Chris Gilligan

Abstract

Anti-immigrant racism has become a prominent issue in Northern Ireland since 1998. It is an issue that is routinely understood and tackled through a ‘race relations’ framework. The first part of this article outlines and discusses the data on immigration and on recorded racist incidents in Northern Ireland, within a race relations framework. The second part of the article argues that the race relations framework is inherently limited because it treats racism as a crime to be punished, rather than as a manifestation of contradictions within capitalism as a social system.

Keywords

Immigration, migrant workers, multiculturalism, race relations framework

From: Capital & Class 2019 43 (1)

Editor: Wang Yi