What if...?

Have you ever thought 'what if I had been born in a different place and into a different family'? What would life have been like growing up in another country? Would I be a different person altogether? Would I still have the same views and opinions? If you haven't asked yourself theses questions, maybe it is something you should try.

What these questions usually make people realise is that we are actually born into a culture, we inherit religion and are influenced by the people that surround us. The thing is, if your parents (or even further back) had decided to move to a different country or changed their belief system you probably would be living a completely different life.

What we need to realise is that we just happened to be born into the life that we have and that we could have very easily been walking in someone else's shoes if it were not for the choices made by our parents and ancestors. These are things you should consider before you judge others, as that could have been the life you were born into.

~B

Anti-Racism Election Protocol 2014

http://enarireland.org/anti-racism-election-protocol-2014/

With The Local and European Elections 2014 drawing close you'll have a lot of knocks on your door in the coming weeks from Politicians looking for your vote..

We at ROiAR would like one of the questions you ask them to be..Have you signed up to ENAR Ireland and No Hate Speech Movements Anti-Racism Election Protocol 2014 ?

If answer is yes , wonderful.

If answer is no , please ask them why not ?.

If they haven't signed we'd ask you to download form on link provided and ask that they sign it..I personally have a few forms printed off at my front door!

Thanks and heres to a fair election free from hate Speech or discrimination of any kind to anyone. -T

Sunday Songs

Our weekly post of the teams inspirational songs.

'Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.' Victor Hugo



Michael Jackson - Hold My Hand

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

 

 

 

Fat Freddy's Drop - Hope

 

 

 

Florence & The Machine - You Got The Love

 

 





 

Michael Jackson - Black or White

David Guetta - Titanium

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.

B~

People Can Change

This is a very interesting video about how a former Ku Klux Klan leader changed his life around and is now an advocate for equality and respect for all. It really proves that people do have the power to change.

B~

Accepting Diversity.

Family is the usually the first group of people that we have to learn how to live with and interact with. Within a family there is a wealth of diversity, as no two people are ever exactly the same. Members of a family may share similar traits but they have different personalities, different hair colour, eye colour, they have various body types. Some of them are academics, others are the sporty type. Taste in food, music, books and television are usually different, and even at times religious beliefs can differ. Yet on most occasions family members are able to tolerate each others differences, respect each others choices even though they do not fully understand them. What this proves is that we are capable of accepting and respecting diversity, so it makes it difficult to understand why this cannot occur on a larger scale such as a multi-cultural diverse society. 

It is disappointing that some people are not able to accept others who happen to come from a different country, a different culture, a different religion, have a different skin colour, speak a different language etc. They are missing out on getting to learn more about the world, as well as missing out on meeting and interacting with a lot of wonderful people.

B~

Sunday Songs

Here is the teams inspirational songs of the week. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul~ Author Unknown

Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

 

 

 

Together - Demi Lovato

Back Down South - Kings of Leon

Rocky took a Lover - Bellx1

The Revolution will not be Televised - Gill Scott Heron

Where is the Love - Black Eyed Peas

What are your favourite inspirational songs, leave a comment below and let us know.

Land of 100,000 Welcomes?

People seem to be quite happy to have foreigners invest in our economy and to work for foreign companies. Yet they also can be quite intolerant of those who have come to Ireland (North and South) to build a life for themselves. There are those that will insist that 'foreigners' are taking our jobs, our houses and know how to get every benefit going. What these people usually fail to recognise or acknowledge is that a large portion of jobs created in Ireland both north and south, are by foreign businesses and foreign investors. If you are working for HMV, Next, Sainsbury's, Mc Donalds, KFC, New Look, Paypal, etc you are working for a foreign business. If we are willing to take jobs from foreign companies, shouldn't we also be willing to give immigrants the respect and right to make a life for themselves here?

We are all being affected by the financial crisis, that hasn't only hit Ireland but the whole world and as we are human we tend to need someone to blame. Unfortunately many people have decided that immigrants are the problem, which is untrue. They claim that immigrants are taking all the jobs and forcing Irish people to move abroad for employment, yet also claim that they are all on benefits and are not contributing to the economy. Which is it? 

Back in the 1980's Ireland (North and South) faced a similar financial crisis and there was a mass exodus of young people seeking employment and opportunities in other countries, just like what is happening now. The number of immigrants in Ireland back then was extremely low, and the people knew that the governments and banks were the reason why they were struggling, this is also the reason why we are struggling now.

There has been a rise in the number of racist attacks in Ireland in the last few years, and this is very concerning. Ireland is known around the world for being the friendliest and most welcoming nation and yet many of us are not living up to that reputation.

B~

Direct Provision

Are we complicit in the damaging system we keep asylum seekershttp://www.independent.ie/opinion/are-we-complicit-in-the-damaging-system-we-keep-asylum-seekers-in-30187318.html in ? Asks Orla Tinsley.

Families having to wait 3 years on average to have their cases heard is too long for a start..This is a very interesting piece from todays Irish Independent..T

Sunday Songs

Here at ROiAR we love listening to music and there are a lot of wonderful songs out there that have a wonderful and often inspirational message. Every Sunday we are going to share some of the teams favourite inspirational songs.

'Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.' (Plato)

Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man

 

 

 

 Nickleback - If Everyone Cared

 

 

 

 Garth Brooks - We Shall be Free

John Lennon - Imagine

 

 

 

 

We hope you enjoyed our first batch of Sunday Songs. What are your favourite inspirational songs? Let us know and we may add them to our list. Wishing you all a wonderful week, the ROiAR team

B~

Fundraising; With a Little Help From Our Friends.

Nelson Mandela once said 'No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn hate, they can be taught love.' and we completely agree with him. That is why we want to run workshops to educate people on how racism and discrimination affects others.

As we are a 100% voluntary group we are partaking in some fundraising to raise money for equipment that is needed to run these workshops. Our first series of workshops are going to be held at the end of June at Philfest in Leitrim. We want these to be the first of many and we cannot do this without your support.

You can help us by sharing the link below and donating if possible. We would also like to thank M Winnett, Shane Mawe, Blaithin Sweeney, Paulasix Galvin and the 3 anonymous funders for so generously donating. 'Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much' (Helen Keller)

http://fundit.ie/project/funders/anti--racism-outreach-workshops-x3

Nobody is Perfect.

Throughout history there have been various factors that have divided humans. In the Ancient world people were divided by class, wealth, religion and language. In the Medieval era religion was the dominant factor in how people were grouped, the believers and the non-believers. Today however we are grouped and divided by so many factors that it is almost impossible to not fall into at least one discriminated against group. You may find yourself judged because of the colour of your skin, your age, your sexuality, your religion or spiritual beliefs, your career, your gender, your hair colour, your body shape, your geographical location, your language, your dialect, your fashion sense, your political preference, your taste in music, your mental health, your level of education... the list is endless.

When you look back through history, intolerance of those that are different has tainted humanity, and this intolerance has been the catalyst for many horrible, brutal and unjustified actions. One of the most infamous of these incidents was the Holocaust  when one man decided that the perfect human being was white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Before and since the Holocaust there have been various characteristic's (physically, socially and morally) mentioned for what certain people believe the perfect human being should have.

Science has been used to try to add creditability to some of these claims but so far none of the experiments that have been carried out have proven any of them true. In fact the Human Genome Project that began in 1990 and ran right through to 2001 proved that race could not be identified in our genes. Basically what that means is that genetically there is only one human race and we all fall into that group.

Socrates actually summed it up pretty well, 'the perfect human being is all human beings put together, it is a collective, it is all of us together that make perfection' and until we live in a world were we live with tolerance and respect for others there will not be the perfect human being.

B~

Have Your Say!

Many of our readers, followers and members have unfortunately had to deal with racism, discrimination and intolerance at some point in their life. Some are even to this day being targeted because of their skin colour, race, age, gender, sexual orientation etc.

There are many articles and stories about the facts and figures of racism and discrimination, but sometimes the most important element is forgotten. That is the human element. How these incidents actually have an effect on those who have had to go through it. That's why we want you to share your experiences with us.

If you would like to share your stories and experiences with us you can contact us in a number of different ways. Private message us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/roiar.roisaysno on twitter  https://twitter.com/ROIsaysno or email us on roiarroisaysno@gmail.com or/and roiagainstracism@yahoo.com

B~

We Are Trying To Fundraise For Equipment For Anti-Racism Outreach Workshops Commencing In June..

HELP  NEEDED URGENTLY !!!  We will soon be delivering Anti Racism Outreach Workshops beginning +PhilFest Ireland  Rock Festival 27th, 28th & 29th June 2014.

To achieve our aims we are fundraising for the purchase of Equipment to run  these Workshops. As we are a 100% Voluntary Organistion we need your help to do this. Please see link provided & if you can Share this post and help us hugely with a donation if you can !

                                                                             Thanks, in advance : All  the team @ ROI Against Racism.http://fundit.ie/project/anti--racism-outreach-workshops-x3

ENAR Ireland Network Members List including Links to contact numbers and Websites etc..

http://enarireland.org/network-members/ We at Republic Of Ireland Against Racism stand in solidarity with our fellow Member Organisations of ENAR Ireland.

The above link provides all the information you need including contact details of Anti-Racism and Immigrant Organisations etc. should you need any help or information .

There are also useful links to Racism and The Law links etc.

We hope you find this useful. Thanks -T

THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN DIRECT PROVISION IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND THAN THERE ARE PEOPLE IN PRISON

That to me is an appalling statistic. Story by Dr. Liam Thornton via @IrishTimes on Twitter..Thttp://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/more-asylum-seekers-in-direct-provision-than-prisoners-in-jail-1.1747679

Good Evening! 

If you are on Twitter please follow our ac @ROIsaysno https://mobile.twitter.com/ROIsaysno

This Sunday 6th April one of our Facebook and Blog Page Admins @Briege will be Tweeting about the Blog and also some of her own Tweets. We'd love if you could join her. Thanks -T

Ridiculous sexism and non inclusion of half the population in the banning of Women in becoming Members of some of the most exclusive Golf Clubs in Ireland and The UK should not be tolerated in 2014.

These archaic and ridiculous rules of a time when Women were treated as second class Citizens and didn't even have the right to vote, are best forgotten. They need to be scrapped sooner rather than later in my opinion -T link to Story courtesy of @IrishTimes via @ROIsaysno on Twitter.http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/clubs-where-women-aren-t-welcome-to-join-1.1742100#.UzrPM4bk7fw.twitter

Link Courtesy

Dealing With Internet Trolls

Internet Trolling is an unfortunate reality in today's social networking sites. Trolling refers to those who comment or post on sites in an abusive or vile manner. They usually tend to use shock value comments to create conflict online. Sometimes they do this anonymously or with fake accounts. They tend to provoke others into giving an emotional response to their comments, this is how they feed.

It can be difficult to deal with these Internet Trolls, as they usually have no problem with attacking people verbally and will not back down from an argument. Sometimes the things that they write can make your blood boil and you can feel like getting into a debate with them but this is exactly what they want.

Ignoring them may take a lot of self control but this is sometimes the best thing to do. They want you to respond, they want to evoke some sort of emotion from you and by ignoring them you are not playing into their hands.

If you do find their post or comment offensive there are a few things that you can do. Firstly if it is in a group or page on a social networking site report it to the Admins, or if it is your page or group block them. Next step would be to report the post or comment to the social networking site. And finally if you deem the comment racist in any way report it to www.iReport.ie, this is a completely anonymous reporting site.

Remember responding to Trolls is exactly what they want, so lets not feed the Trolls.

B~

This Link is from European Voice Blog. It relates to the Upcoming European Roma Summit in Brussels on April 4th. It will be attended by 500  delegates from all over Europe.It will hopefully re-focus political attention on  the situation faced by European Roma. It will hopefully find out  how have Countries implemented the National Roma Integration Strategy implemented in 2011.

Social Inclusion issues (or lack of) will also be discussed at conference. Roma People are amongst the most Marginalised in Society and need all the help from European Commision level down they can get. Here's hoping some good comes from this important meeting on 4th April http://t.co/pQX73lTNi9-T