lion&lamb: Back Issue

Introduction: Political Compassion?
Derek Poole

Silly Games with Flags
Alwyn Thomson

From the Director
David Porter

Church and Society
Lesley Carroll

Education
Mike Wardlow

Social Development
Doug Garrett

Environment
Tom Clarke

Wilson on Suffering
Alan Wilson

Finance and Personnel
Stephen Roper

Enterprise, Trade and Investment
Lawson McDonald

Faith and Practice - Esmond Birnie
Megan Halteman

Higher and Further Education
John Gillespie

Health and Social Services
Brian Coulter

Agriculture
Jack Patterson

Culture, Arts and Leisure
David Boyd

The Essential IVP Reference Collection

Embodying Forgiveness
ECONI Conference

Not of This World?
New Book

Summer School 2001

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SILLY GAMES WITH FLAGS
Williamsburg is a small town in the state of Virginia and was once the capital of the British colony of Virginia. Much of the old town has been restored to what it was at the end of the eighteenth century and, as colonial Williamsburg, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the USA. We visited Williamsburg in October last year. The visitors’ passes we received were marked with a flag - or, rather, a combined flag. The Stars and Stripes of the USA formed the basis but the stars had been replaced with the Union flag of the United Kingdom. As we walked through the streets of the restored town, a Union flag marked those exhibits open to the public. The symbolism reflects Williamsburg’s history as the capital of the Colony of Virginia before the War of Independence and the capital of the State of Virginia for some years after it.

Williamsburg itself is named for a British monarch - a certain King William III of whom you may have heard. On the edge of the town stands the College of William and Mary. Just down the road is Jamestown, named for James I, and both stand in the state of Virginia, named for Queen Elizabeth I. It’s a strange state of affairs when you think about it. The Declaration of Independence denounced the monarch of the United Kingdom, George III, for his treatment of the Colonies and it was to overthrow his authority that the War of Independence was fought. So why, having fought a war to remove the authority of the British state and the British monarchy, did the Americans not excise all reference to this monarchy in the names of cities and states? These names, after all, were a constant reminder of their days as colonies under British rule.

It’s an interesting question. But it’s not the question that strikes me – it’s the contrast. Here we are, citizens of Northern Ireland in the twenty first century, incapable of demonstrating the political maturity of citizens of the United States in the eighteenth century. As communities in Ireland we love to indulge in the demeaning of the symbols of others; we rejoice in the obliteration of name, symbol and memory of the ‘enemy’. As communities, our models for these practices have been our leaders - political and religious. Nationalist Ireland and Unionist Ulster have been led by men and by governments who found time and energy in the midst of poverty, unemployment and sectarian conflict to play silly games with flags and names and symbols.

And, of course, the game goes on today - RUC or PSNI or both? Londonderry or Derry? Union flag, tricolour, neither or both? Ulster, Northern Ireland, the North of Ireland or the occupied six counties? The British Isles, these islands or the North West European archipelago?

Will we ever grow up?

Alwyn Thomson is Research Officer with ECONI.