Ulster is Burning as “Loyalists” Riot

Parades have to be the most boring and simply dumbest form of public entertainment. A bunch of people standing on the sidewalk cheering as another bunch walks by, even if called a “Roman Triumph,” is not quite as exciting as slug racing. But in Northern Ireland, the locals have added violence to parading; while it may make the event more exciting, it merely reminds the rest of the world that this place is a mess.

The latest nonsense started on Saturday when the Orange Order’s Whiterock Parade was denied permission to march through a secessionist section of Springfield Road by the Parades Commission (a body set up to decide where “Protestants” can march to flout their traditional social and economic ascendancy over their “Catholic” neighbors – note neither side acts like Christians, so these labels are something of a joke anyhow). For three nights, Molotov Cocktails and other traditional weapons were used against the police, property and any other convenient target. Thus far, 50 cops have been hurt, and more than 60 people arrested.

The “Loyalists” (who have engaged Her Majesty’s security forces with weapons, raising doubts as to their loyalty) believe that the London government sold them out to the IRA in the peace talks. The jobs aren’t there, the people feel abandoned, and the result is anarchy. Add in some floodwaters, and Belfast would look like New Orleans without the jazz.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has reviewed video tape to see if the Ulster Defense Association (a “Protestant” crime family) or the Ulster Volunteer Force (another “Protestant” crime family) orchestrated the violence. The magnitude of the attacks was such that it had to be so. Mr. Hain said the local mafias were responsible, "The evidence I have seen is absolutely clear-cut. If it wasn't clear-cut before, it's absolutely categorical now. As a result, I'm now going through, and indeed have been over the past week, a process in which I will be making an announcement in the next few days.” One waits with bated breath [not “baited” – check Merchant of Venice and Tom Sawyer for the spelling].

Of course, that all of this was going to happen was perfectly evident when the last election results came out. The parties on the extremes did better than the sensible folk in the middle. And that isn’t the fault of the politicians – it’s the fault of the voters in Ulster. Best advice for a young person in that part of the world -- "Emigrate."


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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