Siege Mentality

An ITV News image of an Apprentice Boys Parade in Derry

As educators, we do not have a dog in the fight. 

Our purpose in our sophomore Facing History class is to present a conflict involving bias on both sides, and to examine the ways in which these two groups have treated each other poorly, and the ways in which two such groups could--and have--worked to make peace. The idea is to ultimately reflect on our own biases, our own missteps and the possibility that the better angels of our nature can be employed to make the world a little better, and not worse. 

On the Unionist side, a rabble-rouser like Ian Paisley is easy to detest, but so are Nationalists such as those IRA members that felt the killing of innocents was an acceptable sacrifice for their cause. 

That said, from a humanist perspective, I have a hard time with a group such as the Apprentice Boys, whose August parade is a celebration of the Protestant defeat of the Catholics in the Siege of Derry in the late 1600's. This parade marches right past the Catholic Bogside neighborhood, so the oppressed majority can view a loud drum-filled celebration of their defeat by the Protestant minority that have dominated them politically for well over three hundred years. This celebration has traditionally led to varying levels of violence, including but not limited to the Battle of the Bogside, the trigger event for the entire Troubles period. It strikes me as an in-your-face reminder of oppression comparable to the white minority's annual celebrations of the defeat of the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River in South Africa.

But I acknowledge that I am an outsider, a person who might not get the meaning in this popular organization's most well-known parade. One of the things that I hope to get from our trip to Northern Ireland is a better understanding of the motivations of this historical and cultural organization.

According to an unattributed quote on their website, the motivating idea for this organization is that "a people who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy, to be remembered with pride, by remote descendants." So pride in a culture is emphasized, pride in a history. I have seen reports that these parades result in less violence these days than they once did, and the organization was finally granted permission to open their own "Siege Museum" in Derry in 2013, to "promote understanding of our history and culture." So I am giving them a chance. 

We arrive in Derry around noon on August 12th. Completely by accident, we are arriving on the very day of the Apprentice Boys' famous annual parade.