Category: Political Analysis

Ta-Nehisi Coates – A Zionist Repents

On By rebelbreezeIn Book Review, Current Affairs Comment, Genocide, Human Rights, Imperialism, Indigenous or Original People, Middle East, Palestine, Political Analysis, US Imperialism, ZionismLeave a comment

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (21/10/2024)

(Reading time: 6 mins.)

A number of years ago I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book We Were Eight Years in Power, which was a eulogy to the Obama era and people like himself who had done well out of that period in the US. 

It was a terrible book, rightly slated by many and led to black academic and activist Cornel West describing him as the neoliberal wing of the black freedom struggle.[1] The book was so bad, I barely got half way through it and put it down never to pick it up again. 

Cornel West (left) described Ta-Nehisi Coates (right) as the neo-liberal wing of the black freedom struggle.

I never thought I would read another of his books, though I have read some articles of his.  Then came his new book The Message and the criticism from the Right on his comments on Palestine.  So, I surrendered and read it.  This time in its entirety. 

It is an easy well-written read.

As with all his books, this is very much about him.  His preferred pronouns are definitely I and My (yes, I know My is not a pronoun, but none of this pronoun nonsense obeys the rules of grammar in any case). 

It deals with three trips he made and how he felt about them and the issues that arose.  Given the CBS interview I fully expected to find some hard critique of the US, Israel and Apartheid, though that is not his style. 

Instead, he relates stories about his experiences in Palestine, talking to Palestinians and also to Israeli settlers.  That is it.  The Israelis obviously do not come out well in the book.  How could they? 

Coates likens his experiences in Palestine to Jim Crow in the US and Apartheid in South Africa.  They are the comments and observations on what he saw, and pretty much middle of the road. 

He is no Norman Finkelstein with his searing condemnations of Israeli massacres and Apartheid.  It says more about the US media that Coates’ interesting, but in no way extreme comments, have provoked such fury.

This part of the book, is partly a Mea Culpa for previous articles he had written in which he praises Israel, chief among them, apparently, is his essay published in The Atlantic, The Case for Reparations. 


Ta-Nehisi Coates

In the essay, he liberally and uncritically quotes terrorists and murderers such as David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin.[2] He has much to apologise for in that essay. 

The essay starts off with a biblical epigraph from the book of Deuteronomy and also an anonymous quote from 1861 “By our unpaid labor and suffering, we have earned the right to the soil, many times over and over, and now we are determined to have it.” 

Except the land in question, that which Lincoln promised to give to freed slaves was land that had or would be stolen from native American Indians, who do not figure in his case for reparations, just like Palestinians didn’t exist for him. 

It is a thoroughly vile, though well researched piece, that I have criticised previously in an essay entitled Reparations Without Talking About Capitalism[3] and won’t go into again here. 

He now says that he is ashamed of some of the things he said in that essay, which he mentions in his book.  He does not mention an earlier essay which leaves no doubt as to where his loyalty and politics lies:  The Negro Sings of Zionism.[4] 

In it he compares Zionism to Black Nationalism, Theodore Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement to Huey Newton and even Malcolm X!  This essay was written only months before Obama, his hero, came to power and was in the throes of his election campaign.

Obama was and, like Kamala Harris, still is an ardent supporter of Israeli atrocity.  Coates was not going to challenge Obama on this point, ever. 

And even now in the midst of the genocide in Gaza he has publicly called for people to vote for Kamala Harris, saying that sometimes the choices are bad.[5] 

And further, he says a Kamala presidency which supports “apartheid and genocide” would be nightmare scenario “of being the first Black woman president and having 2,000-pound bombs with your name on them dropping on Gaza.”[6]   

Except it is not.  It is business as usual. The only nightmare is for the Palestinians, not for him or the rest of the liberals who will vote for Harris. 

Under Obama, the US bombed at least six countries, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, where the Houthis are actually challenging both the US and Israel and of course Libya

where the toppling of Gaddafi led to the reintroduction of open-air slave markets where black Africans were once again for sale.  Not a minor point you would think for a black identitarian. 

In 2016 alone, Obama in his final year of his presidency dropped a staggering 26,171 bombs i.e. three bombs every hour, every day of the year.[7]  Meanwhile Coates was waxing lyrical about how he and others like him had spent eight years in power. 

He should own it! That was on Coates as well.  He doesn’t get to wash his hands now.

Sometimes the choices are bad, he claims.  But would he tolerate a white person voting for a racist politician on the grounds that they had good positions on other issues, such as abortion?  I think not. 

His arrogance leads him to think he and Harris deserve a pass on this now.  He doesn’t, nobody does.  Neither does the hypothetical white voter who wants to vote for some racist who has good positions on other issues.

The level of ignorance that Coates claims for himself is hard to fathom and even harder to believe.  He claims to not be sure when exactly in his visit to Palestine he first heard the term Nakba. 

He also states that “For as sure as my ancestors were born into a country where none of them was the equal of any white man, Israel was revealing itself to be a country where no Palestinian is ever the equal of any Jewish person anywhere.” 

Revealing itself?  Under which rock had Coates been hiding?  Had he not heard of Operation Cast Lead? 

It was launched in the same year he sang his hymn to Zionism.  It resulted in around 1,500 Palestinian deaths, mainly civilians and the displacement of 100,000 people.  Did he never hear of the Goldstone Report on that operation? 

And the scandal when Goldstone was forced to recant?  It was one of many such assaults on Gaza.  All of this and other incursions have been well documented.

Writers write.  Everyone knows that, it is their art, their trade.  But more than write, they read.  All writers read, even the bad ones have to read something occasionally.  Coates’ ignorance is not credible. 

When he researched his essays praising Zionism, did he not come across a single solitary article to give him some pause for thought?  Any piece by Finkelstein, Ilán Pappé, Chomsky, anyone at all?  His feigned ignorance is not plausible.

In his song to Zionism, Coates looked at the conflict through his identitarian eyes, and chose a side that he thought was closest to his own identity.  His “repentance” is a similar process.  He now sees the Palestinians through those eyes. 

We have no idea how far he will go with this and when he will backtrack.  Like many writers he can read the room and probably feels now is a good moment to be on the Palestinian side.  But his repentance only goes so far. 

If Harris wins the election, he will at some point write Another Eight Years in Power.  Or if she loses, The Land of Milk and Honey We Were Deprived of.

He states early on his book that “we could never practice writing solely for the craft itself, but must necessarily believe our practice to be in service of that larger emancipatory mandate.”  Like Gandhi said of British civilisation, it would be a good idea. 

But what is that mandate? Abortion rights in the US, but genocide in Palestine?

He has little understanding or willingness to deal with issues of capitalism, imperialism, or his own role in it all.  The book will through its anecdotes prove interesting to many and he has an easy-to-read style.  You could read this book in one sitting.

Just don’t expect any deep analysis or understanding, there isn’t any.  I have said nothing of the other two parts to the book, which almost deserve a critique of their own, though it would be more favourable than I have been thus far on his coverage of Palestine. 

Borrow it, don’t buy it.  Money is hard to come by, Coates is not short of a bob or two and there are better things to spend your money on.

End.

NB: For more articles by Gearóid see https://gearoidloingsigh.substack.com

[1] The Guardian (17/12/2017) Ta-Nehisi Coates is the neoliberal face of the black freedom struggle.  Cornel West. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/17/ta-nehisi-coates-neoliberal-black-struggle-cornel-west

[2] The Atlantic (06/2014) THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS. Ta-Nehisi Coates. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

[3] Ó Loingsigh, G. (18/08/2020) Reparations Without Talking About Capitalism.  https://www.academia.edu/124919533/Reparations_Without_Talking_About_Capitalism

[4] The Atlantic (13/05/2008) The Negro Sings of Zionism.  Ta-Nehisi Coates. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2008/05/the-negro-sings-of-zionism/5201/

[5] Des Moines Register (15/10/2024) Ta-Nehisi Coates says he’ll likely vote for Kamala Harris. ‘Sometimes, the choices are bad’. F. Amanda Tugade. https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/des-moines/2024/10/15/ta-nehisi-coates-says-he-has-a-responsibility-to-people-in-new-book-the-message-kamala-harris/75673159007/

[6] Forward (10/10/2024) Ta-Nehisi Coates says Harris funding Gaza war as first Black female president would be ‘nightmare’. https://forward.com/fast-forward/663139/ta-nehisi-coates-harris-gaza/

[7] The Guardian (09/01/2024) America dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016. What a bloody end to Obama’s reign.  Medea Benjamin.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy

THERE WILL BE NO RED LINES

On By rebelbreezeIn Anti-War, Current Affairs Comment, Genocide, Imperialism, Indigenous or Original People, Israeli Zionism, Massacres, Middle East, Political Analysis, Political Prisoners, Torture3 Comments

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 4 mins.)

In future, there will be no red lines in attacking your country.

Yes, I do mean YOUR country, wherever you are. In whatever war it’s in. And in this imperialist world, it’s a safe bet your country will be part of a war, directly or a little indirectly, sometime in your lifetime. Or in your kids’ lifetimes.

The Adversary will be able to carpet-bomb your residential areas, your hospitals and medical centres, schools and universities, places of religious worship, markets, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, bakeries, internet access sites, gyms, your infrastructures and municipal authorities.

There might be some condemnations at high levels abroad, even threats of court cases but nothing will be actually done in practice.

The Adversary will be able to attack your food stores, blockade you from food and fuel imports, bomb your farms and fishing fleets. It will be able to call down aerial strikes on people in their homes, in vehicles or shoot them by snipers or drones as they walk in the street.

Your cities’ food delivery trucks, construction and rubble-clearing and heavy lifting vehicles will be targeted, along with their drivers and operators. That is so that your people will have to dig with your hands to find victims under the rubble of bombed buildings.

Your ambulances and paramedics will be targeted so that picking up wounded or even corpses becomes a high-risk job and your hospitals will be bombed, shot at and invaded to reduce the life chances of any bombing victim found alive in the rubble or on the street.

Your country’s infrastructures of electricity generation and supply, water supply, sewage collection and treatment, waste collection and treatment, telecommunication and public transport will be bombed and bombed and bombed again.

Your reporters will be shot on the street and their homes bombed, as will your media networks offices. That hardly seems necessary anyway since no-one who sees any of the atrocities, no-one with power anyway, will even try to stop what is being done to you and your people.

That’s because there are no red lines anymore.

Your populations will be refugees in your own land and their tents and shacks will be bombed and fire-bombed. They will be bombed wherever they go and they will be bombed on the way there. They will be told some areas are safe and then they’ll be bombed and shot at there also.

Food, fuel, water and medicine supplies will be blocked, blockaded and even bombed. Many of you will be hungry, thirsty and cold. The weaker ones, also the very young and the elderly, will die prematurely of diseases and ailments or untreated wounds and sores.

People with special medical needs will die from lack of specialised medical treatment, procedures, equipment or medication.

Your children will be denied education, safety and even life. Your young and middle-aged men and women will be denied work, safety and even life. Your elders will be denied safety in retirement — and even life.

Some of you will resist, of course. Those the Adversary can catch will be put in prisons; mostly not even a trial will be required but when it does, it will be a mockery of standard judicial procedure. In jail they will be beaten, humiliated, tortured, degraded, half-starved, raped and die.

Some of your resistors will be shot after they’ve been captured. Random civilians will be shot by snipers or drones, thrown into graves and earth pushed over them, perhaps even while alive; other bodies will lie in the street to make you sick with terror and the smell of their decomposing bodies.

Other civilians – including children – will be used as human screens or shields for the Invader’s troops and even their armoured vehicles. They will be used to test mines, booby traps and IEDs.

You will be taught how little your lives matter and how easily they can be wiped out.

There is no longer humanitarian international law, no Geneva Convention; there are no longer any red lines.

It will happen because …

The Zionist state has committed all the crimes listed above and has done so while being photographed, filmed and even live-streamed by reporters, victims, witnesses and even by the Zionist soldiers themselves, in thousands of boastful videos and photographs.

Jabalia, North Gaza, IOF rounding up Palestinian civilians after destroying their neighbourhoods.

Their military leaders, politicians and media have proclaimed their intentions and followed them up in practice.

There have been some high-level international complaints and criticisms and even court cases but nothing in practice has been done by the relevant international bodies to physically stop the Zionist genocide or even to deprive them of the weapons and finance to carry out that genocide.

Yes, we know that there have been many human rights violations committed by Western powers in other wars: Dresden, Hiroshima/ Nagasaki, Korea, Algeria, Vietnam, Ireland, Lebanon, Iraq … And some of them were photographed too.

But never before has there been such blatant and daily violation of all principles of international law at so many levels to be seen live on our screens while Western powers leaders justified it and all international institutions were either complicit or helpless.1

So now that the unthinkable has been done there, it is no longer unthinkable anywhere. And if not unthinkable, then history shows us that it will indeed be thought of. History shows us too that what is thought of will also be done.

What hasn’t been done yet?

Poisoning your water supplies? Why not? So long as there be a water supply for the invading soldiers and good clean water for the occupiers, the settlers. Germ warfare? Why not? As long as the invaders and settlers are immune or the pathogens die out in time for occupation.

There are no red lines any longer and you can expect none when war comes to your country.

Anything goes.

End.

Footnotes

1And people who protested it in western states were maligned, hounded in work and academia, beaten on the street, arrested …

THE MYSTERY OF THE NORD STREAM 2 EXPLOSION SOLVED?

On By rebelbreezeIn Anti-War, Current Affairs Comment, Environmental, Imperialism, NATO, Political Analysis, US ImperialismLeave a comment

Clive Sulish

(Reading time: 6 mins.)

On 26 September 2022, an explosion blew a section of the Nord Stream 2 gas supply pipeline from Russia to Germany, incidentally causing an environmental disaster for sea-life in the area. Investigations confirmed that it was an act of sabotage.1

Amidst accusations and theories,2 no perpetrator was conclusively identified.

But two years later, in September 2024, an important item of previously-suppressed information came to light in a Danish newspaper. It was not however picked up by the mainstream western media, despite its potentially crucial contribution to solving the mystery.

Alternative sources however alighted on it and it is now coming into the public light.

In any investigation of culpability for a human action, one of the first established principles to investigate is – and targets of investigation should be — cui bono? (in Latin, who benefits?). Next, Qui habet potestatem? — Who has the means? Finally, Who had the opportunity?

Map of route of the Nord Stream pipelines showing neighbouring state. (Source image: Financial Times)

Potentially, any in the anti-Russian coalition around NATO stood to benefit by harming not only a Russian installation but also a major source of financial benefit to Russia, i.e of sales of gas to Germany. Many eyes turned towards Russia’s opponent in the Ukraine, the Zelensky regime.

However, neither Russia nor any other serious commentators ever considered that NATO proxy to be the culprit. Russia and others stated that the operation required a major state, both in the depths concerned, in surface support needed and in the explosive type and detonation system.

A number of commentators pointed the finger at the USA, which denied any involvement. Well, the USA is a major state and certainly had the motive, as Russia was and remains its major target in the Ukraine war and it also had the potential technical and personnel means.

It would also of course, as an enemy of Russia, benefit from harm to its opponent. It would benefit the USA financially too, though that was yet to become clear.

From whom would Germany buy its power to warm its population and production through the winter as an alternative to Russian gas? That new source would turn out to be – yes, the USA.

OK, so suspicion should fall heavily on the USA, leader of NATO and chief among the enemies of Russia. But did it have the opportunity?

Since there was no record of a US naval presence in the area at the time of the explosion (even though they had been there previously in one of those major joint exercises they like to carry out to bring their allies closer and intimidate their opponents), the media investigation floundered.

Russia asked at the UN Security Council for an investigation, which was rejected. No decision of the Council can be made against a veto of even one of the five Permanent Members, of which three are part of the NATO coalition (USA, UK and France).

A number of alternative theories began to be put around, including mention of large yacht in the area and a Ukrainian oligarch financier. Official investigations were launched by two states in whose economic zone the operation must have taken place: Denmark and Sweden.3

Both regimes are part of the US/NATO/EU coalition and there may have been suspicions that their investigations might not be sufficiently thorough. In any case, in February this year both states closed their investigations without having identified the perpetrator.

Germany’s investigation is ongoing and it issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian oligarch who fled to NATO proxy Ukraine with assistance of NATO member Poland. However Russia and serious commentators have always said that a major state, something Ukraine is not, was culpable.

On 17 July 2024, the German government refused to publish the preliminary results of the investigation after the Alternative für Deutschland (AFD) party asked for it, or to comment about the possible involvement of American intelligence services or Ukraine in the pipeline attack.4

In October 2024, the Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche wrote an article based on an interview given to Danish Politiken by John Anker Nielsen, the harbourmaster of Christianso in Denmark on the day of the two-year-anniversary of the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage.

Back in September 2023, the Christianso harbourmaster detected the presence of ships in the area with their transponders, equipment identifying the ship and its course, silent. Assuming some kind of accident, Nielsen sailed out to investigate, finding US Navy there.

With no evidence of disaster and a request that he leave, Nielsen turned for home. (Suppose that information had been included in the Danish investigation, would the fingers pointing at the USA not have multiplied?)

Nielsen says he was told to keep quiet about what he knew but decided to end his silence in September and his story was published in a local newspaper. Later alternative commentators such as Glen Greenwald and others on X picked up on it and now it’s finding its way into wider media.

The Swiss newspaper article went on to note that the USS Keararge three months earlier had participated in the BALTOPS 2022 exercise that included unmanned underwater vehicles suitable for demining and other underwater operations.5

Such vessels as those could transport explosive charges suitable for blowing the Nord Stream pipelines. The Swiss newspaper claimed this new information calls into question the assumption that a Ukrainian group was responsible for the sabotage and that investigations are continuing.6

OUTCOMES

The outcomes to date are that Russia has received heavy financial damage, both in the cost of the pipe and any repair costs but also through loss of a customer who might well have resumed its purchase of gas from Russia in preference to dearer fuel from elsewhere.

Carlos Latuff cartoon outlining the major suspicions at the time.

The USA has benefited financially because it is also an energy exporter, including to Germany, where Russia was its main competitor.

In 2022, Germany imported 44.65 million tonnes of hard coal. Its leading coal suppliers were Russia (29.2%), the United States (20.8%) and Colombia (16.3%).7 So in the event of any embargo on Russian hard coal, the US stands to benefit enormously.

But what about natural gas, formerly supplying 55% of Germany’s power supply, no longer possible from Russia through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline? About 45% …. comes from Norway through pipelines, 4% from the Netherlands, 5% domestic production … the rest from western neighbours.8

Norway and the United States were the top suppliers of gas to the EU in 2023. Norway provided almost 30% of all gas imports. But the actual origin of those supplies is not so easy to identify and reports even estimate that a small percentage of the EU’s supply is actually Russian.

Although additional suppliers include North African countries, the UK and Qatar, in 2023, the United States was the largest LNG supplier to the EU, representing almost 50% of total LNG imports. In 2023, comparing to 2021, imports from the US almost tripled.9

It seemed likely that some at least – and perhaps a lot – of Germany’s current LNG supply, though perhaps through another country, would actually be of US origin. And it turns out that the US has been the dominant LNG supplier to Germany since 2022 at 82% of total imports.10

IN CONCLUSION

While the USA has benefited significantly financially from the pipeline explosion and strategically through damaging an opponent, Germany has at the same time suffered a loss in having to buy more expensive fuel (from the USA).11 But Germany is an ally of the USA and a prominent one in NATO.

This episode demonstrates that 1) the USA, in advancing its own interests, is prepared to break the law and to see an ally suffer but also that 2) a major European capitalist power has surrendered a substantial portion of its own interests for the benefit of the USA, as a price of membership of the NATO club.

Germany, though an enthusiastic supporter of NATO, due to its dependence on natural Russian gas, had been reluctant to engage fully in the economic sanctions against Russia proposed by NATO. The blowing up of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline removed that dependence, transferring it to the USA.

The USA benefited, both politically/ militarily in hurting its opponent and in increasing the dependence of an ally. It also benefited subsequently financially, in gaining a major customer market share. The USA had more than enough Motive to carry out the sabotage.

It also had the Means (the capability) and now, as we know, the Opportunity also! Circumstantial? Sure but a mountain of evidence nevertheless.

End.

FOOTNOTES

MAIN SOURCES (see also Footnotes)

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-navy-was-at-scene-of-nord-stream-blasts–danish-media
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_pipelines_sabotage

Unlikelihood of Ukraine culpability: https://ukraineworld.org/en/articles/analysis/wrong-allegations-against-ukraine

1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_pipelines_sabotage

2Including an unbelievable one that Russia had done it themselves in order to blame the USA.

3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_pipelines_sabotage

4Receiving the answer: “after careful consideration, the Federal Government has come to the conclusion that the question cannot be answered for reasons of public interest”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_pipelines_sabotage

5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_pipelines_sabotage

6Ibid.

7https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-dependence-imported-fossil-fuels

8https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-have-two-more-floating-lng-import-terminals-operation-winter-operator

9https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/eu-gas-supply

10https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/013024-german-gas-industry-group-slams-us-pause-on-new-lng-export-permits

11https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nord-stream-insurers-say-policies-did-not-cover-war-risks-kommersant-reports-2024-04-18/

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE, THOUSANDS MARCH IN BASQUE CITIES

On By rebelbreezeIn Basque Country, Current Affairs Comment, Current Event Report, Euskal Herria, Guerrilla Action, Imperialism, Indigenous or Original People, Internationalist Solidarity, Israeli Zionism, Massacres, Middle East, National Liberation, Palestine, Political Analysis, ZionismLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 4 mins.)

Thousands marched recently in two cities of the Basque Country, Bilbo and Iruña/ Pamplona,1 respectively the capitals of the Bizkaia and Nafarroa2 provinces, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and with their Resistance.

And almost immediately posters could be seen calling for the same on the 11th November, but in four Basque cities, including a city in one of the provinces on the French state’s side.3

“Well that’s great but sure we do that here every second week or so,” some might say. But they’d be wrong. The marches organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, while calling for solidarity with the Palestinians and BDS4 of the ‘Israeli’ state and businesses, do not support the Resistance.

The rally stage at the end of the march in Bilbao, on the east bank of the Nervion river. Banner exalting the Resistance in the centre facing the crowd, banner to the left calling for solidarity with the Resistance and another to the right calling for struggle against ‘Israel’. (Photo cred: Resumen Latinamericano)

Nor do the marches organised by the main Palestine solidarity organisations in England or in Scotland. It might be pleaded that in the UK at least, people could be arrested for declaring support for a number of Palestinian resistance organisations that are on the EU “terrorist” list.5

The leadership of the Basque Patriotic Left6 does not support the resistance either, preferring to draw the Palestinians and Basques together as victims under a Gernika-Gaza initiative and even criticising the resistance along with the Zionists in a “both sides” kind of analysis.

But no law exists in these countries forbidding expression of “solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance.” The organisers of those campaign organisations don’t declare for the Resistance because a) they don’t support it or b) wish to remain tolerated by the upholders of the status quo.

View of section of the crowd, giving an idea of its size, the largest Palestine solidarity demonstration in the Basque Country since the present phase of Zionist genocide began on 8th October last year. (Photo cred: Resumen Latinamericano).

IT MATTERS

Well, ok, but does it really matter? Yes, it does and it matters a lot, for the Palestinians, for others struggling against imperialism elsewhere around the world – and for us. Not supporting the Resistance leaves open the question of, for example, the Palestinian Authority.

This Vichy-like organisation headed by a corrupt Quisling sends its security force to intimidate and beat up critics and demonstrators, to arrest them and also Resistance fighters (including invading hospitals to chase down the wounded) and removes defences against IOF invasion.

The PA, despite its widely-acknowledge corruption and the contempt in which it is held by broad Palestinian society, is formally recognised as the ‘representative of the Palestinian people’ by the western imperialists and by many social-democratic parties in Europe.

It is an offence against the Palestinian people and internationalist solidarity to accept the PA as any kind of representation of the heroic Palestinian people – or even to leave the question open. Furthermore, such a stance leaves the door open to all kinds of traitors and confusion.

In our own struggles, we need to be clear who are our enemies and friends. To accept treasonous agencies as representatives of struggling people contaminates our own attitudes in struggle, confuses and undermines our thinking, clouding our vision.

A woman holds high a placard calling to “Free Palestine” and to “Boycott Israel.” (Photo sourced: Internet)

BEING CLEAR AND MAKING IT CLEAR

We need to be clear – and to make it clear – that we support the Palestinian resistance in all its forms: popular, armed, trade unionist, cultural, artistic … and that we abhor collaboration and collusion with the enemy.

We can do that – and it has been done on occasion – by mobilising all who agree on a demo behind a banner celebrating the Palestinian Resistance. But how much better, if like the Basques today in Bilbao and in Iruña/ Pamplona, the whole demonstration marched behind that kind of slogan!

It might be thought that the demonstrations on 5th October would gather less than the safer Gernika-Gaza group of the official leadership of the Left Basque Patriotic movement (Otegi & co.) and other liberals but this was not the case in Bilbo anyway, on the biggest solidarity demonstration since October last year.

Advance posters for the solidarity march. (Photo sourced: Internet)

Two Palestinian Resistance factions, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine sent messages of thanks to the organisers and the demonstrators.

The demonstration and its theme were covered widely in Basque, Spanish, European and Latin American media, usually with photos.

Addressing the rally after the march in Bilbo on 5th October, a speaker listed the many crimes of the Zionist State and was loudly cheered when she said that only the abolition of that state could bring that career of genocidal crimes to an end.

The cheers grew louder still as she called for solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and all others fighting against imperialism and Zionism. And continued as she went on to call for a break with all states and political parties that support the Zionist State.7

The cheers might even have reached EH Bildu’s office and the leadership of the Gernika-Gaza group.

The march on its way to the rally across the river pauses on the way for photos. The long banner calls for “Support for the Palestinian Resistance” but also ” Oppose Israel and its accomplices.”(Photo cred: Boltxe)

End.

FOOTNOTES

1A number of places with Basque toponymics, under Spanish colonialism, were given Spanish names.

2Also known as ‘Navarre’ and ‘Navarra’.

3There are seven provinces in the Basque Country, three on the French side of the Border (Iparralde, ‘the North Country’) and four on the Spanish side (Hegoalde, ‘the South Country’).

4Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

5https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations–2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version There is actually no universally agreed definition of ‘terrorism’ neither in objectives nor in actions but if we were to accept “use of violence to achieve a political end” then we’d had to include the chief actors fitting that definition in the world – the western imperialist states, in particular the USA and the UK!

6That was the broad movement of legal and banned organisations of revolutionary Left and independentist outlook, the movement now reformist, much reduced and fragmented under the leadership of Arnaldo Otegi and the EH Bildu party.

7That clearly includes the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the social-democratic Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) currently in coalition government in the Basque Autonomous Regional Government.

SOURCES

Orga­ni­za­cio­nes de la resis­ten­cia pales­ti­na envían men­sa­jes de soli­da­ri­dad a mani­fes­ta­ción cele­bra­da en Bil­bao el 5 de octubre
Palestina. Exigen en todo el mundo el cese del genocidio israelí / Miles de manifestantes en numerosos países apoyan la Resistencia al ocupante sionista

A Boycott by Halves: Colombia and Israel

On By rebelbreezeIn Colombia, Current Affairs Comment, Internationalist Solidarity, Political AnalysisLeave a comment

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (14/10/2024)

(Reading time: 3 mins.)

As the Zionist state of Israel made headway in its genocide of Palestinians, although it dithered, the Petro government took various solidarity actions with Palestine such as deciding not to allow the sale of Colombian coal to Israel. 

One of the other measures it announced earlier in the midst of the genocide was the suspension of military purchases from Israel. 

It is worth pointing out that it was he, as President, who revived those contracts through his decision to buy Howitzers from Israel instead of the Caesar from the French company Nexter.[1]

However, Petro announced that he would replace the Israeli-made KFir planes as they were old, and difficult and expensive to maintain and opened up negotiations to buy 16 Rafale planes from the French company Dassault.[2] 

In October of last year, Israel suspended the sale of arms to Colombia,[3] due to the differences and tensions between the two governments.

Now Petro has gone into reverse and announced that he set aside US $ 761,000 for the maintenance of the KFir in addition to the sum from the contract signed in December 2022.[4]  Of course this contract is with the Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries. 

It openly contradicts his public statements regarding Israel and also regarding the “modernisation” of the Colombian fleet and as El Tiempo points out.

… it is indeed surprising the large financial increase made last September 30th (bold in original) to reactivate the maintenance contract on the aeroplanes.  Money that, furthermore, comes in the midst of serious questioning from political groups given the increase in air accidents amongst the Armed Forces.[5]

Barely 25% of the Kfir fleet is in working order at the moment.[6]  But its maintenance is an unnecessary expense.  The KFir are fighter jets, with the capacity for air to ground attacks and are supposedly needed to protect the country’s infrastructure. 

KFir fighter jets (Photo sourced: Internet)

But that isn’t true either.  More than to protect pipelines or other installations from guerrilla attacks they are to repel an attack from neighbouring countries.  Their specifications are clear.[7] 

The last time Colombia went to war with another country was in 1933 and it lost it, along with a significant part of its Amazon territory.

If Petro really wants to demilitarise the country, why does he insist on maintaining a fleet of planes that are not much use?  He should give up on the maintenance of the KFir and as was done in another period with the buses in Bogotá, turn them into scrap metal. 

Also, he should forego an unnecessary military expense in a country with so many needs.  Are there not schools, hospitals and universities to be built or equipped?

And where is the solidarity with Palestine that he has so often proclaimed? 

Gustavo Petro in Palestine-solidarity mode (Photo sourced: Internet)

If breaking off relations with Israel and suspending military contracts in the name of solidarity is a good idea, then it is a good idea at all times and more so now when there can be no doubt that Israel is a genocidal state …

and every dollar that its arms industry receives is another bomb falling on Gaza or an attack on Lebanon.  Cheap talk is costly to the Palestinians, but also to Colombians who see how his proposal to demilitarise society has come to nought. 

He did not abolish the ESMAD (specialised riot squad), as he promised, nor the obligatory military service, rather they now propose an obligatory social service for those who refuse to carry out military service. 

If the rich can’t have youths to fight their wars, at least they will have cheap or free labour through this supposed social service. It is worth remembering that in Spain military service was defeated by a campaign that also defeated the alternative social service.  Neither cannon fodder nor slaves.

It is time to be coherent.  What does Petro want? Solidarity with Palestine or war planes?  He can’t have both.  The demilitarisation of society or a social service in addition to military service?  It is one thing or the other.

NB: For more articles by Gearóid see https://gearoidloingsigh.substack.com

[1] Defense News (06/01/2023) Colombia picks Elbit’s Atmos howitzer over Nexter’s Caesar. José Higuera. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2023/01/06/colombia-picks-elbits-atmos-howitzer-over-nexters-caesar/

[2] Defense News (23/12/2023) Colombia begins negotiations to buy 16 Rafale fighter jets. José Higuera. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/12/23/colombia-begins-negotiations-to-buy-16-rafale-fighter-jets/

[3] Defense News (18/10/2023) Israel suspends defense sales to Colombia. José Higuera. https://www.defensenews.com/global/2023/10/18/israel-suspends-defense-sales-to-colombia/

[4] El Tiempo (02/10/2024) Gobierno del presidente Petro le acaba de dar 761 mil dólares a empresa israelí para los aviones Kfir, pese a ruptura diplomática. Rafael Quintero Cerón. https://www.eltiempo.com/datos/gobierno-del-presidente-petro-le-acaba-de-dar-761-mil-dolares-a-empresa-israeli-para-los-k-fir-pese-a-ruptura-diplomatica-3386564?s=35

[5] Ibíd.,

[6] Infodefensa (04/03/2024) Colombia solo opera el 25 % de su flota de aviones Kfir. Erich Saumeth. https://www.infodefensa.com/texto-diario/mostrar/4744327/045-solo-opera-25-flota-aviones-kfir

[7] National Interest (13/09/2024) Kfir: The Fighter Jet From Israel That Was Feared By Every Air Force.  Brandon J. Weichert. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/kfir-fighter-jet-israel-was-feared-every-air-force-211909

ARE ALL CULTURES EQUALLY VALID?

On By rebelbreezeIn Britain, Cultural Comment, Current Affairs Comment, Human Rights, Imperialism, Political Analysis, WomenLeave a comment

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (30/09/2024) (Images and captions by R. Breeze)

(Reading time: 6 mins.)

Kemi Badenoch, the contender for the Tory Party leadership in Britain has stirred up controversy through her comments that not all cultures are equally valid. 

She referred to women’s rights, gay rights and even hating Israel as signs of which cultures are less valid. 

Not surprisingly some right wing “feminists”, like the ones currently campaigning for the man who advocates sexually assaulting women in the US came out to agree with her. 

Key amongst them Kellie Jay Keen, who saw fit to bring up child marriage,[1] an issue Trump and every US president would know something about, given the huge numbers of child marriages in the US, where it is legal in 37 states.[2]

There are “cultures” they say where women have fewer or even no rights, gays are hounded or even killed and even where witch burnings are legal.  Badenoch said

We cannot be naive and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid.

They are not. I am struck, for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here. We must recognise that the world has changed.[3]

Imagine belonging to a culture that hated genocide!  I am tempted to say the joke writes itself, except it is no laughing matter. 

Although she brought up the issue in relation to immigration, when Badenoch says some cultures are less valid, what she really means is that there are countries that the “civilised” can bomb into the stone age, there are people Western troops can rape, women who can be bombed in maternity hospitals just as Israel does. 

What she does not mean is that Britain will not supply weapons to regimes like Saudi Arabia; her concern for women only goes so far.  In fact, she would personally sharpen the sword or knot the whip used to mete out lashes to women, if there was money in it for British companies. 

Between March 2015, when the Saudis began bombing Yemen, and March 2024 the Saudis received 8.2 billion in weapons sales.  BAE received 25 billion in the same period and has 6,700 employees based in the country.[4] 

Maybe some of these people whose culture she thinks are less valid are just fleeing the British bombs dropped on them by the head-chopping misogynists in Riyadh.

But what is a culture?

There is no agreed upon definition of what is a culture, but it is popularly understood to be the norms, customs, beliefs, practices, artistic production and world view of a given set of people, who are in turn not that easy to define. 

It is a malleable term that can be twisted and distorted to suit any agenda.  But Badenoch had specific people in mind.  Of course, she meant Muslims, though she pointed out she didn’t mean all Muslims, certainly not the ones buying British bombs.

But are there cultures where rape, witch burning and the persecution of gays is not only legal but socially acceptable?  Well yes, but let’s look at some of the facts and the British or Western values Badenoch thinks are being undermined.

Witch burning

Well, belief in superstitious nonsense is prevalent everywhere.  Most people believe an invisible man in the sky not only controls their everyday lives, but blesses the bombs as they rain down on the innocent.  But that aside, what about witches?

Well, it was Germany that gave us the Malleus Maleficarum and the witch hunts that murdered thousands of women in Britain and Ireland between 1450 and 1750 and King James (yep the bible basher) was particularly obsessed with the issue. That was a long time ago, however, nowadays.

The harshest place for witches, or rather, female foreign domestic house workers the government thinks are witches, may be Saudi Arabia. An entire police unit is dedicated to fighting witchcraft crime, and religious judges often convict people with laughable evidence.[5]

It is now, what it always was, the persecution of women in the economy.  But nobody in Britain burns witches nowadays, do they?  Well, it depends on what you mean by a witch.  The term is as malleable as culture. 

Acid attacks are a modern form of witch burning, where women are attacked for being women. 

Britain has the highest rate in the world of recorded acid attacks, with 1244 incidents in 2023,[6] not all of them against women, but a significant number were and racists have tried to paint it as an Asian problem. 

But police statistics tell another tale and debunked that myth as far back as 2017.

In reality, just 6% of all suspects in London over the last 15 years were Asian.

For the same period (2002-16), ‘White Europeans’ comprised 32% of suspects, and African Caribbeans 38% of suspects. About one in five suspects remain unknown – either because they can’t be identified, or because the victim has refused to identify them.

The number of Asian victims is 421 – around one fifth of the 2,196 total for the 15-year period. Almost half the victims (987) are White European, and one quarter (557) are African Caribbean.[7]

Some right wing “feminists” have also made similar arguments to Badenoch.  They ignore all their campaigning on rape when a migrant is charged and talk about imported problems.  But rape has been an historic problem in Britain and indeed around the world. 

“[Police ]Forces recorded 194,683 sexual offences in 2021-22, including 70,330 rapes, the highest number since records began in 2002/03.”[8]  We also know now that it is part of police “culture” in Britain to rape women, particularly in Manchester. 

Not sure who is sharing which “British values” Badenoch and her “feminist” friends were referring to.  Rape in every society is committed mostly by the partner of the woman or someone she knew. 

Migrants are not beating a track to Britain to rape women, women in Britain are being raped by their husbands, boyfriends, partners and other relatives.  That is a statistic that holds true around the world.

As for political rights.  It is true that Britain has had three female prime ministers (well, two and a half), Thatcher, May and Truss.  None of these female leaders defended women’s rights, in fact Thatcher was particularly hostile to women. 

Margaret Thatcher speaking as Prime Minister of the UK in 1974 – she supported no steps forward for women in the UK or abroad. (Photo sourced: Internet)

She cared so little for women that she agreed to fund the Afghan Mujahideen, the forerunner of the Taliban.[9]  The Tories shared the same values as these troglodytes and that is the tradition Badenoch stands in, despite the illusions and denials of right wing “feminists”. 

The US has yet to have its first female president, though that may change with the vote in November. 

Meanwhile, a host of countries that do not share Badenoch’s commitment to “British values” and the rights of women, as she would claim have had female leaders, including a number of Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, Tunisia, Mauritius, and Bangladesh.

The latter has had two female leaders in the last 25 years, with both of them serving two non-consecutive terms each.  One of them was recently overthrown, a fate that should have befallen Thatcher, but didn’t.

But how does Badenoch fare on women’s rights?  Well, she has abstained on extending abortion to Northern Ireland, buffer zones for abortion clinics and she opposed government supports for women going through menopause. 

Kemi Badenoch MP, contender for leader of the Conservative Party in Britain. (Photo sourced: Internet)

As Minister for Equality, she refused to outlaw discrimination against women going through the menopause, despite the fact that one in ten women between the ages of 45 and 55 leave the workforce due to menopause symptoms.[10]  She has no commitment to women.

Cultures change over time, before the British arrived two of the most celebrated Arab poets were gay. After the British imposition of anti-gay legislation and the promotion of conservative figures, their books were burned. 

They are not static and within certain cultures there are those who oppose the most reactionary elements of them, like Irish women who campaigned for contraception, abortion and divorce for decades. 

Badenoch is just an old-fashioned imperialist, who likes to play up her own black and migrant credentials to attack other minorities.  She does not defend women and the tropes about migrants repeated by KJK put her firmly in the Tommy Robinson camp she joined after the recent race riots.

It is a myth that the West is some bastion of women’s rights, when it is the West that promoted and props up the most reactionary anti-women regimes in the world. 

The British police have a record of rape culture both on and off duty.  They represent a greater threat to women than the “less valid” cultures of Badenoch’s delirium. 

Badenoch is the enemy of women, as is her entire Tory Party, hangers-on and Tommy Robinson’s new found “feminist” friends.

End.

[1] See https://x.com/ThePosieParker/status/1840774264405852368

[2] The Guardian (09/07/2024) I was handed to a complete stranger’: the survivors fighting to end child marriage in 37 US states – and the people who want to keep it legal.  Alaina Demopoulos. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/09/child-marriage-laws

[3] The Telegraph (28/09/2024) Migrants who come to Britain must uphold its traditions, not change them.  Kemi Badenoch.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/02/kemi-badenoch-interview-integration-tory-leadership/

[4] CAAT (27/03/2024) UK Arms to Saudi Arabia https://caat.org.uk/homepage/stop-arming-saudi-arabia/uk-arms-to-saudi-arabia/

[5] The Atlantic (30/10/2013) When Governments Go After Witches. Ryan Jacobs. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/when-governments-go-after-witches/280856/

[6] See www.asti.org.uk

[7] BBC (17/11/2017) Everything you know about acid attacks is wrong. https://www.bbc.com/bbcthree/article/5d38c003-c54a-4513-a369-f9eae0d52f91

[8] BBC (21/07/2022) Rape offences at highest recorded level https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62258162

[9] Declassified UK (08/09/2021) MARGARET THATCHER’S SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN JIHADISTS COVERED UP BY UK CENSORS. Phil Miller.  https://www.declassifieduk.org/margaret-thatchers-support-for-afghan-jihadists-covered-up-by-uk-censors/

[10] The New Stateman (02/03/2023) Kemi Badenoch refuses to outlaw menopause discrimination.  https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/healthcare/2023/03/kemi-badenoch-discrimination-menopause-women-equality-act-parliament

ECHOES FROM SHANNON: “SOVEREIGNTY FOR IRELAND NOW!”

On By rebelbreezeIn Current Affairs Comment, Current Event Report, Genocide, Human Rights, Imperialism, Internationalist Solidarity, Ireland, Israeli Zionism, Massacres, Middle East, National Liberation, Palestine, Political AnalysisLeave a comment

Róisín Nic Ghiolla Ír

(Reading time: 4 mins.)

On Saturday 12th October, thousands of people descended on Shannon Airport1 in an organic action to protest our land and airspace being used in the transport of U.S. munitions bound for Zionist Israel.

Demonstrators arriving in buses and cars were immediately met with Garda pushback at checkpoints about 2 kilometres from the entrance of Shannon Airport.

The diverted protestors were led down side roads and cul-de-sacs away from the mini roundabout area where regular anti-war protests occur. Such diversions epitomise government strategy perfectly: Divert. Distract. Divide.

The protestors were met with a hostile environment of steel barriers erected to separate and divide them upon entering the airport from all directions.

The weather was not so unkind, as the sun emerged around noon in time for the beat of the drums striking up an atmosphere of resistance and bold defiance.

Drums, placards, flags and chants at Shannon Airport Saturday (Photo source: Participant)

As the crowd descended, the silence was broken by Social Rights Ireland with a number of speeches given addressing Ireland’s connection with Palestine’s struggle for liberation, whilst our banners, “Break the Chains of Zionism” and “Sovereignty for Ireland NOW!” acted as a backdrop.

Various chants ensued, such as, “From Ireland to Palestine, occupation is a crime!”, “Resistance is an obligation in the face of occupation!” and “Saoirse don Phalastín!” Overall, the protest was peaceful and lasted several hours.

Two arrests were made under Section 6 of the Public Order Act following some pushing at barriers where protestors were gathered.

(Photo source: Participant)

As we know, genocide has been ripping through Palestine, devastating an entire population. Reports of the most brutal and dehumanising acts have forced people of conscience from all corners of the earth to confront the questions: how can this happen?

Why is no government or institution able to stop this Zionist terrorism?

For the first time in human history, a government has openly declared and is conducting a live-streamed genocide. This government also claims it is civilised, democratic and an upholder of human rights.

What started as a war of displacement has turned into a war of total obliteration. Meanwhile, the Irish people look on aghast, lost for words and running out of ideas as to how to make it stop.

The Free State2 watches too, unwilling to act but feigning concern and placating the masses with saccharine-coated words and vacuous gestures.

On the 9th October 2024, Fine Gael blueshirt,3 Simon Harris4 declared, “I think the world in general has failed the children of Gaza,” speaking in abstraction as if he is indeed not “part of the world”.

Not only is this an expression of abdication of responsibility, this admission to the people of Ireland confirms that he knows he is indeed powerless, a mere subject of his U.S. imperialist masters. Whether most Irish voters realise this, is debatable.

Allowing U.S. weapons to pass through our civilian airport, while claiming to be a neutral country and letting on to be concerned about the children of Gaza, is not simply an example of Fine Gael’s hypocrisy or gaslighting.

It is also blatant testimony to Harris’s and the state’s complete unwillingness to cut any ties with the U.S. Today the Free State is a tool of the Zionist ruler, it cannot fathom a future that is not connected to U.S. imperialism.

It is important for the Palestinian solidarity movement to not confuse solidarity and sovereignty.

How can Irish voters fully and genuinely express solidarity with the oppressed and work hand in hand with the oppressor? How can Irish voters call for an end to genocide whilst continuing business as usual?

How can politicians feast with genociders and sympathise with the starving?

Those who understand how oppression works know instinctively that hypocrisy is inbuilt to the psyche of politicians and the ruling class. The idea that politicians or the ruling class can be appealed to is pointless.

(Photo source: Participant)

The façade of Western democracy has completely unravelled. European values have been dismantled and replaced by E.U. interests best illustrated in the rise of Zionist leaders such as Ursula von der Liar and fascist governments across the E.U.

Anti-genocide protestors must stop trusting, appealing to, working with or appeasing the oppressor, be that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green fascist Party, or indeed, so-called opposition parties on the neo-liberal Left.

While those who descended on Shannon had a common, collective demand for the government to STOP THE PLANES! STOP THE BOMBS! what is still missing from our collective conversation is the topic of Ireland’s sovereignty.

To question WHY the U.S. or indeed the British forces can use our land, sea and air ports is of vital importance. Socialist Republicans understand that only a 32-county socialist workers’ republic can be truly sovereign, free from the chains of imperialism, free from Zionism.

We know Ireland’s long history of oppression. We know occupation, dispossession and genocide. We know what displacement means and being stripped of our land, our resources, our mother tongue.

However, the slow erosion of our identity as a people through persecution, plantation, genocide, occupation and pacification is not always grasped by the Irish population following the successful assimilation process which still has a tight grip on our people.

This process is mediated through a pervasive neo-colonial mindset which continues to infect many in our places of work, education and society more generally.

Yes, since October 2023, the Irish people have turned their outrage in action, mobilising in local communities and workplaces to take a stand against genocide.

(Photo source: Participant)

Yes, many have applied pressure to the government via petitions, rallies and calls to support bills in government that they believe will effect change.

In response, the Irish government agreed to recognise the state of Palestine, but of course, this action means nothing for the people in Palestine who continue to be bombed, brutalised and slaughtered. But nothing tangible has happened.

If anything, the situation grows worse as the threat of nuclear confrontation becomes imminent.

Trying to quell the rising anger on the streets, the Free State government has attempted to placate Irish voters by deceiving them in the run up to election time.

Real action begins with expelling the Zionist Ambassador from Ireland. Real action begins with stopping U.S. war planes from using our airports. The Free State’s social control mechanism via its fake support for Palestine may fool some voters and placate neo-liberals, just in time for the general election.

In the words of Connolly,5 “Yes, ruling by fooling is a great British art – with great Irish fools to practice on.”

Section of the protest at Shannon Airport on Saturday (Photo cred: Mostafa DarwishAnadolu via Getty Images).

End.

Footnotes

1Located in Co. Clare in the west of Ireland, one of two international airports in the Irish state and has been the target of protests over the years due to documented cases of US military planes landing and taking off from there and Irish Government refusal to inspect alleged non-military US planes for military personnel, materials or indeed prisoners subject to ‘extraordinary rendition’ to CIA dark sites in client states.

2This was the name the neo-colonial state adopted when it was formed in 1921 and the name stuck particularly among the abandoned nationalist population of the occupied Six Counties colony.

3A pejorative term for Fine Gael, recalling its founding from a coalition of three parties, one of which was the fascist Army Comrades Association, commonly known as the ‘Blueshirts’ which described a part of their uniform.

4Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the current 3-party coalition government of the Irish state: Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.

5James Connolly, revolutionary socialist worker intellectual, historian, journalist, song-writer and trade union organiser, born and raised in Edinburgh, one of the Seven Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of Irish Independence and Dublin Commandant of the Rising, executed along with the other signatories after the surrender of the Rising in Moore Street.

Further information

Take a look at Social Rights Ireland 🇮🇪 🇵🇸 (@SocialRightsIRL): https://x.com/SocialRightsIRL?t=kHRYLef3m64BX-x2MfPwBw&s=08

DAY OF THE PATRIOT SOLDIER

On By rebelbreezeIn Basque Country, Cultural Comment, Current Affairs Comment, Current Event Report, Executions, Guerrilla Action, National Liberation, Political Analysis, Political Prisoners, Song, Song in Struggle, Spanish StateLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 4 mins.)

In the Basque Country the Day of the Patriot Soldier is commemorated on two different dates: by the Basque Nationalist Party on October 28th and by the Patriotic Left on September 27th. Each date marks different events but each is anti-fascist in character.

On October 28th one of the many atrocities of the Spanish Civil War/ Anti-Fascist War was enacted by the Spanish fascist military when they executed 42 captured Basque soldiers of the Eusko Gudarastea, a Basque antifascist militia opposing the military-fascist coup of Franco and another three generals.

Section of the crowd at the Gudari Eguna commemoration in Arrigorriaga, Bizkaia province, southern Basque Country. (Photo: D.Breatnach)

This atrocity occurred in 1937, when that war had another two years to run. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) was then the main political party in that part of the Basque Country1 and many of its politicians and administrative officials were executed by the Franco regime too.

Commemoration of the PNV´s Day of the Patriotic Soldier (Gudari Eguna) was carried out clandestinely during the four decades of the fascist Franco regime but was permitted in the post-Franco arrangement in the Spanish State, when the PNV were legalised.

The PNV became the dominant force politically in the two provinces that had declared for the Spanish Republic, which was the largest part of the Basque Autonomous Region. Nafarroa however was given a separate autonomous government which split the nation administratively in at least four.2

A DIFFERENT DATE TO COMMEMORATE

However in the 1960s a large part of the PNV´s youth wing had become disenchanted with the party and, entering into alliance with a Basque socialist movement, formed ETA, a mainly political organisation but, existing under a fascist-military regime, inclined also towards armed resistance.

The platform at the Gudari Eguna commemoration organised by Jarki with the event’s speaker/ chairperson addressing the participants. (Photo: D.Breatnach)

ETA grew in support and in actions, military but not only, the Left Patriotic movement (Izquierda Abertzale) widening to fight on a number of fronts, linguistic, social, trade unionist and political with the armed section carrying out many actions.

The last political executions of the Franco regime were in 1975 of two members of ETA and three of FRAP3; the two Basques were Juan “Txiki” Paredes4 and Angel Otaegui. All five, despite huge international solidarity mobilisations and appeals for clemency, were shot by firing squads.

Today, the Patriotic Left´s Gudari Eguna is commemorated by different groups and not all together. As has occurred in Ireland, the accommodation of the leadership of the Basque Patriotic Left to the Spanish electoral system and abandonment of armed struggle has resulted in fragmentation.

A protest in Arrigorriaga I passed by on my way to the Gudari Eguna commemoration. I did not stop to enquire as to the purpose; I had made an error on the journey, was late and in a hurry. From the arrows design I understand these to be the Sare group doing their last Friday of the month picket in solidarity with the prisoners. ‘Giltzak’ means ‘keys’ as the graphic banner design shows and so the aim is probably to have them all leave jail. That is also the aim of the ‘dissident’ group Amnestia but they seek complete amnesty for the political prisoners whereas Etxerat, Sare and EH Bildu normally refrain from even calling them ‘political prisoners’ since, according to the Spanish State, that amounts to ‘supporting terrorism.’ (Photo: D.Breatnach)

The political party EH Bildu commemorated the executions but so did the dissenting Jarki and Tinko/Amnistia and the historical memory organisation, Ahaztuak. They did not do so together nor, naturally with the PNV on the different date.

In Arrigorriaga Jarki organised their event in the birthplace and home of Argala, nom-de-guerre of José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana, a theoretician and activist of great importance in the development of ETA and assassinated by the state-sponsored GAL terrorists.

The attendance at the event listened to the event’s MC addressing them, after which a group of youth carrying flaming torches came on stage. The MC ended her talk with calls for a free and socialist Basque Country, after each which the audience chanted “Gora!” (‘Up!’).

She then led them in singing the Eusko Gudariak with clenched fist in the air, followed by introducing the Internationale in Basque, the revolutionary socialist song that emerged from the Paris Commune of 1871, the audience joining in (though not everyone as well-versed as with the previous song).

I sang the chorus in French, the only language other than English in which I know the chorus, sadly.

HISTORICAL MEMORY & THE MARTYRS

The martyrs of the people´s struggles around the world are remembered organically and kept close to their hearts by the people from which they came, at least for a few generations. Initiatives of conserving and transmitting historical memory keep those commemorations going further.

Section of the crowd at the commemoration of Gudari Eguna, organised by the Jarki organisation. (Photo: D.Breatnach)

In Ireland we know that commemorating the risings of the United Irishmen (1798 and 1803) fed into the struggles of the Young Irelanders a half-century later, their memory in turn contributing to the Fenians which again became part of the history of future generations and of several armed struggles.

Counter-movements, recognising the potency of historical memory, try to appropriate it and adapt it to their political program or to diminish its importance and even deny it. Both those counter-currents can be seen in many parts of the world, including in Ireland and in the Basque Country

However, the ongoing revolutionary streams and their commemorations will always be closest to the real meaning of those events in the historical memory of the people, in the real social and political meaning of martyrdom.

Patrick Pearse remarked on this process in his famous oration over the grave of O´Donovan Rosa: Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.

Footnotes:

1The Basque Country is composed of seven provinces, four on the Spanish state´s side of its northern border and three on the French state´s side. The Anti-Fascist War split the southern Basque Country with principally two provinces, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, taking the side of the Spanish Republic, which at the last minute granted them national autonomy. Nafarroa (Navarre) mostly took the fascist-military side and murdered around 3,000 antifascists and Alava province took that side too.

2Two separate autonomous regions in the Spanish state and the provinces on the French side in different French regional administrative areas.

3Frente Revolucionario Antifascista y Patriota (Revolutionary Anti-Fascist & Patriotic Front); the three were: José Luis Sánchez-Bravo Sollas, José Humberto Baena Alonso and Ramón García Sanz. 

4According to his brother who, despite being misdirected arrived as Paredes was being shot by the Guardia Civil, who were shooting at different parts of his body, Txiki Paredes continued to sing Eusko Gudariak (‘Soldiers of the Basque Country’) until he finally died.

Sources:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudari_Eguna

IOF INVASION FAILS TO PENETRATE HEZBOLLAH DEFENCE

On By rebelbreezeIn Anti-War, Current Affairs Comment, Genocide, Imperialism, Indigenous or Original People, Israeli Zionism, Middle East, National Liberation, Political Analysis, US ImperialismLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 7 mins.)

After a terrorist attack through exploding hand-held communication devices1 and later, following the assassination of veteran Hezbollah leader Nasrallah,2 the IOF announced on 30th September their intention of a ground invasion of Lebanon.3

The reaction of the western imperialist allies to the terrorism was mostly silent but to the Zionist planned invasion was either positive or worried – not about the predictable ensuing carnage but about its impact on their assets in the region.

The current Zionist leadership was gung-ho albeit with worried comments from the sidelines, including from some high-ranking retired commanders. Those campaigning for a peace deal with the Resistance and the return of their captured relatives were naturally mostly hostile.

People who knew something about the situation, both those in solidarity with the Resistance and those supporting the Zionist state, wondered how the IOF imagined they were going to be successful, considering the calibre of Hezbollah combined with logistics.

Firstly, the IOF would have to prepare its staging or invasion launch areas in the reach of Hezbollah missiles, rockets and drones. Then they would have to cross at least 300 kilometres under bombardment in terrain well-zeroed already by Hezbollah.

If and when the invaders crossed that land, they would confront their old enemy Hezbollah, many battle-hardened veterans from fighting ISIS and NATO proxies in Syria. And strongly motivated ideologically also, in particular in defending their homeland.

The IOF infantry on the other hand has not faced any conventional fighting force in pitched battle since 1966, being mostly experienced in repression and genocidal operations against civilians already under close surveillance with air dominance and much intelligence support.

Despite their advantages, against the armed resistance of those areas, the IOF have not performed at all well, with a high rate of casualties in personnel and armoured vehicles. In invasion of Lebanon, their armour would be even more vulnerable.

True, the IOF has air advantage in air-to-ground strikes with their US-supplied fighters. But the resistance artillery4 batteries are situated far back from the Lebanon front line, yet able to strike targets with coordinates called in from Hezbollah facing the enemy.

The Zionist air force boasts of having eliminated those batteries in their bombardment were quickly proved false as missiles rose behind the returning IOF aircraft to fall on their regular targets in northern occupied Palestine. Most of those batteries and launchers are underground.

So the main IOF assault and penetration would have to be of their infantry, the issue decided by the calibre of contending fighting personnel, their weapons, along with defences of the defenders, remembering also that a 3-1 superiority is necessary for offensive breakthrough at any point.5

The situation would be bad enough for the IOF if they could at least prepare their staging areas in safety but of course Hezbollah is not letting them do that, pounding their bases and visible troop movements and assemblies again and again with missiles, drones and rockets.

IOF INVASION PROGRESS?

So how has the invasion force fared to date? Hezbollah chose not to fall back fighting the IOF on the way, sucking them further in and hitting their supply lines. Instead, they met the invasion on or around their front lines, with some flexibility and so far have remained there.

All outcomes into the second week so far have justified the pessimists in the Zionist and Western allies camp. Ground assault after assault has been beaten back by Hezbollah, at times in ambushing or other targeting of approaching infantry and some armour.

In one such ambush, Hezbollah forward fighters observed a special IOF force reconnoitring and decided to leave them under observation while they figured the route of advance. When the whole IOF special unit advanced they were hit with a pre-laid explosive and then by small-arms fire.

The IOF are widening their attack front and in the western sector, the IOF attempted to infiltrate again through Labouneh, despite the previous day’s qualitative ambush where according to reports, Zionist vehicles “burned live on air”; the resistance again forced their retreat.

This last was a reference to Ras Al-Naqoura where an entire IOF convoy was struck by the resistance. Al-Mayadeen reports that the convoy was made up of about 60 soldiers, 5 Merkava tanks, and a number of other vehicles and repeated IOF rescue services have been repulsed.

Al-Manar added that “The occupation army advanced along the western line near the sea and attempted to take control … to oversee the coastline stretching to Sour,”6 and “attempted six times in recent days to enter this area and was met with resistance missiles and fire.”

The Resistance reported numerous confrontations against enemy infantry forces in the forests of Al-Labouneh, south of Naqoura and engagements on the Blida, Muhaybib, and Maroun Al-Ras axis.

The Zionist forces have also attempted to use the UNIFIL station as cover and the Hezbollah decision to hold on targeting them for fear of hitting uninvolved forces, reported by Al Mayadeen, raised concerns for the safety of Irish state troops garrisoned there.7

In 10 days of repeated attempts, the IOF has not managed to enter and hold one southern Lebanese village or town and advances of even a 100 metres have been beaten back with casualties. The Zionists have been reduced to fantasy stories of advances and staged photos.8

And this IOF fighting here are considered by the Zionists the elite of their infantry, facing not even Hezbollah’s elite, the al-Hajj Radwan Regiment. Hezbollah is much more a medium-sized army than guerrilla force, though it grew from one, created against the ‘Israeli’ occupation of Lebanon.

On Wednesday the IOF, which maintains a strict censorship on casualties and battle-damage reporting and is well-known for vastly underplaying their battle casualties in Gaza, admitted that over the past 24 hours, 38 soldiers had been wounded in ground battles in southern Lebanon.

In what seems a departure from the Gaza norm, some reports seem to suggest that Hezbollah may not be granting the IOF the same freedom to recover their dead and wounded as has been the case until now from the Gaza resistance (despite IOF targeting of hospitals and medical personnel).9

As it was in Gaza, bombing the civilian population has been the response of the IOF, targeting multi-occupation housing blocks, medical services, emergency services, media service, gatherings of displaced people and refugee routes into Syria.

The only large-scale comprehensive defeats suffered by the IOF were against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in 2000 and in 2006, forcing the Zionist retreat from Lebanon on both occasions. Many Hezbollah are battle-hardened from Syria and of high morale, particularly in battle against the IOF.

REASON

Given the history and sober assessments, why is the Zionist state engaging in this attack and being backed by the western imperialists? Yoav Gallant, Minister for the armed forces, claimed it was in order to degrade Hezbollah and return the Zionist settlers to northern occupied Palestine.

This is a large area denuded of thousands of settlers now being housed in hotels or even camps deeper in occupied Palestine (‘Israel’) or who have left the state altogether, whether temporarily of permanently. Currently it is occupied mostly by the IOF, in bases and Settler houses.

The reason for the emptying of the region of Settler communities is its daily bombardment by Hezbollah since October 8th, the day the IOF began this latest and most intensive period of genocidal bombings. And they’ve been clear: Stop the genocide and we stop the bombardment.

Hezbollah artillery rocket batteries (Photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

However, despite the wishes of a large section of ‘Israeli’ society, the dominant section of the Zionist ruling class is not prepared to stop its Gaza bombardment and do a deal which would result in admission of defeat and, for Netanyahu, appearance in court to face corruption charges.

Some of the western imperialist alliance are worried that ‘Israel’ will drag10 the US and with it the rest of the Western alliance, at a time also of a war in Ukraine, into a regional war with Hezbollah, Yemen, the Iraqi resistance, Syria and of course Iran, a long-intended NATO target.

Many voices from different positions regarding the Zionist state have warned that in a regional Middle Eastern war, all western military bases in the Middle East become targets, as do all oil and gas wells delivering to the West, with huge economic results across the world.

There are indications of other motivations, beyond loss of Zionist face, of extending ‘Israel’ ‘from the sea to the river’ (!),11 re-occupying Gaza with settlers and ‘remodelling of the Middle East’ in a Zionist messianic dream but combined with a gung-ho attitude in the White House.

In a recent interview on YouTube, Iranian professor Marandi commented that strategic and tactical decisions made by the imperialists are not logical but emotional. I would agree that emotion is involved however also logical calculation — but there are times when emotion overcomes logic.

Such was the situation for example in the ‘forever war’ of the US in ‘Indochina’ when it continued despite all the evidence that it was losing, year after year, could not possibly win and was alienating huge populations even at home.

One of the many jacket designs of the classic Sci-fi novel, based to large extent on the War of the USA in Viet Nam.

It took the logic of a section of the ruling class to overcome emotion and to subdue the Reagan section to sue for peace, under of course the heroic assault of the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. But the arrogance and world ambition of the US ruling class never died.

Can this now extended war of the IOF endanger all of Western imperialism’s substantial assets in the Middle East? Most certainly. So stop it, pull back! says one section of the imperialists. But Bring it on, says the other section, because after this we’ll have only Russia and China to worry about.

For the next war.

End.

Footnotes

1On 17 and 18 September https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/18/more-devices-exploding-across-lebanon-whats-happening

227th September https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/28/israel-says-it-has-killed-hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah

3https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/israel-lebanon-attack-hezbollah-ground-operation-war-latest

4Using the term here to encompass missiles, rockets such as the Katyusha-types, rather than cannon.

53-1 advantage in numbers needed for the attacker, other considerations being equal. (Seehttps://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/A0013.pdf)

6Perhaps with the additional intention of establishing a beachhead for IOF naval landings.

7https://www.thenational.scot/news/24636493.israel-endangering-irish-troops-lebanon-border/

and https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ireland-calls-israeli-demand-to-move-un-troops–outrageous

8These included stories of paratroop landings, overrunning Hezbollah defences and a photo of IOF taken in a very forward but abandoned Settler village, which Hezbollah commented had cost the IOF 10 dead and wounded.

9In one notorious instance, they executed two wounded fighters in hospital. Both from the air and the ground the IOF has repeatedly targeted paramedics and civil defence crews and have continued doing so from the air in Lebanon. However commentators have noted how IOF helicopters landing to evacuate wounded and dead IOF, though clearly under observation, are never targeted by the Resistance in Gaza.

10,Assuming its unwilling to do so which may not at all be the case.

11https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2024-09-05/ty-article/.highlight/netanyahus-map-shows-israel-from-the-river-to-the-sea-its-no-accident/00000191-c2a8-d09f-ab91-debc90e60000

and https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/benjamin-netanyahu-maps-brief-history-enduring-love-affair

References
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/israel-lebanon-attack-hezbollah-ground-operation-war-latest

SUPPORT THE RESISTANCE, CONDEMN THE COLLABORATORS

On By rebelbreezeIn Current Affairs Comment, Genocide, Indigenous or Original People, Internationalist Solidarity, irish history, Journalism, Middle East, National Liberation, Palestine, Police Violence, Political Analysis, Political PrisonersLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 4 mins.)

Not only our internationalist duty but also our longer-term practical interests are with supporting the Resistance. If so, then it is surely even more required of us that we condemn the collusion of the collaborators.

This is based on the fact of the Resistance opposing colonialism, occupation, imperialism, fascism, exploitation and so on. It is not based on whether the Resistance embraces all of our particular ideology or objectives. But that also means that we do not necessarily offer unconditional support.

Karl Marx, who from Britain not only went to some lengths to support the Irish Resistance to colonialism1 but advised the working class in Britain to do likewise,2 also remarked that it was not to be expected that British workers would support themselves being blown up for Irish freedom.3

I say that internationalist solidarity is not only a question of a kind of moral duty, but also a practical one. If we examine our own situation here in Ireland and our hopes for a united independent and socialist republic, we must also look to what happens when we achieve it.

The lessons of struggles in the world have surely taught us that we cannot hope that the imperialist countries around us will allow us to nationalise our resources and infrastructures which they’ve appropriated in full or in part, close their military bases and wish us good fortune!

Or that they will allow a positive example of the potential of socialist society to exist for the encouragement of their own working classes or for those they exploit elsewhere.

No, we will need movements of solidarity, especially in the states which will be the quickest to threaten us, i.e the western imperialist states. And, whether by coincidence or not, those are in great part the very states that are at this moment attacking Palestine and independence in the Middle East.

We think in that respect first of the United States, UK, Germany but also France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden (even Switzerland4). Of course, we’ll be dealing with their interventions of various kinds before we even reach our independent, united socialist republic.

PA Security Forces attacking a demonstrator (Photo cred: Getty Images)

COLLABORATORS AND COLLUSION

Naturally, if we support the Resistance, we must have a corresponding attitude to those who collaborate and collude with colonialism, occupation, imperialism, fascism, exploitation and so on, not only in our own immediate struggle but also in those we support internationally.

The genocidal attacks of the ‘Israeli’ Zionist state could not last a week without the financial, military and material support in particular of the USA, but also without those from Germany, the UK and France, nor in turn without the collusion of many Arab states of the Middle East.

That is a collusion in many cases of the regimes and not supported by most of their own populations. Most dangerous of all of course are those agencies of collusion among the oppressed people themselves and we have experienced those throughout our history of anti-colonial struggle.

Our historical culture is full of contemptuous references to them, even to terms such as “Castle Catholics”; Marx too was scathing in reference to Daniel O’Connell, who sought only Irish autonomy within the British Empire, as did John Redmond, later rejected by the population.5

Many other struggles around the world have had such temporisers and actual collaborators in their midst. Indeed after liberation from fascism in countries in WWII, many of them were executed, some such as “Quisling” and “Vichy” becoming bywords in treachery and collusion.6

Palestinians hold posters depicting human rights activist Nizar Banat during a protest triggered by the violent arrest and death in custody of Banat, in his hometown of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on June 27, 2021. [ Photo cred: Mosab Shawer/AFP]
Al Jazeera correspondent Laith Jaar, beaten up by PA officer while covering the Tulkarem massacre by the IOF, then jailed when he complained to the PA. [Photo sourced: Internet]

Well then, how is that we tolerate the presentation of the ‘Palestine Authority’ as a representation of the Palestinian people? This corrupt agency with its ‘security force’ beating up and jailing critics and freedom fighters, some of which it also shoots? And dismantling defensive anti-IOF bombs?

This agency which in the Oslo Accords gave up the struggle in exchange for corrupt control of 20% of Palestinian land, which has held no elections since 2006 because the Palestinian people across the political and religious spectrum rejected the Fatah party then and elected Hamas instead.

It is no surprise then that the western imperialist countries claim the PA to be the legitimate representation of the Palestinian people and that some of them fund it, that Palestine ‘embassies’ are PA-run and that Palestine ‘Ambassadors’ are employed by the PA.7

But how is that the PA is not publicly denounced by the wide Palestine solidarity movements in the Western countries? Why this conspiracy of silence and spreading of ignorance?

It is not easy in on-line searches to find how many political prisoners the PA has in its jails or wounded or shot dead – and of course the amount of information about the Resistance passed on to the Zionists and the US awaits some historical investigations in a free Palestine of the future.

What we do know is that the PA holds over 100 political prisoners, that it arrests freedom fighters (even invading hospitals to arrest wounded fighters), that it tortures prisoners, beats up critics and demonstrators and clears the way of explosives for IOF invasion of West Bank communities.

Very recently, Palestinian journalist Laith Jaar, after reporting on the Palestinian Resistance in Tulkarem, was beaten up while covering the massacre there by Ahmed Ghassan Qawzah, an officer of the PA’s security force. When the journalist went to complain to the PA, they threw him in jail.

The Palestinian Resistance periodically denounces the PA, calling on it to support the people, threatens it when the PA’s actions are particularly egregious but refrains from using arms against it. I admit that I cannot understand that degree of forbearance, even for temporary tactical reasons.

But what about us? How is that only one protest against the PA’s Ambassador to Ireland took place and that the protesters were ejected by alleged Irish supporters of the Palestinian people? How is that only one small protest to date has taken place outside the PA’s Dublin Embassy?

How can we stomach this collusion in what is effectively a conspiracy of silence?

End.

Palestinian Police – their firearms are for opposing the Palestinian Resistance (Photo cred: Issame Ravi/ Flash90)

FOOTNOTES

1Marx and Engels had led the International Workingmen’s Association (later known as the “First International”) in not only supporting the Fenian movement but also accepting Fenians in Britain into the organisation.

2Not out of altruism but in their own interest! “As to the Irish question….The way I shall put forward the matter next Tuesday is this: that quite apart from all phrases about “international” and “humane” justice for Ireland – which are to be taken for granted in the International Council – it is in the direct and absolute interest of the English working class to get rid of their present connection with Ireland.And this is my most complete conviction, and for reasons which in part I cannot tell the English workers themselves. For a long time I believed that it would be possible to overthrow the Irish regime by English working class ascendancy. I always expressed this point of view in the New York Tribune.Deeper study has now convinced me of the opposite. The English working class will never accomplish anythingbefore it has got rid of Ireland. The lever must be applied in Ireland. That is why the Irish question is so important for the social movement in general.”

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1869/letters/69_12_10-abs.htm

3Karl Marx, then living in London, observed: The London masses, who have shown great sympathy towards Ireland, will be made wild and driven into the arms of a reactionary government. One cannot expect the London proletarians to allow themselves to be blown up in honour of Fenian emissaries.Marx was commenting on the reaction to the disastrous explosion attempt to liberate Fenian prisoners from Clerkenwell Jail in London, on 13 December 1867, when 12 mostly working class people were unintentionally killed and around 120 injured.

https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1867/letters/67_12_14.htm

4https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-07/swiss-arms-exports-jump-29-as-industry-laments-neutrality

5That was the essence of the O’Connell’s constitutional Repeal Movement objective of the 1840s and of the Home Rule promised by the UK ruling class to the Irish Parliamentary Party in 1914, against which the 1916 Rising took place. In the British General Election of 1918 in Ireland, Redmond’s party was all but annihilated.

6Nazi collaborator Prime Minister in occupied Norway and the French collaborator government under Petain and Lavalle.

7It should perhaps be a surprise that certain parties in Europe, including Ireland, also support the PA but then, perhaps not. Not a year has passed since a meeting hosting the ‘Palestine Ambassador’ for Ireland in Belfast was protested by Palestinians who were ejected among cheers by ‘Irish Republicans’.

SOURCES

Marx on need for the British workers to support the Irish struggle: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1869/letters/69_12_10-abs.htm

Broader discussion on Marx and need for solidarity to progress revolution in general: https://www.developmentresearch.eu/?p=1347

Marx’s brief comment on the problematic effect of the Clerkenwell Bombing on Irish solidarity in Britain: https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1867/letters/67_12_14.htm

The ‘Palestine Authority’ prisoners:

(1999) https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/political-detainees-in-the-palestinian-authority

(also 1999) https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mde210071999en.pdf

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/7/14/pa-security-forces-are-not-serving-the-palestinian-people

PA attacks on Resistance fighters:

PALESTINE AUTHORITY PREVENTED FROM ARRESTING RESISTANCE FIGHTER IN HOSPITAL
PA security forces assassinate resistance fighter in Tulkarem
PA arrests a resistance fighter wanted by the occupation

PA dismantling Resistance explosives for defence against IOF invasions:

Agreement between PA, occupation to dismantle explosives planted by West Bank resistance
PA agrees security deal with occupation regime amid Gaza genocide

Periodic reports also on Resistance News Network