There’s quite a bit of racism here. The majority is directed by white people against other white people: Gaels against Poles and Settled against Travellers especially, and even Ukrainian refugees. Oh, and a lot of complaining about Brits, but they started it.
But yes, we also have our share of anti-black and anti-briwn racism. In two separate Rose of Tralee pageants, black finalists were faced with massive, aggressive harassment just for being black. If a black or brown person does a violent crime, there is a predictable chorus of people calling for stricter rules on immigration which doesn’t happen when, for example, an Italian immigrant does the same thing. Anti-immigration protests are a semi-regular thing; “Ireland is full” is a popular slogan despite the entire island having more more people on it than it did in 1845.
Islamophobia is surprisingly mild here; people are more likely to have a problem with Protestants than Muslims. There is definitely some Antisemitism, but that is frequently conflated with support for Palestine.
We even have our own fascist parties, Aontú and Independent Ireland. They are doing disturbingly well. People more politically adept than me correctly bring up that the fascists receive most of their funding and support from abroad. Nigel Garage, Steve Bannon, and to a lesser extent Vladimir Putin really want the fascists to take power. But I need to stress that foreign far right agitators didn’t create racism here, they just aggravated something that was already present.
Indeed, the global far right movement is really interested in Ireland despite us being a pretty small, weak, militarily neutral country. It’s because of soft power. For one thing, Ireland is well-regarded all over the world, except for in Israel. America in particular has a lot of people who are proud of their Irish ancestry, to the point that every presidential candidate since at least Kennedy has to make a bug show about how close they are to Ireland, and no other country’s prime minister gets an annual one-on-one meeting with the POTUS (even Israel doesn’t have such an arrangement). So if Ireland goes far right, we would influence other countries to move right.
Moreover, Ireland is unique in being a majority-white country in the Global North which got colonised, and whose people were already mostly Christian before the colonists came (though the colonists did later try to convert the natives to a different type of Christianity). Thus if Ireland was to massively embrace xenophobia, it gives other racists a powerful rhetorical tool: “Look, even the people who got colonised don’t want immigration because they know it’s a problem!” It’s similar to one of the reasons Antisemites love Israel so much: “If The Jews get to have their own country, why not white people?”
I think this is overstating a lot. Brits and protestants are not at risk here. I have not seen racism against polish people to any extent in 20 years.Travellers have a lot going against them and a lot done for them, it creates a barrier for societal aceptance when a member of certain community is far more likely to die younger, be sexually abusive etc. It is racism but its more of an aknowledgement of recognising state failures from where I am sat. There are a lot of efforts made to improve the community, from specific state housing only for them to bursary funds to encourage finishing schooling and third level.
As for fascist parties, Aontu is a breakaway from Sinn Fein from the abortion referendum. They are not someone I would align myself with and they have moved further to conservatism than they already were but calling them fasicst is hyperbolic at best. As for the NP or whoever they have no political power and are generally a laughing stock. Their existence is proof of nothing, their support would be.
There are plenty online saying x y and z but it doesnt translate to real life. Ukrainians are a topic because of housing and because the powers that be benefit from increasing discourse around the difficulties brought in by supporting Ukraine. Not because people dont like them.
I can’t believe how much creedance you are lending to anti immigration protests and Ireland is full rhetoric, it is such a tiny minority that it does not get anywhere come election time. It isnt something to ignore but christ on a bike you are fit to slate us over minor instances when there are real legitimate issues.
Does Ireland have much of a problem with racism/xenophobia? It’s not a country I normally associate with that sort of thing.
There’s quite a bit of racism here. The majority is directed by white people against other white people: Gaels against Poles and Settled against Travellers especially, and even Ukrainian refugees. Oh, and a lot of complaining about Brits, but they started it.
But yes, we also have our share of anti-black and anti-briwn racism. In two separate Rose of Tralee pageants, black finalists were faced with massive, aggressive harassment just for being black. If a black or brown person does a violent crime, there is a predictable chorus of people calling for stricter rules on immigration which doesn’t happen when, for example, an Italian immigrant does the same thing. Anti-immigration protests are a semi-regular thing; “Ireland is full” is a popular slogan despite the entire island having more more people on it than it did in 1845.
Islamophobia is surprisingly mild here; people are more likely to have a problem with Protestants than Muslims. There is definitely some Antisemitism, but that is frequently conflated with support for Palestine.
We even have our own fascist parties, Aontú and Independent Ireland. They are doing disturbingly well. People more politically adept than me correctly bring up that the fascists receive most of their funding and support from abroad. Nigel Garage, Steve Bannon, and to a lesser extent Vladimir Putin really want the fascists to take power. But I need to stress that foreign far right agitators didn’t create racism here, they just aggravated something that was already present.
Indeed, the global far right movement is really interested in Ireland despite us being a pretty small, weak, militarily neutral country. It’s because of soft power. For one thing, Ireland is well-regarded all over the world, except for in Israel. America in particular has a lot of people who are proud of their Irish ancestry, to the point that every presidential candidate since at least Kennedy has to make a bug show about how close they are to Ireland, and no other country’s prime minister gets an annual one-on-one meeting with the POTUS (even Israel doesn’t have such an arrangement). So if Ireland goes far right, we would influence other countries to move right.
Moreover, Ireland is unique in being a majority-white country in the Global North which got colonised, and whose people were already mostly Christian before the colonists came (though the colonists did later try to convert the natives to a different type of Christianity). Thus if Ireland was to massively embrace xenophobia, it gives other racists a powerful rhetorical tool: “Look, even the people who got colonised don’t want immigration because they know it’s a problem!” It’s similar to one of the reasons Antisemites love Israel so much: “If The Jews get to have their own country, why not white people?”
Thanks for such a thorough answer!
That’s a seriously good summary.
Thank you!
I think this is overstating a lot. Brits and protestants are not at risk here. I have not seen racism against polish people to any extent in 20 years.Travellers have a lot going against them and a lot done for them, it creates a barrier for societal aceptance when a member of certain community is far more likely to die younger, be sexually abusive etc. It is racism but its more of an aknowledgement of recognising state failures from where I am sat. There are a lot of efforts made to improve the community, from specific state housing only for them to bursary funds to encourage finishing schooling and third level.
As for fascist parties, Aontu is a breakaway from Sinn Fein from the abortion referendum. They are not someone I would align myself with and they have moved further to conservatism than they already were but calling them fasicst is hyperbolic at best. As for the NP or whoever they have no political power and are generally a laughing stock. Their existence is proof of nothing, their support would be.
There are plenty online saying x y and z but it doesnt translate to real life. Ukrainians are a topic because of housing and because the powers that be benefit from increasing discourse around the difficulties brought in by supporting Ukraine. Not because people dont like them.
I can’t believe how much creedance you are lending to anti immigration protests and Ireland is full rhetoric, it is such a tiny minority that it does not get anywhere come election time. It isnt something to ignore but christ on a bike you are fit to slate us over minor instances when there are real legitimate issues.