Latest news with #intolerance
The Guardian
14-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Where are the foreigners': does a facile explanation lie behind Ballymena's outbreak of hate?
First came the shouts as the crowd worked its way through narrow terraced streets, proclaiming its mission to rid the town of 'scum'. Then came the shattered glass as rocks exploded through windows. Then the flames, licking up curtains and spreading to sofas, carpets, books and framed pictures until smoke billowed into the summer night. They might have been scenes from another century, another country, but they played out in Northern Ireland this week in the glare of rolling news and social media, which recorded a soundtrack of glee and hate. 'Where are the foreigners?' the mob shouted. The targets were families that were different – different nationality, different ethnicity, different skin tone, different language. The goal was expulsion – or immolation. 'There's someone in that room inside,' said a voice caught on video. 'Aye, but are they local?' responded a comrade. 'If they're local, they need out. If they're not local, let them stay there.' No one died in Ballymena, the County Antrim town that erupted on Monday and flared for the rest of the week, or in other towns with smaller, copycat mayhem, but families fled, dozens of police were injured and Northern Ireland faced stark questions about racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Three decades ago, the Good Friday agreement drew a line under the Troubles. Republican paramilitaries that wanted a united Ireland, and loyalist paramilitaries that wanted the region to remain in the UK, wound down the killing. Peace brought the novelty of immigration and diversity. In the 2001 census just 14,300 people, or 0.8% of the overall population, belonged to a minority ethnic group. By 2021 it was 65,600 people, or 3.4%. Compared with England (18%), or Scotland (11%), Northern Ireland remains very white. Despite this, many residents in Ballymena, a mainly working-class, Protestant town 25 miles north of Belfast, believe foreigners have 'invaded', 'infested' and 'ruined' their community. It was not only the hundreds of young men in hoods and masks who hurled missiles: older residents, during lulls in violence, endorsed the disturbances. 'We want our voices to be heard. If this is the only way, so be it,' said one woman in her 30s, who declined to be named. The Police Federation of Northern Ireland said its members, by drawing the wrath of mobs, had averted a pogrom. The spark was an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl by two 14-year-old boys, who appeared in court with a Romanian interpreter and were charged with attempted rape. Loyalist groups in other areas took that as their cue to protest. 'It's time to take a stand and stop welcoming these illegal migrant gangs flocking into our town, paedophiles, drug pushers, human traffickers, prostitutes,' said a group in Portadown, exhorting people to march on a hostel. Such hostility has a blunt, facile explanation: some communities do not like outsiders – a broad, evolving category known occasionally in Northern Ireland as 'them 'uns'. Protestant loyalist mobs in Belfast burned Catholics from their homes at the outset of the Troubles in 1969. Ballymena earned notoriety in the 1990s and mid-2000s with sectarian attacks on Catholic schools and churches. Loyalists in nearby towns have been blamed for a sporadic campaign of paint bombs, smashed windows, graffiti and threatening posters targeting non-white residents. Last year at least eight African families – half of them including nurses – were forced to flee an estate in Antrim town. 'There is fundamental racism in some places that, to put it nicely, have a proud sense of social and cultural cohesion,' said Malachi O'Doherty, a commentator and author of How to Fix Northern Ireland. Communities that are accustomed to living on the same estate can bristle when outsiders take houses that might otherwise have gone to friends or relatives, he said. 'Whether it's Catholics or Roma, it's seen as a dilution of that community.' Just 4.9% of Ballymena's population is non-white, according to the 2021 census, and very few of the new arrivals are asylum seekers, yet there is widespread belief in proliferating 'scrounging refugees', and scepticism about official statistics. 'What we're reading is completely different from what the government is telling us,' said one resident in his 50s. The riots were welcome and overdue, although, he said, the noise was disturbing his sleep. The current strife has a seasonal aspect: summer is when loyalists – and to a lesser extent republicans – assert their identity by parading with drums and flutes and lighting bonfires, traditions that fuel tension and confrontation. Catholics have joined Protestants in anti-immigrant actions and staged their own protests in Catholic areas, but those eruptions tend to be smaller and less frequent. 'Catholics almost take a sectarian pride in not being racist. 'Oh, we're not like them,'' said O'Doherty. Despite a gritty reputation, Northern Ireland scores better for housing, unemployment and poverty than many parts of England, Wales and Scotland. However, it has some of the worst education attainment rates in the UK and the highest rate of economically inactive people, metrics that hint at the alienation and hopelessness felt in some Catholic and Protestant working-class areas. An education system that largely segregates the two main blocs also tends to silo minority ethnic pupils, said Rebecca Loader, a social science researcher at Queen's University Belfast. 'You have schools that have no diversity and schools with high levels, perhaps just separated by a few miles. Certain classes of people are never meeting. It's not conducive to meeting and learning about the other.' Also, very little in Northern Ireland's curriculum addresses racism, unlike curriculums in Britain, especially Wales, she said. Two factors, neither unique to Northern Ireland, have aggravated the tension. One is politics. Leaders from across the political spectrum have condemned the violence and appealed for calm, as they did last August during a similar flare-up. However, critics say some unionist parties – which represent loyalism – give mixed signals by defending 'legitimate protest' and amplifying immigration myths. Political unity fractured on Thursday after Gordon Lyons, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) communities minister, complained on social media that he had not been consulted about a leisure centre in Larne hosting families evacuated from Ballymena. A short time later, a mob set the centre on fire. Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, called on Lyons to reflect on his comments. Michelle O'Neill, the Sinn Féin first minister, suggested he should resign. Paul Sceeny, an interim manager at the North West Migrants Forum in Derry, said growing international antipathy to immigrants was affecting Northern Ireland. 'People are becoming emboldened to use racist tropes. It's part of a wider pattern,' he said. The other factor is social media. Protest organisers use Facebook, TikTok and other platforms to rally support and broadcast the results. In Ballymena, rioters reportedly requested likes, follows and gifts from viewers while livestreaming the destruction of a house. During the daytime calm this week, while authorities cleared debris from streets and foreign families packed up and left, youths huddled over phones and analysed clips, like actors reviewing a performance, seeking ways to improve before the next show.
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Sudbury Pride barring police from participating in events, issues apology to 2SLGBTQ community
While there is a need for increased security, Pride parade organizers in Sudbury have apologized for past police participation in their parade. Amid a need for increased security at Pride events across Canada, a recent decision by the Sudbury Pride organization is prohibiting police from participating in an official capacity. Many members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community say they have been experiencing heightened intolerance and hatred in recent years while also having a complicated relationship with police. Uniformed officers not welcome Because of that, the Fierté Sudbury Pride organization recently apologized to its community members about its past choices, including allowing police participation in previous events, in a statement on social media. Fierte Sudbury Pride issues apology to 2SLGBTQ community Fierte Sudbury Pride issues apology to 2SLGBTQ community. (Supplied) Among the concrete steps organizers are taking is not permitting police in uniform to participate in any Pride events. No police in Pride Sudbury events Police officers barred from wearing uniforms at Sudbury Pride events. (Fierte Sudbury Pride) 'We have to say, 'What can we do differently to make sure everyone is kept safe and what do police do that might keep some people safe and not others,' Groom said. 'How can we backfill that? What does that actually look like? What we know is that by having people who are visible, who are present, who are observing spaces, that will really change the dynamic in a way that often police don't.' Aspen Groom, chair of Fierte Sudbury Pride Aspen Groom, chair of Fierte Sudbury Pride, speaks to CTV News outside police headquarters and Pride crosswalk. June 12, 2025 (Angela Gemmill/CTV Northern Ontario) Officers who want to participate may do so while not in uniform. Committed to rebuilding trust Although faded since it was painted last year, the Chair of Fierté Sudbury Pride calls the rainbow-coloured 'Progress Pride Crosswalk' downtown a 'compromise.' Sudbury police headquarters located near faded Pride crosswalk Sudbury police headquarters located near faded Pride crosswalk on Minto Street downtown. June 12, 2025 (Angela Gemmill/CTV Northern Ontario) It is on Minto Street close to city hall, yet steps away from headquarters for Greater Sudbury Police. 'There's elements there that we have to be mindful of and also just know that we have to do our best within the constraints that we have,' said Aspen Groom, Sudbury Pride chairperson. Greater Sudbury Police Service said it respects the group's decision and is committed to listening, learning and taking steps to build trust with marginalized communities. "We respect the right of organizers to create spaces where community members feel safe and supported," Sudbury police said in a statement about the situation. "We recognize that historical and ongoing harms have shaped the complex relationship between 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and policing. We do not take these concerns lightly. We are committed to listening, learning, and taking meaningful steps to build trust with marginalized communities, including those who have not always felt heard or protected." Sudbury police statement on Pride decision Sudbury police statement on Pride decision to exclude uniformed officers. June 12, 2025 (Greater Sudbury Police Service) Police said they remain committed to equity, inclusion, and human rights, both within the organization and within the community. 'We will continue working alongside members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community year-round -- through outreach, education, and collaboration -- to foster safety, dignity, and belonging for all,' police added. 'Our hope is that through continued dialogue and understanding, we can build stronger, more inclusive relationships and find a path forward together. We wish Fierté Sudbury Pride safe and successful events." Changes to Pride march In order for the local Pride festival to hold a march without police involvement, Groom said they're planning for the event to travel along the sidewalk with plenty of volunteer marshals who will have training in de-escalation and community care. According to Groom, Fierté Sudbury Pride will be applying for the new permanent federal funding announced earlier this week in Ottawa meant to support security needs for Pride festivals across Canada. The total of $1.5 million is to help cover costs for safety and insurance planning. During the national flag-raising ceremony on June 10, Prime Minister Mark Carney called Pride 'a promise.' 'It's a promise to every couple who wants to show affection, to be able to hold hands in public without looking over their shoulders,' Carney told the crowd. 'It's a promise to every Canadian that they will be respected; that their rights will be protected. That you will be safe in your own community and proud in your own skin.' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at launch of 2025 Pride Season Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at launch of 2025 Pride Season. June 10, 2025 (CPAC) During the event, the co-chair of the Canadian Pride Caucus said he looks forward to a day when there isn't hatred towards others who are different. 'Some of us dream of the day when the acronym 2SLGBTQIA+ will be replaced by these simple four letters L-O-V-E,' said Canadian Senator Rene Cormier.
National Post
30-05-2025
- General
- National Post
Avi Benlolo: The Jewish community is under attack — will you stand with us?
Article content This past week, The Abraham Global Peace Initiative hosted a powerful and inspiring gala at Toronto's historic Casa Loma. The keynote speaker, former Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, addressed a sold-out crowd made up of proud Canadians — many of them children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. They gathered to counter hate, intolerance and to promote human rights and peace in the Middle East. But outside, a dangerous scene unfolded: a mob of radicalized agitators, emboldened and hateful, hurled slurs and threats at our guests simply for being Jewish. Article content Article content Article content I implore every Canadian to take the time to understand what is happening on our streets. There are men and women (and even children) dressed in full military fatigues. They wear keffiyehs over their faces (same as Hamas, ISIS or al-Qaida) to hide their identities and terrorize. They shout death threats at Jewish people — and at others who simply happen to be walking by. They block roads, sidewalks, and disrupt entire neighbourhoods. You need to know about this—and stop looking away as if its not your problem. Article content Article content Some attendees, deeply shaken, said the hatred reminded them of the stories their families told about Europe in the 1930s. It started the same way: mobs denouncing Jews, attempting to isolate them from public life, striking fear into their hearts. This isn't a page from a history book. It is happening at Jewish events every day on Canadian soil. Article content But you wouldn't know about it because Canadian media (except for the National Post) isn't reporting about this homeland support for terrorism. Our media broadcasters are keeping this threat hidden from Canadians, failing to critically analyze the hate infesting our streets. Just the other day, for the first time in history, Israel elevated its global threat alert for Canada to its highest level — warning Israelis about travel to this country. Canada's mainstream media was largely silent. Article content Article content Across the country, Jewish Canadians face increasing threats — from schoolyards to university campuses, from synagogues to charity galas. Demonstrators chant for violence, wave terrorist symbols, and show no fear of law enforcement. In fact, they often shout at and shove the very officers trying to protect us. Article content Article content Yes, our police services are doing their best. To their credit and leadership, the Toronto Police comes out in force. I cannot believe the abuse they take. They are shoved, spat at, sworn at and yelled at with megaphones. Our own police service members should not be treated this way. Why are Canadians not speaking out?
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Diversity Is Good, Actually
If you're tired of hearing about DEI and its associated problems, believe me, I'm even more tired of discussing it. Since 2020, I have publicly tackled this issue from a number of angles. I have recounted my own experiences with DEI training and highlighted the ways they backfire. I have addressed how many tenets and beliefs commonly associated with DEI—such as superficial approaches to representation, race essentialism, and the idea that merit is racist—are counterproductive and intellectually bankrupt. I've examined the ways DEI programs in higher education compromise free speech, free inquiry, and academic freedom. I also joined and currently serve as board president for FAIR, an organization founded in part to counteract the divisive, exclusionary, and intolerant ideas that DEI programs too often promote. Of course, I'm not alone in this endeavor. Where I differ from many others, however, is the reason for my opposition. I have criticized DEI initiatives and programs because they drastically set back efforts to address very real problems of bias, exclusion, and intolerance in our culture and institutions. In most cases, DEI exacerbates those problems wherever they exist and manifests them where they do not. Indeed, with recent waves of equally intolerant and often draconian opposition to DEI—or anything that can be accused of remotely resembling it—we are faced with a distorted doppelgänger of those same problems. As such, my response to the zeitgeist has inverted. For the last five years, I have been commenting on the proverbial bathwater drowning the baby. Now, I find myself reminding people that the baby exists. Point 'In our recoiling from the excessive and counterproductive programs and efforts that have appeared under the DEI banner these last few years, we shouldn't pretend that the issues they ostensibly sought to address don't exist or shouldn't be addressed intelligently.' Angel Eduardo Counterpoint 'Diversity has emerged organically as laws and norms change to break down barriers based on immutable characteristics, but mandating it imperils the very merit-based colorblindness that those first pleading for civil rights sought.' Ilya Shapiro During a 2020 interview on The Breakfast Club radio show, comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart told a story that is emblematic of the issue we're currently facing. 'When I started on The Daily Show, [we had] pretty much an all-white staff, all white correspondents, mostly male,' he said. 'People would call me out … and I would get defensive, until I had to stop and think about it.' Stewart explained that, at the time, The Daily Show had a 'blind audition' policy of removing names from their job applications, 'because we thought that's the way to not be sexist or racist.' However, he noticed, 'we still just kept hiring white dudes from a certain background. And what we realized is the river we were getting the material from, the tributary … was also polluted by the same inertia.' In other words, Stewart's attempts at blind meritocratic hiring weren't working because the lack of access to opportunity was a deeper problem than he realized. The pool from which The Daily Show hired applicants also lacked diversity, so not much about its personnel decisions changed. This left Stewart and his team at a crossroads. But their response perfectly mirrored the approaches our problematic DEI programs would take. 'You had to say to [recruiters], 'Send me women. Send me black people.' And all of a sudden, women got funny,' Stewart said. 'It just kind of happened. But they had been funny all along. We just hadn't actively done enough to mine that.' In Stewart's eyes, his team had finally begun to solve its problem by actively seeking individual applications based on the groups it was looking for. But, of course, this method introduces a host of other issues. For one thing, reducing people to their superficial identity characteristics in order to reach demographic quotas is dehumanizing and essentialist. Moreover, expecting equal numerical representation among groups—of any kind—in a given field or endeavor is to ignore the wide variety of human interest, talent, and skill that causes people to believe and behave in different ways. It also pits people of different groups against one another, because they are now being seen primarily as avatars for their groups instead of individual candidates assessed on their own merits. Most importantly, however, it doesn't actually correct the problem of unequal access to opportunity because—as Stewart himself recognized—the source of that issue is much further upstream. That's why the DEI sales pitch was convincing to so many of those who adopted and implemented these programs: The values actually do—and should—matter to them. Diversity—actively seeking and incorporating people of varying perspectives, backgrounds, and social contexts—is a good thing. Equity—being fair and impartial, and affording people the resources and opportunities they need to succeed—is a good thing. Inclusion—not making people's ethnic backgrounds, identity characteristics, and socioeconomic status barriers to entry—is a good thing. So Stewart's instincts on The Daily Show's hiring practices were broadly correct. It is highly unlikely that their staff was 'all white' and 'all male' because there were simply no women or ethnic minorities who could pass muster. It's also unlikely that only 'white males' were interested in the gig. A far more plausible explanation is that there were a number of barriers preventing people from minority backgrounds from accessing, or even knowing about, the opportunity. And for those who did know about it, perhaps they didn't feel they had a chance, or were wanted at all. Where Stewart and his crew went wrong was in how they sought to correct the problem once they identified it. If the issue was that The Daily Show was still fishing in the wrong rivers, they should have fished in different rivers. For instance, had they tried introducing an open submissions system, free of names and other identifying characteristics, so that anyone could submit to them? Did they try promoting that open call for submissions widely, including online, and not just where they were used to doing so? Did they reconsider, for example, whether a college degree is even necessary for joining the writing staff of a comedy news show? Did they think about cultivating their own talent by instituting outreach and training programs—such as improv and writing classes—in historically underserved communities? Stewart didn't specify in his interview, but I'd be amazed if ideas like these were attempted. And I'd be even more surprised, if they were, that they wouldn't yield better could have also reconsidered, for example, whether a college degree is really necessary for joining the writing staff of a comedy news show. To go a step further, they could have instituted outreach programs in historically underserved communities, offering improv and writing classes to cultivate talent rather than finding already existing talent. In other words, the real way forward is to identify the upstream problem, and develop upstream solutions. That, in essence, is what an ideal DEI program can and should do in our institutions and organizations: Identify any potential barriers to entry, help our institutions correct for them, and develop systems and structures that allow talented, hard-working people to thrive. This isn't just the ethical thing to do; it's also the wisest business move. Human talent and skill are assets, and the organizations that seek, invest in, cultivate, and retain them better than their competitors succeed. Unless you subscribe to the repulsive and erroneous idea that there is inherently less talent, skill, and ingenuity to mine from historically marginalized groups, you should see the benefits of finding the best people no matter where they come from. I'm not alone in thinking this. FAIR Executive Director Monica Harris has written that, while DEI made 'diversity' a dirty word, the underlying principle is also what made our nation as great as it is, for all its flaws. Harvard economist Roland Fryer has written about the ineffectiveness of modern DEI programs, but maintains there is a vital mission here worth investing in. These are important voices making a crucial point—one that the current scorched-earth antagonists of DEI should hear: We must not overcorrect the overcorrection. The fault for the failures of most DEI programs is not in the ideals themselves, but in those who hijacked them in order to promote something that is actually antithetical to the principles it disguised itself with: a system of beliefs and practices that divide by racialization, exclude based on ideological perspective, and indoctrinate people with a radical and intolerant worldview. As I and many others have repeated for years, this is and has been a problem. But when you buy a lemon from a used car salesman, arguing that cars themselves are terrible and that we don't actually need them is the wrong way to rectify the situation. It is on us to respond maturely to the challenges we face as a multiethnic, modern society. In our recoiling from the excessive and counterproductive programs and efforts that have appeared under the DEI banner these last few years, we shouldn't pretend that the issues they ostensibly sought to address don't exist or shouldn't be addressed intelligently. The consequence of entertaining that delusion is as obvious as it is inevitable: a compounding of an already unbearable tribal tit-for-tat, and an exhausted majority in the middle who, sadly, sees no way forward. Read more at The Dispatch The Dispatch is a new digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary, informed by conservative principles. Sign up for free.
