Article published in Irish Independent considered racist

Single Incident Alert DateJuly 10, 2008 Country: Ireland Address: 27 – 32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1 General Type: Racist discourse Racism and discrimination phenomena: Afrophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants, Refugees, Ethnic minorities Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Media Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Internet, Public Discourse, Newspaper
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

On 10 July 2008, Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent wrote a newspaper entitled "Africa is giving nothing to anyone - apart from AIDS".  In reponse, the Immigrant Council of Ireland "lodged a complaint at Pearse Street Garda station, Dublin, ... with the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI)" (O'Halloran 2008).    Though the article can no longer be found on the Irish Independent website, it is still accesible in the archives of major libraries.  

Selections from the original article:

"No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia's (and Bob Geldof's) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.  So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn't count".

"Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts".  

"Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world".

 

Source:

"Africa is giving nothing to anyone - apart from AIDS" by Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent - Wed 10 Jul 2008

"Immigrant body lodges Garda complaint over Myers article" by Marie O'Halloran in The Irish Times - Wed 16 Jul 2008

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0716/1216073118226.html [subscription required for full access]