It
was with great excitement that the committee organising
this year's St Pat's parade announced that for the
first time ever they were to receive funding from
Belfast City Council to the tune of £100,000,
BUT, only if they didn't celebrate it as a true
St Patrick's Day Parade!!!!!!
This
censorship of culture was to be achieved by rainbow
coloured shamrocks, no Irish flags (which most likely
will include the wearing of clothing that claims
the occupant to be Irish) and the most hideous and
gut wrenching blasphemy of all...no alcohol!!!!!!
And why was this censorship imposed? So as the celebration
of St Patrick can be broadened to encompass our
Unionist neighbours and welcome them in to the bosom
of our culture even though these same sectarian
bigots, one by one, on that committee voted against
the funding which reflected their usual sectarian
stance on all things Irish. Much more important
and utterly astonishing, this censorship was imposed
by those who voted for it..SF, SDLP and the Alliance
parties...
Our
political fathers seem to have either completely
lost the plot or they, in their enthusiasm to be
embraced by the whole British political spectrum,
have totally mis-interpreted the nationalist feelings
of their electorate. How can anyone in a state of
mind that is perceived as normal seriously believe
that nationalists here would welcome a parade to
celebrate their patron saint that involves censorship
and restrictions?
Will
this censorship be applied to the funding of bonfires
on the 11th July which annually burn effigies of
Catholics, include jingoistic flag waving, the consumption
of huge amounts of alcohol, the chanting of sectarian
slogans and last but not least the attacking of
Catholic people and their homes? Will the following
day's parades have imposed upon them the censorship
of no Union flags or bunting and no clothing that
would imply that they are British (union jack boxer
shorts or something like that)?
Nowhere
else on this globe will this censorship be imposed,
nowhere. Not even in the White House, where on St
Pat's Day this year all the political representatives
of the above parties, including those who voted
against it, will gather and celebrate St Patrick
with the Tricolour flying, green shamrocks on display
and openly consuming glasses of alcohol!!!!!!!!!!!
This
obsession with Nationalist/Republican politicians
of trying to get Nationalists and Unionists to participate
in each other's culture has got to stop. The Unionist
culture is one of sectarianism and hatred to all
things Irish and therefore wholly unacceptable to
the Nationalist people and the Nationalist culture
is seen by the Unionists as an anathema to all things
Unionist.
Conor
Maskey and the rest of the St Pat's committee should
hang their heads in shame and take a step back and
re-evaluate their position. Who do they think they
are fooling? If censorship is a means to an end,
then they should have the common sense to refuse
it and publicly denounce those on that committee
for what they really are. Is the parade of such
importance that we should sell out our culture?
I
call on the Nationalist people of Belfast to go
to this event but wear green shamrocks and clothing
that identifies you as being Irish and have a drink
at it if you feel like it and when one of these
appointed stewards attempts to censor you let him
know under no uncertain terms who the real Lundys
are.
