Tag Archives: Belfast

Grassroots peace efforts continue despite Stormont crisis

Bill Shaw shrugged when asked about the latest crisis at Stormont.

“It doesn’t matter what they are doing at Stormont,” he told Irish Network-DC 10 September. “The peace process was birthed by community workers. It’s community activists that are taking the biggest risks, not the politicians.”

Bill Shaw. Photo by @IrishNewworkDC

Bill Shaw. Photo by @IrishNetworkDC

Shaw works at 174 Trust, a Christian-based social justice organization that has been “building peace and promoting reconciliation” in North Belfast for more than 30 years. He has been the director since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

The organization is located inside a remodeled former Presbyterian church on Duncairn Avenue. Groups and activities range from A.A. and Aspergers support to a Boxing Club and an Older Peoples Group. There are after school programs and pregnancy care. There are plenty of art exhibits and performances, even an Irish language class.

“We are finding common issues that will bring people together,” Shaw said. “People don’t stop being Catholic or Protestant, but they go back to segregated communities as changed people.”

12th parades begin peacefully

Orange Order parades have begun peacefully, the BBC reports.

There were no incidents as a feeder parade passed a sectarian flashpoint at shops in Ardoyne in north Belfast. … Chief Constable George Hamilton said:

“I’m optimistic, but it’s a cautious optimism and I’m just hoping that people take responsibility for their own actions and they need to understand that, as I’ve said throughout the past couple of weeks, the police will do our piece to keep people safe and also to collect evidence where people step outside of the law.”

The Irish Times reports that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is deploying 3,500 officers, with about one third deployed to north Belfast hot spots. After several years of relative calm, loyalist violence erupted last July when Orangemen were banned by the Parades Commission from returning home past the Ardoyne shops. The commission decision was upheld this year.

Here’s a good background piece about “Orangeism,” also from the BBC. By the way, that “L.O.L” on their banners refers to Loyal Orange Lodge, not laughing out loud.

Here we go again: marching season in Northern Ireland

It’s July, and that means Orange parade season in Northern Ireland.

The trouble has already begun as the two main unionist parties walked out of talks at Stormont after the Parades Commission banned Orangemen from marching by a republican area of north Belfast on 12 July.  The Guardian reports there are renewed fears that serious street disorder will break out in the coming days over the ban.

[Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa] Villiers said: “The last thing Northern Ireland needs is any kind of public disorder which could put police officers at risk of injury or worse and which would damage Northern Ireland’s reputation abroad and undermine efforts to attract jobs and investment. Any reaction or protest needs to be both peaceful and lawful, as called for by unionist leaders in their statement today. “

Here’s the full statement from five unionist leaders, including Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson. We will see what happens, but in Northern Ireland in July, it usually isn’t anything good.

An Orange Order parade. Image from rte.ie.

An Orange Order parade. Image from rte.ie.

 

Flag protests continue in Belfast, threaten Dublin

Loyalists demonstrators continue to protest restrictions on flying the British Union Jack flag over Belfast City Hall. Police claimed Saturday they were fired upon by someone in an unruly mob of about 1,000 people.

The protests have reached the one-month mark. Here’s a BBC Q & A explaining the issue, which so far is drawing only lite media attention in the U.S.

But the story could heat up more in the coming week if bus loads of protesters make good on their vow to bring the demonstrations across the boarder to the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Examiner reports the demonstrators want to demand removal of the Irish Tricolour from Leinster House, the seat of government. Said one protest leader:

“Under the Good Friday Agreement we were promised that this would remain part of the United Kingdom. Now we are continually told to move on, and that this is an island of equals. If that’s the case, how do the people in Dublin feel when we come down and ask them to take the flag off the capital in their country? Very annoyed, I would say.”

For me, the issue resonates from my newspaper coverage more than a decade ago about changing representations of the Confederate period in the City of Mobile, Ala., city seal. Confederate partisans wanted to keep the controversial Battle flag image in place, while many African-Americans and tourism/economic development-focused whites wanted it replaced by a less offensive (and less familiar) flag of the Confederate government. Similar controversies have flared across the American South for years.

In Mobile, protests and debate lasted for 18 months before the city government and “Southern Heritage” supporters finally reached a “Dixie détente.” Here’s hoping the flag issue on the island of Ireland doesn’t take as long to resolve, or get any nastier than it’s already been.

Three big stories, plus one more

I’ve been remiss in blogging about three big stories out of Ireland and the north of Ireland. So let’s get caught up.

  • Abortion: The October death of a 31-year-old Indian woman refused an abortion in a Dublin hospital after being told she would miscarry, and the opening of an abortion clinic in Belfast has put the contentious issue in the headlines. Activists on both sides have rallied to voice their views. Abortion is subject to different laws in each place because of the island’s political partition.
  • Finucane: A new report about the 1989 murder of IRA attorney Pat Finucane has revealed “a shocking level of state collusion” by the British government and prompted an apology by Prime Minister David Cameron. Finucane’s widow calls the report “a sham” and “a whitewash,” while Irish Central founder and columnist Naill O’Dowd alleges former PM Margaret Thatcher ordered the killing.
  • Flags: Unionists/loyalists in Northern Ireland have erupted in numerous violent protests over reducing the number of days the Union Jack flies at Belfast City Hall.
  • Finally, Dan Rooney has stepped down as U.S. ambassador to Ireland after three years. Rooney is also chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve never met him in person, but I’ve long admired him as a native of Pittsburgh. Like his late father, team founder Art Rooney, the son is a regular Mass-goer. I shared the sign of peace with him at St. Mary of Mercy Catholic Church in December 2008, shortly before his appointment by President Obama. For all he has done for Pittsburgh and for Ireland, “Thanks Dan.”

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