Two things about the conflict in Northern Ireland needs to be said (although it shouldn't after all these years) it has nothing, but nothing, to do with Religion. As Mark Steel put it a Protestant kid throwing a brick through a Catholic window is not thinking to himself "Transubstantiation? My arse!" This is about a divided community, two oppositional and antagonistic identities clashing without any hope of unity. What hope I had has disappeared recently as the optimism of the news and documentaries out of Northern Ireland had clearly masked the latent hostility which has erupted into violence again in recent years.
Who is to blame? I think this type of question is unhelpful. Actually both sides are for fuelling and fanning the conflict. In India during the resistance to British colonialism a peaceful passive resistance was successful with a minimum of innocent casualties. This has to be the bar upon which all conflicts are judged? Given that both sides profess to being Christian I notice there isn't much 'Turning of the Cheek' going on at all. Maybe there has been in the past maybe the Protestant/Catholic [delete as appropriate] have suffered long and hard for their religion, have faced persecution and state sponsored brutality..OK, that is only likely to be the Catholic community but still I am sure both sides have their historic grievances and while I am not a part of either community and don't have a clue what they might be I can point to the fact that whining about the past, and fighting in the present are two strategies unlikely to achieve a positive outcome. Talk, compromise and inter-community and inter-faith connections can surely be the only way out of this mess? Dialogue and understanding? Please, residents of Ulster, feel free to comment and criticise and correct me! What do I know. As an outsider perhaps I am best placed, or worst placed to judge. Let me know.
I think what else needs pointed out is the historical root of this tension and why the marching of the Orange Order is an issue which is so provocative. I am sure the history of Catholic oppression at the hands of the British doesn't need to be said. We can all sympathise with that I am sure. Blowing up royal family members, Tory Party conferences and innocent civilians on the street perhaps less so but we can all agree that the Catholics had a pretty torrid time under the British. All of which brilliantly portrayed by Cillian Murphy in the Ken Loach modern classic 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley'. What isn't well understood is what the Orange Order is, and why these marches are so important.
I won't go into the history of the Order that is easily available on Wikipedia. They are celebrating the battle which defeated the Catholics/Jacobites/French is usually how it is misunderstood by people from different parts of the United Kingdom depending on your level of historical knowledge you might take issue with this fact. Catholics and Protestants fought on both sides during the Battle of the Boyne. What is the real root of this conflict today, as I see it, is in the suspicion of the 'Other'. I won't go all academic and technical on you, but instead point to a modern parallel. Some people in Britain fear the (still proportionately more peaceful) Muslim population since 9/11 and 7/7 because they suspect that a true follower of Islam owes his allegiance not the British state, and its population, but to some foreign power who considers Britain and her state the enemy. The notion that any more than a tiny minority of Muslims in this country value the opinion and interpretation of the Jihadist/Islmamist movement over their own conscience and Imam is frankly ludicrous. Sure a lot of them might be pissed off with the western countries attitude (and at times indiscriminate bombing) towards the middle east in supporting murderous tin-pot dictators when politically convenient and warring with others or their treatment and racism at the hands of their fellow countrymen in the UK. That is not the same thing however as secretly plotting the downfall of the British state and the establishment of an Islamic state under religious law.
However, this was the exact same fears the protestant community held following the Battle of the Boyne and which was reinforced for centuries. That the Catholic community represented a fifth column who owed their allegiance to the Pope not the King/Queen/Parliament and who would kill and sabotage as necessary for the destruction of the Protestant faith and the re-establishment of a new state under Catholic rule. A real threat at the time, but now? No. In Ireland proper they have a religious state and for better or worse (abortion laws not with standing) protestants (and Muslims, Jews and Pastafarians) are respected to a greater or lesser extent.
No one is secretly plotting to suppress the Protestant faith any more and no one would tolerate not having the freedom to practice you religion freely in this day and age. Though there is the element of wanting to establish a new state with most protestants in Northern Ireland fiercely British and most Catholics expressing a degree of cross-border identity with the state to the South. How to allay those fears, and appease both communities I don't know. Should people in a country wave the flag of a foreign power? Should anyone care? I don't get particularly upset when I see my neighbour (who is French by the way) proudly displaying the Flag of his fatherland so, I am not sure it is a legitimate grounds for grievance. Actively campaigning for the integration of Ulster in the Irish republic, perhaps another story. A Palestinian-esque two state solution? Both Britain and Ireland washing their hands of it all and the creation of a new nation of Ulster? Would that please anyone, I don't know. Certainly the point here is that I don't know what the solution is, and am woefully ignorant as to the situation on the ground and the feelings of the everyday residents or Ulster, and unlike most commentators and know-it-alls/politicians etc. I am happy to say "I don't know" but the historical parallels do concern me regarding the way we treat the Islamic community in the UK.
We must build bridges, be open minded and resist the ghettoisation of the immigrant communities lest we end up with a similar situation in years to come. With entrenched hatred and no easy solutions.
And a belated Eid Mubarak to anyone who was fasting during Ramadan.
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