FRESH TAKE: Disturbing scenes in Belfast show that hatred knows no borders

By Sabrina Sweeney

The sight of the Irish tricolour and Union flag flying side by side at an anti-immigration protest in Belfast at the weekend was certainly a feast for the eyes.

Belfast is well accustomed to rioting and thuggery. The tricolour atop a bonfire during the summer has been a familiar sight down through the years. But where sectarianism and catholic/protestant division has long been the root of hatred and distrust, watching scenes of disturbance and the Irish and Union flags being flown alongside each other by those with a similar mission shows that hatred knows no borders.

There is no denying that people in Ireland and elsewhere have legitimate concerns around immigration, its management and effects but those who were involved in Saturday’s clashes in Belfast, in the violence in Dubin’s Coolock in recent weeks and in the rioting across the UK over the past week, care for nothing other than creating fear and chaos.

Belfast is a wonderful city but it has taken a long time, a lot of money and hard work to get to a place where people, particularly from across the border, including Donegal, feel comfortable to visit to spend a night or a few days soaking up the culture and visiting sights such as the Titanic quarter.

With a few exceptions, Belfast had all but shed its image as unstable, disorderly and violent. But as violence has been erupting in cities across the UK and in Dublin, the city and its many ethnic communities are not immune to the torment of far-right thugs fixed on creating fear and causing destruction.

A number of social media messages had been shared during the week asking for people to gather and block roads in the greater Belfast area and elsewhere in the wake of the murders of three young children attending a Taylor Swift-themed summer camp in Southport in England.
This followed false information about the perpetrator’s identity; that he was a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived to the UK by boat in 2023 and incorrect suggestions that all immigrants are a ‘danger’ to society.
But the so-called protestors don’t care for the safety of women or children in Southport or anywhere else. If they did, there would be lots of opportunities to protest and to do so peacefully.

What protests have been held about the nine women murdered by men in Ireland last year alone? Where were the protests when a white man tied up, shot and killed three women with a crossbow in Hertfordshire last month?
And do protestors who burn libraries and food banks, as those in Liverpool did, really care for women and children?
Ministers in the north have been summoned to return to the Assembly today, Thursday, to discuss the anti-immigrant protest on Saturday.

They will also debate a motion that the Assembly “condemns the criminal damage and targeting of businesses in recent days”.
Among those who have already condemned the racist violence is Stormont Justice Minister, Naomi Long, who said it must be called out for exactly what it is – “fear mongering and intimidation of the highest level”.
She has also called out the spreading of misinformation and disinformation. But much more collective work needs to be done on this front if governments – in the Republic and in Northern Ireland – are serious about the spreading of hate and the role of social media in doing so.

At present the business model and legal status of big tech platforms means they hold no editorial responsibility for the content they host. As a result, sites such as X, Facebook and TikTok continue to provide the far-right with a powerful, and at present largely untouchable, means to incite hate, to make and repeat false claims and to organise.
Of course, none of the content created and shared by far right activists would gain traction if division didn’t already exist. Narratives around migrants being to blame for everything from the housing crisis to delays in getting a GP appointment have been allowed to take hold.

But these problems are not the fault of migrants; they are down to a failure of governments to adequately prepare for the future and are largely political.
And until governments step up and social media regulations are brought in and enforced, the ability of far right groups to have their toxic messages and provocative content amplified will continue, with dangerous consequences.

Sabrina Sweeney’s Fresh Take column features every Thursday in the Donegal News.

Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere