Addicted to Hatred?

Racism is nothing new, anywhere in the UK

Esther Rantzen made headlines with her comments on the BBC’s Question Time panel discussion last night that Northern Ireland is addicted to hatred. She may be right, but she also implied, totally falsely, that the attacks on Romanian travelling families this week constituted a move from sectarianism to racism. Sadly, Northern Ireland has been and remains very much contaminated by both – but this is not something which will be changed by presumptious middle-class people making high-minded statements.

In general, sectarianism and racism are a poison in Northern Ireland society – a poison which comes from our divisions in the form of an ignorance of those who are different. That ignorance, as John Dunlop pointed out is his book Presbyterians in Ireland – A Precarious belonging, then breeds fear, which in turn breeds hatred, which in turn breeds violence. There is nothing uniquely Northern Irish about this – after all, it wasn’t Northern Ireland which returned two BNP MEPs to the European Parliament this month. What is uniquely Northern Irish (in a UK context) is the way in which its society is divided to create the space for that poison in the first place.

This week, what we saw was a series of attacks on the homes of “Romanians” (to be specific, Romanian travellers from what is generally known as the “Roma” community which is spread right across Europe), and then a reaction to it from local people who sought to comfort the victims in the form of street protests, gifts, and accommodation. This reaction stemmed from the different nature of these attacks from previous ones on foreigners (which have gone on over the past week too, largely unreported – this is an important point to which I will return), in that the attacks were on “Roma”, and the location was on the Lisburn Road (a largely prosperous, “middle-class” area). The “Roma” are different from other foreign nationals who have arrived in Northern Ireland in recent years, in that they are not generally automatically entitled to residence, they do not generally hold down jobs (e.g. in shops, restaurants or local businesses – seen instead trying to wash cars, sell papers or just directly begging), and they are travellers by nature. The Lisburn Road is different because it is rather nearer where the “influential” in Northern Ireland’s society live – hence the greater media and political interest – and my earlier point that other attacks have gone on elsewhere in the past few days, but just not near the “influential” classes. This second point is probably of greater relevance than the first.

Ultimately, we all like to think we are decent, upstanding, honest people. But the strong reaction to these attacks – attracting massive local support and international headlines – needs more examination, because it gets to the root of the poison which affects all of us. Let us ask, first off, just three questions:

- The basic headlines indicate that over 100 “Romanians” were living with over 20 and perhaps as many as 40 in each house – does this seem likely, and how would anyone develop a Housing policy to cope with such an influx to any area?

- How would your average middle-class NI resident react to tens of foreigners moving into just a few neighbouring houses?

- What, politically, has actually been achieved for less well-off areas of NI which have seen the most immigration in the past five years (despite the fact they were the most overtly troubled by sectarian strife in the first place)?

It is not for me even to attempt to answer these questions – but it is essential that they are posed. It is very easy to talk about “racism”, and to condemn it, and to condemn an entire city for it. It is not quite so easy to get involved in a community already poisoned by lack of work, lack of opportunity and lack of meaning, and try to extract from it the very sectarian poison which holds it back, when the situation looks so hopeless whether it poisoned or not. So let us pose three more questions:

- In terms of Housing policy, did the rates relief for those living in mansions assist or further deprive the communities from which these “racists” originate – and did those condemning them support or oppose that relief?

- In terms of education policy, does the current education system assist or further deprive the communities from which these “racists” originate – and do those condemning the “racists” support or oppose that system?

- In terms of basic finance, does a move towards free prescriptions, free travel for over-60s and other such “goodies” assist or further deprive the communities from which these “racists” originate – and do those condemning the “racists” support or oppose those moves?

The fact is that too many communities in Northern Ireland are totally ignored – by the media, by our political leaders, by our “influential” classes – until they do something which impacts upon those who do not have to live in them. It is no surprise, therefore, that sectarianism and racism continue to be so poisonous – and it is those shouting loudest about them who need to remember they have the toughest choices to make to stop the contamination.