Another Racist Riot: Far Right Agitators Don’t Care About Coolock!

All workers will be angered to see attacks on security workers at the anti-migrant protests in Coolock.

One security worker was injured and carried off on a stretcher while the crowd jeered the injured worker and construction workers were locked in a van for hours unable to leave. Others were stuck on buses and were attacked.

The violence was organised by far right agitators against the use of an old Crown Paints factory as accommodation for International Protection applicants.

Far right agitators are stoking up fear and anger and instead of directing it against the real enemy, the government and the rich parasites they serve, they’re targeting poor people fleeing war, persecution and poverty.

Working class communities like Coolock are right to be angry. We should be furious about the fact that 40 years of neglect has left so many communities behind.

We are right to be angry about the lack of public services, the lack of housing and the cost of living crisis. This area has the longest wait for people on the Dublin City Council housing waiting list. Working class people have lost hope that they will ever be able to afford a home in Dublin.

When Coolock rose agaisnt water charges the Guards came down on the community with batons and marches were organised to the local Garda station. The state deprives certain areas and when anger explodes hits people with batons.

But diverting all this anger and despair against other poor people will only serve the same establishment. It’s the best gift you can give Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael! They’ve been rising in the polls since the immigration protests began. They must be laughing behind their fake concern.

People seeking International Protection are workers no different to you or me. They are leaving their home countries to seek a better future for themselves and their families, the vast majority want to work and contribute to Irish society. They bring skills we can use.

The establishment are using the oldest trick in the book - “divide and conquer”. The British Empire were experts at this. They’d turn English workers against Irish workers and laugh as both lost out. The Irish used to be the victims of this ruling class game.

If working class people blame migrants for the housing crisis or low wages then we’re not blaming the landlords, the establishment politicians, the bosses and bankers and the billionaire super rich like vulture fund owner John Grayken or the likes of Denis O’Brien.

The establishment will keep the immigration debate going in the run up to the general election and as long as they keep rising in the polls.

Instead of diverting anger towards migrants - workers or refugees - we need to harness all that working class anger into a positive movement for housing. We need the trade unions in Raise The Roof to call a massive housing protest before the Budget to get people out on the streets.

Our unions have left a gap for the far right to fill. They can play a role in giving working people confidence to fight for change. But it will take a fight inside our unions to get them to see this.

We also need the numbers and might of the union movement brought together to say we will not be divided. We are one working class. We will not tolerate attacks on security workers, on any workers.

The socialist left needs to give working people hope that things can actually change and get better if we working class people join together in a united struggle for that better world.

The fight for socialism - for an Ireland where no child is homeless or hungry - can provide this hope. But there’s hard work to be done.