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oughterard people - see OP for Mod warning 29/09/19

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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    Wibbs wrote: »
    .... With someone with this much apparently at stake, one does ponder on the notion of a vested interest beyond the high horse "morality" in view.
    Indeed, and interesting from just two days ago on the connachttribune.ie:
    Direct Provision is big business for service providers – figures show the companies behind Galway City’s two centres earned more than €77m since 2000. Last year alone, the Eglinton made a profit of €520,000.
    Money, large and fast profits, can be a powerful motivator for some in this 'industry'.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,571 ✭✭✭Seathrun66


    Wibbs wrote: »
    And why did they have to fight? And why are they the outliers of their communities? Do you want me to hand hold you to links "acceptable" to you to back this up?

    Waits for penny to drop, though I fear the purse is empty, at least on that score. With someone with this much apparently at stake, one does ponder on the notion of a vested interest beyond the high horse "morality" in view.

    If you're a newcomer in a land that's the default position. Irrespective of colour, religion or race. The Huguenots, Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles and others have had that bar and are now firmly embedded in the culture.

    The newcomers to Ireland are on the way to becoming embedded here. And I'll do everything I can to help them do so. We ain't going back to a monotheist, monocultural past lads. Get used to it.

    Anyway, am off to bed. It's been a blast lads. Enjoy your week.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    Seathrun66 wrote: »
    The newcomers to Ireland are on the way to becoming embedded here. And I'll do everything I can to help them do so. .
    I see:
    Direct Provision is big business for service providers – figures show the companies behind Galway City’s two centres earned more than €77m since 2000. Last year alone, the Eglinton made a profit of €520,000.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,571 ✭✭✭Seathrun66


    I see:

    Thanks for the business idea. Now if you could start me off with some funding.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    Seathrun66 wrote: »
    Thanks for the business idea.
    So you look upon all this simply as a 'business', cool.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,571 ✭✭✭Seathrun66


    So you look upon all this simply as a 'business', cool.

    Ah lad, subtlety ain't your thing. I promise to be more base next time.

    And on that note, adieu mon ami.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,385 ✭✭✭h2005


    eagle eye wrote: »
    If you live in Galway then you live in a bubble based on the hat statement.


    There are a bunch of them, at least three are adults now and in prison, a couple in Oberstown too. They hang outside shops and terrorise people. If somebody talks back to them they attack.

    What part of Galway are they in? I’ve never heard of this gang


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 949 ✭✭✭Woodsie1


    Seathrun66 wrote: »
    Anyway, am off to bed. It's been a blast lads. Enjoy your week.

    Run away little man.
    Soundbites and lies have no place here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,475 ✭✭✭tigger123


    Really interesting article in this morning's Irish Times:

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612

    It essentially says that what's going on in Oughterard is being hijacked by far right fruit loops in Ireland to further their own political agenda. It talks about how they utilise online discourse to gain more attention for themselves.

    Made me think that some of these headbangers and their cheerleaders would inevitably have Boards accounts ...


  • Registered Users Posts: 349 ✭✭McHardcore


    Ye dont care in this thread about the Oughterard people. All ye care about is pushing your anti-immigration agenda.

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612

    How far-right is exploiting immigration concerns in Oughterard
    Anti-immigrant activists trying to dominate and exploit local debates on direct provision

    491404.jpg

    Last March, the organisers of a meeting in Lismore, called to help a Syrian refugee family as they arrived in the picturesque Waterford town, had an uneasy feeling as they looked on the 160 people gathered in the community centre.

    “We had an idea it was possible some far-right people might come along maybe. We knew from online chatter that they had got it into their heads that a direct provision centre was going to open in the town,” says Lynne Glasscoe of the Lismore Welcome Project.

    But Glasscoe says she was not prepared for the level of organisation they displayed, or how disruptive they would be: “There were eight or 10 of them spread throughout the room. They were very, very well organised and they were live-streaming the whole meeting.”

    Frequently, they interrupted, asking questions about direct provision, despite it having been made clear from the off that just one Syrian family was coming, and that no centre was planned.

    One, self-styled citizen journalist Rowan Croft asked Minister of State David Staunton to guarantee that no members of Islamic State are in direct provision. Another claimed the Government “intends” to bring two million Syrians to Ireland.

    “It was getting quite tense. They were trying to provoke us and we refused to be provoked,” Glasscoe said. “They weren’t listening. There was lots of yahooing. There was shouting that you’re going to be raped or killed on the street.”

    By the end, though, the interruptions had had little effect, she said, with the vast majority present happy to welcome the Syrian family, who have settled in well since.

    In recent weeks, some of what happened in Lismore has played out in Oughterard. Unlike Lismore, Oughterard is being considered for a direct provision centre that could hold “less than 250” asylum seekers. In a town of more than 1,300, this has caused alarm.

    As a result, the Connemara town has found itself in the crosshairs of a loose, but increasingly-sophisticated network of far-right and anti-immigration activists which sees such controversies as valuable vehicles for their message.

    Fears in Oughterard existed before the far-right became involved. Since then, however, anti-immigration campaigners have attempted to steer the debate itself and exploit the resulting publicity. With some success, it must be said.

    It has become a familiar pattern in rural towns. Local rumours of a centre spread quickly. A lack of information from the Government creates a vacuum. That vacuum is quickly filled by far-right online traffic.

    Videos and other content is quickly created, and shared widely – not just to influence the local debate, but the national one, too. It is difficult to gauge how successful these tactics are.

    ‘Asylum industry’
    Initially, some in Oughterard, including one of the main organisers, Patrick Curran appeared to welcome outside anti-immigration voices. Now they want to exclude them, fearing that they will be tarred by association.

    One of the main agitators travelling to towns earmarked for direct provision or asylum housing is Gearóid Murphy, a Cork man, who has visited Oughterard, Lismore, Lisdoonvarna and Roosky.

    Murphy frequently promotes far-right talking points on social media, particularly a conspiracy theory claiming the aim of western governments is to replace native populations with immigrants for economic reasons.

    In a now-deleted tweet, Murphy describes his political views as “probably somewhere between libertarianism and national socialism with a touch of Christian ethos”.

    In 2017 he posted a series of tweets expressing sympathy for white nationalists marching in Charlottesville in the US. Following the march, during which an anti-racism protester was murdered by a neo-Nazi, Murphy posted: “I can’t imagine how surreal and frankly terrifying it felt for WNs in Charlottesville. And while I obviously don’t condone the car attack...”

    A two-hour YouTube video from Murphy criticising the Government and the “asylum industry” was widely shared in Oughterard and praised by some as “a one-stop shop” for information about direct provision.

    Such towns, he says, should “identify and marginalise” Government-connected moles, subverters and intimidators within their ranks “who are lurking among you.”

    Advising locals to engage in Machiavellian thinking, he states: “They can have no part in this discussion about your community. And they certainly should not be representing you and speaking for you.”

    Public meetings are useful, too, to drum up support, especially if they are video-taped, and shared online. His advice, he says, was given in Rooskey, and it worked.

    Patrick Curran, a businessman who helps lead the “Oughterard says No to inhumane direct provision centres” campaign initially praised the video which he called, in a Facebook post, “extremely factual and well put together”.

    Murphy filmed the Oughterard meeting, capturing Independent TD Noel Grealish’s declaration that African asylum seekers are sponging “off the system here”.

    The meeting was also addressed by Gerry Kinneavy, a local organiser for the far-right National Party whose leader Justin Barrett has been linked in the past to a German neo-Nazi group.

    Kinneavy said Ireland should follow Poland and Hungary’s anti-immigration lead. Leaflets critical of the asylum system containing some misleading claims were distributed by Curran and others.

    Murphy distributed similar leaflets in Rooskey, stating, among other things, the false claim that asylum seekers are given priority on housing lists. This, he admitted in a YouTube video, was “a little bit sketchy”.

    491403.png

    He was joined in Rooskey by Rowan Croft, a former builder and soldier in the British army, who now campaigns against immigration on YouTube under the name Grand Torino.

    Today, it is one of the more popular Irish far-right channels on YouTube, where he has interviewed Irish Freedom Party’s Hermann Kelly and Jim Dowson, founder of the anti-Islam Britain First party.

    Most of Croft’s videos portray migration negatively, or promote other far-right talking points such as Qanon, a conspiracy theory that the American “Deep State” is secretly plotting to topple US president Donald Trump.

    In a broadcast in March referring to demographic changes and globalisation, Croft said Ireland is changing drastically but may go “feral again and become the barbarians that we were”.

    He added: “Just because we don’t have the right to bear arms doesn’t mean we don’t have them.” Croft, who funds his activities through soliciting donations and selling merchandise branded with his face, was not in Oughterard. Instead, he was at a rally in Italy for the far-right Italian League party where he posed for selfies with party leader and former interior minister Matteo Salvini. Neither Murphy or Croft responded to an interview request from The Irish Times.

    ‘Political agenda’
    The vast majority of local concerns in Oughterard are not grounded in anti-immigration or racist sentiment. There are signs from the campaign’s Facebook page that many locals are angry that they are being exploited by anti-immigration campaigners.

    “(Most) people of Oughterard would have no idea who these individuals are,” says Joe Loughnane, chair of the Galway Anti-Racism Network and former People Before Profile local election candidate. “They would have no reason to suspect their motives.”

    It is a view echoed on the campaign’s main Facebook page. One member complained about people who appeared to be on their side “but a quick click into their profiles confirmed extreme right-wing agendas”.

    But locals remain angry about the issues raised – the lack of services, a belief that no background checks will be done on those who will come there if the project goes ahead, and the refusal of the State to involve locals.

    If there is frustration with the far-right input, many in Oughterard are also angry with left-wing activists who they believe are trying to brand their town, and them, as racist.

    Loughane was removed from the Facebook group after one member complained. Curran said the page had been made private because “people with a political agenda” were trying to sabotage the conversation.

    Although initially appearing appreciative of Murphy’s help, including his assistance in setting up a petition, Curran has told The Irish Times that he wants to distance the campaign from any political ideology, left or right.

    “From the beginning we’ve had people trying to hijack our cause from both sides. Left-wing people are trying to brand us as racist and we’ve had right-wing people trying to infiltrate Oughterard and try to influence the campaign.”

    Curran, who described himself as a “centrist”, says he has “dropped” Murphy from the Facebook group. He also says he rejected an offer from National Party leader Justin Barrett to make a speech at the protest on Tuesday.

    In their public comments, campaigners now focus on the “inhumanity” of the direct provision system rather than concerns about those in it. Racist commentary on the Facebook page will not be tolerated, Curran says.

    “Even if it was 300 guys from Belmullet we would be campaigning,” he says. Not everyone on the group is on message however. A comment posted when the group was set up last week wrote that Ireland was at risk of being “governed by foreigners” who would rule “under sharia law” while a video from the Irish-born white supremacist Stefan Molyneux was also shared.

    People gather for the silent protest march outside Oughterard church on Saturday. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy.
    People gather for the silent protest march outside Oughterard church on Saturday. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy.
    Murphy, Croft and their associates are part of a growing online network of Irish anti-immigration activists, nearly all of whom are strong supporters of Gemma O’Doherty, who tried and failed to get a nomination last year to run in the presidential election.

    ‘Great Replacement’ theory
    Since then, O’Doherty has been active almost daily online, proposing, amongst other things, that governments are blocking out the sun with chemicals to perpetrate the “climate change hoax”.

    Croft has repeatedly attended O’Doherty’s long-running demonstration outside Google’s offices in Dublin against its decision to block her YouTube channel after it ruled that it breached their hate speech rules – a charge she vigorously denies.

    One of the key aims of the far-right activists seems to be to use situations like Oughterard to gain the attention and amplification of far-right personalities abroad. In this they are sometimes successful.

    Katie Hopkins, the British media personality and far-right political commentator, has tweeted about Oughterard, claiming locals are “afraid for their country”.

    Laura Southern, a prominent Canadian white nationalist, who is banned from entering the UK, was welcomed to Ireland last year by Croft while making an anti-immigration documentary.

    A common talking point among most, if not all, is the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory which argues that Western populations are being systematically replaced with Third World immigrants, leading to the eradication of Western culture.

    Irish proponents of the “Great Replacement” theory charge, without evidence, that the Government’s Ireland 2040 investment is a bid to replace the native-born population.

    The claims gained international attention thanks to a video by Molyneux which gained hundreds of thousands of views before being removed from YouTube.

    The Irish version of the Great Replacement theory is often linked with the legalisation of abortion.

    “The first thing they want to do is kill Irish kids and [they] want to replace them with every nationality who wants to come into our country,” Irish Freedom Party leader Hermann Kelly told Croft in an interview this year.

    In essence, it is an updated version of the “white genocide” theory which often claimed Jewish people were behind attempts to wipe out white people through inter-marriage and immigration, according to Dr Piaras Mac Éinrí, a geography lecturer at UCC who specialises in migration.

    “I know this will all sound crazy but the extraordinary thing is (a) the extent to which these people have bought into this (b) the fact that the same core beliefs come up, again and again, in different places (c) the fact that for people who hate globalists they are themselves a global movement,” Mac Éinrí said via email.

    Ireland’s far-right and anti-immigration activists regularly promote each other, appear on each other’s platforms and occasionally solicit donations for each other.

    Many of their videos are diatribes alleging that Irish culture is being destroyed. Others, such as Murphy’s are more technical, drawing on official statistics to argue immigration is a deliberate Government policy to drive down wages and living conditions.

    A favourite tactic by some such as O’Doherty and Croft is to highlight crimes committed by non-Irish people. Last July Croft travelled to Courtown, Co Wexford to “investigate” the alleged rape of a Dublin teenager in the town.

    He spent much of the short video he made in the town speaking about asylum seekers being accommodated in Courtown and complained that nobody wants to speak about “the elephant in the room” in relation to rising reports of sexual assault. There is no evidence to connect the rape to asylum seekers.

    Despite their increasing sophistication, the network of far-right and anti-immigrant remains a loose one, united by similar talking points and tactics rather than any overarching organisation.

    At first glance they also seem to be having little impact politically. O’Doherty got 1.8 per cent of the vote when she ran for a European Parliament seat in May while the Irish Freedom Party and the National Party have yet to win a seat in any forum.

    However, there is some evidence that the rhetoric is bleeding into mainstream political discourse. Grealish has so far declined to retract his “spongers” comment, while some TDs, including Cork’s Michael Collins, have refused to condemn him.

    Greater leadership by politicians is needed, says Bryan Fanning, UCD’s professor of migration and social policy. The vast majority of Irish politicians are not racist but they do not try to calm fears.

    “It isn’t rocket science, there needs to be far more engagement with communities. Direct provision is a dreadful system but it’s also an imposition on local communities. We’re sending people into these communities on bad terms,” he says.

    Meanwhile, in Oughterard campaign leaders say the vigil outside the Connemara Gateway Hotel will continue and insist the help of the far-right is not welcome.

    “We have always welcomed people of all races and creeds,” Curran said in a WhatsApp message last week accompanying a photo of local restaurateur Sammy Nawi, who is from Morocco, bringing food to the protesters.

    “We are making a stand for something that is right and we have the people behind us.”


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  • Registered Users Posts: 39,970 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    Woodsie1 wrote: »
    Soundbites and lies have no place here.

    :pac:


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 370 ✭✭WB Yokes


    McHardcore wrote: »
    Ye dont care in this thread about the Oughterard people. All ye care about is pushing your anti-immigration agenda.

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612

    How far-right is exploiting immigration concerns in Oughterard
    Anti-immigrant activists trying to dominate and exploit local debates on direct provision

    491404.jpg

    Last March, the organisers of a meeting in Lismore, called to help a Syrian refugee family as they arrived in the picturesque Waterford town, had an uneasy feeling as they looked on the 160 people gathered in the community centre.

    “We had an idea it was possible some far-right people might come along maybe. We knew from online chatter that they had got it into their heads that a direct provision centre was going to open in the town,” says Lynne Glasscoe of the Lismore Welcome Project.

    But Glasscoe says she was not prepared for the level of organisation they displayed, or how disruptive they would be: “There were eight or 10 of them spread throughout the room. They were very, very well organised and they were live-streaming the whole meeting.”

    Frequently, they interrupted, asking questions about direct provision, despite it having been made clear from the off that just one Syrian family was coming, and that no centre was planned.

    One, self-styled citizen journalist Rowan Croft asked Minister of State David Staunton to guarantee that no members of Islamic State are in direct provision. Another claimed the Government “intends” to bring two million Syrians to Ireland.

    “It was getting quite tense. They were trying to provoke us and we refused to be provoked,” Glasscoe said. “They weren’t listening. There was lots of yahooing. There was shouting that you’re going to be raped or killed on the street.”

    By the end, though, the interruptions had had little effect, she said, with the vast majority present happy to welcome the Syrian family, who have settled in well since.

    In recent weeks, some of what happened in Lismore has played out in Oughterard. Unlike Lismore, Oughterard is being considered for a direct provision centre that could hold “less than 250” asylum seekers. In a town of more than 1,300, this has caused alarm.

    As a result, the Connemara town has found itself in the crosshairs of a loose, but increasingly-sophisticated network of far-right and anti-immigration activists which sees such controversies as valuable vehicles for their message.

    Fears in Oughterard existed before the far-right became involved. Since then, however, anti-immigration campaigners have attempted to steer the debate itself and exploit the resulting publicity. With some success, it must be said.

    It has become a familiar pattern in rural towns. Local rumours of a centre spread quickly. A lack of information from the Government creates a vacuum. That vacuum is quickly filled by far-right online traffic.

    Videos and other content is quickly created, and shared widely – not just to influence the local debate, but the national one, too. It is difficult to gauge how successful these tactics are.

    ‘Asylum industry’
    Initially, some in Oughterard, including one of the main organisers, Patrick Curran appeared to welcome outside anti-immigration voices. Now they want to exclude them, fearing that they will be tarred by association.

    One of the main agitators travelling to towns earmarked for direct provision or asylum housing is Gearóid Murphy, a Cork man, who has visited Oughterard, Lismore, Lisdoonvarna and Roosky.

    Murphy frequently promotes far-right talking points on social media, particularly a conspiracy theory claiming the aim of western governments is to replace native populations with immigrants for economic reasons.

    In a now-deleted tweet, Murphy describes his political views as “probably somewhere between libertarianism and national socialism with a touch of Christian ethos”.

    In 2017 he posted a series of tweets expressing sympathy for white nationalists marching in Charlottesville in the US. Following the march, during which an anti-racism protester was murdered by a neo-Nazi, Murphy posted: “I can’t imagine how surreal and frankly terrifying it felt for WNs in Charlottesville. And while I obviously don’t condone the car attack...”

    A two-hour YouTube video from Murphy criticising the Government and the “asylum industry” was widely shared in Oughterard and praised by some as “a one-stop shop” for information about direct provision.

    Such towns, he says, should “identify and marginalise” Government-connected moles, subverters and intimidators within their ranks “who are lurking among you.”

    Advising locals to engage in Machiavellian thinking, he states: “They can have no part in this discussion about your community. And they certainly should not be representing you and speaking for you.”

    Public meetings are useful, too, to drum up support, especially if they are video-taped, and shared online. His advice, he says, was given in Rooskey, and it worked.

    Patrick Curran, a businessman who helps lead the “Oughterard says No to inhumane direct provision centres” campaign initially praised the video which he called, in a Facebook post, “extremely factual and well put together”.

    Murphy filmed the Oughterard meeting, capturing Independent TD Noel Grealish’s declaration that African asylum seekers are sponging “off the system here”.

    The meeting was also addressed by Gerry Kinneavy, a local organiser for the far-right National Party whose leader Justin Barrett has been linked in the past to a German neo-Nazi group.

    Kinneavy said Ireland should follow Poland and Hungary’s anti-immigration lead. Leaflets critical of the asylum system containing some misleading claims were distributed by Curran and others.

    Murphy distributed similar leaflets in Rooskey, stating, among other things, the false claim that asylum seekers are given priority on housing lists. This, he admitted in a YouTube video, was “a little bit sketchy”.

    491403.png

    He was joined in Rooskey by Rowan Croft, a former builder and soldier in the British army, who now campaigns against immigration on YouTube under the name Grand Torino.

    Today, it is one of the more popular Irish far-right channels on YouTube, where he has interviewed Irish Freedom Party’s Hermann Kelly and Jim Dowson, founder of the anti-Islam Britain First party.

    Most of Croft’s videos portray migration negatively, or promote other far-right talking points such as Qanon, a conspiracy theory that the American “Deep State” is secretly plotting to topple US president Donald Trump.

    In a broadcast in March referring to demographic changes and globalisation, Croft said Ireland is changing drastically but may go “feral again and become the barbarians that we were”.

    He added: “Just because we don’t have the right to bear arms doesn’t mean we don’t have them.” Croft, who funds his activities through soliciting donations and selling merchandise branded with his face, was not in Oughterard. Instead, he was at a rally in Italy for the far-right Italian League party where he posed for selfies with party leader and former interior minister Matteo Salvini. Neither Murphy or Croft responded to an interview request from The Irish Times.

    ‘Political agenda’
    The vast majority of local concerns in Oughterard are not grounded in anti-immigration or racist sentiment. There are signs from the campaign’s Facebook page that many locals are angry that they are being exploited by anti-immigration campaigners.

    “(Most) people of Oughterard would have no idea who these individuals are,” says Joe Loughnane, chair of the Galway Anti-Racism Network and former People Before Profile local election candidate. “They would have no reason to suspect their motives.”

    It is a view echoed on the campaign’s main Facebook page. One member complained about people who appeared to be on their side “but a quick click into their profiles confirmed extreme right-wing agendas”.

    But locals remain angry about the issues raised – the lack of services, a belief that no background checks will be done on those who will come there if the project goes ahead, and the refusal of the State to involve locals.

    If there is frustration with the far-right input, many in Oughterard are also angry with left-wing activists who they believe are trying to brand their town, and them, as racist.

    Loughane was removed from the Facebook group after one member complained. Curran said the page had been made private because “people with a political agenda” were trying to sabotage the conversation.

    Although initially appearing appreciative of Murphy’s help, including his assistance in setting up a petition, Curran has told The Irish Times that he wants to distance the campaign from any political ideology, left or right.

    “From the beginning we’ve had people trying to hijack our cause from both sides. Left-wing people are trying to brand us as racist and we’ve had right-wing people trying to infiltrate Oughterard and try to influence the campaign.”

    Curran, who described himself as a “centrist”, says he has “dropped” Murphy from the Facebook group. He also says he rejected an offer from National Party leader Justin Barrett to make a speech at the protest on Tuesday.

    In their public comments, campaigners now focus on the “inhumanity” of the direct provision system rather than concerns about those in it. Racist commentary on the Facebook page will not be tolerated, Curran says.

    “Even if it was 300 guys from Belmullet we would be campaigning,” he says. Not everyone on the group is on message however. A comment posted when the group was set up last week wrote that Ireland was at risk of being “governed by foreigners” who would rule “under sharia law” while a video from the Irish-born white supremacist Stefan Molyneux was also shared.

    People gather for the silent protest march outside Oughterard church on Saturday. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy.
    People gather for the silent protest march outside Oughterard church on Saturday. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy.
    Murphy, Croft and their associates are part of a growing online network of Irish anti-immigration activists, nearly all of whom are strong supporters of Gemma O’Doherty, who tried and failed to get a nomination last year to run in the presidential election.

    ‘Great Replacement’ theory
    Since then, O’Doherty has been active almost daily online, proposing, amongst other things, that governments are blocking out the sun with chemicals to perpetrate the “climate change hoax”.

    Croft has repeatedly attended O’Doherty’s long-running demonstration outside Google’s offices in Dublin against its decision to block her YouTube channel after it ruled that it breached their hate speech rules – a charge she vigorously denies.

    One of the key aims of the far-right activists seems to be to use situations like Oughterard to gain the attention and amplification of far-right personalities abroad. In this they are sometimes successful.

    Katie Hopkins, the British media personality and far-right political commentator, has tweeted about Oughterard, claiming locals are “afraid for their country”.

    Laura Southern, a prominent Canadian white nationalist, who is banned from entering the UK, was welcomed to Ireland last year by Croft while making an anti-immigration documentary.

    A common talking point among most, if not all, is the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory which argues that Western populations are being systematically replaced with Third World immigrants, leading to the eradication of Western culture.

    Irish proponents of the “Great Replacement” theory charge, without evidence, that the Government’s Ireland 2040 investment is a bid to replace the native-born population.

    The claims gained international attention thanks to a video by Molyneux which gained hundreds of thousands of views before being removed from YouTube.

    The Irish version of the Great Replacement theory is often linked with the legalisation of abortion.

    “The first thing they want to do is kill Irish kids and [they] want to replace them with every nationality who wants to come into our country,” Irish Freedom Party leader Hermann Kelly told Croft in an interview this year.

    In essence, it is an updated version of the “white genocide” theory which often claimed Jewish people were behind attempts to wipe out white people through inter-marriage and immigration, according to Dr Piaras Mac Éinrí, a geography lecturer at UCC who specialises in migration.

    “I know this will all sound crazy but the extraordinary thing is (a) the extent to which these people have bought into this (b) the fact that the same core beliefs come up, again and again, in different places (c) the fact that for people who hate globalists they are themselves a global movement,” Mac Éinrí said via email.

    Ireland’s far-right and anti-immigration activists regularly promote each other, appear on each other’s platforms and occasionally solicit donations for each other.

    Many of their videos are diatribes alleging that Irish culture is being destroyed. Others, such as Murphy’s are more technical, drawing on official statistics to argue immigration is a deliberate Government policy to drive down wages and living conditions.

    A favourite tactic by some such as O’Doherty and Croft is to highlight crimes committed by non-Irish people. Last July Croft travelled to Courtown, Co Wexford to “investigate” the alleged rape of a Dublin teenager in the town.

    He spent much of the short video he made in the town speaking about asylum seekers being accommodated in Courtown and complained that nobody wants to speak about “the elephant in the room” in relation to rising reports of sexual assault. There is no evidence to connect the rape to asylum seekers.

    Despite their increasing sophistication, the network of far-right and anti-immigrant remains a loose one, united by similar talking points and tactics rather than any overarching organisation.

    At first glance they also seem to be having little impact politically. O’Doherty got 1.8 per cent of the vote when she ran for a European Parliament seat in May while the Irish Freedom Party and the National Party have yet to win a seat in any forum.

    However, there is some evidence that the rhetoric is bleeding into mainstream political discourse. Grealish has so far declined to retract his “spongers” comment, while some TDs, including Cork’s Michael Collins, have refused to condemn him.

    Greater leadership by politicians is needed, says Bryan Fanning, UCD’s professor of migration and social policy. The vast majority of Irish politicians are not racist but they do not try to calm fears.

    “It isn’t rocket science, there needs to be far more engagement with communities. Direct provision is a dreadful system but it’s also an imposition on local communities. We’re sending people into these communities on bad terms,” he says.

    Meanwhile, in Oughterard campaign leaders say the vigil outside the Connemara Gateway Hotel will continue and insist the help of the far-right is not welcome.

    “We have always welcomed people of all races and creeds,” Curran said in a WhatsApp message last week accompanying a photo of local restaurateur Sammy Nawi, who is from Morocco, bringing food to the protesters.

    “We are making a stand for something that is right and we have the people behind us.”



    lol this is some reds under the bed type shyte.


  • Registered Users Posts: 39,970 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    tigger123 wrote: »
    Made me think that some of these headbangers and their cheerleaders would inevitably have Boards accounts ...
    WB Yokes wrote: »
    lol this is some reds under the bed type shyte.

    ;)


    Loons descending on villages and towns with proposed DP is not new.

    It is indeed as the article suggest a "tactic".

    They seem to be universally unemployed with various mental health issues.

    Bitter and needing to blame someone I imagine.

    They ain't complex creatures. Just boring.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    There's always going to be a slant, but no B I would not be surprised at all with far right involvement in such things. And yet another issue on top of all the others around "multiculturalism", more loons on both sides of the political spectrum using ethnic minorities as a football.
    And so in this case and any that will come up in the future you will have "right wing" muppets like this Torino eejit and "left wing" muppets like Leah Doherty fighting over asylum seekers like two terriers fighting over a half chewed rat. The main difference between them is one terrier gets more media attention and support.

    As the locals themselves have noted in that article dump above: But locals remain angry about the issues raised – the lack of services, a belief that no background checks will be done on those who will come there if the project goes ahead, and the refusal of the State to involve locals.

    If there is frustration with the far-right input, many in Oughterard are also angry with left-wing activists who they believe are trying to brand their town, and them, as racist.


    An ever increasing polarisation with more and more frustration in those people actually affected, refugees and locals alike. Yeah that's gonna end well. But then again, all we have to do is look to other countries where this has been going on for decades and see the results and beyond the "diversity" rainbow flags it's not gone too well at all.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,529 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    Seathrun66 wrote: »
    As a Galway guy what about the one in Salthill? Not a rough area by any means.

    What about it?

    I never mentioned anything about the centre in Salthill.

    It's in the city and has the facilities which is the point the people of Oughterard are trying to make.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 370 ✭✭WB Yokes


    Did we ever find out what the story is with this cultural vibrancy we apparently have now? What does this mean exactly?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    tigger123 wrote: »
    Really interesting article in this morning's Irish Times:

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612

    It essentially says that what's going on in Oughterard is being hijacked by far right fruit loops in Ireland to further their own political agenda. It talks about how they utilise online discourse to gain more attention for themselves.

    Made me think that some of these headbangers and their cheerleaders would inevitably have Boards accounts ...


    I posted a similar article yesterday and the only nitpick any of the posters here had with it was they dislike one of the people whose tweets were referenced (the tweets in question contained screenshots of conversations between far-right activists talking about their plans around Oughterard).


    https://thesciencebit.net/2019/09/22/fact-checking-the-racists-a-look-at-the-psychological-approach-of-irelands-alt-right/?fbclid=IwAR0MPRB8A3B_TpHrqjgr51HUNXbPXe4b6WT2EeaJ4jD6vQ6JHjGoDoh1U-o


    The rest of the article passed without question, including such statements as

    Let me be specific:

    The Oughterard meeting was organised by moderators of a Facebook page that was set up specifically for the purpose. The moderators of that page include persons with links to far-right activities and pages. The contents of the Oughterard page have included several inflammatory racist diatribes.

    TV crews were not allowed to film inside the meeting. However, the meeting was filmed by a prominent far-right vlogger, who posted videos of proceedings online. He travelled to Oughterard specifically for the event.

    I have been told that busloads of people from outside Oughterard arrived in advance of the meeting. Recall that up to then the meeting was publicised mainly on Facebook, via a page moderated by people with far-right links.

    A ‘fact’ sheet was circulated to attendees, which contained highly misleading information about asylum seekers (more on this below), suggesting an organised effort at co-ordinated messaging.

    The chair of the local branch of the far-right National Party spoke from the floor. He did not, however, introduce himself as a representative of that party, but rather presented himself as a concerned ordinary local person.

    A woman in the audience proceeded to read out a letter advising the people of Oughterard that the opening of a similar asylum centre in Norway had led to a spike in sex crimes there; so much so that local blonde women needed to dye their hair in order to avoid being raped by asylum seekers. However, there is no evidence that this letter is authentic. In fact, when subsequently contacted about this by Irish journalists, the Norwegian authorities said that the asylum centre in question was “calm and harmonious” and completely debunked the claim of an associated outbreak of sex crimes. The claim was either a delusional myth or an outright lie, but either way it reveals an alt-right influence: the ‘African-as-rapist’ trope is a long-established calling card of the far right. (Try Googling “Rapefugee,” if you can stomach it.)

    The tone and content of speeches, and that of the ‘fact’ sheet, completely belie any claim that the organisers were concerned about the “inhumane” nature of Ireland’s Direct Provision system. In fact, there was no mention of the word “inhumane” in the campaign until after the Oughterard meeting had begun to attract negative media attention. The Facebook page was originally called ‘Stop Connemara Gateway Hotel Direct Provision Centre.’ After the controversy exploded, it changed its name, becoming ‘Oughterard Says No to Inhumane Direct Provision Centre.’

    A well-known far-right activist posted a message on one of Ireland’s most prominent alt-right Facebook pages congratulating his comrades, noting that “this group” had done “important work in Oughterard.”

    For the subsequent protest march, anonymous fliers were circulated advising marchers to bring Hi-Vis vests. In recent months, Hi-Vis vests have become the symbolic garment of far-right movements across Europe. There is no tradition of wearing Hi-Vis vests at protest marches in rural or urban Ireland.

    One of Ireland’s leading alt-right figures appears to have personally attended the march, posting videos online that were then seen by far-right counterparts around the world.

    An analysis by social media intelligence agency Storyful, as reported in the Sunday Times by journalists Mark Tighe and Lorna Siggins, has established that “individuals, groups and media associated with promoting far-right rhetoric were the dominant force in spreading news of the protests” across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.


    So yeah, it seems everyone agrees that the protest at Oughterard was almost entirely generated as a far-right propoganda event.


  • Registered Users Posts: 755 ✭✭✭mcko


    How many are in Dublin 4.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    WB Yokes wrote: »
    Did we ever find out what the story is with this cultural vibrancy we apparently have now? What does this mean exactly?
    More "authentic" restaurants in south county Dublin and "it's so woooonderful Saoirse to see all these dark skinned people, it's soooo vibrant". Like I said earlier the right and left tend to fetishise these people.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    B0jangles wrote: »
    So yeah, it seems everyone agrees that the protest at Oughterard was almost entirely generated as a far-right propoganda event.
    Again because of your just as deeply held position you point out the speck in other's eyes, but ignore the beam in your own. Both sides are using this as a political football, with the government willfully ignoring local people's questions.

    From the above copypasta article by McHardcore, which you seem to have twice ignored: But locals remain angry about the issues raised – the lack of services, a belief that no background checks will be done on those who will come there if the project goes ahead, and the refusal of the State to involve locals.

    If there is frustration with the far-right input, many in Oughterard are also angry with left-wing activists who they believe are trying to brand their town, and them, as racist.
    [emphasis mine in the vain hope you'll address it]

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 16,529 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    B0jangles wrote: »
    I posted a similar article yesterday and the only nitpick any of the posters here had with it was they dislike one of the people whose tweets were referenced (the tweets in question contained screenshots of conversations between far-right activists talking about their plans around Oughterard).


    https://thesciencebit.net/2019/09/22/fact-checking-the-racists-a-look-at-the-psychological-approach-of-irelands-alt-right/?fbclid=IwAR0MPRB8A3B_TpHrqjgr51HUNXbPXe4b6WT2EeaJ4jD6vQ6JHjGoDoh1U-o


    The rest of the article passed without question, including such statements as





    So yeah, it seems everyone agrees that the protest at Oughterard was almost entirely generated as a far-right propoganda event.

    Same as I said yesterday, do you think the people of Oughterard are idiots who swallow far right nonscense.

    The fella who wrote the article seems to anyway.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Again because of your just as deeply held position you point out the speck in other's eyes, but ignore the beam in your own. Both sides are using this as a political football, with the government willfully ignoring local people's questions.

    From the above copypasta article by McHardcore, which you seem to have twice ignored: But locals remain angry about the issues raised – the lack of services, a belief that no background checks will be done on those who will come there if the project goes ahead, and the refusal of the State to involve locals.

    If there is frustration with the far-right input, many in Oughterard are also angry with left-wing activists who they believe are trying to brand their town, and them, as racist.[emphasis mine in the vain hope you'll address it]

    No, hang on - this is not some 'truth is in the middle' situation. No-one has denied or rejected the main statements of the article that this event was hijacked by far-right activists.

    The legitimate local concerns of some people in Oughterard about services and facilities in the town were seized upon and used to create a propoganda event for the benefit of far-right anti-immigrant and racist groups.
    The chair of the local branch of the far-right National Party spoke from the floor. He did not, however, introduce himself as a representative of that party, but rather presented himself as a concerned ordinary local person

    If far-right activists are literally pretending to be ordinary concerned locals, how is anyone to know what the opinion of local people really is?

    Their actions were not for the benefit of the people of Oughterard, they were to create footage to be used as propoganda online, as a recruiting tool in other locations - the kind of footage people post here and say 'look at what's happening in Sweden!!!'


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 370 ✭✭WB Yokes


    Same as I said yesterday, do you think the people of Oughterard are idiots who swallow far right nonscense.

    The fella who wrote the article seems to anyway.

    "Everyone agrees" = the Irish times and a few far left brainlets.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    Same as I said yesterday, do you think the people of Oughterard are idiots who swallow far right nonscense.

    The fella who wrote the article seems to anyway.


    And exactly as I said yesterday, no-one is immune to propoganda - No one. Long-term exposure to stuff you know is bullshít still slowly affects your worldview.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,848 ✭✭✭Happyilylost


    Seathrun66 wrote: »
    How so?

    And links please on any convictions relating to an African gang in Galway? You get any crime or court information from an Irish print media source on such a gang and I'll leave the thread. Hint - there's nothing.

    https://connachttribune.ie/man-jailed-for-racially-motivated-attack-in-broad-daylight-400/

    You either don't live in Galway or don't know our city.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    B0jangles wrote: »
    No, hang on - this is not some 'truth is in the middle' situation. No-one has denied or rejected the main statements of the article that this event was hijacked by far-right activists.
    But you are denying that "left" activists are even in play. Which is a nonsense.
    The legitimate local concerns of some people in Oughterard about services and facilities in the town were seized upon and used to create a propoganda event for the benefit of far-right anti-immigrant and racist groups.
    And the "left" aren't salivating over the nazis?
    If far-right activists are literally pretending to be locals, how is anyone to know what the opinion of local people really is?
    To the point of what if paranoia with it...
    Their actions were not for the benefit of the people of Oughterard, they were to create footage to be used as propoganda online, as a recruiting tool in other locations - the kind of footage people post here and say 'look at what's happening in Sweden!!!'
    Indeed and Sweden most certainly has some major issues with their headlong rush to buy into this multicultural vibrancy. To deny that is just as retarded as claiming blood on the streets. It's a very different country to even ten years ago and not for the better. I could give two flying figs for the Irish "left" or "right", I find them equally bloody irritating and moronic, but I don't want what Sweden, or France, or Germany, or the UK, or Italy, has for this country. We avoided the social ills of "multiculturalism" for so long, but now we have to take our medicine. Fcuk that.
    B0jangles wrote: »
    And exactly as I said yesterday, no-one is immune to propoganda - No one. Long-term exposure to stuff you know is bullshít still slowly affects your worldview.
    Indeed so. The only correction I might suggest is you don't smell your own brand of bullsh1t so easily.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 370 ✭✭WB Yokes


    Remember that time far left goons were bussed into Rooskey to tell locals they are racist. They got ran out, refused service in all the pubs lol



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    Wibbs wrote: »
    But you are denying that "left" activists are even in play. Which is a nonsense.

    And the "left" aren't salivating over the nazis?

    To the point of what if paranoia with it...

    Indeed and Sweden most certainly has some major issues with their headlong rush to buy into this multicultural vibrancy. To deny that is just as retarded as claiming blood on the streets. It's a very different country to even ten years ago and not for the better. I could give two flying figs for the Irish "left" or "right", I find them equally bloody irritating and moronic, but I don't want what Sweden, or France, or Germany, or the UK, or Italy, has for this country. We avoided the social ills of "multiculturalism" for so long, but now we have to take our medicine. Fcuk that.

    Indeed so. The only correction I might suggest is you don't smell your own brand of bullsh1t so easily.


    The article literally states that a leader in the National Party (a far right organization, if you weren't aware) spoke at the meeting and presented himself as an ordinary concerned local.


    You think pointing out a thing that undeniably happened is paranoia?


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    B0jangles wrote: »
    The article literally states that a leader in the National Party (a far right organization, if you weren't aware) spoke at the meeting and presented himself as an ordinary concerned local.


    You think pointing out a thing that undeniably happened is paranoia?
    OK, if true, which wouldn't surprise me at all tbh, though "truth" is hard to pin down of late and those opposing them are not exactly slow in bussing in non locals to push their angle. So do you think avoiding the point that this is a political football for both sides is not just as much bias on your part?

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,170 ✭✭✭Wompa1


    eagle eye wrote: »
    There's a big gang of youths of African decent terrorising people in Galway.

    Crime rate in Galway is down and has been falling year on year for a while.

    What you feel is not fact.


This discussion has been closed.
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