Sir, The argument that Orange marches only go through Catholic areas of Belfast by "accident" is wrong - and often worse than wrong. It is argued that population movement in the city over the past 25 years has shifted the sectarian geography of parade routes, so much so that marches once confined to Protestant streets now routinely pass Catholic ones, and that this originally unforeseen shift only causes trouble when "traditional" parade routes fail to adapt to changed circumstances. The implication is that Orange marchers are in themselves innocent of any desire to intimidate their Catholic neighbours; they just forget that areas once "true blue" have now become a deeper shade of "nationalist green". This thesis is wrong on two counts.
First, the sectarian re alignment of community in Belfast (and elsewhere throughout Northern Ireland too) consequent on the Troubles has actually resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of "flashpoints" created when Orange march routes intersect Catholic communities. But this backdrop of overall decline in opportunity to provoke has only resulted in a renewed determination on the part of marchers to make the most of the ones that remain. The "population movement" thesis is held to explain the Lower Ormeau Road, but what of Portadown, Rasharkin, Dunloy, Pomeroy and Derry where longstanding Catholic communities are once more bracing themselves for another summer of intimidation?
Second, Orange marches are principally rituals of domination. The whole point is to march through Catholic areas, to intimidate, provoke and humiliate. It's only "cultural" in as much as Protestant culture often translates as Protestant supremacy. Orangeisms real roots are psycho/social. For many Protestants, personal self esteem is bound up at the collective level with an ideology of supremacy - the belief that "we are the people". But it is not enough merely to feel superior in some diffuse way - one needs someone to feel superior to. It has to be demonstrated that Protestants rule OK and this is accomplished by marching through Catholic areas. Catholics provide the victims without which the system cannot function a ready made untermenschen whose repeated humiliation makes many Protestants feel more secure in their ubermenschen status. Intimidation of Catholics by Orange marches is not in any way "accidental", but is in fact their main purpose. - Yours, etc.
Belfast.