Tuesday 3 September 2013

Why We Celebrate Brian Robinson


Why did Brian Robinson shoot Mr Paddy McKenna on the Crumlin Road?
Brian was travelling on a motorbike with a fellow UVF member Davy McCullough on 2 September 1989 in Belfast's Crumlin Road close to the nationalist area of Ardoyne.  Brian was the passenger and carried a gun.   Upon seeing Paddy McKenna, a Catholic man who was walking along the street, Robinson opened fire hitting McKenna a total of 11 times, killing him. 

I ask this question because a few weeks ago many of us in the Protestant and Unionist community were outraged at the parade commemorating IRA volunteers in Castlederg. Many of us used our  Twitter accounts to express outrage at this celebration of terrorism.  Yet some of those who were expressing outrage at the IRA celebration of terrorism are now tweeting about supporting a celebration of the ‘hero’ Brian Robinson this Saturday.
Was Brian really a hero? Do we think it was OK for him shoot dead Paddy McKenna? 
No doubt, someone will tell me that I am naïve and that this was a war, but if it was a war, how can we call the ‘other side’ murderers?

Can some of those parading in honour of a killer like Brian Robinson, explain to Unionists like myself how Brian Robinson is any better than the two IRA men from Castlederg, Seamus Harvey and Gerard McGlynn?

Saturday 17 August 2013

Stop Romanticising the Armed Struggle

Last night several Twitter users were outraged that I feel we should not march behind UVF banners, or have UVF in 6 foot high letters on our gable walls.  How could it harm unionism, I am asked, because we all support the sacrifices these men made at the Somme in 1916?

Here’s how:

Old UVF – The Truth

 
The old UVF, like the old IRA, was formed to use the threat of violence to achieve the political aims of its masters.  It was created to oppose the British government’s decision to grant Home Rule to Ireland in 1913 and in April of the following year, the UVF successfully smuggled 25000 rifles from Germany with which to fight the British Army!

Unfortunately for the men who joined the UVF, their ‘armed struggle’ took an unexpected turn because the First World War intervened, and  many of the UVF men ended up dying in their thousands as part of the British Army in 1916 at the Somme. They died horrible, tragic, and probably needless deaths – read the poems of Wilfred Owen.

 

 

The Problem for Unionism in 3 years time - 1916


If unionists can march behind UVF bands, can republicans argue for the right to march behind IRA bands?  Don’t forget there is an old IRA, just as there is an old UVF, and the Provos used the  
romanticism attached to the old IRA to justify their murders, just as the modern UVF use the romanticism associated with the old UVF.

In 3 years time, we will see the Irish Republic and perhaps parts of N. Ireland remember the IRA of 1916, without whom the Irish Republic would not exist.  How will we feel if IRA flags are flown across Belfast, even if the date 1916 is added to the flag to emphasis that it is the old IRA being remembered? 

Our use of flags, banners or wall murals celebrating the ‘old UVF’ provides Republicans with the perfect excuse to celebrate IRA bombers. 
 

The Way Forward

 
We need to stop romanticising the UVF in the same way the Republic needs to stop romanticising the IRA.  The same myths were used by both Republicans and Unionists and the British government to persuade young men that it was noble and heroic to kill or be killed in support of a political objective, that those who would prefer the slow, steady surge of politics to achieve the same result were somehow less noble.

The UVF and the IRA were both products of crazy times when young people were fed lies about the glory of war. Both Unionists and Republicans need to stop romanticising the ‘armed struggle’.  How can people brought up praising Wilfred Owen for exposing the old lie ‘Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’ in relation to the first World War, swallow exactly the same lie in relation to the IRA and UVF from exactly the same times.

Had the people of 1914 and 1916 had the wisdom to solve their problems through politics and compromise, they could have saved us all a lot of misery and death.  Those who opted for the threat of violence as a solution did us no favours; they left an unholy mess for their children and grandchildren to sort out.

They are worthy of our pity but not our praise.  They are certainly not a good example for our children who need to learn how to live together in peace.

Thursday 15 August 2013

Peace and Reconciliation Centre – Maze or Omagh?


Lots of good people were killed during the troubles, and most relatives want some form of recognition, some sort of memorial.  There are well over 600 memorials in N. Ireland and the majority (over two thirds) of these commemorate terrorists; we already have over 450 shrines to republican and loyalist terrorists  because terrorists have the money and the power to decide what is erected in ‘their’ areas. 
 
The ‘troubles’ were a grubby, nasty little conflict that destroyed too many lives.  There was nothing glorious or heroic about killing those with whom you have a political disagreement, and the suffering of the ordinary unionist and nationalist people needs to be acknowledged by the Stormont government, preferably at a neutral site. 
 
We want our politicians to support the ordinary people, and put an end to this free-for-all over memorials, with each grouping erecting shrines to their ‘heroes’ as a means of promoting their political viewpoint. 
 
The stupidity of placing a peace and reconciliation centre at the Maze has now been accepted by everyone apart from Sinn Fein.  Forever the Maze will be associated with the IRA version of events, where IRA killers and bombers starved themselves to death in a vain attempt to convince the world that being a politically motivated killer was the same as being a political prisoner.  The world rejected the idea that a legitimate political activity could include killing those with whom you have a disagreement, just as N. Ireland has now rejected the Maze Shrine.
 
Stormont needs to provide leadership by creating a memorial for the whole community, a site that does not allow any one group to claim victimhood or martyrdom. 
 
Would Omagh be a better location for a Peace and Reconciliation Centre? 
The Omagh bomb was a major terrorist atrocity, and one of the first that was condemned by both republicans and unionists together. Omagh was the first occasion where Sinn Fein, the Unionist Parties and the world stood united in favour of peace.

What better place to locate a Peace and Reconciliation Centre than Omagh?
 

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Alternative to the Parades Commission

The Orange Order and some Unionists don't like the Parades Commission, but is there any realistic alternative?

Can we realistically go back to the days before the PC, when the decision to ban or allow a parade was based on which decision would produce least trouble, with the result that each side of any dispute was involved in an arms race (pun intended) of threat and counter threat.

No-one is happy with the current disputes and riots, but bad as these days have been, they are trivial compared to the destruction during the dark days of Drumcree.

Have we forgotten that we forced our march through in 1996 see (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg5G9AvaRNQ ) but the violence increased during the following years until the awful 1998 which saw a policeman kicked to death on the streets of Ballymoney simply because he had been on patrol at a parades dispute, followed by
  • 615 attacks on the security forces, which left 76 police offices injured
  • 24 shooting incidents
  • 45 blast bombs thrown
  • 632 petrol bombs thrown
  • 837 plastic bullets fired by the security forces
  • 144 houses and 165 other buildings attacked (the vast majority owned by Catholics and/or nationalists)
  • 467 vehicles damaged and 178 vehicles hijacked, and
  • 284 people arrested
  • 3 children murdered by Loyalist petrol bombers in Ballymoney - Jason (aged 8), Mark (aged 9) and Richard Quinn (aged 10)

Monday 15 July 2013

Traditional Parades Endanger Protestants

The more I listen to the news, the more annoyed I get with the Orange Order. 

Does anyone seriously believe that roads in interface areas become more open for Protestants as a result of forcing Orange Parades down them? 

Surely the Orange Order leadership can see that they are endangering the safety of Protestants living in these areas.  I used to live in Ballynafeigh and it was usually safe to walk across the bridge to pubs in Botanic Ave with my friends, but not after an Orange Parade.

Can we please take a fresh look at this tradition of parading.

Tradition. Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid.

Into the Arms of Satan

I cannot equate the idea of an organisation being Christian, and then behaving in the same way the Orange Order has behaved over the past 15 years.

We hear middle aged men talking tough about the inevitability of violence, about the intense anger of the Protestant community and then we watch young Protestant teenagers involved in recreational rioting.

What effect is the Orange Order having on the morality of working class Protestants?

Saturday 13 July 2013

12th July - Another Glorious Riot?

Last night I had problems getting home to East Belfast from my mother's house.  All the roads seemed to be blocked as I came off the motorway.  Reading the newspapers today, I know why.

Was this good for the Protestant community?  I think not.  Once more we fall into a trap. 

Today's Newsletter (click link to read) includes the line 'If Orangemen do nothing in response to the commission decision over north Belfast, then the ban will become a precedent, and — like Drumcree — the settled position.' 

I used to live in Ballynafeigh and used to regularly cross the bridge past the Lower Ormeau on my way to meet friends in the city centre.  Most of the time it was safe, but on occasions there was trouble. 

On one occasion we were stoned by Donegal Pass kids on the way up the Ormeau Road because it was assumed we were Lower Ormeau Catholics, then we were stoned as we crossed the bridge by Lower Ormeau residents who rightly guessed we were Prods on our way home, and then on the other side of the bridge we again had to run for it as our own side mistook us for Catholics.  The reason things were so tense was of course because of a parade, which back then was forced through. 

One of the arguments used in favour of insisting on marching past the Lower Ormeau was that the Orangemen had to keep the road open for the Protestants of Ballynafeigh.  As I found out, their parade had exactly the opposite effect. 

The newsletter may well be right - perhaps we will never again see a parade past the Ardoyne shops.  However, the rioting of last night made this outcome more likely, not less. 

Perhaps we in the Protestant community need to think a little further ahead.