On the 29th April in the Black Box, PPR launched RISE, a tool to monitor racist hate crime across the north of Ireland. Developed by Rabble Coop, it was created through extensive consultation with our activists who have experienced racist violence. At the launch the crowd heard testimonies from a number of activists who have experienced racist violence, as well as learning about the tool and the initial data that it has produced.

Using data from the PSNI and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), RISE tracks patterns of hate crime broken down by ward. Zooming in on these smaller areas, we can see where racist hate crime is concentrated, how it has changed over time, as well as comparing it with demographic factors like deprivation levels and religious background.

The idea for the tool came in the summer of 2024, with PPR activists concerned about the lack of available data while supporting business owners whose premises had been attacked in the last year. In August of that year, organised racist violence erupted in pockets of Belfast, and the need for a tool of this kind became even more pronounced. PPR have been working for the past decade alongside asylum seekers, refugees, and wider Black and Minority Ethnic communities, challenging racism in all its forms — from state policies to paramilitary violence.

Speaking at the launch, PPR Anti-Racism Organiser Twasul Mohammed said, “When people report these attacks they have often been told to ‘forget about it’. As far as we an tell, there is very little joined up work happening by public bodies to try and understand these patterns of violence, let alone address them.

“We hope this tool will change that and empower people to monitor what is happening in their local community. We are moving away from being ‘victims’ of a system, to being the authors of our own safety.”

In the last few years, we’ve seen racism and racially motivated attacks rise sharply; from pogroms in Ballymena to shops and café’s being attacked in South Belfast. Trust in the authorities to hold perpetrators to account and to tackle racist systems can be fragile, but we believe that clear information is the foundation of effective community action and accountability.

Sam, a young asylum seeker from Yemen who lived at the Chimney Corner hotel when he first arrived in Belfast, talked about his experience of the weekly protests outside the hotel. “People in the hotels are just as human as anyone else. They feel everything others feel,” he said. “We are not asking for special treatment — only safety, dignity, and the chance to live like anyone else.”

On the RISE website you will find the map, which you can use to track racist hate crimes and incidents in your area, analysis and other blogs from the PPR team on some of the trends we have gathered from the tool and our previous work, as well as testimonies from people who have experienced racist attacks first-hand. Behind every incident on the map, there is a human being, as well as a racist system that allowed the attack to happen. With data, analysis, and personal stories, we can start to paint a picture of what racism looks like in our communities.

“It’s not just about telling the stories of attacks, but also about demands and how the state can respond better,” Dessie Donnelly from Rabble Coop who developed the tool, said at the launch. “The next step will be to develop a community reporting system which people trust and can have faith in.”

We hope the tool will be useful to everyone; communities who want to find information about racist hate crime in their area, victims and witnesses who want to understand their rights and pathways to support, journalists and researchers who want to access reliable data and analysis, policymakers who want to scrutinise trends and find gaps in services, and the general public who want to hold elected representatives and institutions accountable.

You can visit the website and explore for yourself at www.werisetogether.ie.

This is a live resource that grows with public input. If you have ideas for information we should include, or if you wish to contribute, please contact us at info@pprproject.org.