Borderless thoughts on Politics, Public Affairs, the media and anything else that matters from Conall McDevitt, SDLP MLA for South Belfast
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  • What the Twelfth means to me….

    Posted on July 12th, 2009 Conall McDevitt 2 comments

    Over on Slugger there is an open invitation to share thoughts on the Twelfth and what it means to you.

    I live in a part of Belfast through which the main parade passes twice, on the way out and then back again. Ours is a cul-de-sac off the main route which means we are hemmed in during the parade with  no access or egress. The area is mixed and no community can claim it as ‘theirs’. Our neighbours are friendly and kind.

    The Twelfth normally means an enforced holiday for our family. We get out and stay away until the mess has been cleared up and the streets have been handed back to those for whom they are home. We have stayed and every time the experience has been difficult. The Orange Order does not provide porta-loos for walkers along the parade route and after spending the best part of the afternoon in the field many on the return leg desperate for a wee. Our cul-de-sac becomes irresistible to all too many of the marchers and every year a number of the walls becomes public latrines. Two years ago I counted 80 grown men and three women take advantage of our little street where children play for a spot of light relief.

    That year a number of band’s knocked up every house on the street in search of a loo. This creates a difficult situation in a small community where people of several religions, nationalities and skin colours live.

    So the Twelfth for me is difficult and not at all enjoyable. It’s a public holiday I can’t enjoy in my own garden and one which if I do stay at home will make me feel a lot less tolerant of marches and their aftermath. Being honest I don’t know why the parade needs to come through residential areas at all.

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    2 responses to “What the Twelfth means to me….”

    1. Wolf July 12th, 2009 at 18:04

      Conall i fully understand where you are coming from. It is a very intimidating time. I can only imagine what it must be like for a Southerner like yourself.

      Norn Iron identity is something that constantly bothers me. Our identity is unknown as a collective. We dont have a collective identity full stop.

      It becomes really noticeable to me when watching sporting events where whole nations unite behind one flag and one set of beliefs. Nowhere more so i suppose than the US – where a hugely diverse population “love their country” etc etc.

      I will tell you that another horrible day for me is St Patrick’s Day. Belfast city centre is just full of drunk gangs of rough looking youths with Irish tricolour flags tied on as capes.There is a horrible “this is who we are – you dont belong” intimidating undercurrent that is also present at the marching (more so with the 12th admittedly).

      Tribalism plain and simple.

      I remember being in the Bot one St Patrick’s Day years ago and my friends and i having to leave as filled up with beer the men in the bar started to chant in unison “I-R-A” “I-R-A” “I-R-A”

      Also i recall being at a bonfire in Groomsport a few years back and seeing a dummy, draped in a tricolour, brought up to the top of the bonfire and with a noose around its neck it was attached to makeshift gallows. This was the final touch to the ready to go bonfire. It disgusted me.

      I can never see these events be anything here but divisive.

    2. Letitia Fitzpatrick July 13th, 2009 at 16:50

      Hi Conall,
      There were portaloos in Camden Street off the Lisburn Road this morning, and women and children were using them, but men were urinating in the alley nearby.

      During the 26 years when I covered the Twelfth and other Orange marches, and the sectarian trouble around them, I’ve been shot at by an IRA sniper, as I stood alone in a street with a camera crew; I’ve almost stood on a loyalist blast bomb and was saved by an Orangeman who called out a warning; and I’ve been shoved, threatened and verbally abused by loyalists and republicans, who accused the media of bias.

      I’ve seen so-called shows of strength by terrorist gunmen at bonfires on the Eleventh Night, when masked men fired shots into the air as men, women and children cheered.

      I found all of this intensely depressing.

      I also covered the Twelfth demonstrations in fields around the six counties of Northern Ireland, and was made very welcome, given tea and sandwiches, access to speakers and parking space, and people were very friendly.

      I don’t really know what else to say about the Twelfth, loyalist parades, St Patrick’s Day or Republican commemorations.

      Let’s keep talking and trying to understand each other.

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