Debate contribution: Opposition to Racism

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 8 August 2024.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

8 August 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Opposition to Racism

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4500444

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I place on the record my disgust at the brutal racist violence that we have witnessed in recent days. I also extend solidarity to all the victims. The far right forces behind those attacks are in the minority, and countless people here are determined to stamp out racism, Islamophobia and bigotry of any kind. The scenes that we have seen in recent days have been abhorrent. Certainly, based on the experience of the weekend, things could have been a lot worse, had we not had an organised anti-racist response to those who wanted to divide us. When a small far right mob gathered at the City Hall on Saturday, it was met with thousands of anti-racist campaigners. I pay credit to every campaigner who took a stand then and who is taking a stand against the hate of the far right. On Saturday, however, after the protest, we saw a group of violent thugs virtually being given free rein to attack migrants and migrant-owned businesses. The PSNI has serious questions to answer on that front. The violence witnessed in recent days did not occur in a vacuum. The far right has been emboldened by the racism of those in power who want to scapegoat migrants for their own failings. Those Governments have failed to build social homes — some should listen to that point — cut public services, kept wages down and punished working-class people through brutal economic measures like the two-child limit. Migrants, refugees or asylum seekers are not to blame. Deprivation, wrought by successive Westminster and Stormont Administrations, is fertile ground for racist ideas to grow and fester. Racism, however, does not stem from working-class communities. It is a top-down ideology that is created and fuelled by government policy. The Tories, who spent years attacking our communities, told us that people fleeing for their lives in small boats were the problem. They wanted us to focus on people who had nothing whilst turning a blind eye to the wealthy, who are hoarding ever-increasing amounts of obscene wealth. They caricatured migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and tried to strip them of their human rights through the disgraceful Rwanda Act. The Labour Party has continued the Tories' hostile environment policy, which condemns asylum seekers, who are fleeing war, poverty and persecution, to a life of misery here. The measures designed to degrade and punish them for coming here happened on the watch of the Executive, who are tied to the hostile environment policy by a million threads. We see detention and deportation facilities like Larne House operating under Stormont's nose. We have the Executive's failure to bring forward a racial equality strategy, and yet people in this House wonder whether we have a racism problem. Political choices that either ignore or pander to racism have led us to where we are today, and, even now, after all the racist violence, there are elected representatives who still continue to give succour to far right thugs who have loyalist paramilitaries in their ranks. They say, "These people have legitimate concerns". Let me say this: there is nothing legitimate about the racism, Islamophobia and hate of those who have coordinated and organised these attacks. It is a great irony that those who excuse racism and talk about so-called legitimate concerns are the same people who have overseen the housing crisis, the crisis in our NHS and much else. However, it would make an absolute mockery of us all if we were to listen to politicians who refuse to build public homes or tackle sky-high rents and who do the bidding of landlords at every single turn. Migrants are not the problem. We have a problem with landlords, a problem with underfunding and a problem with a Government who refuse to tackle the housing crisis. Working-class unity is key for delivering on housing, overcoming poverty and seeing investment in all our public services. We need to combine those struggles with the anti-racism struggle because we are stronger together. We can win only if we are together. It will be up to us to stand up for one another, because the Government and the police force have failed. I also offer a severe word of caution about the subsequent police response. Young people who are incited to riot by loyalist paramilitaries do not need to be fired at with lethal plastic bullets, which should be banned. If the state wants to deal with rioting, it should deal with the paramilitary and far right leaders who are orchestrating and organising this violence. However, I will not hold my breath. We need a mass anti-racism movement so that we can reclaim our streets and isolate the far right. We need working-class people to unite against racism in their communities, workplaces and everywhere that it raises its ugly head. Stand up against racism. Do not give it any quarter or truck. Solidarity.

814 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:20 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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