A-Infos (en) Britain, *Organise! #62 - RACISM RISING

As the `peace process' hits yet another brick wall, the rise of racism in
North Ireland is viewed by some as the price we will have to pay for
`normalisation', as though the blow-torch of sectarian invective will simply
switch its focus on another set of blameworthies,marked out as somehow `different'.
 > Playing the race card
In fact, with the recent electoral success of Sinn Fein and the DUP, the
north is facing months, if not years, of continued polarisation. Racists
from the WNP (White Nationalist Party), the BNP (British Nazi Party)
and others are not, however, waiting for one ­ism (sectarianism) to
leave by the back door before breaking into the house with another.

Racism in our society is not a new phenomenon:
ethnic groups have experienced institutionalised
racism and racist attacks throughout the
`troubles'. Travellers have been and continue to
be among the most discriminated against groups
in Irish society north and south. What cannot be
doubted is that racism must be tackled.

Statistics

The dramatic rise in the number of "racial
incidents" in the north over recent years is
illustrated clearly by statistics. Between 1996
and 1999, more than 350 race-motivated attacks
were reported, a 400% increase on the previous
period. The number of attacks on children also
doubled - rising from 8.5% of total attacks in
1996 to more than 16% in 1999. The annual
total increased from 186 to 269 incidents
between 1999 and 2000 - a rise of 45%. Over
the last two years these high levels of attack have
continued. 226 racial incidents were reported
between April 2002 and April 2003, with 185
such attacks in the previous year. Also, due to
victims' fears over coming forward and their lack
of confidence in the police tackling racist
violence, the official statistics are likely to
significantly understate the extent of the
problem.
The truth is that Northern Ireland is fast-
becoming the race-hate capital of Europe,
breaking the UK's record for the number of
racist attacks: spitting and stoning in the street,
human excrement on doorsteps, swastikas on
walls, pipe bombs, arson, the ransacking of
houses with baseball bats and crow bars,
and white supremacist leaflets nailed to
front doors.

Attacks

In the last few months, the Chinese
community, the largest ethnic minority in
the north, and which has had a presence
here since the 1960s, has borne the brunt
of most of these attacks. A local estate
agent in the Village area of south Belfast
has been warned not to accommodate
`Chinese, Blacks, or Asians'. Ten tenants
have already been forced out via a
systematic campaign of racial abuse. Last
month, Ugandan and Romanian families
were burned out. A six-foot plank was
hurled through the front window of the
home of a Pakistani woman who was eight
months pregnant. She and her brother-in-
law had moved in just twelve hours earlier.
A Swedish family were burned out of their
homes in Lurgan, presumably because
they spoke with an accent (!), and a few
miles away in Portadown there is
continuing friction around the proposal to
build a mosque in the area.

Role of loyalism?

With the standing down of the South
Belfast commander of the UVF, following
the racist attacks in the Village area,
denials of loyalist paramilitary involvement
ring hollow. Earlier in the year David
Ervine, in an interview with Matthew
Collins published in the February edition
of Searchlight magazine, stated that he was
in no position to "legislate for arseholes"
and that;
"Racism is not acceptable to me and the
UVF leadership has assured me that they
are not going to sanction racist attacks, nor
am I going to stand by and allow it to go
unchallenged."

Links have and do undoubtedly exist
between loyalism and fascism, both are
ideologically based on British nationalism.
While perhaps the leadership of loyalism
may, in the words of Patrick Yu of the
Chinese Welfare Association, "seem very
serious" about taking responsibility and
confronting racism it remains to be seen
just how effective people like Ervine will
be in confronting racism. They have
already stated that the BNP is welcome to
stand here ­ while of course denying that
they will get many votes. Whether the
standing down of the UVF commander
who "sanctioned" racist attacks in the
Village puts a stop to such attacks remains
to be seen.
According to a report in the Observer
newspaper (December 28th 2003), a
leading UDA figure in the area stated;
"...he would not tolerate or sanction any
attacks on the ethnic minority community
by any of his members."
South Belfast DUP spokesperson Mark
Robinson has claimed that it was merely a
coincidence that racist attacks were taking
place in loyalist areas. Even after the
attack on the home of a Muslim family,
and death threats against Muslim leaders
in Craigavon, some local councillors were
still denying that there was any racism
there. Former Unionist Party Mayor Fred
Crowe said;
"I do not accept that there is racism in
Craigavon. It would be better if the police
did their job in the area and concentrated
on paramilitaries and drug dealers."
The PUP have supported Filipino workers
in Antrim, and recently issued a joint
statement with NICEM condemning racist
attacks. A small number of loyalists were
also present at the recent anti-racist rally in
Belfast. Many loyalists are undoubtedly
sincere in their anti-racism and identify
fascism and nazism as ideologies which
many of their parents and grandparents
died to rid the world of in W.W.II.

Combat 18, the WNP and two BNP's

Combat 18 (a violent paramilitary nazi
organisation named after the position of
Adolf Hitler's initials in the alphabet)
banners have been reported at Seaview
football ground. Nick Griffin, British
National Party (who have tried to recast
themselves as the respectable face of
British fascism) leader, has been reported
as visiting `disaffected' loyalists in recent
weeks. The White Nationalist Party, a spli
from the British Nationalist Party, have
according to the Sunday Life newspaper,
been recruiting throughout north Antrim,
mainly in Ballymena, but with cells also in

Portadown and south Belfast. Another of
the groups currently circulating hate
literature is the November 9 Society. Also
known as the British Nazi Party, the group
takes its name from the anniversary of
Kristallnacht - the night in 1938 when Nazi
mobs went on the rampage throughout
Germany, killing almost 100 Jews and
destroying thousands of Jewish-owned
businesses. The BNP is thought to be
preparing to target Dungannon and the
area covered by South Tyrone borough
council, where there is a growing
population of Portuguese migrant workers.
Both the WNP and British Nazi Party
have denied responsibility for the recent
increase in racial tension. One source for
the BNP has claimed that:
"The people who go out to commit those
type of acts are unhinged. And whether
they read our literature, or anyone else's
literature, if they are that way inclined
that's what they will do."
So when the words (hinged, naturally!) on
the leaflet say:
"Asylum seekers would be asked to leave
immediately; if they refused they would be
marched to the coast, by the Army, and
told to swim"
...anyone reading the words, agreeing with
them, and attempting to put them into
action are somehow `unhinged' while the
authors are not.(?) (Sunday Life, July 13th
2003).

The Far Right on the move?

Tactically, the far right wants to be in place
and ready to capitalise politically on any
"explosion" in the number of asylum-
seekers entering the North. Already the
government and media across the UK and
Ireland are doing much of the ground
work for them ­ with regular scare stories
about "gypsy invasions", "floods of
immigrants", "maternity tourism" and
"welfare scroungers".
The far right's key date will be the summer
of 2005 when local government elections
are scheduled, with speculation that the
BNP, NF and WNP will try to repeat
some of the election successes of the
British National Party in England.
As libertarian communists, members of
Organise! and others in the north, need to
rise to the challenge. We are aware of how
racism is used to scapegoat failed
economic policies, and to divide our class.
We need to counter this with our own
vision of multi-culturalism, flourishing in a
world without borders, and without the
fiction of racial difference.
For more info about Organise!, check out their website
at: www.organiseireland.org
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