Racism in Contemporary Ireland - Literature review Example

 Racism in Contemporary Ireland The accounts of European Parliament Second Committee of Inquiry into Racism and Xenophobia revealed that the country of Ireland was free of racism fifteen years ago. But the concept can be regarded as an apparent one as the country did not possessed legal environment of citizenship or nationality and there was no anti discrimination legislation and no Section 75 nor Race Equality Unit in Northern Ireland. Actually Ireland came within the purview of the international discourse on racism on 28th January in the year 2001. By racism, in Irish concept the good old agenda of subordination, making people different, separate and unequal and of inefficiencies of the political system is applicable. The highlight on the Irish racism initiated in a magnified manner in the 1990s with social scientists focusing their research on the number of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers (Lentin & McVeigh, 2006). The migrant’s experiences of racism are of significant importance as prior research correlates racism with the migrants of the paper. Now with the 9/11 attack and recent financial crisis has led to even more amplification of racism in Ireland (Fanning & Munk, 2011, pp.141-142). The immigrant population in Ireland has expanded in the last decade with numbers increasing from more than one in ten with labor force expanding at five times as compared to the European Union (Johnson, Carleen & Stoskopf, 2010, p.117). Within the environment of economic crisis as well as increasing racism in Ireland, it is noteworthy to discuss the issues related to the integration of immigrants in Ireland in association with their life experiences in different societal spheres and the intensity and dimensions of racism encountered by them in those spheres (Fanning, 2012). The paper thus focuses on a thorough literature review based on case studies of migrant’s experience of racism in Ireland. 1.2 Breaking the dilemma The existence of racism in Ireland is a slow development process (Coakley & Gallagher, 2009, p.51). Signing with the UN convention in 1968, the Republic of Ireland implemented the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination but there was no ratification of the convention until December 2000. In all of the remaining areas and provinces of United Kingdom there was the presence of race relations act since 1976 but it was in the year 1997 that a similar act came to Ireland. The European countries recognised that there was an utmost necessity of race relations, laws and policies but the Irish policymakers and politicians bore an attitude that there was no racism in Ireland due to absence of color in Ireland. But exploring the history of anti-racist campaigners, the forgotten anti-Semitism in Ireland and also the unfair practices and attitudes of settled Irish people towards 30000 strong indigenous traveler communities can be well attributed to presence of racism in Ireland. It can be stated that the white Irish people not only being victim of racism and discrimination direct towards the fact the racism does exist even in the absence of color. By 1990s, it was confirmed that in Ireland, despite of color (although racism based on color is also a dominant phenomenon) racism was rigorous in Ireland and the dilemma was broken and researchers diverted their research motives towards exploring the racism issues in Ireland (Rolston, 2004, pp.355-356). 1.3 Northern Island- a hub of institutional and individual racism Racism in specific with respect to Northern Island is persistent in the sense that it can be associated with religious conflicts and in the form that it generates a new form of sectarianism. Again, the existence of xenophobic (fear of people from other countries especially the migrants) attitude is one of the constraints vehemently attached with racism in Ireland. In this respect, Deepa Mann-Kler states that, “racism can and does occur in different forms in Northern Ireland, and is generally divided into individual and institutional racism”. The former type of racism is condemned by the community at large whereas the latter form of racism is not and it is more worryingly endorsed by the state. The recent attacks from the members of the loyalist community against migrant people from Catholic background reveals racism exist in the country both in the institutional and individual form. In the North Ireland, a report on Racial Attitudes and Prejudices towards migrant workers’ maintains that “Protestants [appear to be] more likely to agree that migrant workers should do more to integrate than Catholics and they are less likely to accept migrant workers than Catholics” (Gillissen, 2010, pp.143-144). 1.3.1 Case study from Belfast The contemporary Northern Ireland has experienced rapid increase in racist attacks in recent years. The city of Belfast in Northern Ireland is strongly associated with territorialized sectarianism and anti racist agendas is rampantly used in the streets of the city (Smith, 2008, p.53). Belfast, the largest city in the Northern Ireland has been the hub of racial discrimination. A Muslim migrant, Jamal Iweida revealed his experiences about racism stating that “he has borne the brunt of growing intimidation and physical attacks on ethnic minorities” (Living in the shadow of racism, 2002). Jamal was initially from Palestine and departed from Jordan in the year 1995 for studying at the Queen’s University in Belfast. Jamal states that the early years of his life in Ireland were comparatively happy and was devoid of constraints associated with race. But he also adds that in the recent years racism in Northern Ireland has taken a nastier side with deep societal degeneration. He also reveal that there has been rarely a day that he has not experienced racist remark in the street. He suffered naked intimidation in his home in South Belfast. Other forms of abuse include “stoning, vandalized cars, dogs being set loose and face-to-face threats” . These abuses have been faced by Jamal and he was forced to leave Finaghy (Living in the shadow of racism, 2002). Jamal stated that the Muslims living in Belfast for more than a century forming an integral part of the Northern Ireland’s social, education and economic life like the other ethnic minorities. Jamal stated that lip service has been paid for tackling the problem of racism but there has been no firm action taken for curtailing the problem. He stated that, "I have been in Northern Ireland for almost the last seven years and I have noticed a clear increase in racism over the last five years" (Living in the shadow of racism, 2002). There has been also obnoxious behavior imparted by the locals in the Belfast Islamic center. After 9/11 in the United States there were severe up risings in Ireland with bricks thrown and windows of the Islamic center being smashed away. The experience of Jamal point to the very fact that racism was not so exaggerated in the past but it has increased to an almost unstoppable summit in the recent years. His experiences also put a big question on the local administration of the country (Living in the shadow of racism, 2002). 1.4 Overt Racism- Perils and internalization of the Blacks From the studies of Liam Coakley and Piaras Mac Einri in 2007, the dimensions of the Blacks facing racism is explained in a robust manner. The Blacks are discriminated in almost every spheres of life. Their studies reveal that exclusionary practices are majorly common in areas like that of public houses, night clubs, and bus stations and so on. At some levels the Black people feel that they are the victims of institutional racisms while interacting with the providers of a range of statutory service providers. Even the children are not spared. In the survey the statements of one the Black participants can be given as follows: “It happened once to my child. I said to my children if somebody calls you “Monkey”, you call him “Pig”. One day, a group of children insulted him “Monkey”. He replied by saying “Pig”. They then beat him. He came at home crying” (Coakley & Einri, 2007, p.79). But one of the main constraints is that the victims mainly internalize these types of difficulties and are subduing to the same. They are more or less habituated with the same and they prefer to basically move on but this is not a solution and the migrants have to raise their voice. 1.5 Racism in education Studies of Conolly, P in the year 2002 executed research on race and racism in Northern Ireland in educational forefront. The researcher found that there was an information deficiency available in accessible formats for informing the ethnic minorities regarding their services available and entitlements. There was a lack of understanding of understanding of cultural sensitivities among the staff of the public sector with training for improving the same. In 2005, the researcher’s study on the East Tyronne College in Northern Ireland found out that the background of community did not seem to affect attitude towards race, the males were more prone in holding negative attitudes, around 86% of the students were willing to accept others from different ethnic background and 40% of them evidenced positive attitude towards ethnic minorities. Around 54 percentage of the students stated that it is the responsibility of the people from the ethnic minorities to integrate within the culture of Northern Ireland. Around 54 percentage of the students witnessed some forms of racism and they included verbal abuse which were around 50% and 21% of them witnessed physical violence (Study on Racism in the Northern Ireland Further Education Sector, 2012, p.4) 1.6 Some more case study findings-Focus on workplace Executed in 2010, the report, “Analyzing the Experience of Discrimination in Ireland: Evidence from the QNHS (Quarterly National Household Survey) Equality Module 2010” by Frances McGinnity, Dorothy Watson and Gillian Kingston depicts a detailed analysis of a nationally represented survey on discrimination, the survey being carried on by the Central Statistics Office in Ireland in late 2010. The survey performed with data collection focused on the experiences of migrant’s discrimination in areas like employment, access of services along with investigation of the knowledge of the participants regarding rights under equality legislation and also the actions that are required for addressing discrimination. The study revealed that in aggregate, fewer than 12 percent of the population in Ireland with age of at least 18 years faced discrimination in the preceding two years. With people potentially exposed to discrimination it has been found that around 7 percent of the population has been exposed to discrimination while accessing services with 8 percent of them complaining about work related discrimination. The people from Black ethnicity reported that they have faced exaggerated rates of discrimination in seeking work. These people reported discrimination that imparted a serious adverse impact on their lives both in work related discrimination as well as service domains. The Asian and other ethnic groups have been found to be facing greater discrimination in some of the work and service domains but in a lesser extent as compared to that of the Black group. Majority of the non Irish nationals are prone to experience discrimination in the workplace. They are found to be experiencing more discrimination in working places like shops, pubs as well as restaurants. The non-Irish nationals are more prone to face discrimination in areas like transport and other services (Ginnity, Watson & Kingston, 2010, p.xi). The literature review exhibited in the paper provides an idea that racism in Ireland is indeed an escalated social problem which needs to be tackled with full fledged governmental interventions. The discussion reveals that Northern Ireland has been the nucleus of racism. Muslims have not only faced verbal abuse but also physical torture which has forced them to leave their home. The Muslims have been forming an integral part of the Irish minority but they have faced more atrocities after 9/11 attack. The Blacks are also facing daily atrocities in workplace but the problem is that they are internalizing the discrimination and making them an indispensable part of their life. Data reveals the distribution of racial discrimination among various minority groups. References 1. Coakley, L & Einri, P, M, (2007), The Integration Experiences of African Families in Ireland. Available at: < http://www.integrationcentre.ie/getattachment/1f182824-ca60-44e6-b9ef-9acd3a2bfb01/The-Integration-Experiences-of-African-Families-in.aspx> (accessed on December 31, 2012) 2. Coakley, J & Gallagher, M, (2009), Politics in the Republic of Ireland 5th Ed., Taylor & Francis 3. Fanning, B, (2012). Immigration and social cohesion in the Republic of Ireland, Manchester University Press 4. Fanning, B. & Munk, R. (2011), Globalization, Migration and Social Transformation:  Ireland in Europe and the World, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd 5. Ginnity, F. Watson, D. & Kingston, G. (2010), Analysing the Experience of Discrimination in Ireland, Evidence from the QNHS Equality Module 2010. Available at, (accessed on December 31, 2012) 6. Gillissen, C. (2010), Ireland: Looking East: Looking East, Peter Lang 7. Johnson, J. A., Carleen, C. & Stoskopf, H. (2010), Comparative Health Systems: Global Perspectives, Jones & Bartlett Learning 8. Living in the shadow of racism, (2002). BBC News, Available at: (accessed on December 31, 2012) 9. Lentin, R. & McVeigh, R. (2006), Translocations: The Irish Migration, Race and Social Transformation Review, Irishness and Racism – Towards an E-Reader, Vol. 1, Issue.1 10. Rolston, B. (2004), ‘Ireland of the Welcomes’? Racism and anti-racism in nineteenth-century Ireland, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 38, Issue 4, pp. 355-370 11. Smith, M. P. (2008), Transnational Ties: Cities, Migrations, and Identities, Transaction Publishers 12. Study on Racism in the Northern Ireland Further Education Sector, (2012). Available at, http://www.delni.gov.uk/racismstudyexsum.pdf Read More