We're not a dissident band.
I would say 'dissident' is a very, very, very strong word.
I think we're ... a lot of people in our band are disillusioned republicans.
To me there's certainly not a republican movement any more.
I really need somebody to vote for.
The UK, like the rest of the world, is in a crisis of political representation.
But this is Northern Ireland, and with Brexit threatening to bring paramilitaries back into
play, two decades of peace building are at stake.
Single drumbeat past that jeep!
It clearly says 'side-drum'.
It doesn't say 'side-drum', it says 'single-beat'.
Terrorist scum, off our streets!
– What do you reckon John, it went well?
I thought it went well. Aye, it did Phoebe.
You enjoyed it?
Oh I did, aye. I enjoy every parade.
So I do.
The Protestant loyalist paramilitaries have now taken a step back ... if you know what I mean.
But I would say if the likes of the IRA upped their game, it would just bring everything back again.
If it happened, I would certainly do everything to stop it, for the younger generations, like.
Marching flute bands are at the heart of working class commuities across Northern Ireland – both
republican and loyalist.
To many people, the bands represent paramilitaries. They're associated with a decades-old conflict
that could be resurrected if a hard border goes back up between the north and south when
the UK leaves the EU. But for John, David and their bands, marching is about identity.
It's about commemoration, and community.
There's people in our band who can't read or write. So they join the band and they're
treated like equals. I've lost many a friend to suicide.
And it was either me doing it myself, or joining a band.
And the band gives me a focus in my life, to go out and march on it.
Absent friends!
Do youse need them tiles over, boys?
Physically demanding.
– That's an Irish warlord. – Oh yeah.
– When did you get that one done? – I got that done the year the band started.
–Which was? – 2011.
So why did you start the band in the first place?
There was a lot of anti-social behaviour, and stuff.
Young kids drinking, and maybe taking drugs.
And all the anti-social behaviour stopped.
It dropped by 50% within the first year, and now there's none at all.
And that's proven by a police report.
– What was causing all the anti-social behaviour. do you think?
Just nothing to do.
– There's no political thing about the band? – Nah.
It was purely to do with the estate, you know.
And a lot of the band too, it would be all family orientated, family run. It's a close
knit band, if you know what I mean.
– I'll see you soon, guys. – See you.
Working class communities in Northern Ireland have been hit hard by austerity. They're struggling
with drugs, crime and mental health problems. It has the highest suicide rate in the UK.
I and a friend of mine went and followed the drug trail – one drug trail.
And we found out more in six hours, than the police had known in ...
And to me it was because the police were happy enough to let the drugs flood to areas like this.
It's still the same police force, you know?
– If there's no faith in the authorities, do you think it does give some strength to
the paramilitaries who are operating here?
Aye. I definitely do. I definitely think it does.
It happened before. And unless you change things, unless you try to change history,
there's every chance you're going to repeat it.
You know? There's aboslutely no change made here.
Frustration with old sectarian leaders, Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party, has
seen the rise of new voices.
The west Belfast rising has begun.
The socialist People Before Profit party is neither republican or loyalist and it's won
the once safe-as-houses republican seat Belfast West.
In this community, people have been presented with a false choice. People Before Profit
has blown that myth out of the water.
But more radical alternatives, like the new Saoradh party – backed by active paramilitary
group the New IRA – are also gaining support from disillusioned republicans.
– So this is Declan, who you started the band with?
Yep, yep.
When I was growing up, I was shown a road to go, and I went that road.
Only because, if you were a republican that was the way to go.
– And in those days that was Sinn Féin?
That was Sinn Féin, yep.
But if I was growing up now, would I join Sinn Féin? I don't think so. I genuinely
don't think so – and I spent the biggest part of my life as a member of Sinn Féin,
so I had.
They’re administering British rule. This is my home. I live here. I want to bring my
children up to be Irish, not to be British.
And I'm entitled to do that.
I don't want British policemen stopping me along the street, asking me who I am, where
I'm from, what I'm doing, where I'm going to. Things like that.
We were promised all those days were over. They're not.
Republican and loyalist paramilitaries were decommissioned with the Good Friday Agreement
in 1998.
But while they officially handed over their weapons, they never stood down.
The violence was just refocused on internal power struggles.
In east Belfast we got talking to a shop owner, about the problems facing working class loyalists.
The shipyards are struggling. The only jobs around here for tradesmen is driving taxis
and packing shelves. Most people here would feel the same.
– Under threat? Yep
– From who? Republicanism.
They mightn't be killing anybody or running up and down with rifles or blowing [things]
up, but there's other ways to fight a war, and that's a hidden war of ethnic cleansing
and taking jobs out of Protestant areas.
Have you been to the wee museum over here?
Come over here to this side.
He took us to meet his friend who invited us along to his band practice.
A few hours later, we were in a diehard loyalist estate in Bangor. It turns out paramilitary
leaders are still both powerful and easy to find.
The North Down Defenders is run by Dee Stitt – widely acknowledged to be the local boss
of loyalist paramilitary group the UDA.
So obviously there's a lot of inter-community violence going on within republican communities
and within loyalist communities.
That's normal society. If you look at any society in London, Manchester, Liverpool,
there's always going to be a big guy. There's always going to be a leader within that community
and there's always going to be someone trying to depose that leader.
In working class housing estates, you know, it's a jungle.
Do you think the British government is doing enough to tackle that kind of violence
in Northern Ireland?
In inter-community violence? No.
The British government doesn't give a fucking fuck about us. People see paramilitary structures,
groupings as a negative. Some people see that as a negative and will use
it as a negative against loyalist communities – the structure's still there, they're involved
in crime, they're involved in drugs, they're involved in racketeering, blah-di-blah-di-blah.
But loyalist groupings are doing some brilliant work. Involved in community development,
involved in running flute bands. Loyalist groups and loyalist leaders keep drugs out
of our communities. Full stop. Period. It's not here! North Down Defenders is our homeland
security. It says it in its name. We're here to defend North Down. From anybody!
Others within the loyalist community will do anything to keep the paramilitaries out
of their estates.
– When you were growing up and the paramilitaries were more active, it wasn't very fun for you.
No.
– Can you tell me more about that?
I was on a few ends of a couple of punishment beatings by the paramilitaries with pickaxe
handles and hammers and baseball bats. I've got plenty of scars to show as well. I was
just recovering from my first, and got my second then when I was 16.
And at that stage my girlfriend was pregnant. She collapsed in hospital. And that was it
for me. I just changed my life then and got rid of the paramilitaries from my life.
– So how did you get out eventually?
I had to pay £500. So I did.
– Money well spent?
Definitely. The best £500 I ever fucking spent. So it was.
Londonderry is just a few miles away from the Irish Republic. If a hard border does
go back up between the north and south, it's border areas like this that will face the
greatest economic and security risks.
– It could happen again?
It could, definitely. 100% it could happen again.
But the communities would have to stand up to them to stop it happening. And to be fair,
in this day and age, the community speaks for a lot. Like you see even the [Irish] nationalists
now, they're starting to turn their back on the paramilitaries up in Belfast and things
like that. They don't want it, like. And it's the same as down here.
People are disillusioned, so they are. Because I'm disillusioned, it doesn't make me a dissident.
As far as I'm concerned, the war's over. The war should be over.
Everyone has their own way of remembering things, you know.
Is it right that we should keep marching to remember?
I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, either.
But while they're doing it, and if they need a band, we're going to be there.
It's just the way it is.
– Everybody thinks we're bad cunts, but we're not.
– It's a family. – This is our culture, this is our life.
– We love it. – Aye, I love it.
– Aye, I love it. – I love it.
– We love it!
– All aboard!
Northern Ireland is still deeply scarred by the Troubles and it doesn't want them back.
If sectarian violence does creep back onto its streets, it will be negligence rather
than public appetite that allowed it in.