Opinion & Poems

THE SHAM OF THE "EQUALITIES COMMISSION"

A new Frankenstein creation of the British Government has taken its ignominious place in Northern Ireland. The "Equality only if you're Republican/Nationalist/RC Commission" now stands alongside the "No Parades except if you're Republican/Nationalist/RC Commission" in striving to destroy Ulsters distinctive British Protestant identity. Grand Lodge Ireland has once again stepped forward in defence of our Religion, Culture and Laws. The cry, as always, must be "No Surrender"

Press Release from GOLI - Re NI Equality Commission

Dear Sir

Your readers should be aware that the so called "Equality Commission for Northern Ireland" is engaged in a long term strategy to wipe the face of Britishness from Northern Ireland.
Their principal target is the Union Flag which it intends to remove from every Council and Government building right across the Province.
Last year the Equality Commission commissioned "Good Relations Associates" to prepare a Challenge Paper on embedding good relations in Local Government.
The report made 14 key recommendations but the "Equality Commission" focused on just five, one of which was that "there is a need to legislate with regards to Flags and Emblems."
In compiling the Challenge Paper, "Good Relations Associates" interviewed representatives of 26 organisations, but significantly they did not interview representatives of the Orange Order, the largest community group in Northern Ireland.
The whole thrust of the Flags and Emblems section of the Challenge Paper is towards the removal of the Union Flag from Council property with quotes such as "Flags function to communicate strong if sometimes ambivalent messages. They are integral to sustaining sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Flags are associated with allegiance, loyalty, territory and authority and can be used to challenge another group, to assert dominance or to seek a confrontation."
However, not content with banning the flying of the Union Flag from Council premises in Northern Ireland, the "Equality Commission" seems determined to ban its use altogether. The Challenge Paper states (at page 35) that for example "flying the Union Flag in the 12th July Orange Parades are powerful symbolic messages of exclusion and sustain bitter divisions and hostility between factions."
We would have thought that it would have been appropriate for Good Relations Associates to consult with the Orange Order so that we could explain why we fly the Union Flag in our Parades before penning such a partial comment in a written report.
However, that comment is broadly typical of the general thrust of the Challenge Paper and indeed the Policy of the "Equality Commission", which is aimed at wiping the face of Britishness from Northern Ireland.
On the 3rd May 2007 the "Equality Commission" convened a meeting of the Community Relations Officers from Local Councils in Northern Ireland at which its staff presented the Good Relations Associates Challenge Paper and made it clear to the Council Community Relations Officers what the new agenda was.
On the 5th June 2007 the "Equality Commission" convened a meeting with Council Chief Executives and Councillors "in order to highlight the key findings and recommendations arising out of the report." The meeting concentrated on Flags and Emblems and the notes of the meeting indicate "that these issues could be addressed by strategies and action plans". Several delegates supported the view that legislation was required in order to regulate the display of Flags and Emblems.
The "Equality Commission" strategy of attacking the flying of the Union Flag in Northern Ireland can sometimes seem unstoppable. It has vast resources, and consults only with those whom it believes will give it a favourable reply. Its proposals and action plans are not advertised or open to public consultation. It focuses on, highlights, denigrates and attacks the symbols of Britishness in Local Government. By contrast it ignores the bitterly divisive symbols of Irishness such as the use of the Irish language which is used by some Local Councils in Northern Ireland to mark out territory and promote the culture, identity and tradition of one community by the use of divisive symbolism.
The "Equality Commission" states that it "has the vision of Northern Ireland as a shared, integrated and inclusive place, a society where difference is respected and valued, based on equality and fairness for the entire community."
We ask how does its continuous partial attack on the symbols of Britishness in Northern Ireland, whilst ignoring the use of the divisive symbols of Irishness, meet this vision?
The Orange Order speaks for a very large section of the Protestant community in Northern Ireland. Being British is at the core of what we stand for and we can assure your readers that we will vigorously oppose this orchestrated attack on our identity.

Yours faithfully

Robert S. Saulters Grand Master
Edward Stevenson B.Agr. Deputy Grand Master
Canon Dr. S. Ernest Long D.Th., J.P. Senior Grand Chaplain
Drew Nelson LLB Grand Secretary
Mervyn Bishop Grand Treasurer

LETTER TO EDITOR OF NEWS LETTER

In the News Letter of Wednesday, January 23, the Chief Commissioner of the ‘Equality Commission’ Bob Collins, stated that the Commission did not intend to ‘wipe the face of Britishness from Northern Ireland.’

Whether or not that is the intention of the Commission ( I believe it is ) it is certainly the reality of what is happening.

The people of Northern Ireland see what is happening in their own areas every day. They have seen the removal of the symbols of Britishness from police stations, fire stations, courthouses, government buildings, and now there is a concerted attempt by the Equality Commission to remove them from all council offices.

Equality Commission publications are now referring disapprovingly to the flying of the Union Flag on the 12th of July and it seems clear therefore that they do have further targets in their sights.

The Equality Commission hides behind allegedly independent research. The problem is that this research is not independently commissioned.

For instance there is much research about the perceptions of the Nationalist community on the flying of the Union Flag by local councils but no effective research has been commissioned by the Equality Commission about the perceptions of the Unionist community on the use of Irish Language by local councils.

I wonder has any genuinely independent group ever conducted any research into the perceptions of the Equality Commission by the Protestant community.

Yours faithfully

Drew Nelson LLB
Grand Secretary. GOL
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Below is a wonderful poem which I first read in "The Shankill Mirror" and which is reproduced here by their kind permission. However it's not only at Christmas we should remember those who fight and die for us. Remember them in your prayers at all times please.

Visit the Shankill Mirror at www.shankillmirror.com
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ULSTER 1912
The dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old -
Rebellion, rapine, hate,
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate
By England's art and deed.
The faith in which we stand,
The laws we made and guard,
Our honour, lives, and land
Are given for reward
To murder done by night
To treason taught by day,
To folly, sloth, and spite,
And we are thrust away.
The blood our fathers spilt,
Our love, our toils, our pains
Are counted us for guilt
And only bind our chains -
Before an Empire's eyes
The traitor claims his price.
What need of further lies?
We are the sacrifice.
We know the war prepared
On ever peaceful home
We know the hells prepared
For such as serve not Rome
The terror, threats, and bread
In market, hearth, and field -
We know, when all is said,
We perish if we yield.
Believe we dare not boast,
Believe we dare not fear:
We stand to pay the cost
In all that men hold dear.
What answer from the North?
One Law, One Land, One Throne!
If England drives us forth
We shall not fall alone.

Rudyard Kipling

OUR ULSTER COVENANT
The day is fast approaching and the hour is drawing nigh,
Republicans are encroaching so cunningly and sly,
But we’ll follow in the footsteps of those men so adamant,
And keep the rights our fathers gained and our Ulster Covenant.
Let foes of Britain tremble when they think of Ulster’s sons,
Who never will surrender or flee from Rebel guns.
We can depend on one another but not in our Government
They have sold out to those that hate us and our Ulster Covenant.
Let them think on Gallant Derry’s Walls and on Aughrim’s plains,
Where crimson blood by valiant hands each valley deeply stained.
Likewise with Enniskillen our ancestors did cement,
And sealed in blood our bill of rights and our Ulster Covenant.
Strong men will come to lead us, there’ll be no traitors in our rear,
The Loyalists of Ulster no danger need they fear,
Our religion is our bulwark and our cause is Heaven-sent,
God bless Carson and Craigavon and our Ulster Covenant.

THE WORDS OF WILLIAM JOHNSTON OF BALLYKILBEG
Ye Orangemen of Ulster,
Ye Loyal, True and Brave,
Arise, Arise ere yet it be,
Too late our land to save,
Arouse, arouse and put your trust,
In Him whom sits on high,
And charge the musket, draw the sword,
And "keep your powder dry."
And hoist your Orange banner high,
And sound your trump and drum,
Then soon the Loyal of the land,
Will to that standard come.
Arouse! Arouse! Your country calls,
Arm! Arm! the foe is nigh.
Let "No Surrender" be the word.
And "keep your powder dry."
So Orangemen, Arouse ! Arouse!
Tis Loyalty that calls,
Fear not the foe, our Orange flag
A traitors heart appals;
And swear before High Heaven’s Lord,
Who reigns enthroned on high,
You’ll charge these rebels on the field,
And "have your powder dry."

LORD CARSON MEMORIAL LOL 20

Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Tillibh riumsa, agus tillidh mise ribhse, tha TIGHEARNA nan sluagh ag radh. Malachi 3:7