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Racism is interpreted as any action, practice, policy, law, speech, or incident which has the effect (whether intentional or not) of undermining anyone’s enjoyment of their human rights, based on their actual or perceived ethnic or national origin or background, where that background is that of a marginalised or historically subordinated group.
| Charitable Organizations | Location | Est. |
Services |
|
Irish Network Against Racism |
Dublin | 1997 |
INAR (Irish Network Against Racism) is a national network of over 100 anti-racism civil society organisations which aims to work collectively to highlight and address the racism in Ireland |
| Immigrant Council | Dublin | 2001 |
The Immigrant Council of Ireland’s vision is of a society that is fair, respects human rights and diversity and is committed to everyone |
|
Spunout |
Dublin | 2004 |
We cover a wide range of support services including issues associated with Racism |
| Irish Refugee Council | Dublin | 1992 |
The Irish Refugee Council is a committed member of the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) a national network of over 100 organisations working collectively to highlight and address racism in Ireland through the promotion of Irish, EU and global trends and anti-racist initiatives |
|
Integration Ireland |
Nationwide | 2009 |
The Governments approach to tackling racism is to do so through a series targeted actions contained within the Migrant Integration Strategy under the specific theme of Promoting Intercultural Awareness and Combating Racism and Xenophobia |
INAR understands RACISM as: Any action, practice, policy, law, speech, or incident which has the effect (whether intentional or not) of undermining anyone’s enjoyment of their human rights, based on their actual or perceived ethnic or national origin or background, where that background is that of a marginalised or historically subordinated group. Racism carries connotations of violence because the dehumanisation of ethnic groups has been historically enforced through violence.
In other words, racism is when an individual, group, structure or institution intentionally or unintentionally abuse their power to the detriment of people, because of their actual or perceived “racialised” background.
It’s important to understand that racism is an ideology from a colonial past which “holds one race superior, while another inferior” in the words Bob Marley in his song ‘War’.
The United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) defines racism as: ‘Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.’[i]
[i]UN International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), (1969), Article 1
Irish civil society organisations use the working definition drafted by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) which defines racism as: ‘A specific form of discrimination faced by minority ethnic groups based on the false belief that some ‘races’ are in essence superior to others because of different skin colour, nationality, ethnic or cultural background’.
The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, sparked protests across the US which echoed across the world. In Ireland, we have seen unprecedented levels of interest in the problem of racism, and urgent calls for justice by those directly affected. We have never seen such a vibrant and passionate ‘awaking’ of public awareness and realisation that racism is nothing new in Ireland and has existed here for a long time. While standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and Black people in the US, we must also have a long and honest look at our own country’s racist legacies – from the deeply rooted systemic racism against Travellers, the prevalence of anti-Black racism, the stigmatisation of Muslims and refugees, and the inhumane treatment of people living in Direct Provision. These legacies put into context the high toll of interpersonal racism and the overt acts of racism that Asian people are experiencing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic recorded by iReport.ie. This only shows us how much work we, both as individuals and as a society, still must do to address racism in Ireland.
Realising the scope of racism in our own country may feel upsetting and overwhelming, especially for affected communities, but also for those from the majority community who are coming to grips with the breadth and scope of the problem. However, rather than feeling hopeless about that racism is still being ever-present and seemingly insurmountable, we would like instead to help inspire you to channel that frustration and take positive action. In recent years, for example with the popular movements which won marriage equality and repeal of the 8th Amendment, we have seen that the change is possible and that every person has a role to play to make Ireland a more just and equal country.
We hope that this list will help you in your quest to focus your frustration in a constructive way and help you ‘be the change you want to see in the world’.
https://inar.ie/ [1]
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