As Enar Ireland relaunches its protocol holding Ireland’s politicians to account ahead of International Day Against Racism in 21 March, the network’s director Shane O’Curry reminds us that anti-racism is a concern for all of society
This week, the European Network Against Racism in Ireland (Enar Ireland) is celebrating European Week Against Racism by relaunching its Anti-Racism Election Protocol.
First launched in 2011, and signed by all the major parties at the time, the protocol is a one-page document committing political parties to take a stance against the use of racist language by their members during local, national and European elections.
It has proven to be an effective tool for holding politicians and candidates to account on a number of occasions, and provided the basis for mobilising the 40 member organisations in Enar Ireland’s network to speak with a strong, united voice against language that seeks to divide and weaken.
For example, last year network members lobbied delegates at the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis after one councillor had made remarks against Travellers, and another against migrants. Some months later, a Fianna Fáil candidate in Limerick was taken to task by the network for remarks about Chinese people.
Similarly this year, Enar members criticised the re-admittance of Darren Scully into the Fine Gael party after his infamous remarks about Africans, as well as condemning anti-Traveller remarks made by a councillor in Tullamore and an anti-Traveller leaflet published by a local election candidate in Stillorgan, south Dublin.
This use of the protocol sees Enar Ireland mobilising its network of grassroots organisations, community groups and NGOs to carry forward the work of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) after that body was wound up by the Government in 2008.
Community-led responses
Enar Ireland’s recent publication of its Second Quarterly iReport on racist incidents, recorded through iReport.ie, carries forward the work of the NCCRI in filling the gap left by that organisation’s disbandment. The approach taken in the iReport mechanism favours, encourages and uses community-led responses to racism.
The iReport.ie site provides an independent and confidential racist incident reporting system. It was designed to attempt to overcome some of the isolating factors that make it difficult for people who experience racism to report racism, to have their voices heard, and to be acknowledged by wider society.
Our first two reports have been successful in capturing people’s experiences. Until now, these experiences may have gone unacknowledged. Instead of being silenced, people’s voices are now, at last, beginning to be heard and recognised in the media.
It may only appear to be a small change, but bringing about a situation where it is harder and harder to deny that racism is a daily experience for many people, is an important first step in combating racism.
This small victory is worth extolling as we celebrate European Week Against Racism. I am proud that iReport.ie and its accompanying quarterly reports provide a platform for people to have their voices heard.
A note worthy finding from the quarterly iReports is that about two-thirds of reports have been made by friends, colleagues, front-line staff, witnesses and others who did not directly experience racism themselves. This tells that although there are undeniably unacceptable levels of racism in Irish society, there is also a very strong constituency of people – whether black, white, Asian, Jewish, Roma, Muslim, Christian, Traveller or settled – who are looking for ways to stand up and be counted as people who are prepared to take action against racism.
In other words, the information from iReport.ie also highlights the strong anti-racist current that exists in Irish society and that is looking for ways to express itself.
Anti-racism a concern for all
This sentiment has already found expression at the vigil held outside Dáil Éireann last November, led by the Anti Racist Network and supported by Enar Ireland and its member organisations.
At this vigil, hundreds of people from all communities, and from scores of different groups, organisations, campaigns, political parties and trade unions, united in their condemnation of the racial profiling of Roma families, and the State’s removal of children against their families’ will.
It made abundantly clear that anti-racism is not a specialised profession or the preserve of any single sector or service provider, but a mainstream concern for all sections of society, as they united in their horror at the removal of these children.
In this context, European Week Against Racism provides us with an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of unity among Ireland’s diverse communities. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate the growing acceptance among ordinary people of some key facts about our intercultural reality – for example, that racism is a threat to us all; that Roma communities need more protections and opportunities; that Travellers’ culture and ethnicity should be recognised and valued; that the direct provision regime is inhuman and inconsistent with our democratic ideals; and that so-called ‘migrants’ are here to stay as part of society.
We are a step closer to making ours a nation that cherishes all of its children, equally.
Shane O’Curry is director of Enar Ireland.
