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By Liz S

The BBC has an article today on their N Ireland page:

“Who are the Orangemen”?

Then incredulously it stated ” If you’re not from Northern Ireland, you may be wondering what on earth the ‘marching season’ is all about“.

Sorry ?

OMG , well I am from Scotland and I and others who live here know only too well what the “marching season is all about” !

Why would that be ?

Because they, Orangemen, do it in Scotland as well.

Then the piece continues in stating “Who are these men in bowler hats and orange sashes”?

Sorry , but is this actually someone from NI who has written this piece or is it an intern straight out of an English university who thinks that they need to explain this to others within the UK.

It continues with “Most Orange Order parades pass off peacefully but the rest of the world has often only seen images of those that don’t”.

What ?

“peacefully” ?

Or is it that other people are made to feel intimidated when marches are in their areas , so really if the world has “often only seen images of those (Marches) that don’t pass off peacefully” is that because someone dared to try to cross a road during a march or because they were a Catholic priest.

A couple of examples :

2019 – “A man taking part in an orange walk in Glasgow has admitted spitting on a woman as she crossed the procession“

2019 based on incident in 2018 – “The Catholic Church has called for a planned Orange Order parade to be re-routed as it would pass the spot where a priest was spat on last year“.

This BBC ‘puff piece’ then goes onto explain “So who is marching and why do some people sometimes object to parades? (to whom are they, the BBC, explaining this to, Martians from another planet?)

“why do some people object” ?

Duh.

This BBC article then also proceeds to add some PR for the Orange Lodge in stating:

“The Orange Order itself has also attempted to move with the times, rebranding the 12 July celebrations ‘Orangefest’ in a public relations charm offensive that presents the day as a fun and inclusive dash of local colour. There was even, briefly, a superhero mascot called Diamond Dan”.

OMG who wrote this article ?

It continues in stating that ” It’s a canny decision, with membership of fraternal societies generally in sharp decline. The Orange Order’s secrecy, ceremonies and archaic titles – all distantly derived from Freemasonry – smack of a bygone age. While staunchly loyal to its traditions, the Orange Order also understands it must reach out to a new generation“

Also known as radicalisation.

This next part of the article was also pretty bad in that it stated:

“A few bands still tout the provocative emblems of loyalist paramilitary groups”

“provocative” ?

Should that not be “shocking” or a BBC favourite term “controversial” or perhaps in reality a better word would be “inciteful” .

Then in a contradiction they , the BBC, states that:

“Perhaps because of this, Orangefest is at pains to be inclusive, making much of lodges from as far afield as Togo, Canada and Ghana” .

So that contradicts their initial statement in this piece that stated ” ” If you’re not from Northern Ireland, you may be wondering what on earth the ‘marching season’ is all about“.

The article then explains how “Union flags are also highly visible, particularly among the spectators. The union with the rest of the United Kingdom is a cornerstone of the Orange Order – a major bone of contention between the marchers and the nationalists who would like to see a united Ireland”.

What Union is that then ?

Aye indeed , as there is the reality of one of the reasons for these marches.

As with these sectarian pro Union displays aka marches, that is for them, as British Nationalists, a way to promote the major bone of contention they have in them fiercely opposing any suggestion of Irish reunification.

Another being a alleged hatred of Catholics, I say alleged as those senior members within their hierarchy (of the Orange Order) deny this as being factual.

The BBC piece concludes wit:

“But even with the rebranding, the PR push and the undeniable spectacle, the question remains: can the celebration of such a deeply contentious date, organised by a group that actively champions one community to the exclusion of another, ever be anything other than divisive? Put more simply, is the future bright for the Orangemen“?

So who do they, The BBC , ask ?

Well they ask a ” 42-year-old Orangeman” who responds that:

“For a tourist, the cultural, historical and religious aspects of the parade are what they should see” and then he states “We have been trying to get young people to learn and have respect for their own culture and other peoples”.

Really ?

So then is this not simply even more PR from a member of the Orange Lodge ?

Then the BBC state that “Dr Eric Kaufmann, an expert on the Orange Order, says the Order’s future probably depends on the direction Northern Ireland itself takes”

He continues in stating that:

“Their ideology is important. Can they work in a post-peace process Northern Ireland? Oddly enough I think it does work. If multiculturalism is accepting different cultures, then they slot right into that model … [but] they’re definitely not going to work well in an integrated rather than a multicultural Northern Ireland.”

That’s the same Dr Kaufman who identifies as a ‘liberal’ national Conservative (they are those who focus on a free-market capitalist economy, emphasise national sovereignty, strong borders, and prioritise the interests of one’s own country and also promote culture and value traditional social structures, law and order, and national heritage as anchors for society).

He was also someone who called “woke” ideas “a battle for the foundations of our civilisation”.

He, Kaufman, has also expressed support for Florida governor (Republican) Ron DeSantis arguing at the 2022 UK Tory Conference that the party should follow DeSantis’s lead ( arguing that fighting against cultural and identity issues , as in “woke ideas” , are central to modern politics and winning elections).

Perfect ‘expert’ for the BBC then was he not.

So what prompted this infantile piece by the BBC ?

Well ,there is a separate BBC article upon a very very controversial, unnecessary and “provocative” decision to allow an Orange march to again walk through a catholic area in NI (for the first time in 30 years).

This other BBC article describes this action as being:

“A controversial parade organised by Northern Ireland’s Orange Order is due to go down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road”.

Which has resulted in residents from that area (rightly) blocking their way.

Most fair minded people of course would wonder why they, the Orangemen, really want to walk through this Catholic area as surely , as an act that it is inciteful ,it then potentially is a recipe for disaster in generating real violence.

That’s the nub of this whole situation, it’s blatantly contentious as an act by them as the Orange Order.

Honestly it beggars belief that yet again these people are being pandered to , especially when one knows what their sole raison d’être for existing really is.

Which as a raison d’être is not just exclusively known to only those who live within NI.

Liz S

With only 3 days left, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421