Belfast nationalists build links with Garvaghy residents
The marching issue refuses to go away. In Portadown loyalists are
planning yet more protests as the siege of the nationalist Garvaghy
Road continues for an eighth month. In other isolated nationalist
areas fears grow that the looming marching season will bring more
trouble.
But nationalist residents are refusing to lie down to domination. In
Portadown they are linking up with activists in other area and in
Newtownbutler they are fighting a legal battle designed to scare them
into giving up their protest
Mary Maguire was on the Garvaghy Road to witness a highly significant
coming together of community activists
It was a long awaited day. Last Saturday, some 40 leading Belfast
community activists rolled into the Garvaghy Road Drumcree Centre to
meet their twenty Portadown counterparts. The visit was part of an
effort to build links between the isolated residents and Belfast
activists in areas where skills, information, training and facilities
could be shared.
``It is also a way for us to show our solidarity with a community that
is threatened on a daily basis,'' one activist said. After weeks of
meetings and discussions, it was also the first concrete step towards
the implementation of projects that will link Belfast and Portadown
nationalist residents in an unprecedented way.
The group split into two workshops. These were designed to be forums
of debate that focused on the needs of the nationalist community.
They covered twelve issues, including housing problems, the lack of
decent leisure facilities and health and psychological problems.
Issues directly related to the sectarianism in Portadown and the
ongoing siege of the area since last July were also raised.
The main themes of the workshops were youth, women's issues, culture
and social-related matters. As the workshops unfolded, discussions on
these themes gave way to concrete ways of implementing projects.
Contact numbers were exchanged and dates for the kick-start of
certain projects were mentioned.
issue discussed at length in the first working group was the need
for the various nationalist housing and tenant associations to
coordinate their efforts. The creation of a cultural centre was also
proposed to help the youth focus on challenges and divert their
attention from the trauma that many youth are currently experiencing.
In the second workshop, one of the highlights of the discussion was
the difficulties of getting projects funded. The Portadown community
activists outlined how, recently, the British National Lottery turned
down an application for funding with no explanation, except that the
Garvaghy Road community groups had shown too much ``ambition''.
``Some funders would like to help, but they are blocked at a certain
level. We are also receiving alarming information that some of the
funding is conditional on the bilateral talks between the Coalition
and the Orange Order,'' said a community activist. ``People who are
obtaining funding in the town do so on the basis that certain
projects are cross-community. In other words, they use us as an
excuse to cash cheques that we don't see the colour of''.
The discrimination and inequality - believed to be the basis of a
majority of the decisions to deny funding - was said to be similar to
the situation community activists of West Belfast had experienced for
years. ``You must take them on. For years we had the same problem and
still today, we have to battle to get funds that are recuperated by
organisations that claim to be working on a cross-community level,''
said one West Belfast cultural organiser. ``You must systematically
take them on and challenge decisions''.
It was proposed that a special group meet in the next weeks to
discuss the most effective strategies to counter this ongoing
discrimination.
Concrete projects in the areas of sport, Irish language, alcohol and
drugs awareness were also made. The need for the activities to be
staged on the Garvaghy Road was stressed. A football match, that
could be followed by information sessions and an experience-sharing
evening was put forward.
After the workshops, Garvaghy Road residents spokesperson Breandan
Mac Cionnaith also spoke of the political situation and new
indications that worse violence was feared. ``The loyalist protest
demonstrations are ongoing and the consequences have become more and
more serious. A number of Catholic residents of roads situated on
interfaces had moved and more applications have been sent in to the Housing Executive.''
More worrying is that four new protests have been planned in the next
month. One rally is due to take place on the lower Garvaghy Road and
another, this Friday, is planned at the Cocrain Orange Hall, within
feet of a nationalist estate. Another rally is planned for 10 March.
This protest, expected to be the largest and held on the day powers
are to be transferred from
London to the Belfast, is a mirror of the way Drumcree has become a
focus for the anti-Agreement unionist and loyalist elements.
``The issue is no longer if the Orange Order is going to walk down the
road, but more so what is the long-term strategy in our case'', said
Mr Mac Cionnaith.
The hidden agenda of the main media actors, and the near unanimous
acceptance of RUC reports as objective were questioned at length.
``The misrepresentation of the situation in Portadown is increasingly
worrying'', as it is bound to backfire on the nationalist residents in
the next weeks when the Orange Order will claim that it should have
the right to walk down the Garvaghy Road.
After the working session, the Belfast community activists were taken
for a tour around the town and the various areas. Many expressed a
deep sense of shock at what they saw. ``I only realise now that you
have to live here to understand what is going on in this town. Even
when you see it with your own eyes, it is virtually impossible to
understand what these people have to put up with day in, day out,''
said one of West Belfast's leading social workers.
``It's not enough to acknowledge this. We must act, and act now to
show our solidarity and broaden the network of grass-roots activism
across the Six Counties''.
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