I’ve heard of the orange and green problems, but not white and black. Maybe this is just in some neighborhoods?

Several people from my hostel all went out to little towns scattered in the Republic just to discover the country..included in that group were people from all over the world – The Irish were extremely nice to everyone. I’m talking small town folk, just hearts of gold. I love them. That said, shit happens ya know? But I dont think theres anything about Ireland thats particularly racist.

There is racism eveywhere, just to varying degrees. A couple of drunken idiots may make a comment, but that can happen anywhere, whether in Dublin, London, Berlin or Manhattan. That being said, I wouldn’t worry about it much in Ireland.

I read an interesting article a few years back about how with the Irish economy booming, they were now importing workers really for the first time. A few African migrants were interviewed, and stated they were getting used to being stared at. Many Irish, especially many of the older generation from small towns and villages that had never been abroad, had never seen a black person in real life. It wasn’t racism, just curiosity.

Racism almost always exists in certain situations:

1. the most common is historical tensions between ethnic groups that share a country/region (example: white Americans and black Americans). This racism usually takes the form of a politically dominant group (which is almost always the numerical majority, one notable exception being South Africa), using political power to place restrictions on the other ethnic group(s). The two groups can be of the same "race." They can both white (Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo; Irish Catholics and British-descended Protestants in Northern Ireland), they can both be black (Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda), and so on.

2. The second kind is a backlash by the host population against a growing immigrant communty. The immigrants targetted by this type of racism are the nationalities that are most represented. A good example of this is Turks in Germany, Algerians in France, Albanians in Greece/Italy, South Asians in the United Arab Emirates, etc. There is no Mexican or any kind Latin American Mestizo community in Ireland, although there are immigrants from other parts of the world.

3. Backlash against all foreigners (or even fellow compatriots that happen to belong to ethnic minorities) in a country or region going through extreme economic difficulties, international pressure, or war (Obviously, Ireland does not fit this description.)

You’ll be fine, and people will especially embrace you as a tourist from a part of the world that rarely sends them visitors.

T-

luv_the_beach writes:

quote:2. The second kind is a backlash by the host population against a growing immigrant communty. The immigrants targetted by this type of racism are the nationalities that are most represented.

You’ve totally missed the mark on Racism in Ireland. Many people from India and Asia came to Ireland during the Economic Boom called the Celtic Tiger. Companies like Microsoft brought them in. There is some resentment among the Indigenous population, especially now that the Economic Boom has ‘wound down’ to some extent and some of the recent immigrants are placing a burden on Ireland’s Social Services.

Another problem is Ireland’s generous treatment of people seeking ‘asylum.’ As soon as their Asylum request is granted, they are given a Grant of 400 Euros to get started. There has been much abuse of that system (i.e., ‘double dipping’) by people who come in once as Albanian and then again as Bulgarian.

As for Racism: people of color have also learned how to cheat the system: In some cases they ‘pool’ their 400-Euro Grants, buy an old car. and try to run a Gypsy taxi service. This happens mainly in Cities like Dublin and Sligo. Yes, the Indigenous population soon learns about these ‘scams’ and racial tensions increase; but so far there is no KKK in Ireland (as far as I know).

Eddie, my friend, I’m afraid you have missed the mark on my post. You should reffer back to my post and re-read point #2 in its entirety (the truncated version you quoted leaves out an important part of my point). Yes, there’s an Irish backlash against Indian immigrants, and yes there’s immigrants in Ireland from India and several other countries, there are no Mexicans in Ireland. Therefore, a Mexican tourist should have nothing to worry about. Unless you’re trying to say that Tronxz28 might be confused by some poeple for South Asian?? Do you really think this would be the case? There is very little, if any, physical resemblance.

Despite all this, I don’t want to scare tronxz28. Please, tronxz28, don’t come under the impression that racism is widespread. You’ll be fine.

Yes,

if you are a potato, it’s likely you could get mashed to death or skinned alive and boiled to death. Potatos get a hard time of it in Ireland