I realise that what’s been going on in Ireland is trending at the moment with the police murder of George Nkencho, and though I normally use tumblr as a ‘destress’ I think it’s really important to explain the situation in Ireland to everyone. Cn: racial violence and murder, paedophilia mention For context, I’m white Irish, but I hope this post can be useful to us/uk centric tumblr.
The African Advocacy Network Ireland called George Nkencho’s killing by police an execution (x) and as an Irish person, it’s difficult to see otherwise. Irish police (gardaí) are almost all unarmed. We call them the garda síochána - literally, the guardians of the peace. I can’t remember the last time I heard of the gardaí killing anyone. When I go abroad to the UK or the rest of Western Europe, I am always incredibly freaked out by the armed police everywhere - and that’s not even as bad as America. So in Ireland, having the armed section of the police go after a mentally ill black man is really not normal. It is already suggesting an act of violence that our police normally are not allowed to commit.
It’s worth noting that whilst our police are not armed, they are still as complicit in state violence as in any other country - ACAB still applies in Ireland on a huge level. Police are complicit in deporting immigrants, in the mistreatment of those arrested, in the mistreatment of sex workers etc., and that should not be ignored. Our police also have a horrendous track record on corruption - our previous government nearly fell because a whistleblower on corruption in the police force was reported by the police as a paedophile and had his life destroyed. (x) The gardaí have a horrendous track record of closing ranks when an accusation is levelled and of doing anything they can to protect their own, and unfortunately Ireland is so small that institutions historically are capable of carrying out huge, cosy corruption. The gardaí are absolutely at the centre of this and this needs to be drawn attention to.
Ireland is more than 92% white, and only 1.3% black. (x) I don’t know a single non-white person in this country who does not feel constantly aware of their difference and constantly excluded. Again, being a small country does not help with this - the smallness of the country exacerbates how difficult it is to exist as a person of colour in Irish society, because everywhere you go there is a very homogenous, white, Catholic, Irish culture. I don’t want to say more on this because I don’t personally have experience of being black in Ireland, but I hope this contributes to your understanding of how clearly racially motivated Nkencho’s shooting was. The coincidence of the armed police (of which there are very few) going after a black man (who are statistically a huge minority) is really too much for me to buy given how endemic racism is in our country.
I also want fellow Irish people, if you’re reading this, to put pressure on the press. The Irish Times, one of the country’s main news sources, is very clearly coming out in favour of the gardaí here, and it’s not unfeasible to see the country’s elites (the same who fucked us over earlier this year in golfgate x) work with the government to smooth this over. Our government and their allies are a boy’s club, as golfgate proved. If you’re Irish and you’re able to, please go and protest - I can’t because I’m immunocompromised, but I will be writing to the government and to the Irish Times etc. - those of you who are not Irish, protesting embassies (safely) and writing to the press and to Irish government officials would be hugely helpful - please pretend to be Irish when you do this, otherwise they will ignore you. Please do not use template emails when writing to the government as our government filters them out!
Petition: https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-justice-for-the-unlawful-killing-of-george-nkencho-justiceforgeorge?recruited_by_id=95429be0-4b41-11eb-a239-2bc7a8cae2dd [please don’t donate to change.org!]
These are Irish organisations that really need your donations! I haven’t explained the other horrific racist apparatuses of the state because this isn’t the post for it, but Ireland has been condemned by the UN for the way it breaches human rights of asylum seekers, so these are all vital (x).
Irish Refugee Council, who support people seeking protection in Ireland
Doras, an independent NGO working to protect the rights of migrants in Ireland
Immigrant Council of Ireland, an independent law centre working to provide assistance to people from a migrant background and protect their rights
Migrants and Ethnic-minorities for Reproductive Justice (MERJ Ireland), an organisation of migrant women of colour actively campaigning for reproductive justice and for all and contributing to feminist discourse in Ireland
Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, a platform for asylum seekers to seek justice, freedom and dignity for all asylum seeker
Thank you for reading - I realise this is a long post. Please do dm me if you want any more info/resources - always happy to help.
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