The evil of sectarianism

In the tangled politics of the North, Ardoyne is a potential flash-point at the best of times. The area is mixed, but predominantly Catholic. Now while there is no doubt that sectarianism at its most pernicious has been orchestrated in Northern Ireland primarily by loyalist paramilitaries, it is irrefutable that the Protestant community of Glenbryn find themselves at the cutting edge of the suspicion and hostility that for the most part seems to define relationships between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, and throughout the North.

Fuelled by a sense that their territory was under threat, and goaded into action by loyalist paramilitaries, at the tail end of the last school year, the residents of Glenbryn mounted a blockade, preventing the schoolgirls of Holy Cross from walking the direct route to the front door of their school.

The summer holidays intervened, and there must have been some hope that the passage of time might have cooled passions in the area. Not so. The first day of the new school year saw the return of the residents of Glenbryn to the streets. The RUC, knowing that a potentially lethal riot would be inevitable if the blockade were allowed to succeed again, stepped in: on the first day, the girls were ushered through – but they were exposed in the process to dangers that were clearly unacceptable. On Tuesday, the RUC came better equipped, using the full paraphernalia of riot control technology, developed, for the most part, to quell nationalist demonstrations, to mount a protective barrier to let the children, accompanied by their parents, pass through.

The scenes throughout the week were nonetheless deeply shocking – and fiercely traumatic for those at the receiving end. The children – some of them only four years of age – were forced to run the gauntlet of a stream of hatred and vilification, of a kind and intensity that most people thankfully never have to experience in an entire lifetime. There was vile verbal abuse. There was a wall of lurid noise designed to intimidate. There was spitting. And there was also hard physical violence, with protesters (if that is the correct term – does it not dignify their grotesque behaviour unjustly?) attempting, literally, to stone the children.

For the parents of the girls in Holy Cross, it was a nightmare scenario. Should you allow your child to be subjected to an appalling experience of this kind? Or, on the other hand, is it right to accept the status of second-class citizen that seems at least to be implicit in accepting the dictat that your child must enter the school, to which you are sending her, by the back door?

The nadir of an appalling week was reached on Wednesday, when a blast-bomb was fired by the worst of the paramilitary thugs who were acting as ageunt provocateurs among the protesting residents. Whoever the intended victims, an RUC officer took the brunt of the impact of the explosion. But then, in the new Ulster, for hard-line loyalists, even the RUC are being seen as the enemy.

Observing the faces of the children it would be impossible to have any sympathy for the position being taken by the residents of Glenbryn. There is simply no justification for treating children, who are genuinely and completely innocent of any perceived wrong-doing that the residents may be attempting to redress, in such a brutal and aggressive manner.

The whole diabolical scene has been depicted as a PR disaster for Loyalism. That is to trivialise it. It is about more than mere PR. It is about a culture and the way it defines itself, and how it imagines its future. Sadly, the defining qualities of the brand of Loyalism on show in Glenbryn are paranoia, hatred, loathing – and bigotry.

To say this is not to exonerate Catholics in Northern Ireland from their own brand of sectarianism: there is too much of it about. But this was the culture of hatred that is endemic in so many parts of the North, revealed at its most visceral, its most sickening. Even Billy Hutchinson – the former UVF paramilitary who is now one of the most influential figures among working-class Loyalists – was moved to say that he was ashamed of being a Loyalist. The silence of mainstream Unionist politicians on the issue was nothing short of stunning: is there anyone of genuine conviction or decency among the lot of them? If Billy Hutchinson, who is far closer to these people on the ground, and far more dependent on them for his political future, could call it like it is, why then did the likes of David Trimble and Ian Paisley maintain an ignominious silence?

If mainstream Unionists allow themselves to remain imprisoned by extreme Loyalists in this way, then the future of Northern Ireland will surely be depressingly bleak. Unless, of course, those who are closer to the people on the ground come to the obvious conclusion – that it is not Nationalists or Republicans who are the problem. It is sectarianism itself. And it is the appalling economic conditions in which Unionism itself has imprisoned working-class Loyalists.

One other thing: in this country, we have heard a lot of pious talk about ecumenism. However, the events of the past couple of weeks in the Ardoyne are directly related to the fact that the system of education in the North is utterly and irredeemably sectarian. It would undoubtedly change the way in which members of what are defined as the different communities approach and understand each other if they were to be educated together. The fact that this does not happen except in rare and exceptional circumstances is primarily the responsibility of the various churches – the Roman Catholic church among them. In insisting on sectarian education, the different branches of the Christian religion(s) are guilty of perpetuating the kind of evil that has scarred life in Northern Ireland – and the people of the North – so badly over the past 30 years.

Nothing could be clearer. The system of education in the North must be changed and changed utterly. So which bishop is going to come clean and admit it first? Or is it that their vested interests are too great for them to countenance progress in what is ultimately the most important aspect of the drive to liberate Northern Ireland – and by extension the island of Ireland – from its grim and sordid sectarian past. Well?

Answers on a postcard, please…