The photo with this article pictures me in the Stormont Chamber of Parliament Buildings sitting in what would have been my late dad’s Assembly seat. Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE was a UUP MLA from 1998 until his retirement as Father of the House in 2011.
But he may not have lived to see his retirement from Stormont if a certain convicted loyalist killer Michael Stone of Milltown cemetery notoriety had succeeded in carrying out his so-called political art one day.
It has been alleged Stone planned to throw a bag of explosives into the Chamber. Had he done so, the bag would most likely have landed beside dad’s seat and had any explosives detonated, dad could possibly have taken the full force of the blast.
However, because of the quick actions of the door staff at Parliament Buildings, an horrific tragedy was averted. But for years after that Stone incident at Stormont, I have wondered what really constitutes political art and how much freedom of expression should it be given in a democratic society?
More importantly, what should be the boundaries of political art? When does political art become a hate crime? Is political art merely a form of breaking the law or flouting regulations and using the term as an expression to try and get away with it legally?
There is the real danger that political art could become confused with cultural expression. Put bluntly, are Kneecap’s performances genuine political art or the expression of a specific type of cultural identity?
There has been much debate about the chant ‘oh ah, up the Ra!’ The ‘Ra’ in this case is often taken to mean the Provisional IRA.
But what about loyalists who might chant ‘oh ah, up the Uve!’ - a reference to the banned terror gang, the Ulster Volunteer Force. Are such chants about the ‘Ra’ and ‘Uve’ political art, sectarian provocation, cultural identity, or just simply stirring the pot by letting folks’ emotions get carried away with the heat of the moment?
Whilst Kneecap have found themselves as a group at the centre of a lot of controversy, is it fair to compare their treatment to the treatment of those skinhead bands who would express a racist ideology? Is the latter a form of political art, freedom of expression, or just simply vile racist bigotry?
The real danger for political art and freedom of expression is that the boundaries of what constitutes political art could be expanded to include the many community, loyalist and republican marching bands which are based on this island and especially in Scotland, too.
Regretfully, there have been many secular and religious musical tunes which have been ‘hijacked’ with other sectarian words substituted. Loyalist marching bands, for example, who can play the country and western tune, Home On The Range, have been accused of linking this to the lyrics of the sectarian song No Pope In Rome.
The popular Christian chorus, Jesus Loves Me, has also at times been ‘hijacked’ with sectarian lyrics.
Could a dangerous scenario arise that if Kneecap, as a band, are thrown to the wolves in terms of their stage performance, that it could have a severe knock-on effect for the loyalist marching band fraternity specifically?
For example, now that Northern Ireland is in the teeth of the traditional marching season, many Orange lodges are staging their annual divine services and church parades. Lodges march to a place of worship usually accompanied by a musical marching band which is only allowed to play Christian tunes.
But what happens if those traditional religious tunes have also been adapted to accompany openly sectarian lyrics that have nothing to do with the original hymns when they were composed in the first place?
Could we even see a situation where bands accompanying Orange lodges, Royal Black preceptories or Apprentice Boys branches to their annual divine services on Sundays are banned from playing certain religious tunes because of their unfortunate links to sectarian lyrics?
What is clearly needed in society is a precise definition of what constitutes political art so that it is not confused with cultural expression.
Perhaps, too, society also needs to define the use of political art as a form of protest. Then again, at what point, too, does political art descend into civil disobedience? So many questions, and too few answers!
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
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