Perhaps one reason why the Northern state turns a blind eye to the naked sectarianism displayed at 11th July bonfires is the fundamentally sectarian foundations of the British Constitution. The Act of Settlement of 1701, the cornerstone of the British constitution, forbids the Monarch, its spouse or any of the great office holders of state from being a Catholic, (Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after he stood down as Prime Minister), and automatically grants seats in its upper house to Anglican bishops. A strange traditional practice in a country which prides itself on its secular and progressive ethos.
The burning on bonfires of the Irish national flag, the papal flag and more recently the Polish national flag, are the highlights of the 11th July Orange Order celebrations and are extremely offensive. One of this year’s bonfire highlights was the image of Ulster Unionist MP Danny Kinahan posing for photographs in front of a Co Antrim bonfire with an Irish tricolour placed on top of it. When questioned if his actions were appropriate Mr Kinahan replied ” This is Protestant culture, let’s recognise each other’s cultures and get on with it.” This disgusting behaviour does not warrant even the slightest admonition from unionist representatives. Every 11th night, in what can only be described as deliberate acts of provocation, sectarian bonfires pollute not just the atmosphere but poison community relations throughout the north. Many of these bonfires are adorned with not just the Irish flag, but in some instances images of murdered Catholics. Pictures of Catholic schoolboys Michael McIlveen and Thomas Devlin, who were random victims of loyalist murderers were placed on top of bonfires and burned, much to the approval of the local bigots. Incredibly and bizarrely, in excess of sixty Grand Officers of the Orange Order are also Church of Ireland ministers. One wonders to what extent would the Church of Ireland permit its ministers to belong to an organisation that burned effigies of Muslims, Jews or Hindus who had been murdered because of their religion?
Nowhere else in Europe would the annual ceremonial burning of many hundreds of the national flag of a peaceful neighbouring state go virtually without comment.. What if every Bastille day the Union Jack was burned across France, or if every St George’s day the flags of Pakistan, Jamaica or Nigeria were burned in British cities? Understandably, there would be harsh diplomatic protests and perhaps riots in the streets. But in Northern Ireland this systematic and deliberate incitement to hatred has been allowed to become an integral part of unionist/ Protestant culture to such an extent that it hardly draws comment from British secretaries of state, unionist politicians, the media and, in particular the Irish government, who allow this annual affront to their national flag to continue without a word of protest.
The British Government seems to be in a state of denial over its obligations to prevent and punish such flagrant incitements to hatred. In April 2007 Britain, along with 26 other EU countries, signed a declaration to punish those responsible for incitement to hatred on the grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin with terms of imprisonment. Britain herself enacted a similar ‘Religious and Racial Hatred Act’ in 2006. Following the ending of the second World War in Germany, an extensive body of legislation was put in place to outlaw all remaining elements of anti-Jewish culture that had grown up around the Nazi party. Is it not imperative that similar measures be introduced in the North to deal with the endemic anti-Catholicism so prevalent in large parts of the Orange Order facade?. A constant media spotlight and relentless unionist condemnation might help to change attitudes to anti-Catholicism although the fact that no senior elected unionist is willing to enter a Catholic church, under any circumstances, is a bad sign.The history of the Orange Order has been a shameful litany of Protestant supremacy. The Order provides religious camouflage for those members who wish to maintain a system of privilege and power and defines itself more by a hatred of Catholics than a love of Christ. Is it not long past time that the Orange Order ceased closing its eyes and turning its back on the actions of those associated with its yearly marches and bonfires?
The murder of the Quinn boys has done nothing to stop this mindlessness. The silence from Villiers, Unionist politicians and their clergy is deafening.
This noisy, fiery,threatening display in the height of Summer in the six counties is the protestant equivalent of the Russians or Chinese march pasts so the world can marvel at their armies and armaments and be truly afraid of what will happen if their superiority is ever questioned. It was always thus. The louder the band and the higher the fire the more the taigs would quake and tremble in their little shacks and be truly mindful of who owns and runs this place – including the British government. Tramp on the tail of my coat if you dare.
In other news the 6 Counties is a kip.
Well said, Sir
I wonder if the EU would clamp down on all sorts of bonfires, leaf burnings and all the rest of it due to Carbon Dioxides and Climate change.
Perhaps this is why the DUP want out of the EU?
There must be some rules about burning tyres etc.in these type of Ad hoc fires.
And in a car engine or boiler the combustion process is controlled mechanically/ electronically to ensure “clean ” combustion. Laws are made to try ensure this.
Not looking at you Volkswagen.
This cannot be done with these “wild fires” that are extremely inefficent and should be completely banned for envoirmental reasons alone.
One thing is for sure Bonfires are on the wrong side of history.( carbon Dioxides )
The Orange Order may as well put Polar Bears, Pictures of Puppy Dogs..Fluffy Kitten You Tooobe videos, Minky Whales and basically “popular” things on their bonfires.
They couldn’t make themselves more unpopular if they tried.
And before anyone sounds off…I also support the banning of all ad-hoc fires including Halloween.
Let’s face it.. The Youff of today would rather play Call Of Duty than bother with Bonfires anyway.
Just some “folk” don’t yet get it.
Ban all fires including burning leaves in your garden.
Well, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that the EU was more concerned about the Carbon Dioxides and Climate change than the sectarian hatred, bigotry and racial intolerance displayed at these events but I doubt the UVF running their annual tyre disposal services is high on their agenda.
Would you include in your banned list the burning of houses?
After all, the Orange version of the Ku Klux Klan were only responsible for the burning of three houses on the Shankill – and it was done in the name of culture – so surely you could give them special exemption!
If I burn a coal fire Belfast City council would fine me as I live in a smokeless zone, however if you burn 2000 tyres on public land and in the process destroy houses or set fire to a pet cat then that’s a cultural expression. Welcome to the sick counties,
It would be good if many right minded people on both sides began to report to the Police and name individuals and organisations perpetuating this racial and religious hatred. The Police would have to take peoples’ complaints seriously and if not should be referred to the Indeprndent Police Complaints Authority ( if that what it is known as) in the six counties. One thing is certain, this should no longer be tolerated in the second decade of the 21st century and this issue should have been specifically highlighted and dealt with as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
A matter that never fails to puzzle me is why so many Protestant churches of most denominations fly the Union flag throughout July. What are the criteria for the flying of a flag on a place of worship? Why does the Church of Ireland in Poyntzpass fly it but not the Church of Ireland in Jerretspass just a few miles down the road? Why do most reformed churches in Banbridge fly it but not the Baptist Church. Is it the view of many Protestant clergy that to be a Protestant you must be a unionist? How would they react if all Catholic churches flew a frivolous over Easter? Do the Primates of these churches (most based in Dublin)approve of this practice? Who sanctions it locally?o the local clergy and hierarchy believe it improves community relations? Are they not in favour of improved community relations? And why are the Belfast Telegraph, the BBC, UTV and even the Irish News not asking these questions of the representatives of these churches?
I would challenge the assertion that “many Protestant churches of most denominations fly the union flag during July.”The largest Protestant denomination in N.I. is the Presbyterian Church : no flags of any kind are ever flown from its buildings. The only church I know that flies the union flag is the Church of Ireland ; I am not a member of that church but assume that individual COI’s select vestries make the decision re whether a flag is flown. I would also assume that whether the rector is a member of the O.O. would have an influence on the decision.
“Flew a tricolour over Easter”. Predictive text!
We need more of this,tell it as it is and keep tellin it…….in my humble opinion,they’re circling the wagons.Brexit for example is a realisation that Britain aint so great these days and loyal olstar nothing but a boil on its already very scorched behind.Culture would find itself a tad lost if it went out for a walk on ST. Jude’s day………..thon 12th of july.nite nite.
The question of bonfires most definitely needs addressing. Huge unregulated infernos destroying homes, public spaces and damaging the environment shouldn’t be tolerated.
A new system of permitting needs to be introduced controlling the size, location and materials burned, as well stamping down on the offensive items that are often burned i.e. Tricolours and election posters.
Individual community organisations should apply for these permits and if the rules are not adhered to there is then a person/organisation that can be held accountable.
Unfortunately due to the almost certain disregard of any sort of system by loyalists the only way of enforcing such a system would be by government staff (council workers or firefighters maybe) removing any illegal bonfires. This would leave the poor police stuck where they usually are, in the middle like some sort of sponge to soak up the violence.
This almost certain violence is the reason why the police don’t intervene to stop these out of control bonfires, but I feel that unless they tackle this head on regardless of the consequences the problem will continue indefinitely.
I’m a firefighter. It’s not our responsibility to uphold the law or enforce permit regulations and nor should it be.
That’s the police and councils job.
We protect/save life and property where possible.
For the Free Southern Stateen, TC, to emit as much as a Mickey Mouse squeak of protest at the annual Orgy of Orange-tinted Kick the Popery would be a step too far. Far better to side-step the Twalfth of Norneverland entirely.
To do otherwise would be to undermine the Trojan work done by the Horse Protestant hackolytes in turning this 26C of ours into Tolerance Central, utterly bereft of malign Romanist influence, at which the rest of the oppressed world can but gawp at us in admiration.
It would be tantamount to deleting the colour O from our Rainbow Revolution.
If a protest were to be made – perish that fraught thought ! –it would also place an intolerable burden on the eloquent conduit through which it would have to be conveyed. To wit, the Foreign Secretary of the FSS, to who, Charlie ‘Je ne suis pas Oliver J.’ Flanagan, Sophisticate Extraordinaire.
Yes, it would be a task for the Foreign Office of the FSS. For the 6C is, like a blast from the Past, a foreign country in the eyes of the 26C Estab.
The Foreign Secretary is, of course, the son of the redoubtable Oliver J., whose seat he inherited, the pater having thoughtfully shuffled off the old mortal coil in the manner somewhat premature. Oliver J. was a member of the R. Church Militant and harboured not the slightest longing to become a Horse Protestant even as he pedaled his way around his Laois constituency on his legendary High Nellie bicycle.
It has been a long and lonely but luckily, lucrative road to political redemption for the scion of Clan Flanagan. Even a squeak of Mickey Mouse proportions in the form of a pro-Papist protest would, sadly, bring the whole Ticky-tacky House a-tumbling down.
Charlie ‘Je ne suis pas Oliver J.’ Flanagan takes his lead , of course, from the Irish Unionist Times, which is only as it ought to be. For that august organ of record sees it as incumbent upon its liberal self to deliver trolley-loads of tolerance on a daily b.. To the malign maj who were unfortunate enough not to born into the refined min.
Take the column today, Thursday, of the newish bloke on the block, Newton Emerson. What the other Newton was to gravity, this Newton is to levity. Whereas the other Newt sat under an apple tree on the Mainland, this Newt sat in his younger days under an orange tree in Portadown. This geographical stroke of luck in the latter case gives this Newt an overwhelming advantage denied to the deprived Papes down there in the 26C.
Thus, it was with a sense for rare anticipation that one went to the newest from the Newt:
-Bonfires are now more about underclass defiance than loyalism.
Eh?
A quick abseil down the column reveals the failure to give a mench to the such pale-faced KKK- like inconveniences as KTP or KAT .
-They are skulking at a world they must know holds them in contempt.
This is the K for Key sentence in this latest piece of thigh-slappery on Thursday from the quick-witted quill of the Newt in The Unionist Times. The technique is known in comedy circles as the ROPE-a-MOPE technique. MOPE, of course , being an acronym for Most Oppressed Prods Ever.
That orange knock on his noggin in the Portadown not so long ago of mopeds gives Newt the following insight which he generously shares with us (it’s short for ignoramus) south of the Black Sow’s Dyke. In his case, of course, it would be ROPE-a-MOPPE, as in, Most Oppressed Portadown Prods Ever.
Finally, to explain the still lingering symbols of Romanism which are still allowed to oppress us in the 26C. That, of course, would be the double dose of diurnal aural torture known as the Bing Bong of the Angelus.
In recent times, ever since the glorious Rainbow Day in the courtyard of Dublin Castle. there has been a noticeable absence of any syllable of dissent in this direction.
This is only as it should be. And is no accident.
The Campanologists of Catholicism have sounded out their supremacy with their in-your-ear bell ringing for centuries. Those in the Camp camp are not, TG, of that un sophisticated stripe. Their Bliss will have no truck with Ignorance. These Uncle Toms are not anti-Panti. The Rainbows will give the RCs their head, especially before the news headlines at 12 and 6.
For they have learned from their acute study of King Kong. And have applied it to Bing Bong. They have noted some remarkable similarities between KK and BB. Just as King Kong was shipped from Skull Island so too was Bing Bong shipped from Scoil Island – Scoil, of course, being the Lephrechaun for School.
Then, having seen the havoc wrought by a provoked King Kong on the Empire State Building, the Camp camp have, in their wisdom (unlimited, inexhaustible) decided not to provoke the Campanologists in the guise of Bing Bong. But rather to let it be, let it be.
Thus, while preserving this crafty appearance of tolerance (how versatile these Tols are: witness their seamless morphing into Trolls) they cleverly preserve the Empire State Building, aka, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street.
PS It may be just a coincidence that the creator of King Kong in 1933 was a fillum director name of (gulp) Merian.
You don`t have to hate Catholics to be in the Orange Order, but it helps…..
The only reason I haven’t commented before on this fine piece above is because I’ve written about it all before until i was dry and written -out.What more can be left that we haven’t said already ,about this madness. It’s so wrong on so many levels and anyone with a little grace and a little wit and wisdom , knows that already. On a very basic level none of it makes a bit of sense.There’s the obvious lawbreaking, the squeaking about culture that is totally bogus , the infamous notion that this could possibly be associated with anything remotely benign or (ha…ha…laugh out really, really loud)…something to do with religion and even Christianity. Then we can talk about the stupidity of destroying the environment, illegally delivering pallets and banned tyres. These alone have to have an origin story and yet the police never seem to find out where they come from and who delivers them .The fire-services are supposed to serve to protect us from this madness and we pay for it ….yes we pay for it every bloody year.I don’t want my money wasted like this.Then there’s the council employees tasked to remove children’s playgrounds which might be built to close to the mad fires and the removal and later replacement of trffic lights and clean-up after the event …because someone had the temerity to actually build something or grow a few trees near these “traditional” sites.
When we’re done with that lot there’s the hooliganism of burning flags and effigies and the racism of burning a country’s flag ..and the hatred of burning even posters of political rivals .On any level these are hate crimes and yet there’s never anything done from year to year . i’v enever heard yet of one single person being arrested later for fly-tipping, pollution or avoiding paying for the destruction of tryes etc. Not one single arrest.To me that ‘s a police -service not earning its keep.
Oh I almost forgot …the one thing that really gets up my nose is this constant referral to these massive structures as “bone-fires”…. The traditional Wiccan and pagan balefire used woods such are rowan, dogwood, elder, poplar, oak, juniper, holly, cedar, and apple tree. Occasionally, pine was also used instead of holly or elder, ofor other other woods. In some regions, superstition, religious belief, or tradition prohibited the cutting of certain trees. I don’t think any of these modern bonfire -builders give any of that much thought ,mind. They’d burn down their own granny ….and nearly did.
Headline wrong for a start, the OO do not have anything to do with bonfires. Lets not pretend burning flags is one sided event, we see it on internment bonfires and also at the socalled all-inclusive(not) St. Patricks day celebrations and mostly recently by the illegal protestors at Ardoyne on the 12th July. Burning of flags is wrong no mater by whombut both sidea of the community do it not just one, time to dispel this myth that is portrayed
They were indeed certainly burned on internment bonfires when I was a youth running around the fire site drunk.
Thank God they put a stop to it. I remember fhe first year there was no bonfire, they had a lorry with some bands playing music instead.
It was better craic and I still had plenty to drink. The music stopped after a few years and it has all but fizzled out apart from a few locations.
Best thing ever happened was stopping them but the decision has to be from that community. I am glad my children wont be running around dirty great fires and up to the no good that I did.
Racism can be a culture by the way. I don’t want t a prefect world and would be happy for public money to be provided if it can make sure no one gets hurt out of it.
Eventually they would realise there are better things the money could be spent on, and I don’t mean health etc… I mean other cultural events that could be more popular with the community.
There is absolutely no equivalency between 11th night bonfires and those that take place in Aug.
Firstly there are literally hundreds of 11th night bonfires across the north while in Aug it would number in their 10s.
The bonfires in Aug are shunned by the vast majority of the community where they’re built. The residents themselves rarely want them and often call in the council to remove them. There is little to no support for them. In the 80s there was a concerted effort to stop the bonfires and encourage people towards something productive instead and from that the West Belfast Festival was born which has now grown to be the largest community festival in Europe with international bands, comedians and other acts frequently attending.
Compare that with the hundreds of bonfires on the 11th night which is widely supported by many in their communities including politicians who revel in the burning of anything associated with Irishness; be that political, sporting, cultural, religious or other.
There is no comparison.
In one community it’s promoted, revelled in and allowed in the other it’s shunned, frequently stopped and a concerted effort has been made to move away from it.
When my children were growing up the only bonfires they attended were relatively small and benign affairs that were lit in the “back- field” at Halloween and then the fireworks were set off. Said back field is now housed over anyway and all the children are grown and gone so that “tradition” rapidly died out. There was no drinking nor political /religious(other than vaguely “pagan”) content of any sort involved in any of this and it was no more than a lot of windblown branches set on fire.These modern huge towering symbols, built in urban areas, can in no way be termed bonfires. Their real meaning is clear as is their intent.You might as well bring back crucifixions as try to defend them.
“the highlights of the 11th July Orange Order celebrations …”
The Orange Order celebrations are on 12th July not 11th.