You Don’t Get to be Racist and Irish.
Racism is a cancerous disease that is slowly infecting our communities, an ideology that is latching itself onto working class issues such as housing, health care and employment.
The rise of Racism isn’t a new phenomenon, however, it feels new. It has been brewing in Ireland for decades, but why is it now, that it is deemed acceptable and why is it, that now it’s legitimised?
We have seen the rise of far right parties and organisations all over Europe and further afield in the last decade, but we have ignored it in Ireland.
The National (Nazi) Party was formed in 2016 by Fascists, Justin Barrett and James Reynolds. Barrett has attended and spoke at events organised by the Fascist NDP in Germany, and also the Forza Nuova in Italy. He has called for a blanket ban on Muslims entering Ireland, and the party advocates Racial Profiling.
The Irish Freedom Party (IFP) was founded in 2018, and current party president is Hermann Kelly. Kelly is an advocate of the ‘Great Replacement’ theory, a white nationalist ideology that spouts belief in one master race.
There is also a plethora of individual ‘activists’ across this island that are not aligned to the political parties above, but are very popular among the Catholic middle class and the defranchised working classes – these ‘activists’ are also racist.
Fascism has a long history in Ireland, and there seems a naivety, that as progressive people it does not exist. There is an ignorance around racism that it’s somewhat acceptable to say ‘knacker’, ‘tinker’, ‘chink’ and ‘gypsy’ but not use other derogatory terms. This still makes you a racist.
The far right are rising, and they are recruiting within our communities, north, south and on either side of the so-called ‘peace walls’. Organiser’s will cloud their hate speech with populist and topical issues, making it difficult to disagree with their advances – and this is how they legitimise it.
Never tolerate racism, it might be a ‘harmless’ joke, it might be a throwaway comment and it also might be genuine hatred, but it grows.
Remember – You don’t get to be racist and Irish.
