Equality of Opportunity in Education

by Lorraine Lally

As a female immigration lawyer who is white from a working class rural family I am very aware of labels and the damage that we inflict by not looking beyond categorisation.  But we have a choice in how we treat others and the labels we carry are superficial and insignificant.

As an Irish emigrant child living in London I remember an article in The Gaurdian newspaper about a boy who came home from school and jumped into a bath of bleach. He was like me bullied in school. I did not understand and I cried he wanted to change the colour of his skin. Now I am older and I cry again for the community that permitted that child to be isolated within the education system. The Irish constitution provides for a right to education until the age of 16 years of age. I am proud of this provision.  We have an obligation to educate all children. We must respect all human beings by realising that we share commonalities that will bind us together for a better society. I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard a woman I greatly admire Brigid Quilligan from the  Irish Traveller Movement speaking about the recent Court decision which permitted a second level school to give preferential treatment to the children of past pupils in their admission policy. Wait and think for a moment a school in Tipperary that positively discriminates in relation to the children it enrols to its school.

How many nationalitites will there be in that school? Will there be a clear non discriminatory representation of the local community? The answer is no and that is the truth.  There is a failure to realise the Europe wide struggle with issues  of equality in education for all children regardless of race,nationality and religious upbringing. surrounding the brutality in central Europe.  There is now a strong relationship between the  Irish Traveller Movement linking in with the Roma Community representatives in a common cause to prevent discrimination in Education.  There is a pattern in other States and Ireland would appear to failing to protect children from different ethnic,religious and cultural backgrouds.

The role of the State and the liability of the State in providing for children and their educational rights would appear to provide a glimmer of hope.  But the existing State policy is to fund schools that are run by Boards of Management that are not regulated by the State in the policies that they are implementing.  There is an obligation to provide for all the children in the State which is reinforced with there European Convention on Human Rights by there is a lack of case law illustrating  real success for the children concerned what we need is a clear change in policy to realise inclusive education where there is a chance at equality of opportunity.

It would seem that we will be waiting for the development of European Union standards on the area of protecting educational and cultural rights. The interesting aspect is that there is a long history of dialogue in the area which may lead to stricter changes to the provision of educational rights.

But the failure of EU law is that it often focuses on EU citizens and their families which will often not consider third country nationals or non-EEA nationals who need our protection most of all.

If you cannot receive reasonable access to schools then how do you have reasonable access to employment and then how do you manage in the State as a member of society. The answer is that the exclusion will not benefit the individual, the family or society. We need to draw attention to the inequality occurring in education and the reality that many are excluded due to a lack of opportunity.

    1. Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to School Admission Policy

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-school-s-admission-policy-1.2115378

 

     2. Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 20 Human Rights Quarterly , (1998), p. 691-704, para. 9. See also V. Dankwa, C. Flinterman, S. Leckie, Commentary to the Maastricht Guidelines on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 20 Human Rights Quarterly , (1998), p. 705-730, at 717.

 

 

 For more information about Lorraine check out http://www.helplink.ie/mediation/staff/  and  http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/lorraine-lally/53/a47/538  alternatively you can contact her on twitter at @lorraine_lally https://twitter.com/lorraine_lally 

The Universal Language

by Jayne Olorunda (Author of Legacy and publisher at Excalibur publishing NI)

Barely a day goes by when we are not confronted with a headline story about racism. I confess I have a habit of dwelling on these, as I’m sure anyone who has experienced racism first hand does. It is especially easy to do so when some of these headlines are on your doorstep. Yet as all of us dwellers know, such ruminating doesn’t get us anywhere. Certainly today's relentless stream of appalling racist incidents needs to be highlighted, just as those responsible need to be exposed and challenged. Yet for every bad news story some good news examples must exist, right?  In writing this, the first of my monthly blogs for ROI against Racism I searched for some of these good news examples. I was ideally looking for a headline story promoting inclusion and diversity. I struggled with this, especially in finding the headline news examples. That’s because where racism is concerned it’s very rare that we see the good news stories. But they do exist and in such times when the extent of racism in our society is so topical it is becoming imperative that a balance between the good and bad is struck. If for no other reason than to reassure those people who feel vulnerable.  The good work being done across Ireland North and South must be recognised, for without recognition of positive work I fear the momentum will be lost. We cannot afford this.

It just so happens that last week yet another despicable news story made European headlines. Even worse, it later emerged that this story had a direct link to Northern Ireland.  This affected me profoundly. I am sure anyone reading this won’t need any prizes for guessing that the story I am about to mention is the Chelsea train incident. As I watched a man being denied the right to board a train because of the colour of his skin, I imagined how I would feel if that was my Dad, my sister or even me. How would anyone ever recover from that? To think that a group of grown men could publically intimidate and harass a lone man with such bravado and confidence is as frightening as their words. If you need reminding of these words, here they are again, “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it”. Their threatening behaviour even shook witnesses, some of whom looked on stunned. Incidents such as this would have been out of place in a schoolyard yet alone on a capital cities train system. Mercifully the man at the centre of the ordeal had no idea what the Chelsea fans were shouting, he couldn’t understand English. Yet even with no knowledge of the words, he still knew he had been subject to racist abuse. You see the language of racism is international.  It is universal. Nowhere is immune and no interpreters are needed.

As it transpired the Chelsea incident was a little closer to home than I had initially thought. One of the alleged suspects caught on camera was from Northern Ireland. Not only that but he was a former police man and worse (for my family anyway), he worked in the victims sector. You see this story rang home for me on another level in that it resonated with part of my family history. My father, a black man, died on a train in Northern Ireland.  The suspect works with victims of NI. He is being investigated for his alleged part in an act of racism towards a black man on a train. This could have been the same worker that any one of my family could have approached. Thankfully we didn’t.  As I said earlier nowhere is immune, but situations like this can cause a crisis of trust. It cannot be assumed that because someone works with certain groups of people or is involved with humane causes that they don’t have racist tendencies.  

The Paris train in question involved football supporters and that is disappointing.  Because I know and have seen first-hand how hard the sporting world, in particular football strives to combat racism. I have seen the plethora of initiatives to stamp racism and indeed any type of prejudice out of the game. In the words of Nelson Mandela ‘sport has the power to break down barriers where nothing else can’. Many sporting bodies and officials recognize this and regularly use the power of sport to unite.

That said, would I be comfortable going to a football match? Yes. It’s no longer the game that concerns me, if it ever did. Instead it’s the supporters, despite footballs efforts I just can’t shake off the images of my childhood where football supporters were portrayed as violent far right thugs.  The Paris incident has simply compounded and reinforced that line of thought. Yet it isn’t just football that I would avoid, there is also rugby. The difference being with rugby my avoidance isn’t due to the supporters but the players.  I have lost count of how many times I have been asked to watch Ulster play this year and have declined. Since some of the team’s top players felt it was appropriate to ‘black up’ for fancy dress, the idea of rugby, well to be more precise Ulster rugby is now repugnant to me.

You see players in any sport are key to changing, creating or maintaining the reputations of their game.  If the players choose to make a mockery of a group of people then they give the impression that it is ok for their supporters to do so as well.  If players condemn something then their influence alone would have a huge impact. Many of the government, team and community initiatives fail to capitalise on the players enough. Players are sports best asset, they are role models, idolised and for the most part respected. Yet they just don’t speak out enough, they may condemn individually but to speak out as a team how much more powerful would that be? For example Chelsea was fantastic in condemning the events of last week, they immediately expressed their outrage. I can’t help thinking how much better it would been if the players had collectively spoken out to?  

I don’t want to dwell on or totally blame the sporting arena for what I have come to see as selective racism, because selective racism is widespread.  The notion that black people are acceptable if they are the surgeon saving your life, the banker, the boss, the president, the singer the actor, the footballer is part and parcel of our society. For some black people are ok when they have a purpose, if they look nice, have money, have power or they possess one of any number of desirable variables and dare I say they are far enough away? They are no threat, you can select to like or admire them, they benefit you in some way.  What some fail to realise though is if you strip away the trappings, the titles and the fame then those apparently acceptable black people possess the same attributes that some take great offense to in everyday life. They are black, just like the black person that is pushed off a train, removed from their home, jeered at or even attacked.

Racism today is selective. People pick and choose who deserves it. Racism, one of the biggest inequalities of humanity in itself has become unequal. It is our society’s illness, our new plague. Thankfully some in our society are immune but not all. Racism if not dealt with correctly can be contagious, it can spread unless preventative measures are taken. The right influences, the right attitudes, the right information can keep racism at bay.

Across the UK and Ireland perhaps even globally great efforts are being put into eradicating racism and stamping out prejudice. Yet sometimes these efforts despite the best intentions can inadvertently perpetuate the problem. Our politicians and media in particular spring to mind here. They consistently talk of promoting ‘tolerance,’ but here’s the thing I don’t want to be tolerated, for that matter does anyone? I want to be accepted. We tolerate a cold, we tolerate the Irish weather. In my experience we tolerate people, things or the status quo because we know we have no other choice or because if we don’t we will be in trouble. I for one tolerate paying tax and I am sure I’m not alone!  In our vernacular ‘tolerate’ implies putting up with something, we tolerate things we don’t like.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could see a change in the approach of our politicians and our media in how they speak about racism? For them to offer some constructive words by talking more about inclusion and acceptance and a little less about tolerance. As our pasts have shown you can only ever tolerate something for so long, before it becomes intolerable. If we could only move beyond a society based on ‘tolerance’ and selection towards one based on acceptance and inclusion then I believe we would see real change.

To find out more about Jayne, check out her twitter @jayne_legacy  https://twitter.com/jayne_legacy

Immigrants Actually Help Our Ecomomies!

Back in 2008 I remember sitting up late to watch the American Election results. I wasn't usually interested in American politics' but that year was different. For the first time, in my life time a black man had the overwhelming potential to become president of the 'free world'. When it became clear that Barack Obama would indeed be the next president of America, I naively thought, wow the world is really ready for change and that for once we were moving in the right direction. But all you have to do is read the newspapers today to realise that unfortunately racism is still alive and rampaging through our society.

Racism isn't just happening in America, it's happening right on your own doorstep! Here in Ireland and the UK, there has been a dramatic rise in hate related crimes. With certain politicians filling people's heads with nonsense that immigrants are to blame for our current economic situation. They are scapegoating immigrants for problems caused by the banks and the governments.

What a lot of Irish and British people fail to remember is that many of our people have flocked to countries such as Australia and America throughout history in an attempt to make a better life for themselves. Is it not time we returned the favour to the world, and allowed others to come here for a better life? Shouldn't we be proud that people from around the world want to make a life for themselves here?

There are those that say that immigrants are taking our jobs, while others will contradict this and say that they are taking advantage of our benefit systems. So it seems no matter what they do, immigrants will be viewed in a negative manner by some people. A financial study in the UK between 2001 - 2011 actually show's that EU migrants and Non EU migrants actually stimulated the economy much more than UK natives did. There are also similar reports for Ireland.

 

 

The figures speak for themselves, having foreign nationals here is actually very good for our fragile economies. Maybe our politicians  should be informing people of these facts, but then that would put the responsibility of our current economic and social problems at there feet. Something they would rather avoid.

 

 

Please share this blog post, so that other people can recognise just how important it is to our economies to have immigrants in our countries.

 

 

 

 

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Campaign To Get Changes Made To Facebooks Community Standards.

Facebook, when used in a positive way, can be fun, informative and a great way to connect with people. Unfortunately it can also be used as a breeding ground for hate and negativity. The community standards are what Facebook use as a guideline on whether a post is acceptable or not. It seems that even when we can't understand or agree with someone else's opinions they have the right to express them, even when they may appear to be racist, homophobic, sexist etc. So it can become frustrating when you report a post that is clearly offensive only to be told that it does not violate the Community Standards.

One of our Admins is working on a campaign to get Facebook to review their community standards and to make much needed changes. To make the campaign a success, a lot of research will need to be carried out as well as interacting with people on Facebook about how certain posts have impacted on them emotionally and mentally.

 The campaign is not only about presenting the problem, it is also about offering solutions. It may be unrealistic to expect Facebook to shut down pages and groups so we need to think of things that Facebook could implement as a deterrent.For example Admin T has suggested the introduction of the 'dislike' button with the option to give a reason why you dislike the post (but only if you want to give a reason). People tend to want to be liked, they are encouraged to keep posting about certain topics, if those posts get a lot of likes. Adding the dislike button would mean the posts would be able to get negative feedback instantly and as people want to be liked, it will make them pause and think before they post.

Admin B has suggested a warning label on a page/group or person. If a person/page/group receives x amount of reports for the same thing e.g. content is racist, homophobic, sexist etc a warning come up at the top of the page saying

"The person/page/group you are on contains content that some will find racist" ( or insert whatever the person/page/group is being reported for.)

To make it fair it would have to be x amount of different people reporting rather than x amount of reports as we don't want someone sitting and repeatedly reporting the same page over and over just to get the warning on their Facebook page.

 

This may make people think before engaging in a post or joining a group/page as people do not want to be branded as anything negative.

 

Admin B is looking for volunteers to help get this campaign up and running, if you are interested please email briegehavern1@hotmail.com

 

 

Our Twitter Page @ROIsaysno and this Blog looking for #Volunteers !!

Hello from ROiAR ..if you follow our Twitter Page @ROIsaysno and look at this Blog page from time to time and like what we try to do would you be interested in writing the odd Blog or Tweeting one day per week ? If you'd like to join our growing group as a part-time Admin please send us an e-mail stating whether you're interested in Tweeting or Blogging ! Address is roiagainstracism@yahoo.com   .

We are also on Facebook ! Our page is Republic Of Ireland Against Racism a.a.f (stands for and all friends BTW!) . Please become a member today.

We are getting busier as a group due to more members and followers and could really do with the help. Please share or RT this Blog far and wide and it would be appreciated very much .

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, T.

We Want To Hear From You!

We revealed earlier this week that we would be doing a write up about various groups and organisations that are working hard to end racism and discrimination. There are so many wonderful groups/organisations out there and we would like to hear from you. If you are a member of a group or organisation that works towards creating equality and an integrated multicultural society please get in touch with us. Send us an email to roiarroisaysno@gmail.com We want to let people know what you do, and how they can help by getting involved.

We would also like to hear from our members on any of social networking pages. Have you been a victim of racism? Would be willing to share your experience with us, so we can bring awareness to what it's really like to face racism in today's world.

We are also on the look out for bloggers to join us. If you would like to write a blog for us relating to racism/discrimination please get in touch with us on any of our social networking pages, https://www.facebook.com/groups/roIar/ or on twitter  https://twitter.com/ROIsaysno or send us an email.

We look forward to hearing from you.

This Months Group/Organisation ; BlueFire

There are many groups and organisations that are working hard to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and tolerance. Some bring awareness to the issues faced by minority groups, others use the Arts to bring communities together. Every month ROiAR will catch up with one of these groups/organisations to find out what they are up to and how we can help.

This month we got chatting with the lovely people from BlueFire who are based in Dublin, Ireland.

Why and when was BlueFire set up?

BlueFire was set up in 2013 to facilitate social and intercultural integration through music and the arts.

 

BlueFire is a great name, is there a story behind the name?

 The heart behind it is that when we think of fire we think of the colour red/yellow, however blue fire is also fire, it is just a different type of fire.  And isn't this the same as people? We can range from white, to tan, to light brown to black, but we are all human, and should be treated as such.

 

What does BlueFire do?

An integral part of what we do at BlueFire is creating interactive intercultural events where people can engage with those from other communities and cultural backgrounds. Our main project is our annual festival, the BlueFire Street Fest.

You can also find more information here - http://www.bluefiredublin.ie/#!about/c1xva 

 

Do you have any upcoming events?

The BlueFire Street Fest 2014 takes place in the historic Smithfield Square in Dublin City Centre on 20th September and it's absolutely free. Through music and the arts, BlueFire Street Fest 2014 will showcase the diverse range of people and cultures that now call Dublin home. Suitable for all ages and nationalities, musicians and artists from across Ireland and the world will participate in this city centre extravaganza.  

 

How can people get involved?

People can get involved by volunteering with BlueFire at volunteer.ie. BlueFire is run completely by volunteers who donate their time to assist with the running, organising and promotion of events.

 

Is racism a problem in Ireland?

 Yes, it is, but I feel that only a small percentage of racism is driven by maliciousness. We at BlueFire believe that the majority of racism comes from a lack of understanding of one another, and from preconceived prejudices that we have been born into.  We feel strongly that by providing spaces in which we can learn the truths about other cultures, we will see a drop in racism in this country.

 

Can the Arts help bring communities together?

The arts offer a universal language which transcends social differences. Education doesn't only have to happen in the classroom, we can learn through sharing experiences and through shared experience.

 

If you are interested in learning more about BlueFire's Street Festival check out https://www.facebook.com/events/933347823349458/

You can also check them out @BlueFireDublin on twitter



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