Why we need to do something about the Orange Order

12 year old Kellsie Lynch, bottled in the face at Saturday's Orange Order march (photo Wullie Marr/Deadline News)

12 year old Kellsie Lynch, hit by a bottle in the face at Saturday’s Orange Order march, (photo Wullie Marr/Deadline News)

What were you doing on Saturday afternoon? I was in Rothesay, milling around the town centre. And why not? It’s not like there was a reason not to be. The sun was shining, the sea at its glistening azure best and a warmth in the air that didn’t threaten to dissipate at the first sign of clouds. I was there for the weekend. Which was fortunate as it turns out, for back home in Glasgow the Orange Order were holding 12th of July marches, lurching through Glasgow Green and other parts of the city’s centre.

It made headlines this year, again, for its associations with what we now call ‘anti-social behaviour’ but might better be called “anti-society behaviour.” Anyone familiar with the West of the Central Belt, and regrettably some other areas too, will be familiar with the Orange Order’s presence. It might start with one of their bands tuning up; the martial obviousness of their flute sections being undercut by the ominous thud of a marching drum. Later, a walk to the shops might be made more difficult by the throng of people, enough already visibly drunk at 11am to put you off sticking around too long. And, in the mid-afternoon, once the crowd is appropriately liquored-up you can take in the spectacle of Catholic churches being circled, the music and slogans now overtly sectarian and violent. It’s enough to make anyone thankful for being out of the city on the weekend it takes place.

Not everyone though, it turns out. This time a 12 year old girl was struck by a glass bottle (take a second, and think how it comes to be that someone at an organised event, with stewards and policing, could throw a glass bottle in the presence of a child). Eddie Hyde, the Order’s general secretary, managed to plumb new depths of insincerity and callousness. In one dazzling sentence he seemed to take the police to task for putting too many officers at the scene, before ending up in the same place we visit every year: “We have over 3000 stewards trained at this moment in time which allows the police perhaps to reduce their numbers and concentrate on any disorder that may arise from the followers of our parade.”

How civic of him. “Don’t worry about policing most of us, just the inevitable few…” Nobody asks why an event with 4,500 marchers and 4,000 spectators needs 3,000 stewards. A ratio of 2.8 participants to a steward? For context the ratio of primary school children: teachers is 16.5 to 1. The real sadness here should come from the fact that this will be forgotten by tomorrow. We’re used to seeing this on our streets, in our lives, every summer. It’s become one-of-those-things. Nobody’s in a rush to change it.

But they should be. It’s one thing for the Order to suggest they’re principally interested in commemorating history (I’ll leave it to historians to tell us whether or not this is the best means of commemoration they can imagine) but when they suggest they’re the voice of Protestantism in Scotland they should come in for more flak than they do. Which is to say, none. The body which should have most to criticise, the Church of Scotland, says nothing about this. And I don’t mean “not much,” I mean that when you search “Orange Order” or “Orange Lodge” on their website it tells you there are no results. No statements, no calls for change, no sermons excoriating violence and public drunkenness, or the feckless usury they lord over our shared culture and history.

The Order is no more the voice of Protestantism than the Provisional IRA is the voice of Catholicism, or ISIS of Sunni Islam. But its co-opting of something widely seen as such a significant part of Scottish history and culture, and the tacit admission of that through the Church’s silence, should chill us to the bone. Such is the passivity of our culture in Scotland that we’re willing to allow people with no substantive contribution other than aggression and fear to take centre stage in our biggest city, once a year, for a weekend which virtually always attracts trouble. And not just trouble, not just a few bad apples, but people who the Order themselves factor into their plans, along with a staffing complement that should raise eyebrows anywhere it’s seen.

When the Order tell us they’re celebrating culture and history they’re banking that our pervasive social apathy is going to outweigh any impulse to put out to pasture an anachronistic, bigoted fraternity whose vacuous celebration of the past is as hollow as their complete disregard for the country we live in today. Do we see education events from the Order? Or museums? Community engagement of any description other than drinking and brawling?

Since the weekend the Church of Scotland has taken another stride into irrelevance: it’s now almost at the horizon but that shouldn’t mean we give up on it. It still plays a role in society, even if only through the shame of its silence. Independence; its promise and its fulfilment, will hopefully be the social catalyst we need to engage people to take seriously what is one of the most pernicious facets of our history.

 

Comments (80)

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  1. bringiton says:

    These people do what they do.
    It is the politicians who allow them to parade that should be held accountable but I suppose,being Glasgow that isn’t possible.

  2. Jesse-Blue Forrest says:

    Organize religion is sick and bring nothing but war and violence…. It is time to walk away!

    1. Andrew Nelson says:

      And the British government, nonreligious institution, doesn’t bring war and violence? And the American and French governments? This is not about religion it is about a society which will not accommodate different views, beliefs and ways of life.

  3. Dean Richardson says:

    I bet the Order doesn’t pay for the policing. it’s about time it did.

    1. Aileen says:

      yes they do pay for policing

  4. yesvote2014 says:

    Thank you for saying that so well. The original Project Fear that nobody seems willing even to talk about. Your excellent article will help change things.

  5. innerbearsdenurchin says:

    I think that proscription post a Yes might have to be the way to go.

    Alternatively, let them march as much as they want inside a closed football stadium and they will have to pay for any Policing, just as football clubs do.

    Arrival and departure from said said stadia should be be by bus and no public display of uniform, regalia within the bus, unless it has blackened windows or even metalised sides.

  6. It’s funny that the Orange order is so keen on the union, yet is one of those features of life in Scotland and N Ireland that English people find so alienating.

    1. Ian Paisley says:

      The Orange Order was born in England and the most senior of Orange Lodges are English!!!
      Too MANY people associate the Orange Order with Northern Ireland and the troubles!!!
      Do your research before making inane comments!

      1. Bill says:

        Ian, as an American who has studied the Troubles for some time, would it be a safe place for an American to view and document the event? I would like to share with friends, relatives, and citizens in our country the links to racism/ethnocentrism this event holds.

  7. Crubag says:

    “The Order is no more the voice of Protestantism than the Provisional IRA is the voice of Catholicism, or ISIS of Sunni Islam.”

    At the risk of being pedantic, I’d say the Catholic equivalent of the Orange Order would be more like the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

    I think the AOH is largely defunct in Scotland now, as the sectarian tide has ebbed, but the Orange Order – another Northern Irish import – is a reminder of our own colonial past.

    It’s interesting that Northern Ireland hasn’t featured in the referendum campaign, even twenty years ago it would have been an issue. I guess Better Together see no votes in allying with Unionist parties in Northern Ireland, and while the Irish republican movement is still active in Northern Ireland, it has never made common cause with Scottish republicans.

    1. joseph O Luain says:

      You might just check-out: “Orange Order – another Northern Irish import […]

      1. Ian Gould says:

        startd in ireland by an english lord to divide the working class

    2. goldenayr says:

      You might just check out the pro union comments on any MSM comments boards.

    3. Ian Paisley says:

      It is NOT a Northern Irish import, the Orders birth began in England!!!
      Do a bit of research before talking utter bollocks!!!

    4. Ian Paisley says:

      There’s this amazing tool on the internet called GOOGLE! It’s amazing the information you can find on ALL subjects!!! Some of you should try it, can be a bit of an eye opener!!!!

      1. zorro says:

        The Orange Order was founded in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a Masonic-style fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy

  8. Les Wilson says:

    I cannot stand bigotry of any kind, not anywhere ESPECIALLY in Scotland where we live.

    The Police should be holding them to task for effectively breaking the law, and the Councils who “allow” these events.
    They are of no use to Scotland, it’s people or forward thinking society.
    Also, they Should be held to pay the policing costs entirely.

  9. Excellent article,written with a tinge of sadness that some in our society could and do behave in this manner.Worse I suppose is the recognised church of our country having nothing to say over the matter,days that make me glad I am an atheist,but still fail to understand the behaviour of so called religious people who cry for peace yet yearn for war,makes less sense the older I get.These folk commemorate a battle! from long ago.a time when it was alright to kill for a cause and a monarch they don’t understand that we have moved on,or is that giving them an excuse for their bigotry.One way for the bigotry to be removed is to take away the bias against a Catholic taking up the position of monarch,then maybe it will drip down to them that they should learn that others also have rights.A total secular society is needed,and that goes for the figurehead of the country.

  10. Reblogged this on charlesobrien08 and commented:
    Excellent article,written with a tinge of sadness that some in our society could and do behave in this manner.Worse I suppose is the recognised church of our country having nothing to say over the matter,days that make me glad I am an atheist,but still fail to understand the behaviour of so called religious people who cry for peace yet yearn for war,makes less sense the older I get.These folk commemorate a battle! from long ago.a time when it was alright to kill for a cause and a monarch they don’t understand that we have moved on,or is that giving them an excuse for their bigotry.One way for the bigotry to be removed is to take away the bias against a Catholic taking up the position of monarch,then maybe it will drip down to them that they should learn that others also have rights.A total secular society is needed,and that goes for the figurehead of the country.

    1. Roxie says:

      Algirht alright alright that’s exactly what I needed!

    2. Barrie F Herbert. says:

      A very interesting, honest and forthright article, which says what many people think but are afraid to say. I should, however point out that they have absolutely nothing at all to do with the Church of Scotland. Though they may think so, and , sad to say, some might ever claim membership of the Church, the Orange Lodge is most definitely not connected in any way with the Kirk. Their sectarianism, bigotry and hatred is directly opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the basis on which the C of S is founded. The Church’s silence on this matter is simply because they have nothing to do with us ! We deplore hatred and violence in any form and will always continue to do so.

  11. ecapella says:

    What an appalling thing to happen to a young person. That picture speaks volumes. The Orange Order has to be stopped from parading bigotry and violence in the streets of our cities. I understood that, since the days of the British Union of Fascists, marching in a political cause in uniform was banned in the UK. Those councillors who give permission for this type of ritual bullying are equally guilty. What are they going to do about it?

  12. Jake Gittes says:

    Celebrating culture and history? Whose culture, whose history? It certainly is not that of Scotland or of anything definitively Scottish. These individuals are essentially Northern Irish, most being descendants presumably of the Cromwellian plantation who arrived in Scotland 100 to 150 years ago.
    These Orange parades may seek to spread the lie that they are celebrating the religious freedom of their ancestors won against the savage ill-intent of the Catholic Irish. But the truth is they are celebrating a military victory and political domination of the indigenous Catholic Irish back in 1690 and for decades thereafter.
    A power grab only made possible through the military power of the British state who underpinned, willingly this repression of the majority by the Orange minority in the North.

    The linkage to the independence debate is clear. Organism and Unionism are to borrow Mr. Galloway’s analogy, two cheeks of the same backside. Both look to the past for inspiration and succour, both look for enemies within, both are comfortable with violence, whether in Iraq or against a 12 year old girl despite unnaturally heavy stewarding.

    Organism will I hope be destroyed by the independence vote. After all which Union could these morons seek to claim allegiance to? The political Union would be dead. Perhaps they should all move south to the rUK and see how appreciated they will be in Tunbridge Wells.

    1. Crubag says:

      “It certainly is not that of Scotland or of anything definitively Scottish.”

      If we’re claiming the Founding Fathers of America (like James Wilson) then we probably have to claim the founding fathers of Orangism too (like James Wilson, no relation to the first one).

      The colonisation of northern Ireland by Scots comes in 1609, half a century before Cromwell, and under a Scots/English king James 6/1. Allies of James, like James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery, were very active in settling Scots in Ulster, and the links have continued to this day.

      And elswhere – the Scots in Ulster then travelled on to America. Something like 17 American presidents are claimed as Ulster Scots (or Scots-Irish, as American usage has it).

      1. Jake Gittes says:

        And your point is that Orangism is indeed a part of the fabric of a Scottish past. Hmmm beg to differ.

      2. brian mcardle says:

        King Billy,was the self proclaimed prince of orange,this is the guy ,who signed the death warrant ,to massacre the McDonald’s at glen Coe ,using the Campbells,also sent red coats to strip the highland crofts of oats ,to feed his starving horses in london,when william takes the throne ,let him be king anything but william as these knuckle draggers will froth with excitement

    2. Davy says:

      “It certainly is not that of Scotland or of anything definitively Scottish. These individuals are essentially Northern Irish, most being descendants presumably of the Cromwellian plantation who arrived in Scotland 100 to 150 years ago.”

      And where did many of those Cromwellian planters come from , and still show allegiance to……….. Scotland.

      So could it not be said that Scots played a role in introducing “sectarianism” to Ireland ?

      1. Jake Gittes says:

        Their allegiance is to the British state, the entity which enabled their domination back in the day, not Scotland per se.
        Sure you could argue that these people could trace their linage back to Scotland, but what defines them is not this connection. Their world view is and always has been formed by their Northern Irish circumstances. Their Unionism is a thank you note to a British State which as I have said underwrote their “ascendancy”. Scotland is only to them a necessary component part of a Union State made weaker in their mind by a YES vote. You can see that they any affection they may have for Scotland is conditional on us remaining part of that which they truly love, the Union State.

  13. William Davidson says:

    To put things in perspective, the Orange Order is a tiny sub-culture in Scotland and one with no political or patronage influence. It is, in essence, a dying culture, which has lost any raison d’etre it may once have had. In its main centre of strength, Northern Ireland, its membership has fallen to just over 30,000, a small proportion of the Protestant population, bearing in mind that in the 1960s it could muster over 90,000 members. So, for those waiting for it to die a natural death, in Scotland at least, you probably won’t have too long to wait.

  14. YESGUY says:

    Spot on Jake.

    Great piece but can i ask WHERE ARE THE C of S NOW.

    The OO and anything like them should be banned and the sooner the better.
    That wee lassie being hit is typical of the bile these people take with every where they go.

    The church was quick to get a word in about the referendum but they should be shouting out to the heavens for this muck to finish once and for all .Worse still the OO “claim” the are affiliated with the church. ARE THEY?

    scum

    1. Robert says:

      The Church of Scotland has continued to work on the subject of sectarianism both at a National level and in many different ways at a more local context.

      See the 2012 report on Sectarianism (http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/9591/Sectarianism_final.pdf), which follows directly on from a 2002 report which directly addresses the problem of the Orange Order in section 3.6 (http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/7425/SECTARIANISM_2002_GA_Report.pdf).

      The difficulty being, as always, that the Orange Order continue to claim that any anti-social behaviour associated with their rallies is something they don’t condone and therefore aren’t responsible for.

      But don’t say the Church of Scotland isn’t trying to deal with these issues – it may not be as well publicised as some things they do but then the media has never been very interested in reporting on good things that happen in the Kirk anyway.

    2. Illy says:

      “The OO and anything like them should be banned and the sooner the better.”

      No, they shouldn’t. You *_don’t_* want to start going down the road of banning political or social groups you don’t like. It doesn’t and anywhere nice.

      I’m torn between quoting “first they came…” or “I may not like what you say…”

      Though whoever threw that bottle should get prosecuted for assault, obviously.

      And just because I feel it needs mentioning: Head wounds bleed like buggery. Though that gash on the nose *does* look pretty nasty.

  15. Colin MacKenzie says:

    Jim Murphy affects to shun support of the NO Campaign from the Orange Order whereas Michael McMahon, his fellow Laoour MP welcomes the support of the organisation stating that he has “an accommodation” with the anti Catholic group that regularly causes mayhem and drunken disorder in the West of Scotland every July. 3,000 Srewards and yet nobody saw thing !

    Perhaps the MPs should talk?

    1. innerbearsdenurchin says:

      Is Michael McMahon not a member of the OO? He is a rabid Rangers man, I think?

      The GDC reached an agreement with the OO to support Labour in the municipal elections and were give assurances about being able to parade about the place intimidating as they went.

      1. Dean Richardson says:

        It’s unlikely that MacMahon is a Rangers man or an Orangeman, as he is a Catholic.

    2. Jan says:

      good point

      1. innerbearsdenurchin says:

        Jan

        The Janus strategy

        Hugh Janus by the way.

  16. The true fact of history the founding of Protestantism, Was not found or started by some Dutch Dandy prancing around on a white horse.

  17. colin young says:

    They are hate marches dressed up to look like celebrations.

  18. Garrion says:

    Let them march. They are a naked, unfiltered representation of everything a no vote stands for. They are relics of a dark past and broken old ideas,

    It’s no coincidence that, in the engaged and dynamic reality that Scotland is today, they look more unacceptable and anachronistic that they ever have.

  19. barakabe says:

    It was the same in Manchester when Rangers played in the UEFA Cup final a few years ago- the screen went on the blink & the police presence provoked the Rangers fans into rioting. It’s terrible how The People are persecuted with such earnest mercilessness wherever they go- maybe if the police were removed from these events, & their pernicious provocativeness was absent, then there would be no trouble at all- is that how the logic goes? I would think post Independence, with no Union Flag to encircle, the OO would soon wither into even deeper historical obscurantism ( as the flag has such intrinsically overt significance for them)- but others have suggested a minority splinter of the lunatic fringe may go underground or immigrate to Northern Ireland. Who knows? Who cares, really? They are an historical obsolescence in the final death throes of a vanishing Empire doomed to wither in the shadows of the tribe memory…

  20. Will McEwan says:

    Michael McMahon was closely connected to the Green Brigade, a lot of whom have gone off message and are supporting YES. The more the OO says Naw the more the WoS Celtic supporters will say Aye.
    Jim Murphy is only too aware of this

    On a historical note the OO marches in support (apparently) of the Glorious Revolution of 1889/1890 which asserted parliamentary superiority over the monarchy and put “Good King Billy” on the throne. “Good King Billy” (William the Third in England, William the Second in Scotland) was the king that ordered the blockade of the embryo Scottish colony of Darien and destroyed it killing most of the colonists in the process and then signed (twice) the order for the massacre of Glencoe.
    I suppose mayhem in the streets is as good a way of celebrating these things as anything else

  21. Will McEwan says:

    Should of course have read “1689/1690”

  22. Alisdair says:

    What I find passing strange is that everyone seems to have forgotten that the Pope no less actually helped fund William of Orange, try and work that one out!

  23. benmadigan says:

    have tried to re-blog post but keep being told there’s an “issue” that prevents re-blog. Any idea what it is or how to deal with it? Thanks for any help you can extend Best regards Ben

  24. Fay Kennedy. says:

    Thanks all of the contributors for the information. What madness in this day and age when there is so many important things that people should be marching for. I used to be terrified as a young person when the big matches or the Orange Walk was on. Something I’ve never missed about my beloved Glasgow in all the years I’ve been in Oz.

  25. goldenayr says:

    Dean Richardson

    July 8, 2014 • 16:01

    It’s unlikely that MacMahon is a Rangers man or an Orangeman, as he is a Catholic.

    And you don’t know any Celtic fans who are protestant?

    You are the epitome of a divided and ignorant populous who define their world view through the prism of a football team.

    Thankfully your views are becoming the,ever decreasing,minority.

    1. Dean Richardson says:

      Yes, I have heard of protestants being Celtic fans, and I suspect there are also Catholic Rangers fans, but Michael McMahon is unlikely to be one of them. His daughter, Siobhan McMahon MSP, is on record as being a Celtic fan, so I suspect he is one, too. I agree that viewing the world through the prism of which school you went to and choice of football team is a narrow-minded way of thinking, but I was merely making an observation based on probability, not giving approval to such blinkered ‘thinking’. I admit that I don’t have first-hand experience of the Old Firm, being from England, but even we have heard or read some of the tales, and we get to meet people with more direct experience of all that bigotry, and we’ve seen the results of Rangers or Celtic fans’ visits to our cities. (Please don’t let either of these teams join our league, whatever happens.) I’m just thankful that my team has no religious or political baggage. It’s just been poorly run over the last 20-odd years, so it hardly ever wins trophies. Personally, I’d get rid of the Orange Order, the Ancient Oder of Hibernians and the Old Firm right now if I could. Bigotry has no place in civilised societies.

  26. alle55 says:

    First the foreign religion then the foreign troops, as ever it was.

  27. a great article, thanks for writing this

  28. Robert says:

    The Church of Scotland has continued to work on the subject of sectarianism both at a National level and in many different ways at a more local context.

    See the 2012 report on Sectarianism (http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/9591/Sectarianism_final.pdf), which follows directly on from a 2002 report which directly addresses the problem of the Orange Order in section 3.6 (http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/7425/SECTARIANISM_2002_GA_Report.pdf).

    The difficulty being, as always, that the Orange Order continue to claim that any anti-social behaviour associated with their rallies is something they don’t condone and therefore aren’t responsible for.

    But don’t say the Church of Scotland isn’t trying to deal with these issues – it may not be as well publicised as some things they do but then the media has never been very interested in reporting on good things that happen in the Kirk anyway.

    1. Simon says:

      Thanks for this Robert, I wasn’t aware of the 2011 report until your post.

      Unfortunately though I don’t know that it really counts as *doing* anything-of its 29 pages 11 are a reprint of the 2002 Sectarianism report (hardly a tour-de-force of legislative and social efficacy itself), 11 are the main body of the report but it reads essentially as a summary list of projects tackling sectarianism, and 4 pages are the Church’s official response to the Offensive Behaviour at Football (et al) Bill.

      That there is an ‘official response’ implies that, despite the rest of these documents urging a local response it is possible to coalesce on issues, and legislative ones at that. I understand a little about the structures of the Church but this seems like the vintage of passing the hard decisions to presbyteries for meditation and thought-which seems only more likely when we remember that the Church is at ease with calling the Government on its legislative timeframes in a single official response: why not have each congregation agree their own statement? What better opportunity for local debate than a no-holds-barred, free-for-all symposium on legislation?

      Even the legislative response is galling really-it’s one thing to tell the Government that they need to take time to listen to opinion (I personally disagree with the way the legislation was handled and think it showed critical fissures in this field) but the Church hasn’t ever positioned itself as a leader, even one which delegates within its own structures, on this issue. Any other organisation participating in a policy discussion like this could expect to be sidelined quickly and thoroughly: the Church might be in the awkward position of not being materially impacted here, and so having the ‘luxury’ of continuing in what is a vastly reduced role which it can talk about in Life and Work as if it’s in backs-to-the-wall negotiations with furrowed brows and pounded desks.

      I think that anybody with even the vaguest knowledge of how the Church operates would not expect it to take decisive, autocratic leadership. Nor would they want it to. But in this case, as in others, its willingness to delegate issues to a local level and then fail, realistically, to follow them up in any kind of a central way makes the Church unable to offer a meaningful contribution on social issues. Add in the fact that it’s happy to make official statements on issues and that tendency seems duplicitous, not just anaemic.

      I’m still thinking as to whether it’s that the church just isn’t structurally equipped to contribute to social or legislative discourse, or if it just finds it easier to shrink away from the big issues in favour of an empty notion of localism. I don’t know if they’re mutually exclusive, actually.

      Simon.

  29. David Lee says:

    It does seem odd after hounding mosques for years to condemn anything done my Muslim extremists we just blithely ignore the Church of Scotland’s silence on annual hate marches in the name of Protestantism.

  30. Jan says:

    When ever I see a Union Jack I feel uncomfortable, I never gave his much thought until I saw the images of the orange walk this year. It reminded me of the times I had to pass through Bridgeton on my way home from town on the 64 bus with my Mum after a day’s shopping. Twice, before the age of 10, our double decker bus was rocked from side to side by people attending “The Walk” Being wee I always nagged my Mum to sit upstairs on the bus, right at the front, that was the best seat for a wean. Not the best seat during The Walk though. What sticks in my mind is seeing Union Jacks hanging from tenement windows and the folk hanging out their windows waving their flags and laughing with scant regard for the safety of the women and their weans just trying to get home from Argyle Street.

    There was no need then, there is less need now.

  31. MolliBlum says:

    And who are they in bed with?

    “Oranges are not the only fruit and nut cases”
    https://www.facebook.com/grownupwomen/posts/272284666290056

  32. Regardless of historical or theological antecedents, or more accurately pseudo versions of both, the fact is that this is the twenty first century and not the eighteenth. If Orange parades were in any way related to a purely religious procession I may not have any quibble with them. However, despite the protestations of its defenders, they are unequivocally connected with Protestant triumphalism and blatant sectarianism. It is long past time that these shameful parades were banned and in my own view the sooner the better.

  33. lochside says:

    The Orange Order has a flag which represents the oranisation’s true loyalty: an Orange background (the Williamite royal family) and a St. George’s Cross.
    Interestingly, the ‘plantation’ of N. Ireland was mainly lower class Scots from the Borders and S.W. Scotland who were overwhelmingly Presbyterian.

    King Billy and his house established the Episcopalian faith as the main faith with ‘Dissenters’ (Presbyterians) and Catholics being treated by him and his successors as second class citizens. It is well documented that the English Navy sat back and let the Scots in Derry ‘defend its walls’ as long as necessary before finally relieving the siege.And the Darien blockade happened very soon after, again with English obstruction of Scottish interests.

    During the 18th century, because of their treatment Presbyterian Ulster Scots left N.I. in their tens of thousands for America, where they became the backbone of the Revolutionary army against the British Crown. Irony anyone?

    At the end of that century Presbyterians in the North of Ireland finally joined with Catholics to form the United Irishmen against the ruling English State. The Orangemen were noted for their eagerness to support the ruling hegemony, as most were or became Episcopalian. They made up many of the militias that broke the U.I movement. The Orange Card had been played for the first time.

    What is interesting to me is that most Orangemen see no irony in the N.I flag: based on the original Ulster flag of the nine counties, replaced by the St Georges Cross with the Red Hand of ancient Ulster. Who designed it? an English Lord of course. Just to remind both sides of the Irish community that the Catholics had their ancient kingdom usurped and divided and the protestants that they were and remain second class Englishmen.

    So the conclusion is that Orangemen, apart from being constitutionally uneducated, and bigoted (the order prohibits all Catholics), that they are slaves to the English monarchy, church and State and deserve all the contempt that most people in Scotland reserve for these violent, stupid, and unregenerate cavemen.

    1. Dean Richardson says:

      The last time there was an English state was 30/4/1707. Since then it’s been British, and the British state hates us English as much as it hates anybody else.

    2. gonzalo1 says:

      I take it you don’t like the Orangemen then, Lochside. (though there’s little I disagree with in your piece)
      I was particularly interested in the second-class Englishmen phrase, one which I wholeheartedly agree with. Though I would have to point out that most English people view the Orangemen with total bafflement.
      They are certainly conservative and want to conserve the union. Why, I can never find a defining reason from any academic or anyone on the ground.

    3. Mark Gordon loyalists point of view says:

      Surely all of these comments are acts of sectarian abuse. You don’t realise what the orange order now is it’s a sign of being a loyal Protestant and not an act of sectarianism. I don’t know a single orange man who goes out of his way to harm anyone.

  34. Lochside says:

    ‘The last time there was an English State was 30/4/1707’

    Well not according to the current UK…Scotland was absorbed into a greater England and apparently and ceased to exist.

    The Anglo/British State may well hate large sections of the English population….particularly the Northern working class for instance, but Ulster was and is a prime example of engineered divide and rule by the Anglo and later British ruling class of the Celts.

    England has its own internal problems, based on class, money and region. They have yet to be resolved. Hopefully, in Scotland we are trying to address this once and for all. Our example should assist those suffering at the hands of the ‘British’.

  35. Peter. says:

    Try crossing the road in the city centre (no pun intended) when you rain to catch. They will not let you cross, even when there are reasonable gaps in the road between the marchers. You will be threatened with violence and physically pushed back to the other side of the road. The police will stand and watch, and if your need to catch the train outweighs the intimidation and you make on to the other side the police will try apprehend you unlawfully for trying to cross the road, when there are reasonable opportunities to do so. I caught my train and got about my lawful business no thanks to Police Scotland who seem to think that upholding the law without prejudice doesn’t apply to witnessing the Orange Order marches.

  36. Peter. says:

    When you have a train to catch ****

  37. swk1983 says:

    I am always amazed at the fervour of people willing to march to “commemorate” things from hundreds of years ago in a different country yet I am confident that there will be no large parades to commemorate the first or second world wars and the many scottish lives which were lost. A sad reflection on our society indeed.

  38. from my home in central Glasgow I’m ‘enjoying’ the spectacle of yet another parade (on this occasion it appears to be the Green side) and yes they do need a bit more rehearsal. As always, flanked by police left right and center, traffic stopped and conversation too while the cacophony passes. So I googled parades and arrived at this column; couldn’t agree more with the writer. These parades are an intrusive, intimidating and dislocated nuisance. If it’s necessary to march every year find a location where the majority of accidental witnesses aren’t left feeling they wish they weren’t anywhere near them. It’s supremely selfish and arrogant. Do get with it please, Councilors of Glasgow!

  39. Allan says:

    As a soldier I’ve stood between the orange order and the republicans during “marching season” and I’d just to say they are scum with no place in a modern forward thinking country…

    Let’s get rid of the bigotry and the scots govt anti sectarianism laws are a good place to start

  40. Claire says:

    When I moved to Glasgow at age 18 I didn’t have a clue what an orange March was, and when one obstructed my route out of the flat, I figured it was a parade and I’d just scoot my bike across the road, in the middle of the road, I was pushed off my bike and kicked multiple times in the shins and in the stomach. “Don’t cross the line” they screamed at me. I love Scotland, but I’ll never forgive that

  41. Neutral bystander says:

    Why do most contributors to the debate try to justify comments by combing ancient history books in the hope that they find something, anything that backs up their misguided, ridiculous rumblings of pathetic bigotry. Just what are these matches meant to prove ? Before you say that they prove nothing, but are celebrations of culture or some other benign cause, please read the first sentence again. The Neanderthals who follow such parades will never be educated, but we can still hope our children will see them for what they are, a pathetic excuse to dress up in pantomime clothes and terrorise local communities with their drunkenness and bigotry. God save us from these trolls.

    1. William lane says:

      One hundred percent, i agree, when you see the Orange men doing there marching, they look like a bunch of under takers waiting for the dead bodies,

    2. Theo Hamer says:

      It seems by far and away that most contributors to the debate here are lambasting the Orange Order for being ignorant, bigoted thugs, so I’m glad to have seen your comment evening things out, Neutral Bystander.

  42. John Patrick Burke says:

    Don’t Get Bitter Get Better

  43. Alex Gordon says:

    There are a lot of people here claiming to know what the Orange Lodge is about and what it stands for.
    The Orange Lodge is based on Freemasonry and unless you are part of it, you cannot know what it truly stands for.
    Yes you may read a book on the subject or indeed browse the Internet, but this will not give the answer needed!
    Basically, the main reason of the Orange Order is to protect the existence of the Protestant faith, following in the footsteps and ideals of Martin Luther and other Champions of Protestantism.
    These are the fundamentals of what the Orange Order is based on and follow to this day.

    1. Rabbhoy says:

      But the vast majority of Protestants do not feel their faith is under attack or needs protection

  44. Al says:

    Reasonably minded Protestants, the vast majority, have to be the ones to call these peoppl out. That would carry more weight than the victims of the OO bemoaning the organisation.

  45. Jacqueline says:

    Fantastic read I agree with everything you have written.

  46. Sara Haughian says:

    It really is time to stop this organisation of hate

  47. Jim+Mclaughlin says:

    Time to ban ALL sectarian organisations across Scotland,
    it’s a cancer preventing our country’s ( Scotland) progress in the modern world and is only a minority of people who embrace its hatred.

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