Belfast Meeting on ‘migration and the working class’. A report.
A public meeting and debate was held in Costello House Belfast on the evening of Friday 8th March with a view to allowing both party supporters and members of the public to air their perspectives on the recently released IRSP position paper on migration into Ireland.
Attended by both veteran members of the IRSM and unknown members of the public, the meeting began with a re-assertion of the IRSP’s position of ‘No platform for Fascists or racists’, and a challenge for anyone attending with racist views to identify themselves whereupon they would be told to leave.
Several unknowns were asked directly if they had any affiliations with the far right. All present denied any such affiliations.
Satisfied, the meeting then proceeded with a brief rundown of the recently released position paper followed by what was a free flowing, in depth and often emotional examination of all of the relevant issues at hand.
As expected, the range of opinions on the document and its message spanned from full approval to strong disapproval and from a varying range of perspectives; from our need to be alert to the undercutting of workers’ rights here by the exploitation of cheaper labour to our duty to remain vigilant to the scape goating of migrants in explaining problems caused by the capitalist system.
Some points were agreed upon while others were expanded upon to the extent where intervention from the chair became necessary. No less was expected in a debate of such emotional significance.
What appeared to be a unanimous point of agreement was that such discussions should be taken out of the hands of the far right and back into the hands of working-class people. As one member of the public stated “the left were looking like they vacated the field” and all agreed that should not.
The meeting ended with a final assertion of the IRSP’s position of solid anti-fascism and a promise that when fascism raised its head, the IRSP (as before) would be at the forefront of resisting it.
