WORKABLE PEACE

MARCH AT DRUMCREE

Confidential instructions for

Portadown Orange Order representative

You are a native of Portadown, a community in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, that has 21,300 residents and is 70 percent Protestant. You have been a loyal member of the Orange Order for over 40 years, and you believe deeply in its religious and political traditions. Your older brother founded an anti-Catholic group in the 1960s and both of you have been accused of anti-Catholic violence in the past. You were widowed in the 1970s, when your spouse was killed in paramilitary violence during the height of the Troubles. Now you are 63 years old.

You own one of Portadown’s two bakeries. The Catholics’ boycott of Protestant businesses during this past year’s standoff has hurt your bakery business. The other local baker -- a Catholic -- has benefited. But the damage to your own business is a small thing compared to the damage that the Parade Commission and the Catholic protesters have done to the rule of law in Ulster.

You feel strongly that the Parade Commission’s decision to block last year’s march was totally unjust. The Orange Order has a right to march. The people responsible for the violence are the Catholic protesters, not the marchers. You have supported the Order’s counter-demonstrations at both ends of Garvaghy Road as a way to send a strong signal that the Order will not back down.

This year, the Parade Commission has told the Portadown Orange Order to "mediate" the plan for the march with a representative of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, the RUC, and two church representatives. The Order was very unhappy with this decision. You are sure that the Residents’ Coalition is controlled by the IRA, and that its main purpose is to make trouble for the Protestant majority. That is why you have refused to meet with them in the past.

But since the Good Friday Agreement and last year’s Parade Commission decision to stop the march down Garvaghy Road, you have come to fear that the British government will no longer support your right to march unless you show some flexibility. Therefore you have decided to try to meet some of the Resident Coalition’s concerns. The person they have sent, the librarian, is more moderate than some of the other Coalition leaders, but you doubt that the Coalition’s leaders will be able to control the local IRA thugs even if they want to.

You are willing to talk, but you are absolutely determined to uphold the Order’s right to march down the Garvaghy Road. The tradition is over 200 years old. To change it now would not only harm the Orange Order. It would also harm the fundamental goal of the Good Friday Agreement--to ensure that Catholics and Protestants respect each other’s rights and traditions. You believe that free assembly and religious expression are fundamental rights for Protestants and Catholics. If the Protestants cannot march peacefully down Garvaghy Road for 15 minutes one day each year, how can the two groups live together in peace?

As for the behavior of marchers and protesters, you believe that the flute and drum band should be allowed to play music. Marchers should be allowed to chant and to fly the Union Jack and the Drumcree Church banner during the march down the Garvaghy Road. All of these behaviors are traditional, and are not meant as attacks on Catholics.

If it seems absolutely impossible to get the other representatives to agree to allow a traditional march, you can compromise on some issues. Perhaps certain kinds of music, songs and chants could be stopped while the march goes down the Garvaghy Road. However, the marchers must be allowed to fly the Union Jack and the Drumcree Church banner--these are the most important symbols of the march! There is absolutely no way that the members of the Order would agree to any restrictions on flags, and you could be expelled from the Order if you agreed to any restrictions. If the other representatives say they cannot meet these requirements, then you must tell them that the Orange Order will march down Garvaghy Road next week--no matter what the Parades Commission decides.

You also feel strongly that the RUC should provide protection against Catholic protesters during the march down Garvaghy Road. Anyone who shouts insults, spits, throws bottles or stones, or tries to block the road or break into the march must be arrested immediately.

Finally, if you can get the representatives at the mediation to agree to let you march down the Garvaghy Road this year with as few restrictions as possible, then the tradition will be re-established. At that point, there should be no need for a local Parades Board to decide on future marches. On the other hand, if you cannot get the group to meet your goals this year, it may be a good idea to create a local Parades Board so that you can try again to re-establish the traditional march next year. You have agreed with the other Orange Order leaders that this Board should have a Protestant majority, and that its decisions should be advisory only. If the Order cannot accept a decision of the Board, it wants to keep the right to appeal to higher authorities in Belfast and London.

The minimum acceptable agreement is one that allows the march along the Garvaghy Road, with some concessions to the Catholics living along the road. You could accept some restriction on music and chanting, but the Union Jack and the Drumcree banner must be flown. In addition, protesters must be prohibited from disrupting the march. If this year’s agreement does not meet your goals, then you are willing to create a local parades board with a Protestant majority, with advisory power only. You cannot accept an agreement that does not include these things.

Summary of Your Goals and Minimum Acceptable Outcomes:

March and route

Behavior

Local Parades Board