Latest news with #xenophobia
Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Florida lawmaker makes xenophobic comment to Muslim mayoral candidate
A Florida congressman gave a xenophobic analysis of the New York City mayor's race. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) came out on Friday guns-blazing against Democratic New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. The lawmaker used the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict to compare Mamdani's potential future leadership style to that of Iran 's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor. Mamdani, a rising star in New York City politics, is Muslim and a pro-Palestinian progressive. The Queens politician is running to be the next NYC mayor against incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as other lesser known candidates like the city's Comptroller Brad Lander and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. Fine faced backlash on X from those claiming his comments were anti-Muslim. 'You're right, everyone needs to submit to Christianity and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior,' one social media user sarcastically quipped. Another sarcastic commenter wrote: 'Agreed. We won't allow any Muslim run any office.' One said that Mamdani is such a flawless candidate that his critics are resorting to 'Islamaphobic retardness.' 'This is bigoted and wholly detached from reality,' wrote an X account on a more serious note. Another user suggested that Fine was in the pocket of the pro-Israel lobby and asked X's Artificial Intelligence Grok to detail contributions made to the Florida lawmaker's campaign from such groups. It revealed that Fine received a combined more than $400,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and NORPAC. The comments from Fine come amid a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in the U.S. with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists operating as the de facto government in the Palestinian stronghold of Gaza. And now, Israel is also embroiled in exchanging missile attacks with Iran. On June 12, Israel launched its first barrage against Iran targeting nuclear facilities and military infrastructure and leaders to prevent Tehran from gaining nuclear weapon capabilities. President Donald Trump on Thursday gave himself two weeks to decide whether the U.S. would back Israel and also strike against Iran. Republican lawmakers are split over whether the U.S. should back its ally or stay out of the conflict – with some warning of mutually assured nuclear annihilation.
Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Florida lawmaker sparks fury predicting surging Muslim candidate Zohran Mamdani will turn NYC into Tehran
A Florida congressman gave a xenophobic analysis of the New York City mayor's race. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) came out on Friday guns-blazing against Democratic New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. The lawmaker used the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict to compare Mamdani's potential future leadership style to that of Iran 's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor. Mamdani, a rising star in New York City politics, is Muslim and a pro-Palestinian progressive. The Queens politician is running to be the next NYC mayor against incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as other lesser known candidates like the city's Comptroller Brad Lander and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. Fine claimed that if the Ugandan-born mayoral candidate wins he would run the largest U.S. city into the ground, and said he would act as a theocratic Muslim leader – like the Ayatollah. 'Zohran Mamdani would do to New York City what Khomeini and Khamenei did to Tehran,' he claimed in a post to X. He added: 'We cannot let radical Muslims turn America into a Shiite caliphate.' Social media users slammed Fine for his xenophobic remarks calling the Ugandan-born Muslim a 'radical' who would turn NYC into a 'Shiite caliphate' Fine faced backlash on X from those claiming his comments were anti-Muslim. 'You're right, everyone needs to submit to Christianity and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior,' one social media user sarcastically quipped. Another sarcastic commenter wrote: 'Agreed. We won't allow any Muslim run any office.' One said that Mamdani is such a flawless candidate that his critics are resorting to 'Islamaphobic retardness.' 'This is bigoted and wholly detached from reality,' wrote an X account on a more serious note. Another user suggested that Fine was in the pocket of the pro-Israel lobby and asked X's Artificial Intelligence Grok to detail contributions made to the Florida lawmaker's campaign from such groups. It revealed that Fine received a combined more than $400,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and NORPAC. The comments from Fine come amid a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in the U.S. with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists operating as the de facto government in the Palestinian stronghold of Gaza. And now, Israel is also embroiled in exchanging missile attacks with Iran. On June 12, Israel launched its first barrage against Iran targeting nuclear facilities and military infrastructure and leaders to prevent Tehran from gaining nuclear weapon capabilities. President Donald Trump on Thursday gave himself two weeks to decide whether the U.S. would back Israel and also strike against Iran. Republican lawmakers are split over whether the U.S. should back its ally or stay out of the conflict – with some warning of mutually assured nuclear annihilation.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Politicians should learn that history is not just a handy rhetorical device
The head of Britain's Left-wing government warns that the country might become an 'island of strangers'. A senior black MP, Diane Abbott, attacks his speech as 'fundamentally racist'. Sir Keir 'doubles down', then a few days later apologises. He refuses, then accepts, an enquiry into organised child rape. The chairman of the main anti-immigration party, David Bull, announces that immigration has always been 'the lifeblood of this country'. To put it mildly, all this shows moral, intellectual, political and not least historical confusion. Yet the history of migration is very simple. People have always moved, often compelled by war, persecution or economic stress. Such movement has invariably caused friction and often serious violence: xenophobia is a constant of history. England has for most of its past been a country of low immigration. Those who claim that immigration has always been our 'lifeblood' or that 'immigrants built this land' (in Diane Abbott's words) would have to show when and how this was possible given the rarity of significant migration until the 1990s. Those who repeat the now familiar historical claim that England has always been a country of immigrants also have to skate over the awkward fact that when major immigration did occur, it was rarely a happy experience. Romans (including those probably fictitious black legionaries on Hadrian's Wall), Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans were violent invaders, even if some did build roads and cathedrals. Even 18th or 19th-century internal migrants – such as the Scots in Ireland or the Irish in Scotland – gave rise to lasting tensions still tangible after centuries of common citizenship. Genuine refugees in small numbers met with popular sympathy, and some made an economic contribution – Huguenots are always mentioned here, and sometimes Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia or Ugandan Asians. Nevertheless they were met with hostility from those who felt displaced. Others fleeing manifest danger – French refugees from the Revolution, Belgians in 1914, Ukrainians in 2022 – received sympathy, but were usually expected in due course to return home. The overall picture is clear: for nearly 1,000 years, the British Isles received few immigrants. Our history is one of emigration, as British expatriates became the 'lifeblood' of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whether the indigenous populations liked it or not. One can certainly sometimes point to economic development as an outcome of immigration. But as the leading economist of migration, Sir Paul Collier, observes, 'migrants capture the lion's share of the economic gains from migration'. It is not only with regard to migration that the censoring, sanitisation and rewriting of the past has been carried out. There have been attempts to argue that certain modern cultural phenomena have always been present. A recent example is the trans movement: Joan of Arc has been conscripted as a gender activist. Poor Joan, burnt by the 15th-century English, has been sacrificed to another cause by their descendants. Most politicians and activists have always regarded history not as a source of wisdom, but as a handy rhetorical device. When history became a quasi-scientific subject in the 19th century, it aimed to cut through rhetoric and myth-making and discover often awkward and complicated truths. Despite postmodernist assertions that there is no objective reality, this is what most professional historians still try to do: that is why they read archives, analyse statistics and study context. But for some, what counts more than analysis is pushing a 'narrative' that serves a cause (and their careers), even when the evidence is against them. Some things are exaggerated; others are played down. African rulers' enthusiastic slave trading; violent Muslim conquest; the cruelty and oppression of many pre-colonial societies. In the West, this is linked with Left-wing obsessions about race and colonisation, but Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – and for the sake of balance let me add Donald Trump – are equally keen abusers of history, with Tibet and Ukraine the main victims so far. No surprise there. Our own history too has been and is being carefully moulded by people in unaccountable positions of influence, and is being propagated by schools, universities and museums – I noticed the other day that even the King's Gallery is not entirely immune. People mould history to serve ideological causes or in the hope of calming tensions, or (as in the case of museums) to attract new customers. Hence, the British tend to accept accounts of their own history written by historic opponents. We acquiesce in American accounts of the War of Independence (forgetting the slaves and indigenous people who fought for the Crown) and to nationalist accounts of the Empire. One of the most taught subjects in English schools today is the Atlantic slave trade. Here, Britain's role, especially in abolition, was indeed globally epoch-making. Nevertheless, it is a brief and marginal episode in England's own long saga, and not its principal theme. The history of Britain's institutions is little taught, and the creation of England itself apparently not at all, despite England arguably being the prototype of the nation state. Why is there an England? Why a Britain? What is distinctive about them? You would be unlikely to find out at school. It is notoriously difficult to decide what history should be taught and how. It is easy, however, to say what should not be taught: propagandist 'narratives' that are at best simplistic and anachronistic, and at worst patent falsehoods. One obvious example is that slavery and imperial exploitation created British prosperity. Another is that past empire makes Britain today racist – evidence shows the opposite. History should teach complexity not simplicity. That past societies sometimes succeeded with resources far less than ours. That people thought differently from us, and were not necessarily wrong. That political decisions are hard and that the future is never clear (think of Chamberlain and Appeasement). Even children can learn these things. They might even remember them when they become adults. Perhaps one day a responsible government will help this to happen.
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.
The Independent
13-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Health Minister and professional bodies give support to international colleagues
Stormont Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and the heads of professional bodies have voiced their support for international colleagues in Northern Ireland. It comes after a week of scenes of disorder, mainly in Ballymena following an alleged sexual assault at the weekend in the Co Antrim town, and attacks on homes. Mr Nesbitt said actions in recent days will have left some health and social care workers feeling frightened and vulnerable. 'It is well accepted within health and social care (HSC) that without our international colleagues, the health service would collapse,' he said. 'The international recruits who arrive to work here across our HSC system provide an immensely valuable contribution to the delivery of health and social care services, and enrich our communities with their diversity.' He added: 'I have had the privilege of meeting healthcare staff right across Northern Ireland, including many of our internationally-recruited colleagues who have brought their skills, experience and expertise to our health service. 'They are greatly needed, very much appreciated and highly valued. They are deeply welcome here and their health, safety and wellbeing are of paramount importance. ' People should be entitled to live in peace, free from harm and intimidation, and I stand against this reprehensible, racist and xenophobic behaviour.' In a joint statement, the chief professional officers, including chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride, said the 'appalling and violent scenes of recent days are nothing short of shameful'. 'That people should be targeted and threatened simply because of their ethnicity, skin colour or cultural background is utterly despicable,' they said. 'That they should be intimidated out of their own homes is vile. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and to live in a safe environment free from harm and intimidation. 'We know there will be many of our international colleagues within the committed and dedicated health and social care and independent sector workforce who will be distressed by what has unfolded. 'But please know this: You are welcome, you are deeply valued and you have our full support. We are the better for your presence here.' The statement, also signed by the chief nursing officer Maria McIlgorm, chief social worker Aine Morrison, chief pharmaceutical officer Cathy Harrison, chief scientific adviser Ian Young, chief allied health professions officer Michelle Tennyson and chief dental officer Caroline Lappin, also urged reaching out. 'At this time, it is important that each one of us reaches out to provide comfort and support to our friends and colleagues who have come here from outside of Northern Ireland,' they said. 'The hugely valuable contribution that our diverse internationally educated and recruited colleagues and friends make to our health and social care service is very well recognised. 'They go out to work each and every day, serving our communities with professionalism, dignity, kindness and compassion. 'We stand with them and condemn, in the strongest possible terms, these blatant acts of racist thuggery.'
