Issue 34

VIEW

An independent Social Affairs magazine www.viewdigital.org Issue 34, 2015

STANDING UP TO RACISM ‘THE BEST OF TIMES ... THE WORST OF TIMES’: READ OUR GUEST EDITOR BERNADETTE McALISKEY ON PAGE THREE

Welcome to our latest issue which tackles racism VIEW, Issue 34, 2015

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By Brian Pelan co-founder, VIEWdigital

n times of austerity, people are encouraged to look for scapegoats and papers such as the Daily Mail and The Sun frequently act as cheerleaders.

Racism is used to divide where we should be united. All of us require basic things in order to survive and have a meaningful life.

A house, fresh drinking water, heat, access to food and a job are usually close to the top of the list. At present we have

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thousands of refugees who all want these things and in order to try and get them, they are prepared to move thousands of miles and escape their own war-torn countries.

We should welcome them and make them feel at home. We would want the same if it was happening to us and we had to flee our homes.

The racists who attack refugees and economic migrants in Northern Ireland have nothing to offer but a diet of hate and prejudice.

I would prefer the message delivered by the two girls in the photograph above. It is one of hope and warmth instead of bitterness and hostility.

Editorial

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n the context of recent ISIS strikes at the heart of Europe and the threat of more to come, it might be argued that this might be the worst of times, and yet again the best, to raise the question of challenging racism in our own society.

Nothing much has changed in the stark contrasts of perspective in the world since Charles Dickens wrote: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.’

It all depends from whose perspective and lived experience you view the world, the state of the country or the neighbourhood.

From a Northern Ireland perspective, it looks like either a Fresh Start or another false dawn on the horizon will perhaps mean the Racial Equality Strategy sitting on the ministerial desks waiting for the Executive to get back to work will finally be agreed and signed off.

Not that legislation and strategies cure all ills but they provide a framework

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VIEW, an independent social magazine in Northern Ireland

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By guest editor Bernadette McAliskey, co-ordinator of the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP)

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The word for this historic perspective is RACISM. We need to stop

through which the concept, experience and consequences of racism, racial inequality and racial discrimination can be peacefully challenged, and the basic tools with which those seeking to eradicate the disease can build awareness, solidarity and social action to challenge and ultimately end its prevalence and tolerance in various individual and institutional forms at all levels of society.

Of course, Northern Ireland did not recently invent racism as some form byproduct of sectarianism, nor did we our

import it with European expansion and the arrival of people from other places to these shores, once the word got out that the war was over and it was safe enough to live in your own house without barricading your doors and windows or keeping a fire extinguisher at the bedside.

People get up and go out without checking if it is safe to be in the street, and don’t get abused for going to work in the wrong job or place. Or do they?

This remains the daily experience of many people here whose ‘crime against humanity’ impiies what they are not.

Not from here, neither British nor Irish, or if one, t’other or both, not white; not proper white; not proper citizens, not settled people; not proper ‘community’ Catholic/Protestant, or not even Christians at all and currently worst of all, they might be Muslims.

Because THEY are not these things, they cannot be real people like us as whoever WE are, unless of course they stop being themselves and be recreated in our image and likeness – but WE will always be better than THEM because we, the white European Christians, civilised the world The word for this historic perspective on humanity is RACISM. We need to stop.

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Racist attacks on the rise in Belfast

Adam Taha, left, with Ahmed Alzian and Hussam Eldim

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man from Sudan who had to flee his home in east Belfast recently along with his five-year-olddaughter has told VIEW that his life has been “wrecked” and he wants to leave Northern Ireland.

Adam Ahmed Taha, who came to Northern Ireland from Darfur in 2011, said: “I believe that I will have more of a chance in England.

“I am unable to find full-time work here. I am still only on an agency contract. I think that a lot of other refugees will also leave here.

“I would like to return to Sudan

some day if the fighting ends and it was safe for me and my daughter, and if I could find a job.”

Two of his friends from Sudan, Ahmed Mohamed Alzian and Hussam Eldim Ahmed, also had to leave their home in Belfast and are now living in a hostel.

Adam and other refugees have been receiving support from the Participation and the Practice of Rights organisation (PPR) in north Belfast.

PPR spokesperson Sean Brady told VIEW: “We are supporting a number of refugees who have been victims or

who are currently suffering racist attacks and intimidation.”

According to the PSNI, in the period to the end of January 2015, 383 racially motivated offences were recorded across Belfast.

A third of the offences recorded last year in the city were in east Belfast.

According to figures in the annual Human Rights and Racial Equality Benchmarking report 2013/14, there are three race-related incidents in Northern Ireland every day, excluding those which go unreported.

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It breaks my heart when I don’t get a reply to the jobs I have applied for

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y name is Virginia Salvador. I am 31 years of age. I was born in Angola but have Portuguese nationality so it was not a problem if I wanted to come to Northern Ireland. I have lived here for four years, two years in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, and now I am living in Portadown.

I have a Masters in Clinical Neuropsychology. A friend invited me to come here. He said it would be a good opportunity to work here and learn English.

Angola is a beautiful country, but it is still recovering from a civil war. All my family still live there. My first thought when I moved here was it was very different from my country. It was not just the weather. Life is more busy in Angola. I like living in Northern Ireland, it's more quieter and it gives me more time to study.

When I moved here, I applied for jobs. I worked in a number of factories in Dungannon, including Moypark. I have applied for a number of health positions related to my masters degree, but so far I have had no success.

The fact that I am unable to get a position related to my qualifications is very, very difficult. Sometimes it breaks my heart when I don't even get a reply.

At the moment I am doing voluntary work at Willowbank in Dungannon. It is a voluntary organisation which provides training and support for adults with a physical disability and/or a sensory impairment. I am helping two men from East Timor. One has a brain injury, the other one is suffering from a stroke.

It’s very frustrating not being able to get a job in your chosen field. I wrote to Bernadette McAliskey (who heads up the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme). She has provided great support. I just need a chance to show them that I am able to do this type of work To me, white people and black people are all the same. I feel that there is prejudice when I apply for jobs.

Because of the equality monitoring form they know from my name that I am black.

I have excellent references and I have applied for numerous jobs.

I miss my family and I miss the music in Angola. But I will stay very focused on getting a full-time position.

I’d just like an opportunity because I know I am capable. I just need a chance to work.

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Sometimes people ask me ‘why are you living here?’

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y name is Weihong Tu. I am a Chinese dance tutor and cultural facilitator in Northern

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Ireland.

I arrived in Northern Ireland with my family in 2012 after living and working in Saudi Arabia with my family for 10 years.

My husband is from Belfast. Our daughter used to study in a British international school in Saudi Arabia. She has to come back to the UK to finish her education. Northern Ireland is like a second home to me now. I perform Chinese dance, Polish dance and Bollywood, as I enjoy different cultures.

When I teach Chinese culture to the kids here I notice that most children here don’t know a lot about other cultures except the local traditions.

Some of them don’t want to learn about other cultures.

They sometimes laugh at my Chinese accent. I don’t think anything of it. I always emphasise that I have got a Chinese accent due to racial diversity and a different cultural background before I start my cultural delivery. I enjoy delivering Chinese culture to the children in schools and communities here.

Sometimes I hear the same question from children in different schools and communities around Northern Ireland, which are: “You are a Chinese person, why are you here in Northern Ireland?”

I always reply: “I am here to teach you about different cultures and lifestyles outside of Northern Ireland. The world consists of different skin colours of people and their cultures. Remember: One World, One Love, One Nation.”

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Judyta Szacillo Comment Who will ensure that refugees are actually welcomed here?

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ast September we witnessed one of those rare moments in which the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness stood shoulder to shoulder, smiled at the crowd and declared something unanimously. In this rare yet not entirely unexpected unanimity, they declared that Northern Ireland was ready to invite 2,000 Syrian refugees.

The news was hardly surprising. After all, the refugee crisis met with an overwhelming response across the United Kingdom.

The streams of donations seemed inexhaustible. The marches, the vigils, and the rallies under the banner ‘Refugees Welcome’ became nearly a daily business in the weeks following the release of the photograph of the dead Syrian boy on a beach in Turkey.

To see so many people showing care and compassion was a balm for my soul, wounded by the spread of hostile attitudes. In Northern Ireland, my home of choice, there was a carnival of goodwill.

Yet the reality is not as bright as it might seem. Ethnic-based crime has been on the rise for the last several years.

Institutional discrimination has not been eradicated. Offensive and degrading speech comes at times even from the mouths of our top politicians. The OFMDM’s Racial Equality Strategy (RES) for the years 20052010 reflected these problems. “There are no illusions as to the urgency of the task,” it said. “We are determined that the strategy should be more than mere words on paper.”

Sadly, that determination was quickly forgotten. The proposal for a new strategy, due five years ago, was released for public consultations only in autumn 2014. It was not well received.

Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose lifeless body on a beach in Turkey sent shock waves around the world The funding for the Racial Equality Unit had been reduced; the results of the promised monitoring of racial incidents had not been provided; the positions of Racial Equality champions had been made redundant. There were no specific targets mentioned.

The gaps in equality legislation were merely reiterated (12 years have passed since the 2003 amendment of the Race Relations Order 1997, which left the document lacking in categories of colour and nationality. Both RES 2005-2010 and RES 2014-2014 addressed this gap as requiring urgent attention).

However, it is not only the funding cuts that make the belated draft of RES 2014-2024 a clear case of regress. Many statements from the previous strategy do not have a place in the new one. “Minority ethnic people”, the old strategy stated, “are welcomed here”’ The new RES welcomes no one.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the voices of fear are becoming louder across all European countries. Innocent Muslims are being stigmatised. Dark-skinned people are being attacked on the streets. Immigrants’ houses are being marked. Immigrant children are being bullied in schools.

In these troubled times, the last thing we need is more prejudice and hatred.

We do need sound legislation and a carefully structured programme of work in order to tackle racism and ethnic-based inequalities.

Mr McGuinness and Mr Robinson got a nice photograph, welcoming refugees together. Who will ensure that they are actually welcomed?

• Dr Judyta Szacillo is Polish. She is living and working in Northern Ireland and is a member of the Green Party.

I was totally shocked the first time someone called me a racist name in the middle of the street

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y name is Fungayi Mukusera. I grew up in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. I am 29 years of age.

I came to Belfast to live with my brother. I left my country in October, 2012, because of the political situation and my own personal security.

I applied for refugee status and I am still waiting for a response from the Home Office. If they reject my application, they would have to tell me how my personal security can be guaranteed if I have to return to Zimbabwe. I long, though, to return to Zimbabwe one day. I really miss it, especially my mother.

She is changing every day, she is growing older. She is now 60 years of age. That is old in Zimbabwean terms as the country's life expectancy is between 55 and 60 years of age.

Her health at the moment is quite good. My father passed away in 2009. I have two sisters living in Zimbabwe. I speak to my mum quite often.

My mother misses me and worries about me constantly. I am unable to get work because of my status. I don't receive any state payment because of a couple of conditions that you have to meet. I meet a lot of other asylum seekers living here who are also suffering.

“Economiclaly, life is hard for me. If you check my pockets there is nothing in them. For

example, I only came to Belfast city centre today because I have an appointment. I keep my travel to a bare minimum.

My life is a constant struggle.

In Zimbabwe I was an accountant after getting an honours degree in the subject but I can't work here because of my status.

About once a month I meet some fellow Zimbabweans who are also living here.

It is mentally exhausting. If you take it too personally it can eat away at you and sometimes my situation is very depressing.

The process you have to go through to get refugee status is very difficult and it drains your energy.

I am a 29-year-old man who is living in his brother's house and not working.

I am doing an access course in humanities and social sciences at Belfast Met. “Left, right and centre, you face prejudice. the fact that I can’t get work is a form of prejudice.

Socially, I have also faced racial prejudice. For example, one time I was in east Belfast

and started to watch a loyalist parade on the road. I like bands and music, so I thought it would be enjoyable to look at it. A lady, who appeared to have taken too much drink, started to shout vulgar abuse at me.

I thought the men who she was with would tell her to stop.

They said they were having fun and would not intervene. I had no other choice but to walk away.

The police were about 100 metres away. I didn't bother going to tell them. They would have wanted a witness and who among that crowd was going to be a witness. It was a hopeless situation for me.

Sometimes when I am walking in the streets I hear little kids calling me foul racist names. The first time it happened I was shocked. No one had ever called me n....r before.

The Belfast frienship club is a brilliant idea. I go to most of its events. It’s a lovely social space for different nationalities to come together and have a chat and a laugh.

Overall, my life is a daily struggle. Some days are better than others for me.

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NICRAS providing a vital service for asylum seekers and refugees Justin Koaume in the offices of NICRAS in Belfast

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By Brian Pelan

ne of the first places that refugees and asylum seekers will visit when they arrive here is the offices of the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NICRAS) in University Street, Belfast Many of them will come to the building seeking help after they have suffered racist attacks and intimidation.

In a small room, surrounded by bags of donated food and goods, I speak to the chair of NICRAS, Justin Kouame, who was working as an economics teacher in the Ivory Coast in 2009 when he had to leave due to the political instability.

Justin told me that many refugees are suffering verbal attacks, being told to get out of their homes and having bricks thrown through their windows.

“Refugees and asylum seekers come to us for help and advice. We also refer them on to other organisations who may be able to help them.

“We are doing some valuable work at present with the Participation and the Practice of Rights organisation (PPR) around the area of housing, especially for those refugees and asylum seekers who have been forced to leave their homes.”

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Many refugees are suffering verbal attacks, told to get out of their homes and having bricks thrown through their windows

“One recent case was very disturbing,” said Justin. “An asylum seeker was visited by the police at his house in Belfast. The police advised him to leave because they had intelligence that he was going to be attacked. He didn’t want to leave and asked the police ‘Why? You’re supposed to protect me’.

“And what we realise, in general, is that the police, when they come to refugees in an area, they often advise them to leave instead of trying to protect them.

“So that night he didn’t leave. The police asked him: ‘Can you switch off all your lights?’. He knew they were outside all night but in the morning he decided to leave. He felt that if the police could not protect him his life was at risk.

“Other people, when their windows are broken, they will decide to leave themselves. One of the big issues, I think, is because there are so few successful prosecutions of offenders in this type of situation. It’s difficult for refugees to believe that something’s going to happen when they are attacked, so they prefer to move from the area.

“I believe that the police should do more. When they have information about threats, they should protect the person, because if you tell them to leave a place because they are in danger, they will go to hostels, and they will wait again on a waiting list, then go to another place and the same thing can happen all over again.”

• Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers 143a University Street Belfast, BT7 1HP; Phone: 028 9024 6699 Email: info@nicras.org.uk

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Opening minds to a new vision The Integrated Education Fund has developed a vision of a school network free from religious, social and cultural divisions. A vision of a school experience opening minds to the possibilities of a shared future.

We know, from extensive research, that the vast majority of parents want to see this become a reality.

As political parties gear up for their NI Assembly election campaigns, we have set out the key actions which would help to create the education system which communities want.

The IEF Alternative Manifesto urges parties to commit to Ŧ Area planning which is shaped by the community and which reflects parental choice, community needs, the common desire for a shared future and fiscal realities Ŧ A single managing and planning authority for education Ŧ A system of indicators to measure a school’s progress towards integrated education, with particular emphasis on understanding, accepting and respecting political, cultural and religious differences Ŧ

A single model for all school governing boards

Ŧ The extension of Fair Employment legislation to the recruitment of teachers Ŧ The application of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to schools

You can read the full IEF Alternative Manifesto here: www.ief.org.uk/resources/publications

Integrated Education Fund Forestview Purdy’s Lane Belfast BT8 7AR

028 9069 4099 info@ief.org.uk www.ief.org.uk

The IEF is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland: NIC101149

New report reveals devastating effects of racism when it occurs on a regular basis

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By Lucy Michael

frophobia in Ireland is a new report detailing racism in Ireland against people identified as Black-African or who are of African descent. It explores reports over two years from people living in the Republic of Ireland about violent racism, discrimination and abuse.

Incidents take a wide variety of forms including political hate speech, racist crimes, racist violence, intimidation and racist bullying and persistent and repeated racial harassment. People of African descent (black or mixed-race) report being constantly under surveillance in public spaces.

As a Lecturer in Sociology at Ulster University, working with ENAR Ireland in Dublin, I cross the border on a regular basis between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Having worked for 12 years in England before coming back, I notice the differences in the way that ethnic groups are treated in different countries.

In Northern Ireland, night-time arson attacks on the houses of African families, with paramilitary involvement suspected, might persuade us that racism is something unusual. We often think of the people who commit racist acts as not being like us. But there are far more similarities between Northern Ireland and the Republic than differences when it comes to the treatment of black people.

Our report showed that the majority of incidents, including violent assaults, took place in the daytime rather than at night, and as part of daily routines such as going to work or school, shopping, visiting family or friends and using public services. The most remarkable aspect is the frequent public shaming of people of African descent by shouting, spitting and violent as-

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The most remarkable aspect is the frequent public shaming of people of African descent by shouting, spitting and violent assault in public spaces

sault in public spaces. The report shows how devastating racism can be when it occurs on a regular basis. One family who reported neighbourhood harassment had been victimised for eight years.

Neighbourhood harassment over periods of months and years can escalate to incidents of criminal damage, arson and threats to life.

The bodies and homes of people of African descent become seen as a valid target for the display and release of resentment and frustration, particularly if they are not responded to quickly by police or other agencies, and by other witnesses.

This report highlights low levels of trust in An Garda Siochana to address and understand the impact of racist incidents, and to apply the definition of racist incidents adopted in 2001 (adopted and used widely here in Northern Ireland).

Victims and witnesses reported that often when police arrived at an incident, the perpetrator walked away without an interview and the victim was persuaded not to press charges. If they try to defend themselves from assault they are often suspected of instigating the incident.

There are ineffective legislative measures available in the cases of repeat and escalating harassment, leaving people of African descent in Ireland exposed to violence and fearful for their own lives.

Too few solutions are available to address the problem, and victims bear the burden of having to move their homes and families, if they can afford to do so, or continue experiencing harassment and violence if they cannot.

There are some positives from the report. Racism can be and is sometimes addressed by witnesses who confront and/or report perpetrators.

Witnesses who do not intervene are often fearful for safety but feel positive about reporting incidents. But more often, incidents are ignored or denied because they are so widespread that we become accustomed to seeing them in everyday life.

You can read the full report at www.enarireland.org • Dr Lucy Michael is Lecturer in Sociology at Ulster University.

You can follow her on Twitter at @lucy_s_michael

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English language skills and friendship on the menu at Saturday school

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By Brian Pelan

Saturday School at Malone College in south Belfast is now thriving after it was set up in response to the need for English language skills amongst members of the Somali community and other ethnic groups.

Supporting the project are the Horn of Africa People's Aid Northern Ireland (HAPANI) organisation, the Integrated Education Fund and the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

By providing English language learning for families, the school hopes to improve the all-round educational opportunities for new-comer pupils whilst supporting their integration

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into both the school and the wider community.

The Saturday school staff use role play, games and other activities to ensure that the participants have lots of opportunities to practise their developing English in familiar situations.

So far, 45 people have enrolled this year at the Saturday school and the vast majority of them are female.

The participants said their initial reasons for wanting to improve their English was to write, read and listen; look for work; make friends, be independent and chat and communicate with people.

Hodan, a Somali woman who attends the Saturday School, said: “I have lived in Northern Ireland for

nearly seven years now. I am very happy coming here. We have a very good teacher.”

Hafiba, from Algeria, said: “This is the third class I have attended. A friend told me about it.

“It’s great to come here. Many of us don’t have a great social life, so this is a good place to come to and make friends.”

Hafiba, her husband and three children have applied for refugee status.

They have been in Northern Ireland for around three years. “I also go to Belfast Met to try and improve my English skills,” she added.

• Contact Paula McIlwaine at Paula@ief.org.uk for more details about the project.

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Some of the participants above and below from a range of countries, including Somalia, China, Algeria and Romania who attend the Saturday school

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Paula McIlwaine Comment

Schools can lead the way I

t feels as if we are subjected, on a daily basis, to a climate of prejudice and hate as we are bombarded by political and media use of dehumanising language to describe people who have risked life and limb in an attempt to flee persecution in their home countries, to seek better lives for their families.

Combined with the anti-Muslim sentiment generated in the aftermath of extremist activity, it should come as little surprise that there has been a marked escalation in racism and racist bullying in our society.

Eradicating, or even significantly alleviating, racism within a generation may seem like an implausible proposition but I believe the climate is ripe for schools to lead the way in supporting minority ethnic and newcomer youth to feel included while also challenging racism and stereotyping and consciously developing young people to recognise inequality and become up-standers rather than by-standers.

The October 2015 draft statement on Key Inequalities in Education, produced by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI), identifies that minority ethnic students suffer racist bullying in school, including verbal abuse about their race or colour, which can hinder their academic progress.

ECNI acknowledge that a barrier to schools addressing racist bullying may lie in a lack of knowledge of how to effectively confront the issue or even an underlying difficulty in acknowledging the existence of the problem.

This is almost certainly not helped by outdated Department of Education policy which focuses solely on English language deficits in newcomer children who are regarded as a largely homogenous group, failing to adequately acknowledge pastoral or social needs. Alongside this is a lack of investment in teacher training to produce teachers who have sufficiently reflected on their own identity in order to develop a comfort and knowledge of how to work effectively in diverse classrooms.

In the Integrated Education Movement we believe that a core element of education must be about fostering an understanding of others in order to live in a diverse, contemporary society.

This means schools purposefully and intentionally challenging racist behaviour and language rather than mirroring the power relations which exist in wider society and allowing racism to proliferate in the next generation.

In order to support schools in this pursuit, the Integrated Education Fund, through funding from the Open Society Foundations, has been focusing on a project which embeds a culture of antiracism in schools. This has comprised: • Professional development for teachers in anti-racism strategies.

• Enabling schools to provide targeted support for parents from minority ethnic backgrounds in order to ensure inclusivity.

• Empowering schools to host ‘Communities in Dialogue: Citizens’

Panels’ which focus on the voices of young students, from minority backgrounds, who share their personal stories of coming to live and study in Northern Ireland as a catalyst to engage the wider community in discussion about positive action at school, community and individual levels in order to support newcomer families with integration and to tackle racism.

• Facilitating young people to develop advocacy and social media tools, under the brand of ‘Humaneyes’, helping them produce short films which ‘humanise’ by challenging stereotyping and labelling.

• Providing small amounts of funding to encourage schools to develop activities and events which positively recognise the growing diversity of their school community and wider society.

As the draft Racial Equality Strategy for 2014-2024 pins its hopes on instilling a ‘sense of belonging’ in new communities in NI, schools and education must play an integral role in counteracting the prevailing anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment and embracing the growing diversity within our society.

This can only be achieved if issues of equality are genuinely embedded throughout teacher training and continuous professional development; greater understanding is fostered in young people about the negative impact of pejorative terms and racist language; schools insist on reporting all incidents of racism and schools consciously develop young people who can recognise injustice and inequality and are equipped with the skills to appropriately challenge it.

The IEF will continue to focus on the latter as an essential ingredient in counteracting racism in the next generation and contributing to the development of a more just and equal society.

• Paula McIlwaine is a Horn of Africa People’s Aid NI Board member and Project Development Officer at the Integrated Education Fund

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Linda Hutchinson Comment

We will not tolerate racism or hate crime T

he Housing Executive’s vision is one in which housing plays its part in creating a peaceful, inclusive, prosperous and fair society. Hate crime has no place in this vision and we take tackling racism seriously.

The Housing Executive has a proud heritage of offering support to those in housing need regardless of their community or ethnic background. Over the years we have developed a wide range of ways to support communities to tackle racist harassment and intimidation. We have a clear message – we will not tolerate racism or hate crime in our estates.

We work in partnership with local communities across Northern Ireland, the PSNI, local councils and voluntary and community groups to educate, to help prevent racism, to assist people to report it and to support victims when it does happen.

In my role as Race Relations Officer I promote good race relations across the organisation and in our estates by supporting our staff, and the communities in which we work, to tackle racism through a variety of measures.

In promoting good relations I see the positive and inspiring side of building race relations but I also see the more challenging side as our staff deal with the impact of racism on the victims, their families, the wider community and themselves.

Internally I work with our staff to improve awareness of the barriers people from minority ethnic communities might face as they try to access our services and then work with our staff to build solutions.

Our local offices have hosted speakers and held training sessions to illustrate the difficulties people from minority ethnic groups may experience. We examine various themes including fear and mistrust

A scene from the documentary ‘Mary Meets Mohammad’, which was screened by the Housing Executive to help people understand the impact of the asylum process and to challenge attitudes of statutory organisations, the language barrier, misunderstanding cultures and systems and what is myth and what is reality in relation to migration. As part of our work we recently held a screening of the documentary ‘Mary Meets Mohammad’, which has helped in understanding the impact of the asylum process and challenged attitudes.

Externally we work in partnership with the Housing Community Network to deliver the ‘Ending Hate in our Community’ training course and our ‘Intercultural Awareness’ raising sessions.

We recognise that learning is a two way process and the minority need to learn about the majority cultures just as much as the majority need to learn about the minority cultures.

Our local offices work with groups on how to create communities which are more welcoming and inclusive. Ideas for projects have included multi-cultural playgroups, shared arts and history projects, learning about majority and minority cultures and developing localised

‘Welcome Packs’ for any new resident.

Looking forward, the Housing Executive has recently made a commitment to the City of Sanctuary movement and I will be working with our communities through the Inter Community Network to move this initiative forward.

As Northern Ireland’s demography changes an increasingly diverse range of groups representing the minority ethnic communities living in Northern Ireland is developing. In my role I will work with them to find ways for the Housing Executive to become even better placed to help the people they represent.

The Housing Executive is about more than bricks and mortar. As an organisation we will continue to play a role in creating a peaceful, inclusive, prosperous and fair society. As an organisation we will continue to challenge racism.

Linda Hutchinson is the Race Relations Officer for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive

A STEP in the right direction

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All of us at VIEWdigital were delighted when Bernadette McAliskey, co-ordinator of the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP) in County Tyrone, agreed to be the guest editor for this publication about racism.

Below and right are details and images about the aims and objectives of her organisation

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TEP is regarded as a good practice model, not only for its impact in advocacy and support for migrant communities, but for helping to encourage social change.

Ironically, STEP is not an organisation created primarily to challenge racism or sectarianism. It is a human rights organisation working at community level through building human solidarity across perceived difference; an awareness of the concept of people as rights holders, and the state and its agencies as duty bearers and challenging the learned behaviours that limit or deny equal rights on the basis of prejudice, fear or ignorance.

The STEP model is to work with those most vulnerable to denial or abuse of their rights. The current emphasis of their work is threefold: • Supporting the most economically and socially vulnerable • Supporting new immigrants/migrants on racial equality and challenging racism • Challenging policies which contribute to poverty, prejudice and inequality of rights

Through its solution-based and partnership approach STEP has influenced policy changes through Children’s Services Planning, Family Support delivery; Supporting People and rights-based participation in the decision-making processes This has created a positive impact on the lives of minority ethnic children and families through: The Belong programme; An Tearmann Traveller Support programme; Language Club; Prevention of homelessness and destitution programme; provision of interpreting and translation and bilingual provision of confidential professional individual advice, including legal advice.

Also through the facilitation of the regional STRONGER TOGETHER network, an inter-ethnic interagency network that looks to increase the visibility and role of immigrant or minority ethnic populations across Northern Ireland society in challenging racial inequality and supporting intercultural integration as a two-way process of protecting rights, respecting difference and embracing diversity.

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Five key actions needed to assist arrival of refugees Members and supporters of the Refugee and Asylum Forum outside Stormont

P

By Catherine Couvert

eople in Northern Ireland’s have opened their hearts in a massive show of support for Syrian refugees.

The Refugee and Asylum Forum is calling for politicians to support five actions that will make our society truly welcoming and safer for refugees.

The first group of Syrian refugees is due to arrive soon, and they will be supported and resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (SVPR).

The Law Centre and other members of the Refugee and Asylum Forum have identified five key actions that Stormont could take to smooth the integration of newly arriving Syrian refugees and improve the situation for current asylum seekers and refugees.

The five actions are;

• STOP DESTITUTION – Refugees and their children should not be left with no money and no home because of administrative delays • ASK THE EXPERTS – Consult with the refugee sector when planning how to welcome refugees • FINANCIAL HELP – Long-term support for refugee integration – this includes ensuring that there is sustained core funding for asylum and refugee support groups • ENGLISH CLASSES – Free English classes should be available for refugees so they can help their children at school and contribute to society • REFUGEE STRATEGY – A plan to coordinate support services such as

education, hate crime, jobs and integration.

Members of the Forum have spoken at rallies in support of Syrian refugees.

They called on members of the public to write to their representatives asking them to take these actions forward.

The Forum presented the five key actions to Belfast City Council and circulated a briefing to MLAs in preparation for a Stormont debate. Belfast City Council adopted the five actions, and MLAs voted unanimously in favour of a motion calling for Northern Ireland to welcome more Syrian refugees and to put in place provisions to support them.

The message, both from politicians and from civil society, is that Northern Ireland is willing to do its fair share.

This has translated into massive efforts by ordinary people to collect donations for refugee camps and into offers to help those already here. Stormont is planning to welcome up to 2,000 Syrian refugees under the SVPR scheme over the next five years.

Is that enough?

The Syrians who will resettle in Northern Ireland under the SVPR scheme are part of a wider refugee and asylum community in Northern Ireland.

This includes Syrian asylum seekers who came to Northern Ireland through a different route and who are currently awaiting a Home Office decision on their application for refugee status.

Immigration and asylum law is not a devolved matter.

However, our MPs and the people of Northern Ireland can press Westminster to change its policies on asylum.

Luckily, those arriving under the SVPR

scheme will not have to go through the asylum application process.

Asylum seekers go through many hurdles to be accepted as refugees, but the big injustice is that additional restrictions make their lives very precarious while they wait for a decision.

The Home Office needs to: • Stop jailing asylum seekers who don’t have the right travel documents (they needed them to escape their situation in the first place).

• Stop putting asylum seekers in detention centres (they can be detained at any stage in the process for an unlimited length of time).

• Stop forcing them to live on only £5 a day and sometimes on absolutely nothing; • Allow them to work, live independent lives and contribute to society.

What can be done?

People can find out how to support the five small asks at http://www.lawcentreni.org/news/recent-news/38-featuredslideshow/1246-five-key-actions-to-ensureni-responds-to-refugees-needs.html They can also ask organisations that support refugees, asylum seekers and destitute migrants what practical help is needed on the ground.

The Law Centre and Refugee Asylum Forum will continue to press the Executive to do all that is in its devolved power to ensure the successful settlement of all refugees and to take steps to meet the needs of all asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland.

• Catherine Couvert, Communications Officer, Law Centre (NI)

I eventually had to give up trying to get work in the field of clinical psychology.

It was just too dificult

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M

y name is Tayra McKee. I am from Sao Paulo in Brazil. When I was working in San Francisco on a HIV project, it was there I met my now former husband. We got married in Brazil and moved to Northern Ireland (where he is from) in 2002.

I knew that there was a shortage of psychologists in Ireland. I thought it would be great to start working somewhere in this area, even as a trainee. I had completed a five-year clinical pyschology course at Sao Paulo University.

When I arrived here, I lived first of all in Newcastle, Co Down, and now I am in Castlewellan.

I started by applying for every job I could see that was related to psychology. I couldn't even get an interview at first. I found it difficult dealing with the type of application forms you had to send in. I was used to just sending in a covering letter and a CV. Even though I didn't have GCSEs or A-Levels, I had something that was equivalent. I spent a year not working and just applying for jobs. I was getting really depressed and just couldn't understand why it was so difficult.

I then thought if I can't get this type of work, I would have to apply for all kinds of jobs, even working in a shop.

I started to work in a voluntary capacity with the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP). They had just started trying to support Portuguese migrants in the area around Dungannon.

It was there that I met Bernadette McAliskey, STEP co-ordinator. My work with STEP led to me getting a job with them as a community development worker.

I then applied for and got a job as a full-time trade union organiser for the Transport and General Workers Union, which is now Unite.

I had give up my desire to work as a psychologist as the cost of doing further studying was just too

high. It is very difficult for people who arrive here with qualifications from many other countries.

There is no framework in place.

It's easier for a person from here with a clinical psychology degree to get work in Brazil but not the other way around.

I went to the best university in Brazil.

It's a public university and thousands of students apply for it every year.

Only 70 students per year are accepted to study the psychology degree.

People who come to Ireland from Africa or other countries where they may be dark-skinned often encounter an added level of prejudice.

I have also experienced racism whilst walking in the street. I can remember young people who had been drinking too much calling me and my friend, “f.....g Pakis”.

“Something needs to be put in place to help people arriving here with qualifications from their own country. A framework that allows them to know how exactly their qualifications fit in and what they need to do. It should also be possible for new arrivals to shadow someone for a while in their field of expertise.

In the end it was just too difficult for me and I had to give up.

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