Reporting back on the Ireland for All march

Take a look at some photos from our group and some actions you can take to welcome refugees.

The Ireland for All march was one of those afternoons that made us pinch ourselves. Making us remember how privileged and lucky we are to be part of our amazing Friends of the Earth community.

Friends of the Earth supporters came to Dublin from all over the country to march together and extend a big céad míle fáilte to migrants and refugees, embracing diversity not division. 

It was wonderful to meet some of the community for the first time and to see others after a long time! On behalf of the whole Friends of the Earth team, here is a huge thank you to everyone who joined us on the streets. 

In the words of our banner for the day, “climate justice is migrant justice”. It gave us real hope to see the Friends of the Earth community take that message seriously. 

Work to combat racism must be an essential part of our climate activism and advocacy. Not an optional extra.

As we discuss in this blog, we’ll only succeed in achieving the change we need to address climate breakdown if we’re intersectional in our campaigning - seeking to tackle the shared root causes of climate breakdown, systemic racism and inequality together. The unity of working people and those who have been systematically marginalised is the key to achieving a better future for all.

Our Communications Officer Laragh was busy recording vox pops at the march -  asking people why they had joined it and getting their thoughts on refugee solidarity. Our Head of Communications Deirdre shared a few words about why it was so important for Friends of the Earth to attend here and there’s a selection of views from other march participants here. 

At Friends of the Earth we’ll keep looking for ways to show our solidarity with migrants and refugees. We invite you to join us! You might like to follow and support the work of MASI - the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland. They have an e-action you can take here (hosted by UpLift) to ask politicians to improve the conditions of those seeking asylum in Ireland.

Keep an eye out for demonstrations in your local area to support refugees in the coming weeks - there is another rally organised for World Anti Racism Day in Cork on Saturday 25th March here. 

We can increase the impact of the Ireland for All march by telling our local TDs about it. You can tweet your TDs using the template tweet below. If you’re not on Twitter you could pop them an email or give them a call to tell them that welcoming refugees is important to you.

Step 1: Go to Friends of the Earth’s tweet about the march here

Step 2: Click retweet and select the “quote tweet” option

Step 3: Use the template text below to add some text - don't forgot to add in your TDs' twitter handles.

Template text for tweet

We hope that helps. Thanks again to everyone who made the march such a wonderful success. We hope to see you at the next one!