More Madness From Northern Ireland

I have just watched the Politics Show (a Sunday morning show that does what it says on the tin). Basically it was about the recent situation in Northern Ireland, the rioting etc. A journalist spoke to people on the Shankill Road asking them why they thought the violence had occured. The replies can be summed up as follows “they have everything, we have nothing”. It is little surprise that people on the Shankill are angry, they live in an area where deprivation is rife and as we know deprivation goes hand in hand with bitterness, they are blaming anyone and everyone for the fact that they do not like their lives. In this case it is the Catholics. One interviewee went as far as to say that Catholics lived in Palaces. David Ford put it eloquently by saying that they are adopting the traditionally Provo mantra, we are the MOST oppressed peoples and we are therefore justified in any action.

The journalist went on to say that these views were all urban myths, Catholics in Northern Ireland are still more likely to be unemployed, leave school with no qualifications and be on the poverty line. People need to learn that if they do not like their lives the only people who can change it is them. It is logical that if one section of the population has more than the other, this section have to loose some things in an attempt to make things equal.

There were 2 politicians on the show, David Ford (Alliance Party Leader) and a member of the DUP, Nelson McCausland. Mr McCausland went on to blame the release of Sean Kelly, the positive response of the British government to the IRA statement, 50/50 recrutiment in the PSNI, the Parades Commission, the police, the media and anyone except the Protestant people, his Party and Orange Order for the violence. He said that the 3 men (3?!!!) in the Orange Order shown by cameras to be violent should be dealt with not by the PSNI but by the Orange Order internally. David Ford rightly pointed out that internal disciplinary methods were unacceptable with the Republican movement against the McCartney murders and they are unacceptable now. McCausland made it obvious that he was another DUP politician who abdicated all responsibility for the behaviour of their electorate on the one hand while at the same time proclaiming to anyone who would listen that the DUP had the support of 85% of Protestants within North and West Belfast. If they have so much support they must take responsibilty for a failure of leadership.

The Parades Commission by the nature of their work must ban some Orange marches. Orange marches through Catholic areas are like Klu Klux Klan marches through a predominantly black area, they are bound to offend and indeed intended to offend. The ‘tradition’ argument is a fallacy, civil order and long-term social stability are more important than tradition, Northern Ireland has changed, the Orange Order, the Protestant people and their representatives must move with the times. They had it all for a long time, it is going to be difficult to adapt but they must take responsibility for their own lives and futures and stop balming everyone else, the foundation of peace in Northern Ireland is compromise.