THERE is no such thing as coincidence here.
Who told Jamie Bryson that there were irregular Parades Commission procedures in the Drumcree determination, irregularities that made him successfully challenge the determination in court? No other determination was challenged. But with an exceptional stroke of luck for the Orange Order the internal communication process wasn’t 100 per cent regarding the decision, and therefore challengeable. My Spidey senses tell me that was not a coincidence.
Who in the PSNI thought it was reasonable to tell the Parades Commission that holding a parade on the Garvaghy Road posed no risk of violence? That person ignored the violence that surrounds the parade, the murder, trauma and the continuous attempts by the Orange Order to justify and make legal their own brand of coercive control – sectarian coat-trailing. They also ignored the completely predictable response of Irish citizens. Is that person going to be made accountable for what has followed?
The combination of a Parades Commission taking their salaried, appointed positions for granted and devaluing the precious charge of responsibility they hold and a PSNI that has no idea what it is for has created the moment we are now in. And it is consequential.
Every shade of green came to the Garvaghy Road in the early hours of Sunday morning when the courts directed that an Orange march could be forced down the Garvaghy Road against the will of the people. There was a unity of purpose from thousands of old friends and new, those who might have never thought they would agree again with the person next to them, and with whom they now linked arms.
There was clear expectation that the PSNI would use force. And there was clear determination that peaceful protest in defence of the people of Garvaghy Road was now the only option, and the dark forces would not pass.
There were no criminals, there was no mob, but it was the scariest thing for any defender of the times past to see – an Irish people united, determined and purposeful. This community has suffered from collusion in the past. The names of 21 people murdered by loyalism acting in concert with the British state were on the minds of everyone who stood frozen, tired, soaking wet and utterly determined that there would be no return to those days. There has been justice for none of those citizens yet, as Britain’s Legacy Act prevails and twists the law to suit its shield of sovereignty.
But even when working as it should, law is always limited, particularly when the rights of working-class, traumatised citizens seek protection. Which is why vigilance and activism can never, ever end. It is the heavy price we are forced to pay for our children’s future. But also our duty, as it will, in the not-too-distant future, become theirs.
In the dark and cold hours of Sunday morning the past had threatened to become our present, but with the late afternoon sun came the realisation that the Garvaghy Road had been held, and our collective future was protected.
Sectarian hatred has been exposed as a fresh and active threat. The attempts to recriminalise our community for defending itself will become more destabilising every day.
We are in a new era. But we have shown that, with unity of purpose, we shall overcome.
