1/ MINI THREAD: Its easy to look at the wing nut reactionaries who have gracefully rolled into a rabbit hole, and who delight in the micro-celebrity that comes with that. Such as being aghast at Una McGurk and her power over peoples lives.
2/ But a media-cycle reaction doesnt address the structural nature of problems of IPAT or - pulling back to the wider picture - the entire process around state protection.
3/ Or pulling back further, the political and institutional forces which over time have shaped Ireland's response to both international obligations and the less technocractic concept of solidarity with people(s) seeking protection.
4/ Ireland's system is set up to first and foremost be a system of deterrence, and punitive punishment. The state is not unique is this at all, though some of the features are quite specific.
5/ For example the for-profit model was shaped by the links between property owners and FF members or donors (when they werent actually the same)
6/ McDowells referendum of 2004 was couched in generalised xenophobia and quite specific Islamophobia borne from the US response to terrorist attacks of 9/11.
7/ There is a direct relationship between a body politic that enthusatically and materially supported wars that were organised mass murders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and enthusiastically designing a referendum that at its core sought to align being Irish with whiteness itself.
8/ Deeply ludicrious but also deliberate in the overlall rationale of state policies around protection.
Una McGurk may have fallen down a rabbit hole, but rabbit holes are constructed. As are state policies around international protection.
Una McGurk may have fallen down a rabbit hole, but rabbit holes are constructed. As are state policies around international protection.
9/ Masi and many many allies, legal groups, advocates and more have long called for structural changes to inhumane policies and systems.
10/ This should not be lost in the present moment, but hopefully the moment means more people will pay greater attention to how we got here, and what kind of politics we need into the future if solidarity and care is to be at the core of our society
