Is Ireland a racist society?
http://ciarantierney.com/
It’s a
subject most of us choose to ignore, something that makes us just a little bit
uncomfortable in the context of how many people from our own island have chosen
– or been forced to make - new lives in other parts of the world.
The island
has changed beyond all recognition over the past 20 years and it was
significant that there were no representatives of the mainstream media present
when the Galway Anti-Racism Network was launched at a public meeting which
attracted a capacity attendance this week.
The speeches
went on for almost four hours, yet nobody complained. It was the first time in
memory that such a diverse range of speakers shared a platform, to share their
own experiences of racism in the City of the Tribes.
Under the
title ‘All Tribes are Welcome’, it was amazing to see the positive reaction
among the attendance at the launch at the Galway Rowing Club.
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| The capacity crowd at the Galway Rowing Club. Photo: Shane Broderick |
These were people
who rarely get a mention on the national airwaves, people who feel marginalised
and that their voices are never heard.
The atmosphere was all the more electric because no event like this had ever taken place in the city before.
The atmosphere was all the more electric because no event like this had ever taken place in the city before.
The
organisers of the meeting have called for an overhaul of the Incitement to
Hatred Act after being taken aback by the sheer number of people who attended
and shared their stories. They are also hoping to liaise with Gardai and
schools to bring the anti-racism message into the wider community.
Speakers
included an African taxi-driver, members of Ireland’s Muslim community, a
former asylum seeker, a Traveller woman, and a black-Irish woman. Each of them
told the four hour meeting of their own experiences of racism in Ireland.
Taxi-driver
Henry Williams spoke of the casual racism of late night revellers on the city’s
taxi ranks who walk pass three or four black drivers before getting into a cab
with a white Irish driver for their journey home.
Singer
Sharon Murphy, star of BBC television series ‘The Voice’, told the meeting
about the pain she experienced growing up as a black person in rural Co Galway
and the fear she felt when she first visited Harlem in New York.
As more and
more black people got onto the subway train, and more and more white people got off,
she realised she had inherited a fear of people of her own skin colour during
her childhood in Connemara.
“In Clifden,
in Connemara, I learned to be afraid of people like myself,” she said. “I
remember the terror I experienced when I first went to Harlem. I realised the
negative messages I had been given about black people.”
Former
asylum seeker Mosa Moshoeshoe spoke of the pain of trying to live on €19.10 per
week under the Direct Provision system, when she was keen to work.
She said she
was a poor role model for her children, but because she was a refugee awaiting
asylum she did not have the option of getting a job in Galway. Even though she
has since been granted permission to stay in Ireland, she has been unable to
find a house to rent.
Mosa told
the meeting about a friend in Co Wexford who was unable to rent out a house.
She was turned down by a landlady when she phoned to see if a house was
available. A day later, her Irish friend discovered that it was still
available.
Her friend
was pretty sure she had been turned down for the accommodation because of her
African accent.
Bridget
Kelly of the Galway Traveller Movement said her community faced daily
discrimination in the areas of accommodation, health, employment, and
education.
“Being
refused access to hotels and pubs, being unable to get a house when people find
out you are a Traveller, you feel ashamed of who you are,” she told the hushed
attendance.
Imam
Imbrahim Noonan spoke of the Islamophobia he has experienced from people who
were later shocked to realise that he was Irish-born. He said that his
children, whose mother is Pakistani, had experienced a different form of
racism.
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| Speakers at the launch of the Galway Anti-Racism Network. |
Imam Noonan,
of the Galway Islamic Cultural Society, pointed out that Islamic terrorists
were only a tiny minority among the global Muslim community. Yet some people in
Ireland wanted to blame all Muslims for the actions of the tiny minority.
According to
a spokesman, Joe Loughnane, the number of people who turned up for the first
public meeting of the Galway Anti-Racism Network (GARN) vastly exceeded the
expectations of the organisers.
“People
brought food and were keen to engage with each other,” he said. “We couldn’t
believe it when the place started filling up 20 to 30 minutes before we even
began. People were just so happy to share their stories.
“They had
never been in a room that was so diverse and yet everybody seemed to be
speaking from the same page. The message was very much one of solidarity and
positivity. People seemed to recognise that this coming together was something
that needed to happen.
“All of the
speakers were thrilled by the reaction of the people in the room. They did not
feel judged and they were so happy to share their stories. There was a real
spirit of action, of getting things done, in the room.
“People were
taken aback by how similar their experiences were. It was unprecedented to have
a black taxi-driver, a Traveller woman, a black Irish woman, an asylum seeker,
and Muslim representatives sharing the same platform in the West of Ireland.”
He said it
was clear that racism was an issue in Ireland, but that a lot of it took place
behind people’s backs.
Mr Loughnane
spoke of his own experience growing up as a half-Irish, half-Pakistani man in
Galway. He found that he experienced racism when he went into the city centre
with one of his parents, but not with the other.
“There is
this sense of people being taught to hate themselves or being ashamed of who
they are,” he said afterwards. “Thankfully, we do not have an active far-right
here in Ireland. But we want to challenge racist myths that are out there. We
want to challenge racism wherever we see it.”
The meeting
concluded when Ms Murphy led a spirited version of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption
Song’.
* Thanks to Shane Broderick for the photos of the GARN launch. For further information about the GARN, who meet every Tuesday evening, check out their Facebook page at:
