The Afhgan Hunger strike and immigration in Ireland

dublin | racism & migration related issues | opinion/analysis Thursday August 24, 2006 13:02 by 1st of May - WSM

The Afghan hunger strike brought into sharp focus the new Ireland into which our country has been transforming over the last 10 years. Our booming economy and relatively high wage levels have drawn many thousands of immigrants into the country in search of a better life here. Much as the Irish once looked to America for the promise of a happier future, so many people from less well off countries now look to Ireland.

Download the poster from http://www.struggle.ws/pdfs/posters/mcdasylumposter.pdf

Many immigrants come to Ireland in better circumstances though, with a job offer in their pocket and expectations of a better life. The oft-repeated accusation is that they are “taking our jobs”. Although it seems logical, this idea is one of the most damaging of all. It stems from a false idea of scarcity that is encouraged by business owners, managers and the media as a whole.

The fact is we are a very rich country, and have more than enough wealth to go around - if it were distributed equally that is! There would be more than enough for us all to maintain a quite comfortable lifestyle. Most difficulties in our society stem from the fact that a small ruling class take most of this wealth for themselves. They spread the idea among the working class that there is not enough to go around and that other workers are a threat to our own income.

This is nonsense of course, what we need to do is to stand together with our fellow workers, whether they are immigrants or not and ensure that we are all paid properly for the work that we do. In the last year we have seen many news stories which revealed the widespread exploitation of immigrant workers in companies like Irish Ferries, Tesco and many others, especially in the construction industry . The tireless struggle of the workers involved to publicise these incidents and fight back against employers through unions or through the courts has made it impossible for the media to ignore them.

It was only when these situation were raised by workers in their trade unions that anything was done to improve things. Exploitation of any worker, including immigrants is a threat to everyone’s income - if the company can pay someone less than you for the same work, why should they take you on? This is exactly why we must work together in unions with our fellow immigrant workers to ensure that none of us are exploited and we are all treated with the respect we deserve.

Fight Bigotry – Fight racism

Over the past fifteen years those in power made a lot of promises. They promised a country in which everybody would benefit from the economy, one in which poverty and other problems would be left behind. As usual they lied.

Low pay, homelessness, long hospital waiting lists, under funded schools, drug abuse and the high cost of housing are just some the difficulties that ordinary people across the country still have to deal with. The illusion of the Celtic Tiger has disappeared and left in its place a lot of angry people. And we are right to be angry.

Over the past fifteen years a certain section of society made a lot of money off our work. Businessmen, Bankers, Landowners and Politicians all grew very rich by screwing the rest of us. But they can’t admit this, they can’t accept responsibility for the society that they shaped and the problems they caused.

Instead, helped by their rich newspaper owning friends, they try and find someone else to blame. Asylum Seekers are among the most vulnerable sectors in society. They are people fleeing their homeland because of violence or persecution and hope to find shelter in Ireland. Refugees from war-torn countries like Afghanistan face incredibly dangerous and difficult conditions in their home countries – at the time of the Afghani’s protest more than 50 people were being violently killed there every day. Last year in Ireland only 2,541 people applied for asylum but if you were to depend on the mainstream media you would get a very different picture.

They imply that we are being swamped by an army of asylum seekers here to sponge off the state. They help spread myths that asylum seekers get free cars and mobile phones, that they get houses ahead of Irish people and that they clog up the medical system. These myths are untrue. Like most other people in society Asylum Seekers are screwed by the government but because they are so vulnerable and isolated they often get treated even worse.

FFACTS ABOUT ASYLUM SEEKERS IN IRELAND

• Asylum Seekers are not allowed work. Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe in which it is illegal for an Asylum Seeker to work. This means people are kept isolated from the local community and are dependant on the government for support

• Asylum Seekers are not on local Authority housing lists. They are housed in shared, hostel type accommodation. Many of these “centres” are located in remote regions and are often over crowded. This means, that entire families have almost no privacy and very little freedom; sometimes for a few years.

• Asylum Seekers do not get Social Welfare. Adult Asylum Seekers only get 19.10 a week while children get 9.60. This tiny amount is supposed to cover all costs, apart from food and accommodation.

• Asylum seekers do not get special treatment in the Medical System. Asylum seekers do get ordinary medical cards which are the same as all other people that receive them.

• Asylum Seekers are not allowed to attend 3rd level education. Along with the ban on working this results in many fit, hardworking and educated people being refused the opportunity to contribute to society.

• Some Asylum seekers have been in the Asylum process for over 5 years

• Many young Asylum Seekers have lived almost the whole of their lives in Ireland and yet are being faced with deportation.