Ireland, A Bourgeois Circus (Part IV): Racism
As with many nations in the west, incoming migration has become a key topic in political discussion. Also, similar to other western nations, migrants have been demonised and attacked.
An increase of racially motivated attacks on Indian citizens in Ireland forced the Indian Embassy in Ireland to issue a warning to its citizens to take precautions for their safety. While this in itself is disturbing, the response of the Minister of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O'Callaghan, was not at all effective in addressing the concerns of the Indian community and clearly sought to absolve his Department of responsibility and to dismiss any concerns that he is not keeping the Indian community or any minority community safe, as shown by his response after meeting with the Indian community where he pointed out that assaults are down according to crime figures, which, while great, does not mean attacks on minorities cannot also increase at the same time. He also said:
"A large capital city will always have incidents of criminal behaviour but my own view is Dublin is getting safer, I'm happy to walk around Dublin day or night and I would like the message to get out that Dublin is safe."
Ignoring the fact that he himself is not a minority which ultimately means he is less likely to be attacked, it is clear he is unwilling to admit the deep problems that exist in our capital city as it would reflect negatively on him and his position as Minister of Justice.
In an article posted by RTÉ, it was revealed that many of the attacks were committed by minors, a disturbing finding, showing that the rhetoric which is increasingly popular, that migrants are causing many of the problems facing the Irish working class, is now spreading and planting hate in the minds of the youth in Ireland which will no doubt cause further problems in the future as the radicalisation of, particularly young boys, to the far-right continues.
Of course this is beneficial to the ruling class. As we focus on further dividing ourselves, making class consciousness harder and harder to achieve, the ruling class can be sure that their fragile position in society is secure for the time being allowing them to continue their exploitation of our class.
Migrants are an easy target for governments to shift the blame to, however, in the cases of the UK, France and other former/current imperialist powers, they have no one but themselves to blame for manufacturing their “migration crises” as it was them, through colonialism and neo-colonialism, who created the poor living conditions in the counties of the global south which they exploit, forcing them to find better opportunities in the west.
To me, the thought of, especially people in Ireland, being against migrants, to be quite idiotic. As is well know by the people of Ireland and internationally, the Irish diaspora globally is large, estimates suggesting it could be as high as 70 million world wide. Similarly to the problems facing migrants in the modern world, the Irish migrants of the 19th and 20th centuries faced similar problems of discrimination and stereotyping as migrants today. The Irish were often depicted as lazy drunks, similar to how migrants today are presented as lazy and social welfare recipients rather than being productive members of society which is of course a ridiculous idea as in Ireland many medical staff such as nurses and doctors, who keep our dysfunctional healthcare system together, are from developing counties, such as India and a variety of African nations. The Irish were also often depicted as animalistic and uncivilised in publications particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, of course to justify their discrimination and poor treatment.
From this it is clear that the capitalist system and imperialist powers that up hold it are also responsible for the racism and discrimination which migrants face today and throughout history, it is clear that the end of barbaric discrimination and racism can only come about through the dismantling of the capitalist system, and it is clear that we must not fall for these tricks which the ruling class create to divide us and to secure their power.
In solidarity,
FurInform.
