I came across this old quote from Eamonn McCann in the Andersonstown News (4 January 1997). According to the newspaper it was a statement he had made in October 1996 and it was reprinted as part of the Andersonstown News review of the previous year.
Eamonn McCann said: 'There is a direct line of connection between marching in an Orange parade and putting a foot through the window of somebody who has married a Catholic.'
As someone who has been a member of the Orange Order for just over forty years, I can honestly say that I have never put a foot through anyone's window. Such demonisation and misrepresentation of the Orange Order is utterly appalling.
For many years there has been widespread demonisation of the Orange Order and such demonisation helped to create the 'authorising environment' in which so many republicans felt it perfectly in order to break the windows in Orange halls and even burn them down.
That sort of comment by McCann reflects on his own narrow, bitter, puerile republican mindset rather than any member of the Orange order. Maybe he should move to that socialist paradise known as North Korea where he would probably feel very much at home and safe from the Orangemen ... well until the "party" came for him anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Orange Order was born out of bigotry and fear. Many of its members these days are reasonably tolerant, I would guess. Membership has become a habit, rooted in family and tradition. But deep down in what remains of its soul, it is a sectarian organisation. It ought to wither away, and no doubt it will. But in the meantime, if you are looking to hear a progressive voice in our post-Troubles era, don't look to the Grand Lodge.
ReplyDeleteAnd, by the way, Eamonn McCann is one of the least-bigoted men in Ireland, if not the world.
What bombings or shootings were committed by the Orange Order? Bet you can't name any Orangeman convicted of terrorism. Which is completely the opposite to Sinn Fein as 44% of SF representatives have terror convictions.
Deletetalk a bit of sense nan he is as bigoted as the day is long
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