Omar Afzal

An Irish Pakistani TikToker has recently received death threats from her co-ethnics for publicly sharing her experience of abuse and integration difficulties within the Irish Pakistani community^[1]. This extreme reaction is nothing out of the ordinary – many South Asian communities across the Western world expect their members to uphold a culture of silence, an omertà, to protect their community’s ‘model minority’ reputation in the eyes of the native population. South Asian communities in Ireland would be especially sensitive to breaches of this unspoken code now in early 2026, not only due to the barrage of racist attacks against South Asians last year, but also because of increased journalistic reporting on the preferential treatment given to the South Asian middle class by the Irish Government. The Journal’s exposé on the Pereppadans^[2] last autumn is just one example of this.

The dismantling of this culture of silence is key to the bridging of divides between South Asian communities – steered by our large middle class, the primary beneficiaries of this silence – and the broader Irish working class. Last year, Left organisations like the Irish Communist Party made the case for a better approach to the integration of asylum seekers, the most disenfranchised migrant group in Ireland^[3]; this effort to dignify the most vulnerable must be accompanied by an effort to unveil the most privileged.

Resisting integration

In a previous Aontacht article, James O’Brien noted how immigrants tend to form ethnic enclaves due to their retention of social norms from antiquated modes of production^[4]. For middle class South Asians in Ireland, this is not the primary reason integration is refused and silence is maintained. Rather, the persistence of a distinct set of South Asian communities gives the middle class a loyal base with whose support they can continue to play their role as mediator between the Irish capitalist class and the South Asian capitalist classes.

Since the 1990s, Western countries like Ireland have encouraged foreign direct investment (FDI) from the Global South^[5]. Members of South Asia’s ‘new middle class’, chained at the ankle to big capital, moved with it. This diaspora soon found their niche: they would help the West empower big capitalist politicians back home, facilitate these Eastern big capitalists’ investment into Western economies, and in return, their family’s spot in the international middle class was guaranteed. Unfortunately, this model – which so many families now depend on – requires that the broader working class remain divided. This is achieved through methods such as the glorification of entrepreneurship^[6], the degradation of welfare, and as will be discussed next, the promotion of social identity politics.

Identity politics

This piece makes reference to South Asian communities, not community, precisely due to how successful the promotion of social identity politics – in this case, religious identity politics – has been. While some organisations like Trinity College’s South Asian Society and Asian & Irish Community Connect make obvious their rejection of religious segregation, religious identity – whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, or Christian – often tells us where a South Asian community begins and ends.

Two Eastern capitalist powers in particular have made it a point to exploit this divide to their benefit.

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose main base is the country’s urban middle classes^[7], has been in power since 2014. Since then, they have worked to integrate much of the professional–managerial Hindu diaspora into their Far-Right political project^[8] using dedicated diaspora institutions connected to the BJP’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)^[9]. Here in Ireland, this Far-Right network is led by the Overseas Friends of the BJP Ireland (OFBJPI), an organisation whose inauguration was attended by a British peer, the mayor and deputy mayor of Dublin City, and three councillors^[10]. The OFBJPI is directly connected to other prominent organisations like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Ireland (HSSI)^[11], which has recently established itself as patron of Galway University’s Hindu Society^[12]. Respected community figures like Desi Community Against Racism member and Sinn Féin LAR Shashank Chakerwarti are openly connected to this network as well^[13].

Among Muslim South Asians, it is the United Arab Emirates that has become the most deeply embedded foreign influence, primarily through philanthropy and lobbying initiatives that, like the RSS, make use of religious identity politics. The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) in Dublin 14, for example, is run by directors based not in Ireland but in Dubai^[14], and has long received funding from Dubai’s ruling Al Maktoum dynasty^[15], which also happens to be the primary funder of a genocidal Arab-supremacist militia active in Sudan known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)^[16]. Even in the aftermath of the El Fasher massacre in late 2025 – where the RSF killed upwards of 60,000 civilians^[17] – prominent Muslim South Asian figures such as Fianna Fáil councillor Ammar Ali^[18], Fine Gael policy officer Faisal Mirza^[19], and Blanchardstown cleric Umar al‑Qadri^[20] have continued to promote the Emirates despite clear calls from Ireland’s Sudanese community demanding the boycott of^[21] and sanctions on^[22] the Emirates.

It is important to note that both India and the Emirates are close allies of the United States, having been designated ‘Major Defense Partners’ only after the BJP came to power in India and the Emirates normalised relations with Israel^[23]. Both may also be described as ‘sub-imperial’ powers – emergent capitalist powers that are effectively licensed by the United States to carve out regional empires of their own, but are still heavily dependent on Western multinationals, technology, weaponry, and other imports^[24].

Building bridges

As Fintan O’Toole once pointed out, the Government continues to avoid regulating the immigration of high-skilled professionals with the same zeal they treat asylum seekers with^[25]. If this continues, Ireland’s high-earning South Asian population will only grow. It falls on the Left to promote better integration practices and scrutinise the South Asian middle class; after all, our most damning critique of them – that they volunteer themselves as foot-soldiers for the transnational capitalist club, with false hopes that one day they’ll be admitted as full members of said club – is infinitely kinder and more logical than those of Right publications like the The Burkean, which once cast Indian student communities as ‘Brahmin mafias’ intent on depriving Irish students of their rights^[26].

To do this, we may consider: a) disrupting the South Asian culture of silence as to foster dialogue and place pressure on South Asian community figures, b) establishing stronger ties with South Asian Left organisations, and c) showing that South Asian families can find a meaningful place in this island’s future beyond the constraints of today’s FDI regime.

While this article will hopefully be a contribution to ‘a)’, the likes of Ruth Coppinger TD are actively working on ‘b)’; in October 2025, the deputy spoke at an event hosted by Indian Left organisation Kranthi Ireland alongside Indian Marxist politician Subhashini Ali^[27], strengthening the bond between the Irish Left and the Irish Indian community. The same month, the Dublin Inquirer published an article on UCD graduate Amit Wasnik’s efforts to promote an anti-caste politics in Ireland^[28].

As for ‘c)’, South Asian workers must be encouraged to organise into labour unions in order to reduce their reliance on multinational sponsors. It is through union membership that they may be given the tools to build durable communities stretching beyond their own ethno-religious enclaves.

If more and more people realise that a loving, financially stable multiracial Irish working community is a viable possibility, all those who put profit and power over people – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the RSS, the Emirates, Amazon, Google – will sooner be left in the dust.

1. Eliyeen [@3liyeeen]. “even the quran says not speaking out about oppression is a sin…” TikTok video. January 31, 2026. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRyPGbmn/ ↑
2. McAuley, Eimer. “Fine Gael councillor co-owns company accused of charging migrant nurses unlawful ‘agency fees’.” The Journal, August 7, 2025. ↑
3. Irish Communist Party. “Irish Communist Party View on Immigration Crisis.” ↑
4. O’Brien, James. “Immigration Discussion Paper.” Aontacht Media, December 21, 2025. ↑
5. Carroll, William K. The making of a transnational capitalist class. Zed Books, 2010. 18. ↑
6. Walton-Roberts, Margaret, and Neil Amber Judge. “Diaspora alumni networks as transnational governance actors.” International Migration 63, no. 2 (2025): 2–3. ↑
7. Banaji, Jairus. Fascism: Essays on Europe and India, 2nd ed. Three Essays Collective, 2016. 227–228. ↑
8. Walton-Roberts, Margaret, and Neil Amber Judge. “Diaspora alumni networks as transnational governance actors.” International Migration 63, no. 2 (2025): 10. ↑
9. Pal, Felix. “Unveiling the RSS.” Caravan Magazine, December 11, 2025. ↑
10. “Ireland Chapter Launched.” India Empire, July, 2014. ↑
11. OFBJP Ireland (@ofjbpireland). “On March 6th, HSS Ireland & OFBJP Ireland Karyakartas gathered…” X, March 10, 2025. ↑
12. Hindu Society University Of Galway Constitution. November 12, 2025. ↑
13. Overseas Friends of BJP Ireland and Shashank Chakerwarti. “Public Meeting with OFBJP Coordinator, Shri Vijay Mehta.” Facebook, October 5, 2017. ↑
14. Gallagher, Fiachra. “High Court case over disputed control of Islamic centre in South Dublin is withdrawn.” The Irish Times, December 10, 2025. ↑
15. Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. “About.” ↑
16. Malsin, Jared, Benoit Faucon, and Robbie Gramer. “How U.A.E. Arms Bolstered a Sudanese Militia Accused of Genocide.” The Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2025. ↑
17. Townsend, Mark. “At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’.” The Irish Times, December 5, 2025. ↑
18. Cllr Ammar Ali. “UAE!” Facebook, November 19, 2025. ↑
19. Faisal Mirza. “Congratulations all our friends from UAE.” Facebook, December 3, 2025. ↑
20. Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri. “Arrived this evening in Dubai to attend the world’s largest food trade show, Gulfood 2026.” Facebook, January 26, 2026. ↑
21. irelandsudansolidarity. “Boycott for Sudan.” Instagram post, November 2, 2025. ↑
22. People Before Profit. “Sudan Demonstration at Dáil.” Press release. December 17, 2025. ↑
23. Mahjoub, Husam. “The emerging sub-imperial role of the United Arab Emirates in Africa.” Transnational Institute, February 4, 2025. ↑
24. D’Mello, Bernard. “Sub-Imperialist India in Washington’s Anti-China “Pivot”.” Monthly Review 76, no. 4 (September 2024). ↑
25. O’Toole, Fintan. “Ireland has two economies, one bourgeois, one proletarian. Both have problems.” Irish Times, December 2, 2025. ↑
26. O’Malley, Jane. “UCD Student Union’s Indian Mafia.” The Burkean, October 28, 2022. ↑
27. Kranthi Ireland. “Resisting the Far Right: “Solidarity and Struggle”.” Facebook, October 10, 2025. ↑
28. Kapila, Lois. “From a Dublin base, an anti-caste influencer grows a global audience.” Dublin Inquirer, October 31, 2025. ↑