Black Pride Ireland: What Happened to €30,000 of BLM Donations?

2020 was a bullish year for the racial grievance industry in Ireland with one activist group in particular drawing notoriety for their fundraising efforts.

A collective of black queer activists, Black Pride Ireland first sprouted in 2019 as a group dedicated ‘to create places where queer Black people could air their grievances about these {racist} structures without fear of losing their jobs or being deported.”

Initially operating a handful of workshops, some of them gaining attention for their black only admission policies, the group raked in just shy of €30,000 in GoFundMe donations the weeks after the BLM protests last year. 

Small change considering the amount of capital being ploughed into the diversity industry in Ireland, this figure was far in excess of the €500 initially asked for and donated primarily by ‘white allies’.

While technically anyone can donate under an alias to a GoFundMe, I noticed that one of the larger donors was the author and columnist Naoise Dolan, who gave €500, as well as many supposedly impoverished left-wing activists, familiar to this author and evidently with more money than sense.

The group had a hand in organising the BLM protest outside the American Embassy last year, contrary to covid regulations at the time.

The aim of these donations was to facilitate various events, covering the cost of transport and speaker fees as well as expenses incurred through their activism. While organisers for the group have emphasised they have and will not profit from the donation pool, this has not stopped certain left-wing activists being vocal in their allegations of financial mismanagement.

Rather ambiguously, the social media of the group entered total dormancy soon after with their Twitter suddenly disappearing and website going offline most of the past 12 months. Additionally, its Instagram account is moribund bar an occasional GoFundMe appeal for various causes, and its Facebook has been totally quiet since September 2020. As of the time of writing their Instagram account states that they are on an “indefinite hiatus”.

While the group has repeatedly mentioned their intention to produce a budget for their planned activities, they have failed to do so over the past year, even missing their own deadlines to do so.

Speaking about the group, PBP activist Darragh Adelaide voiced the concerns felt by many on the Left: “30k is a lot of money so I would expect the group to be more active given their funding.”

Black Pride Ireland faced so much chagrin it was forced to issue various statements responding to allegations of impropriety.

Stating that their Twitter had been taken down due to mass reporting by “fascists”, and that the rest of their social media had been left purposefully dormant as they were busy and not terribly interested in the platforms anyway, a spokeswoman for the group described how they had been in contact with legal council about what to do with the funds raised.

Aiming to have a budget by May 2021 at the latest, Black Pride Ireland insisted that the accumulated funds would be directed to assisting immigration applications as well as upcoming events.

While it is unclear as to their exact relationship, Black Pride Ireland was keen to promote and fundraise for two black queer cultural journasls called ‘OriginsEile’ and ‘Tongues’, each with their own fundraising pages.

While offered for free, so-called ‘White institutions’ are asked to fork out a hefty €12.50 for a copy of ‘Tongues’, with €8,500 being asked for in donations to produce a new edition.

Wanting to step over the colour bar, this pasty Burkean writer put in for a copy under a fake Nigerian alias two months ago, but no copy has so far been forthcoming.

Not the first time it has exhibited a racial preference, Black Pride Ireland also advertised to hire a black queer graphic designer at a fee of €1,000 to design one of their publications,.

There is no clear evidence of financial wrongdoing found during our research, bar perhaps a rather sloppy attitude towards money management by Black Pride Ireland. Over a year in, and still without a budget plus a sudden disappearance from social media, the debacle has many on the Left scratching their head as to the end destination of funds donated.

While allowances can be made for covid and the near impossibility in organising events at present time, such a dearth of activity and accountability for the sheer scale of money given is surprising, even for a left-wing group.

There’s a lot of money sloshing around the activist scene after a year in which the heart strings of Irish allies were pulled and public and corporate coffers opened. In all likelihood the money raised by Black Pride will be stuffed into general open borders activism, though a few strategically placed activists could find themselves provided for along the way.

While our media scours for evidence of right-wing dark money influencing Irish politics, zero scrutiny is given to the numerous revenue streams used to influence Irish politics for progressive causes.

While one disagrees with their cause, I can only hope Black Pride Ireland utilises their newfound wealth properly. Certainly they have incurred as much cynicism from the Left owing to their money management.

Black Pride Ireland did not respond to our inquiries for comment for this piece but certainly we will be keeping an eye on where the money eventually ends up.