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Racism
Any discussion of Racism needs to examine the roots of Racism in
order to understand it and to struggle against it effectively. There
are basically 3 explanations for the existence of racism.
Racism: Where it comes from, How
we should fight it?
With racism on the rise in Ireland, it has become more important than
ever for anti-racist activists to examine where such ideas come from
and how they can be fought. In this article, the South African
anarchist organisation, the WSF,
puts forward its view that the fight against racism and the
class-struggle are inextricably linked.
Racism and Irish
travellers
Irish travellers are an ethnic minority who are culturally separate
to the rest of Irish society. Because they are white and most of the
are Irish, people reject the idea that the concept of racism applies
to them. However an examination of policies and practises operated by
the state and by non-state bodies clearly shows that it is racism
that defines these policies and practises.
Employment Equality Bill
[1997]
The Employment Equality Bill effectively gives schools and hospitals
which are controlled by either of the churches the right to
discriminate on the basis of marital status, family/parental status,
sexual orientation, race, religion or membership of the Traveller
Community
Anarchism: A
history of anti-racism
A history of anarchist involvement in
the fight against racism
Travellers fighting
back
The history of Irish Travellers' struggle for civil rights and ethnic
recognition. Their struggles have much in common with those of
Indigenous people worldwide and with the struggles of Native
Americans and Australian Aboriginals and also with the struggles of
Gypsies, Travellers and nomads against racism and oppression.
Who are the Travellers?
Travellers are a distinct "ethnic" group with their own traditions
and customs. Very few people want to accept that they are. This
reflects the widespread racism towards them, a racism which insists
on seeing them as "failed settled people".
Racism in
Ireland : Travellers [1993]
Very few groups or individuals on the left in Ireland
understand that the situation of Travellers is the most explicit form
of racism in this country. Because Travellers are white, people have
difficulty applying the concept of racism to them.
A taste of 1960's Mississipi in
1990's Ireland [1994]
The attack on Travellers in Glenamaddy, Co Galway last October was a
shocking exposure of the extent of the racist attitudes that Irish
people have towards Travellers.
Anti-Traveller thuggary on
increase [1995]
Over the past year, there has been a series of physical attacks on
Travellers in different parts of the country. Travellers were
attacked in Glenamaddy in New Ross, Wicklow and Bantry.
Stand up for Travellers
Rights [1995]
Three decades of polite appeals to 'liberal' politicians have changed
little for Travellers. It is up to anti-racists, trade unionists and
other ordinary working class people to join with Travellers and deal
a crushing blow to the politics of discrimination.
Travellers March against Shanty
Towns [1996]
Travellers and their supporters held a protest on December 10th last
year. The march was against the Dublin local authorities' policy of
herding Travellers into primitive temporary sites and forced removal
of Travellers into these officially constructed shanty towns.
Ireland's 'Traditional' Racism
Remains [2004]
An interview with Mrs Ellen Mongan, a Traveller with seven children.
It's 2004 and close to 1,000 Traveller famlies are still living on
the roadside without access to basic facilities-water, sanitation or
electricity
Traveller and Settled
Solidarity picket court hearing [2004]
in support of a traveller woman Mrs Harty who was summonsed by the
Gardai under the Trespass Act for failing to obey their instruction
to vacate an empty site at Brocklesby Courton Seminary Road on Corks
northside
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see articles at Refugees & Asylum seekers in Ireland
Remembering the Anarchist
Resistance to fascism
The history we learn in school would have us believe that the working
class of Germany and Italy hardly even complained about the rise of
fascism in the 1920s and 1930s. Nothing could be further from the
truth.
Fascist terror grows across
Europe [1992]
Today the fascists are not on the way to taking state power anywhere
in the world. However this does not mean that they can be safely
ignored. Tapping into widespread discontent, they are providing the
leadership and stimulus for growing racist hatred and terror. Should
they continue to grow they will pose a major threat to all working
class and left-wing organisations.
Can the European fascists take
power in the 1990s? [1993]
THE GROWTH of the far-right throughout Europe in the last few years
has alarmed many who thought fascism died with Hitler. It also has
given rise to a debate on the left over the nature of fascism, one
that has spilled over into the letters pages of Workers Solidarity.
The debate continues with Andrew Flood discussing some of the
historical features of fascism and the importance of racism as the
central plank of fascism to-day.
The fight
against fascism...yesterday and
tomorrow [1997]
On February 15th, the 'Plume Noire' anarchist bookstore was
plastered with fascist stickers. At around 5am the bookshop was
completely destroyed in an obviously well orchestrated incendiary
attack.
Fascism leading the
racists
Rostock recently became infamous as we all witnessed pictures of the
Neo-Nazi youth hurling petrol bombs at the asylum hostel containing
mostly Bulgarian and Romanian refugees. One local activist in Germany
reported the following. " On Sunday night, a line of riot police
could not prevent a second night of attacks, this time by nazi youths
armed with molotov cocktails"
Tactics to fight fascism
Fighting fascism can not be done just in terms of ideas. Fascists do
not wait until they have convinced a sufficient number of people to
put their ideas into power before they put their ideas into practise.
Even tiny groups of a dozen or less organise and carry out terror
attacks on those they oppose or scapegoat. Only physical
confrontation can deter and prevent these activities
