Flags & Culture.....

[The Iceman]

Was home there for a wee while and I think this is the last time I'll be home around the month of July. We shipped out on the morning of the 11th.
We were in a wee spot just in behind the British Legion there over the weekend and could easily here the sectarian songs being chanted by the gentlemen of the highest.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Looks like this jersey to me. Lovely wee messages scrawled on it too.

Yep, undoubtedly the Bhoys' away shirt; there is none so blind as those who can nought see (but shield)! 

[Hereiam]

very good of them to put sand under the fires. They was of read there copy of belfast councils guide on how to build a cultural bonfire...wankers

[Nally Stand]

I think that's the Celtic away top. I always find this very sad. What percentage of the Unionist community are involved in this would you say? 5%? Less? More ?

Nope, when you zoom in you can tell it's a Brazil top as the crest is a shield rather than a circle like the Celtic top.

What are you smoking?

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Got lost out there two weeks ago trying to find a shortcut to Greenacres driving range nr Ballyclare - might just avoid that part of the world for a day or two.

Is Greenacres driving range better than Ballyearl? Greenacres was on my cycle route too.

Burnfield isn't a bad wee 9 hole course just down from Ballyearl.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Went out for a drive round Belfast on the evening of the 11th, the number of tricolours on bonfires was ridiculous, must confuse the feck out of tourists!
Culture - my arse. There's more culture at a Klan rally!

[EagleLord]

Went out for a drive round Belfast on the evening of the 11th, the number of tricolours on bonfires was ridiculous, must confuse the feck out of tourists!
Culture - my arse. There's more culture at a Klan rally!

Idiots the lot of them.

[Applesisapples]

One thing about Loyalists they sure can invent flags, they have more flags and versions of flags than the rest of the world put together. it seems at times that every lampost has it's own unique version...But still none as good as the Fenian Jack

[Groucho]

Went out for a drive round Belfast on the evening of the 11th, the number of tricolours on bonfires was ridiculous, must confuse the feck out of tourists!
Culture - my arse. There's more culture at a Klan rally!

More culture in a yogurt

[ardal]

Sorry, but no matter how much I walk around it, poke it and squint at it, I can't make any sense of a suggested connection between Northern loyalism or protestantism or unionism or Rangerism on the one hand and Israel or Zionism or Judaism on the other. Can anyone help?

Is it just that the flag is in the Rangers colours, much as you see Japanese and American Confederate flags on the terraces when Cork are playing?

The truth is that they attach theselves to the exact opposite of what nationalists do. So when people,for example on the Falls rd, started flying the Palestinian flag for some reason, those on the shankill flew the opposite.


The solution is really rather simple. All nationalists and republicans should fly union jacks and anti papal flags,

the others will react by flying the exact opposite

[front of the mountain]

when do they start to come down usually??

[ziggysego]

Down in Omagh, except for a few on the Hospital Road.

[Aerlik]

A fella I know that does the marching thing told me once that a crowd of outsiders came into the village he lives in and started putting up all flags you see this time of year, national and paramilitary ones.  the locals were pissed and asked what they were at and told them to clear to hell.  Also when one was put outside a Catholic church in Kilrea the local lodge had it taken down so it wouldn't cause offence.   They must not all be bad

Are ya fcukin serious?  Times have surely changed in my wee town!!!  I remember Mass on a Saturday night being accompanied by multiple renditions of "the sash" just outside the door!!!

Still, the two classics around Kilrea are:  the flying of the Croatian flag - arguably one of the most devout Catholic countries in the world, never mind Europe and the all time classic, the six-fingered Red Hand painted for years outside the primary school on the lisnagrot road.

[thejuice]

A senior member of the Orange Order has appealed to the Government for permission to parade in Dublin.

Grand secretary Drew Nelson, who made history today when he became the first member of the organisation to address the Oireachtas, said Ireland would be a poorer place if the order's cultural heritage disappeared.

He also suggested the State had failed to look after Protestant communities in the border counties compared to the way the British government looked after Catholics in Northern Ireland.

Mr Nelson told the Seanad that one of the order's main goals was to improve north-south relations by holding parades in the Republic.

"There was one planned in Dublin a few years ago but it was unable to proceed," Mr Nelson said. "Our members in the Republic would welcome the opportunity to hold a parade in their capital city."

About 20 Orange Order parades take place in the Republic every year but none in a major city.

The only attempt to hold a major demonstration in Dublin - the Love Ulster march in 2006 - was abandoned after hundreds of protesters opposed to the Orange march rioted on the streets of Dublin.

Mr Nelson said the order completely understands the challenges such a parade would pose. "This institution and the bands which we support are the guardians of part of the intangible cultural heritage of not only Northern Ireland but also the Republic of Ireland," he said. "I believe that Ireland would be a poorer place if that cultural heritage disappeared."

On the issue of falling Protestant populations in Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan Mr Nelson said the dwindled numbers compared to growing Catholic communities north of the Border. "This of course begs the question as to which state looked after its minority better," said Mr Nelson. "Many of our members from the minority Protestant community in the border counties of this state have spoken to me over the years of the communal uncertainty of their survival as a viable self-sustaining community."

He said many of them have spoken of their "fear of incurring the displeasure" of the State in any way.

The grand secretary, a key player for years in the Orange Order hierarchy, said it was important the Government is aware of the issue.

Mr Nelson also condemned recent sectarian attacks on Orange Order halls, which he described as the "demonisation" of the organisation by some members of the republican movement. He said continued resistance to the order's parades, including its annual Twelfth of July demonstrations across Northern Ireland, has a corrosive effect on Catholic-Protestant relations.

Mr Nelson called for accommodation and tolerance rather than segregation.

In his address to the Seanad, the grand secretary also thanked Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who invited him to the Oireachtas to make his address. He likened the gesture to that of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Ireland last year.

"Together let us resolve that no longer will the burden of history stand in the way of normalisation of relationships," Mr Nelson added.

I'm not sure how dwindling populations of Protestants in rural counties is a sign that they are not being looked after any less than anyone else. Are we supposed to help them conceive or give them jobs?

[thejuice]

that said I do think its a good move for him to be addressing the Oireachtas and the more dialogue the better.

I often mean to head down to the BOTB centre on the 12th but I won't be about this year.