What does the outside world think of us?

(John Coulter, Irish Daily Star)

The seeds of a violent dissident loyalist movement are now blooming.

Sinn Féin must be careful it does not taunt these loyalists into a campaign of terror which will make the Troubles look like a Sunday School picnic.

The recent Woodvale incident involving Sinn Féin Lord Mayor Mairtin O’Muilleoir is only a taste of what is to come if the loyalist dragon is not calmed.

The Shinners need to understand that a huge gulf exists between the middle class dominated Unionist parties and the loyalist working class – and it is getting wider.

The problem is that the solid bond between Sinn Féin and the Provos does not exist between the Unionist parties and the loyalist terror gangs.

The republican movement always had the discipline to be able to turn on and off the taps of street violence, bombings and shootings. Loyalists have no such discipline.

Okay, so nationalists can point to the DUP’s links in the past to paramilitary groups such as the Third Force and Ulster Resistance. But that Paisley-era DUP has long since vanished.

The modern Robinson-led DUP which shares power at Stormont with Sinn Féin seems to have largely burned those bonds with the loyalist working class.

Sinn Féin worked the peace process very effectively to gain a massive raft of benefits for Catholic working class communities, especially in the republican heartlands.

While Unionists fought over who should be the main Unionist party, republicans instead majored on how to get millions of pounds into nationalist areas.

The loyalist working class looked on green with envy as previously wee Catholic enclaves became flourishing republican heartlands, while traditional Protestant districts became economic wastelands.

This regeneration of nationalist areas was misinterpreted by loyalists as a cultural war against their British heritage and identity.

What republicans saw as creating a shared future built on equality, loyalists viewed as a form of ethnic cleansing. For a generation, loyalists watched as the IRA and INLA murdered Protestants by the hundreds.

Now many loyalists view the parades and Union flag disputes as evidence of killing off their culture by republicans.

The Shinners need to be careful about rubbing loyalist noses in republican culture; that’s has been the effect of the Tyrone Volunteers event at Castlederg.

All this does is plant the seeds in a section of loyalist opinion that violence pays. Loyalist violence could not guarantee a parade past the Ardoyne Shops, but it did prevent First Citizen O’Muilleoir from carrying out his duties.

Unlike Sinn Féin, the Unionist parties and the Orange Order do not have the same control over the tap of street violence.

Many loyalists remember that the Stormont government of the early 1970s was powerless to prevent the civil rights movement deteriorating into a republican terrorist campaign.

A generation on, loyalists are voicing the same concerns about their civil rights; that the current Stormont parliament seems unable or unwilling to help their plight.

Just as Sinn Féin has held onto its working class Catholic bastions, so too, republicans must educate their Unionist counterparts how to engage with the loyalist working class.

Sinn Féin must share the skills it has learned to help working class Protestants. Republicans, too, must learn the secret of calming the loyalist dragon – not egging it on to pour out its flame.

August 14, 2013________________

This article appeared in the August 12, 2013 edition of the Irish Daily Star.

This is a re-post of an article from our archive (19th September 2012) which we felt was as relevant today as it was then.

As Vanguard Bears has staunch links to Northern Ireland, we recently undertook investigation into the band scene there, and through the assistance and local knowledge of one of our Ulster-based members, Thomas Mathers from Ardoyne, uncovered what can best be described as one-sided & biased policing, vastly imbalanced governmental grants – with Loyalist bands and Unionist organisations seeing just a fraction of the monies Republican/Nationalist bands and groups receive – as well as an ignorant dearth of understanding of Loyalist/Unionist culture throughout.

Thomas is a member of Ligoniel Walker Club Apprentice Boys Of Derry, Registrar of Royal Black Preceptory 210 and is also Secretary of Ardoyne Rangers Supporters Club – all of which are situated in North Belfast.  His understanding and knowledge of these issues is invaluable and we thank him for taking the time and effort to gather the information shown below.

Most people in the mainland are aware of the “marching” scene in Northern Ireland yet the main news bulletins only show problems arising from events, rather than broadcasting the vast majority of good natured and peaceful parades which are all so prevalent.  In this article we explain the structure of Loyalist bands and the Loyal Orders, and explain some of the problems Loyalists and Unionists have encountered both with the Parades Commission and with black propaganda spread by Republican/Nationalist supporters. Read more »

The Further Adventures of Dumb And Dumber: My Near Death Experience With A Sunday Life Journalist.

As most of the world knows Belfast City Centre was a hive of activity on Friday evening. On most Fridays people hurry home from work, others plan a social event with friends and then there is the dark under current of society, were men in suits run for their Friday night fix. Supposed professionals, pillars of society indulging in their dark pastime: feeding their, not so little habit.  All this was interrupted last night when Republicans prepared to walk through Belfast City Centre.  Loyalist incensed by recent events organised a number of counter demonstrations.

This would make for a very interesting evening and I was tasked by Ulster News to cover the event.  I hoped to get some pictures and a feel of events, then head home for a night with a good book and some relaxing music.  This is what I had in mind anyway, but as soon as I arrived at the junction of Royal Avenue and Upper/Lower North Street, a bizarre series of occurrences took place.

I became aware of a strange man watching me, this was done in a surreal fashion: like Inspector Clueless. First he popped out of a door way then ducked back in. Next he was standing like a super sleuth behind traffic lights, like a two year old who believes they are invisible.  I carried on with the task at hand aware of the cartoon style behaviour of my weird stalker.  As time went on he became even more brazen holding his iPhone in the air like a bad take on Mr Bean.  This lap dog behaviour became so tiresome, I told him I would take his picture if it did not stop, which I did.  The super sleuth then belched, “you’ve got a record.”  At this point I realized who my stalker was, why it was Big Jim McDowell’s 2IC, super sleuth Sully.  I informed him that he also had a record: as one of the biggest liars in the country and if he really wanted my picture he could get it in Ballyhome beach any time he wanted, as I always walk my dogs there.  I told him again of his shameful and blatant lying in the Penny Dreadful he works for and that he should be ashamed of himself. He put his hands up and said, “Ok Clifford you’ve made you’re point.”

The Invisible Man, Dick, Hiding Behind His Phone.

I went back to what I was there for.  A short time later, the terrible tag team arrived next to me, Dick had got backup.  Why it was like the finals of the Biggest Liar In The Country, all taking place at the corner of North Street. This gruesome twosome hadn’t finished with Peeples.  Dick had sent for the Big Guns, straight from recovering from a bad dose of the chickens, Ciaran Barnes was ready, high on a mix of  adrenaline and his own self-importance, he was ready for anything.  Ciaran’s addiction to danger is well known and he’s been known to put a Bhoyo or two in their place.

Dumb And Dumber

I snapped away at the worsening scenes, riot police, dogs, water cannon, smoke bombs, and a general mêlée going on but none of this interested Dick & Barnes. The terrible tag team had slapped hands and Barnes was ready for his time in the ring, he twitched, rubbed his nose yet again, which is apparently a sign that you’re ready for a fight or something.  Like a bull with nostrils flared, Barnes fired his salvo.  Screaming that I was a “dirty fat bastard” and continuing with threats of “I’m going to fix you, you Fucking Fat, Fucking Cunt.” This continued as I tried to report on what was taking place. Police officers were being injured and a full riot was now about to engulf Royal Avenue.  None of this interested Barnes as he behaved like a mad man.  I told him to stop screaming obscenities and if he wanted he could talk to me later round the corner.  He continued on his obscenity fuelled diatribe, making more threats of physical violence towards me. Something that was of concern to those standing around him. One woman was telling him to, “stop behaving like some mad man on drugs”. His disgraceful barrage became too much for one riot control officer, who broke away from keeping public order and publicly reprimanded him, telling him he would be arrested if he were to continue. The officer came to me and told me that he had warned him about his behaviour and that I should stay away from him. The officer then reengaged with the riot control team.

Coco Barnes, AKA, Internet Stalker, Maradona, Being Warned By The PSNI About His Disgraceful Behaviour.

 

The sad fact is, “You can put a monkey in a suit but it is still only a well-dressed monkey.” Dumb and Dumber slipped off after the officer’s reprimand, no doubt to tell their war stories and think of how the tag team special ought to fill the Liar’s Weekly.  Me, I’m just glad I’m alive, when someone is addicted to danger like Barnes and have that thousand yard stare, coupled with an itching nose, Bhoy it was close.

This Article First Appeared On www.ulsternews.wordpress.com

 

This article was written by Ed Maloney and first appeared on www.thebrokenelbow.com

Clifford Peeples is not exactly the sort of person who would be high up on most peoples’ list of possible dinner guests. There doesn’t seem to have been a  brand of violent Loyalism that he has not been involved with, no outer limit of wacky, ultra-Protestant evangelism that he has not crossed. And then there were those pipe bomb attacks in the late 1990’s for which he was given a ten-year jail term.
I would not have a problem entertaining him myself but others would. I have spent much of my professional life breaking bread or ingesting stronger substances with greater and more mendacious blackguards than he, and while I have never met Mr Peeples, he strikes me from a distance as an honest type. Loopy almost surely, but probably sincere. Others I have entertained did or ordered worse than he and happily admitted so in my presence but now pretend it never happened. So, who is worse, who is worthy of more respect?
Anyway, these days Peeples wears a different hat, or rather has another hat to wear alongside the others hanging in his wardrobe. I don’t know what he does politically or whether he still preaches in a tin hut somewhere in the desolate wastes of north or east Belfast but currently he also practises as a freelance photographer.

His work is sold through the freelance agency Demotix, which has a distinguished international record of capturing important images in places as far apart as Tehran and Norway. As the pic of a policeman injured during Friday night’s disturbances on Royal Avenue below demonstrates, newspapers like The Guardian consider Peeples’ work good enough to buy and publish.

Purists in my profession would cavil at the notion of a political activist doubling as a journalist but personally I don’t have a problem with it at all. Politics and journalism go together like fish and chips and while I do try to separate my own views from my reporting, I understand it in others – as long as they are upfront and straight about it. In practice I have found the reporters most po-faced on the issue to be the most hypocritical.

What I do mind however is when journalists allow their political differences, or personal animosities fueled by political differences, to spill out in public shows of malevolence and threats of violence, especially when the effect is to stop or obstruct a journalist doing his or her job.

According to Clifford Peeples this is what happened to him in the centre of Belfast last Friday night during Loyalist demonstrations in Royal Avenue against an anti-internment rally being staged by republican dissidents. Eye-witnesses  apparently support his story.

Peeples was on assignment for a website called ‘Ulster News’ which seems to be relatively new addition to the internet, given that the only story running on it is about his experience last Friday evening. He was, he says, busy taking photographs of the developing riot when he was verbally assaulted by a fellow journalist and so violent was the onslaught that a policeman on riot duty had to leave the lines to intervene. I don’t know what the source of the anger towards Peeples was, but the chances are that it has its origins in his political activity.

This is how he described the attack:

Screaming that I was a “dirty fat bastard” and continuing with threats of “I’m going to fix you, you Fucking Fat, Fucking Cunt”. This continued as I tried to report on what was taking place. Police officers were being injured and a full riot was now about to engulf Royal Avenue…….I told him to stop screaming obscenities and if he wanted he could talk to me later round the corner.  He continued on his obscenity fueled diatribe, making more threats of physical violence towards me. Something that was of concern to those standing around him. One woman was telling him to, “stop behaving like some mad man on drugs”. His disgraceful barrage became too much for one riot control officer, who broke away from keeping public order and publicly reprimanded him, telling him he would be arrested if he were to continue. The officer came to me and told me that he had warned him about his behaviour and that I should stay away from him. The officer then reengaged with the riot control team.

So who was the journalist attacking Peeples? Turns out it was Ciaran Barnes, Sunday Life reporter and the man whose dishonest reporting of Dolours Price’s IRA career touched off the Boston College subpoenas and who, using a false name on the internet, urged me to hand over the interviews so confidential sources could be burned, the worst sin in journalism’s playbook.
The NUJ’s Code of Conduct says nothing about how journalists should disport themselves in public, how they should not engage in violent verbal assaults against colleagues or threaten to use violence against them or behave publicly in such a way to bring disrepute on the profession. Perhaps it’s time it did.

As this years ‘biggest community festival in Europe’ approaches once again, 28th July – 7th August 2011.

Allow me to highlight some of the events which ‘showcase’ this community and take place in the ‘biggest community festival in Europe’.

As well as receiving £30,000 of sponsorship from Belfast City Council in 2010, ( it will be interesting to see if this increases in 2011 with a Nationalist council),  this ‘community festival also received sponsorship from The Arts Council £123,000, The Lottery £23,000, £50,000 from the creative industries innovation fund to name but a few.

Other sponsors/partners of this ‘Community Festival include household names such as Tennent’s NI, Sainsbury’s, Children In Need, DCAL,  Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Community Relations Council, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Translink, The Daily Mirror, among many others.

It was quoted in Belfast City documents that:- Feile makes a significant contribution to the cultural experience of those living, working and visiting Belfast. Féile score highly in Good Relations. Their commitment to widening access is evidenced strongly through provision of a wide variety of free events and policy of price capping. Their commitment to audience development and Good Relations and cultural diversity are demonstrated well in their targeted work with children and young people, a variety of ethnic communities and their disability access programme, Oscailt. Their engagement with marginalised groups and communities is excellent. Féile’s contribution to Belfast’s cultural infrastructure is strongly evidenced through a wide range of partnerships in the cultural and community section and they demonstrate a strong commitment to cultural tourism… Their policies are wide ranging, appropriate and up to date.

The festival is well known for bringing some big name musicians to Belfast but what else does this ‘community festival’ organise that makes a ‘significant contribution to the cultural experience of those living, working and visiting Belfast’ ?

These activities include:- • Ballymurphy Walk of Truth On Saturday August 7, the Ballymurphy Internment Massacre families and their supporters held a Walk of Truth. • Prisoners Day held in Felons’ Club On Friday August 6 the annual Ex-PoWs’ Day was held in the Felons’ Club • Bobby Sands Cup Also on Saturday August 7, the Bobby Sands Cup was played out in front of a large crowd in the Valley Park in North Belfast • Joe McDonnell/Kieran Doherty Memorial Tournament Junior Minister Gerry Kelly presented winning team St Theresa’s with the award at the GAA under-16s football Joe McDonnell/Kieran Doherty Memorial Tournament on Saturday August 7 • Palestine function Several west Belfast Sinn Féin cumainn organised tables for the Friends of Palestine fundraiser • ‘The Great Escape’ recounted The Andersonstown Social Club (PD) was completely packed out on Saturday August 7 for the ‘Great Escape’ talk on the 1983 mass escape of 38 IRA prisoners from Long Kesh • The Bobby Sands Shield             held on Saturday August 7 The seven-aside tournament played by dozens of             young republicans and community activists was held at the Twinbrook Activity             Centre. • Kieran Doherty anniversary marked Hundreds of people turned out in Andersonstown for a series of events from July 31-August 2 to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the death on hunger strike of Volunteer Kieran Doherty • Kidso Reilly Commemoration Around 150 people turned out on Sunday August 8 to mark the anniversary of the murder of Turf Lodge man Thomas ‘Kidso’ Reilly • Ballymurphy Volunteers remembered On Saturday August 7, more than 400 people turned out in memory of Volunteers Dorothy Maguire, Maura Meehan and Anne Marie Petticrew. The event was part of the project organised by the Ballymurphy Remember Our Volunteers committee, which aims to celebrate the lives of every single person on the Greater Ballymurphy Roll of Honour.

It may come as a surprise to some of you but not all of these great community events are advertised in the Feile Programme of events, (I wonder why).

Some of this ‘community festivals’ purpose and aims are to, ‘…celebrate the positive side of the community, its creativity, its energy, its passion for the arts, and for sport, and ‘…to continue to demonstrate, promote and celebrate the experiences, culture, creativity, skills and potential of West Belfast and its people’.

One can’t help but wonder if is was the other side of West Belfast holding this festival would we have so many sponsors queing up to fund the activities you see above?

Would our friends in the press have anything to say about these activities being funded?

I wonder if there would be any political pressure from sponsors or indeed organisations such as the Arts Council or the Community Relations Council to cease holding events and activities which celebrate the lives of murderers. People who terrorised, bombed, destroyed financially and commercially the city of Belfast and this country.

But now in celebration of these people they claim  Feile makes a significant contribution to the cultural experience of those living, working and visiting Belfast.

Would there be any pressure on PUL politicians to speak out against or at least not to support these types of activities as part of a festival?

Gerry Adams has stated after the 2010 festival, “I wish to pay tribute to the staff and organisers of the Féile for their work in showcasing the West Belfast community and delivering a magnificent programme of events in this year’s programme.”

You shall know them by their actions We in the PUL community continually read negative stories about our community. We are being pressurised into accepting Sinn Fein’s re-writing of history. Yet we continually hear Sinn Fein MLA’s, and councillors speaking in glowing terms about the ira at Easter Commemorations, see ira members employed in Stormont and hear how they celebrate activities as outlined above while being funded to the tune of millions of pounds…and people still wonder why it is difficult to take Sinn Fein at their word when they say they want to reach out to PUL’s.

Lets see if they will cease these activities in this the ‘largest community festival in Europe’, as a way of showing if they have any genuineness in what they say publically about reaching out to our community.

Or do they say one thing while acting as they always have done?

I know what I think.

I ask you to take a moment and think about this situation if it was the PUL community holding events such as this, receiving Belfast City funding, funding from Sainsbury’s, The Daily Mirror, The Northern Ireland Tourist Board etc. and ask yourself  Would there be any outcry from the press, journalists, tv or radio etc etc?

I think sadly we all know the answer…who was it that once called for ‘parity of esteem’? obviously this was equality for one section of our community only…

And as a side note, the position of Director of this festival was recently advertised. The Directors role is to manage, consolidate, support and promote the aims and objectives of the organisation in order to contribute to the economic, social and cultural regeneration of West Belfast.  With a salary of £29,236 per annum and funded by the Arts Council Of NI. I wonder if this post was open to cross community scrutiny as most posts are these days. What if the Director thought it unwise to celebrate ira terrorists?

Lets see who gets the post…

FOR YOUR REF:-

£30,000 funding from Belfast city council http://minutes.belfastcity.gov.uk/Published/C00000115/M00009450/AI00005308/$MultiAnnualandAnnualFundingAppendix4.docA.ps.pdf

Sponsors http://www.feilebelfast.com/sponsors/

http://www.westbelfastsinnfein.com/news/17384

NI Assembly questions re funding

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ni/?id=2010-06-29.7.13

The headline in the Belfast Telegraph today, (07.08.13) reads, ‘Lord Mayor defiant after ambush by Loyalist mob’.

Made me think he was attacked in the jungles of Borneo rather than heckled and ‘jostled’ as was reported by other media groups.

Sure, once again, Loyalism will receive negative press due to the actions of some people who have just had enough of the double standards and hypocrisy shown by Sinn Fein.

But I think people should just keep an eye out to see how Mairtin genuinely reaches out to the PUL community. He has stated, ‘I want to be the first citizen for all the people’. Remember wee Niall, his first outing was also to the Shankill to show how he was reaching out the hand of friendship. That was of course before he was asked to present a Duke of Edinburgh award to a child.

Allow me to point out some statements made by Mairtin after yesterday’s incident. He has stated, ‘I was invited to go to the Shankill…therefore I was discharging my obligations as Lord Mayor’. ‘…I’m determined I will discharge my duties as first citizen fairly…’

He has also said, ‘If violent protest and thugs were to decide where the first citizen goes and where he doesn’t it wouldn’t be a city worth living in’. These are all very commendable statements by Mairtin. But after hearing the statements from the DUP it made me wonder just what are Mairtin’s intentions?

Was he really reaching out to discharge his duties as first citizen? Or, as some suspect is he just playing another card for Sinn Fein in the show all Loyalists as thugs and Republicans as peace loving victim’s game?

The DUP have stated, ‘we were aware that having him participate in any official capacity would be an affront to many within our community and recommended that this duty be deputised to another council representative…clearly the Lord Mayor chose not to listen to that advice’.

They went on, ‘we expressed the view that it would be totally inappropriate for the Lord Mayor, as a member of Sinn Fein, a party which talks of a shared future but by their actions has shown nothing but contempt for the culture, history and traditions of our community to officiate at the public reopening of Woodvale Park’.

I would ask the readers of LongKeshinsideout to keep this in mind over the coming months.

This whole situation made me think of another possible scenario in the near future; Remembrance Sunday.

On this occasion Mairtin was told by the DUP he would not be welcome. I think he would be welcome to remember the sacrifice made by the British army and other armies on Remembrance Sunday and to wear a poppy to demonstrate this.

On this occasion, Mairtin was determined to do his duty as first citizen, he wasn’t going to be put off by ‘violent protest and thugs’, he wants to be the first citizen of ‘all the people’ because a city where ‘thugs’ and ‘violent protest’ determine where the first citizen goes ‘wouldn’t be a city worth living in’. On Remembrance Sunday will Mairtin be put off by the threats from Sinn Fein supporters and armed republican groups or will he be at the Cenotaph to remember the fallen?

On this occasion Mairtin ignored the advice from the DUP to have this duty ‘deputised to another council representative’. On Remembrance Sunday will Mairtin step up to the mark and attend the solemn ceremony to remember the dead and wounded or will he bottle it and send another council representative?

Yesterday Mairtin went to Woodvale Park, he had been told he wouldn’t be welcome, he was told it could cause trouble, he was asked to send a deputy but because he is so determined to be first citizen for everyone, to ensure Belfast is a city worth living in, he went ahead.

I for one will watch with interest to see what he will do and say come Remembrance Sunday.

Or, come November 12^th will Mairtin be scouring propertynews to relocate to another city which is worth living in…look out Lisburn!!

Robert Allen

Gerry Adams: The institutions of the State have their backs to the border

“The prevailing sense among the policy makers is to perpetuate the status quo,” the Sinn Féin President has told the MacGill Summer School in the Glenties this evening.

Image: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

GERRY ADAMS HAS hit out at the institutions of the current Irish State accusing them of having “their backs to border” and has called for debate on a united Ireland, saying the status quo will only be changed when this happens.

“The prevailing sense among the policy makers is to perpetuate the status quo,”the Sinn Féin President has told the MacGill Summer School in the Glenties this evening .

“This will only be changed when a genuine national spirit is recreated to replace the nonsense, popular in some circles, that this State is the nation and that Ireland stops at Dundalk or Lifford.”

In his speech Adams said that the current Irish State is the product of the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Civil War four years later.

He claimed that the outcome of the Civil War and partition led to the “native conservative elite” replacing “the old English elite with little real change in the organisation of Irish society”.

He said of the post-Civil War, early Irish State: “Religion was hijacked by mean men who used the gospel not to empower but to control, and narrow moral codes were enforced to subvert the instinctive generosity of our people.

“Women were discriminated against; gay and lesbian citizens were denied equality under the law and all the while scandals like the abuse in the industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries, Bethany Home and the barbaric practice of symphysiotomy were tolerated and encouraged. 

“Those who suffered were mostly poor. The arts were censored. Our language undermined. Our culture corroded.  Millions fled to England, the USA and Australia. A lesser people would not have survived.

“The system of economic and political apartheid in the north and the scandals of backhanders and brown envelopes, and of the banking and financial institutions and developers in this part of the island, exemplify how the elites held sway.”

He accused the media, academia and “political elites” of being “partitionist”.  ”They have their backs to the border,” he said.

“While they are generally benign, policy makers know little about the north and care even less. Their concern is to protect the interests of the establishment as they understand it,” he added.

Adams also accused the government of shying away from the debate over a united Ireland and implementing the measures contained in the Good Friday Agreement.

He hit out at the government over its failure to more radically reform the Dáil but he did say his party would support the abolition of the Seanad in the forthcoming referendum.

Explaining the rationale for this, Adams said: “Only one per cent of citizens have a vote in Seanad elections while others have multiple votes. That is why Sinn Féin will not support a proposal to retain the present Seanad. We will campaign for its abolition.”

The Louth TD also called for equal rights for people in same sex relationships and for ethnic minorities like Travellers and “those of all creeds and none”.

This article first appeared on www.thejournal.ie

As I attempt to write this article, sitting in my house in the Village area of South Belfast, I look out of my window for inspiration and it occurs to me that my community can be seen as a microcosm of the problems faced by loyalism today.
It is a community that has been almost crippled by social and economic deprivation and has yet to feel the so called benefits of the peace process.
Moreover, to the people of the Village, Sandy Row and Donegall Pass, the visionary rhetoric of the peace process has been tarnished, not only by the realities of long term unemployment and social deprivation, but by the lack of involvement and alienation from the political world.
To these community’s the politics of inclusion as expounded by the 1998 Good Friday agreement has been interpreted as social exclusion. By what I have written so far, some readers may feel that I might be against the agreement and I wish to state that this is not the case. As a Progressive Unionist, I fundamentally believe in the principles of parity of esteem, equality and power sharing. As a community activist, however, I must point out the mood that currently resonates within loyalism. The Loyalist cease-fire was a window of opportunity that contributes significantly to the process of conflict transformation.
Appreciating the fears of Republicanism and Nationalism has figured prominently in the processes of reconciliation and dialogue which have emerged in my community.
Upon reflection my community, my party and indeed Unionism in general have taken great risks for the cause of peace.
In comparison, I argue that the Republican movement has not moved to respect, support or even reciprocate our actions. Republicanism appears to have retreated into the safe waters of ideology and victim-hood where it continuously pushes an exclusive agenda of change.
Certainly, my community feels that change is being forced upon them; the parades issue, police and other cultural and economic issues are examples. Indeed, it is fair to say that the grassroots of my community Are currently bitter about the state of politics today.
I feel the Republican movement should reflect on the fact that the more they push for exclusive change on symbolic issues, the more they destroy the confidence of my community in the peace process.

Villager

expose: verb,…to bring to public notice..disclose..reveal…..

The Orange Order have undoubtedly marched–in age old traditional fashion–themselves into another cultural cul-de-sac.  The stand off and repeated marches to and from Woodvale Avenue are reminiscent of such ill fated debacles as Obins Street, Lower Ormeau, Drumcree etc: which were all arguably “lost” due to the intransigence and superiority of the Orange Order heirarchy.  
The chances of the return leg of the 12th parade getting back past the Ardoyne shops is as remote Gerry Adams owning up to being a member of a proscribed organisation.  It wont happen.  And the Orange know it wont happen.  So why persist in an initiative that can only end in failure?  Why call for support from an already frustrated and increasingly bewildered loyalist community to back this act of folly.
Much as we would like to think that peaceful protests can bring about an about turn on the Parades Commission original decision sadly we all know what the outcome will be.  Crowds of supporters and well wishers will dwindle soon.  The weather has been kind but wont always be–the football season is about to start–and of course when the general apathy kicks in because nothing is happening, it will be back to the one man and his dog scenario.  Is it not better to graciously accept that this particular battle has been lost and to embark upon the next ensuing fight–which undoubtedly will come along quite soon?  In the wake of this particular decision and the fall out from it it would astound me if the Ardoyne residents don’t follow uo to have the 12th day morning feeder parade banned going down the road.  Simply put, the Orange Order NEED to be talking to whoever to be in the best position to fight their corner and try to ensure that they are in a strong bargaining position.
They need to lose the attitude that has seen them fail in the past.  Here is a chance for them to gain the high moral ground if only they could acknoweledge it.  If they reluinquished their current stance–it is unwinnable–and immediately entered into talks with ALL of the representatives in Nationalist Ardoyne, they could quite quickly expose those groups for what they really are.  Cosmetic fronts for hate filled sectarian groupings.  On the one hand you have GARC–a front for a criminal dissident alliance and on the other the mealey mouthed CARA, who are nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Gerry Kelly gang–who we all know are in the middle of a purge against all things British.  Except that is taking British money for administering British rule.  The Orange Order has the opportuntity to expose these frauds for what they are.  Anti Unionist and Anti Protestant.  Then, I am sure the Orange Order would be able to look towards the Loyalist people and call on them for support and receive a better response than they currently enjoy.

Billy Joe