RACIST ATTACKS IN BELFAST

Jun 18, 2009

ROMANIANS FLEE HOMES
AFTER RACIST ATTACKS

More than 100 Romanians, including a five-day-old baby, have been forced from their homes in Belfast by racist attacks. Police helped around 20 families to leave their homes in the Lisburn Road area of the city and seek safety. Four days of racist incidents in the area culminated in an attack by youths, who hurled bottles and made Nazi salutes during an anti-racism rally held by locals in a show of support.

The families initially sought refuge in a single house, where they thought they would be safer in numbers. A local church stepped in to offer them the use of the church hall - but later they were moved to a safe location by the city council. Some families have vowed to leave Northern Ireland for good and go back to Romania. A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokeswoman said: "Police in the south Belfast area assisted several organisations in the temporary relocation of a number of families following consultation with community representatives. "Families moved to a nearby church and they are being cared for by the appropriate agencies."

Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long urged the south Belfast community to rally round their neighbours following the spate of racist attacks. She said: "These kind of ugly scenes are totally unacceptable. "A small minority of people have sadly taken away from an event which had been organised by the local community to show solidarity for their Romanian neighbours, and to express their abhorrence at their homes being subjected to racist attacks." Earlier, two houses inhabited by a Romanian family were targeted in a racist attack.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Sri Krishna declares in The Bhagavad-gita Chapter 3 - Verse 27:

vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

A Krishna conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brāhmana and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, and an elephant may be different from the point of view of species, but these differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramātmā, is present in everyone's heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge. As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to everyone because He treats every living being as a friend yet maintains Himself as Paramātmā regardless of the circumstances of the living entities. The Lord as Paramātmā is present both in the outcaste and in the brāhmana, although the body of a brāhmana and that of an outcaste are not the same. The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body whereas the Paramātmā is present in each and every body.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Bhagavad-gita As It Is - Purport in Chapter 5 - Verse 18 "