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Thread: Don’t give them the oxygen of publicity or ‘the only time I see stuff about her is people promoting her in my timeline’. These are indefensible positions regarding the Far Right in Ireland. They ‘blame the victim’ for highlighting their persecution. #SpeakersUnicorner 
Simply put, they can be described as ‘I don’t want to know, I’ve heard this argument & it suits me, & I want to sit on the fence’. If only those pesky do-gooders would shut up is the ‘emotional’ response. Here’s Irish Nazi Salute Boy with Scissors Man YouTuber.
There used to be another one which was that it was ‘just the internet’ & ‘I’ve never seen it’. Then Gemma O’Doherty’s ACI thugs were filmed & photographed doing Nazi salutes, screaming at a Jewish woman & calling LGBTQI ‘perverts’ on Barrow St.
Another is, ‘if it exists why are the media not reporting it’. Post the #SpeakersUnicorner suddenly the media cannot ignore the Fascists. RTÉ & Newstalk are discovering the rise of the Far Right three years into the scourge, this week! rte.ie/radio/radiopla…
Let’s get back to the ‘oxygen of publicity’. This argument was categorically destroyed by an Irish concentration camp survivor. Sadly when confronted with an expert explaining the importance of protest & deplatforming, complainants toss it aside.
Indeed one famous Irish shock-jock said she’d be happy to interview
H!tler. The same person also accused people of the ‘oxygen of publicity’ trope. The Irish media unquestioningly platform the Far Right & their arguments all the time, much to their delight.
H!tler. The same person also accused people of the ‘oxygen of publicity’ trope. The Irish media unquestioningly platform the Far Right & their arguments all the time, much to their delight.
So if the pseudo-philosophical argument is not based on deplatforming & protest, what is it based on? One word: Privilege. If it doesn’t impact you directly, you don’t care & you don’t want to know (or worse).
Since the two #SpeakersUnicorner I’ve received many attacks about how I’m promoting Ms O’Doherty. I always check who they follow & like. Over 80% are Far Right & follow her. So the Fascists don’t want the publicity & neither do the privileged. A disturbing coalition.
Should we be surprised? No. After all villagers near Auschwitz claimed not to know what was happening in the Extermination Camp. Their privilege as ethno-nationalists, approved of by the Nazis, meant they didn’t have to care. 100s of 1000s of Jews walked past their doors.
From Donegal to Cork there have been many attacks by the Far Right. Women are particularly abused. Constant threats of physical violence online & over the phone. LGBTQI in isolated communities are directly threatened. Death threats are reported to Gardaí.
Not one single case of Incitement to Hate has been prosecuted with over 400 complaints, from stalking, physical threatening, death threats & posting addresses & photographs to the dark web of victims. This might be esoteric for the privileged, it is not for 100s of victims.
Ms O’Doherty & her thugs claim they are protesting free speech. They are not. In Ireland, hate speech & incitement to hatred are not Free Speech. Xenophobia, Homophobia, Anti-Semitism & Islamophobia are illegal. #SpeakersUnicorner wants the laws upheld.
The LGBTQI community is a central part of the #SpeakersUnicorner That’s because they’ve seen this in Ireland before. Up to 1993 to be Gay was to be criminalised. Raids, beatings, persecution, attacks & murder were all experienced. Some 10-14 gay men were jailed every year.
Refugees & asylum seekers have been at the front of the Far Right persecution. In Ireland people call the police to complain that ‘migrants are staring at them’. Such is the impact of this & other racist attitudes that many stay hidden in their homes:
This racism (which tourists do not experience) has been encouraged by the Far Right & ACI. The constant invective against minorities causes harm. It is a drum beat of violence. The privileged call that ‘just words’. Here’s ‘just words’ from Ms O’Doherty:
Experts have noted the similarity between the NZ experience & ours as similar countries. There, activists called out the rise of the Far Right (& got the oxygen of publicity argument). After the attacks the police apologised to the activists saying they should have listened.
Several Far Right ‘parties’ exist here & are linked to an international web of groups & happily travel, for instance, to NeoNazi conventions in E Germany & invite Fascists to Ireland. Here’s ACI platforming Britain First (linked to murder of MP Jo Cox)
Hate is being spread across the country, minorities are in fear, violence is being reported to Gardaí & being invited online. If your response to this is you don’t want to know - then it will fester, grow & win. We’ve seen that elsewhere. Remember scissors man? On left, here.
Here he is being filmed by Ms O’Doherty at her ‘protest’. You can hear her strangled accent clearly approving him as she records.
Scissors man, happily consorting with Nazi Boy (above), explained how to turn a pair of scissors into a weapon to bring to the #SpeakersUnicorner event the night before.
You have a choice, nip Fascism in the bud, or like other countries, learn to live under it.
You have a choice, nip Fascism in the bud, or like other countries, learn to live under it.
Standing up may mean you are attacked by the privileged & the Far Right, as I have (Nazi art criticism has an ancient pedigree). It is, however, the only human response we can make. I care about human rights & encourage you to do so too.
The ‘locals’ at Auschwitz were ethnic Germans who were planted there (Poles were considered subhuman by the Nazis):
Another camp, this time in Germany was Buchenwald - here Margaret Burke-White photographed locals being forced to view the horrific killing machine that was a Nazi concentration camp.
