Histories of settler, racist and anti-migrant violence in the north of Ireland

Histories of settler, racist and anti-migrant violence in the north of Ireland
Featuring Dr. Kerry Sinanan in conversation with Brendan Devlin
June 25, 6:30pm, WestEnd Commons

In this conversation, Brendan Devlin and Kerry Sinanan will talk through the complex political histories and ideologies that led to the organized Loyalist-led attacks on non-white Irish people and migrant workers in Belfast in mid-June 2026. They will focus on how Britain’s settler colonial project in Ireland is connected to other settler projects on Turtle Island and in West Asia, especially in Palestine, and will also connect the experiences of migrant workers in Ireland to those in Canada. Core to this conversation will be understanding the different ways in which white supremacy fuels violence via imperialist and white nationalist systems. The role of the state will be discussed and its collusion with policing and sponsored paramilitaries to maintain settler power. We will talk through the similarities of these dynamics with state collusion here on Treaty One and how these eruptions of violence emerge from anti-Indigeneity here and abroad.

Audience members will be invited to participate in the conversation and in selected readings from Socialist Republicans that remind us of Irish anti-racist and anti-imperialist legacies.