In February
this year, there were a series of high-profile racist attacks in Northern
Ireland. In Dundonald, the house of a Filipino nurse and her family
was attacked with petrol bombs.
Before the incident, the racist thugs cut the telephone line to prevent
them calling for help. An abusive note was also left behind. Violent
attacks also took place against immigrant workers in Portadown and Dungannon.
However, only a small number of cases grab the media's attention. Physical,
verbal abuse and discrimination against ethnic minorities are now a
daily occurrence. The number of racist attacks recorded by police in
2002 was 226. Last year, this figure rose to 813, and many attacks go
unreported as many immigrants fear further assaults if they speak out.
The right-wing tabloids and the government attempt to scapegoat immigrants
for the crises facing our public services, saying that they are sapping
funding. They are blamed for the lack of housing and jobs. This is simply
propaganda. Public services were in a dire condition long before immigrant
workers began to come to the North in significant numbers, and ethnic
minorities are still a tiny percentage of the population here.
In fact, it is the capitalist, neo-liberal policies of the New Labour
government that are responsible for the situation facing working people
of all backgrounds today. They are not properly investing into the health
and education services and are actually handing them over to profit-hungry
big business through PFI/PPP schemes. Our healthcare service is reliant
upon healthcare workers, particularly nurses, from other countries,
since the derisory pay they receive puts many people from Northern Ireland
off going into the profession. There is a total lack of development
of social housing or investment to provide decent jobs.
Big business brutally exploits immigrant workers who come here seeking
a better life for themselves and their families, using them as a source
of cheap labour to make huge profits and force down wages. The GAMA
dispute in the South last year highlighted this. Turkish workers were
being paid less than £2 per hour and forced to live in cramped
accommodation on site. Any dissent meant being sacked and immediately
sent back to Turkey.
Similar cases have been documented in Dungannon, where employers have
lied to Portuguese workers about their rights to get them to accept
disgusting conditions and pay. We have been contacted about a Polish
worker in Newry who lost his finger in an accident at work. He was given
£100 in “compensation”, immediately sacked and flown
back to Poland!
Working class people of all ethnic backgrounds must work together in
the trade unions and communities to prevent racist attacks and to fight
for their common interests, against exploitation and for decent jobs,
services and housing for all!
