The Twelfth- it's not over yet

The Parades:

In the past few weeks it seems like the Unionists have left their stamp on every street, every corner. I typically jog past a roundabout every afternoon on my way to the park and for the past few weeks I've ssen it slowly become a center of Unionist pride- even the pavement and light poles are painted red white and blue. In the park I'd run past a field which slowly filled with wooden pallets and discarded furniture- young men in hoodies building the sight of what would become an enormous bonfire. Even as I returned to my own street, the UK/British and Orange flags flew, even outside the children's school. Though these signs are normal for this time of year and there was a miniscule change of violence in my part of the city- it was unmistakeable that Belfast was alert and revving its engine for the events that transpired this past Monday. What is known simply as 'The Twelfth' (referring to the date) erupted right well this year in some sections of Belfast. The Twelfth is the annual time for political/cultural parades (marches) in Northern Ireland. The main focus is on the Orange Order; it is an overtly sectarian group whose march is an outright display of Protestantism guranteed to make waves. The parades tend to bring the sectarian tension to a fever pitch and result in a reaffirmation of territorial control over some sections of the city. This year's marches resulted in more violences than usual and tensions are still high now (Wednesday). The main amount of violence has been focused around West Belfast and the Ardoyne region. These are areas where the line between Catholic controlled and Protestant controlled (insert nationalist or unionist or any division you like) are explict. I expect things will settle soon but it is yet to be seen what the response will be in the next few weeks.


There seems to be an ongoing discussion here about whether or not NI is a post-conflict region. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 marked an end to hostilities but not to hostility. There is a distinct intensity of division here which refuses to fade. I heard a joke on the radio the other day that the one thing Unionists and Nationalists can agree on is coming together in the common cause of hating gay people and immigrants. Haha? The violence is one aspect of what is happening here but it part of a larger conversation about what a post-conflict society would actually look like in Belfast. In this vein, here are two articles I found particularly interesting: Poverty is the backdrop to the riots in Northern Ireland and Belfast peace will come when a shared future is forgedhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/14/belfast-peace-shared-future.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, my work focuses on the ongoing process of creating a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. How does one deal with the past and form a shared future through human rights law? I have no doubt that Belfast will be just fine- but it has the potential and the opportunity to be more than fine. I believe a Bill of Rights is part of the process of healing- it can be part of the post-conflict peace that everyone deserves.

Here are some more articles of interest:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/in-pictures-shots-fired-at-police-in-third-night-of-violence-in-belfast-14875566.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0714/breaking3.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10624559

I tried to add some pictures into this post but for some reason it isn't working- pictures can be found here.