Our Problem with Islam

I understand the reasons for encouraging ‘politically correct language’ (today we would use the term ‘woke’) but have also been suspicious of the motives of some of its adherents. Correcting offensive language is necessary and takes courage, but sometimes those who know the politically correct phrases seemed to enjoy far too much their superior knowledge. In the 1980s they reminded me of the sort of dinner companion who would enjoy correcting you if you used the wrong cutlery during your meal.

More importantly, the excessive push for political correctness seemed to encourage people to simply avoid discussing political issues for fear of causing offence or embarrassment, and that lack of discussion allows dangerous misconceptions to take root in some communities.

I usually feel it is better to speak about what is happening, rather than be polite. Today there is a very worrying increase in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment being expressed in working class unionist communities and the reasons for this are complex.

One factor is that the effects of immigration are felt more keenly by working class communities for the reasons I outlined in ‘It is different for working class communities’. Competition for jobs, housing and other resources play a role.

Why are unionist areas more prone to this sort of reaction?

While working class nationalist communities do display some antagonism towards immigration, this is not on the same scale as the antagonism within unionist areas towards immigrants, particularly those of a Muslim background.

This week two banners made the news, one in Moygashel and the other in Newtownabbey. These follow on from a series of incidents involving rioting and repeated attempts to set up vigilante patrols in East Belfast and places like Coleraine.

Within the unionist community, we unionists have always been more sympathetic to Israel than with the Palestinians and this might be a factor, but I would suggest that the leadership offered by unionist politicians has been a major factor.

The DUP were strong supporters of Brexit and for a time were very happy to form links with Nigel Farage with his anti-immigration rhetoric. Unionists were raising the flag in N. Ireland (remember the flags protests) long before the English adopted their own recent ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ campaign, which itself is heavily intertwined with the UK’s far-right and anti-immigration movements

Unionist politicians have also tended to form links with the religious-right wing politicians in the USA, who themselves are anti-immigrant and anti-Islam.

Many in the DUP were strong admirers of Donald Trump with Sammy Wilson MP posting a picture in 2021 of himself in and party colleagues Ian Paisley and Paul Girvan holding a poster supporting Trump. Remember that President Trump at one stage proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Today the conflict involving Israel and Palestine has encouraged extreme views such as Christian Zionism and the belief that God requires the Jewish people to return to their ancestral homeland before the Messiah can return.

Next Saturday a march protesting against the Genocide in Gaza will pass along the Newry Canal near Scarva and the DUP have been prominent in supporting opposition to this in a way that is reminiscent to their founder’s opposition to the Burntollet Civil Rights march in January 1969.

All these factors raise tensions and add to the sense within the Protestant and Unionist community of being under siege by outsiders.

What can be done?

We need to encourage a more realistic attitude to immigration. The numbers are small and probably will remain so, but they are higher in working class areas. (6.5% of Belfast’s population are minority ethnic, but they tend to concentrate in areas like the Botanic ward where 23% of residents were born outside the UK and Ireland, and 18% were non-white.) More resources need to be directed to these areas to deal with the additional strains.

N. Ireland has a shocking problem with violence against women, but this violence comes primarily from our local men, rather than immigrants. In April our Executive updated their strategy against this. (See here)

The Protestant churches have been remarkably silent about the atrocities suffered at the hands of Israel by the predominantly Muslim people of Gaza and Lebanon. This failure to speak out permits the growth of antagonism toward Muslims who rightly protest against the genocide.

We unionists are damaged by harking back to policies promoted by Enock Powell in 1968, our Unionist politicians need to provide leadership on this issue. The level of violence in Ballymena one year ago caught many off-guard and may be repeated if we are not careful. Where people are in poverty or cannot access services, the issue is wealth inequality in the UK and not immigration.