Orange to the core

Northern Ireland: The Orange Order has become a = fashionable=20 subject of study. Ruth Dudley Edwards, Brian Kennaway, Dominic Bryan, = Neil=20 Jarman, David Fitzpatrick and Henry Patterson have all done valuable = recent work=20 on this enduring institution, and these two new books by Eric Kaufmann = and=20 Mervyn Jess join an already well-stocked shelf.

Indeed, while Kaufmann rightly notes that many people find the Order = to be an=20 "incomprehensible organisation", there is increasingly little excuse for = their=20 doing so. His own book studies the Orange story in depth from the 1920s = onwards=20 and it does so impressively on the basis of thorough and original = research.=20 There is detailed discussion of intra-Orange argument and debate (not = always the=20 most glamorous of topics), and friction predictably forms the backdrop = to much=20 of the text. There is the lengthy and adversarial tension between the = Order and=20 Ian Paisley; there is Orange approval of the (disastrous) policy of = internment=20 in Northern Ireland in the early and turbulent 1970s; the Order = mobilises=20 angrily against Sunningdale in the 1970s and against the Anglo-Irish = Agreement=20 just over a decade later; there are the 1990s battles of Drumcree; and = there is=20 public Orange Order hostility towards the 1998 Belfast Agreement.

For the Northern Ireland Troubles form the political and painful = context for=20 the institution's latter-day history. The Orange Order lost 500 men to = the=20 conflict, and vulnerability is a major part of the story which Kaufmann = tells.=20 He cites one Fermanagh Lodge circulating its members in 1980 to poignant = effect:=20 "During the present terrorist campaign our hall was vandalised by = republican=20 elements. Two farmhouses in the area were also attacked by republicans = and one=20 farmer was burnt out of his homestead. The Protestant school in the = village of=20 Rosslea was destroyed by a large proxy bomb, which was left outside the = RUC=20 station. The school has now been closed and the pupils have been = transferred to=20 another school. The last remaining Protestant businessman in the village = was=20 shot dead in his supermarket by the Provos".

VULNERABILITY LAY ON all sides, of course. But it is interesting, = against the=20 setting of the bloody Troubles, to read Kaufmann's measured analysis of = the=20 Order's approach to paramilitary violence. He notes that some = paramilitaries=20 were Orangemen and he rightly identifies instances of paramilitary = activity by=20 members of the Order. But he repeatedly and rightly makes the point that = the=20 Orange Order has overwhelmingly opposed the use of paramilitary violence = in=20 Northern Ireland. It has been very keen to sideline paramilitary = elements and=20 has argued strongly against the use of such methods. "The Orange Order = and much=20 of popular Unionism were repulsed by paramilitarism", Kaufmann points = out; there=20 was a "very real stand taken by the Institution against paramilitary=20 violence".

The Orange story is one marked by great change, whether in terms of = Orange=20 attitudes towards drink, and attendance at Catholic funerals, or in = terms of the=20 more substantial matter of a decline in Orange political influence once = direct=20 rule from Britain had replaced Stormont government in 1972. The Order's = social=20 profile has also changed, with a collapse of the squirearchy that once=20 predominated. And the 1990s parade-related conflict has seen a = combination of=20 nationalist resident opposition and RUC-backed parading restrictions = bring about=20 a change in power relations, with a limiting of Orange power. No parades = have=20 taken place at Drumcree, for example, since 1997.

What do these changes imply for the future of the Order? Kaufmann = argues that=20 it "will continue to have a cultural role as custodian of the = Ulster-Protestant=20 collective memory even if Northern Ireland's political situation = normalises",=20 and he notes that the Order is younger in composition than some might = assume: 20=20 per cent of members are under 30, and only 25 per cent are over 60 years = of age.=20 But there has been a problem of declining membership, a result of = difficulty=20 with recruitment rather than with an exodus of existing members. = Mobility, in=20 particular, has tended adversely to affect levels of Orange membership, = the=20 expansion of road networks damaging the Order's numbers.

Kaufmann argues that "Orangeism thrives best when local Protestants = feel=20 under siege, but not defeated"; "Orange participation is especially = strong in=20 Nationalist areas like South Down, South Armagh, Derry, and West = Belfast". This=20 suggests that it is indeed likely to have a role in the new Northern = Ireland,=20 with the institution's convivial, symbolic and political functions alike = continuing to have value to sections of the Protestant population.

This book is not without its flaws. The author at one point refers to = the=20 IRA's "1995 ceasefire"; at another he confuses Roy with Robert Bradford; = he has=20 Billy Wright as a "UVF paramilitary leader" in 1997; and he misdates the = referendum on the Belfast Agreement. But the work remains a scholarly = and=20 valuable addition to the literature on this important subject.

WELCOME TOO IS Mervyn Jess's new book on the same topic. The author = is a=20 senior BBC journalist in Northern Ireland and he knows his subject well, = having=20 covered it for many years. His own father was an Orangeman and the book = reflects=20 an impressive understanding of the nature and culture of the = institution.

Jess deals with the Order's long history, from its 18th-century = foundation;=20 he observes that the institution "has never been far from conflict"; he = notes=20 the different outlooks respectively characterising rural and urban = lodges; and=20 he does not ignore the darker aspects of his subject, including events=20 surrounding Drumcree.

The great strengths of the book are its attractive readability and = its wealth=20 of interview quotation, from Orangemen and opponents alike. In letting = these=20 voices be heard, Jess has produced a fresh and vivid account that = valuably=20 complements Kaufmann's more scholarly study.

Richard English is professor of politics at Queen's = University,=20 Belfast. His book, Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism, in Ireland = won the=20 Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize for 2007

The Orange Order: A Contemporary Northern Irish History By = Eric P=20 Kaufmann Oxford University Press, 373pp. =A330 The Orange Order By = Mervyn Jess The=20 O'Brien Press, 279pp. =8011.95

=A9 2007 The Irish Times

Article Tools
Email=20 to a Friend	=20 Print this Page
Email=20 to Author

Weekly Index
M	Price=20 Watch
T	Hea= lth
W	Commercial=20 Property
Mot= ors
An=20 Teanga Bheo
T	P= roperty
Science=20 Today
F	The=20 Ticket
S	M= agazine
News=20 Features
We= ekend
Obituaries

Sections

Search for

Services

Orange to the core