IT’S hard to believe that, 16 years after the first IRA ceasefire set society on the road to peace, the Orange Order is still refusing to engage in talks with nationalists and their political representatives with a view to resolving disputes around the handful of remaining contentious parades. Yet, as seen in Ardoyne on Monday, that is very much the case.

Instead of engaging in dialogue, the Orange Order prefers to march blindly on, impervious to the mayhem and madness it leaves in its wake. We suspect that when Chief Constable Matt Baggott refers to lack of leadership from our politicians, he is thinking of some of the most senior unionist politicians who step out on the Twelfth morning with these anti-Catholic parades which climax in antediluvian, anti-peace process statements at the field.

Nationalist

Sadly, the yesterday’s men who lead Orangeism have their mirror image in that small group of embittered republicans whose opposition to the peace process – and to the Sinn Féin leadership – is legendary. Indeed, many of those who blocked the Crumlin Road on the Twelfth spend more time criticising Sinn Féin than they do criticising perfidious Albion.

It’s a cruel irony that Orangeman and pro-violence dissident alike see the peace process as sell-out.

Both are willing to see a return to the death, destruction and untold suffering of the thirty-year-war, if that’s what it takes to stop the peace taking hold.

Yet, against those whose focus is on refighting past wars stands the vast bulk of people on this island, nationalist and unionist, who accept that a renewed conflict will lead only to the prison cell and the graveyard — before it inevitably reaches the negotiation table again in 20 years time.

Those in republican circles who adopt the nihilistic sloganising of yesteryear should be asked to come forward and defend their actions over the past four days. After all, the greatest burden of war is carried by the civilian population, so the ordinary citizen has a right to know where these bloody confrontations with Orangemen and police are leading us.

We presume there are those within the ranks of the alphabet soup of wannabe IRA groups who can answer that question; our columns are open to them.

In fact, we believe that the wiser heads among disaffected republican groupings should be encouraged to engage in continuous dialogue with the community and our political leaders. Past experience tells us that the exclusion of certain views leads to more, not less, violence. 

Moreover, mistreatment of prisoners and abuse of the rights of those targeted by the police will not be tolerated by the nationalist people. Such actions, of course, will also increase support for those who oppose the peace process.

Murder

In setting out their strategy for a ‘return to war’, the leaders of the violent dissident factions might wish to address the role of anti-social thugs (most frequently featured in these pages for terrorising the local community through car theft, assault, burglary and murder) in the violence which has been playing out in our streets over the past fortnight, particularly at Broadway, the lower Ormeau and North Belfast.

A future where Orangemen, ceasefire soldiers and anti-social thugs find common cause is one which holds zero attraction for the nationalist people who fought the British and their allies over 30 long and hard years and who are now more than ever determined to win the peace.