Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Ursula Von Der Leyen (EU Commission President)’ Category

Have British Tories Thrown Jeffrey Donaldson’s Democratic Unionist party to the Wolves? Is the”Windsor Framework” the “NI Protocol” in Different Clothes?

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Readers may wonder :

Has British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thrown the Democratic Unionist party of British-occupied Ireland to the wolves? Early indications suggest the answer is Yes.

The cause? Brexit.

Sunak’s former boss Boris Johnson’s negotiated a 2019 “Oven Ready Brexit” which featured the “Northern Ireland Protocol” (NIP) in 2019. This facilitated a landslide Tory General Election victory in December of that year. Things were different in the six-county bit of Ireland (Northern Ireland) and Scotland. In both of these locations, the Brexiteer forces were soundly rejected by the voters. Sunak now claims the NIP has been replaced by the “Windsor Framework”.

Establishment media outlets are ecstatic, claiming the Third British Brexit Prime Minister of 2021 has “Done the Impossible”

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/02/28/windsor-framework-brexit-deal-what-the-papers-say/

There is one significant dissenting note, which is almost certainly closer to the truth. It comes from the outstanding British Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell :

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Written by tomasoflatharta

Feb 28, 2023 at 12:58 pm

Posted in 1921 Treaty Partitioning Ireland, Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, Brexit - Britain Leaves the EU, Britain, British Empire, British Labour Party, British State (aka UK), British Tory Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Dublin Governments, England, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Network Solidarity with Ukraine and against war Basic consensus, European Union, Fortress Europe, History of Ireland, International Political Analysis, Ireland, Liz Truss, ex British Prime Minister, Mainstream Media, Media Sources - Reliable Versus Unreliable, Migration in Europe, Opinion Polls, Orange Order, Referendums, Rishi Sunak - 3rd 2022 British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, Six County State, Stormont, Lord Carson’s Tomb, Ukraine, Unionism, Ursula Von Der Leyen (EU Commission President)

We need to talk about Volodymyr

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Guest post by Des Derwin

The international solidarity movement with Ukraine, together with the left within Ukraine, needs to begin having a conversation about Zelensky.

We are well aware of our political and class differences with Zelensky. They have been overlooked or put aside by the international solidarity movement, or at least left without emphasis, in the interests of supporting the defensive war effort of the Ukrainian nation. This effort is widely seen as being outstandingly led by Zelensky. I am reminded how a united left rhetorically backed Ho Chi Minh throughout the Vietnam War without the left of the left making too much of a fuss about some of his highly objectionable actions. Hence Zelensky’s neoliberalism, his forelock-tugging of the West, his anti-worker legislation, his apparent tolerance for some manifestations of the far right in Ukraine, his new concession to property developers, etc., are not made an issue, except to offer solidarity to our socialist and trade union comrades in Ukraine who are fighting the anti-labour laws in particular.

However there is one area where I feel we – the international solidarity movement and the Ukrainian left – can no longer keep public silence about Zelensky. And that is Israel.

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Written by siptuactivist

Jan 9, 2023 at 4:35 pm

Posted in Al Jazeera, Anti War Movements, Campism, Eastern Europe, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), Ireland, Irish Left With Ukraine, Israel, Left Evasionism, Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement), Ukraine, Ukraine Russia War 2022, Ursula Von Der Leyen (EU Commission President), Vietnam, War

Solidarity With Palestine, Solidarity With Ukraine – Sotsialniy Rukh (Ukraine) Compared With People Before Profit (Ireland)

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If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African Anti-Apartheid Activist

Sotsialniy Rukh Statement on Palestine and Ukraine (in English and Ukrainian)

📣 November 29 since 1978 has been celebrated as the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. For 44 years, the world officially talks about the Palestinian tragedy that has no end.

This day reminds us of Palestine’s ongoing struggle for life and freedom. Despite condemnation of Israel’s policy, which leading human rights organizations say fits the crime of apartheid under the Roman Statute, the de facto Palestinians and Palestinians still have neither protection nor independence. Their homes are being taken, cities bombed, and their lives are totally in vain.

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Written by tomasoflatharta

Dec 2, 2022 at 2:42 pm

Posted in 1921 Treaty Partitioning Ireland, Anti War Movements, “A Carnival of Reaction” - James Connolly’s Warning About the Partition of Ireland, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Campism, Crimea, Crimean Tatars, Desmond Tutu, Double Standards, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Network Solidarity with Ukraine and against war Basic consensus, European Union, Fortress Europe, History of Ireland, International Political Analysis, Ireland, Irish Left With Ukraine, Left Evasionism, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, Left Wing Organisations, Leon Trotsky, NATO, Neutrality, Non-Alignment, Paul Murphy TD Dublin South-West, People Before Profit, Revolutionary History, Richard Boyd-Barrett TD (Dún Laoghaire), Russia, Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement), South Africa, Soviet Union (USSR), Trotskyism, Ukraine, Ukraine : Women Raped by Russian Invaders, Ukraine Russia War 2022, Ursula Von Der Leyen (EU Commission President), War, Westplaining