Samuel Morrison: Twelfth isn't for BBC and others to define, but ours to celebrate
Thursday’s News Letter editorial rightly reminded us that the Twelfth is a vibrant, family-friendly celebration enjoyed by tens of thousands.
It was a welcome corrective (The Twelfth is a colourful event enjoyed by many across Northern Ireland, July 10) to the relentlessly negative framing that the BBC continues to push.
Consider this: the same BBC that grants artistic merit to a republican rap group mocking IRA victims – a group that unveiled a mural of a PSNI Land Rover engulfed in flames – dedicates hours every year to every perceived misstep by working-class loyalists, with a tone of moral superiority.
A visit to Lewes on Bonfire Night – which I have attended several times – reveals that burning effigies is not only an accepted cultural expression elsewhere in the UK but is positively promoted as a tourist attraction. Yet this context is never acknowledged by those with a predetermined narrative about the Twelfth.
The lectures are predictable and condescending, rightly ignored by a community increasingly seeing through the hypocrisy of a publicly funded broadcaster whose output often goes unwatched.
Concern for the loyalist community of the Donegall Road area might be taken seriously if the BBC bothered to report the fact that Sandy Row has been effectively shut to passing trade because of the work on Grand Central – an act that would provoke outrage if it happened anywhere other than a working-class loyalist area.
If they refuse to cover the concerns of loyalism in Sandy Row or reflect the many positive aspects of the marching season, I increasingly wonder if engagement is worthwhile, given that it is only used to legitimise their skewed coverage.
Take Kilkeel’s Eleventh Night celebrations. For years I have encouraged the BBC to report this event – a respectful, well-organised, family-oriented occasion – but they have never shown up. Why? Because it doesn’t fit their narrative.
This year’s Twelfth season again demonstrated the strength of our cultural life.
Celebrations began early with the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Banbridge District No 7 hosted the largest commemoration in NI, with tens of thousands attending in glorious sunshine.
Other districts held smaller but no less meaningful events. Annahoe No 6 and Fivemiletown No 15 hosted a fantastic VE Day celebration featuring free inflatables for children, a barbecue, a World War Two display with vehicles from as far as County Cork, and music showcasing the community’s well-earned reputation for talent.
My own district, Lower Iveagh No 1, is hosting this year’s local Twelfth demonstration. The build-up has been full of community engagement – from a standing-room-only talk on Orangeism’s role in defeating fascism to an exhibition of SEFF (South East Fermanagh Foundation) quilts commemorating innocent victims of terrorism, including the Herron family burnt to death by the IRA in Dromore.
The arch opening on the first Saturday of July brought out crowds once again. Family picnics, a duck race, a trek up Slieve Croob with a Lambeg drum, and the biggest pre-Twelfth BBQ in years hosted by my lodge, LOL 616 – attended by everyone from toddlers to those well beyond the three-score-years-and-ten – all speak to the vibrant life of our culture.
This is the reality of Orange culture: family, history, identity, and (whisper it) Protestantism. It is not the caricature broadcast by those who neither understand nor wish to.
Yes, there have been isolated controversies over the years – as there are in every large-scale cultural tradition – but they are the exception, not the rule, and they certainly do not define who we are.
So don’t buy the propaganda. You are not alone. You are one of tens of thousands who continue to celebrate our culture with joy and dignity.
The truth about the BBC? The issue isn’t a bonfire. The problem they have with the Twelfth is the Twelfth.
Everything it represents – Protestantism, loyalty, unapologetic cultural identity – is the antithesis of what some in media and politics believe we should be. The real offence, in their eyes, is that Protestant unionists dare not only to exist but to celebrate one day a year with a display of music and art which nationalism has nothing to match.
That is what really troubles them.
The Twelfth is not for our opponents to define. It is ours to celebrate.
Samuel Morrison is the TUV press officer