When a politician says that he might trust a whole specific group of people only to go to the shops for him, you would think that would be a one way ticket to the door marked Ignominious Exit from Public Life. Sadly, Peter Robinosn, Northern Ireland’s First Minister remains in office while Alliance Party politician Anna Lo has said she’s going to quit politics because she’s fed up at all the abuse she’s getting. She spoke to Channel 4 last night about her experience with great dignity. My pride in her was matched by my anger at her treatment. You can watch here.
When people start to be nasty about how you look, the colour of your skin, how your eyes look about your stature, then that is racism and that is wrong and that is uncalled for and that’s what I object to and many people in Northern Ireland would support me in that.
She said the final straw for her was when the First Minister supported the anti-Islam comments by Pastor McConnell:
I just was so angry now that we’re seeing an increase in racism in Northern Ireland when we are seeing…the head of our Government…coming out with such ludicrous, negative comments about a whole religion.
Last night Nick Clegg signalled his support for Anna via Twitter.
V sad to hear that Anna Lo is quitting NI politics. No politician or, in fact, anyone should be subjected to racist abuse #IStandWithAnna
— Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) May 30, 2014
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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25 Comments
“When a politician says that he might trust a whole specific group of people only to go to the shops for him, you would think that would be a one way ticket to the door marked Ignominious Exit from Public Life.”
Caron, did you actually read what he said? He was drawing a distinction between whether he would trust Muslims for “spiritual advice” (which obviously you wouldn’t except an evangelical Christian to do!) and whether he would trust them in general in the course of everyday activities, which he said he would.
I wouldn’t trust Muslims to give me spiritual advice, I wouldn’t trust Muslims who are following Sharia Law to the letter and neither would he.
…
“However, as I have said in many of the normal daily activities of life, I would have no difficulty in trusting Muslims to go down to the shop for me, to give me the right change, to do a lot of other things, so you do need to define what it is, what you trust people to do or don’t.
…
“I’ll be quite honest, I wouldn’t trust them in terms of those who have been involved in terrorist activities. I wouldn’t trust them if they are devoted to Sharia Law. I wouldn’t trust them for spiritual guidance. Would I trust them to go down to the shops for me, yes I would, would I trust them to do day-to-day activities… there is no reason why you wouldn’t.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/peter-robinson-i-wouldnt-trust-muslims-devoted-to-sharia-law-but-i-would-trust-them-to-go-down-to-the-shops-for-me-30313447.html
If you want to criticise him for supporting Connell, that’s fair enough, but it’s bizarre to criticise him for the part where he says he considers Muslims trustworthy in everyday activities!
Nick standing with anyone at the moment is perhaps not what anyone really needs. Nor is it particularly helpful to provide a story with as few facts as this one. Here is the link, kindly provided by Stuart in a recent discussion on this same topic on LDV:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/peter-robinson-i-wouldnt-trust-muslims-devoted-to-sharia-law-but-i-would-trust-them-to-go-down-to-the-shops-for-me-30313447.html
Nothing is simple n NI. Here is another link about the rally today:
http://article.wn.com/view/2014/05/30/Sinn_Fein_to_attend_Rally_against_Racism_Sinn_Fein/
and here is the link you need to Anna Lo’s website:
http://www.annalo.org/
Having few facts was a hallmark of the previous LDV article on this subject. Being angry in response to racism is possibly the wrong response, it’s too much like a call to retaliatory violence. Basing strong opinions on few facts is a hallmark of the old troubles. Let’s hope we’re not going back that way.
Well said Caron.
At a time when race attacks are taking place at a rate of two a day in Northern Ireland, a 43% increase on last year, Peter Robinson’s comments are appalling. Its a disgrace that he is allowed to remain as First Minister of Northern Ireland after this.
Here is some information that could be useful about incitement:
http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/criminal/crimes_a_z/500491.html
and here is a taste of the atmosphere:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/30/derry-hotel-bomb-attack-condemned-local-mp
Politicians including Nick take care!
” I just was so angry now that we’re seeing an increase in racism in Northern Ireland when we are seeing…the head of our Government…coming out with such ludicrous, negative comments about a whole religion.”
Islam is not a race. Pastor McConnell used the fundamentalist rhetoric of hell-fire biblical literalism in his sermon against Islam as a religion. Peter Robinson made racist remarks, confusing the religious hatred he heard with racism.
Either way, it’s deeply unpleasant and appalling that a First Minister should make such comments.
Anna Lo has said on Newsnight that she is not quitting Northern Ireland, which I’m glad about. I hope she will return to politics and stand up to the ignorance of prejudice once again, when she feels ready.
Another interesting fact is that, in England and Wales, there were an average of about 130 “racist incidents” per day, or about 65 times the rate claimed for Northern Ireland. Some of these, perhaps many, will have included physical attacks.
The population of England and Wales is only about 32 times that of Northern Ireland, so a crude estimate would be that racism is about twice the problem in England and Wales as it is in Northern Ireland.
http://www.irr.org.uk/research/statistics/racial-violence/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_of_the_countries_of_the_United_Kingdom
@Richard – I’m a bit confused by your approach to this. It seems to be along the lines of “nothing to see here, move along please” – are you really saying that we shouldn’t be concerned that a long-serving resident and politician feels sufficiently concerned by remarks made by the First Minister that they might retire from politics? Suppose Alex Salmond said the same things about English (he wouldn’t, let’s just make that clear), should we just brush it off?
“When a politician says that he might trust a whole specific group of people only to go to the shops for him,”
The trouble is, that’s not what Robinson said. He has been widely misquoted. See the first link in the comments above.
The comments of McConnell and (to a lesser degree) Robinson are odious enough without having to misquote them.
@Keith Legg
I have provided links to six websites where there is information that in my view is relevant to this article. In what way is this equivalent to “saying that we shouldn’t be concerned that a long-serving resident and politician feels sufficiently concerned by remarks made by the First Minister that they might retire from politics”?
“Peter Robinson made racist remarks, confusing the religious hatred he heard with racism.”
Helen, can you quote these remarks, please?
I find it rather appalling that people come on here to quibble about the details rather than condemn Robinson’s disgraceful remarks, which I read as “Muslims are okay so long as they are in minor servant roles and doff their caps to important people like me”.
The point is not whether he would trust them to give the right change (!) but whether he would be happy to welcome a Muslim into his family.
But what else do you expect from a member of a NI party full of bigots?
Tony
Thanks for those nice, soothing, well focussed words, Tony. Rational argument always wins, doesn’t it? Glad the NHS is still prescribing those funny glasses. Petrol is the best fluid for dousing fires, I guess. Here’s another website that could be relevant:
http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/ballad-thin-man
I seem to have located a sore spot!
Tony
@Tony. There are many sore spots in NI! Probably a few in the HOL too. Why spend energy criticising contributors here on LDV, when an exemplary condemnation of Peter Robinson, in a firm but non-inflammatory way, might have been more helpful?
Richard
You say ” there were an average of about 130 “racist incidents” per day, or about 65 times the rate claimed for Northern Ireland”. Are you refering to actions contrary to the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred act? Does that include all the casual bigotry that goes on? Being asked which foot you kick with, being called a taig/left footer/papist/proddywhoddy/ and all the nasty little comments that are (or at least used to be) so prevalent in the province? Can you be entirely sure that assaults are recorded?
What I am trying to say is that I find it very, very hard to believe that everything has turned all sweetness and light since I was there in the eighties.
@A Social Liberal. The information comes from the webpage that I linked to. They may have more details. http://www.irr.org.uk/research/statistics/racial-violence/
@Tony Greaves
“I find it rather appalling that people come on here to quibble about the details rather than condemn Robinson’s disgraceful remarks, which I read as ‘Muslims are okay so long as they are in minor servant roles and doff their caps to important people like me’.”
You can’t possibly have read Robinson’s remarks, as he said nothing remotely like that.
You call it “quibbling about the details” – no, it’s always important to get things right, especially when accusations of racism and bigotry are flying around.
“…Would I trust them to go down to the shops for me, yes I would, would I trust them to do day-to-day activities….”
Some people in this thread seem to fail to understand why this is a racist remark.
Have I slipped back forty years and found myself in the early 1970s? Can I expect to watch openly racist situation comedies on the TV tonight,? Will accommodation agencies with rooms to rent start listing Irish, Blacks, Dogs as “unacceptable” tenants again?
I would NOT trust Nick Clegg to go down to the shops for me. But I do not condemn all men who are married to Roman Catholics and say I would not trust any man who is married to a Roman Catholic. If people on a supposedly Liberal Democrat discussion thread cannot see the difference we really have lost our way.
Martin McGuinness gets it http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=martin+mcguinness+supports+anna+lo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari
Even Nick Clegg gets it. But some on this thread either don’t or pretend that they don’t.
So nice to see posters prefacing and/or postfacing their posts with heavy criticism of other posters! Did we used to call it “holier than thou”? Achieves so very, very little. Well, here I am doing it too! http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/debateni/blogs/liam-clarke/islam-row-pastor-best-thing-peter-robinson-can-do-for-the-community-now-is-eat-his-words-30313260.html
Caron’s posting was about the great Anna Lo and Robinson’s awful remarks. So, astonishingly we got people coming here and defending Robinson. And then whingeing because some of us criticised their mealy-mouthed postings. Hey ho.
Tony
@John Tilley, please see the first comment in this thread (by Chris). Robinson has been widely quoted out of context.
Robinson was clearly saying that he would not trust Muslims for “spiritual advice” but would trust them in other respects. Since he is clearly not a Muslim, this seems fair enough.
His example of “going to the shops” was extremely clumsy and misjudged, but that’s no excuse for the blatant quoting out of context that’s been going on.
Incidentally, Northern Ireland’s s Muslim leaders (don’t ask me who appoints them) have accepted his explanation and apology. If they can do that, perhaps a few here should give it a go.
Stuart Mitchell
I have watched the recordings of the raving bigot and the NI First minister defending him.
I don’t know what context you are talking about? The words included in the first comment in this thread are not the full context. I have seen the full context. I have seen the exaggerated gestures and the Elmer Gantry style ranting of this man who we are told is a man of religion. For a First Minister in a country hat has been troubied with religious division and violence for hundreds of years to defend this sort of dangerous bigotry is unacceptable to civilised people of any party or religion.
Robinson and the DUP are an odd bunch. Their religious views are usually not paraded for the rest of the world to see. When they are exposed to the light of day, one begins to understand exactly what the Roman Catholic half of the community there have had to put up with for generations.
We should all be standing by Anna Lo.
This comment is being posted at 15.15 on Sunday 1st June 2014.
@Tony. The energy that you spend criticizing posters could be better spent criticizing Robinson. What is the HOL actually going to do about this, apart from saying you’re better than us?
@John Tilley
“For a First Minister in a country hat has been troubied with religious division and violence for hundreds of years to defend this sort of dangerous bigotry is unacceptable to civilised people of any party or religion.”
I totally agree – Robinson had no place defending the comments. (Robinson has since “clarified” his remarks by claiming that he was merely defending McConnell’s right to free speech, not anything he said; which liberals might be expected to agree with, though his remarks certainly read like he was defending the content of McConnell’s rant.)
But I still feel strongly that Robinson deserves to be attacked for what he said, not what he didn’t say. Accusations of bigotry are serious and we should all try to be as accurate as possible.
JohnTilley
Robinson and the DUP are an odd bunch. Their religious views are usually not paraded for the rest of the world to see. When they are exposed to the light of day, one begins to understand exactly what the Roman Catholic half of the community there have had to put up with for generations
As a Catholic myself, I find the views of these people no more offensive, but somewhat better informed than those of trendy atheists, like Richard Dawkins, who attack my religion. At least Robinson and McConnell and the like have sone idea what my religion is about, and attack it on that basis, rather than the Dawkins-type attacks where they make up something without bothering to research, and usually based on the semi-Protestant assumptions about religion which are the norm in this country, and attack it on that basis.
One need only look back at some of the threads on Catholic schools in this country to see a nasty and ill-informed anti-Catholic attitude which so quite widespread in THIS party. If you want to ban Robinson and McConnell form expressing their genuinely held view on religion, you had better ban a whole load of other people from doing so as well. Alternatively, you might just take the liberal line on free speech.
The other thing that Catholics have to deal with is continual attacks on our religion over the child abuse issue. At one time one could hardly open a copy of the Guardian newspaper without finding a “huh huh, Catholicism is just an organised front for child abuse, huh huh” comment somewhere. Note that whereas any comment critical of someone who claims an attachment to Islam has to be loaded with plenty of “of course, this is not what most Muslims do or believe, Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion” stuff, no such disclaimer tended to be made on this sort of attack on Catholicism.
Yes, the Catholic Church did have this problem, as we are now discovering so did any other organisations. The BBC seems to have been harbouring and turning a blind eye to child abuse from several of its leading presenters at the same time as running documentaries suggesting that there was something unique and nasty about Catholicism because elements of its organisation did such things. Would it have helped if every article or comment in this issue had to be larded with ” of course, this is not Catholic teaching, and most Catholics abhor this sort of thing” disclaimers for fear that if you did not do this you would be labelled a racist and expelled from the club of the great and good? Or would such a “you can’t make such attacks” attitude just have encouraged a sense of complacency a lack of willingness to tackle the problem?
Islam has a problem of people who use it to justify violence and intolerance. Please consider this in conjunction with the above.
I believe in free speech. I also note that a LOT of nastiness was done in the name of my religion in the past. That nastiness was not stopped by being nice to it and making excuses for it. The religion deserved to be attacked for it, and needed those attacks in order to change its attitude.