Thursday, October 30, 2008

Not Everyone Loves A Parade

The unionists would like to welcome home the brave soldiers who served their nation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The nationalists would like to point out that British soldiers aren't serving the Irish nation, so why stage a big parade to welcome them back to the occupied six counties?

In a colony where every word is heavily weighted and every action is highly suggestive, the Parades Commission has a problem. Permission has been given for the British Army to march in Belfast, where the DUP wants a big television production with fly-overs and all the rest of the bells and whistles.

Sinn Fein has been given permission to have their own parade, to remind everyone that all the British Army means to some people in Belfast is collusion with paramilitaries, the Bloody Sunday massacre, and various other repressive actions. Welcome home? They're not welcome in Belfast at all.

Then there are the illegal parades, the gatherings of the socialists and the paramilitary groups who don't support the peace process. There's been rumblings that they plan to protest, and those sorts of parades aren't peaceful and usually result in mayhem.

The Parades Commission is considering its options. To deny Sinn Fein their right to march would only make matters worse, what with the DUP not adhering to the St. Andrews Agreement timeline on devolution of policing powers. To allow Sinn Fein to march will draw in the malcontents, and that isn't a pretty picture.

Or no one can be allowed to march, thereby making everyone equally unhappy. Sounds fair.

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