than the conservative Protestants whose votes they have traditionally taken for granted.

Surely the same argument applies to Nationalists and Republicans in that they need to somehow broaden their appeal to attract new voters, not existing ones? This harks back to what I blogged about earlier – can the political parties broaden their appeal by actually tackling issues that affect the public?

Similar questions were being asked after the Whiterock riots last September, with some citing social differences between Nationalist and Unionist areas of West Belfast as a potential starting point for Gerry Adams to prove that Sinn Fein really wants an Ireland Of Equals, and that it’s not hollow rhetoric.

Interestingly, the research shows that a growing number of DUP supporters think the party needs to learn to compromise.

I’m slightly sceptical of this, and the claim that “support among DUP voters for power-sharing had doubled between 1998 and 2003″. Obviously, this doesn’t sit comfortably with the DUP claim that they’ve been elected on an Anti-Agreement ticket.

Which is it? Do the majority of people want working institutions in Northern Ireland, or do they prefer “The Jerry Springer Show” that the previous Assembly represented? Would they have voted for the DUP if they wanted peace?

Sectarian Headcount

The research also criticises the Good Friday Agreement for failing to move politics in Northern Ireland away from the traditional ‘sectarian headcount’ model.

While there’s truth in that, I don’t feel there’s any way to move beyond that model when most people in Northern Ireland designate themselves Unionist, Nationalist or Other. And when the GFA was negotiated from these polarised viewpoints, it’s no shock that this is the form the Assembly took too.

The question I am asking – to anyone who cares to answer – is are we ready to move beyond the failed politics of Unionist v Nationalist? I know I am. I know others who are. But are the majority of people on the street ready to come out and say to the politicians “Stop dicking around and make the Assembly work!”

Because, if this report is correct (and I hope it is), it hints at an attitude shift in hardcore Unionism that might eventually lead to practical, mutually beneficial solutions in this part of the Emerald Isle!

I just wonder if our politicians (particularly the hardcore) are brave enough to embrace the will of the people, or if they’ll find some way to twist the agenda yet again. I’d love to see the Jerry Springer-style politics put to bed permanently.