WHO ARE THE REAL PHILISTINES, THE ORANGE ORDER OR THE SNP?.

Having found it impossible to get The Glasgow Herald to print my posts on this subject, I decided to give up and write it here. 

Once again we are seeing the now habitual outburst of synthetic rage from the snp directed at the Orange Order. This is interesting when you consider that they criticise them for being anti Catholic when the snp themselves were founded as an anti Catholic group to save the loyal protestant people of Scotland from the threat to their religious beliefs and their protestant culture by the influx of the Irish peasants who arrived here to flee the famine in Ireland and brought their Roman Catholic religion with them. The real cause of their animosity to the Orange Order though has developed over recent years when they (the snp) perceived a danger to their ambition of independence because of the OO’s unyielding devotion to Britain and the British monarchy. Consider if you will that not so long ago the leadership of the snp ‘cheek by jowl’ with the OO tried to ban the then Polish Pope John II from visiting Scotland. Hypocrisy does not begin to describe them.

Many of these snp members and supporters want to proscribe the OO, the reasons? They cause trouble, they are not part of Scotland’s culture and most importantly, the snp don’t like them. Their narrative is now highlighted by their decidedly subjective version of the trouble which happened in George Square just after the referendum. We have seen examples of this kind of behaviour before, when organisations have their democratic rights taken away from them we are living in a dictatorship and images of Mussolini, Franco and Hitler come to mind.  The Orange Order is a legal organisation and is entitled to the same treatment as any other legal organisation and that is exactly as it should be. We do not live in a society that bans organisations because some people don't like them, at least not yet we don't. The snp really need to choose their words more carefully, I am bigoted against racism, sectarianism, fascism, homophobia etc. and I am proud to say that, should I and others like me be banned as well by the snp?. The only way an Orange or any other kind of parade or demonstration can be banned is on the grounds of safety and law and order and that is the responsibility of the Police and crowd control professionals. Given that the average Celtic Rangers match produces enough safety and law and order problems to make the Orange Order supporters behaviour pale in to insignificance how would the powers that be justify banning an Orange Parade and allowing an Old Firm match?.

As for the OO not being part of Scotland’s culture is concerned, that can mean anything you want it to mean, when Herman Goering who wasn’t a holiday camp comedian said “when I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver” he was saying ‘’we will decide what German culture is’’ he would have been a supporter of the snp’s attitude to free speech and democracy.  I ask are the snp custodians of Scottish culture? Do they decide what is and isn’t Scottish culture? This is a glimpse through the tartan specs at what the future might hold for a more powerful snp.  

The OO go back a long way, certainly a lot further back than the snp and their members fought and died to save democracy in WW2 while the snp were trying to undermine the struggle against Hitler and the nazis and they do have their own history and culture, you may not be impressed by it but it does exist. My own Irish Catholic Celtic supporting background did not prevent me from learning about these events which date back to the late 17th century through the Battle of the Boyne and The Siege of Derry and the Siege of Cork and much more, I found it fascinating and still do whether you dear reader or other snp supporters like it or not it undoubtedly plays a huge part in British political and cultural history. The snp have their history and culture as well, it starts with anti Irish / English racism and anti Catholic sectarianism all the way up to marching beside Flemish Nazis at Calton Hill Edinburgh in 2014 and on to street violence all through the referendum and the disruption of political meetings. My surprise is that the more excitable Orange loyalists did not confront them long before they did. Democratic rights and freedoms are precious and constant vigilance is the price we pay to protect them.