Hate fest is upon us.
The annual triumphalist sectarian display of hate, racism and intolerance is once again to be forced upon communities in the occupied 6 counties of Ulster, this annual event of coat trailing and hate filled songs and banners is the show piece of an organisation which continues to believe that it is their religious faith and ancestry rooted in a history for which they have little to no understanding that gives them a “God given right” to deny the rights of a section of society based on religion.
During the mid-1990s the SS (RUC) storm troopers of the occupational regime used batons and gas to force local residents off their own streets, outside their own homes to enable this hate fest to traverse Nationalist areas, one such area the Garvaghy Road this was in full view of the worlds press, videos of young and old beaten arrested and removed from their own roadside to torture centres controlled by the Regime.
The then Irish Republican Movement (Provisional) told residents that they would defend and support them in any way possible, volunteers from around the Ireland were sent to so called flash points to bolster local defence. In 1998 Jason, Mark and Richard Quinn were three brothers killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in a firebomb attack on their home in Ballymoney, County Antrim.
On 12 July, volunteers from the 26 Counties were at this time on the Garvaghy Rd, all willing to defend the community, all seasoned and committed, but unknown to the vols at that time it has since become understood that the leadership were merely providing optics for the “electorate”, no weapons were available if the British Army or the SS (RUC) were to encroach into the area in another attempt to push through this hate fest of Orangeism, indeed the only ones who would be secure (safe) were those leadership members on site, as someone who was there, as someone who understands the logistics and tactics of armed resistance in Ireland looking back now, it is a fair assessment to say the “deal was already done”, the leadership of that time and the regime knew what would and would not be allowed to take place.
Hindsight is wonderfully clear, much of what was to occur in the next few decades was preordained and very well organised by those with the power and influence, but the subsummation of the Provisional movement left a major issue for the communities to face every year, the 12th July continues to be a threat to the safety and psychological well being of many, it is as intended a reminder that the state and its proxy organs can and will dominate the population as and when it sees fit, as an imperialist tactic divide and conquer remains alive and well, Orange parades, internment by remand, economic sanctions on those who speak out, demonisation of political activism, all very well managed and accepted by a provisional leadership still concerned with the optics, the power and the money!