Silly Old Twit

   The Dublin City Development Board (along with some others) have just launched “Towards Integration. A City Framework” , a plan to aid the integration of immigrants into the wider community of Dublin. What it aims to achieve is however not very clear. Part of this plan is concerned with fighting racism  (presumable YOUR racism) and the ignorance from which it stems (YOUR ignorance).

   I first became aware of this campaign this morning when I went into Dublin City Council’s offices to pay my rent. Having passed the ample evidence of homelessness on our city street I arrived at the council offices only to be confronted by a whole display of literature on integration but nothing of course on homelessness…in fact the council are , by selling off our housing stock , not only making the homeless situation much worse but of course making things rather difficult for immigrants as many of them need social housing as they cannot afford private rented accommodation. (which is not surprising as many have to work for the minimum wage).

      As I say , I saw all this literature and took the trouble to read it but it was all a bit vague ( except the bits about ignorance ,YOURs of course). Is all this to mean that those middle class journalits/politicians who engaged in ‘white flight’ are to be sent back to where they came from? Are the middle classes going to be forced into integrating ? No , of course not. It’s YOU , the ignorant , racist , bigoted working class who must integrate.

  But the real question that needs to be asked is what is behind all of this. Why this constant bombardment , why this endless insistence that we must be ever vigilant against racism when the vast majority of immigrants make a point of saying that they have never been subjected to any kind of racism ?. In spite of the propaganda to the contrary the fact is that racism is not common in Ireland nor is it likely to ever be a problem . The working class of Britain , many of whom have been marginalised , who have seen their jobs disappearing , their wages cut , who have often been subjected to the worst kind of racism themselves have never voted in any significant numbers for the National Front. This however can not be said for the middle classes who will vote extreme right wing at the drop of a hat if they feel they are loosing out. It is interesting to note in passing there are very few convictions for racism in Britain where a white indigenous British person is the victim in spite of the fact that there are now many ‘no go’ areas for white people where if for example you are not a Muslim you will not get accommodation or employment and where in many cases you will be asked to leave the neighbourhood….. This is not some racist chant but a serious question that is constantly asked but never answered. Why this constant , endless , relentless attack on working class ‘racism’ and ignorance’ in spite of any real evidence to back it up and much evidence that contradict all this ?. Why this atavistic compulsion to shout “racist’. Indeed , as I have often remarked , the attitude in the media and elsewhere towards the working class is becoming more and more racist itself…

  I am not a racist. I say this not as some kind of defence but simple as a statement of fact. It’s just a fact quite independant of what anyone might or might not think. I have never had a racist thought in my head. And no one had ever suggested that I might be one untill quite recently. And most important of all , no one has ever called me a racist to my face. It’s not that I might hit them but more the fact that it would make no sense for anyone who knows or has met me to think , even for a second , that I might be racist. I am not offended by those who call me a racist. Why should I feel offended by someone else’s ignorance ? But if such a person has political power and sets about depriving me of my right to free speech then I have a problem with that. And when such people come togeather and pass right wing laws in the name of ‘human right’ but laws which have more to do with the ‘free movement of labour’ than anything else then I have an even greater problem. 
        
     When these same people demand that I respect anti semites I have an even greater problem.

   I am called a racist and a fool as I have said by people I’ve never met. Journalist and politician who would not dare to say it to my face. And this has to do with power. They are powerful , strong , while I am weak. Bullies always act from a position of strengtht. Bullies , who let fall from their lips the foulest insults against a whole class , who constantly parade themselves as ‘liberal’ while building an economy on cheap labour and landlord-ism , bullies who condemn a class because they don’t feel assured enough to argue their case face to face , bullies who presume to pass laws to protect you against your own supposed ignorance !!! ……..what can one say of such people ?.

     In the USA torture is now legal. The implications of ‘waterboarding‘ go far beyond the activities of the individuals involved in this dreadful practice. America has inflicted upon itself a moral blow from which it may never recover. When we in Ireland , for whatever reason accept the practice of anti sematism in mosques or cultural centres (out of fear perhaps at being labeled racist) we loose the moral high ground. Words are important. And certain words (racist/homophobic)  should not be devalued through misuse or downright abuse. When we devalue words in this way we run the very real risk of devaluing humanity. Recent history has some dreadful examples of this.