STILL LIVING ON THE FRONTLINE

ALTHOUGH THE irresponsible media coverage that portrayed refugees and asylum-seekers as spongers and a threat to the stability of Irish society has largely subsided, many anti-racist organisations insist that such reportage has done irreparable damage to the immigrant community. Instances of racist attacks are far from uncommon in Dublin, and there are even fears of an emergence of National Front-style groups in the capital.
We believe this kind of media coverage led to the distribution of white racist leaflets, racist graffiti, verbal, and in some cases physical attacks on refugees, claims John McCamley, co-ordinator of the Anti-Racist Campaign (ARC). The media, particularly the Independent Newspapers Group and The Star, have major questions to answer. They have it on their conscience that innocent people are afraid to leave their own houses nowadays because of the amount of racist abuse they have received in their areas.
A lot of urban myths were started at that time which have no basis in fact whatsoever, McCamley continues. Headlines like Refugee Rapist On The Rampage were absolutely appalling, as well as reports about floods and tides of refugees coming across the border at a rate of hundreds per day, when we re really dealing with a tiny number of refugees, less than 1% of the world refugee population.
McCamley believes that the harassment suffered by the refugee community is not merely a by product of the frustration about existing social problems like the housing issues and high unemployment.
I believe that there is the embryo of a small white supremacist group in Dublin, he says. It s mainly just young yobbos at the moment, concentrated around the north inner city, the Manor Street to North Circular area. Of course, I have no firm evidence of this, but there are pieces of a jigsaw fitting together from different reports we ve heard of attacks, graffiti and phone calls. There s always been a thuggish element in the city, undertones of slightly white supremacist attitudes. It started off with the punk movement and then it seemed to vanish, but this could be the re-emergence of it.
Refugees and Anti-Racism Campaigners alike have had to
put up with various forms of abuse over the past year. John McCamley reports instances of:
A vicious assault on a refugee in the Dolphin s Barn area by up to 20 males in their late teens. The man received a severe beating, and has been afraid to leave his house ever since.
A death-threat letter addressed personally to one of the ARC members.
The distribution of racist material through letterboxes in the Dolphin s Barn area, allegedly the work of the Keep Ireland Green And White Campaign. These leaflets include statements such as: Blacks drank blood, raped little white children, are filth, and have destroyed every country they ve appeared in .
A Ukrainian asylum-seeker slashing his wrists when faced with deportation. According to McCamley, the man was rushed to the Mater Hospital in time to save his life, but was taken from his bed by Gardai five hours later, put on a plane to England, and then subsequently deported to Ukraine.
McCamley also claims to have witnessed the harassment of a non-white Irish family by a group of about seven immigration officials early one morning at the Dun Laoghaire Ferry Terminal.
They had their passports and everything with them, he says. The Immigration Officials are blatantly racist because they re making the distinction between black and white refugees, only homing in on people with differently coloured skin. That also affects tourists. It s not a very welcoming way of coming into Ireland.
The Anti-Racism Campaign was set up last year by friends of people in the refugee community who had noticed an increased level of verbal and physical attacks on immigrants, particularly blacks. Their primary objective is to work against the deportation of refugees, to inform asylum seekers of their rights, and to educate people at a street level, going into areas that have been targeted with racist literature.
After the last Frontline report on the refugees situation, Hot Press received a letter from Jo Anne Tobin of Anti Fascist Action, criticising this magazine for allowing Aine Ni Chonaill of the Immigration Control Platform a forum for her views. What is the ARC s view on this?
Basically, us and Anti Fascist Action do have a difference in regard to this issue, McCamley admits. We believe that what happened in Ennis, disturbing Ni Chonaill s meeting and not letting her speak, was an infringement on her civil liberties. And also, I think that what Anti-Fascist Action did, they did without consulting the refugee groups, which was a major mistake. We always consult refugees on the actions we take, because they are always going to be on the frontline.
But Aine Ni Chonaill s done more for anti-racism than any of our campaigns ever have, because she s highlighted the issue of racism. We actually wrote her a thank-you note. She s like Ian Paisley in the North every time he speaks, Sinn Fiin get more recruits. We would welcome a debate with her, but we do believe that if she s planning a public meeting, we should plan a counter-demonstration just to show the opposition against her.
The slogan of the ARC has always been that it s not good enough to simply say you re anti-racist, concludes John McCamley. You have to get out there and show it. n
Together with Immigrant Solidarity, the Association Of Refugees And Asylum Seekers, Anti Fascist Action, Amnesty International, The Refugee Council, and other parties, the ARC will be co-ordinating a National Day of Action Against Racism and Deportation on April 25th. A march will be held in Dublin at 2pm at the Dept. Of Justice, and there will also be marches in Cork, Limerick and Belfast, plus small demos in Galway and Ennis, as well as 1pm pickets on all Irish embassies in the EU.
THE LIMERICK march, co-ordinated by Mid-West Against Racism, assembles outside Todd s in O Connell Street at 1pm and then proceeds to the Garda Station in Henry Street.