A nation of equals

http://www.metroeireann.com/

In a recent interview, Mr Mbemba Jabbi (Project Officer,the Africa Centre) told me that hopefully there will be more black and or African people in the media in Ireland. Let's hope he's right.I certainly don't want Ireland to be viewed as, in the words of former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble,:"mono-cultural."

To me it is a mark of how we have developed as a nation that many African, Poles, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Indian....now call Ireland home. Indeed would we be in a worse recession now,if these people never came to Ireland? Almost certainly. All one has to do is travel to a place like London to see the progress and the cultural diversity that exists in that great city.

Why can't that vibe be felt in the Irish capital too? It can. But first we need to make the people who come here, honestly and wanting to suceed, welcome: The wonderful African music and tradition, the Poles here working in building/construction, Chinese health stores,not to mention all the international cuisine now available. This has been made possible only by multiculturism and we should be grateful.

The mentioned countries and many not mentioned have made,and continue to make, a huge difference to the way we live and it cannot be emphasised enough.So next time you get annoyed at the Indian shopkeeper behind the counter at Spar or the African driving your bus remember - we wouldn't have what we have without foreigners coming to our shores. If we get out of recession it'll be these sort of people that will bring us out of it.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, 24th March 2009) at 10.30am there will be a meeting in the Africa Centre in Abbey Street, Dublin and it will be about supporting those who experience racism. We must never avoid giving those who come here from abroad, in this case Africans, our full co-operation and they must be treated the way anyone from Ireland be treated: with dignity and respect. It's the least that they deserve for coming to The Emerald Isle. We should remember that in 2009.
© Ian Callagy 2009