Loyalism

A few trips through Belfast recently have taken me up the Shankill Road, and I wanted to share these thoughts with you.

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…

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 // General

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.

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I understand the Healing Through Remebering group had some concerns over the televised format of Facing The Truth, and having seen the overblow starting sequence, it’s easy to see why.

Whoever thought that it was a good idea to have Archbishop Tutu’s entrance by helicopter, that ridiculous ‘tension’ music and the over-the-top introduction by Fergal Keane needs their head examined. Hardly a sensitive treatment of a situation where breaved relatives meet a convicted killer.

Food For Thought

I’ve managed to catch a couple of episodes of Facing The Truth. The first thing that struck me was the incredible bravery of everyone involved. Yes, that includes the perpetrators.

Watching victims of violence come face to face with murderers was a tremendously difficult thing to watch, let alone be a part of. I can only imagine the kind of courage it takes to participate in a meeting like this.

Likewise for the perpetrator. Whatever you think of Michael Stone, he is a child of the ‘Troubles’ too. And whether you are cynical as to his motives (as Mrs Levee is), he at least showed up and told of his part in the Dermot Hackett murder. And as reprehensible as that sounds, I think the cold, hard facts were welcome also.

How intelligence was gathered by Loyalists and passed to him. How he tested the weapon that was used in the murder. How he had to dehumanize his targets in order to carry out the commands he was given. How he led a double life at the expense of his marriages and family.

However, I feel that Michael Stone was affected by his meeting with the Hackett family. For one thing, he couldn’t really look Sylvia Hackett in the eye. For another, he clung to the Loyalist intelligence that said Dermot Hackett was an IRA member, despite the obvious counter-claim that if he was an IRA member, then the IRA would have taken over the funeral and given him a military burial. As it was, the IRA publicly denied he was a member.

Can We Handle The Truth?

I have to disagree with the Healing Through Remembering group on this occassion. I think the people of Northern Ireland need to see this ’storytelling process’. We need to see both sides. That Stone’s crusade gained him notoriety and respect in Loyalist circles, did not protect him from facing the reality of a woman who he made a widow of.

As a group, the people of Northern Ireland need to see the consequence of bitter sectarianism and political division. Ian Paisley needs to see it. Gerry Adams needs to see it. Our ‘leaders’ need to see it because they’ve got it wrong over 40 years. While they’ve been busy exploiting the divisions in our society, they could have been busy uniting our society.

As I see it, those narrow political interests are as responsible for these deaths as the gunmen themselves. Anyway, I’ll tackle that later.

Thank You And Best Wishes

I feel it’s important to thank the Hackett family and Michael Stone for allowing their meeting to be televised. This wasn’t about confrontation - it was about resolution.

We got to hear both sides of the story, and though parts of it were hard to swallow, it seemed to be the truth. The most important thing is that this is about moving on from the past, and hopefully these meetings help people gain closure. No, they won’t change events of the past, and moving on will be difficult.

And also, where Stone claimed to dehumanize his victims, I think we need to be aware that we dehumanize (or demonize) the perpetrators of violence in Northern Ireland. Perhaps the people who once terrorised this province 20 years ago can become the same people who help us achieve peace in the end? Just a thought…

Anyway, I do hope this process has helped those involved to come to terms with the past and to move on in a positive way, both the victims and the perpetrators.

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics