The Twelfth of July is a very special time for many people in Northern Ireland. It is when people line the streets (mostly Protestants but I won't doubt that there are Catholics who go too) and watch Protestant men march down carrying banners that glorify the men who fought to keep Northern Ireland Protestant.
Sounds alright?
Yeah, no.
This is a tradition that has been around for hundreds of years in some areas. It comes from a time whenever the division between Protestant and Catholic was much stronger. A little history lesson for you. The Battle of the Boyne is pretty much the battle were Northern Ireland was kept Protestant. Over a thousand Catholics were killed and around 700 Protestants died too. I know, a war fought over religion, some things never change.
The men on the aforementioned banners are men who killed Catholics in battle (which makes it okay - obviously), and Protestants want to march through areas which have a strong Catholic community in them, holding these banners. Why are people shocked whenever violence kicks off every single year?
Another problem I have is the Eleventh of July. This is what is known as Bonfire Night. In England, people gather round bonfires on November 5th and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. In Northern Ireland, people gather round bonfires on July 11th and burn effigies of the Pope. Pleasant people, I know.
Have a look at this picture.
The sign underneath says "Keep Ulster tidy so kill all Taigs". If you don't know, "taig" is a derogatory term for Catholic.
This is what I'm talking about. Not only is this highly sectarian and hateful, it's also very damaging to the environment.
To be honest, my opinion is that if Northern Ireland wants to move on as a country and aim for "peace", then it needs to ditch this primitive annual ritual. It is like a wedge that stays in between the two sides of Northern Ireland, and until it's removed, they will never come closer.
That's it for now. I'm going to post more soon.
Thanks for reading,
Simon.
x
3 comments:
if you haven't noticed, you are in no way helping the "peace" by writing this.
stop typing, you offish know it all bastard.
your complaining isn't helping anyone.
I don't exactly think I'm doing anything detrimental towards it either.
If you really think that my writing of this blog is actually harming the potential peace in Northern Ireland, then that's your business. At least I propose an idea to push us closer to "peace".
And it's my blog, so I'll do whatever the hell I want. It's my space to complain and speak my mind.
However, YOUR complaining is not even proposing a solution. Call me an offish know-it-all bastard if you so wish. I don't really care. You're showing yourself up to be a lot worse.
I finally got round to reading the blog Simon... very well written, and the rebuttal from 'Anonymous' is clearly that of a five year old child or a mentally challenged adult - Point them in the direction of the 'Special' bus.
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