Front Lines: Multiculture Club

A local Labour election candidate in Mullingar, Gerry Sheridan, made headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when he reported a 32-year old mother of three to the litter warden for tearing up and throwing back at him a leaflet he’d just stuck through her letter-box.

Michelle Byrne saying that she’d rather go to prison than pay the €150 fine she’s been issued with probably wasn’t the story Labour’s election strategists wanted dominating the following day’s new agenda.
“Between going to work and campaigning I’ve only glanced at the papers this week but no-one’s thrown any leaflets at me here in Tallaght,” reports another of Labour’s local election hopefuls, Kemi Adenekan, who’s looking to win a seat on South Dublin City Council. “Quite a few have asked, ‘Why are you standing for Labour rather than as an independent?’ but they know who I am from the work I’ve done in the community and are always polite. They’re frustrated – they want change but don’t think any of the major parties can deliver it. My task is to convince them that Labour can improve housing, schools and hospitals locally. If I can’t, I’d rather they vote for another candidate than not vote at all.”
Adenekan is from Edo State in western Nigeria but spent most of her teenage life in Lagos before moving to Dublin 14-years ago. Although a keen supporter back home of Adams Oshiomhole, the former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress who’s now Edo State Governor, she doesn’t identify as a socialist.
“I wanted to be what he was – a voice for the community – without necessarily having to join a party,” explains Kemi who, in addition to her household staff job at Peamount Hospital, has been an active member of Get Tallaght Working, Tallaght Women On The Move, An Cosan and the Tallazen project. “As I went to more and more meetings though I found it was Labour councillors and TDs who were there listening to what was being said. One councillor in particular, Mick Duff, was very supportive of me and I liked the fact that they’re trying to get more women and foreign people involved with the party.”
Kemi was angered last year when, sitting in Tallaght District Court, Judge Anthony Halpin spoke of a “total breakdown” of social order in the area.
“You wouldn’t say, ‘The whole of Nigeria is a bad country’ because those poor girls were kidnapped in Chibok,” she reasons. “Tallaght has its social problems – everywhere does – but overall the quality of life is very good.”
It’s top of the agenda in the UK, but in Tallaght hardly anyone’s talking to Adenekan about immigration.
“Here, anyway, it’s all about services. People recognise that I’m rooted in Tallaght and don’t treat me any differently to the candidates who were born here. I’ve never experienced any racism. Neither have my husband or two children who go to school in Oldbawn and call themselves Tallafornians! I try to encourage people from my background to get involved because politics is an essential part of the integration process.”
Race may not be an issue in Dublin 24, but sadly it has been in the Fingal/Castleknock ward where People Before Profit candidate Memet Uludag, a Muslim Turk, has had his posters vandalised.
“I discovered it just before the Bank Holiday Weekend,” the father of one who moved to Ireland in 1998 tells Hot Press. “On Thursday night passing through Blanchardstown’s main street I saw two of my posters had pieces of raw bacon attached to them. I’ve been involved in anti-racism activities and networks and I’m quite aware of the racist debates and discussions in Ireland and Europe. I’ve come to understand, style-wise, this was very similar to what we’ve seen in Britain, France and Germany. What the British and French media call the ‘bacon attacks’. It was, ‘Let’s send a message to Muslims – we don’t want you here.’ I was shocked as it’s new in Ireland. It’s an escalation that we don’t want to see in a democratic process. There are 1,700 or so candidates in these local elections and no other candidate is being put on the spot or targeted because of their beliefs or spirituality. People should be judged on their politics.”
Far from derailing his campaign, Memet feels the racist attacks have merely served to marginalise the perpetrators.
“What the vandals didn’t know is that I love my bacon – not on my posters but in the morning!” he laughs. “I reported it to the Gardai straight away and took pictures. It was picked up the following day by online and printed media, with the Irish Times publishing a supporting statement. We decided to turn it into a positive thing. I called a gathering – not a protest – on the Saturday at the same spot with the vandalised posters replaced by diversity ones. It was a non-party political affair. There were people who told me they mightn’t vote for me, but support me in the fight against racism.
“Unfortunately, the poster attacks have continued. Bacon has been plastered over my face on three of them and another 50 or so have been shredded or thrown-away. I suspect it’s a very small minority doing it.”
Although relatively new to party politics, Memet has been actively involved in everything from the Campaign Against Connolly Hospital Cuts and Right To Work to the Irish Anti-War Movement and Unite The Union.
“It was important to highlight the bacon attacks, but what really matters are issues like unemployment, forced emigration, job schemes that don’t give people a living wage, water charges, school class sizes and the housing crisis – there are 9,000 people waiting for homes in Fingal and only 450 per annum being built. Am I going to tell my five-year-old, ‘You were born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, in the wrong area?’
“I came here as a migrant worker but I’m not a migrant anymore,” he notes. “The political process is key to making people feel that they belong here. They need a stake in their communities and Irish society in general.”
Those sentiments are echoed by Wladek Hanczar, a Polish independent running in Kilkenny City West for a seat on the County Council. The 43-year-old cut his political teeth whilst still at school with Solidarity, the Lech Walensa-lead trade union that toppled the communists.
“It’s very important that the half-a-million foreign-born people living in Ireland – most of whom have arrived in the last ten years – get representation,” he proffers. “The new ideas and experiences they’ve brought with them can help change this country for the better. Look at the USA – that’s a country of immigrants who came together to form their own national identity.
“I work in the Kilkenny Integration Forum so I’ve seen first-hand the problems with integration we’ve had. We try to make immigrants more active and rooted in the community. I’d like to organise a party made up of other immigrants. We’ve been talking about it but no decisions have been made yet.”
Asked whether he’s experienced resistance from people because of his nationality, Hanzcar says, “Six months ago they might’ve thought that I was joking but now they’re aware of what I’ve done in other parts of the world – I’ve also worked in Germany, Ethiopia and France – and recognise the benefits of combining our experiences.
“A lot of the immigrants who take tough jobs – cleaning and that sort of thing – have very high qualifications. It’s a waste of so many talented people. We can use these qualifications to develop communities. If I’m elected I want to go to Poland in September and organise a conference that’ll encourage Polish investment in Kilkenny.”
Sinn Féin made a lot of noise a few years ago about reaching out to the New Irish, but according to Kemi Adenekan, “I’ve seen Labour really pulling in migrant people in Tallaght, but not Sinn Féin.”
Memet Uludag also remains unconvinced about Gerry Adams & Co.
“Sinn Féin say all the right things about water charges, social housing and job creation without really getting stuck into the fight,” he resumes. “The more alternative, radical left-wing voices the better though because the old party system isn’t offering the country any solutions.”
Nadine Meisonnave, an Estonian running for Fine Gael in Dublin’s Pembroke-South Dock ward, is happy to be part of the political mainstream.
“I joined Young Fine Gael in 2009 because I wanted to get involved in politics and they seemed to be a party of hard-working, dynamic people,” explains the 28-year-old who runs her own highly successful Maison Neuve estate agency business. “I agreed with what they were saying at the time and it was a very welcoming environment.”
Has she encountered people on the campaign trail who are uneasy about voting for a foreign national?
“No, they’re generally very happy to see somebody from outside of Ireland come in and be enthusiastic about making a difference. When you bring in other perspectives things change. I’m here eight years, so I’m very aware of all the local issues and see myself as a committed Dub with deep roots in the city.”
Meisonnave has an interesting – and not very populist! – take on Alan Shatter resigning last week as Minster for Justice.
“I was actually very sad to see him go,” she admits. “He did a lot of great things for immigration laws in Ireland and a lot of great things for the naturalisation process. Fine Gael in general is committed to building an inclusive, multiracial society.”
Along with the usual “Why you should vote for me” rhetoric, Nadine’s website has sections in Russian, Estonian, Polish, Lithuanian, French and Portuguese encouraging people to get on the electoral register.
“We need to focus on making integration easier for people new to the country,” she asserts. “A major part of that is them being aware of their right to vote in local and European elections, and parties then reaching out to them in a meaningful way.”