Having only just recently been to Belfast and loving it's internationalism, sadly the city is now burning - literally. Racists are attacking anyone perceived to be an immigrant and locals are getting caught up in the terror. Cars on fire have set homes on fire. My friend is on the streets directly affected and these are two of her images.
Clearly any knife attack is terrifying. Sometimes being a trauma victim makes migrants and refugees vulnerable, as we all are, to very serious mental health problems. This is why supporting and welcoming people is so important, as the more people feel safe, the less likely are their traumas going to foster violence. The people of Belfast have also suffered generational trauma because of the troubles. So is that is what is partly behind, so many of them taking to the streets and terrorising anyone in their way. I do not know. But racism and fuelled racism does seem to be one of the causes behind the terrible rioting. We know that racism is being fuelled both by right wing activists from Musk to Robinson, but it is not helped by the anti immigrant sentiments of many more centre based MPs.
Climate change is one of the causes of migration, but the terrible wars are really fuelling movement. Most Sudanese are lovely, (see Green Kardofan for example ) but that country is also in crisis, and perhaps that has affected what happened in Belfast this week. Racism damages all of us, as these pictures show.
To balance the opinion, the disregard of British norms by some illegal immigrants only inflames the wider sense of unfairness and being taken advantage of
ReplyDeleteYou are disregarding British norms, by being racist.
DeleteMy Irish friend has had to move out of her home, and is recovering from the trauma, but she squarely blames the rioters for the problems, not anyone else.
DeleteBritish social norms support fair play
DeleteWhy such hostility and name calling?
DeleteImmigrants, illegal or legal, have agency. They make decisions about coming to the UK and act on it to get there. Once they arrive the deal is that they abide by the norms and laws of their adopted country. The attempted beheading (and loss of an eye) of a local by the immigrant via the back door of Eire is well outside of acceptable behaviour. People will react. Is it not racism that the black Sudanese immigrant assaulted a white northern Irishman?
ReplyDeleteRacism explains the appalling reaction of the people of Belfast, but actually the community on the whole is working to pull together. Black and white have suffered, the economy and reputation of Belfast have suffered, all because of the kind of racist ignorance that you show. Also sometimes people want to vent their anger, but I suspect it has nothing really to do with the murder or they would be out regularly as at least two women die a week at the hands of their partners, but these racists don't rush out to condemn them. However, they seize on the zeigheist and the moment to make everyone suffer, Belfast is better for the variety of people now living there, and hopefully it will mend.
DeleteThank you for the tangential Belfast information, but my question went unanswered. “Is it not racism that the black Sudanese immigrant assaulted a white northern Irishman?” Or, to expand, could it not be seen as racism that the black Sudanese immigrant assaulted a white northern Irishman?
ReplyDeleteYou were a racist, last time we spoke and you remain a racist, at least own it, rather than hiding behind the anonymous label
ReplyDelete