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ACTIVISTS SPEAKING AHEAD of tomorrow’s Ireland For All march in Dublin have spoken about the need to “build a better Ireland for all of us”.
The demonstration, which kicks off at 1.30pm at Parnell Square on Saturday, comes amid a wave of anti-immigration demonstrations across the country, as well as incidents under investigation by the Gardaí, such as an attack on a tenting site in Ashtown, and the burning of a building in Dublin.
The march involves a broad coalition of over two hundred organisations, unions and political parties. The core message of the demonstration is a call to provide adequate public services for all in Ireland, including new arriving, refugee and migrant communities.
Speaking at the press conference on Friday morning, Chair of United Against Racism Memet Uludag said: “It is not good enough to see rising homelessness numbers in 21st century Ireland, it is not good enough that hospitals are crumbling away and that the health service is under huge stress, and it is not good enough to give lip-service to these public services.
“We are calling on the government to deal with these societal issues which have been a reason why many people in communities are angry. But we reject hate, racism and anger, and that anger needs to be directed at those responsible for running this country, not the most vulnerable sections of our communities, not to people of colour, not to migrants, not to immigrants, not to women, not to LGBTQ people,” Uludag said.
Dr Salome Mbugua, Director of Akidwa, member of Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, called on Irish people to “reject the abuse and division brought about by a few people out there. People have the right to have a life free from here.”
Dr Mbugua called on the government to develop an action plan on racism, and to introduce hate crime legislation.
All speakers also referenced the deep anxieties currently felt by migrant communities and communities of colour in Ireland.
“As a black, proud, Irish woman, I am scared. I have a lot of anxiety now. I’m always watching my back because I don’t know who’s behind me, and having all these protests that are shared on social media, with people saying things like ‘Get them out’, it worries me,” Ramatoulaye Kaloga of the I-Save Erasmus Project with the Scoop Foundation told The Journal.
Echoing fears over the heightened state of tension, Ellie Kisyombe, who is a direct provision activist and co-founder of Our Table said, “What if someone knows me? What if someone knows my address? There is so much fear. I wake up every morning and I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the day.”
Former asylum seeker Kisyombe said “For the past few months it has been very, very terrifying to see men and women living in hotels being threatened by men outside their residential homes. As a mam, raising my kids in Ireland, I am not retiring now. I am marching with many others to continue to pressure the government.”
Asked by The Journal whether the government had expressed explicit support for tomorrow’s march, Uludag said “I don’t think any government political parties have endorsed this. I’m not necessarily surprised by that.”
High profile musicians, such as Christy Moore, have also lent their support to the march. The Irish folk singer will be performing as part of the demonstration, as will artists such as Maverick Sabre, Zeztro, Smilez, Steo Wall and Adam Mohamed. The march will head from Parnell Square to the Customs House.
Uludag took care to strike a hopeful tone ahead of tomorrow’s march. “We will have a day of a different narrative. An Ireland for all, we want homes for all, we want services for all, we reject hate, and we celebrate diversity.”
“It is a true representation of what Ireland is about… We want to celebrate with a very peaceful, family-friendly, joyful event full of music.”
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There is so much fear amongst working class people in the neighbourhoods affected and none of our elected reps are listening to the people.
@KilkennyProud: elected reps should be talking to everyone, how else do we progress society +
@KilkennyProud: maybe by not demonising people by name calling and linking people with the far right would be a start.
@itzme: But there are a lot of racist muppets in these anti immigration mobs that dilute concerns by residents into soundbites to throw out on the likes of Twitter and here.
@itzme: If people were really afraid of being described as racists and being part of the far right they could consider not saying racist and far right things.
@itzme: And we progress society by not bowing down to said racist mobs and taking a hard stance that this will not be tolerated.
@KilkennyProud: Guess everything good in your community at the moment yeah. Nice.
@Paul Cunningham: The likes of Twitter absolutely Paul. The journal you’re talking the prevarible p,I,ss surely???
@itzme: yes, it is easy to have fear for strangers and you will always worry about your families safety. You may not be racists, but if you listen to those who are, you get a distorted view of asylum seekers. The continuously put up false claims, falsely blaming migrants, hindering Gardai investigations. The rapes in Finglas and Drimnagh, where they are looking for an Irish white man and arrested 2 people known to the victim , in the cases respectively. They only show crimes reportedly done by migrants only. These migrants are members of European Union and are not asylum seekers. They cherry pick data , like 5074 undocumented people came here. They don’t mention that many were not allowed to leave the plane, many of them, were whole families , or women with kids.
@Kevin Thompson: They show you only the bus load of men, show buses full of children going to a sports day, French rugby fans at the airport and claiming they are male asylum seekers. I could easily start showing news of crimes committed by Irish people in your area, that would be a total misrepresentation of the 99.9% of decent people living there. The government lack of dialogue or any communication or lack of urgency in processing applications is to blame also, they want to divide and conquer, placing all the asylum seekers in working class areas( many of which don’t vote for them), that will split the vote.
@Kevin Thompson: as with your neighbours, 99.9% are good people, this is the same with the asylum seekers, They want a better life for themselves and their families. Everyone is fearful of strangers. I would suggest instead of protesting outside direct provision centres ( some of whom will contain genuine asylum seekers, some just hoping for a better life), is try to talk to some of these guys and hear their stories. You will find that they are normal flawed human individuals like everyone else.
@itzme: maybe not demonizing asylum seekers would be a good start too. Like all part of society , housing estates,races, religions,99.9% are decent people too
@itzme: as the saying goes, if you lie down with dogs, you will end up with fleas, you need to stand up an tell these far right people, that you don’t want them involved and maybe then your local councillors and TDs will communicate with you
@itzme: stop acting like fascists and we’ll stop calling you the far-right.
@Kevin Thompson: This is what I don’t understand, people who are truly concerned about immigration should be the first to call out the small element of racists which are using these rallies to spread their hate if they want to be seen as legitimately concerned about immigration.
There is no power with, or to the people these days and quite frankly its alarming.
@Paul: You find it alarming that fearful xenophobes have no power in this country?
@KilkennyProud: There is no point trying to twist people’s words to suit your agenda. Yer coming across a bit of a shister for sure. Take a deep breath and look at this whole scenario facing Ireland at the moment. Yes a lot of far right lunatics causing havoc xenophobes and all. But maybe stop and relise some communities have a reason to be fearful. Find a bit of balance pal.
@Paul: Of course there is power to people, sure we saw two ministers resigning over failing to declare things. We also have that thing coming up called a general election.
Surely, the government works out the number of refugees it can handle and only take that number. It isn’t right to just allow any refugee in as it affects the poorest in Ireland who struggle to find homes to live in. In Turkey, they house all the refugees in tented villages, so of course they would rather come to Europe. Ukraine is the biggest issue at the moment, but then they should be distributed across Europe.
None of this hate would be gaining traction if the government built enough house after the last crash when the emergency of homelessness was starting but nope they leave it to vulture funds
The far-right anti-immigration gang are just a handful of vocal crazies who have nothing much to do all day other than protest and sit on their shabby sofas trolling. If they had a job, they would have no time to worry about and try to reverse the historical generosity of Irish people to those in dire need. I myself have no sofa but own several beautiful and expensive couches.
@Aileen Lawlor: not really- I just have good taste coupled with human decently- the kind of decency that welcomes unfortunate victims of war and oppression. No need to gush with envy of others for their taste and possessions. Just be kind to strangers, no matter where they arrive from and the colour of their skin. The latter is completely irrelevant to our shared humanity. Kindness to the stranger is a very basic but necessary human quality that elevates us above the beasts.
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