Archive for the ‘Anti War Movements’ Category
“It was all about FINBAR. the Irish environmentalist; DMITRY the Russian anarchist, and COOPER the American socialist” – Tribute to heroes fallen in Ukraine at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
A report is here :
On Saturday, May 6, a delegation of activists and representatives of organizations participating in the French Committee of RESU (European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine 🇺🇦) held a tribute organized by the Collectif des Francophone Combatants du Rojava to three internationalist comrades who fell all three in Ukraine fighting against the Russian invasion . The homage took place at the cemetery of Father Lachaise. at 14:30 in front of the Federated Wall of the Paris Commune.
It was all about FINBAR. the irish independentist and environmentalist. ; from DMITRY the Russian anarchist, and from COOPER the American socialist. They fought against the Russian invasion that they judged to be the emanation of authoritarian imperialism covering itself with the varnish of “liberator”.
Some had previously fought in Rojava alongside the Kurds with other revolutionary militants.
We wanted to show our deepest respect for their commitment.
French Committee of the ENSU (RESU) : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087563586225
‘An Historic May Day in London: New Days in Old England’ by Thomas J. O’Flaherty from the Daily Worker Saturday Supplement. Vol. 3 No. 134. June 19, 1926.
Tomás Ó Flatharta, inspiration of this blog, was a talented writer. This is an example of his work, full of interesting personal and political insights.
Source : Revolution’s NewsStand : https://revolutionsnewsstand.com/2023/05/01/an-historic-may-day-in-london-new-days-in-old-england-by-thomas-j-oflaherty-from-the-daily-worker-saturday-supplement-vol-3-no-134-june-19-1926/
May Day in London’s Hyde Park, 1926.
T.J. O’Flaherty travels from Dublin to London to participate in the May Day celebrations during that year’s General Strike and penned this wonderful essay on the day’s events.
‘An Historic May Day in London: New Days in Old England’ by Thomas J. O’Flaherty from the Daily Worker Saturday Supplement. Vol. 3 No. 134. June 19, 1926.
I LEFT the usually turbulent but now comparatively peaceful Dublin on the evening of the 30th of April, bound for London. Dublin is not an easy place to leave—particularly for those with a thirst for the dramatic.
But May Day in London in 1926 with 1,000,000 coal miners out of the pits! And with a general strike threatened! This was something that many men and women would sacrifice years of ordinary existence to experience. So I resisted the temporary invitation of friends to spend a week shooting curlews in the heather-clad mountains of Wicklow, or discussing the futility of things in general with the cynical intelligentsia of Dublin who survived the gats of Black and Tans, Regular and Irregular Republicans and Free States.
Leader of Britain’s anti-monarchy group Republic arrested at coronation protest
Gopal Priyamavda Observes :
From a plundered economy to a police force ready to crush protests, Britain today looks like its colonies once did. It had to happen.
https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article66450
Priyamavda published her article on the Al Jazeera website on May 5 2023; One day later her prediction concerning “a police force ready to crush protests” came true.
Meanwhile several leading Irish politicians are tugging the forelock to the British Monarch : Shame on the leaders of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill and President Michael D Higgins – their behaviour is politically unprincipled. Leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – Messrs Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin are not betraying their principles – they believe in celebrating the crimes of the British Empire.
Source : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article66449
Republic’s Graham Smith held at protest on King Charles III’s procession route in central London
Read the rest of this entry »Against Half-Solidarity and False Pacifism – Statement of the Russian Socialist Movement on May Day
Source : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article66416
This excellent statement diagnoses a political blight – False Pacifism – which has entered the bloodstream of significant parts of the Irish left and trade union movement. We are dealing with an international phenomenon :
May Day is not only International Workers’ Day but also a day of solidarity with the oppressed peoples and civil disobedience against war. For example, one can remember the 1971 May Day protests against US imperialist aggression in Vietnam in Washington. During that time, the antiwar movement’s stance was clear: halt the war, complete the withdrawal of American troops, and support the right of the Vietnamese people to self-determination. Nowadays the Left is also leaning toward pacifism but its present iteration is much more ambivalent. While it still highlights issues of American imperialism, the prevention of nuclear war, and condemns militarization and war as means of resolving conflicts, it faces challenges in precisely identifying the aggressor and exhibits a willingness to tolerate Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory and the continued presence of Russian troops there. Thus this version of pacifism is deprived of real solidarity with the oppressed peoples.
Read the rest of this entry »Two Contrasting May Day Celebrations in 2023 – Ghent (Belgium) V Dublin (Ireland)
Ghent, Thomas Weyts Reports
This year we also participated in the 1st May parade in Ghent with a beautiful group of Ukrainian people and solidarity Belgians.
With a clear message: Russian troops out of Ukraine, stop the bombing. Solidarity with Ukraine and its people! We will continue to take action as long as necessary.
We also continue to shake the high tree of the trade unions and the progressive movements: come out of your room, show your solidarity with Ukraine, in words but especially in deeds!
We thank the fine people of Peace for Ukraine-Ghent, the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine, Ghent4Humanity Refugee Support, SAP Anti-capitalists and all the other people who were there, but also all the participants at the parade and by the side who showed their sympathy.
https://www.facebook.com/100049340987344/videos/788647199647966/?idorvanity=1354716241617827
Dublin : John Meehan Reports :
Dublin Council of Trade Unions (DCTU), organisers of the May Day march in Ireland’s capital city, made sure that nothing politically worthwhile was said from the platform about Ukraine. Mick O’Reilly spoke about “War and Peace” – at best the speech was woffle; at worst it was a left-evasionist exercise which avoided making a clear call for the immediate withdrawal of the Russian genocidal troops from Ukraine, or demanding an end to the murderous Russian bombing of civilian targets (including hospitals and schools) in the invaded territories.
Read the rest of this entry »Bakhmut Town; a tribute to Finbar, Cooper, and Dmitry – A ballad honours Finbar Cafferkey of Achill Island Co. Mayo
In Bakhmut Town
To the tune of Roddy McCorley
Finbar Cafferkey from Achill Island County Mayo fought for the freedom of Ukraine and died in the streets of Bakhmut town.
https://soundcloud.com/user-310458959/bakhmut-town-a-tribute-to-finbar-cooper-and-dmitry
Oh come you who love freedom and a tale I’ll have you hear
Of comrades who came to Ukraine, as foreign volunteers
From Russia and America, Ireland and all around-
And side by side, they fought and died, on the streets of Bakhmut town
Norway: The Red Party (Rødt) supports Ukraine’s fight for freedom
The Norwegian Red Party (Rødt) is a radical left organisation which has a significant electoral base. In the 2021 parliamentary election, the party achieved its best result ever, with 4.6% of the vote, securing eight seats in Parliament.
The party’s excellent policy statement on the Russian imperialist ethnic-cleansing invasion of Ukraine avoids woffle and whataboutery, offering a clear policy guide to the radical left in Ireland and foreign fields :
Without arms supplies, Ukraine would have been overrun and subjugated by a chauvinist, right-wing nationalist Russian regime that has openly declared its imperialist ambitions. Therefore, it is right to provide arms to Ukraine in its struggle for independence and peace when Ukrainians ask for them. These weapons must not be used outside Ukrainian territory. The Red Party assumes that the government has obtained an end-user declaration from the Ukrainian government to ensure that Norwegian weapons are only used by the regular Ukrainian forces within Ukrainian territory.
Many thanks to Dick Nichols, an activist with the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (European network for solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU) | Європейська мережа солідарності з Україною | Réseau européen de solidarité avec l’Ukraine (RESU), who supplied the information.
First published at Rødt. Translation by LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal. https://links.org.au/norway-red-party-supports-ukraines-fight-freedom
The Red Party strongly condemns Russia’s aggressive attack on Ukraine, which is in violation of international law. It represents an act of imperialism that goes against everything the Red Party stands for. We support Ukraine’s independence and defensive struggle.
Read the rest of this entry »A Russian Disinformation Empire in Oak Harbor, Washington – Donbas Devushka Sting takes campists and left-evasionists for a ride
A Russian Disinformation Empire in Oak Harbor, Washington
James Doyle, an Irish correspondent based in Germany, describes a far-right pro Putin sting.
Donbass Devushka claims she’s from Luhansk, Ukraine. In reality she’s a Navy vet born in New Jersey.
The Donbas Devushka Sting : tankies and left-evasionists taken for a ride
James Doyle writes :
Just thought I’d share an interesting development arising from the recent “Pentagon Leaks” that seems to have escaped attention, or (as is more likely) has been ignored by large sections of the western left…
“Donbas Devushka”, one of the Campist/tankie/pro-Putinist “left”‘s favourite sources of “information” and Kremlinist propaganda from inside Ukraine, was a couple of days ago revealed to actually be an American ex-navy Servicewoman (discharged in 2021) and tropical fish shop owner from New Jersey named Sarah Bils. If you’ve been active at all in trying to combat disinformation over the course of this war you’ve no doubt come across this woman or at least people sharing her posts/podcasts and the claims she made on them.
She had been operating a major disinformation network – by her own admission with a staff of at least 15 – across various social media platforms since the Russian invasion began last February, becoming one of the top handful of pro Russian Propagandists across these platforms, all the while posing as a Russian-speaking pro-Palestinian Jewish woman (“Mila Medvedev”) from Lukhansk (she’s never been anywhere near Ukraine or Russia in reality).
Read the rest of this entry »Delegates Give Standing Ovation to Speakers from the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine – Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) Conference 2023
Gregor Kerr reports : “Very powerful address to INTO Congress by 2 reps of TU of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine. 2 standing ovations.”. Well done Kateryna Maliuta-Osaulova and Olga Chabaniuk.
Delegates at #INTOCongress23 were moved by the addresses of Kateryna Maliuta-Osaulova and Olha Chabaniuk of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine this afternoon, giving them a standing ovation. Delegates heard there is no person in Ukraine who hasn’t felt the effects of war. In education, 3,120 educational institutions have been damaged.
One of the most painful consequences of teaching in the war is seeing the psychological breakdown of children and students, Congress heard.
After the speech, Ukrainian pupils from St Oliver’s NS Killarney, joined INTO President John Driscoll on stage, while guest speakers, Kateryna and Olha displayed the Ukrainian flag. #StandwithUkraine
Link Here : https://www.facebook.com/INTOnews
Russian and Ukrainian activists silenced at Greek MeRA 25 party event – Tankie Politics in Action
A shameful story from Athens – source : https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/03/10/russian-and-ukrainian-activists-silenced-at-mera25-event/ also : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article65987; also
Russian activist Artem Temirov writes on what he sees as a concerning trend within the Hellenic left to fall into a knee-jerk “anti-imperialism” that is in fact anything but.
Author’s note: A significant part of the Greek Left for a very long time has been plagued by narrow anti-Americanism that has replaced genuine anti-imperialism. As a result of that even supposedly more moderate voices on the Left often fell in the trap of siding, even if in a subtle way, with regimes that supposedly oppose the West, regardless of how authoritarian and oppressive they might be. This has created an increasingly widening gap between this Greek Left current and leftist dissidents that come from countries whose governments are perceived by the former as “anti-imperialist”. It seems that the former are disinterested in listening to those who have come to seek refuge and avoid arrest and torture. There have even been recorded cases of representatives of the more hard-line pro-Putinist Left in Greece physically attacked an Iranian refugee at a public event, because the latter protested the pro-Putinist, pro-Mullah propaganda he was hearing. The case presented below, if much milder in regards the confrontation, represents continuation in this worrying trend of Greek leftists refusing to listen to the voices of those who have lived under the boot of supposed “anti-imperialist” regimes. This comes to indicate an ideological dogmatism, as well as a loss in trust in the abilities of common people to self-organize and initiate from below revolutionary change. In the imaginary of such leftists greater hope for social change is placed not on the potentials of popular self-determination and self-emancipation, but on foreign geopolitical powers. This must be perceived as drastic counter-revolutionary regression towards Stalinist type of thinking that can only nurture authoritarian logics.
Last year, my wife and I arrived in Greece. While I am a Russian citizen, my wife is a citizen of Ukraine. She left Kyiv a week after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and I left Russia a few days later because it became dangerous to stay there with an anti-war position, with both us always holding left-wing and antifascist positions. In Greece, we are living under a temporary protection program for Ukrainian families.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 