From Unity, 7 August 2010

Summer in the city

by Lynda Walker

It is hard to find the heat of the sun in Belfast, but not too hard to find the heat of the hate.
     Predictably, the “marching season” set off with a bang when inter-community riots were “held” in West Belfast at the beginning of July.
     With no march in sight, rioting took place at the bottom of Donegall Road and Broadway, where mainly loyalist and nationalist youth attacked each other, sandwiched by the PSNI, who were apparently unable to stop the violence, in spite of the use of plastic bullets, one of which injured a sixteen-year-old, who was hospitalised.
     A report in the Morning Star said that “riot police use rubber bullets on Belfast protesters.” The participants went on to raid Kentucky Fried Chicken, tearing out fittings and taking tills.
     Now don’t get me wrong: I do not like these fast-food outlets, their owners, or the products; but I doubt that the action was motivated by anti-capitalist opposition to junk food outlets. More, it reminds us of the spin-offs from activity in the 70s and 80s, when young people copied the paramilitaries and stole cars. “Joyriding and hooding” became the order of the day.
     In addition, as one comrade reminds us, the youth would say, “Let’s go down to Divis Flats for a riot with the British army”—just like going to a football match.
     When I first heard the term “recreational rioting” I was disgusted at those who used it. There was an air of acceptance of this “immature activity.” People from both sides of the political divide, people who were involved in the peace-funded projects to fight sectarianism and to help reconciliation, discussed the big political issues of the day. However, they expressed an air of amusement and acceptance regarding the “recreational” activities of the youth, giving the view that “they will grow up one day; in the meantime, what more do you expect from the young?”
     Many of us recognised that for those young people without work and money there is more excitement out on the streets facing the “Brits,” the RUC and now the PSNI than there is in dead-end training courses.

The rocky road to (and from) Dublin

In Lurgan, it could have been even hotter for those travelling from Dublin to Belfast on the 12th of July, when people described by the Irish News as “dissident republicans” attacked the Enterprise train, endangering the lives of fifty-five people.
     A local man described how he saw a man approach carrying a five-gallon can of diesel in a clear container. “I shouted at him: ‘There’s women and children on this train, and you’ll kill them.’ He looked at me and said, ‘F*** ’em. Let them burn.’”
     It was also reported that people’s luggage was looted.
     The future of the train, which goes through the Kilwilkie estate, has now been called into question.
     We have yet to be given an explanation, to understand how the attack on an all-Ireland public transport facility fits in with the philosophy of promoting a united Ireland.

Orange is the colour of my true love’s hair

However, the big confrontation came in Ardoyne.
     Unlike West Belfast, where there was no march to spark off the events, the Orange Order insists on marching past the Ardoyne, a nationalist area, every Twelfth. It therefore acts as a focal point and catalyst for violence and confrontation.
     The Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective sent an invitation to “nationalists” everywhere to come to the Crumlin Road on the 12th. When many responded to the call and there was violence on the streets, Martin Óg Meehan said, “GARC take this opportunity again to ask people to desist from violence, as it deflects from the core issue of unwelcome sectarian marches being forced through the community.”
     Joe Marley, spokesperson for the Crumlin-Ardoyne Residents’ Association, said, “This is too little, too late. You cannot just turn off a tap after you invite everyone.”
     Community and church people have written about the “carnival” atmosphere as people arrived with their carry-outs to take part in the activities, where some youths stole and burnt residents’ cars. GARC say they were not responsible for the violence.
     In this case, the confrontation happened on more than one front. Had the community been at one in their course of action, then the outcome might have been different. But that was not to be. With the establishment of two community organisations, who appear to have as much dislike of each other as they have of the Orange Order, the stage is set for disorder both within and without the community.
     Both GARC and CARA (who are recognised by the Parades Commission) are opposed to the Orange march that passes by the Ardoyne area on the 12th of July, but the common denominator stops there.
     Again, it is reminiscent of friction within the community in the early seventies. One example was in Twinbrook. Built as a “model estate” in the late 60s, the original intention was to have an integrated housing estate. The local tenants’ association tried to keep out of “civil rights” politics: it did not support the Civil Rights rent and rates strike, and so on.
     However, as time went on they were like people on the side of the mountain, hanging on with their fingernails.
     As Protestants moved out and Catholics squatted in, Twinbrook became one of the more hard-line nationalist-republican areas. But that did not mean that there was harmony within the community. Divisions existed within communities; in the case of Twinbrook these were expressed in the republican factions: Sinn Féin, the Workers’ Party, and the Irish Republican Socialist Party. Sinn Féin had a social club; so had the Workers’ Party. Divisions were rife.
     Early one morning I witnessed an act of revolutionary zeal when the roof of a social club flew up in the air. The Workers’ Party social club had been bombed.
     Perhaps the message here for those of us who want a united socialist Ireland is not to assume that the only unity that we have to win is between the North and the South, or between Protestants and Catholics. The division and political power struggles that go on within communities are a strong force that does not add to the unity of the people.
     Perhaps it is all the more ironic that the spokesperson for GARC, Martin Óg Meehan, is also the spokesperson for the umbrella group “Republican Network for Unity.”
     The community and local papers were full of reports about this event. Elected representatives of Sinn Féin and ex-IRA men like Bobby Storey confronted youths wearing Manchester United scarves fashioned as balaclavas. “You’re hiding behind that mask, giving the wrong face of the district,” said Bobby Storey. He could have asked what Irish republican cultural values the youth was expressing by wearing a Manchester United scarf.
     In the North Belfast News, 17 July 2010, Gerry Adams wrote about the problems caused by the Orange Order, the need for the “Orange Order to engage properly and fully with their neighbour,” and how the “DUP and Shinners came to an agreement on a new way forward for resolving contentious parades”—this being the proposals of the Draft Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill.
     The Communist Party of Ireland has firmly rejected this “new way forward” as unworkable and undemocratic.
     Interestingly enough, Adams also wrote about the £3 million cost of the policing of the controversial Orange march in the Whiterock in 2005, whilst the PSNI chief emphasised the “several millions” cost to deploy hundreds of police officers for three nights of disorder this July, money he said could be spent on a new hospital ward or a new school.
     It is interesting to hear such comparisons, because we constantly point to the billions that are spent on nuclear weapons instead of social welfare.
     That is for another discussion.

Sing a rainbow too

If we are looking for the peace dividend, well, do not go looking at the end of the rainbow.
     Part of the dividend has nothing to do with money but more to do with the ability to live and breathe a bit easier, to work openly for our political aspirations; but of course some Peace-funded projects are making a significant difference in the fight against sectarianism and racism.
     The summer is not yet over, and with various festivals taking place there will be room for discussion about the sharp political issues that need to be tackled.
     These include the West Belfast Festival—Féile an Phobail, and the McCracken Festival in North Belfast, to say nothing of the pink, white and gold of the Gay Pride Festival that took place last Saturday. The discussion and debates in a number of venues at these festivals have been excellent, and this all adds to the new Belfast that we are building.

It was old, but was it beautiful?

The unwelcome or unthoughtful remarks made by an ASDA shop worker on the Shore Road set in motion a train of events that only goes to show the fragile nature of politics here.
     The man told a van driver that he should be playing “The Sash” on his CD. Unfortunately for him, a customer was within listening distance and complained to the company, which promptly sacked the shop worker.
     This resulted in the nearby loyalist community protesting outside the shop. Other loyalists from North Belfast, in particular Billy Hutchinson, joined them. ASDA reinstated the man.
     As it turned out, the shop worker had previously served time for the murder of two young Catholic men, whose brother is now calling for him to be sacked.
     In this case, three things come to mind. The first is the apparent absence of any trade union involvement (though recent reports in the North Belfast News suggest that USDAW is now involved). The second is the apparent intransigence of the management at ASDA, as legislation and procedures exist for dealing with political and other types of harassment. Was this man dealt with fairly or not in sacking him and reinstating him?
     The third is the knowledge that communities are willing to support a worker who has been sacked from his job—but would they support workers who are on legitimate trade union action who are fighting for their jobs, or do they have to sing “The Sash” first?

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