For the first time since 1969 the Irish are going to observe the Easter Rising of 1916 with a military parad. They will celebrate the Easter Sunday when Irish patriots (or terrorists) rose in rebellion against the Brits and seized the General Post Office. The result was the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922 and independence from Britain for the Irish after centuries of oppression.
In the Daily Telegraph Tom Peterkin reports that
Bertie Ahern, the prime minister, has said that the parade is an opportunity to build on the Easter Rising's legacy and pay tribute to those who built the republic.
and also identify his Fianna Fail party with Irish nationalism, as opposed to Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, which has reached 10 percent popularity in Ireland.
But some say that it “will romanticise the violent rebellion used by the Provisional IRA.”
Back in Britland a Telegraph editorial about the event keeps a stiff upper lip and commends the Irish.
We hope the weather holds, and the participants enjoy themselves. As we often observe in the context of Orange marches, the ideal ought to be of a society where such parades can happen uncontroversially.
Then comes the little dig.
We hope that Unionist politicians will attend the ceremony in future years; and, by the same token, that Northern Ireland's republicans will turn out to applaud their Orange neighbours' parades.
The parade will feature a march past by the Irish Defence Forces so presumably there won’t be a flap over whether the Irish gays and lesbians get to demonstrate their Irish pride.
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