Ryan aged 3.5 years has the last word at the vigil #24h4hope #justice4undocumented @MigrantRightsIR pic.twitter.com/p70RQnCLiX
— Edel (@edelmcginley) December 12, 2013
The 24 hours vigil organized by the Migrant Rights Center Ireland has ended.
I have Storified the entire day with highlights of support, photos and commentary from those in attendance and/or solidarity. The reason I have such a keen interest in this event is because it’s a huge exception across the European Union. Undocumented immigrants are usually invisibilized, reduced to populist fodder by politicians trying to score quick votes. Even though there are hundreds of thousands of them living within our borders, there is hardly any media acknowledgement and practically zero willingness to address the injustices. For the past 24 hours, politicians, union leaders and human rights organizations have attended the vigil and spoken in support of legal regularization for undocumented migrants living in Ireland. I see this as a historical moment in terms of political support and bringing the issue to the wider public opinion.
As I’ve written before, the language of European immigration is broken. I see this action as a way to start addressing that fracture and, in turn, offer solutions to those that need them the most.
For the past decade and a half I have been making all my content available for free (and never behind a paywall) as an ongoing practice of ephemeral publishing. This site is no exception. If you wish to help offset my labor costs, you can donate on Paypal or you can subscribe to Patreon where I will not be putting my posts behind a lock but you'd be helping me continue making this work available for everyone. Thank you. Follow me on Twitter for new post updates.