The Orange Order may be going through a process of transformation and self-examination, but it's going to take a long time, writes Carissa Casey
Drew Nelson, grand secretary of the Orange Order, seems genuinely puzzled by the media frenzy over the organisation's new cartoon character, Sash Gordon.
"We just wanted something suitable for children and we ran a naming competition in a newspaper," he explains. "It just took off - we did not expect the amount of publicity. The media seized on it - perhaps it's the first time they've noticed we've changed."
Nelson's surprise is understandable. For Orangemen, it's been a long march from the mid-summer violence accompanying the Drumcree protests in the 1990s to cute cartoon figures, but there have been far more significant milestones along the way.
In the last few years, the order has engaged with the SDLP and the Catholic Church over the parades issue; it has opened up at least some of its halls to cross-community events; the Belfast July 12th parade has been renamed "OrangeFest" in a bid to attract new visitors and hopes are now high that Tourism Ireland, the all-island body - a concept that in itself was once anathema to any proud Orangeman - will begin promoting the Twelfth to potential tourists overseas.
"Sash" is merely a decorative figure on an increasingly palatable Orange cake, or so it would seem.
In the aftermath of the Drumcree protests, amid widespread condemnation of the violence associated with them over several years and deep divisions within the organisation, the order had little choice but find a different road. According to Nelson, the impetus came from rank and file Orangemen.
In 1999, Nelson was part of a group which organised a meeting at Banbridge to discuss how the order in Co Down could re-engage with local communities. "About 50 people were expected and about 200 turned up. That's when we realised there was a vast demand and need at grass roots level. People felt the need to do something, which I think was partly driven by the negative aspects of Drumcree," he says.
Will Glendinning, former chief executive of Northern Ireland's Community Relations Council (CRC), admits that when the CRC was first approached by the Order seeking support for its community-building initiatives, he was sceptical.
Does a male-only, Protestant-only organisation have a role to play in the future of Northern Ireland? "That was a question I asked myself at the time. What I saw at that point was that a lot of effort has been put into bringing Republicans to the table but there was another group of people that were disappearing off the table. My feeling about that was, to quote Gerry Adams, 'they're not going to go away'. I'm living in a rural, mixed community. Apart from me, the rector and the rector's wife, everyone is a member of or married to a member of the order. In rural Protestant Northern Ireland, the order is the equivalent of the GAA."
Like many other Orangemen, Nelson speaks of the halcyon days prior to the Troubles when Catholics felt welcome in Orange halls, a point disputed by a significant number of nationalists. Whatever the truth, it is beyond doubt that, once the Troubles started, even Protestants felt fearful of crossing the threshold since many halls were subject to attack. In the worst incident in 1975, five members of the Orange Order were killed in a hall in Tullyvallen in Co Armagh. Nowadays, up to 70 community activities take place in Orange halls, ranging from fitness classes for elderly people to Irish dancing. Nelson believes these will attract both communities. "It's something that just happens as conditions improve," he says.
One astonishing event took place in September in the Mullaghboy hall, across the Border in Co Cavan. A seminar on the potential of sport and music to unite communities, included speakers as diverse as Peter Quinn, former chair of the GAA, and Charlie McGettigan, former Eurovision winner.
According to Charlie McAdam, a long-time member of Mullaghboy, the Lodge is no longer in "batten down the hatches and keep a lower profile" mode. It's recently invested in a pool table and a Playstation for younger members and plans more cross-community educational events. "They really help with understanding," he says.
BUT FOR ALL the giant strides taken by the Order, attacks on halls have not stopped. In fact, arson attacks have increased five-fold in the last year, a surge that mystifies Nelson. In some areas he believes he can link the attacks to dissident organisations but that still doesn't fully explain the recent upsurge.
On Halloween night, Drummartin Orange Hall in Cootehill, Co Cavan, was set on fire, an incident that sparked what he describes as a "sea-change" in attitudes among Orangemen in the Republic. "When there have been previous attacks, the attitude in the Republic is to say nothing. 'How we survive is by keeping our heads down,' they say. This time their attitude was different. They didn't mind that I went public and that's the first time that's happened. I would see that as coming out of a growing confidence," he says.
Even the Order's internal critics believe that Orangemen in the South are beginning to find their feet again.
Rev Brian Kennaway, who penned a damning book The Orange Order - A Tradition Betrayed, is somewhat sceptical of the changes initiated recently by the leadership of the organisation. "Have they reached out to the nationalist community along the Springfield Road?" he asks, referencing the still contentious Orange parade in Belfast. "They still carry paramilitary stuff on the Springfield Road. That's the negative stuff. I understand folks in nationalist communities - their perception of the Orange Order is loyalism and to them loyalism is paramilitarism. They don't see any difference. And they will never see any difference until the institution, especially in Belfast, disassociates from paramilitarism."
Kennaway is now a member of the Dublin Lodge and he does accept that the order in the South is beginning to feel a little more optimistic.
"There's a sense that the future might be brighter. A lot of the pressure is off them." As he points out, some 11 per cent of the Southern population was Protestant prior to partition and that figure now stands at about 2 per cent. "Obviously, the Order in its heyday in the greater Dublin area was very strong but it has been seriously depleted. The attitude of the Orangeman reflects that. He does feel under siege. He has been living cheek by jowl with Catholic neighbours all his life and has not been in sectarian mode. There are very few Orangemen in the South who would not attend a funeral Mass for their Catholic neighbour, contrary to the rules of the Grand Lodge." Still, when an attempt was made to hold an Orange parade in Dublin in May 2000 - the protests at Drumcree had not yet abated - Orangemen in Dublin and Wicklow received threats and the parade was called off. "I had hoped at that stage things like that would have been possible. There ought to be that level of tolerance," says Kennaway.
IT WOULD BE wrong to suggest that the Orange Order has changed its colours. Nelson has a long list of grievances on behalf of traditional Protestantism, from Northern Ireland's Football Association allowing soccer to be played on Sundays to criminalising some Orange traditions.
He believes the nationalist community in all of Ireland wants to undermine the Protestant identity as a separate ethnic group. "The Government of the Republic of Ireland call themselves the Government of Ireland. The President regularly defines herself as the 'President of Ireland'. She is not the president of Ireland. Have they redefined Ireland? It's undermining my identity. Do they do that deliberately? The level of people we're dealing with, they don't understand how demeaning that is to me." He does accept that there was discrimination by the Protestant community in Northern Ireland against the Catholic community. "I don't accept it was as bad as some people made out, but it did happen." Does he ever foresee a time when both communities on the island cease to see themselves as victims of discrimination? "The changes I have seen in my short lifetime, nothing would surprise me," he says.
Glendinning is still involved with the order through his work with Diversity Challenges, an organisation funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. He is as optimistic about the future as he is realistic. "The Orange Order is never going to be a cross-community organisation but neither is the Catholic Church. One of the things it's there for is to defend the reformed faith but it can do that in a neighbourly way. It can celebrate its culture but recognise other people have their culture. But it is going to take a very long time. There's a lot of history and a lot of baggage round the place."