NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 27, 2023

Q: Police blamed far-right agitators for the violent rioting that broke out last week in Ireland’s capital after a stabbing attack on three young children in the street. Where is the Republic of Ireland?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Anti-immigrant rioters smashed windows and looted stores; set fire to police cars, buses, and a tram; and clashed with officers in and around the main thoroughfare of the capital. What is Ireland’s capital and largest city?

A. Belfast

B. Cork

C. Dublin

D. Limerick


C. With a population of 592,713 people, Dublin is the largest city on the island of Ireland and the capital of the republic. Belfast’s population of 293,298 people makes it the second-largest city on the island, and it is the capital of Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.


Q: The violence began after rumors circulated that an immigrant attacked the children outside a Dublin school. But, a delivery man who jumped in to stop the attack was born in Latin America’s largest country ...

A. Argentina

B. Brazil

C. Colombia

D. Mexico


B. Caio Benicio, a fast-food courier from Brazil, jumped off his motorcycle, used his helmet to hit the attacker strongly on the head, and knocked the man down. "I didn't think about being brave - instinct just kicked in," said Benicio, a father of two. “I know the protest is against immigrants and for me it doesn’t make sense, because I’m an immigrant myself and I was the one who helped out.”


Q: Like immigrants today, Irish migrants faced intense backlash when they fled their homeland. What was the biggest reason for the mass migration from Ireland?

A. Hunger and poverty

B. Political violence

C. Religious persecution


A. A famine that started in 1845 sparked the largest migration from Ireland, but Irish people fled the island for centuries. Since 1700, 9 to 10 million people born in Ireland left for countries around the world. That is more people than ever lived in Ireland at any one time. There are many reasons for people to migrate, but hunger and poverty appear to be the largest cause.


Q: One of humanity’s oldest fears is the distrust of people we perceive as being "them" rather than “us.” Increased immigration often triggers this fear of outsiders, which is known as …

A. Afrophobia

B. Hibernophobia

C. Sinophobia

D. Xenophobia


D. Xenophobia, the fear of foreigners, often leads to nativism movements that try to stop immigration to “save” society from change. The first big surge of U.S. nativism in the 1800s was fueled by Hibernophobia, or fear of the Irish. But, there were many later attempts to limit immigration from Asia and Eastern Europe. As recently as 2017, many Muslims were blocked from entering the United States.