It’s like community Rip Van Winkle. Unionism and Orangeism awaken, rub their eyes amd declare “We must put Orange feet on Garvaghy Road!”
Why has this 28-year-old madness reawakened? Two reasons: distraction and We are the People.
Distraction first. Anyone who can’t spot that Unionism wants us to take our eye off the bedraggled state of the DUP should hurry to Specsavers. When your leader is jailed for sexual abuse, when some in the party are being asked awkward questions, like “Did you not know? Never? Not once over the decades?” When hospital waiting lists are costing lives, when health services are a joke – that’s the time to start yelling “Garvaghy Road!”.
Give cover to all those other serious matters, shift the public conversation.
Then there’s We are the People argument. We demand the right, as loyal citizens, to walk the King’s highway. To deny us that is to suggest we are Not the People! How very dare you!
Speak up, I can’t hear you with the thunder of the Lambeg drums. ..Wha-a-a-at??? You say your republican band has the right to parade down the Shankill Road> After all, you whine, it’ll only take a few minutes!
Look. There is a simple fact that destroys all your Jesuitical pleading. That fact is We are the People. All this nattering on about equality – we spot it for what it is – a front for the IRA.
So stop trying to distract us! Yes, all eyes are focused on Garvaghy Road, and to coin a phrase, we shall overcome, in fact we will bull-dozer over any sleekit objections. We’ve been doing this walk since the nineteenth century. Which means we have a right to do it. So shut the fuck up, you snivelling fenians. We know our rights. We are the People.
Can’t believe the Frankenstein monster of Marching Where People Don’t Want Us has stirred from the glacier where it had been lying all those years? Good God. Distraction is a huge part of that no doubt but maybe, like those republicans who yearn for a return to the armed struggle unionists want to turn the clock back? In much the same way groups like Oasis have started touring again the orange order wants to resurrect it’s greatest hits. What next? Coming soon, Harryville the Blocked Footpath tour? Holy Cross-Petrol bombs and Curses tour? Wise up.