Now that the racists (Yes, they are racists and indeed fascists) have been put back in their boxes, and the rioting has been somewhat reduced, has anyone noticed that the reason all this trouble started, the murder of three young girls, has been largely forgotten about?
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Dasilva Aguiar all died after Axel Rudakubana went on a deadly stabbing spree in Southport. From the outset rumour was rife of the knifeman’s nationality, of his race and the motivation for his crime. There was speculation as to his identity, his name, what he looked like and more. Innocent people were being fingered for the crimes of a killer by people who didn’t have a clue what was actually going on, with the word ‘terrorist’ being bandied about like it was going out of fashion.
As per usual, all the supposed facts…were wrong, fake news some might say. However, the far right and racists alike got their claws deep into the national psyche. In their understanding, Mr. Axel Rudakubana was a foreign national, an illegal immigrant, of colour, and a killer. At least they got two elements right, Mr. Rudakubana is black and is a killer. Because of the two other false descriptions of the killer, anyone and everyone not white became a target for racists and the far right alike.
If nothing else, the past week has shown what fake news does to a society which gets its ‘facts’ and news online and from dubious sources. It also illustrates perfectly how a huge number of people can be led to target innocent people by a few idiots stirring hatred online. While young lads and those gullible enough to act on the word of the likes of Tommy Robinson, or whatever Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon wants to be called these days, received a criminal record and jail time, Yaxley-Lennon is sunning himself in Cyprus after stirring up so much racial tension in England, NEI, and the South of Ireland.
The sheer embarrassment and disgust many Northern irish felt at the Coolock numpties coming North to spews their racist, fascist bile along with Loyalists and racists, led them to be labeled the ‘Coolock Loyalists’. They’ve been called West Brits, while Coolock has been labeled ‘Londoncoolock’, obviously a play on ‘Londonderry’. Thankfully, when shops owned by those not from our shores were attacked within nationalist areas, the communities came out in support of a diverse community and stood shoulder to shoulder with their shopkeepers.
Thankfully the ‘anti-immigration’ racist protests were small in size compared to the counter protests. A smattering of racists paled in comparison to the hundreds standing for a more vibrant and inclusive society. Make no mistake though, the far right won this round. Too many people believed ‘Tommy Robinson’ and ‘Coolock Says No’ for this event to simply be forgotten. When our Tricolour can be held side by side with the British Union flag by someone not worthy to hold it, it says something about how the British far right, Combat-18 and the English Defense League are strengthening the Irish far right and emboldening them to bring a skewed, perverted togetherness to Ireland as a whole.
What’s the bets you’ll see the British Union flag flown beside our Tricolour in Dublin in the near future under the guise of a perverted togetherness on this island? That togetherness completely excludes any Irish person not white of skin. It’s not what Ireland is and when someone from ‘Coolock Says No’ calls themselves a “patriot” yet stands with a fist in the air under the flag of the UDA, in a UDA bar, drinking with UDA terrorists, that skewed togetherness completely ignores the bloodshed in the North by the UDA. Something ‘Coolock Says No’ and their brand of so-called ‘patriots’ knows nothing about.
Disgrace that you would label the working class residents of Coolock as fascists.
Those people from Coolock would not have gotten out of a loyalist area alive during the conflict. They would have ended up with their throats cut, dumped in a rubbish tip. Now the right wingers have other people to pick on, why do some Irish people do that? We suffered discrimination and prejudice for centuries, have they forgotten the infamous No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish signs?