Post by Stallit 2 de Halfo on Apr 30, 2008 0:01:44 GMT
A Brief History of Orangeism in Ireland
Orangeism, the ideology which promotes and protects Protestant domination over Catholics in Ireland, reaches back many centuries, and for most of the history of Modern Ireland, has been the basis of official state policy. What is rarely acknowledged among its adherents is that Orangeism is not at its heart a Protestant cultural response to Catholicism, but a deliberate sectarian tactic engineered and promoted by the British throughout the centuries to keep the people of Ireland divided and easier to rule.
As author David Boulton explains,
The primary political problem for the ruling class throughout the nineteenth century was how to hold on to power in face of the threat posed by the rise of democracy and the extension of the franchise. In England, the first industrial society, the threat of revolution was met by giving the working class a controlled share of the loot pouring in from exploitation of the Empire. In Ireland, it was met by maintaining sectarian divisions (Boulton, 15).
A narrow view will claim that sectarianism, of the Orange Order and of 'loyalists' in general, is the root of the Irish conflict, in other words, the problem is the battle between Orange and Green, Protestant and Catholic. Consider instead that sectarianism is not the source of the problems but merely a symptom of the most crucial issue facing Ireland - the incessant British imperial presence. Nationalists have been oppressed with laws designed to discriminate, censor and restrict, but unionists - those who have maintained their loyalty to the Crown - likewise have been oppressed, the British manipulating them into perpetuating societal divisions which keep them and their neighbors apart.
Over time, the ideology and identity that is 'Orangeism' found adherents among many different elements of Protestant society, including members of the gentry, business owners, religious figures, politicians, industrial and agricultural workers. In order to maintain a monolithic front, religious sectarianism - protection of the union by Protestants against the 'disloyal' Catholics - became the glue that kept all the different interests together throughout the centuries. Fiery sermons, triumphant marches, and murals reaching back 300 years to a Protestant savior king who saved a city besieged by a Catholic king, all point to a culture that without sectarianism would have very few symbols that it could share with all of its members.
Such sectarianism convinces Irish people, largely those within the working class who have nearly every routine aspect of their life in common, including their poverty and joblessness, that there is something still distinct about them, something that is so undeniably different that they must fight to protect such distinctions instead of embracing common interests. The British have successfully employed a divide and conquer strategy in Ireland, giving a few extra crumbs to their loyal subjects, and yet the loyalists do not realize that their loyalty and the rewards they reap from it are yet a different face of the same oppression which has been the scourge of their compatriots for centuries.
Seeds of Discontent
The history of 'Orangeism' in Ireland reaches back to the time of the first Protestant settlements in Ireland. Ironically, Protestants first came to Ireland as part of a Catholic queen's wish to subdue the Irish people and bring the island under her rule. Mary Tudor of England (queen 1553-58) devised a plan in which English colonists would form settlements, or 'plantations' in Ireland, clearing land of the native people. Under her 'Leinster Experiment' colonists would promise to bring sufficient English workers with them to Ireland so that they would not need to hire any native Irish laborers to work their land. Unfortunately for the English, the Irish were not easily subdued and fought against the settlers. Furthermore, the queen was unable to persuade sufficient numbers of colonists to travel to what was perceived as a dangerous and barbaric wilderness. In 1583 a second plantation was attempted in Munster, and hundreds of thousands of acres were forcibly confiscated for use by men such as Sir Walter Raleigh. Again, this plantation was mostly unsuccessful, for there still were not sufficient inducements for English settlement.
Read further:
larkspirit.com/general/orangehist.html
Orangeism, the ideology which promotes and protects Protestant domination over Catholics in Ireland, reaches back many centuries, and for most of the history of Modern Ireland, has been the basis of official state policy. What is rarely acknowledged among its adherents is that Orangeism is not at its heart a Protestant cultural response to Catholicism, but a deliberate sectarian tactic engineered and promoted by the British throughout the centuries to keep the people of Ireland divided and easier to rule.
As author David Boulton explains,
The primary political problem for the ruling class throughout the nineteenth century was how to hold on to power in face of the threat posed by the rise of democracy and the extension of the franchise. In England, the first industrial society, the threat of revolution was met by giving the working class a controlled share of the loot pouring in from exploitation of the Empire. In Ireland, it was met by maintaining sectarian divisions (Boulton, 15).
A narrow view will claim that sectarianism, of the Orange Order and of 'loyalists' in general, is the root of the Irish conflict, in other words, the problem is the battle between Orange and Green, Protestant and Catholic. Consider instead that sectarianism is not the source of the problems but merely a symptom of the most crucial issue facing Ireland - the incessant British imperial presence. Nationalists have been oppressed with laws designed to discriminate, censor and restrict, but unionists - those who have maintained their loyalty to the Crown - likewise have been oppressed, the British manipulating them into perpetuating societal divisions which keep them and their neighbors apart.
Over time, the ideology and identity that is 'Orangeism' found adherents among many different elements of Protestant society, including members of the gentry, business owners, religious figures, politicians, industrial and agricultural workers. In order to maintain a monolithic front, religious sectarianism - protection of the union by Protestants against the 'disloyal' Catholics - became the glue that kept all the different interests together throughout the centuries. Fiery sermons, triumphant marches, and murals reaching back 300 years to a Protestant savior king who saved a city besieged by a Catholic king, all point to a culture that without sectarianism would have very few symbols that it could share with all of its members.
Such sectarianism convinces Irish people, largely those within the working class who have nearly every routine aspect of their life in common, including their poverty and joblessness, that there is something still distinct about them, something that is so undeniably different that they must fight to protect such distinctions instead of embracing common interests. The British have successfully employed a divide and conquer strategy in Ireland, giving a few extra crumbs to their loyal subjects, and yet the loyalists do not realize that their loyalty and the rewards they reap from it are yet a different face of the same oppression which has been the scourge of their compatriots for centuries.
Seeds of Discontent
The history of 'Orangeism' in Ireland reaches back to the time of the first Protestant settlements in Ireland. Ironically, Protestants first came to Ireland as part of a Catholic queen's wish to subdue the Irish people and bring the island under her rule. Mary Tudor of England (queen 1553-58) devised a plan in which English colonists would form settlements, or 'plantations' in Ireland, clearing land of the native people. Under her 'Leinster Experiment' colonists would promise to bring sufficient English workers with them to Ireland so that they would not need to hire any native Irish laborers to work their land. Unfortunately for the English, the Irish were not easily subdued and fought against the settlers. Furthermore, the queen was unable to persuade sufficient numbers of colonists to travel to what was perceived as a dangerous and barbaric wilderness. In 1583 a second plantation was attempted in Munster, and hundreds of thousands of acres were forcibly confiscated for use by men such as Sir Walter Raleigh. Again, this plantation was mostly unsuccessful, for there still were not sufficient inducements for English settlement.
Read further:
larkspirit.com/general/orangehist.html