Build community solidarity, resist racist pogroms!

We are once again facing a summer of racist violence directed by loyalist paramilitaries and far-right online agitators. We are not naive. The loyalist gangs that shut down the city and wreak havoc do so in the knowledge that they will face no repercussions. These people operate in the open with no consequences for them or their government funding. 

Over the past two summers, we have supported members and helped them pick up the pieces during these pogroms. The state has responded by continuing to fund these groups and refusing to challenge the dominance of loyalist gangs in communities. Why? Because both the subtle violence of this state and the explicit violence of loyalist paramilitaries serve the same ends.

Six weeks ago, one of our members was violently evicted by the Housing Executive, masked contractors, and armed police in West Belfast. The home still lies empty while this family sleeps on friends’ sofas and floors. Last night, families across Belfast were evicted by loyalist gangs in full view of that same police force to face the same fate. More empty homes, more families violently displaced.

This state is deeply violent. Every one of us lives knowing that the landlord can evict us, the bank can repossess us, and the state-funded “groups in transition” can burn us out. A quarter of our children live in poverty. 50,000 families are on the housing waiting list with 47,000 empty homes across the state. Private rents are up 51% in five years.

While landlords and politicians cause the housing crisis and profit off it at the expense of ordinary people, online agitators and their useful idiots lay the blame at the feet of fellow tenants and community members. 

Let us be clear: no refugee or asylum seeker has raised your rent or sold off social housing stock through the Right to Buy scheme. Our enemies are the landlords and politicians who perpetuate our suffering. Rising rents, dwindling social housing stock, slashed public services, and increased costs of living are shattering communities.

CATU Belfast is a Safe, Secure Homes for All union. Last night, our members stood side by side with neighbours, friends, and grassroots community organisations to support communities under attack. We believe in community power – in organising against the makers of our misery. We build stronger, more resilient communities every single day. We fight evictions, win back stolen deposits, ensure repairs get carried out, make sure kids get to school, and help neighbours get groceries. We defend our members – no matter where they come from, what faith they practice, or the colour of their skin. 

Organised communities resist evictions, defend neighbours, and can topple the whole rotten housing system. Racist and sectarian agitators know this and work tirelessly to keep our communities divided and weak. The organising that we do in CATU happens every single day as we build up networks of solidarity and care between renters, social tenants, mortgage holders, people in temporary accommodation, and refugees and asylum seekers. 

Reject the racists and the anti-social agitators. Talk to your neighbours, join your local community groups, get involved in CATU, and build communities that can beat the bastards.

Join: catuireland.org/join