Dundee Together

I was delighted to be able to support the Dundee Together events (too briefly) in the City Square yesterday.  It was great that the events went off well and that there was broad support for people saying that racists were not welcome in Dundee.  I would like to pay tribute to all those who played a part in organising the event.

Dundee has a long history of welcoming immigrants and people from outside the city.  My PhD research was on the impact of Irish immigration to Dundee.  Over the years the Irish have been joined by people from Poland, from the Indian sub-continent, from the Highlands and from England and many other places.  The Irish made a major contribution to the development of the city in the nineteenth century.  I note that Glasgow City Council are considering a monument to the Irish who made their way to Glasgow as a result of An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger of  the late 1840s. it is worth noting that at the 1851 Census just after the famine that Dundee had a bigger proportion of Irish-born residents than Glasgow or anywhere else in Scotland.   Yesterday's events made me wonder whether Dundee shouldn't have some kind of memorial or commemoration of all the peoples from across the world, not just the Irish, who have contributed to the development of this city? Such a memorial could look at the contribution that people from across the world and particularly women made to the development of Dundee.

Jenny Marra MSP addressing the Dundee Together Event

The best aspect of yesterday was that people across Dundee joined together to say that racists were not welcome in Dundee.  Dundee has a long history of welcoming different peoples and I hope that that continues.