Organise! IWA statement on the far-right, fascism, racism and bigotry.

Last Saturday (19th July 2025) a mob of teenagers left a man stripped naked and barely standing in Tallaght. He was lucky to be rescued by a woman from the area. This is not the first attack of it’s kind in Tallaght, carried out by the same gang who spread false malicious rumours about the men they have attacked. Council houses have been set alight in Mayo following unfounded rumours they would be used to accommodate asylum seekers. Grown men in Moygashel constructed a bonfire with an effigy of migrants in a boat on top of it with the demand ‘Stop the Boats’. Racists and fascists have demonstrated across Ireland and in the wake of their demonstrations racist attacks have occurred.

On July 5, the Life Institute hosted their annual Rally for Life, which kicked off shortly after CATU’s All-Island Housing Demo. While marching up O’Connell St alongside other left wing groups and trade unions, members of Organise! IWA were aware of many people with signs and t-shirts declaring: “Pray to end abortion,” “Life Will Win,” “Stop Aborting Our Future” and “pro-life for mothers and babies.” Speakers at the rally included Aontú’s Paul Lawless, Bernadette Smith from Precious Life, and Niamh Uí Bhriain from the Life Institute. Groups such as 40 Days for Life, Youth Defence, Youth for Life NI, and various “pro Life” groups around the country alongside the aforementioned Precious Life sponsored the rally.

While not spotted there himself, far-right activist and politician Malachy Steenson was promoting the rally heavily in the lead up to July 5. In attendance on the day, however, were members of the Irish Freedom Party, the National Party, and Justin Barrett’s new party, Clann Eireann. Clann Eireann were particularly conspicuous decked out in their Nazi-inspired paramilitary gear standing behind a banner reading “THEY WANT OUR UNBORN ERASED AND OUR RACE REPLACED.” Beneath this was the famous quote from MP and Provisional IRA hunger striker, Bobby Sands “our revenge shall be the laughter of our children.”
Let us be clear – if you allow Neo-Nazis to brazenly and openly participate in your anti-choice rally, it becomes a Neo-Nazi rally.

But we in Organise! IWA expect little else from the hatemongers who spout their anti-choice bullshit. Not content with attempting to erode women’s rights, some of these groups have also been campaigning against LGBTQIA+ rights, arguing that it goes against traditional family values and the sanctity of life from contraception. Ireland has thankfully come a long way since the days when Church and State were inseparable. In 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. In 2018, abortion was legalised through the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. In the North abortion was decriminalised over the heads of our local politicians by Westminster in 2019 but the Assembly is still not funding adequate provision for those needing abortions. While work still needs to be done to help women safely access abortion in Ireland, anti-choice neanderthals would rather roll back the years to the days of mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries where so called “fallen women” were locked away.

In the North of Ireland, the Social Democratic and Labour Party maintain an anti-abortion stance, though as far back as 2018 have “granted” members the freedom to vote how they choose around abortion. Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has previously accused the DUP along with the Ulster Unionist Party of blocking access to abortion services. However, while Sinn Fein claim to support full abortion rights for women across the island of Ireland, they have come under scrutiny multiple times over allegations that they are refusing to oppose abortion restrictions. And let us not forget David Cullinane, health spokesperson for Sinn Fein, who spoke out in support of the UK supreme court ruling that the terms “man,” “woman,” and “sex” are defined solely by a person’s biological sex. Cullinane announced this was “common sense,” and claimed this should be introduced in Ireland, before rolling back on his statements. This was seen as being too little, too late, however, and the party has been banned from attending Trans and Intersex Pride. And consider also the Democratic Unionist Party, the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, describe themselves as “unashamedly pro-life,” opposing abortion and assisted suicide. DUP politician Carla Lockhart describes every abortion as being “not just statistics; each number represents a precious life lost.”

Alongside claims that Ireland is full, the far right also like to claim that they are opposing IPAS centres and migration because they are protecting women and children. But their words and actions would lead us to believe otherwise. Take for example the following misogynist statement made by independent councillor for Newbridge, Tom McDonnell after his successful election: “we’ve great women and we want them breeding.” Or Andy Heasman, who lost access to his children and had a restraining order taken out against him by her due to domestic abuse. Or former leader of the DUP, Jeffrey Donaldson, who is facing prosecution along with his wife on historic child sexual abuse charges. Dundalk Says No also use a soundsystem at their protests which was purchased with donations received from Tristan Tate. Tate, alongside his brother Andrew, faces prosecution for 21 charges including human trafficking, rape and actual bodily harm.

As reported by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, abortion and reproductive health have become tools for ethno-nationalist agendas in the 7 years since abortion was legalised. The same groups who try to proclaim “Ireland is full” talk about people migrating to Ireland as a “plantation,” our own version of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Abortion and reproductive health are seen as an existential threat to the white race.

Much has been made of the links between Ulster Loyalism, British Neo-Nazi groups and Irish anti-immigrant protesters. Tommy Robinson has links with many of Ireland’s far right agitators. And members of the Coolock Says No group last year travelled to Belfast to participate in anti-migrant protests which sprang up in the aftermath of the UK’s Southport riots and numerous arson attacks and anti-migrant protests in the South. A split occurred in the Coolock Says No group after those who travelled to Belfast were photographed in a notorious Loyalist bar waving their tricolours alongside others carrying loyalist flags and Union Jacks.
As recently as July 7, Loyalists such as Mark Sinclair have attended anti-immigration marches in Dublin’s city centre. The rally, called by failed Kerry election candidate Michelle Keane gathered at the GPO, before protesters marched to the Dail where they demanded entry. Keane had also invited other prominent far right activists like Malachy Steenson, Derek Blighe, the National Party’s Patrick Quinlan and Councillor Gavin Pepper, though none attended. Keane later criticised their non-attendance in a livestream of the event, with Pepper later posting to Twitter/X that he would no longer be participating in City Centre protests due to the presence of people like Sinclair.

However, members of the Irish Republican movement are just as susceptible to being sucked into far right politics. For example, Padraig Óg O’Rourke’s new book, Burn Them Out, details the far right ideology of the likes of W. T. Cosgrave, Ernest Blythe and others who had participated in the Easter Rising of 1916, some of whom would go on to form Cumann Na nGhaedheal.
Perhaps most famously, Eoin O’Duffy, a prominent member of the Ulster IRA during the War of Independence, led the fascist Army Comrades Association, later known as the National Guard and commonly referred to as the Blueshirts. O’Duffy attempted to march on Dublin twice to seize power, emulating his hero Mussolini, and led the Irish Brigade to Spain to fight on the side of Franco. A former IRA Chief of Staff, Seán Russell, openly collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War.

Another former IRA member, Eamonn MacThomais was also a supporter of the Nazis during the Second World War. However, links between Irish Republicans and far right politics do not end with the climax of the Second World War. The aforementioned Steenson, previously active with both the Worker’s Party and the Irish Republican Socialist Party, was expelled over his anti-choice views.

In November 2023, a riot erupted in Dublin City Centre, sparked by the stabbing of a young girl outside a primary school on Parnell Street. Far right misinformation was quick to spread, labeling the attacker an immigrant. Garda vehicles, buses, and a Luas tram were set on fire. One bus driver, a non-national was told to “get out of the bus or we’ll kill you,” before being attacked by rioters. Multiple shops were looted before rioters were eventually dispersed.

More recently, Ballymena erupted in rioting following the alleged sexual assault of a young girl by two Romanians. Reports indicate that there had been tensions between locals and members of the Roma community prior to the riots. Homes were damaged by fire and cars were set alight, including the car of a Filipino man. As a result of these arson attacks, many in the community were displaced, with some being housed in a former leisure centre. This was subsequently set alight as rioting spread to other areas in East Antrim and Belfast. Threatened racist attacks were stopped in Beechmount while an anti-immigrant march took place under Tri-colours in Newry on Monday 23rd June. The South Ulster Local of Organise! – attended the Newry Against Racism protest in Newry on Sunday 6th July organised as a direct response to racist incidents in the city, and the far right demo that saw a group of racists carrying tricolours parade through the streets declaring ‘Newry Says No’, claiming “Ireland is for the Irish” and that the city “will not be a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.” The distressing reality is that the ‘Stop the Boats’ sentiments expressed on the Moygashel bonfire is widespread right across this island. While recent attacks on immigrants across the North have been facilitated and organised by Loyalist paramilitaries these bigots are not alone in their racist and increasingly right-wing politics and actions.

We have seen the rise of the far right elsewhere around the world. Viktor Orbán’s pro-family policies, the re-election of Donald Trump and his Project 2025, the rightwing shift of UK Labour under Keir Starmer’s leadership.

For this latter reason, we have had difficulty endorsing certain United Against Racism events. Most notably, the counter demo on 26 April 2025 in Dublin. Leaflets handed out in advance of said counter leaned more into liberalism than trying to take any sort of class based approach to bringing people in. Rather, the leaflet seemed to state that people were either racist or anti-racist. There are people with very real concerns around amenities, social housing, deprivation for whom immigration can be seen as a concern, people in areas with very few amenities that have been neglected by the government for decades. It is no mistake that government seek to house immigrants in areas that have already been abandoned and left to rot. We have seen in places like Coolock how easily government neglect and social deprivation can be taken advantage of by the far right and how they can dominate the narrative.

Failing to engage with members of disadvantaged areas around these issues will only serve to drive them the other way. And that an opposition party failed to address the government’s policies around immigration and housing is, to us, absolutely mind-blowing. While we feel it is important to attend counter demonstrations against the far right, we cannot endorse United Against Racism’s approach. Failing to work collaboratively with other groups only serves to create more division on the Left, thereby weakening any sort of effective counter. Speeches given at some UAR events leave a lot to be desired, and fail to sow a sense of unity across divisions within our class. A recent counter demonstration organised by UAR saw NIPSA come out to condemn the sectarian comments of some speakers. UAR have remained silent – those seeking to sectarianise the struggle against racism and the far right in our society are pursuing a divisive agenda that has no place in our struggle. They need to wise up or fuck off.

That being said, we are in favour of the collaborative, grassroots approach of groups such as Communities Against Racism Ireland and Dublin Communities Against Racism. Both groups are coalitions of community and political activists who work collaboratively to build unity and solidarity against the rise of anti immigrant activity. DCAR in particular have been highly critical of government policy, and have a “boots on the ground” approach to combating the far right.

A similar approach had been taken in the past by anti-fascists in the North of Ireland trying to unite members of the working class against the far right. Members of Organise! IWA, along with the Socialist Party and trade union activists, set up the Fascists Out Campaign in 2004, confronting the White Nationalist Party. The FOC highlighted the deprivation and alienation that sustained far right organisations like the WNP: “the far-right are playing up fears about housing costs, the lack of social housing, lack of jobs, low wages and deprivation of working-class estates in an effort to scapegoat immigrants for the many problems faced by working-class people… Without addressing racism on a class basis, the roots of racism cannot be tackled!” Areas where the WNP claimed to be active saw increases in racist attacks. The WNP were driven off the streets in Portrush, their propaganda was removed wherever it appeared, we shut down a P.O. Box used by the Ulster Nationalist Party (a WNP name change) in August 2005 and dissuaded venues from putting on neo-nazi gigs for them. The last public activity of the renamed WNP was an attempt to leaflet openly homophobic propaganda around the 2005 Gay Pride parade in Belfast. They were quickly spotted by FOC activists, who had a banner on the parade and activists present along its route on the day. As soon as they realised they had been spotted and that their photos were being taken they ran away. The WNP had been forced out of existence.

This campaign was barely given a mention in O’Rourke’s ‘Burn Them Out.’ In 2009 when Belfast was dubbed “race hate capital of Europe” as Roma families were forced from their homes in south Belfast members of Organise! IWA were on the streets outside the home of those under attack day and night. Most recently, DCAR members put a lot of effort into countering the anti-immigration D8 Says No group over proposals to extend an IPAS centre on Basin Street. Worth noting is the fact that this centre had operated for 3 years without incident, before D8 Says No became concerned.

Focus needs to be on the fact that racists and bigots would rather blame immigrants for the failings of the government and the effects of capitalism. We have seen in the past how quick the government have been to scapegoat immigrants over the housing crisis, the crisis in the health service. This only feeds the far right narrative, and needs to be consistently challenged and opposed.

As anarcho-syndicalists, Organise! IWA are unequivocally antifascist – we are against racism and against bigotry. We are against nationalism in all its guises. We are against electoral politics, and are critical of counter demonstrations being co-opted by political parties. Our anti-fascism and anti-racism is always based on the need to overcome divisions fostered in our class by capitalists and governments along with the realisation that, in the words of Buenaventura Durutti, “fascism is not to be debated, it is to be destroyed” and that:

“No government fights fascism to destroy it. When the bourgeoisie sees that power is slipping out of its hands, it brings up fascism to hold onto their privileges.”

Tags: anti-fascism, anti-racism, bigotry, Far Right, Organise! statement, sectarianism