Academic says racist abuse a regular occurrence in Ireland

An academic who received a threatening letter calling him an “outsider” who was “diluting Irishness” has said the way he has been treated was indicative of how the Irish sector lags behind others in tackling racism.

Amanullah De Sondy, head of the study of religions department and senior lecturer in contemporary Islam at University College Cork (UCC), was posted the note at his office, the latest in a series of offensive messages and death threats he has received since moving to the country in 2015.

Signed by “disappearing paddy”, the letter told him: “You were not dropped here in chains. If you don’t like it you can fuck off back to where you belong and take 100,000 other invaders with you.”

Dr De Sondy, who was born and studied in Scotland and has also worked at universities in the US, said he has not encountered such discrimination in any of the places he has previously taught.

“I think one of the biggest factors is that there are more conversations happening [in other countries]. There is more awareness of white supremacy and there is a different type of culture,” he told Times Higher Education.

“There are more solidarity networks and teaching unions are more aware of what it means to be anti-racist. I’ve been told time and time again this is something very new to Ireland at all education levels. Ireland has just never dealt with it [racism] systematically, right across the board.”

Dr De Sondy – who also chairs the race equality forum at the university, the first created in the country – said that although the sector’s leaders are quick to pay lip service to tackling racism, he has seen little practical action to back this up.

He said that ethnic minority colleagues have told him they do not see Irish universities as “inviting places to be” but most “silently suffer” because many of them are in precarious contracts and they do not want to attract attention.

Dr De Sondy’s experiences forced UCC to install an alarm in his office after a death threat in 2019.

“I don’t have a crystal ball to judge whether this is just somebody in their basement sending me a note as a joke. I have to treat everything as threat. I feel threatened, and that in itself is a hate crime,” he said.

The Gardaí – Ireland’s national police force – previously traced the phone calls Dr De Sondy received to a mobile phone in Tipperary but were unable to identify the caller.

Officers did not treat the latest incident seriously, according to Dr De Sondy, who said they told him his emotions were “running high”.

He links the racism in Ireland he has experienced to a backlash against increased immigration to the country in recent years, which has challenged the traditional perception of it being a white and Catholic nation.

Despite recently receiving Irish citizenship, Dr De Sondy said his experiences have made him think daily about whether he wishes to stay in the country.

A UCC spokesman said it was “supporting the staff member and will work with the relevant authorities on this matter”.

“UCC unequivocally condemns all forms of racism, and will support any student or staff member who is a victim of discrimination,” he added.

A Gardaí spokesman said officers were “investigating an incident where an abusive/racist letter was sent to a staff member of a third level institution in the south of the country” and will “continue to liaise with the individual who reported this incident” while enquiries are ongoing.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com