In November 2023, Dublin City PPN held its Plenary in the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell street, just one week after the famous Dublin riots. Many people cancelled their registrations and were unable to attend the event, and those who did come to the evening from 7.00pm – 8.30pm were noticeably worried about their safety in the city centre.
Some PPN member groups spoke about the rise of anti-migrant, Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist comments, from people within their groups, and they looked to the PPN for assistance.
A sub-group of the Secretariat was formed to organise the 2024 autumn series of training, and it was decided to hold some workshops to help people deal with “burn out” and “volunteering fatigue”. The group decided to offer some online, operational supports such as on facilitation skills, power-point skills and grant application work. Additionally, it was decided to host an introduction programme for the PPN, with Dr Ebun Joseph, on anti-racism.
Three anti-racism workshops were delivered, in-person, by Dr Ebun Joseph during September 2024. The workshops covered such themes as the definitions of racism and race, the importance and difference of being “anti-racist” as opposed to “non-racist”, unconscious bias, and Critical Race Theory (CRT). All in all, ten member groups were present for the training and these groups will all have copies of Dr Ebun Joseph’s books, to take back to their groups. It is also hoped that these workshops will act as the beginning of more nuanced work within equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI), and become a starting point, for further discussion.
Dr Joseph said that for a PPN member group to be an ally of people of colour, they must just begin. They must begin to make one change, or agree one action, or start one activity that will be the foundation for further work. It is the hope of Dublin City PPN, that the anti-racist work we have begun with Dr Ebun Joseph, will lead the way into our further work in this area.
September 2024
