Activists in Ireland planned “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations in three Irish cities Tuesday afternoon in protest of alleged American police brutality and the “international system of white supremacy.”
Tuesday’s protests were organized by two left-wing organizations — Anti-Racism Network Ireland and the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland — in Dublin, Cork and Galway in order to “to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.”
Crowds gathering outside the GPO in Dublin for the #BlackLivesMatter demonstration. pic.twitter.com/N4Fjx1wyTy
— Newstalk (@NewstalkFM) July 12, 2016
More than 900 people RSVP’d as “going” to the protest in Dublin, with another 1,500 marked as “interested.”
Crowd starting to form at #BlackLivesMatter solidarity protest in Dublin, Ireland – demos in most Irish cities pic.twitter.com/5ovvqE8Bse
— Workers Solidarity (@WSMIreland) July 12, 2016
“We condemn the horrific acts of violence perpetrated on a daily basis by US law enforcement against Black bodies,” the Anti-Racism Network wrote in a statement.
“However, this devaluing of dark skin also stretches beyond the borders of the US and informs our reactions to the 10,000 people that have drowned in the Mediterranean since 2014, and to the 5,000 people currently incarcerated in the Direct Provision system here in Ireland,” the statement went on to say.
“We therefore stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the US and their struggle against deeply ingrained institutional racial prejudice, but also against the international system of white supremacy.”
#BlackLivesMatter
Dublin (Spire): https://t.co/ERkaEYvTb0
Galway (Eyre Sq): https://t.co/HOsui5f3D7
Cork (Daunt Sq): https://t.co/DaTAEVHeHy— Mark Malone (@soundmigration) July 12, 2016
The Anti-Racism Network describes its mission on Facebook: “We work to fight racism in all its forms and expressions and to affirm the principle of equality of every human being.” The organization defines “racism” rather broadly: “We believe that racism (including its ‘day to day’ form) is fundamentally rooted in the in the structures of the state and its institutions which are organised around the non-recognition of ‘foreign’ people (whatever their legal status) as equal and free subjects,” the group explains. “In our view, a context in which this ‘institutional racism’ is dramatically visible in Ireland is the direct provision system – a compulsory accommodation scheme for asylum seekers – and the related deportations apparatus.”
The Movement of Asylum Seekers In Ireland advocates for open-borders immigration policies, according to the group’s blog. “We need to live in a society whereby we all see each other as one people living in one world in a peaceful spirit. Freedom of movement should be the order of the day with no restriction of any boarders [sic]. Wars and killings have so many victims in history and it’s all about greed and making the other nations feel inferior and the others superior.”
Follow Peter Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson