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POLITICIANS IN NORTHERN Ireland are asking for feedback from the public, as a new draft racial equality strategy is drawn up.
It follows a series of racially-motivated hate crimes recently.
Launching the initiative, First Minister Peter Robinson said Northern Ireland had been changed dramatically over the past decade and had been enhanced by the rich diversity of people who had moved there.
“Nobody should be judged on the colour of their skin, their political or religious background or race,” Robinson said.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he unreservedly condemned the recent hate crimes, and said work was needed to “develop a society where racial equality and diversity is supported, understood and respected”.
The issue has been in the news again this week, after a protest was staged outside the home of a Nigerian man who has been living in Belfast for the last four years.
Michael Abiona received a council home last week. On Wednesday, he arrived back to his house and saw four women and a man aged in their 50s sitting outside in the street with signs saying ‘local homes for local people’.
Earlier this month thousands of people took part in an anti-racism demonstration in Belfast, following what organisers said was a “worrying rise” in racist attacks.
The march was organised in the wake of both First Minister Peter Robinson and a pastor apologising for remarks made against Muslims.
Robinson landed himself in hot water by saying he would not trust Muslims for spiritual guidance but would trust them to “go down to the shops for me”.
He later claimed that his comments had been misinterpreted.
The public consultation on the strategy runs until October.
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Majority of these incidents happen in the Insecure loyalist/unionist areas. These Neanderthals will never move on from hating something or another
Could it not be considered a form of racism that you refer to *all* these people as Neanderthals ?
Yes Chris they are all cave dwellers
Chris,
You can hardly claim the moral high ground here when you’ve referred to your fellow human’s with a slur.
You also might want to educate yourself about Neanderthals, recent research has shown they were far from primitive and lower class to Homo sapiens (you, me and every other human).
They actually had a larger brain capacity then our species and also they contributed alot of DNA to our species.
Martyin,It is obvious from your statement that the Loyalists in the North are even further behind than the Neanderthals.
Martin mcguinness off course has devoted his lifes work to reaching out to embrace people of different religions and political viewpoints,his name is almost a byword for tolerance and understanding!
Jeebs you can’t even call a spade a spade without getting called racist in this country…
Housing is a big issue in the North. It was one of the things that sparked the civil war up there…
@John Clancy
That was a great one to give me the laugh I needed this morning.
Saint Martin of Derry !
A peacemaker his whole life ??? I think you have been reading An Phoblacht too long
There are two kinds of apology
1) you apologise for what you said and say you didn’t mean it
2) you apologise if what you said offended others
I think apology number 2 was the apology Minister Peter Robinson and the pastor gave to Muslims.
While the Media in N Ireland is right to report on racist incidents , the same Media conveniently forgets about the persecution of christians in places like pakistan .
NO, WE ARE NOT! these sort of statements coming from people who’s own place who recently (the last 8/10 years) have become know throughout the civilised world, for almost every depravity know to modern man…….a place where a crowd stood back and watched as a two week old foal was beaten to death and then burned! a place were women, babies and children were, until very recently, were raped, brutalised, imprisioned, cast from public because of things that were done to them by YOUR PRIEST, FATHERS, BROTHERS your place where the resultss of what was done to young women and girls were hidden, damned and sent away because of the offence they gave, those that didn’t survive the loving care of church or state dumped in mass graves. a place where the majority of your population stood back and did f……g nothing while the politiatians, YOU ELECTED, have taken the country back to third world poverty. you and your ‘religion of the country’ deserve one another for these is little to separate you.
we have huge problems in the 6 counties. but unlike you, we didn’t sit on our back sides and blame everyone else…….don’t you dare castigate what is going on up here for you are no better than those who do this sort of thing. when was the last time a mass crowd took to the streets down there? i’ll tell you when, when a woman was allowed to die in agony because ‘ireland is a catholic country’……i could go on but i have run out of space. people like you make me want to vomit!
Local houses for local people, said by English people living in Ireland. Go home yourselfs.
I think they claim a British identity not an English one, but don’t let that get in the way of a good rant.
Finally they agree on something, racism is a scourge, it’s a pity some of our political leaders in the south don’t make a stand against racism.
Bogan
What – and expand the already top heavy P.C. industry
Aw did somebody say something to upset poor Diddums, hang on I’ll go and get the Guards.
You’re not from around here are you, this is a local shop for local people.!!!!.
we’ll have no trouble here!
Omfg you two have just made my day! Thank you
Dey tuk R jawwbs!
n’ arr flegggs!!
Absolutely disgusting!! There is no place for racism or prejudice in this day and age. We are all equal regardless of sex, colour or creed.
You fishing for green thumbs , john
I am. Its the only bit of attention I get. Lol
You d want have words with ash so
Racism = treating somebody differently because of their skin colour.
The only people who treated the Nigerian man differently were the housing authority,who after 4 years in the queue skipped him ahead of people in the queue for 8-10 years.
The protestors sign said “local” , not “black”.
Therefore in my opinion it’s not a racist incident.
No it’s not
I agree with you. I heard one woman has been waiting for 8 years this guy arrives from Nigeria puts his name on list immediately and within four years he gets a house.
He has one child,his wife and him are split. He gets a house. He doesn’t need a house,he needs a flat.
I would be asking three questions here.
1. How does a person walk into a country put their name on housing list immediately?
2. Why does a man who was also on list only four years get preferential treatment over people on list longer?
3. How does a man with one child,who also does not live with him most of time get a house?
While i dont agree with their protest as not his decision and he was just taking what he was given.
thats it Karen, they have again managed to turn this around into a racist incident and still escape without answering the issue. Your story is one I and many else see, kids not living there all the time, one parent with one kid in a 3 bed, local families still waiting for years while non-locals just move in, just like that. Many of them not working either. Its not just happening up North.
You wouldn’t ask why these protesters felt it was ok to stage a protest outside his front door? I think that would be the first question I would ask. If they have a problem with the housing policy of their local authority then take it up with them. They can protest outside the council offices till their heart’s content. This was nothing more than an attempt to intimidate a man into leaving his home. They may as well have stuck a cross on his front lawn and set it on fire.
“The only people who treated the Nigerian man differently were the housing authority,who after 4 years in the queue skipped him ahead of people in the queue for 8-10 years.”
So why protest outside the man’s house, instead of the housing authority? If he was a white Englishman, do you think they would be outside his house protesting? No.
It’s clearly a racist incident.
Robinson is a hypocrite. His comments added to the hate and racism. He and his party are good at fueling tension. He should go.
Peter Robinson is nurturing this racism and homophobia with his wife .
Yipee.
People of Colour can relax for the next 2 months as the forces of Unionism throw the collective weight in to focusing on attacking all things Irish or Catholic, battering the PSNI and rampaging through their own areas.
Why didn’t they just write ‘for’ its not like they were running out of room.Those foreigners love their red dont they.
Tom Clancy
“Northern Ireland is the safest place in the world to be a Jew. There it’s the Christians who are killing each other”.
Carcu
The question then is-
Are the Jews in the north Catholic Jews or Protestant Jews ?
Pity Peter andhis mob do not see things this way when it comes Catholics.
Loyalists want to march through catholic areas-( only with police protection )-piss on chapel walls but don’t want others of a different skin living beside them- you could not make them up-
I am not surprised at all , It’s said that Northern Ireland’s primary level education is the best in the world..
Nice to see Peter Robinson agrees that judging people be their religion or race is wrong. It’s wonderful that a man with a history of tolerance towards others can enlighten us. Nice to see Martin joining him as we all know how tolerant he is of others who believe differently
I am with the loyalists on this one. I mean who do these black cxxts think they are coming here killing men women and children, stealing their land and leaving them to starve. the irony is too much.
Wow, hold on a minute, racism in Northern Ireland? Surely not?!
Some ppl are just so backwards..
robinson said he didn’t think the latest attack was ‘rasist’…….see what we’re up against here?
That sign could be interpreted to mean that a local pub is providing accommodation for four local people. Punctuation matters!
You what,larry!? i was actually being sarcastic about mcguinness,im well aware that hes a sectarian thug masquerading as a statesman.
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