12-07-2025
Northern Ireland's Orange Bands Should Stop Marching
July is marching season in Northern Ireland. The 12th of the month, which falls on Saturday this year, marks the culmination of a series of parades in which members of the majority Protestant community celebrate their ancient right to dress up in anachronistic bowler hats and orange sashes and intimidate their Catholic neighbors. There are marches, often through nationalist areas, bonfires and, although far less often than in the bad old days, sometimes riots.
Sensibly, many Catholics chose to take their annual summer holidays around the 12th, the more prosperous traveling abroad while the less well-heeled escape across the border into the Republic of Ireland for bucket-and-spade vacations in Donegal or Galway. Those who remain are faced with a stark reminder that for all the strides in healing these divided communities — which, bar sporadic flare-ups, have broadly lived in peace since 1998 — Northern Ireland is not a normal place.
