100 years ago today 500,000 people in Ulster signed a pledge to resist the imposition of home rule for Ireland, by force of arms if necessary. It seems odd today that the British government was on the side of Irish nationalists but at the time that was the case, it was the common folk of Ulster that didn't want Irish home rule. But what does it mean to be a member of the Orange Order today and why do they like to parade?
For anyone but Ulster Protestants these parades are confusing. To nationalists they are insulting, intimidating and misunderstood. To anyone not from Ireland they are just strange. But to Ulster Protestants these parades and the organisations that go with them are central to their culture. They are a connection to the past, an assertion of identity and a source of strength in a world that seems 'out to get' them.
Over the past 30 years Ulster Unionists have seen their power, dominance and control of Northern Ireland taken from them as part of the peace process. Nobody in their right mind would say that this is a bad thing, equality is largely a reality today and long may it continue. However to a working class unionist, it feels like they have suffered an unrelenting string of humiliations and that everything 'goes to them', meaning of course the nationalist community.
I will resist the urge to launch into a full diatribe about the need for tribalism in our evolutionary past, however we should state that human beings are tribal. We need to feel part of a larger whole, and it helps to have an opposing tribe to cement this.
These marches are unionist mutual grooming, a reaffirmation of the tribe and their shared strength in a world that has them locked in a siege mentality. Put yourself in the position of a young, possibly unemployed, man from Belfast. You're once proud community and culture has been eroded by your enemies who you are told you must respect. Wouldn't it feel good to march alongside your brothers in arms and to publicly state your pride in your history?
It will take many years but we hope that one day these feeling will subside on all sides, and that the marches can be seen as an expression of Irish history and the culture of many of the islands inhabitants without out causing insult to anyone else.
This article was brought to you by Richard Hamilton of Whole Story News.
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