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The Other View |
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Issue No.2 Autumn 2000 Are All Protestants Members of the Orange Order? By Michael Atcheson As we go through life, labels are attached to our personal make up. Some are proudly self-adhesive. In my case I am a Loyalist, I am a Protestant and I am a Unionist. However there are many within the Unionist family, who because of my background, attempt to attach more discriminating labels such as ex-prisoner, ex-paramilitary or worse, "he is Progressive Unionist!" One label that always amused me is the one that calls me an ‘Orange Bastard’. My reaction to this comment was either ignore the aggressor or, in my younger days, to shout out some obscene remark back, but if the opportunity arose I would attempt to explain that while all ‘Orangemen’ are Protestants not all Protestants are ‘Orangemen’. I am a Protestant and I am not a member of any loyal institution, but does this mean I am not an ‘Orangeman?’ Lately I have been debating within myself whether this statement is too simplistic. I acknowledge the Orange Order as having an important role within my culture and I do support their fundamental right to public assembly and their right to walk. In regards to negations about consent, rights and cultural acceptance that is a matter for the parties who are involved in a local process to resolve this issue. Denis Healey stated in ‘The Time of My Life’ that, "even the strongest character is moulded by his background, history and geography which is helped to make that background what is. It is difficult to understand anyone without knowing something about the furniture of his mind, the experiences which have shaped him, and the issues which have brought you there". Like many within my community I do not have an immediate ‘Orange’ background but for as long as I can remember I have been surrounded with the carnival atmosphere of the 12th July – the brightly coloured banners, the bands and the bonfires. So I believe that while I am not a member of any of the loyal institutions, they are very much part of my community and psychological cultural make-up. I also believe that this would be true for the vast majority of people from my community who, regardless of media headlines such as ‘Future’s not bright for the Orange Order’, still feel the connection so strongly that they peacefully blocked roads sporadically for periods of one hour in support of the Portadown Orangemen. The growing perception (it does not matter whether the perception is true or not it still needs to be addressed) within my community is that the Parades Commission’s refusal to allow the Portadown Orangemen to return from a church parade by way of Garvaghy Road was a political decision. I have no proof to cause me to disagree with that perception. It was seen nothing more as an attack on their culture and the Protestant community as a whole. This is where my inner reasoning is leading me. I think of, and support, the orange Order as a cultural organisation and not as a political one. But then everyone states that everything in Northern Ireland is political and the right to walk is no longer a basic right (was it ever?) but something which is negotiated to further someone’s political ambitions. Like many within my community I am not in the Orange Order but the Orange order are in my community and on reflection we are directly affected by the present problems facing the Orange Order. On a personal level I shall continue to give my support to those within the loyal institutions to freely and peacefully express their culture and by doing so bring about civil and religious liberty for all within our community. After all this was the desire of the person by which they took their name, King William III, Prince of Orange. |
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