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Loyal To What?

from The Cracks Start Appearing by Active Minds

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Viewed from mainland Britain, the attitudes and activities of the so-called “Loyalists” in Belfast look pretty bizarre to me. Whilst a lot of progress has been made towards bringing peace to Northern Ireland in the last two decades, there seem to be factions who simply don’t want to let go of the sort of entrenched opinions that were partly responsible for the troubles there in the first place.
Every year tensions seem to rise as those who claim to be loyal to Britain insist on marching through the streets in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne - where the Protestants defeated the Catholics in 1690. Yes, you read that right - 1690. Over three hundred years ago. What relevance does this really have today? Surely anybody can see that continuing to insist on parading in this manner, in a celebration of victory in an ancient sectarian battle, is a provocative thing to do.
The reality is that these Loyalists are wildly out-of-step with the mainstream views of the rest of the UK - the country they’re supposed to be loyal to in the first place. In 2012, Belfast City Council voted to only fly the Union Flag from City Hall for no more than 18 days in a year rather than every day, as it had traditionally done in Belfast. Despite the fact that this then brought Belfast in line with all other government buildings throughout the UK, the Loyalists, predictably, saw this as an attack on “Britishness”. The result? Riots, petrol bombs, and death threats to local councillors.
These people seem to be emotionally and politically attached to a place which only exists in their own imagination. They are loyal to a vision of Britain which hasn’t existed on the mainland here for probably the last 50 years - they are a throwback to a bygone age, and seem to want to drag the institutions in Northern Ireland back there too. Many of us are looking back over the Irish Sea with a mixture of bewilderment and exasperation.

lyrics

Belfast is in flames again - we hoped we’d seen the last, but there are those who keep on dragging things back into the past. They say that it’s “traditional”, but I don’t want to know because some traditions are full of shit and it’s time for them to go. You’re loyal to who? To people who are not like you? You’re loyal to what? To a land that time forgot? Belfast is in flames again because some people insist that the role for the authorities should be that of antagonist. Thrusting flags and opinions in the face of those who don’t agree, and glorying in the memory of an ancient victory. So, you want to remain part of the UK? Well, that’s fair enough, but do you think that on the mainland we identify with this stuff? The country you want to be part of no longer exists today - the role you’re wanting of it’s one it doesn’t want to play.

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from The Cracks Start Appearing, released December 19, 2014

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