This is the third summer in a row where the north of Ireland has seen racist pogroms directed against black and migrant communities. On June 9 in east and north Belfast hundreds of masked men kicked down doors and burnt out homes of ethnic minorities in a planned coordinated attack. There were other clashes with police and damage to public transport throughout mainly Loyalist/Unionist areas of Belfast and in other parts of the north. This followed on from last Saturday’s arson attack on an Asian shopkeeper’s property in the Shankill Road.
The latest pogrom was triggered by the excuse of a vicious stabbing by a Sudanese migrant on a man from north Belfast. Of course everyone deplores such an attack but the loyalists and far right want to put out the narrative that this is all down to the invasion of our shores by immigrants. Their selective use of crime stands in marked contrast to their silence over the disproportionately high number of femicides in the north. It is also ironic that these paramilitary thugs will stand quite brazenly in celebrating the tradition of loyalist terror against nationalist areas including their very own sadistic killer gang of the 1970’s, the ‘Shankill Butchers’.
This racist upsurge of the last few years is very much linked to the global rise of the far right and the inflammatory language of far right politicians. However the specific nature and origins of the sectarian state in the north has facilitated a seamless shift from anti Irish/Catholic bigotry to anti migrant hatred. Although nationalist areas have their own racist bigots, such areas do have many Community, Republican and Socialist activists on the ground reaching out to the ethnic minorities. The lack of active opposition in loyalist areas to racist pogroms is a symptom of this sectarian history. It is a huge problem for those brave enough to fight the deadening hand of the loyalist paramilitaries in their areas.
The role of social media is playing a huge part in mobilising the far right, including guidelines on how rioters can disguise themselves from the police. The threats received by press commentators on the night were chilling. Accounts on X were calling for action the morning after the stabbing with cries of ‘civil war is coming’. Lists were shared extensively of road closures and ‘all businesses to close by 5.30pm’. Tommy Robinson promoted the protest locations with 8.5 million viewers also showing an AI image of a firefighter gloating in front of a burning home as a black man pleads. Musk added ‘only by protesting repeatedly and loudly will there be any change’.
As the DUP and TUV rush to hypocritically distance themselves from ‘violence’, they will seek to capitalise from this episode to push for tougher immigration controls. Leader of the DUP, Gavin Robinson, has called ‘on the open porous border’ between the Republic and the North to be closed. This has been backed by the TUV and the Daily Telegraph with Badenoch pleading with Starmer to ‘secure our borders’. Anna Turley, Labour’s Chair, reassures us all that the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain will not be used as ‘a back route for exploiting the asylum system’. All this is an affront to the Irish people as a whole and their age old demand to scrap any British border on their island. Maybe Brexit really did mean a ‘hard border’!
Once again we see the far right move and the spectrum of parties from the DUP to Labour meekly follow. None are prepared to argue that immigration is not the main problem facing the working class. The migrant worker is not the enemy. The boss class, that presides over a crumbling Health Service, a cost of living and housing crisis, is the enemy. It is time for a united working class to fight for a world without borders and without profit as the main priority.
FIGHT BACK NOW
The prospect of further pogroms looms large over the north as the marching season gets underway. The northern state with its own sectarian background and its continued failure to protect migrant communities will not be up to the task of adequate defence. Quite simply it means that working class organisations have to take a lead in countering sectarianism and racism. This means building self defence organisations be they community or workplace based and standing in solidarity with fellow migrant workers. This is not ultra left posturing, it is a burning necessity, the absence of which will ensure further pogroms and attacks!
Trade unions must be at the centre of such a campaign not just in defence of working class people under racist attack but they should also be prosecuting a militant class struggle in defence of public services, safeguarding workers’ cost of living and for more investment in house building. That is the best way to develop working class unity and to counteract the arguments of the anti immigration lobby and their divisive antics.
UNISON has reported on a whole range of attacks on their members including being stopped by vigilantes questioning their ethnicity. They are seeking protections of workers from employers at work and coming to and from work. UNITE successfully pushed for temporary suspension of public transport to protect drivers. NIPSA have called for ‘working class unity against the racists’ and if the racist violence persists work stoppages will be organised. All this is a step forward but the need for defence organisations is paramount right now.
People before Profit in Belfast have quite rightly called on urgent action from the trade union movement to stage ‘demonstrations, community actions and work stoppages’ in a letter to the Northern Ireland Committee – Irish Congress Trade Unions. It is right to call on our leaders for action and where they fall short we have to organise at rank and file level if need be without them and build solidarity and defence now in the fight against the far right. NIC – ICTU support for the Unite Against Racism demonstrations this Saturday in Belfast and Derry must be turned into a mass wave of working class revulsion against the racists.
