The future is Orange ?

by Gearoid Mac Giolla Cearra

Trouble has traditionally surrounded the Loyal Orders’ annual ‘marching season’. Violent incidents associated with Orange parades can be traced back as far as the 19th Century, at least. More recently – from around the mid-nineties – attention has focussed on the Garvaghy Road and other nationalist areas in the Six Counties, wherein disputes about contentious parades have all too often resulted in violence on a massive scale. Images of masses of marauding Orange bully-boys being forced through small beleaguered nationalist enclaves now seem permanently engraved in the nationalist folk memory.

However, such images bear little resemblance to the reality of this summer’s events. Once a by-word for conflict and the commentators’ convenient ‘microcosm’ for the Six Counties, ‘Drumcree’, that much anticipated annual event, has now become a remarkably subdued affair. The simple handing over of a letter of protest from Orange representatives to the Colonial Police was the height of this year’s controversy. And this in Portadown, that loyalist citadel in the heart of the county where Orangeism was born.

All of which begs the question, why? Have we witnessed a change of heart on the Orange Order’s part, or is that institution simply no longer the force it once was? There may be a number of explanations for this development, which stands out surely, as one of the most important and readily observable trends in our recent history.The killing of the three Quinn children in Ballymoney in 1998 was a watershed. The Orange Order’s attempts to distance themselves from the incident failed miserably, and possibly added to their predicament. This obvious tragedy made the ongoing Drumcree dispute a PR catastrophe. From then on, some of the more ‘liberal’ elements within the Order, including several clerics, became noticeably uncomfortable with the protest.

More generally though, Orangeism has come to be seen in a much more negative light. The Ballymoney tragedy has no doubt exacerbated this. Another factor has been the unprecedented international scrutiny to which the Loyal Orders have been subjected. The parades issue has forced the Orange Order under the microscope: it has not been kind. Many are familiar with the jokes about Laurel & Hardy and Mr. Ben.

The almost cartoon-like image of rows of often elderly men resplendent in suits, sashes and bowler hats has become a crude and unflattering caricature – figures of fun – to be held up for ridicule in our enlightened 21st Century. There have been unfavourable comparisons with other supremacist secret societies, most noticeably the Ku Klux Klan.

A number of other factors can be identified. The Good Friday Agreement, the new discourse about ‘parity of esteem’ and the establishment of the Parades Commission have all helped to undermine the Orange Order. Of particular importance has been the Parades Commission’s consistency in barring the Portadown Orangemen from the Garvaghy Road. The brethren are now prevented from subjecting their nationalist ‘subordinates’ to the ‘traditional’ displays of ritualistic sectarian triumphalism. Orangeism has been deprived of its very raison d’etre in its historic homeland; in the singly most important arena of conflict between Orange marchers and nationalist residents, it would seem that the residents have won out.

Perhaps it is time to strike a cautionary note. It is doubtful if we have witnessed the death-knell of the Orange Institution. The organisation itself is very old. It continues to retain a huge membership, and exercises a huge, if declining, influence on the Protestant community. And there remain problems over controversial parades.However, the recent relatively peaceful parade in Derry following discussions between the Apprentice Boys and local nationalist representatives would seem to be the pattern which will be followed. In passing, one must make mention of the reluctance with which the Loyal Orders have engaged in this process. To say nothing of the price paid by nationalist communities in places like Portadown.
For the people on Garvaghy Road though, for the time being, it would seem that the future may be bright, and not Orange. Notwithstanding ongoing sporting pursuits!

FOURTHWRITE, PO BOX 31, Belfast BT127EE