What are your thoughts on the Irish bonfire?

[purplepoppy]

In County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, they've built a giant bonfire from wooden palettes and placed a boat full of black people on top of it. It's meant to be a protest against immigration but it's come under criticism for obvious reasons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2kgpnr2dlo

Putting aside the immigration question, is this a legitimate expression of free speech or taking things a little too far? Would this kind of thing be allowed in the USA?

[foxsquirrell]

I don't know if it exceeds the limits of legitimate freedom of expression. Even lawyers sometimes can't agree on the right interpretation of the law with respect to something like this. However it just goes to show how fed up the local people there are with those kind of immigrants. I think it is better to let such expressions take place and let it be a clear message to the government there to do something about it like a referendum to decide the matter democratically if that's what they say they are, than ignore or suppress these expressions and then deal with expressions which are far worse.

[Anonymous]

In the USA, we're number one. This is a good display of racism but it's amateurish by our standards.

Don't forget, we invented lynchings. Our police routinely kill black and brown people at a rate that's much higher than whites. When police kill, it's a rare occurrence that they face justice or even internal discipline.

It wasn't until 2013 that the 13th amendment ban on slavery was finally recorded in Mississippi. (Mississippi ratified the ban in 1995 but it wasn't in effect until recorded i 2013.)

[Julie07]

This is terribly disturbing. Firstly, I don't think that freedom of expression should be unlimited. Secondly, this raises a moral issue.


I understand that we want to fight illegal immigration, that we want to limit migratory flows etc.. But to be honest, we can't deal with these issues without humanist considerations.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

[FreyaRed]

Our children burn Judas and Marzanna (Mara) straw effigy, why not illegal invaders.

[Jersey2]

One could argue that burning effigies of people is horrible but it has been done for many years. Don’t they buy Guy Faulks? As a representative of all Irish Catholics, although they don’t say that part. So why not allow this is that is allowed?

Instead of boat people should they use the same effigies but burn them labeled as rapists? Or is there not a rape epidemic? Is it really happening or is it nonsense and racist to discuss it? Are we not allowed to talk about that? Are children really affected? Are they bleeding? Do we look the other way? Do we aggressively prosecute instead of burning straw? Do we shut the doors like Greece now? How many can be absorbed? And infinite number? How many children and women raped is acceptable?

Burning effigies can be viewed as horrible but in comparison to mass rapes it seems trivial. So are the mass rapes happening? How many should be allowed per migrant? Just some thoughts on the subject, a stream of consciousness.

[Bricealan]

@purplepoppy The protest speaks for its self. People/countries all over the planet are fed up with immigrants thinking they can simply run across the border of another country, take up residence and the people who live there should like it or lump it.

France has been over run with blacks for years, and the country shows the effects of it in the cities, on the Metro and everywhere... I was really disgusted with the mess when I was there...

[fivebyfour]

Perfectly said! so many think they are doing the host country a favour by immigrating,,,

[andreasderjuengere]

The sign asks to stop the BOATS.

And indeed, the people symbolically sitting in it are in danger due to the lack of seaworthiness.

Where I have difficulties to see the difference between a veteran boat and a refugee boat.

Plus: to stop a boat by making a fire underneath is beyond my scientific understanding.

Anyhow - what if the sign says ''stop the nukes''? Would the bonfire then come with a fireworks show?

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

[RavVid]

I see a post-modernist stripped down reinterpretation of the traditional wicker man. As described by Julius Caesar, it was Celtic tradition to put people they didn't like into the wicker man and then set it ablaze.

I think it is extremely racist to disparage traditional Celtic practices.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

"Moygashel Bonfire Committee has said that the bonfire "topper" should not be seen as "racist, threatening or offensive""

Hmmmm wait, Moygashel, who are these guys lol

"Moygashel has a history of race-hate and sectarian intolerance"

Ah. Yes, okay. It seems so! 😂

[exitseven]

Do the black people volunteer to do this or do they hoist them up to the boat somehow? also do they actually light it on fire?

[purplepoppy]

Thankfully they're just effigies. And yes they do light it.

[exitseven]

@purplepoppy Where I live they have an annual bonfire the fire department puts on. It is a big stack of pallets and they light it when it gets dark. It is an amazing sight even without the lifeboat.

[DJB72]

Good for them. We should build one every year with an effigy of Two-Tier Queer Kier and Sad-fuck khan on top

[KostasKouvalis]

Sounds great! I'm moving there!
No, it would not be allowed in the US. They'd be charged with a hate crime and terrorism

[robocop666]

I want Ukrainian refugees not people from north africa and the middle east.

[Jersey2]

So… real refugees.

[Anonymous]

No, this would definitely not be allowed here in the US.

Having said that, we all have seen what is happening in Europe as a result of uncontrolled immigration. It's destroying Europe.

[DCVsMarvel2]

Well, now I know why I wouldn't go to northern Ireland. Im white

[shortster]

You have to get a permit to start a fire in the US.

[noohair]

The Nazis burned millions. That is what I see as the issue.

[Red_Arrow]

So they create a bonfire to burn blacks?

[Anonymous]

I don't think they would allow this in USA.

[Anonymous]

Time for governments to take note.

[Shiprex]

Racist af

[beefcakebradybatson]

White folk being racists. Who knew?

[13cmlong]

It's in Belfast which is county Antrim.

[Anonymous]

Good idea