Diarmuid Breatnach
(Ireland, Palestine)
Here, the leaves are dying,
There, the people are dying;
Here, the leaves are falling,
There, the bombs are falling.
Here it is the turn of season,
There, genocide’s the only reason.
The tree seems as though it died
It is not dead but now asleep;
Retreated to its living roots
Underground stretched down deep.
In the Spring new buds we’ll see;
It is not easy to kill a tree.
Hard to kill a people too
As they rise up to resist anew.
November 2023
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time: 4 mins.)
Ambassadors generally don’t represent people but rather states. They report to their home state on attitudes at different levels in the country where they are based and on friendly and not-so-friendly contacts also.
Two ambassadors have been in the news recently and they are both from the same part of the world – one is Israeli and the other is Palestinian.
Individually ambassadors may be nice and friendly or, like the Israeli one, arrogant and aggressive but all that is really not the main thing to remember about them, which is that they represent the state that sent them. What you do or say to them, you do or say to their state.
The Israeli Dana Erlich is in the news because a number of political parties have tabled motions in the Irish Parliament for her expulsion.1 She is representing the Israeli State, a racist, Zionist colonial state which is at present carrying out a genocidal bombardment on the Palestinian people.
Wahba Abdalmajid is the Palestinian Ambassador in Ireland and, in the news mostly because she was warmly received at the recent Ard-Fheis (annual congress) of the Sinn Féin political party. A look at her “Embassy’s” website gives little indication of a people struggling for freedom.2
WHOM DOES THE PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR REPRESENT?
Despite there existing formally a Palestinian state, in reality its people have been actively prevented from creating one. Wahba Abdalmajid’s real employer may be said to be the Palestinian Authority which functions somewhat like a state – but under the control of the Israelis.
In a recent interview, Norman Finkelstein commented that Israel had a great many spies in Gaza, most of them former employees of the Palestine National Authority, i.e the administration of which Al Fatah lost control when beaten in the 2006 legislative elections by Hamas.3
In the wave of imperialist pacification processes (incorrectly called “peace processes”4) that swept through anti-imperialist conflicts around the world, the Palestinian variant in 1993 seems to have been the first, which then spread like a virus to South Africa, Ireland, the Basque Country5 …
In the Oslo Accords of 1983, the leadership of the PLO recognised the ‘legitimacy’ of the Zionist colonial state of Israel and agreed to the idea of a Palestinian state on a part of Palestine, with the worst land and least water, forever to be under the guns of Israel.
No arrangement was made for the descendants of the 700,000 Palestinians expelled by Israel when the Zionist State was created in 1948, forbidden by Israel to return.
The attraction for the PLO’s leadership was getting to run their own administration and with that went a spiraling of the already-existing corruption and nepotism. And accompanying that, repression of dissent through the use of their ‘security force’ where they were in control.
Financial aid comes from the European Union and USA to the PNA (to the total of US$1 billion in 2005) and, despite 2006 elections won by Hamas, the funds are paid to the West Bank HQ, i.e to Mahmoud Abbas’ offices.
The dissatisfaction of Palestinian youth and of much of society with Al Fatah and their agreement to the Oslo Accords broke out into the Second Intifada 2000-2005 and since then Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation has been led by other organisations.
At a Tokyo meeting of foreign affairs ministers,6 USA’s envoy Blinken indicated that after Israel’s hoped-for defeat of Hamas (and cowing of Palestinians) they would favour the Palestine Authority administering Gaza again, to which PNA President Mahmoud Abbas indicated agreement.
Meanwhile, elections have not been held for the PNA since 2008, despite promises a couple of years ago. The reason is obvious: Al Fatah would again lose. Nevertheless, the western imperialist bloc recognises the PA as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people!
The same bloc and the Irish State also supports the “2-state solution” which was no solution even when being mooted back in the 1970s and is visibly risible now7; furthermore surveys show that most Palestinians do not want that option.8
So who does represent the Palestinian people? Difficult to see how that question can be answered at the moment. There are a number of resistance organisations that can legitimately claim to represent sections of the Palestinian people while the PA can only represent collusion and repression.
End.
FOOTNOTES
1Unsuccessfully, so far, with the Government and its allies in opposition.
2And the most recent entry in the Embassy’s news section is dated 14 August of this year!
3That was the last election held for the PA, which remains under the control of Al Fatah, which did not accept the election results. In Gaza in 2007, Hamas had a short fierce conflict with Al Fatah and took the administration to which they had been elected but refrained from doing so in the West Bank.
4Inaccurate because they do not address the central issues and therefore do not at all bring peace.
5Also Turkish Kurdistan, Colombia … The only one where the people gained anything was South Africa, which got universal suffrage but under a neo-colonial corrupt and repressive regime whose police in 2012 murdered two score striking miners.
6Earlier this month.
7Also supported by Sinn Féin in Ireland and by the Chinese Government.
8Gallup poll found “24% of Palestinians support a two-state solution, down from 59% in 2012.” Also, a Pew Research poll showed only 35% of Israelis think “a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully.”
SOURCES
https://news.gallup.com/poll/512828/palestinians-lack-faith-biden-two-state-solution.aspx
Gearóid Ó Loingsigh
27 November 2023 (Reading time: 5 mins.)
The international criminal court in The Hague.
In the context of the Zionist genocide in Gaza, a number of personalities and Palestinian solidarity organisations have asked that Netanyahu and others be put on trial by the International Criminal Court.
This will not happen, that court has been described in vulgar but accurate terms as a stinker. It is true, its putrid stench is nauseating and the history of international tribunals is full of hypocrisy, even when they judge people who should be tried and punished.
We all know of the Nuremberg Tribunal where the Nazis were put on trial. A correct decision, but Harris the man responsible for the fire-bombing of Dresden that killed 30,000 civilians was not tried, nor were other Allied criminals.
In Tokyo, the Indian judge, Radha Binod Pal argued that the USA should be tried for the atomic bombs used against purely civilian targets. But they didn’t. In more recent times we have seen international tribunals try one group of people but not another.
One of the first tribunals in recent times was the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. That tribunal tried a significant number of war criminals, amongst them people as vile as Ratko Mladić, the butcher of Srebrenica, where they murdered more than 8,000 men and boys.
In all, 111 people were tried, but there were those who they never ever considered putting on trial. Following the war, two high-ranking British officials took advantage of their contacts in the Serbian government and in the name of the British Natwest Bank facilitated the privatisation of Serbian Telecom.
It has been said that not only did that save Slobodan Milosevic but that he used those funds for his later war in Kosovo.
The British officials who collaborated with someone who was nothing more than a war criminal were none other than Pauline Neville-Jones, Britain’s key diplomat in the Yugoslav crisis, seen by many as appeasing Milosevic and her boss the Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd.(1)
Of course, no one ever proposed trying them for facilitating the war in Kosovo.
Perhaps a clearer example of not trying Europeans is the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
That tribunal decided upon various despicable crimes such as murder, rape and sexual slavery. It also decided upon another issue, particularly in the case of Charles Taylor, that of what are termed Blood Diamonds. Though in reality it did no such thing.
The tribunal rightly tried Taylor, but never looked at the role of the Belgians or the South Africans in the trade of Blood Diamonds. Any black person would do, but no whites, no businesspeople from the sector.
The company De Beers is a key player in the market, not only as far as production is concerned, but also in the sale of diamonds from other companies, controlling 80% of the market. But in the Sierra Leone tribunal, they didn’t even think of looking at the role of companies such as those.
They also set up a tribunal for Iraq, though it was supposedly set up by the “new government”. They tried various high-ranking officials from the Saddam Hussein regime, amongst them his once upon a time minister of defence, due to his use of gas against the Kurdish people, known as Chemical Alí.
The regime massacred thousands of Kurds, wiped off the face of the earth whole towns, displaced the Kurds and tried to repopulate those areas with Iraqis. Something similar to what Israel does with the Palestinians.
There can be no doubt about the regime’s responsibility for war crimes and also for the crime of genocide. But who sold them the gas they used against the Kurds?
Up to 40 German and European companies were involved in supplying the raw materials and know how to Saddam.(2) Yet this was not an issue for the West.
A Dutch court eventually sentenced one person to 15 years in jail.(3) However, Frans van Anrat was arrested and tried after the Saddam regime had been destroyed, not before. No one sought to arrest him and imprison him when the regime was an ally of the West.
In 2023, another Dutch court ordered a Dutch company to compensate five Iranians injured in those chemical attacks.(4) But the use of chemical weapons is a war crime, so why were the directors of the company not charged?
Previously, in 2013, a group of Iraqi Kurds tried to sue a French company that had supplied chemicals to Saddam.(5) So far, they have made little progress on that matter.
However, recently the French courts saw no problem in issuing arrest warrants for the Syrian president, Assad over the use of chemical weapons.(6) US involvement in the supply of chemicals has not been subject to such judicial investigations, nor will it ever be.
The US, however, did not just supply chemicals, it actively participated in their use.
According to Foreign Policy, a magazine that could hardly be described as progressive or opposed to US foreign policy in general, in the war with Iran, Iraq repeatedly used chemical agents, with the US providing satellite imagery to help Iraq target Iranian forces more successfully.(7)
So, evidence is not a key factor in deciding who gets tried by international tribunals and who doesn’t. Political expediency is the key factor, trumping all others. Justice is not what is sought, though it may be an unintended consequence in some cases.
Justice would see all those involved being brought to trial. But many of them pay the wages of the prosecutors and the judges and even pay for the logistics of these tribunals.
The ICC is no different. Its wages are paid by the states who carry out the greatest human rights violations in the world. The refusal to arrest Tony Blair or Netanyahu is not an oversight. They will never bite their master’s hand.
To date the ICC has dealt with 31 cases, including one for genocide. All of these cases were against black African leaders, some of whom relied on western complicity in their crimes. Their western accomplices will never face charges.
If western generals, politicians and companies don’t face charges when they are directly involved in war crimes and genocide, they are not going to face charges when they are murky figures in the shadows.
It is highly unlikely that Israel will be brought before the ICC, though sacrificing some lower ranking officers is not beyond the realm of possibility, though it is also highly unlikely.
Placing our faith in an international court which has shown itself to be nothing more than the judicial branch of imperialism is a mistake. In principle there is nothing wrong in taking a case, but believing you will get justice at the court is a criminal level of naivety and gullibility.
It dismissed cases against US allies such as Colombia, but immediately opened a file on Venezuela after the deaths of some protestors. When the Colombian police murdered over 80 protestors in 2021, the ICC looked on passively, just as it does now in the face of a Zionist campaign of genocide in Gaza.
One day it is to be hoped that the prosecutors and judges of that court are put on trial for their own role in facilitating the repression and murder of people around the world. But it won’t be the current western regimes that do that.
Notes
(1) The Guardian (13/05/2010) Pauline Neville-Jones: diplomat who did business with Milosevic. Ian Traynor and Richard Norton Taylor https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/13/pauline-neville-jones-conservatives
(2) GfvB (13/03/2008) German and European firms were involved. https://web.archive.org/web/20130806082700/http://www.gfbv.de/pressemit.php
(3) BBC (23/12/2005) Saddam’s ‘Dutch Link’. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4358741.stm
(4) AP (15/11/2023) Dutch court orders company to compensate 5 Iranian victims of mustard gas attacks in the 1980s. https://apnews.com/article/iraq-iran-mustard-gas-netherlands-court-compensation-aeaca7355d8a7417749d9216d9dae5ca
(5) RFI (11/06/2013) Iraqi Kurds sue French companies for Halabja chemical attack. https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20130611-iraqi-kurds-sue-french-companies-halabja-chemical-attack
(6) Reuters (15/11/2023) France issues arrest warrant for Syria’s President Assad – source https://www.reuters.com/world/france-issues-arrest-warrants-against-syrias-president-assad-source-2023-11-15/
(7) Foreign Policy (26/08/2013) Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran. Shane Harris & Matthew M. Aid. https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time: 4 mins.)
Many thousands wound their way in Palestine solidarity on Saturday through the streets of Dublin City centre, crossing from north to south of the river, filling the streets with solidarity slogans that have now become very familiar.
The national march called by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity campaign took nearly an hour to pass through Dublin’s O’Connell Street, Palestinian colours mixing with those of political party or group and some education trade union flags and banners – and the green and gold Starry Plough.1
The weather was a welcome change from the heavy rain of the night before and, in contrast to recent cold days, was mild and autumnal. The trees by roadside and in parks, except for the berry-laden hollies, were losing their leaves but those remaining shone russet and gold.
Those political parties whose TDs2 voted for sanctions against Israel on Wednesday3 were present: Social Democrats, that had sought the expulsion of the Israeli Embassy and Sinn Féin, who wanted the Government to refer the Israeli Government to the International Criminal Court.4
That included also the People Before Profit/ Solidarity, which for weeks had been calling for the Ambassador’s expulsion and the Labour Party.
Left-wing, feminist and animal liberation groups participated, along with local Palestine solidarity groups. In a change from recent marches, Irish Republican groups could be observed participating but were very few.5
An Ghaeilge, the Irish language, had a presence on the march in a small number of placards and a big banner proclaiming Saoirse don Phalaistín,6 the latter also shouted as a call-and-answer slogan, to merge with the now-familiar ones of Palestine solidarity, along with denunciation of genocide.
Other slogans included: 1, 2, 3, 4 – Occupation no more! 5, 6, 7, 8 – Israel is a terrorist7 state! Netanyahu, you can’t hide – We can see your genocide! There is only one solution – Intifada revolution! In our thousands and our millions8 – We are all Palestinians!
The “Ceasefire Now!” demand could be seen on some placards and heard on occasion but not as much as before. This slogan has come under some criticism as theoretically binding the Palestinians to cease resistance and leaving the Israeli army in possession wherever they are.
Despite the necessary problems caused to vehicular traffic, a horn blowing from a passing car or van called out often in solidarity to a cheer from the marchers in reply. In contrast to the early decades of the Irish state, the population has become overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian.
A LONG MARCH
The route of the march followed the same as the previous Saturday’s but instead of stopping at the Dept. of Foreign Affairs, continued on eastwards and then into Merrion Square south where the rally was to be held but significant numbers had left without waiting for the speeches.
Eastward of there, many Garda vehicles could be seen in Merrion Street lower, probably in case people decided to bring to the Fine Gael party HQ their disgust at State collusion with Zionist genocide. Of course nowadays, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party HQs might feel the need for the same protection.
As people turned towards various destinations in the City Centre, to pick up their vehicles or to connect with public transport, most entered to proceed through the Merrion Square Park and, finding gates locked on to Merrion Square West road, headed for the next exit – but in vain.
All gates were locked until one, several hundred metres along Merrion Square North, finally allowed weary marchers to exit the park and turn west again towards the city centre. There was much much muttering about this deliberate inconveniencing of people in a public park.
Passing the corner of Merrion Square West, with the former home of the Wilde family on the right, a large Garda prisoner transport was parked at the corner with other police vehicles around and some Public Order Unit police standing around.
This march had been the 5th weekend one in Dublin since the Israeli offensive, with a rally in the middle of each week also. And still the Israeli death-toll rises not just daily but by the hour. And still neither the UN Security Council nor EU will call for an end to the bombing.
And still the Israeli Embassy sits in Dublin with its staff free to spy and report on the population of the Irish State, even to insult the national feeling of solidarity and the President of the State for his comparatively mild demands that international law statutes be followed.
Indeed, those same rules, often violated by the western superpowers, lie now exposed in shreds and tatters in Palestine. If there ever was reason to believe in imperialist states ruling the world in common humanity, that belief too lies in tatters that cannot be stitched together again.
End.
FOOTNOTES
1 The flag of the Irish Citizen Army, the first workers’ army in the world, formed to defend the workers from the attacks of the Dublin Metropolitan Police during the 1913 Lockout, who later fought in the 1916 Rising too.
2 Teachta Dála, Irish State equivalent to MPs (plural Teachtaí Dála).
3 The motions in Leinster House (seat of the Irish parliament) were defeated through the Coalition Government’s TDs voting for an amendment that pulled all the teeth from the original motions.
4 The SF party flags were absent from earlier demonstrations after their leadership stated they would not be calling for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador but once the leadership, no doubt facing a revolt of their members changed that position, they were out in force, some of them even stewarding the march. One wonders whether those members understand that the ICC has in a decade only tried 30 cases and convicted only ten, not one a state or an individual close allied with the Western powers.
5 Undoubtedly, more Irish Republicans participated as individuals or as members of local solidarity groups.
6 “Freedom for Palestine.”
7 A version occasionally heard substituted “fascist state” for the words “terrorist state”.
8 A different version heard that day called In our millions and our billions …
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time main text: 6 mins.)
November 17th is the anniversary of the date when a demonstration, mainly of Irish in solidarity with Fenian prisoners in British jails, saved the public Speakers’s Corner in Hyde Park from State control for everyone.
‘Frederick’ (Friedrich) Engels was there and reported on it (see below) with great admiration for the Irish diaspora. In his seminal The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) he had not had that feeling for the Irish but had matured as a person and a revolutionary since.1
Frederick Engels and Karl Marx, both exiles from Germany, one by choice and the other as a refugee, came to form a strong corresponding, writing and organising partnership. Together they formed the International Working Men’s Association.
The First International, as it came to be called, took a position on many international questions but did not shirk the Irish one and indeed exposed and agitated about the terrible conditions under which Fenians were being held in British jails.
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa (1831-1915), a Fenian prisoner, wrote that he was for a period chained to the wall and had to eat his food from a bowl on the floor like a dog. It is also recorded that a third of the prisoners died in jail or went insane.
The Irish Republican Brotherhood had been founded in Dublin and in New York on St. Patrick’s Day, 1858 and in the USA quickly became better known as “the Fenian Brotherhood”. In Ireland they were frequently referred to as “the Fenians” or, by those on ‘the inside’ as ‘the IRB’.
Clearly from Engels’ description, “Fenians” was also the common description in Britain too. The Fenians took the war to Britain; the Crown responded by organising a specific police department, the Special Irish Branch of Scotland Yard, to spy on the Irish diaspora and to arrest suspects.
The “Special Branch” became known henceforth as the political department of the British police force but also of British colonial police forces in Ireland, Commonwealth countries such as Australia, and colonies such as Kenya, Uganda, Hong Kong …
We know that that the Fenian prisoners were not forgotten in Ireland, with campaigns for their freedom including articles, public events and even songs composed for them. But evidently they were not forgotten by the Irish diaspora in Britain nor by their socialist and democratic allies.
On November 17th 1872 the First International organised a march to Speakers’ Corner in London to protest the conditions under which those Fenian convicts were having to exist. Engels reported on the march and that he public speaking area was under threat of State control.
The Irish diaspora in Britain, the Irish-born migrants and descendants, contributed hugely to society and especially so to the working class in Britain, including presenting its anthem,2 its classic novel3 and two leaders4 of the Chartists, the working class’ first first genuinely mass movement.
In addition, members of the Irish diaspora helped build up the trade unions and were present in every movement against state repression, police violence, fascism, racism, colonialism and imperialism, fighting in organisations for housing, wages, free speech, political and civil rights.
Frederick Engels:
London, November 14, 1872
The Liberal5 English Government has at the moment no less than 42 Irish political prisoners in its prisons and treats them with quite exceptional cruelty, far worse than thieves and murderers.
In the good old days of King Bomba, the head of the present Liberal cabinet, Mr. Gladstone, travelled to Italy and visited political prisoners in Naples; on his return to England he published a pamphlet which disgraced the Neapolitan Government before Europe for its unworthy treatment of political prisoners.
This does not prevent this selfsame Mr. Gladstone from treating in the very same way the Irish political prisoners, whom he continues to keep under lock and key.
The Irish members of the International in London decided to organise a giant demonstration in Hyde Park (the largest public park in London, where all the big popular meetings take place during political campaigns) to demand a general amnesty.
They contacted all London’s democratic organisations and formed a committee which included MacDonnell (an Irishman), Murray (an Englishman) and Lessner (a German) — all members of the last General Council of the International.
A difficulty arose: at the last session of Parliament the government passed a law which gave it the right to regulate public meetings in London’s parks.
It made use of this and had the regulation posted up to warn those who wanted to hold such a public meeting that they must give a written notification to the police two days prior to calling it, indicating the names of the speakers.
This regulation carefully kept hidden from the London press destroyed with one stroke of the pen one of the most precious rights of London’s working people — the right to hold meetings in parks when and how they please.
To submit to this regulation would be to sacrifice one of the people’s rights.
The Irish, who represent the most revolutionary element of the population, were not men to display such weakness.
The committee unanimously decided to act as if it did not know of the existence of this regulation and to hold their meeting in defiance of the government’s decree.
Last Sunday at about three o’clock in the afternoon two enormous processions with bands and banners marched towards Hyde Park.
The bands played Irish songs and the Marseillaise6; almost all the banners were Irish (green with a gold harp in the middle) or red.
There were only a few police agents at the entrances to the park and the columns of demonstrators marched in without meeting with any resistance. They assembled at the appointed place and the speeches began.
The spectators numbered at least thirty thousand and at least half had a green ribbon or a green leaf in their buttonhole to show they were Irish; the rest were English, German and French.
The crowd was too large for all to be able to hear the speeches, and so a second meeting was organised nearby with other orators speaking on the same theme.
Forceful resolutions were adopted demanding a general amnesty and the repeal of the coercion laws which keep Ireland under a permanent state of siege.
At about five o’clock the demonstrators formed up into files again and left the park, thus having flouted the regulation of Gladstone’s Government.
This is the first time an Irish demonstration has been held in Hyde Park; it was very successful and even the London bourgeois press cannot deny this.
It is also the first time the English and Irish sections of our population have united in friendship.
These two elements of the working class, whose enmity towards each other was so much in the interests of the government and wealthy classes, are now offering one another the hand of friendship; this gratifying fact is due principally to the influence of the last General Council of the International,[307] which has always directed all its efforts to unite the workers of both peoples on a basis of complete equality.
This meeting, of the 3rd November, will usher in a new era in the history of London’s working-class movement.
You might ask: “What is the Government doing? Can it be that it is willing to reconcile itself to this slight? Will it allow its regulation to be flouted with impunity?”
Well, this is what it has done: it placed two police inspectors and two agents by the platforms in Hyde Park and they took down the names of the speakers.
On the following day, these two inspectors brought a suit against the speakers before the ustice of the Peace. The justice sent them a summons and they have to appear before him next Saturday.
This course of action makes it quite clear that they don’t intend to undertake extensive proceedings against them.
The government seems to have admitted that the Irish or, as they say here, the Fenians have beaten it and will be satisfied with a small fine. The debate in court will certainly be interesting and I shall inform you of it in my next letter.[308]
Of one thing there can be no doubt: the Irish, thanks to their energetic efforts, have saved the right of the people of London to hold meetings in parks when and how they please.
307 By the “last” General Council Engels means the London Council that existed before the Hague Congress of the International at which a decision was adopted to transfer the scat of the General Council to New York.
308 In the fourth article of the Letters from London series: “Meeting in Hyde Park. — The Position in Spain,” written on December 11, 1872, Engels reported that the Justice of the Peace could do no more than impose the smallest possible fine, and since his decision anyway ran contrary to the rules governing behaviour in Hyde Park the accused demanded that the case be brought before a court of appeal.
Engels’s Letters from London appeared in La Plebe, the newspaper of the International’s sections in Italy, early in April 1872, and continued throughout the year.
Early in 1873, Engels’s co-operation with La Plebe was temporarily interrupted due to government reprisals against the paper’s editors.
La Plebe was published under the editorship of E. Bignami in Lodi between 1868 and 1875, and in Milan between 1875 and 1883. Up to the early seventies the newspaper followed a bourgeois-democratic line, later it became socialist.
In 1872-73 La Plebe played an important role in the struggle against the anarchist influence in the Italian working-class movement. Engels’s contributions greatly promoted the paper’s success.
In 1882, the first independent party of the Italian proletariat the Workers’ Party — formed around La Plebe.
FOOTNOTES
SOURCES
Source: Marx and Engels on Ireland, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1971;
First Published: in Italian in La Plebe, November 17, 1872;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.
1Aided by the Burns sisters Lizzie and Mary when he lived in Manchester, one of whom was his partner until she died and the other, subsequently his wife.
2The Red Flag, by Jim Connell, from Co. Meath
3The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Noonan aka Tressel, from Dublin.
4Fergus O’Connor and Bronterre O’Brien.
5The two main bourgeois political parties in Britain at the time were the Conservatives and Liberals; over time the latter declined and was replaced in its counterpoint to the Conservatives by the British Labour Party.
6French national anthem now but originally song of the French Republican uprising of 1789. In addition the air has been used for the lyrics other revolutionary songs.
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time main text: 8 mins.)
In their shameful votes last night, the Irish Government Coalition parties nevertheless taught people of social-democratic or liberal persuasion a valuable lesson. They won’t learn it of course, since it violates their world-view – but we should.
Social democrats in general, beyond the Irish political party of that name, essentially believe, despite all lessons of history, that capitalist society can be reformed through pressure of the organised labour movement and by appealing to the capitalists’ “better sense”.
Liberals believe something similar, without the trade union movement being essential. Their mantras echo through our political and philosophical culture: “Everything can be resolved through talking”, “Force solves nothing” and “The rule of law is paramount’.1
Despite the genocidal attacks continuing and even intensifying, despite the Gombeen class’ view that the ferocious bombing would have long-term adverse effects on the Middle East and perhaps on the world, the Government parties declined to break with the imperialist bloc.
And why should we have expected anything different from them and the class they represent? This is not even an independent class but rather a native capitalist class that grew up under foreign occupation and never resolved to overthrow its masters.2
Rendering each Caesar his due, in turn and all together, this class has kissed the feet of British colonialism and imperialism, then US imperialism and finally EU imperialism. Whatever their own view of what the wise moves might be, they always obey their masters’ wishes.
And any party that enters government here as currently constituted will act likewise to get there and even more so after arriving there.
ROAR OF SOLIDARITY OUTSIDE LEINSTER HOUSE
Knowing that a vote was imminent on motions critical of Israel, including one for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador, thousands gathered last night in Molesworth Street, opposite the metal-barricaded Leinster House, home of the parliament of the Irish State.
Packed tightly together outside Leinster House, the crowd replied with a roar to slogans led by callers: From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free! In our thousands and our millions – We are all Palestinians! Free, free – Palestine! And, yes, Israeli Ambassador – Out, out, out!
The rally had been organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the main organisation for decades engaged in Ireland in Palestine solidarity campaigning. Yet, calling for the expulsion of the Zionist State’s representative had, until now, been strangely absent from its discourse.
Not always in the past, true but so it had been until now during these five weeks of genocidal bombing by the Zionist state. In fact, it seems they had previously even asked speakers not to make that call from their platform. They were however clearly making it now and rightly so.3
And clearly, so were the speakers lined up on the IPSC platform.
Independent Sen. Frances Black whose motion on the bill to ban products from the Israeli later settlements4 has been held up for two years by the Government, spoke also and challenged the Government TDs to make the right choice between party and principle, to “have the balls” to vote for justice.
Matt Carthy TD, Shadow Foreign Affairs spokesperson for the Sinn Féin party, was introduced from the IPSC platform to muted applause (perhaps because of the party leaders’ earlier refusal to call for the expulsion of the Ambassador.
Carthy addressed the crowd in Molesworth Street and apart from denouncing the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, concentrated on his party’s motion for Israel’s referral to the International Criminal Court and disputed the Government’s view that additional referrals5 were unnecessary.
While there may be some propaganda value in such a referral, a quick check will establish the following about this institution:
However, the SF party spokesperson was now also calling for the expulsion of the Ambassador, since the recent turnaround of the party’s leaders on the question when Mary Lou MacDonald found her position untenable in the face of the party’s own voters and closer supporters.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD spoke as usual at such events for the People Before Profit party7 and excoriated the Government for their failure to apply sanctions against Israel, exclaiming: “My God, they were quick enough to do it against Russia, weren’t they?”8
Boyd Barrett said that if the Government won’t take the sanctions then the people must do so, the closest he came to listing how they might do so was in mentioning “occupations”, a number of which have taken place recently without any PBP involvement whatsoever.
The PBP speaker also denied that a state such as Israel, based on occupation, racism and genocide, has any right to self-defence but insisted that the targets of its attacks, the Palestinians, had every right to defence and resistance.
Holly Cairns TD, leader of the Social Democrats political party,9 proposer of the parliamentary motion to expel the Ambassador spoke clearly and convincingly, her speech more militant and direct than the that of the speaker from the former revolutionary Republican party.
I believe it was Cairns who asked the pointed questions with regard to taking strong sanctions against Israel with the current death toll and list of atrocities: If not now – when?
In reply to fears that the expulsion measure would make the Irish State an “outlier” in the EU, she commented to media that she would have no regrets at being “an outlier” of the current EU consensus.
Ruth Coppinger for the Socialist Party10 began by addressing the meaning of “the international community”, identifying not with the imperialist states but with solidarity demonstrations around the world including trade union blockades against shipments to Israel.
She called for such actions in Ireland today but also criticised the Palestinian assault through the apartheid Wall on October 7th. I think it was she who called for a national walkout on World Palestinian Solidarity Day, 29th of November.11
Given the supine state and collusion of the Irish trade union movement, which neither the SP nor the PBP party have made serious efforts to challenge, a union-led walkout is unlikely and, though people may do so anyway this is likely to be difficult without organisation and leadership.
All of the speakers congratulated those in attendance and asked them to continue their solidarity actions. Many (notably not the SF speaker) also criticised the USA in general and its President, Joe Biden, in particular. The USA is the chief and financial backer of the Israeli State.
Although there were a number of Irish-language placards and one banner in evidence, I recall hearing not one word of Irish from the platform.
IN PALESTINE TODAY
The Israeli siege and genocidal bombing continues as the Zionist state tries to sap the resistance of the Palestinians people, destroying even their medical facilities and endeavouring to starve and terrorise them into submission.
By yesterday the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 had risen to 11,500, including 4,710 children and 3,160 women. Israel has also killed 22 civil defence and 200 medical personnel and 51 journalists.12
The number of injured people has reached 29,800, with about 70% of them children and women.13
Wednesday’s statement from the Gaza Health Ministry said that 95 government buildings and 255 schools have been destroyed. Some 74 mosques were completely destroyed and 162 were partially damaged, in addition to three churches.14
‘It said that the Israeli army targeted 52 health centers and 55 ambulances, while 25 hospitals have run out of service.15
‘ “Israeli soldiers attacked many patients, wounded individuals, and displaced people, as well as several medical and nursing staff inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex, forcing them to undress and subjecting them to insults,” the statement added.’16
The Palestinian guerrilla movement organisations have struck back in Gaza and the West Bank and Hizbollah has entered the struggle to an extent from Lebanon. The collaborationist Arab states have become worried about their own populations, a worry shared by their imperialist masters.
But the rabid dog is loose and refuses to be restrained. What to do? Call it to heel now, or let it have its head to glut itself on blood? Difficult for the imperialist classes of the world to be certain which way to go and the divisions among them are becoming clear.
Both France and Germany EU states have banned Palestinian solidarity marches but while Germany refuses to call for any end to the bombing, President of France Macron in exclusive interview this week has called on Israel to stop killing Palestinian women and children.17
Across the world, the imperialist-aligned ruling classes are in disarray. Eight states in Latin America, Middle East and Africa have now fractured diplomatic ties with Israel.
The British Labour party saw four party shadow spokespersons resign and 56 of its MPs break party discipline to vote with the Scottish National Party motion calling for an immediate ceasefire.18
The other “international community”, the one to which Coppinger referred, has been on the streets in their millions in cities across the world, on every continent, including in those of the partner states of the genocidal Israeli state.
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE
Mícheál Martin had visited Palestine before in 201019 as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the then Fianna Fáil government and was visibly affected by what he had seen. But a Minister serves the Government which in turn serves the ruling class, which in the end calls the tune.
Today Mr. Martin, as Tánaiste20 of the gombeen Coalition Government, is in ‘Israel’ accompanied by the very Zionist Ambassador which last night his party and coalition party representatives had stoutly defended and who had attended by invitation his own party’s annual congress.21
With no illusions in the parliamentary road or perhaps less of them now, we are thrown back on what was always our only realistic resources – our own mobilisations, our own actions.
Short of a revolution, to be effective we can only continue to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the Zionist state and for its collaborators, native and foreign.
Above all and indeed as some of the speakers last night emphasised, we must not be discouraged and have to continue; we owe it not only to the Palestinians but also to ourselves, to our history and our future. Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach – there will be another day.
End.
FOOTNOTES
1Of course the fact that laws are written (and changed) to suit the ruling class (or at least not threaten it) and backed up by a whole violent repressive state structure of police, courts, jails and armed forces is conveniently ignored.
2Indeed, it waged war on those who were determined to fight for independence.
3Nor did its FB page share occupation protets such as those carried out by the Anti-Imperialist Action or Saoirse Don Phalaistín groups, though today they shared a post on the occupation of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs by the Ireland for Gaza group.
4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupied_Territories_Bill
5https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-israel-palestinians-icc-referral-6f1dd2b3af534d4d42d56a156968eae4
6https://accessaccountability.org/index.php/2019/09/26/criticisms-and-shortcomings-of-the-icc/
7Formerly the Socialist Worker’s Movement, an Irish iteration of the (Trotskyist) Socialist Workers’ Party in Britain, much diminished from it days of greater glory but currently the largest Left party in Britain.
8Yes and Boyd Barrett was part of the condemnation of Russia and support of the Ukrainian state at the time.
9The party centre-left social democratic party was launched on 15 July 2015 by three independent TDs (members of parliament) and promotes the Nordic model and pro-European views.
10An Irish iteration of the Socialist Party in Britain, a Trotskyist party once very large there, with the Militant Tendency its entryist organisation in the UK’s Labour Party, from which it was expelled. The Irish party has had a number of members of the Irish parliament but all those still in such roles have either left to become Independents or joined the PBP-Solidarity coalition group.
11https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people. Student walkouts seem more likely however.
12https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-from-israeli-attacks-rises-to-11-500-gaza-based-government/3055026
13Ibid
14Ibid.
15Ibid.
16Ibid.
17https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67356581
18https://www.breakingnews.ie/israel-hamas/starmer-suffers-major-frontbench-rebellion-in-gaza-ceasefire-vote-1552323.html
19https://www.irishtimes.com/news/martin-retains-view-of-israeli-offensive-after-visit-to-gaza-1.637021
20Equivalent to Deputy Prime Minister; he is also leader of the Fianna Fáil political party, the one with most elected members in the Coalition Government with Fine Gael and the Green Party.
21https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/17nt5a2/the_israeli_ambassador_at_the_ff_ard_fheis/?rdt=55045
SOURCES
UN International Day of Solidarity with Palestine: https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people
Clive Sulish
(Reading time: 4 mins.)
A Palestine solidarity demonstration of around 10,000 in Dublin on Saturday the 11th included a bloc marching behind a banner bearing the legend Saoirse Don Phalaistín and another demanding the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador.
Since the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Dublin has seen at least two large solidarity events every week, one mid-week and another on Saturdays, marching to the Israeli and USA Embassies or, like this one, to the Irish State’s Department of Foreign Affairs.
In addition, there have been smaller more radical events, such as the 2-hour occupation of the offices of Qanta Capital, the landlord of the Israeli Embassy, also another of the Clarence Hotel, recently bought by an Irish company with a loan from an Israeli bank.1
Also the occupations of offices of the Irish Dept. of Transport and of the European Commission2 and a weekday evening rush-hour protest on the forecourt of Dublin’s Connolly Train Station, which hosts major east coast commuting and northern city destination lines.
On Saturday the march began as usual with a 1.00pm gathering in the city centre, the rear of the densely-packed marchers still in O’Connell Street as the rest had crossed the river into Westmoreland Street, swung into College Green and Dame Street underway to George’s Street.
At one point the march called by the IPSC3 stretched from George’s Street all along Aungier Street, the front had turned into Cuffe Street and was already marching towards Stephen’s Green. The Department of Foreign Affairs is located on the east side of the famous inner-city park.4
The bloc marched along gathering people behind as it did so, shouting among others the slogan “Saoirse – don Phalaistín!” and “Zionist Ambassador – Out, out, out!” which was taken up by many, including those who seemed to be Palestinian or at least from the Middle East.
At a separate point, a few professionally-printed placards in Irish could be seen too, e.g “Stad an Slad” and a flag in Palestinian colours with “Saoirse don Phalaistín” printed upon it.
The other slogans that have become standard were shouted also, including the one claimed to be ‘anti-semitic’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘against the law’ by the recently sacked UK Minister of Home Affairs, claimed to be “anti-semitic” and ‘against the law’: “From the river to sea, Palestine will be free!”
Mobbing and threats by British fascists to Palestine supporters5 on the gigantic solidarity march in London on Saturday6 that ended in scuffles with the police were linked by a number of senior politicians to Braverman’s extraordinary claims of police partiality to the demonstrators.
Braverman alleged that London Met police went softly on Palestinian solidarity demonstrations in allowing them to take place while some extreme right-wing mobilisations in the past had been sternly treated – a fantastic claim as any antifascist activist in London knows well.
In Dublin on Saturday, upon reaching Stephens Green, the bloc stopped short of the rally outside the Dept. of Foreign Affairs where in any case the crowd was so large that the PA system of the organisers was of insufficient strength to convey to all the words of the scheduled speakers.
A large section of the march stopped behind them and a space cleared in front, at the fringes of which the people turned and joined in the bloc’s almost incessant slogans, at times applauding them. To the solidarity slogans that have become universal, those in the bloc added another two.
These were “There is only one solution – Intifada revolution!” and “Zionist Ambassador – Out, out, out!” Those slogans draw a line away from the liberal demands of “peace” and “negotiations” since the only “peace” that can exist in Israel is a pause before the next bombings.
“Saoirse – Don Phalaistín” was repeated and “Stop the bombing – Now!” seemed at one point to be offered as an alternative to “Ceasefire Now!”7
They also called for serious political repercussions for Israel in the expulsion of its representative in the Irish state, its Ambassador. Currently seven states have expelled Israel’s ambassadors or recalled their own – but none of them are members of the European Union.
The Irish State IS a member of the EU and a symbolic act such as the expulsion of the representative of the Zionist state would have huge reverberations. On Wednesday motions on expulsion of the Ambassador will be debated in the parliament of the Irish State.8
Also, the Sinn Féin party, whose leadership recently reversed their opposition to the expulsion of the Zionist representative, will be calling on the Government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court for investigation of war crimes.
While this might be of some use as a propaganda move, that Institution has never judged a state nor indeed anyone for war crimes who is part of the western imperialist coalition – which Israel most evidently is.9 The proceedings also tend to be very slow.
All in all, not only will such an action not be effective even if agreed, it will likely serve as a distraction from actions much more likely to be effective, such as expulsion of the Zionist Ambassador, along with arms and other trade sanctions.
A rally has been called to take place outside the home of the Irish parliament, Leinster House, Kildare Street at 6pm on Wednesday10 and a national demonstration on Saturday, starting at 1pm from the Garden of Remembrance.
End.
FOOTNOTES
1By activists of the Irish Anti-Imperialist Action group.
2https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/pro-palestine-activists-occupy-department-of-transport-in-dublin-demanding-no-weapons-for-israel-pass-through-shannon-airport/a497906746.html
3The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, for decades the main Palestine solidarity organisation in Ireland.
4Which is coincidentally, a 1916 Rising battleground.
5One of the irritants to British fascist mentality was that the Palestine solidarity march was taking place on Armistice Weekend, an annual event including ceremonies commemorating the dead in battles of the UK’s armed forces, one major period which was ironically as part of the Allied forces in the War Against Fascism 1939-’45.
6Those same police seriously under-estimated the numbers participating at around 300,000 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/11/thousands-join-pro-palestine-march-in-london
7A ceasefire usually means everyone stops firing where they are, which could be interpreted as binding the Palestinian resistance to leave the Israeli military in occupation of Gaza without retaliation, which some have criticised as favouring the Israeli Zionists.
8The Social Democrats party have tabled the motion, which will be supported by the Sinn Féin party and by People Before Profit party, along with a number of Independents. The Coalition Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have stated they will oppose it. At this moment the leadership of the IPSC continues to abstain from making such a call
9See References
10https://www.facebook.com/photo/?
SOURCES
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/suella-braverman-sacked-as-british-home-secretary-1551072.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67364745
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/11/12/mcdonald-sf-call-forh the-israeli-ambassador-expulsion-not-due-to-fears-of-being-outflanked/
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?
Problems with the ICC:https://accessaccountability.org/index.php/2019/09/26/criticisms-and-shortcomings-of-the-icc/
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time: 3 mins.)
There’s a new Wailing Wall …
THERE’S A NEW WAILING WALL;
It’s in Gaza, and here mothers and fathers wail
at the bloody bodies of their children;
children wail at the bloody bodies of parents;
all wail over the bodies of friends and neighbours;
the wailing rises and the tears fall.
At this Wailing Wall …
AT THIS WAILING WALL,
we wail the mendacity of Israel and the West,
we wail the complicity of the media in the West;
while rockets, shells and bombs rained down upon us
the lies fell faster and thicker than rain,
a torrent of lies that never stopped.
To surge in flood over the bodies of our slain.
You come now with your flag of peace …
YOU COME NOW WITH YOUR FLAG OF PEACE
tramping along the bloodstained road
and up the mountain of our bones
and the rubble of our homes
and offer us business as before
or – bombardment once more.
Now that the bombs have stopped …
NOW THAT THE BOMBS HAVE STOPPED
we too stop and look around us:
our schools gutted and bloodstained,
mosques and hospitals in ruins,
so many of our buildings rubble,
or with gaping shell-holes,
in the hell-hole
you have made of Gaza.
We had so little and you destroyed so much.
WE HAD SO LITTLE AND YOU DESTROYED SO MUCH!
In the days to come, more will sicken and die,
of wounds on flesh and wounds on soul,
of lack of medicine, fuel or food
as even in pause you take your toll.
Many are numb, some try to forget …
MANY ARE NUMB, SOME TRY TO FORGET,
some try to live without forgetting,
but there is a begetting,
for in many hearts too,
your phosphorus flakes are snowing,
the embers of hate are glowing,
their machine guns and bombs are mowing
you and your children for generations to come.
Against your Goliath …
AGAINST YOUR GOLIATH,
our slingshots were of no use;
yes, God was with you –
he’s no longer Hebrew or English –
He’s American now;
you shot us down like fish
in the shooting barrel
you made of Gaza.
You wish us to recognise you?
YOU WISH US TO RECOGNISE YOU?
Of course we recognise you –
the imprint of your boots are upon our necks;
we carry them from cradle to the grave.
But we will never agree to accept
or agree that you should keep
what you have stolen and plundered
the land you have sundered
or that you can make us second-class
citizens in our own land.
While we struggle to endure …
WHILE WE STRUGGLE TO ENDURE
and to ensure
that you never defeat us
let it be that we do not learn to treat others
as you now treat us.
What did you learn from your oppressors?
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR OPPRESSORS?
If all you learned was how to also
do so much of what they did,
then truly have the six million died in vain
and you mock their memory by invoking them.
Diarmuid, Feabhra 2009
I began to write this just as the December 2008- January 2009 bombardment of Gaza by Israel was coming to an end and I rounded it off in February.
That was the one they called “Operation Cast Lead”, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, mostly non-combatants, including 400 children and injured over 5,300 — again, mostly non-combatants.
I little thought that so few years later Israel would unleash an even worse bombardment upon the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza, as it did in July 2014, during which it killed over 2,300, again mostly non-combatants and that time nearly 500 children.
The damage to infrastructure is colossal and the Israeli-Egyptian blockade makes significant repair impossible.
The commentary above was written in 2014. Apart from killing in raids, there were more massacres to come: March 2018, more than 700 Palestinian refugees killed at the borders of the Israeli state and in 2021, over 260 Palestinians killed after Zionist provocation at the Al Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem.
In August 2022, over 30 Palestinians, including women and children, killed in Israeli missile attacks and this year, by August, Israel had killed 172 Palestinians. Now, over October-November 2023, they have killed 133 Palestinians in the West Bank and over 9,000 in Gaza, including 3,760 children.
There is no question that this is genocide: “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”
“Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml)
Nor did that genocide begin in October this year, nor last year, nor the year before. It began in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel and has been continuing since.
end.
Gearóid Ó Loingsigh
(Reading time: 6 mins.)
28 October 2023
Changes in the Palestinian territories and Israel.
Occasionally in the “debates” on the Arab world and Palestine in particular statements are made that “they want to destroy Israel” as a criticism or “Israel has the right to exist” as if it were a human being.
The Left abandoned any discussion on the issue following the Oslo Accord where the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) surrendered and agreed to govern some Bantustans(1) in the name of peace.
The Palestinian “problem” was resolved through the half-measure of autonomy where the Palestinian Authority has less power than a small municipality anywhere in the world and the left replicated and took on as its own the right-liberal demand for Two States.
It is worth looking at the question of destroying Israel and its supposed right to exist. We should be clear though that no state has a right to exist. States exist because they exist, through force, popular support, or cunning and guile. States come and go.
In the 19th Century two states came into being, ten years apart, one being Italy through the struggles of Garibaldi and others and Germany, unified under Bismarck. These two states underwent various important changes in their nature, borders and ideological discourse on unity.
In the case of Italy (1861), the Papal States were reduced in size and a significant part of what we now call Italy belonged to Austria. It wasn’t until after the First World War that Italy came to have borders similar to what it now has and changed from a monarchy to a republic.
In the case of Germany, its borders waxed and waned throughout the 19th Century until unification under Bismarck in 1871. Later Hitler would expand them once again under the Third Reich or as it was officially called since 1871, the German Reich.
Following the Second World War, nobody argued that the Nazi state had a right to exist. It was partially dismantled. Poland recovered a part of its land, the Sudetenland, once again, became part of Checoslovakia, Austria recovered its independence.
The great racial nation of Germans was wiped off the face of the earth. The Allies divided the rest into four parts, with three of them becoming the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and the other the German Democratic Republic, until 1991 when they were united.
Other states such as the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires also disappeared after the First World War.
These were not the only states to undergo dramatic change. There are more interesting examples from the anti-imperialist struggles. The Vietnamese guerrillas wiped off the face of the earth the reactionary (North American) state of South Vietnam.
The Algerian revolutionaries wiped off the face of the earth the French colonial department of Algeria and erected in its place the Republic of Algeria.
So, is the state of Israel immutable? Does it have a right to exist? Should that right be defended? It is easier to answer that question if we ask ourselves what defending that right means.
Israel’s existence is the theft of land, it is the Nakba, the displacement of 750,000 people in 1948. It is the invasion of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. It is also the current genocide the modern-day Nazis are trying to carry out in Gaza.
On that point, there are those who don’t propose to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, but rather to set up two states.
Amongst those who sometimes wave that flag is the USA and others who are more serious about it, such as Al Fatah, the dominant faction in what was the PLO, European liberals and the press.
There are also those who believe it is a pragmatic solution, but they are usually people who ignore the question of class as a factor in the Arab world.
Two states means acknowledging and accepting the invasion of 1948, the Nakba, the systematic theft, murder and torture. It also means not accepting the right of return of those displaced in 1948 i.e. to accept and reward the mass violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people.
It was worth recalling that the PLO and the various organisations that formed part of it were founded before the 1967 war, so propose two states is to propose the Zionist victory over the territory stolen in 1948.
It is to accept that if you commit mass human rights violations and crimes against humanity, the solution is to commit even more, so that some liberal or former leftist can come along and say we have to accept some degree of crime and blood.
So, what is the solution? It is not easy, though it is simple, at least conceptually. It is the historic Palestinian demand of One State. The Palestinians themselves proposed this from the word go, knowing that it brought up the problem of what to do with the Jews who had arrived.
One of the old factions of the PLO stated:
However, the DFLP had come to a premature recognition that as well as the Palestinian national question there was also a “Jewish question” which inevitably has to be resolved if one aims to reach a democratic solution to the conflict, emphasising that the resolution of the Jewish question was conditional on freeing itself from the zionist project and the necessary coexistence with the Palestinian Arabs on an equal footing under the slogan of a “Popular Democratic State” which would be built on the ruins of the State of Israel; but, how would this aim be achieved in the light of the overwhelming superiority of Israel and its firm commitment to North American Imperialism?
The answer is to be found in the “prolonged people’s war throughout the all Palestinian and Arab territories”.(2)
Such voices were, back then and continue to be, a minority, but what they say is true. Those millions of Arabs that have come out on to the streets to protest against the Zionist regime face various enemies, one of them being their own bourgeoisies, the Arab states that have betrayed the Palestinian people time and again.
However, a Pan-Arabist revolution is a far way off but not impossible. None of the Arab regimes are progressive and they exist because they repress their own people, their own working class. But what would happen to the Jews who lived in the new state?
Well, many of them, Netanyahu style Nazis would flee to the USA alongside the Yanks that have arrived in recent decades, those from Western Europe, and the Ukrainians, amongst others. Something similar happened with whites when the racist apartheid regime in Rhodesia was overthrown in 1979.
The white population fell from 240,000 to 28,000 now. In Algeria a million Pieds-Noirs fled. Others, those that descend from families that have been in the region for centuries will stay, others will have to negotiate their future in the new state.
But not an inch can be given on the right of return of ALL the Palestinians, not only to the country, but also to their farms, olive and lemon fields, their rural and urban houses in the whole country.
So, should Israel be wiped off the face of the earth? Of course it should, and a new Palestinian secular democratic state should be built on the ruins of Zionism and Apartheid. The Arab states and elites should also be wiped off the face of the earth.
Later the war criminals and those responsible for crimes against humanity will have to be tried. The Zionists rightly put the German Nazi Adolf Eichmann in the dock. It was an act of justice.
Now the Palestinians and the rest of us have to put Nethanyahu and the other criminals in the dock, perhaps with the same consequences.
Though whether they spend the rest of their miserable lives in prison or they go to the gallows may be up for discussion, what is beyond debate is whether they should be tried for crimes against humanity. They should be tried as such.
Long live Palestine Free and United!
Notes
(1) The Bantustans were segregated zones set aside for blacks in South Africa under Apartheid. They were supposedly independent from the regime but in reality had no autonomy. They were governed by black “leaders” that supported the regime, or at least were not very critical in the same way as the Palestinian Authority.
(2) F. Suleiman, (n/d), La Izquierda Palestina Revolucionaria: Tres décadas de exp eriencia de lucha (1969-1999), FDLP http://www.fdlpalestina.org/index.htm
Diarmuid Breatnach
(Reading time: 6 mins.)
As the sixth march or rally in Dublin in three weeks concludes, with a large one also in Armagh and others take place around the world but Israel’s genocide intensifies, we need to reflect on what is our impact with these.
We are not stopping the genocide or even slowing it down, nor are we really hurting the Israeli state, nor even stopping their Dublin Embassy churning out lies, twice criticising the President of the state for relatively mild statements and accusing Ireland of helping Hamas build tunnels.1
This failure is not the fault of the people in what is probably the most pro-Palestinian state in Europe or indeed in the Western world. There are limited options here – but are we exploring them all?
The Irish Government, given its limitations as a neo-colonial Gombeen administration, cannot be expected to do more than flog the false and failed two-state solution and push for an immediate ceasefire, in which – though ineffective — it is going further than many another EU state.
It could send a clear message, if not of Palestinian solidarity, at least of condemnation of the genocide being carried out during these last three weeks. That might start something going around the world but this Government would have to answer for it to the British, the USA and the EU.
No, not going to happen, not from a neo-colonial ruling class. But what if the pressure to expel the Israeli Ambassador were huge? Then they could at least whine to their masters about how difficult it had become for them to hold the line – so maybe Israel should ease off the genocide?
But no, they are not under so great a pressure there either. And why is that?
On the march on Saturday, whenever the call went out to expel the Israeli Ambassador, it was enthusiastically supported. But in most places along the march, that call could not be heard, nor was it given any space in many sections.
And a major reason is that the organisation which called that demonstration and most of the demonstrations and rallies over these three weeks, not only in Dublin but in a number of other towns and cities across Ireland, is refraining from calling for the Ambassador’s expulsion.
That organisation is the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) which has been the main organisation for many years organising Palestine solidarity marches, rallies, pickets, public meetings, leafleting, information tables, film showings, quizzes, postering and lobbying.
Why is the IPSC not calling for the expulsion of the Zionist Ambassador? It can hardly be for any reason of liking her or what she stands for! Nor can it be for anything like bribery or fear. And in fact we know that at least some of the leadership do want the Ambassador expelled.
The reason for holding back on that demand is, sad to say, political opportunism of the social-democratic, reformist kind. To maintain a broad front and not scare off the allies. And what allies might they be so worried about losing or scaring off? Sinn Féin, it seems.
What — Sinn Féin? — one may ask with disbelief. Sure didn’t they themselves call for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador? Yes, 10 years ago, Gerry Adams called for that and probably since then a couple of times party spokespersons have done so. But that was then and this is now.
The “now” that is relevant to this is that the party has been remodelling itself to fit into the governing circles of this Gombeen neo-colony and demonstrating again and again that Sinn Féin is a safe pair of hands in which to leave the management of the Irish State.
In two municipal meetings very recently, Sinn Féin councillors abstained from voting on a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire and the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador.
In Derry, the motion was passed despite that abstention but according to reports SF councillors abstained also on a similar motion in Mid Ulster District Council on Thursday which failed to pass.2
In the Leinster House debate this week, SF put some amendments forward but none called for the expulsion of the Ambassador and they didn’t support the PBP amendment that did; in the end SF voted for the Government motion (not even abstaining).3
The IPSC leaders probably expect, as seems very likely, that Sinn Féin will be part of the next government and don’t want to embarrass them before that, in the mistaken belief that the party will then deliver all – or at least much – of what is needed when they are in that government.
But the leaders of the IPSC should be doing the exact opposite – they should be putting SF and its presence in the next government under pressure now and afterwards, calling all the time for the expulsion of that representative of genocide, racism, apartheid and colonisation.
But not only is the leadership of the IPSC (despite their own feelings no doubt) not calling publicly for the expulsion of the Ambassador, it seems that they are actually now also asking featured speakers not to voice that call!
It is bad enough that SF has changed from being an anti-imperialist revolutionary organisation to being a party of colonial collusion (in the 6 Counties) and neo-colonial (in the Irish state) – but now other organisations feel the need to reduce their own demands in concert!
The intelligent tactic, contrary to watering down the demands is to put those in power under greater pressure to deliver gains. That happens to be the revolutionary path also.
Speaking at Saturday’s rally near the US Embassy, Bríd Smith4 of the People Before Profit party did indeed call for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador and also denounced the ruling class and government drift towards NATO and PESCO (the EU’s military intervention force).
Smith said, in reference to Ireland’s struggle for independence – and well might she speak of it, coming as she does from a Republican family – that “we are standing on the shoulders of giants … who fought for our independence.”
Sadly she spoiled that by also claiming that they won independence for us.5 Hopefully that was an unfortunate slip of the tongue but one could not be certain of that. Over the years it has been far from clear that the PBP (SWM previously) and the SP support Irish national liberation.
At least Bríd Smith and other PBP speakers have publicly stated that Palestinians have the right to resist and this presumably means armed resistance, as explicitly stated by the Socialist Party in their leaflet distributed on the march6 and that is the position of the electoral left.
As for the rest of the Left, the International Marxist Tendency was also calling for “intifada revolution” on the march, as were the Anti-Imperialist Action organisation (AIA) on last week’s demonstration.
Presumably that is the position also of other Republican organisations7 but difficult to confirm as their participation as groups in these demonstrations is minimal, despite their long traditions of Palestinian solidarity.
The question of the right to resist and to do so in arms is a sharp dividing line between revolutionary internationalist solidarity on the one hand and liberal/ social-democratic solidarity, on the other, which seeks ‘peace’ (i.e return to status quo) rather than victory for the oppressed.
However, stating the right to resist in arms is not always what it seems; for example the SP’s leaflet condemns Hamas but does not propose any alternative armed resistance group to support, unlike the AIA for example, which clearly promotes the PFLP8 and without condemning any other group.
THE MARCH
On Saturday’s demonstration, thousands marched from the Spire in O’Connell Street across O’Connell Bridge and around Trinity College, along Nassau Street and then South Merrion Square. The march was heading for the US Embassy but along as many minor roads as possible.
The usual Palestinian solidarity slogans were being shouted but less of the Irish language was to be heard than was the case last week and certainly many less placards in Irish were to be seen.
“Israeli Ambassador – Out, out, out!” was audible in some sections and got good support in those but it was missing from most of the march (and no room given for it some sections), although when the demand was voiced by Bríd Smith speaking at the rally, it gathered a roar of approval.
Throughout these weeks the horrific genocidal bombing of Gaza by Israel has continued, along with a blockade of food, water, electric power and medicine.
Three days ago the number of Palestinian dead to the Israeli bombing since October 7th passed 7,000 of which nearly half were children. That does not included those killed since then, nor Palestinians killed in the West Bank, nor bodies still to be found under rubble.9
The latest attack has been the imposed social media, news and electronic communication blackout as Israeli troops tested the ground for their attempt to wipe out Gazan resistance.
This is not just a blanket drawn over the abattoir which Netanyahu’s butchers have made of Gaza but also a massive interference with calls to emergency services – yet another war crime — and also for people to speak with their distraught relatives outside Gaza.
In our weak position with limited capabilities, putting pressure on all concerned to demand the expulsion of the Zionist Ambassador is one of the most effective things we can do and we should insist on support for that demand from all who claim to support the Palestinians.
End.
FOOTNOTES
1https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41253880.html Also since the Zionist Ambassador’s initial criticism of the President’s description of what her state was doing as war crimes, she returned to criticise him on public media yet again. In a number of countries around the world, recently for example in Spain and in Colombia, this has been the arrogant behaviour of Israeli Ambassadors, unused to having their dominant discourse challenged.
2I heard about this from two different sources but failed to get any information by a news search or by using Mid-Ulster District Council’s own website.
3See Sources.
4Bríd Smith is a TD (member of the Irish parliament) but reportedly not going to stand in the next general elections.
5Apart from the Irish state being a neo-colonial one, i.e nominally independent but actually a client of foreign imperialism, one-sixth of Ireland’s territory is under armed occupation by the EU.
6I did not see a PBP leaflet distributed on the march.
7In which, as a result of fundamental changes from Republican positions of the party in recent years, I am clearly not including Sinn Féin.
8Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular revolutionary Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organization founded in 1967
9https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/27/middleeast/gaza-death-toll-report-intl/index.html
SOURCES
Israeli Embassy:https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41253880.html
SF recent position on Palestine and Israel:
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2023-10-18/18/
https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2023/1015/1410920-sinn-fein-hamas/
rebelbreeze 