Orangeism viewed as beyond redemption by wider society

Posted By: August 08, 2015

Newton Emerson. Irish News (Belfast). Saturday, August 8, 2015 


EasyJet will drop future mentions of the Twelfth from its in-flight magazine after an blogger complained that the current edition makes ‘Orangefest’ sound normal. The festivalisation of the Twelfth is ultimately its only hope and the West Belfast Festival proves this can succeed. However, while the Grand Lodge of Ireland knows this, it still shows little sign of recognising the mountain it has to climb or how quickly time is running out. The complaining blogger may not want to see an acceptable Twelfth – he made his posting on a staunchly anti-unionist website. But the speed and finality with which easyJet responded to one person bringing one reference to its attention suggests a tipping point is being reached where wider society views Orangeism as simply beyond redemption.


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Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary has been charged under the Terrorism Act with “inviting support for ISIS” – reminding us of Northern Ireland’s exuberant legal exceptionalism. Tomorrow, Belfast will witness a dissident republican ‘anti-internment’ march. The UDA-linked UPRG will stage a counter-demonstration because the march glorifies terrorism, unlike last week’s UDA march down the Ormeau Road[which did, of course, glorify Protestant terrorism, the author means]. Unionists are angry with the Parades Commission for not taking action they do not otherwise believe it is entitled to take. The DUP is particularly angry, but not angry enough to criticise its councillor Ruth Patterson for attending last week’s loyalist march. Apparently, none of this constitutes inviting support for terrorism. But we can prosecute a preacher for insulting Islam, so we are not entirely behind the times.

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The PSNI will be charging charity and sporting events for policing but Orange and republican parades remain exempt, with the Orange Order claiming the ‘right to protest’ cannot be infringed. Of course, marching is not protesting and there is no specific right to protest in this or any other country, or internationally. That right is heroically inferred from the rights to free expression and assembly, which in any case no country or international charter ranks above the protection of public order. But it is pointless to make these observations, as you know. Instead, anyone organising an event in Northern Ireland should describe it as a protest, which should not be too difficult 
to arrange.

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Parking tractors outside Stormont and supermarkets is a pointless protest, as neither are responsible for the falling farm-gate price of milk. That price is set by supply and demand for what is becoming a global commodity. Farmers seem particularly aggrieved by supermarkets selling milk below cost as a loss-leader, yet by subsidising demand this actually props farm-gate prices up. The problem is too much milk, so uncompetitive suppliers should consider producing something else. This is not much to ask when 87 per cent of average farm income in Northern Ireland comes from the EU’s Basic Payment – a subsidy per hectare of land, regardless of what is farmed on it.

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Voluntary sector umbrella body Nicva suffered cringe-inducing embarrassment last year when it claimed welfare reform would take £750m out of the economy, only to admit this was nonsense when its figures became an issue at the Stormont House talks. Now Nicva is facing further awkwardness as Richard Murphy, the ‘policy expert’ it regularly cites on corporation tax, has become Jeremy Corbyn’s principal economic adviser. Devolving corporation tax is also part of the Stormont House agreement and Murphy has been firmly against it. Some of the things he is now firmly for – like ‘people’s quantitative easing’, for example – will not do much for Nicva’s credibility.