Very good. There are so few people left in Irish life willing to say this. I am outraged that Simon Harris & Co. are going full steam ahead to incorporate these bigots into our country. Every step towards unification, I feel more and more alienated.
I can imagine you do feel alienated, because no one under 50 in Ireland views someone from Derry as a foreigner. Thank God views like yours are dying out.
The absolute bile coming out of you. You do realise that most Protestants don't even support the Garvahy march. They know that it's a particular trip-wire due to the situation in Portadown. The marches in Derry have had zero opposition for a long time. The marches on the city side are taking place in a 95% Nationalist context. In the countryside loads of marches go through Nationalist villages, and in Belfast there are marches in mostly nationalist middle-class areas in South Belfast. In Portadown there are 50-60 marches a year. There is a particular problem with the Garvahy march because it is intended to be an insult.
There's not that much segregation amongst younger people. What % of people have dated a boy/girl from the other side, or had some form of relations with them, I'd say 90%. I don't know anyone that hasn't. If you are in your 30's, you should be young enough to not fall into the trap of thinking either side is all bad, or all good. It's just an absurd take based on low resolution understanding.
Okay fair enough. What is your particular problem with Northern Nationalists? It seems niche. To find Simon Harris too Republican, I think is an extreme opinion, to me it seems that he would fairly representative of the opinions of people who didn't grow up with the Troubles on the news. Even if the North seems remote in certain ways, animosity wouldn't be the normal attitude.
The Northern Irish republican protesters on the Garvahy Road have shoehorned their Palestine fetish into their protest. How tediously predictable.I’d have concerns that the reemergence of this dispute could be a spark for wider unrest.
It only takes a minority of hardliners on both sides in Northern Ireland to tip the place into chaos. That has always been the case. Doubt it could ever be as bad as the Troubles, but that doesn’t rule out a flare up of violence.
At the end of the day 35 elderly Orange Men with no flute bands or Lambeg drums want to walk the Garvaghy Road. About 1000 locals, it would seem consisting of a lot of hardline republicans don’t want them there. My own view is that the Orange Men shouldn’t risk igniting any unrest by going down that road. It’s simply not worth it.
That said, it’s hard listening to Sinn Fein going on about not going back to the past when every other week their holding public gatherings and parades of their own around Northern Ireland glorifying a terrorist campaign that the vast majority of people on this island opposed.
If the Nationalists had any sense they would deck the town with Tricolours, play loud Irish music and songs. and make a carnival atmosphere out of the whole thing. In other words, let the Orangemen know no one gives a hoot about them. Reacting angrily is playing right into their hands.
Most political energy in Northern Ireland is spent on doing the other side down. Obstruction and begrudgery are top skills. They spend little time on tomorrow's work or moving forward.
When this boiled up yesterday I listened to Paul Brady’s song a few times.
The Island
by Paul Brady
They say the skies of Lebanon are burning
Those mighty cedars bleeding in the heat
They’re showing pictures on the television
Women and children dying in the street
And we’re still at it in our own place
Still trying to reach the future through the past
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone…
Chorus
But Hey! Don’t listen to me!
This wasn’t meant to be no sad song
We’ve heard too much of that before
Right now I only want to be here with you
Till the morning dew comes falling
I want to take you to the island
And trace your footprints in the sand
And in the evening when the sun goes down
We’ll make love to the sound of the ocean
They’re raising banners over by the markets
Whitewashing slogans on the shipyard walls
Witchdoctors praying for a mighty showdown
No way our holy flag is gonna fall
Up here we sacrifice our children
To feed the worn-out dreams of yesterday
And teach them dying will lead us into glory…
Repeat Chorus
Now I know us plain folks don’t see all the story
And I know this peace and love’s just copping out
And I know these young boys dying in the ditches
Is just what being free is all about
And how this twisted wreckage down on main street
Will bring us all together in the end
And we’ll go marching down the road to freedom…
Freedom
Copyright BMG Rights Management UK Ltd., a BMG Company.
That's a rather convenient way of saying we won't do what the laws are when it suits us. It absolutely undermines any legitimate political processes and rule of law. Again marches and flags have become the center of the discussion rather than how move the Norths economy and young people forward. Ironically it's young men from working class loyalist communities that have been most impacted by the the deindustrialization of Northern Ireland. It's such a waste , people who grand fathers that built ocean liners are now building bonfire's.
All they needed to do was let the Orange Men march, and "spontaneously" have a Garvahy Road "Village People Fan Convention"on the same day.I am sure that having a few thousand people in full costume dancing to YMCA would have a far greater effect!
During the 1990s I bought the Belfast Newsletter to keep abreast of Unionist thinking. I was amazed how much just wasn’t covered in the Dublin-based media. For instance, from memory, the Mayor of Portadown responsible for planning and getting built the housing along most of the Garvaghy Road was an Orange man. The road was originally almost 50:50 Catholic : Protestant. Today it’s safe to assume there are few Protestants there. When Charlie Bird was almost daily hyperventilating on the RTE News at One during the clashes between the police and the ‘residents’ thirty years (?) ago no mention was made of the enclave at the end of the road made up of elderly Protestants whose houses had bottles and stones thrown at them every night. They were too afraid to walk in the local park.
The entire Garvaghy Road dispute is the sort of thing the African American economist Thomas Sowell refers to as ‘cracker culture’ in his book ‘Black Rednecks & White Liberals ’. According to Sowell cracker culture existed in the north of England and most of Ireland. It was carried to the US where it survived mostly in Black urban ghetto grievance culture. In the south of Ireland cracker culture seems to have a last toehold in the Traveller Community feuds. In Northern Ireland it still thrives, especially since it suits some political parties.
I thought the crackers were the rural poor whites from the southern states ?. I seem to remember reading that they were being called crackers since before the civil war ?.
Paul Murphy, who was on the Garvaghy Road yesterday and who thinks men can become pregnant, and SF are more anti-Catholic than the Orange Order ever were. You could only be offended by the Orange Order, which for historic reasons is a sectarian and anti-Catholic organisation, marching along the Garvaghy Road if you identify as a Catholic. SF has regularly been identified as the most secular party in Ireland, both North and South. People who identify as Secularists, such as SF, could not take offence from the Orange Order as they identify as Secularists rather than Nationalist Catholics.
You would have to identify as a Catholic to take offence by the orange order. The vast majority of the people gathered on the Garvaghy Road yesterday identify as Aggresive Securalists (a new group that has emerged to dominate Irish society, both North and South, over the past 50 years)
Thanks for the above to a sligo freelance reporter.
The OO's intention is to disrespect Nationalists. Loyalists have over 2,000 parades a year. They have 60 a year in Portadown. The only reason they want to walk down the Garvahy road is to gain a victory over the other side. The OO marches in many Nationalist areas, I don't see why Nationalists should allow them to continue to do so.
Simply because it's the law. The orange order were denied their civil rights in not being permitted to March.,they obayed the law. I think the whole thing is a farce but then many traditions are. Northern political leaders seem to be more interested in getting one over on the other side than building a future for their children. It only confirms the fear that unionists about how they would be treated in a unified Ireland. As usual Sinn Feinn never misses an opportunity to score an own goal.
Political legitimacy precedes the law. In NI, there is contingent political legitimacy. The law therefore has to act in a way which maintains political legitimacy or consent for it will fall apart.
Just to be clear I'm arguing that the authority of the British State is tenuous and based essentially on the consent of both communities for its application. So any law which is enforcable because it is sufficiently repellant to the community, is not a law at all. If SF were to force that march through the Garvahy road, consent for British rule in large swathes of the North would collapse.
For example, in a theortetical United Ireland, we would have to rule with consent of Unionists for the political structures in mind, but if we attained a similiar level of consent to what the British state has today in NI, then we would still have to bear in mind that this consent was not positively sought out but only accepted on certain conditions. Using this power to force a Republican march through the Shankill road would be unwise, and I would oppose it. And I wouldn't take seriously the argument that because the correct legal routes had been followed that we must enforce the marches completion irrespective of political ramifications. It's just acceptance of reality, I don't think people should allow distaste for Sinn Fein or for the SDLP, or even the Nationalist community in general to blind them to political facts.
Very good. There are so few people left in Irish life willing to say this. I am outraged that Simon Harris & Co. are going full steam ahead to incorporate these bigots into our country. Every step towards unification, I feel more and more alienated.
Be reasonable Andrew. At least the loyalist are better than the Muslims that the Irish government is incorporating with such glee and gusto.
I can imagine you do feel alienated, because no one under 50 in Ireland views someone from Derry as a foreigner. Thank God views like yours are dying out.
I’m in my 30s. Sorry to confound your little caricature.
Most Irish have no idea how loathsome a Londonderry nationalist is. That is how foreign they are.
The absolute bile coming out of you. You do realise that most Protestants don't even support the Garvahy march. They know that it's a particular trip-wire due to the situation in Portadown. The marches in Derry have had zero opposition for a long time. The marches on the city side are taking place in a 95% Nationalist context. In the countryside loads of marches go through Nationalist villages, and in Belfast there are marches in mostly nationalist middle-class areas in South Belfast. In Portadown there are 50-60 marches a year. There is a particular problem with the Garvahy march because it is intended to be an insult.
There's not that much segregation amongst younger people. What % of people have dated a boy/girl from the other side, or had some form of relations with them, I'd say 90%. I don't know anyone that hasn't. If you are in your 30's, you should be young enough to not fall into the trap of thinking either side is all bad, or all good. It's just an absurd take based on low resolution understanding.
Okay fair enough. What is your particular problem with Northern Nationalists? It seems niche. To find Simon Harris too Republican, I think is an extreme opinion, to me it seems that he would fairly representative of the opinions of people who didn't grow up with the Troubles on the news. Even if the North seems remote in certain ways, animosity wouldn't be the normal attitude.
The Northern Irish republican protesters on the Garvahy Road have shoehorned their Palestine fetish into their protest. How tediously predictable.I’d have concerns that the reemergence of this dispute could be a spark for wider unrest.
It only takes a minority of hardliners on both sides in Northern Ireland to tip the place into chaos. That has always been the case. Doubt it could ever be as bad as the Troubles, but that doesn’t rule out a flare up of violence.
At the end of the day 35 elderly Orange Men with no flute bands or Lambeg drums want to walk the Garvaghy Road. About 1000 locals, it would seem consisting of a lot of hardline republicans don’t want them there. My own view is that the Orange Men shouldn’t risk igniting any unrest by going down that road. It’s simply not worth it.
That said, it’s hard listening to Sinn Fein going on about not going back to the past when every other week their holding public gatherings and parades of their own around Northern Ireland glorifying a terrorist campaign that the vast majority of people on this island opposed.
If the Nationalists had any sense they would deck the town with Tricolours, play loud Irish music and songs. and make a carnival atmosphere out of the whole thing. In other words, let the Orangemen know no one gives a hoot about them. Reacting angrily is playing right into their hands.
A First Minister for all, yeah right.
It doesn't matter what the biggest losers on the planet West Brits who adore people who hate them think.
Maybe the point is to divide the community so that they don't unite around the issue of welfare immigration.
Most political energy in Northern Ireland is spent on doing the other side down. Obstruction and begrudgery are top skills. They spend little time on tomorrow's work or moving forward.
When this boiled up yesterday I listened to Paul Brady’s song a few times.
The Island
by Paul Brady
They say the skies of Lebanon are burning
Those mighty cedars bleeding in the heat
They’re showing pictures on the television
Women and children dying in the street
And we’re still at it in our own place
Still trying to reach the future through the past
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone…
Chorus
But Hey! Don’t listen to me!
This wasn’t meant to be no sad song
We’ve heard too much of that before
Right now I only want to be here with you
Till the morning dew comes falling
I want to take you to the island
And trace your footprints in the sand
And in the evening when the sun goes down
We’ll make love to the sound of the ocean
They’re raising banners over by the markets
Whitewashing slogans on the shipyard walls
Witchdoctors praying for a mighty showdown
No way our holy flag is gonna fall
Up here we sacrifice our children
To feed the worn-out dreams of yesterday
And teach them dying will lead us into glory…
Repeat Chorus
Now I know us plain folks don’t see all the story
And I know this peace and love’s just copping out
And I know these young boys dying in the ditches
Is just what being free is all about
And how this twisted wreckage down on main street
Will bring us all together in the end
And we’ll go marching down the road to freedom…
Freedom
Copyright BMG Rights Management UK Ltd., a BMG Company.
Appears on:
Back To The Centre
Nobody Knows
© Copyright 2025 PaulBrady.com. All Rights Reserved.
Cracking tune. Haven't heard it in years!
That's a rather convenient way of saying we won't do what the laws are when it suits us. It absolutely undermines any legitimate political processes and rule of law. Again marches and flags have become the center of the discussion rather than how move the Norths economy and young people forward. Ironically it's young men from working class loyalist communities that have been most impacted by the the deindustrialization of Northern Ireland. It's such a waste , people who grand fathers that built ocean liners are now building bonfire's.
All they needed to do was let the Orange Men march, and "spontaneously" have a Garvahy Road "Village People Fan Convention"on the same day.I am sure that having a few thousand people in full costume dancing to YMCA would have a far greater effect!
Good article John. I am a nationalist and I agree fully with your sentiments.
Really interesting read thankyou for sharing
During the 1990s I bought the Belfast Newsletter to keep abreast of Unionist thinking. I was amazed how much just wasn’t covered in the Dublin-based media. For instance, from memory, the Mayor of Portadown responsible for planning and getting built the housing along most of the Garvaghy Road was an Orange man. The road was originally almost 50:50 Catholic : Protestant. Today it’s safe to assume there are few Protestants there. When Charlie Bird was almost daily hyperventilating on the RTE News at One during the clashes between the police and the ‘residents’ thirty years (?) ago no mention was made of the enclave at the end of the road made up of elderly Protestants whose houses had bottles and stones thrown at them every night. They were too afraid to walk in the local park.
The entire Garvaghy Road dispute is the sort of thing the African American economist Thomas Sowell refers to as ‘cracker culture’ in his book ‘Black Rednecks & White Liberals ’. According to Sowell cracker culture existed in the north of England and most of Ireland. It was carried to the US where it survived mostly in Black urban ghetto grievance culture. In the south of Ireland cracker culture seems to have a last toehold in the Traveller Community feuds. In Northern Ireland it still thrives, especially since it suits some political parties.
I thought the crackers were the rural poor whites from the southern states ?. I seem to remember reading that they were being called crackers since before the civil war ?.
SINN FANE FARCE & globalist meddling.
Paul Murphy, who was on the Garvaghy Road yesterday and who thinks men can become pregnant, and SF are more anti-Catholic than the Orange Order ever were. You could only be offended by the Orange Order, which for historic reasons is a sectarian and anti-Catholic organisation, marching along the Garvaghy Road if you identify as a Catholic. SF has regularly been identified as the most secular party in Ireland, both North and South. People who identify as Secularists, such as SF, could not take offence from the Orange Order as they identify as Secularists rather than Nationalist Catholics.
You would have to identify as a Catholic to take offence by the orange order. The vast majority of the people gathered on the Garvaghy Road yesterday identify as Aggresive Securalists (a new group that has emerged to dominate Irish society, both North and South, over the past 50 years)
Thanks for the above to a sligo freelance reporter.
The OO's intention is to disrespect Nationalists. Loyalists have over 2,000 parades a year. They have 60 a year in Portadown. The only reason they want to walk down the Garvahy road is to gain a victory over the other side. The OO marches in many Nationalist areas, I don't see why Nationalists should allow them to continue to do so.
Simply because it's the law. The orange order were denied their civil rights in not being permitted to March.,they obayed the law. I think the whole thing is a farce but then many traditions are. Northern political leaders seem to be more interested in getting one over on the other side than building a future for their children. It only confirms the fear that unionists about how they would be treated in a unified Ireland. As usual Sinn Feinn never misses an opportunity to score an own goal.
Political legitimacy precedes the law. In NI, there is contingent political legitimacy. The law therefore has to act in a way which maintains political legitimacy or consent for it will fall apart.
Just to be clear I'm arguing that the authority of the British State is tenuous and based essentially on the consent of both communities for its application. So any law which is enforcable because it is sufficiently repellant to the community, is not a law at all. If SF were to force that march through the Garvahy road, consent for British rule in large swathes of the North would collapse.
For example, in a theortetical United Ireland, we would have to rule with consent of Unionists for the political structures in mind, but if we attained a similiar level of consent to what the British state has today in NI, then we would still have to bear in mind that this consent was not positively sought out but only accepted on certain conditions. Using this power to force a Republican march through the Shankill road would be unwise, and I would oppose it. And I wouldn't take seriously the argument that because the correct legal routes had been followed that we must enforce the marches completion irrespective of political ramifications. It's just acceptance of reality, I don't think people should allow distaste for Sinn Fein or for the SDLP, or even the Nationalist community in general to blind them to political facts.