Vicious attacks on members of the Indian community recently were jolting.
When I was growing up in the 1970s there was no racism here, or so it seemed. There was, apparently, no racism because there were almost no foreigners. Apart from family who came home from England, it was just us, and everyone else was the same as us. Except, on second thoughts, there was more to it. When I think harder, I remember anti-English feeling as a child. We didn’t use the word British much. But it was popular to be anti-English.
Violence played out on black and white televisions every night from Northern Ireland and that had an underlay of racism. But because it was for and against a united Ireland, it was insisted that the hate was not racial. Odd, given Cromwell had clear views to the contrary. But if Northern Ireland was obvious, what was almost invisible were the very small number of people who did look different.
The testimony of the late Christine Buckley and others of colour was of a cruel State. But in the way we were brilliant at segregating out what we did not want to mix with, that uncomfortable truth was unseen. Itinerants – we didn’t use the word Traveller then – were in plain sight but ostracised.
Wine manager who ‘never heard from Mr Shanahan again’ after Dublin restaurant closed abruptly secures WRC award
Parents of teen killed after being left on roadside by emergency services: ‘They failed Shannon’
Father of girl killed in Co Mayo crash urges truck driver not to be ‘consumed by guilt’
Molly Martens crashed car while ‘out of it’ just weeks after killing Jason Corbett
[ President condemns ‘despicable attacks’ on Indian people Opens in new window ]
In the 1980s, I first experienced a multicultural society in the United States. The talk in Irish pubs among the newly arrived often instantly picked up on the outright racism that characterised parts of Irish America. It was bad alchemy.
Ireland started to change dramatically in the 1990s and by the early noughties, in what was still an analogue culture, there was feverish talk of a “them” who were getting everything from free prams to free houses while claiming asylum here.
The Citizenship Referendum in 2004 was the answer to that and it largely settled the issue for 20 years. In hindsight, that apparent lull was helped by the economic crash. Now things are at full tilt again economically, immigration is an economic necessity, and right-wing racism is on the rise.
Racism in this State is old. What is new is the vile discourse online, and most of it comes from abroad, principally the United States and United Kingdom. We spent a century fantasising about being contaminated by foreign filth in the form of dirty books. Now the reality arrives via algorithms on an extraordinary scale.
People correctly look to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and gardaí to act in relation to the recent attacks, and they should. It is Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan who is at the front line. The Ireland is Full protests are native but copycat the far right globally. Talking down to disaffected people caught up in the anger will serve no purpose.
The electronic ether, acted out on protests, is socialising hate in working-class communities. Children and younger teenagers – mainly boys – are picking up hate in stereo on the ground and online. The number who act out these impulses is still small, but the consequences are potentially deadly and inflammatory.
[ The Irish Times view on racist attacks: No place for hate on our streetsOpens in new window ]
Beyond the few who move on from verbal assault to actual violence, there is an ecosystem talking up untruth and legitimising hate. Casual abuse and the feeling of being unsafe are increasing for members of the Indian community, immigrants and Irish people who look different. We could kid ourselves about what sort of society we were in the 1970s, but not now.
Schools have been remarkably successful hubs of racial integration, but are not a simple answer. The dilemma about occupying bored teenagers over the long summer holidays is perpetual. There is an open question about whether these attacks were coincidental or copycats. In any event, they were horrific and have blighted the lives of the victims.
[ #WeAreIrish and proud, but the online racism is exhaustingOpens in new window ]
Today marks Independence Day in India and US president Donald Trump is meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Their world, where there are no rules, reflects reality online. It is Trump’s world and the base of his power. Global tech platforms are rapidly reversing online moderation in the name of free speech. The ether is a new frontier of dystopian untruth. Government or EU intervention to police it will provoke a US backlash. That presents a difficult challenge for Mr O’Donovan because we can’t police the streets if we don’t regulate online.
