Ever
heard of the Migrant Resettlement Act? Well, it
doesn't exist, not yet anyway. But there is the
growing danger if the North's ethnic communities
do not elect more Anna Lo's, then a racist and
populist movement will emerge on this island within
the next decade.
Anna
Lo's South Belfast Stormont seat for Alliance
represents the first significant electoral break
through for the ethnic communities into the previously
sectarian dominated Northern tribal politics.
The
Ulster Unionists attempted to reach out to the
same communities in a last ditch bid to attract
voters with a series of ethnic-friendly slogans
on their party website. It flopped.
With
the increase in racist crime since the turn of
the new millennium along with the growth in the
number of migrant workers in the North, is Anna
Lo's election a one-off because of the large Chinese
community in south Belfast, or is it the start
of more ethnic elected representatives –
especially with the new super council poll expected
within two years?
However,
the real dilemma is whether or not the ethic communities
decide to enter politics under existing Northern
politics, or form their own movements?
How
long before we see the muslim community put up
Hamas candidates similar to those who won the
Palestinian elections?
The
American intelligence community has already warned
up to six militant Islamic groups have cells in
Ireland, so the notion of Hamas, Jihad or pro-Al
Quaida candidates maybe isn't so daft after all.
Will
the North's rapidly expanding Polish community
opt for the mainly Catholic SDLP, or form its
own Northern version of the highly controversial
extreme Right-wing League of Polish Families movement,
which has seats in the European Parliament?
Will
the Jewish community join the pro-Israeli Paisley
camp or the UUP, or will we see the leading Israeli
party, Likud, contesting seats?
Anna
Lo's success proved the Chinese community could
be integrated into Northern politics without forming
an exclusively Chinese party.
However,
the recent Assembly elections have proved the
Northern landscape is no longer the domain of
the so-called 'main four' parties; it is now a
tale of the 'big two' – the DUP and Sinn
Fein.
Only
a few years ago in Paisley's stronghold of Ballymena,
there was a confrontation between some DUP councillors
and the borough's ethnic community over the presentation
of the gift to the council.
Does
anyone with a titter of a brain actually believe
Northern muslims, hindus and sikhs will be queuing
up to join the Protestant fundamentalist-run Paisleyites,
or the ultra conservative Catholic wing of the
Shinners?
But
time is not on the side of the Northern parties.
A decade ago, politicians in Britain dismissed
the activities of the Far Right British National
Party as irrelevant. Now the BNP has 50 councillors
in England.
If
there's no Far Right worth a hoot in the North,
why is racial crime on the rise, and who is carrying
out the attacks?
The
sad fall-out from Anna Lo's election is that Northern
Red Necks and Nazi nutters will be polishing their
swastikas, ironing their Confederate flags and
washing their Ku Klux Klan robes in their nonsensical
desire to preserve the so-called Ayran tribe.
Even
before Assembly member Lo's victory, a dangerous
fistful of Far Right groups was already plastering
some Loyalist districts of the North with leaflets,
stickers and flags.
These
included the White Nationalist Party, now renamed
the British People's Party; the National Front,
British Movement, and BNP.
The
KKK is also using the web to recruit vulnerable
young people into its ranks. On a more sinister
note, a specific branch of the Klan, the Knights
of the Invisible Empire – one of the KKK's
most powerful sections in the United States in
the 1960s – has already embarked on a policy
of infiltrating its members into the Unionist
parties.
And
where did the late Enoch Powell, famed for his
notorious 'rivers of blood' speech eventually
find a political home after being shunned by the
Tories – the UUP in South Down where he was
MP for several years?
Of
course, the hardline Right-wing Monday Club was
once one of the most influential pressure groups
within the UUP in the party's heydays. Although
the Club is now defunct, many of its sympathisers
are still kicking about the North.
A
restored Assembly along with the power-sharing
Executive will bring much greater cross-border
trade and traffic.
With
the increase in ethnic numbers across the island
at an all-time high, unless migrant families are
integrated into the existing political parties,
it is only a matter of time before a populist
movement emerges which crosses the sectarian religious
divide.
And
just when we finally lay to rest the boogie man
of eight centuries of inter-Christian conflict
in Ireland, who will be the first to uncork the
racist genie from its bottle?
