If you know your history

 

If you know your history

Back in the year 1830, an Irish bare-knuckle boxer by the name of Simon Byrne fought a Glasgow man called Alexander McKay. The bout took place in England and was, even by the standards of the time, a brutal affair. The two fighters slugged it out for 47 bloody rounds until McKay was felled by a punch to the throat. Alas, the poor man died from his injuries the following day. When news of McKay’s death reached Scotland, there was a simmering anger in some circles which found release in attacks on the Irish community there. In Dundee a bar room brawl caused by a dispute over the fight led to widespread rioting. Thousands stormed into the Irish part of town and brutally assaulted any Irish person they could find. The Catholic chapel was destroyed and three people were killed and over 200 injured. A contemporary account of the disorder stated…

‘After putting any Irishman they could find to rout, the mob then proceeded into town and proceeded into the houses of all of those they knew to be natives of the sister kingdom (Ireland)  dragging them out of their beds and beating them mercilessly, smashing all their windows and even carrying away and burning the very wooden stairs that led to their habitation. Tuesday night was most alarming, the mob parading the streets and no Irishman durst be seen, if recognised they were instantly knocked down and maltreated, the Police not daring to interfere with so numerous a mob. On Wednesday 18,000 rioters gathered at the cross when the rioters proceeded to the Roman Catholic Chapel which was partially destroyed, breaking all the windows and other articles in the interior. The people assembled again on Thursday, seeking out the poor Irish and chasing them from the town from which many were glad to escape with their lives.’

Similar scenes took place in Glasgow, though the much larger Irish community there was better able to defend itself. After two days of street battles, the military were called out to quell the disorder although they merely added fuel to the fire by behaving in a less than impartial manner. One newspaper report of the stime stated…

The disturbances in the High Street and Saltmarket were attended with very fatal results, with the death of no less than four men, one of them a foot soldier, having lost their lives. When the dead body of the soldier was carried to the Barracks, the whole of his Regiment turned out into the street, adding frightfully to the previous disorder. The Dragoons, on the requisition of the Lord Provost, were now employed to quell the riot of the citizens and the tumult of the foot soldiers, and to apprehend the persons composing the mobs, and the murderers. A great number of persons were in consequence taken into custody, and lodged in the jail and other places of security. Before the tumult was effectually quelled, however, and while the exasperation continued, the mob had repaired to Great Clyde Street, and there broke the windows of the Roman Catholic Chapel, and otherwise destroyed that building.’

All of this came back to me as I watched the relatively small-scale disturbances in Glasgow caused by a mob claiming to be concerned citizens out to defend our women and children from migrants. As with the attacks on the Irish community almost 200 years earlier, there was that classic piece of mental gymnastics all racists demonstrate, when they blame an entire community for the actions of the few. So it was that random people of colour were insulted and assaulted by a mob chanting ‘send them home.’

One great irony of this was seen in Glasgow Green, where one of the mob attacking anti-racist demonstrators was wearing a Celtic shirt. This took place in the same park were an anti-Irish mob engaged in serious rioting as they tried to break into the Irish district in 1830. The same park where the Billy Boys clashed with the Irish gangs between the wars. If the rage filled man in the Celtic shirt knew his history, he’d perhaps have more empathy for the migrant community in Glasgow. The newspaper report of the 1830 riots could have been speaking about the 2026 disturbances when it said…

‘Early in the morning there were many regular pugilistic contests in the Green, and notwithstanding the difficulty of apprehending delinquents in such as situation, the officers succeeded in securing a number of the ringleaders.’

The trouble with less intelligent people is that they try to make you fit into the stereotypes they already have in their ill-informed minds. Anti-racists are labelled as ‘antifa’ and those with more enlightened approaches to interacting with people coming to our country are described as traitors.  Of course, every sensible democracy should have debates about immigration but the naked racism we saw in Glasgow is unacceptable. The attacks on people based on their skin colour, are a stain on our country and need to stop. We who live in the city can see plainly who is behind much of it. They’ve merely switched their target for the time being.

As for the man in the Celtic shirt who was standing with the worst elements of our society, I’d start by reading a history of Celtic. Maybe then you’ll realise that your actions go against everything this football club stands for. You don’t get to be a Celtic fan and a racist.  As Indiana Jones said to a Nazi character in one of his films, ‘maybe you should stop burning books and try reading some.’