It would appear that history was made in Belfast. Amidst the racist rioters, a Union flag and an Irish tricolour were flown together simultaneously.
As reports flew in about shops being burnt to the ground and people having their heads stamped on, I read many a comment under these articles such as: “This is biased media only showing the bad things, what about the flags being flown together for the first time ever?”
Although racism bringing a divided province together may warm the cockles of your ’oul heart, I don’t think “Sure it’s grand, your honour, because you see, we were wrecking the place together!” will hold up in a court of law.
I vividly remember sitting in a politics class 20 years ago having a healthy debate on how an influx of immigration to Northern Ireland might shape the country’s future.
The young and naïve Brónagh hoped that more diversity would aid the peace process, while our sage teacher played devil’s advocate, suggesting that it could be used as a diversionary tactic to unite two factions against another. If he was a betting man, he could be quids in right now.
We love to use the word ‘culture’ here when referring to two national identities, but if we’re honest with ourselves we would probably come to the conclusion that our inherently white Christian cultures are two different ice creams of the same flavour.
The people rioting on our streets are claiming that we have no room for any other flavour without even knowing what’s in the freezer.
Others may argue that they have no problem with different flavours, as long as there’s no nuts in there, but even the best suppliers in the world cannot guarantee this and to be frank, if we all shook our own family trees a few nuts would fall out.
The inciting action to the recent discord occurred in England, where a 17-year-old (who has since turned 18) is accused of committing a heinous act of violence.
That led to disinformation about his religion and nationality being spread by far-right influencers, giving the green light to take to the streets and be loud and proud in their hatred against an entire race because of the alleged actions of one person.
UK courts broke protocol in telling the public that this minor was not, in fact, a Muslim, in an attempt to quell the misguided anger, but by that stage the bigots weren’t prepared to let the truth get in the way of a good riot.
The white xenophobes screaming that they are going to end up a minority culture because of immigration, while simultaneously shouting that these people are getting preferential treatment by way of welfare and social housing, must be very noble and proud people, given that their argument is essentially ‘I don’t want to become an ethnic minority because they get everything handed to them’.
The good news is that the hateful are in fact a minority when it comes to demonstrations of strength. The scenes of solidarity within our communities and beyond, where locals stood shoulder to shoulder with business owners under threat from racists, are food for the soul.
It’s not all doom and gloom when we look for the beauty wherever we can. For example, I enjoy petty ironies, like the fact that any heart attack suffered by pork pie-munching, right-wing fascists as a result of high blood pressure-inducing anger will probably be operated on and nursed by at least one immigrant, who make up a third of the NHS staff. Perhaps then they will rethink before telling them all to “go home”.
I also smile when I think of the fact that Tommy Robinson is now an asylum seeker in Cyprus, which incidentally has a large community of British immigrants. Sorry – ‘ex-pats’, as they’re called when they are white.
Knowledge is the remedy to this outbreak of ignorance and hatred. The truth is that asylum seekers are not the reason the government is failing us and we would do better to protest at the steps of Stormont than a Kurdish barber’s.
It does well to remember that a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on and, unlike the Olympics, the fastest shouldn’t always be rewarded with respect and applause.
But here, did you see the Union flag and the tricolour flying together in the town? Why don’t we put them both up at city hall?
Knowledge is the remedy to this outbreak of ignorance and hatred. The truth is that asylum seekers are not the reason the government is failing us and we would do better to protest at the steps of Stormont than a Kurdish barber’s