A crowd of approximately 500 people came together in Newry on Sunday in an anti-racism rally.
The rally addressed the recent attacks on immigrants, the “sickening racist incidents” on the streets of the city, alongside the display of ‘Locals Only’ graffiti in recent days in Mourne View.
The list of speakers featured effectively the entire Trade Union movement, with even the vice president of ICTU, to denounce the governmental inaction and austerity which has created an environment of deprivation.
A wide variety of progressive, solidarity groups were in attendance.
Speaking after the event on Sunday, Newry and Armagh MP, Daire Hughes, said: “Newry has always been a welcoming place, with strong, diverse communities. We have, unfortunately, seen a small number of sickening racist incidents in recent months. There is absolutely no place for racism in our communities — it is repulsive and must be unequivocally condemned.
“Today we have had the opportunity to stand in solidarity with those people who have experienced racism in our community, and to send a powerful message that racism, in any form, is totally unacceptable.”
People Before Profit Newry & Armagh representative, Marc Mac Seáin, who chaired the event commented: “Our speakers list tied together well the lies, inconsistency and hypocrisy of the far-right on so many fronts. They do not represent the workers movement, they’re opposed to it and work against it.
“It was heartening to see the genuine workers movement come out strongly against far-right hate and division, but also take aim squarely at the root of these problems.
“The same capitalist imperialist system which creates refugees is the same one which exploits and deprives the people of Newry. We have so much more in common with migrant workers than we do with billionaires who push bigotry to divide us.
“Our governments facilitate imperial slaughter and plunder abroad such as in Palestine through flow of armaments through Shannon and Aldergrove airports. Climate change is driven by corporations and billionaires which drive millions more from their homes.
“Locally migrant workers keep Daisy Hill and our health system running. Westminster recently decided to spend over £1bn on extra GP funding for 2025. The average English person will see 1,000 more spent per head on them with it compared to those in the North here.
“When Stormont’s Finance Minister John O’Dowd announced in March that £61m would be spent across the North on multi-disciplinary GP teams, the Newry district was one of the only areas not featured for investment despite a site for that purpose previously purchased near Abbey Yard. That’s not to address the ridiculous spending priorities and blunders of our local council either.
“Recently Stormont’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons cut the social housing build target for 2025 by more than half, whilst his party colleagues speak from the floor to blame migrants for the housing crisis. That same week in our local council through committee the DUP put a motion up to ban ‘transsexuals’ from public toilets.
“Not a policy that local people were demanding. It’s clear across a host of issues this nonsensical culture war rhetoric is being pushed to distract from the failures of neoliberalism, Capitalism, from these same political parties and corporations behind them who have held power for so long.
“We saw another display of bigotry just a couple of days ago when someone crept out during the night to spray ‘Locals Only’ on a house viewed by a migrant family. The vandal didn’t have the confidence to do it during the day, because they know that community would be aghast, with migrant families living in Mourne View and valued as part of the community. To my understanding this is the third such racist incident since 2022 in Mourne View but in each instance it’s carried out by a fringe element to the consternation of residents, who don’t agree with it.
“We were reminded of the antidote yesterday to not just the bigotry and division of the far-right, but all attempts by the government and capitalists to undermine our communities. Solidarity; a movement of equity, togetherness and tolerance for all working people. We saw that displayed on the streets of Newry and of the far-right come to spread their poison again they will be met with a response.”
