We could sure be needin help with our inept terrorists.

An Afghanistani child wondered why she was living in Ireland after being rejected by Australia.

She had been told that Australia had plenty of space for refugees and that it was one of the wealthiest countries on the planet.

Yet she was in Ireland, a comparatively poor and tiny country brutalized by the English who had inherited Australia by invasion.

As she grew older she realized that the callousness and racism of the English still existed in a land where the original Australians were 1% of the population.

Australia still had an English Queen, English institutions and even an English flag upon their own.

Years later when her children asked the same questions, she did not wish to speak to them of racism.

She spoke instead of the 'Australian Compassion Famine'.
______________________________________________________

Mick Lambe
______________________________________________________

"Between 1840 and 1911, the population of Ireland decreases from 8,200,000 to a staggering 4,400,000 due to disease, starvation and emigration.

As many as a quarter-million people left Ireland each year, and the famine-related death counts are confirmed at around 750,000, and estimated at about 1,500,000.

Famous novelist, short story writer, and essayist Frank O’Connor stated that “’Famine’ is a useful word, when you don’t want to use words like ‘genocide’ and ‘extermination’."
_______________________________________________________

http://www.country-liberal-party.com/

Why is it that Ireland, a country smaller than Tasmania, with a population of 4 million people has no difficulty accepting refugees, when Australia, arguably the economic powerhouse of the South pacific, feels any humanitarian accomodation will threaten the foundations of our society?

Are the 70% of Australians who support Howard's dystopian vision really that insecure about our identity?

We love to constantly harp on about our great sporting achievments, our Anzac pride, our egalitarian spirit, yet the refugee situation has exposed how brittle the foundations of Australian identity really are.

As for Ireland, this demonstrates how a small country can do big things while a Big country can look really small.

This is a welcome move but don't look to us as a model for Refugee policy. Our government isn't far behind Australia in some ways, but people are I still believe welcoming here although there is definitely more racism in recent years.

I hate Australia's attitude to refugees as much as anyone but distorting the reality does not help our argument.

Ireland has resettlement places for 10 people per year as opposed to the few thousand we take. They also make all refugees (not all immigrants and there's the rub) carry ID cards and all are fingerprinted.

The basic fact is that ALL western domecratic countries do very little to assist the worldwide population of refugees who number around the 20 million mark.

Developing countries over the years such as Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran and Jordan take FAR FAR more refugees than we ever had and are hardly in a position to care for them. People say that these countries do not however provide the services we do like housing, education etc. This argument misses the point - if your population is dirt poor then obviously you can not give everything you would like to the desperate people who flee to your country
but atleast they give them shelter. We don't.

PARIAH are well aware of racism's universality. Ireland is no exception. In the past we have contacted Irish (and English) groups concerned about the treatment of 'travellers'.

http://mi.essortment.com/irishtravellers_ryjv.htm

Last time I was in Ireland (1994) I stayed in a share house in Limerick with locals and an African-American. He was incredibly noticeable in a 'white' country. His experience was (essentially) one of acceptance.

The poverty in Ireland was highly visible.

Times change.

"In 1992, 39 asylum-seekers arrived in Ireland. Last year, there were almost 11,000." (August 19, 2001)

http://society.guardian.co.uk/asylumseekers/story/0,7991,539650,00.html

Similar reactions are occurring all over Europe.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/asylumseekers/story/0,7991,583358,00.html

This racism however, has more to do with poor refugee policies in Ireland than deliberate governmental scape-goating for political gain. The Australian experience.
_________________________________________________

"How has the Irish government handled the immigration issue thus far? Not very well is the general consensus. There are at present nearly 10,000 asylum-seekers here awaiting the processing of their applications."

"The problem of their uncertain status is compounded by the fact that the government has until very recently refused permission to work except to a tiny handful of them. This has forced the majority of asylum-seekers to remain on social welfare and made them vulnerable to the taunts of bar-room racists that they are "spongers"."

"For instance the government’s decision to house many refugees in areas already crippled by a lack of social housing and longterm unemployment shows a very short-sighted approach. The potential for xenophobia and racial tension is obvious and ironically it is the present acute housing crisis in Dublin where 85% of asylum-seekers are housed that has prompted the government to react more swiftly in recent times regarding the immigration issue."

Source - http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/new-diaspora.htm
_______________________________________________________

Knowing these facts - accents my understanding of racist injustice in Australia. It does not excuse it.

The Lib/Lab approach to asylumseekers in Australia is electorally and racially driven - inhumane, expensive and illegal. There are no excuses for the racism of the Tampa, Woomera policies.

Australia is in a different situation entirely to Ireland. We are larger, wealthier and one of the victors in the 'geopolitical sweepstakes'. Ireland is a divided country with a traumatized population, experiencing dramatic (and recent) demographic changes.

This makes their offer to take on our refugee responsibilities - more shameful - not less.

I visited Ireland in August to catch up with relatives and freinds. The social changes in that country since I was last there (1993) were incredible. The Dublin synagogue is now a mosque, the head barman in my old local is Chinese and my old school has over 40 nationalities among its pupils. This has all happened in a relatively short time.

Many people complained to me, not of the migrants, but of the cynical racism that was creeping into Irish society. Several redneck politicians, particularly the Kerry MP Jackie Healey Rae, are fueling this by using the race card for political purposes.

However people I talked to and the commentators I listened to were mostly in favour of Ireland becoming a truly multicultural society.

This may well change if, as seems likely, the booming Irish economy slows down.

However the point I was making is similar to Mick Lambe's.

The Irish government is not turning asylum seekers away. As far as I know, asylum seekers there are not kept in detention centres and the Irish government is not accusing these people of being terrorists. By and large, the refugee issue in Ireland is still treated as a humanitarian problem and not a political one.