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Red Legs - Bring them home?

  • 12-09-2019 1:25pm
    #1
    del_c
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭


    The hurricane rampaging through the Carribean again currently, brought again the plight of the so-called Red Legs in Bahamas. I'd only really found out about their situation over the last months & it's well documented elsewhere... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redleg
    https://irishamerica.com/2015/10/the-irish-of-barbados-photos/


    A similar situation arose with "Russland-deutschen" - Germans who, often encouraged by the German/Russian state emigrated to Danube region & Ukraine in 18th / 19th Century. Communism, Stalinism & WWII did often not work out well for these communities - many were relocated to Central Asian republics & were in pretty dismal situations.


    Once the Soviet Union opened up however, Germany opened its doors to this community and offered them all the possibility to resettle in Germany - which about 3m did.



    Given the, often violent, circumstances Irish were transported to the Carribean in 17th Century, have we a moral obligation to do something similar for those of Irish extraction who live at the bottom of the social ladder in the Carribean - appreciate the practical difficulties of executing / offering such a resettlement schema, but wanted to hear your thoughts.



    These guys were also Irish speakers up until a few years ago, so should we open the door to a return?
    d.


Comments

  • #2
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    How many are you going to take in?

    ****



  • #3
    El Tarangu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Has anyone asked them if they want to move to Ireland?


  • #4
    del_c
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭del_c


    El Tarangu wrote: »
    Has anyone asked them if they want to move to Ireland?


    - I wouldn't expect they'd have thought much about it, given they've no entitlement to come here...possibly if they had, then they might


  • #5
    del_c
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭del_c


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    How many are you going to take in?




    ...not sure the Germans ever looked at it like that - they were German, they were entitled to come back to Germany. End of.


    They were housed in the 90s (often in recently vacant US/NATO accommodation), then educated (most didn't speak German), and 20 years later, it's like they were never gone - apart from a number of First names that are associated with this group - Eugen being one, for some reason....


  • #6
    El Tarangu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    del_c wrote: »
    - I wouldn't expect they'd have thought much about it, given they've no entitlement to come here...possibly if they had, then they might

    It's a bit of a big assumption that that they would want to move to an island on the other side of the world that they have almost zero tangible links to - I'd say that if you asked the typical American if they wanted to move to Italy, Poland, China, west Africa, or wherever it is that their ancestors moved from a couple of hundred years beforehand, they would probably say 'no'.


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  • #7
    del_c
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭del_c


    El Tarangu wrote: »
    It's a bit of a big assumption that that they would want to move to an island on the other side of the world that they have almost zero tangible links to - I'd say that if you asked the typical American if they wanted to move to Italy, Poland, China, west Africa, or wherever it is that their ancestors moved from a couple of hundred years beforehand, they would probably say 'no'.


    If you offered a group of people living in poverty a passport for a wealthy industrial economy that was valid for the whole of the EU, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some takeup on it - not going to suit everyone obviously....


    Life in the US is not really comparable with Barbados.....one description of life there.


    ...Ill health, inadequate housing, little ownership of land to produce their own food, and a lack of job opportunities have locked the community into a poverty trap that has hardly improved in the last century.........


    As I said there's precedent in Europe in what was done in Germany in the 90s, so I'm wondering if we should light that candle in the window....


  • #8
    Mancomb Seepgood
    Closed Accounts Posts: 417 ✭✭Mancomb Seepgood


    del_c wrote: »
    These guys were also Irish speakers up until a few years ago, so should we open the door to a return?
    d.

    I'd be astonished if it was the case that Irish was spoken in Barbados any time recently.

    And if they wanted to come to Ireland I don't necessarily think that should be an issue,but I'm sure that for most Barbados is their homeland and there appears to be increasing integration with the black majority.


  • #9
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    del_c wrote: »
    If you offered a group of people living in poverty a passport for a wealthy industrial economy that was valid for the whole of the EU, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some takeup on it - not going to suit everyone obviously....

    yes, they could come here, get a job, earn lots of money, save hard and one day retire to a nice little bungalow somewhere nice.

    Like the Bahamas.


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