Anarchist News
No 16 October 1997
Give the racists the boot
For decades the Irish State and many Irish people
have been consistently racist in their treatment of the Traveller
population. This has led to a situation where the infant mortality
rate among Travellers is three times higher than that of the settled
community, 70 - 80% of all adult Travellers are illiterate and over
1,000 families live on unserviced sites without access to such basics
as running water, electricity, refuse collection or fire protection.
Travellers are treated by State services, and by many people, as
Ireland's 'untouchables'; and anti-Traveller protests have been an
all too frequent occurrence over the past number of years.
Since the end of June almost 1,000 people whose journeys
originated in Britain or in the North have been refused leave to
enter the 26-County State. (RTE 9p.m. News, Sat. 11 October) This is
an average of over 8 people a day being turned away from our "cead
mile failte" shores. The Sunday Tribune of September 7th reports that
a 20-year old black English tourist, who has been visiting relatives
on both sides of the border since he was a child, has recently
received a letter from a garda immigration officer informing him that
he was prevented from entering the Republic.
Buses and trains from Belfast to Dublin are regularly entered by
immigration officers. Again the Sunday Tribune (Sept.7) reports on a
bus from Belfast to Dublin which was held up for 30 minutes while the
only black person on board, a foreign tourist, was questioned by
immigration officers. A recent (early October) bus journey from Derry
to Dublin was interrupted 4 times as immigration officers boarded the
bus in their search for "illegals". A spokesperson for the Irish
Council for Civil Liberties is quoted as saying that there has been
"anecdotal evidence of very heavy-handed and severe behaviour by
gardai and immigration officers." In The Irish Times (18 October) CIE
Train workers revealed racist Gardai were asking if there were any
Black people on board their trains. The government still denies there
are criteria for who is stopped and questioned!
How can Racism be fought?
There are those who argue that a campaign against racism must be
inclusive and must include all those who call themselves anti-racist.
But we must remember that all the major political parties (Fianna
Fail, Fine Gael, Labour, PDs, Democratic Left) have been in
government recently. They all agreed to immigration controls (as
included in the Refugee Act). They all refused to provide decent
facilities for Travellers. It was the Rainbow Coalition which in its
final days in office introduced the strict border controls now being
implemented by Fianna Fail and the PDs in such a racist manner.
Yet the politicians have no problem looking after the beef barons
and the supermarket tycoons, they have no problem extending Irish
citizenship to anybody who has a million pounds to invest in Albert
Reynolds' pet food factory. You will notice, we're sure, that any
time an establishment politician - even those who claim to be
anti-racist - refers to Travellers or to immigrants, he/she talks
about them as a "problem".
There is no point therefore in seeking support for a fight against
racism from supporters of the status quo - from representatives of
the very system which needs to divide us in order to survive. Irish
working class people need no reminder of what it is to be an
"economic refugee". We must remember instead that as working class
people we have much more in common with people who are coming to this
country in an attempt to avoid persecution or abject poverty than we
do with the likes of Charlie Haughey, Michael Lowry, Tony O'Reilly,
Larry Goodman or any of the rest of our exploiters.
Stand up to racism
A tough anti-racist, working-class-based campaign under a slogan
such as "All different, all equal, all exploited" is needed. Let's
build it together.
Just published a new WSM pamphlet 'Parliament or Democracy?'
What is Racism
Racism is, in essence, discrimination against a group of people on
the basis of characteristics which are either truly or falsely
attributed to them as a group. It can be based on many perceived
differences such as skin colour, nationality, language, belief,
culture or customs. Its most common manifestation is in
discrimination on the basis of skin colour. While racism is usually
ascribed to by people who have a belief in their "superiority" over
the group which they are racist against, people are not inherently
racist. No child is born hating people of a different colour; this is
a behaviour which has to be taught. Racism is in fact a product of
Capitalism and of the "divide and rule" tactics of politicians and
the ruling class.
The Case against Immigration Controls
HAVING BEEN USED to exporting our people (to
Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, etc.) the hysteria whipped up
when a few thousand refugees and immigrants came here was
hypocritical in the extreme. While the government has gardaí
searching for suspected "illegal immigrants" at the airports, ports
and border crossings; the Minister for Justice was able to take a few
days off in early October to plead in person with the American
authorities for legal status for the tens of thousands of Irish
"illegals" in the USA.
Practically every family in the country has relatives living
abroad. If there has been any "flood" of people across borders, it
has been a flood out of Ireland. 150 years ago there were 8 million
living in Ireland. Today it is only 5 million. So, only a lunatic
could make a case that Ireland cannot support any more people.
The government has responded to rising racism with measures to
make it even harder to get into Ireland. That is why the 'free travel
area' was abolished and there are now gardaí doing passport
checks on practically every Black or Asian person who steps off the
Hollyhead ferry.
Whenever politicians talk about immigration controls, you can be
sure they are not talking about white Americans, Canadians or
Australians. A decade ago thousands of white South Africans arrived
here. There was no media campaign against them, no politicians
stirring up racism, no recruitment of retired gardaí to
"process" their applications to be allowed stay here.
We are all immigrants
Those who want to "regulate" and "control" entry into Ireland
ignore the fact that we are all descended from immigrants. Throughout
history people moved from one place to another in search of a better
life. What are we "Irish" but a mixture of earlier immigrants: Celts,
Saxons, Vikings, Normans.
Anyone calling for stricter controls is implying that refugees and
immigrants are a "problem". But we only hear this said when the
immigrants are not white. The assumption is that a few thousand black
people in Ireland is a problem, if this is not a racist assumption
what is? Nobody minds if you are from America, but if you come from
Somalia you are labelled a "problem".
Anyone calling for controls is also assuming that refugees and
immigrants are a burden. In fact, the opposite is the case. Everyone
coming here has the ability to work and earn a living, and most have
already had their education paid for by their own country. The burden
is on the refugees because the government does not allow them to work
until their cases are processed - which can take two years or longer.
Anarchists want to see a world without borders. Just as the rich
can go and live where they please, so should the rest of us have the
same right. That is why we reject all immigration controls.
Different cultures can add to the rich tapestry of human
experience. At the end of the day there is only one race - the human
race, but there are two main classes - bosses and working class. The
choice we have is to either line up with the Charlie Haugheys and Ray
Burkes against 'foreigners'; or to line up with working people like
ourselves against the rich who have been ripping us off for far too
long.
Who benefits?
The purpose of immigration controls is not to defend the PAYE tax
payer, which is clear when we see incredibly low taxes on profits and
tax amnesties for the rich. The purpose is one which suits the
government's own agenda - to suggest that Black, Arab and East
European people are responsible for so much of our wages being taken
in tax and for the understaffed welfare system.
And this nicely lets the ruling class off the hook. They live a
life of magnificent (and usually corrupt) luxury at our expense while
we are supposed to turn against each other because some have a
different skin colour. It is not a coincidence that the newspapers
(Independent, Herald, Star) owned by one of Ireland's richest men -
Tony O'Reilly - have been loudest in scapegoating immigrants.
It is the same politicians who made it necessary for so many of us
and our families to leave this country in search of work who are now
stoking the fires of racism against those who are coming here in
search of a better life.
Find Out More!
WSM branch meetings (sympathisers welcome)
Nov 3 : Parliament or Democracy?
Nov 10: Russia 1917: burying myths
Open meeting (all welcome)
Nov 24: Why Socialism from below?
All meetings at 8.30 upstairs in the Bachelor Inn, Bachelors Walk.
About Anarchist News
Anarchist News is produced by the Workers Solidarity Movement. We
stand for a socialism that is based on freedom and real democracy. If
you'd like information about anarchism send a 32p stamp to WSM, PO
Box 1528, Dublin 8.
