Migrants made scapegoats for a community in crisis

In an article in today’s the Belfast Telegraph Suzanne Breen has highlighted the internal contradictions that have arisen within Unionism over its political leadership’s paralysis in the face of racist rioters.

As one DUP member quoted put it, “They may be b******s, but they're our b******s. It's a primal, tribal thing.”

It is in certainly in contrast to the positions taken by Alliance, the SDLP and Sinn Fein of firm opposition to the violence.

 Meanwhile, in the Irish News, John Manley argues that recent migrants have been scapegoated  for Stormont’s failings. Many of them have been opening businesses in areas abandoned to dereliction or providing the skilled staff needed to maintain essential services such as health.

Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph, August 7th, 2024

A FORMER community worker says he is appalled by the response of unionist politicians to the outbreak of racist attacks across Belfast. “There has been a total lack of leadership from political parties in my community,” he says. “There was relatively little noise about it at the start in comparison to the furore kicked up over a PSNI officer waving a GAA flag.

“While we have had stronger condemnation since, it's almost always followed by add-on explanations about protesters' 'legitimate concerns'.

“The scenes we have witnessed have nothing to do with a lack of housing or healthcare. That's just a handy excuse for disruption and racism stirred up by poundshop Farages.”

The former community worker, who didn't wish to be named, is deeply angered that immigrants in south Belfast now feel unsafe: “These are people who keep our social care and health service functioning. They work in Belfast City Hospital or they're students at Queen's, and they're now terrified.”

He believes political representatives should be visible on the ground trying to quell tensions and stop the violence. “I find that absence of leadership absolutely shameful,” he says. He also wonders if the UDA leadership in south Belfast “has lost control of the situation or is it supporting this violence?”

Nationalist commentator Chris Donnelly describes the racist attacks as “outrageous and depressing”. He says: “It shouldn't come as a surprise that the violence has been centred in the Sandy Row and Village areas. We saw bonfires there last month with hate-filled messages and sectarian disturbances.”

Donnelly says he has heard racist views and prejudices expressed in nationalist areas, but the difference is in the response to them. “They are not given any political or community space to develop. It is very important to prevent this poison having the opportunity to grow,” he says. “In loyalist areas, the paramilitaries are orchestrating the violence or allowing the worst elements off the leash, and that needs called out.

“There is also a deficit of political leadership, which doesn't give those at a community level the confidence to come forward and vigorously challenge the racist attacks.” Donnelly says those within unionism who truly want to stop the violence need to “send out a clear message of solidarity and stand with the people being targeted”.

Without political intervention and “strong pushback”, he fears the situation could get worse.

After violence in the Creggan area of Londonderry in July, the DUP condemned the disturbances as disgraceful.

The party said there was “no excuse for such violence” and the blame lay solely with “those who orchestrated and engages in such shameful behaviour”.

There was no add-on about social and economic deprivation in the area, the historical disadvantage the nationalist community there has faced, or how the authorities needed to listen to the grievances of locals in the Creggan.

In an initial DUP response to Saturday's disturbances in south Belfast, the party described the violence as “wrong and unacceptable” as well as “counterproductive” to attracting investment. It went on to state that people were “angry and frustrated”. Community issues raised by DUP representatives had been “largely ignored” by “government bodies”.

The party stated that “working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable”. It added that “access to GPs and dentists” was becoming increasingly difficult.

The DUP stated: “It is essential that we meet the needs of people who have lived in an area for generations.

“This will only be achieved through engagement, and by government bodies listening and acting to meet those needs. Violence will solve nothing.”

One loyalist says the DUP is “walking a tightrope” because many in its own community sympathise with the rioters, even if they don't support them.

“Do I agree with the violence? No, I don't,” he says. “But would I leave my door open for them, would I help the if they were trying to get away from the cops? Yes, I would.

“They may be b******s, but they're our b******s. It's a primal, tribal thing.”

The loyalist feels sorry for the PSNI: “They're caught between a rock and a hard place.

“If they adopt a softly-softly approach, the young rioters will feel empowered. But firing baton rounds is filled with danger. If they kill a teenager, all hell will break loose.”

John Manley, Irish News, August 7th, 2024

INNER-CITY decay has been a feature of post-industrial societies for more than half a century.

The rise of what was once known as the new middle class, largely made up of tradespeople and skilled manual workers, led to growth in the suburbs, leaving previously thriving urban communities in decline.

This process was accelerated and accentuated by the Troubles, which also led to community consolidation among those who remained, or what can be described as ghettoisation, with less population fluidity than would be expected under normal circumstances.

In urban areas, such as those in south Belfast where racist violence has flared in recent days, a culture of exclusivity has developed, fuelled in part by fear and sectarianism, then reinforced by public housing policies. Low educational attainment, high unemployment and a lack of effective political representation has led to greater alienation and a collective sense of being disregarded.

It hasn’t occurred solely in unionist areas but what was once characterised in the more racially polarised US as ‘white flight’ has arguably been more marked in places like Donegall Road and Sandy Row, where as a result there has been greater availability of vacant housing and empty retail units.

Those arriving in Northern Ireland have naturally gravitated to these areas for financial reasons. They have set up businesses and worked in jobs that locals often spurn. Through enterprise they have helped revitalise shopping thoroughfares, providing an alternative to the generic global brands that increasingly dominate our high streets. Yet these recent arrivals are being blamed for a crisis in public services and community cohesion that has been evolving for decades.

The immigrant population in south Belfast isn’t a problem but a symptom of a problem affecting post-industrial societies across the world.

Scapegoating these people for government failures is not only wrong – it lets those responsible for addressing issues such as a lack of housing, limited employment opportunities and substance abuse off the hook. Those purporting to represent these communities will talk of “legitimate concerns”, which is often just a way of justifying or giving credence to racist views. They obviously aren’t going to concede that they have failed their constituents.

The DUP recently had an MP for South Belfast and in 2016 returned two MLAs in the constituency. Yet when it negotiated the confidence and supply deal with the Tories, rolling out rural broadband was its priority rather than improving skills or addressing educational under-achievement among the working classes – but then why change things when apparently we have a ‘world class education system’?

It could also be argued that Stormont’s Social Investment Fund embedded paramilitary dominance in unionist working-class areas rather than encouraging transition, as was supposed to happen.

Claiming, as Edwin Poots did earlier this week, that “working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable” suggests not only a hierarchy of entitlement based on skin colour but that recent arrivals are responsible for displacing those who’ve left the area over decades, many to escape the yoke of paramilitarism.

Social problems arise for manifold reasons and require complex solutions, coupled with strong leadership. Deflecting blame from where it belongs will only excuse violence and allow resentment to fester.