In 1971 British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling suggested that the situation in Northern Ireland amounted to ‘an acceptable level of violence’. During ‘the Troubles’ this became the de facto security policy of successive British governments prepared to countenance a ‘manageable’ level of paramilitary activity. This reality supposedly changed irrevocably with the peace process and the 1997 Good Friday Agreement. Over the last fifteen years, however, Northern Ireland has been dubbed ‘the race hate capital of Europe’ with the ‘targeting of ethnic minorities’ by loyalist paramilitaries characterised as ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the police. The demography of Northern Ireland is changing, with eastern EU and non-white migrant workers arriving, which accentuates the reversing Protestant/Catholic differential and further undermines the ‘Protestant majoritarianism’ on which the state was founded. Alongside ‘flags protests’, racist violence has become one of the principal manifestations of unionist unease. The riposte by the state to racism has been to reach for empty models of ‘hate crime’ and ‘good relations’ alongside a criminal justice policy that appears to find acceptable a certain level of racist violence. Broadly, therefore, the author characterises the experience of people of colour and migrant workers in Northern Ireland as ‘living the peace process in reverse’. He concludes that this reality has profound implications – both for the future of Northern Ireland and for the ways in which we understand the relationship between the state and new forms of British nationalism across the UK.
‘Two racist attacks every day in Northern Ireland’s race-hate crime surge’, Belfast Telegraph (21April2014); ‘The complex rise in Northern Ireland racist hate crime’, BBC Radio 4, ‘The Report’ (11September2014); IRR News, ‘An assessment of racial violence in Northern Ireland’ (12December2013); IRR News, ‘Spotlight on racial violence: Northern Ireland’ (10April2014); ‘Why do the perpetrators of racial offences in NI appear to escape justice?’, BBC Northern Ireland, ‘Spotlight’ (23September2014).
2.
This ‘thesis’ was later substituted by the equally banal ‘replacement theory’ – the notion that racism replaced sectarianism. See for example SimonsJake Wallis, ‘Sectarian hatred is being overtaken by xenophobic racism in Northern Ireland’, Telegraph (20September2012).
3.
For a more detailed discussion of sectarianism as a form of racism see McVeighRobbie, ‘Sectarianism in Northern Ireland: towards a definition in law’, Equality Coalition (April2014).
4.
McVeighRobbieRolstonBill, ‘From Good Friday to good relations: sectarianism, racism and the Northern Ireland state’, Race & Class (Vol. 48, no. 1, 2007).
5.
BurnettJon, ‘Britain: racial violence and the politics of hate’, Race & Class (Vol. 54, no. 4, 2013); BurnettJonAthwalHarmit, ‘Race Related deaths after Macpherson’, Race & Class (Vol. 56, no. 1, 2014).
6.
This refers to the influential Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, chaired by MacphersonWilliamSir (London, Home Office, 1999, CM4262) that examined the flawed police investigation into the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993, and, amongst other things, established that the police in the UK were institutionally racist.
7.
Orangefest is the rebranding of sectarian celebration around 12 July and the ‘marching season’. It receives a deal of public money and publicity. Even those receiving public funding continue to attract negative publicity. See ‘Belfast bonfires: fewer groups breach conditions such as flag burning’, BBC News (28October2014). Besides these, the bonfire with ‘Anna Lo Ate my Dog’ was part of the wider ‘celebrations’.
8.
It is striking that where similar dynamics occur, as with Jobbik and Golden Dawn, the paramilitary-linked activities of these groups have been vigorously condemned by the European establishment yet the equivalent in Northern Ireland is ignored.
9.
For example, ‘Racism in Northern Ireland: “They called our children monkeys”’, Guardian (12June2014).
10.
For example, a recent Radio 4 documentary on racist violence made great play of this idea. Using one anonymous source, it suggested that there was just as much racist violence in republican areas, but it wasn’t being reported to the PSNI. ‘Racism in Northern Ireland’, in ‘The Report’, BBC Radio 4 (11September2014). In reality the progressive political culture that was effectively hegemonic in areas like West Belfast or Derry has been replaced by war-weariness and a tolerance of routine racism alongside lots of other things that would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. But acknowledging a growing problem in republican areas is very different from colluding with this specious variant of the ‘one side is as bad as the other argument’ in which every criticism of unionism has to be ‘balanced’ with a similar criticism of republicanism.
11.
Guardian (10January2004).
12.
‘East Belfast “race hate” campaign investigated’, BBC News (17January2014).
13.
‘Long Term International Migration Estimates for Northern Ireland (August 2013): Country of Birth of Mother’ (NI Statistics and Research Agency2013).
14.
‘Racism and Reaction’, CRE Five Views of Multi-Racial Britain (London, Commission for Racial Equality, 1978), p. 25.
15.
‘Banners at east Belfast home treated as hate crime by police’, BBC News (7June2014); ‘Banners at Nigerian man’s home “racist” – Naomi Long’, BBC News (18June2014); ‘Three attacked in Belfast race hate crime’, BBC News (29June2014); ‘Windows smashed at Belfast synagogue on Somerton Road’, BBC News (22July2014); ‘Crumlin fire: Chinese restaurant destroyed in arson attack’, BBC News (20September2014); ‘Armed men involved in racist attacks in north Belfast’, BBC News (21September2014); ‘Ulsterville Avenue: two families targeted in racist attacks’, BBC News (5October2014).
16.
In response to a positive message by a UUP councillor on the contribution of migrants to the area, a DUP councillor insisted the area was being ‘swamped by immigrants’ suggesting this was, ‘the hottest topic in Portadown’. See Portadown Times (7September2014).
17.
Anna Lo had previously attracted unionist opprobrium for describing herself as ‘anti-colonial’ and indicating a personal preference for a united Ireland. See ‘Anna Lo: “United Ireland” remarks “insulting”, say unionists’, BBC News (20March2014).
18.
‘Pastor James McConnell grateful for Peter Robinson backing’, BBC News (29May2014).
19.
Irish News (28May2014).
20.
‘Peter Robinson under fire for backing Pastor James McConnell’s Islamic remarks’, BBC News (28May2014).
21.
‘Anna Lo to quit NI politics over disillusionment’, BBC News (29May2014).
22.
‘Ku Klux Klan flag taken down in east Belfast after discussions’, BBC News (1July2014).
23.
Radio 4’s investigation suggested that these flags were a ‘best seller’ in parts of East Belfast. See ‘Racism in Northern Ireland’, in ‘The Report’, BBC Radio 4 (11September2014).
24.
In terms of the ‘both sides’ discourse it is notable that the PSNI, when examining ‘sectarian attacks’, makes no effort to separate out victim and perpetrator data – which would give an indication of the extent to which power and agency dynamics have shifted and whether, in general terms, sectarian attacks are still relatively one sided. For example, in terms of post-GFA sectarian murders this appears to be the case. But the state has been resistant to any sectarian disaggregate of data along the lines of the UK Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act. When data does challenge this reality, such as sectarian disparities in rates of imprisonment for example, it confirms that the state remains structurally sectarian in a range of ways. See McVeighRobbie, ‘Sectarianism in Northern Ireland: towards a definition in law’, op. cit.
25.
IMC, First Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (2004).
26.
‘Loyalist removed over racism’, BBC News (6February2004); ‘Racist war of the loyalist street gangs: orchestrated attacks on minorities raise fears of ethnic cleansing’, Guardian (10January2004).
27.
IMC, Third Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (2004), p. 15.
28.
IMC, Eighth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (2006), pp. 23–24.
29.
IMC, Tenth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (2006), pp. 16–18.
30.
IMC, Twenty-Sixth and Final Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission 2004-2011 – Changes, Impact and Lessons (2011).
31.
‘Farewell IMC’, Davenport Diaries, BBC News (4November2010).
32.
‘UVF “behind racist attacks in Belfast”’, BBC News (3April2014); ‘Ammunition found in race hate operation, court told’, BBC News (14May2014); ‘Racist attacks: Police say hate crimes were “orchestrated”’, BBC News (29July2014).
Witness the Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons, refusing to link racist hate crimes to loyalist paramilitary activity: ‘I do not think it is the role of the Commission to actually attribute the attacks. I think that is a matter for the police and for other agencies who work directly in this area.’ House of Commons, Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (2005, Ev 9).
36.
For example, after Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness had named ‘elements’ in the UVF and Orange Order as being involved in racist violence, DUP MLA Robin Newtown was at pains to insist that the Chief Constable had assured him that ‘no specific group’ was behind recent attacks on the ‘Nolan Show’; BBC Northern Ireland (13May2014).
37.
McVeighRobbie, The Next Stephen Lawrence? Racist violence and criminal justice in Northern Ireland (Belfast, NICEM, 2006). McVeighRobbie, Race and Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland: towards a blueprint for the eradication of racism from the CJSNI (Belfast, NICEM, 2013).
38.
McGillPaulOliverQuintin, A wake-up call on race: implications of the Macpherson Report for institutional racism in Northern Ireland (Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, 2002).
39.
JarmanNeil, Criminal Justice Responses to Hate Crime in Northern Ireland (Belfast, Challenge Hate Crime Project, 2012).
40.
Ibid., p. 48.
41.
‘Spotlight on NI legal system’s racist attack blind spot’, BBC News (23September2014).
42.
‘Police get 14 calls in two weeks to new hate crime line’, BBC News (5June2014).
43.
‘Operation Orion: Police name for major anti-racism operation is KKK slogan’, Belfast Telegraph (14May2014).
44.
And if, as was suggested, these codenames are generated at random, the earlier ‘Operation Season’s Greetings crime prevention messages for the Christmas period’ appears particularly serendipitous.
45.
The PPS explains: ‘There is no statutory definition of “hate crime” … [In Northern Ireland] the law does provide for a “statutory aggravating feature”. This is applied if, in the view of a prosecutor, this aspect of a case can be proved to the evidential standard; that is, beyond reasonable doubt. If a Judge accepts that this aspect of the case is proven beyond reasonable doubt, he/she must increase the sentence imposed.’ In other words, all the journalistic and political hype around racist hate crime is built around something which does not exist in law and which is defined in two completely different and contradictory ways by the police and PPS in Northern Ireland. See ‘Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland Statistical Bulletin: Cases Involving Hate Crime 2013/14 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014’, pp. 1–3.
46.
Thus, even when the hatred and the incitement appear pretty palpable, there isn’t much evidence of prosecution. ‘Preacher who said “Islam is satanic” is facing police probe over “hate mongering”’, Mirror (21May2014).
47.
‘Doubts over Palestinian aid schemes’, BBC News (21February2006).
48.
Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland 2014, op. cit. p. 15.
49.
It has only emerged in 2014 that campaigns organised by the Lawrence family and others protesting about police racism were infiltrated by undercover police officers, and taps were placed on phones of lawyers and politicians.
50.
Thus in terms of the state response, an allegation made by DUP Minister Edwin Poots in summer 2013 that PSNI was turning a blind eye to loyalist drug dealers led to a forceful rebuttal from the PSNI. By contrast, a question posed to the Chief Constable by the Policing Board seeking similar assurances that authorisations were not being given for paramilitary informant participation in racist violence received the standard issue ‘neither confirm nor deny’ response.
51.
McVeighRobbie, Race and Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland 2013, op. cit.
52.
For example, it would be interesting to put these examples before a Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel modelled on British interventions to find out just how inaction in the most egregious cases might be justified.
53.
McVeighRobbie, ‘“Special Powers”: racism in a permanent state of exception’, in LentinA.LentinR., eds, Race and State (Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006).
54.
‘Peter Robinson says Stormont “no longer fit for purpose”’, BBC News (9September2014).
55.
Northern Ireland has not, however, imported the British definition of good relations. Thus, the ineffectiveness of good relations in Northern Ireland is compounded by a lack of formal definition, which leads to different competing and problematic lay interpretations. By contrast the GB duty provides the ‘tackling prejudice and promoting understanding’ formulation, and its extension across grounds allows a greater intersectionality in application.
56.
For a more detailed discussion see McVeighRobbie, ‘Good Relations in Northern Ireland: towards a definition in law’, op. cit.
57.
‘Flag protesters launch new “anti-politics” unionist party’, Belfast Telegraph (24April2013); ‘Former BNP man and Nick Griffin ex-crony Paul Golding flies to Belfast for loyalist flag protest’, Belfast Telegraph (15December2013).
58.
‘Race-hate figures attending Pastor James McConnell’s church’, Sunday World (4June2014).
59.
See, for example, ‘Ukip threatens to scupper DUP-UUP election pact’, Newsletter (15November2014); ‘DUP urges supporters to give Euro transfer votes to UKIP and UUP’, Belfast Telegraph (14April2014).
60.
SivanandanA., ‘From resistance to rebellion: Asian and Afro-Caribbean struggles in Britain’, Race & Class (Vol. 23, nos 2–3, 1981).
61.
‘North Belfast parade: Cameron says panel is a bid to “defuse a difficult situation”’, BBC News (7October2014).
62.
This self-identified ‘Combined Unionist Leadership’ continued its dialogue with the British Government through 2014/15 issuing a series of statements, ‘on behalf of the Orange Institution, DUP, UUP, TUV, UKIP, PUP and UPRG West Belfast’. See, for example, ‘Unionist “concerns” at proposals to resolve north Belfast parades dispute’, Belfast Telegraph (14October2014).
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