Archive for the ‘Finland’ Category
New French popular front (uniting trade unions and entire significant left) – against Marine Le Pen and Putin’s fascism : ‘unconditional support for Ukraine against Putin’s aggression’.
Everyone on the left in Ireland and across the globe should warmly welcome this French initiative.
The New Popular Front in France, which unites trade unions, ATTAC, the Socialist Party, the Greens, the Communist Party, France Unbowed (Melenchon) and the NPA [NOUVEAU PARTI ANTICAPITALISTE] (the entire significant left) against the fascist National Rally, includes in it’s platform ‘unconditional support for Ukraine against Putin’s aggression’.
Links :
New French Popular Front – Wikipedia
New French Popular Front website
General Mobilisation Against the far right and Macron, the Popular Front! (NPA)
To defeat Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression, and that he answers for his crimes before international justice: unfailingly defend the sovereignty and freedom of the Ukrainian people as well as the integrity of its borders, by the delivery of necessary weapons, the cancellation of its foreign debt, the seizure of the assets of the oligarchs who contribute to the Russian war effort in the framework allowed by international law, the dispatch of peacekeepers to secure nuclear power plants, in an international context of tension and war on the European continent, and work towards the return of peace.
A June 14 poll shows Marine Le Pen’s far-right, Putin-friendly National Rally at 29.5%, the left-wing New Popular Front at 28.5%, and Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renew at 18%. The winner-take-all district elections for the 577 seats in the French National Assembly will be held on June 30. Run-offs between the top two if no one wins a majority in the first round will be held on July 7.
Finnish Left Alliance Chairperson Li Andersson says Clare Daly and Mick Wallace “parrot” Putin’s propaganda against Ukraine – and should be denied membership of the Left group in the new Euro-Parliament (if elected)
Current Irish Member of the European parliament Clare Daly has lost her seat in the Dublin constituency.
Link :
Clare Daly loses Euro-Seat, June 11 2024
Daly and Mick Wallace were part of the left group in the last parliament, but the chairperson of the Left Alliance (Finland) disagrees strongly with the Wallace-Daly Ukraine policy.
Li Andersson, Chairperson of the Finnish Left Alliance, says Daly and Wallace parroted Putin’s propaganda :
Andersson said MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace from Ireland, two fierce critics of support for Ukraine, can no longer sit with The Left. Despite also parroting Russian propaganda and seeking to torpedo resolutions on Russia, and seeking to torpedo resolutions on Russia, Daly and Wallace have been allowed to continue as members of The Left.
In Finland, the Left Alliance won big in the European parliament elections :
Finland’s results in the European election bucked a continent-wide trend of rising support for parties on the outer fringe of right-wing politics, with the Left Alliance and the National Coalition winning big at the expense of the nationalist Finns Party. Leftist leader Li Andersson received more votes than any other candidate has ever received in a European election. By 8:34pm, with just 60 percent of the vote counted, she had already beaten Eurosceptic Centre Party grandee Paavo Väyrynen’s total of 157 668 votes in the 1996 election. She ended up getting nearly a quarter of a million votes. Andersson was visibly delighted after the results were announced. ”I’m still in shock. This is an incredibly fantastic result, much better than I could have ever dared to expect,” she said.
Link :
Left Alliance Record Result in Finnish Elections
In the article below Li Andersson’s robust left-wing pro-Ukraine policy is examined in detail – the Irish left should follow this excellent example.
John Meehan, June 11 2024
Link :
Finland: ANDERSSON: The Left must clean out members who oppose support for Ukraine
CHAIRPERSON of the Left Alliance Li Andersson says The Left, one of the seven political groups in the European Parliament, should clean out members who question support for Ukraine and show sympathy for Russia.
“The groups are always reformed at the start of the term, and we want changes to the group that make it more cohesive on foreign and security policy,” she said to Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.
The Left Alliance is part of The Left in the European Parliament.
Helsingin Sanomat reported earlier this week that several members of the political group voted this term against resolutions concerning Ukraine, questioning the need for support – especially military support – for Ukraine. Some members have also criticised the economic sanctions slapped on Russia over its war of aggression in Ukraine.
An analysis conducted by the newspaper found that the group has divided on votes concerning Ukraine, with support coming from parties from the Nordics and opposition from parties in Central and Southern Europe.
Andersson, who herself is vying for a seat in the European Parliament, pointed out that The Left has nonetheless unanimously condemned the war of aggression prosecuted by Russia.
“I’ve stressed that there are certain things we won’t compromise on. The entire group has condemned the war unequivocally. Had that not been the case, we would’ve left the group or someone else would’ve had to leave,” she stated.
“On other issues, you can see that other parties differ from us in terms of their security policy analysis. They don’t reflect the thinking of the Left Alliance.”
How Russia and Ukraine support are viewed by other parties in the group is becoming a threshold question within the Left Alliance – one that defines what parties are capable of co-operation, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Andersson said MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace from Ireland, two fierce critics of support for Ukraine, can no longer sit with The Left. Despite also parroting Russian propaganda and seeking to torpedo resolutions on Russia, Daly and Wallace have been allowed to continue as members of The Left.
“The Nordic Green Left, [the umbrella party for left-wing parties in the Nordics], as a whole is of the opinion that if they manage to win re-election, they can’t join our group,” stated Andersson.
Sahra Wagenknecht, a German left-wing populist who has opposed military aid to Ukraine and called for the resumption of gas trade with Russia, is similarly not welcome to The Left, according to Andersson.
“We’ll represent our stance in every vote. MEPs of the Left Alliance will vote in favour of supporting Ukraine,” she pledged.
Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday wrote that the European Parliament’s political groups have generated more discussion than previously in the run-up to the elections, a reflection of the groups’ growing importance in decision-making.
Johanna Kantola, a professor of political science at the University of Helsinki, said to the newspaper that the groups have marked differences: while the largest groups in the parliament – the centre-right EPP, the social democratic S&D and liberal Renew Europe – have highlighted their European and supranational nature, some of it has been lip service.
National interests are visible in votes and the groups exercise no group discipline, she said.
The Greens and European Free Alliance is a genuinely supranational group with a shared set of values, according to Kantola.
Finnish parties in the European Parliament have been aligned as follows: the Christian Democrats, Movement Now and National Coalition have been part of the EPP, the Finns Party of the ECR, the Social Democrats of S&D, the Centre and Swedish People’s Party of Renew Europe, the Left Alliance of The Left, and the Green League of the Greens and EFA.
Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the Finns Party, stated in mid-May that the Finns Party would stay in the ECR even if the group was joined by Fidesz, the party led by authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“We don’t have another group to go to, and you can’t be without a group. That’s when you need other structures that make it possible to co-exist,” she was quoted saying in Brussels on 14 May by Helsingin Sanomat.
Readers are urged to support this initiative :
We invite you – organisations and individuals – to sign the declaration “Ukraine: A People’s Peace, not an Imperial Peace”. Please find the declaration and our accompanying letter below. Different language versions are provided.
Link :
A People’s Peace, Not an Imperial Peace
Any sympathy vanishes :
“Sitting MEP Clare Daily has lost her European Parliament seat in the Dublin constituency.
She was excluded on the 17th count and becomes the first outgoing MEP to lose her seat in the election.
Asked how she felt following the loss, she told RTÉ News: “You had no interest in talking to me for five years, so I’ve no interest in talking to you.”
Ms Daly hugged Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan before swiftly leaving the count centre at the RDS.”
Link : https://www.rte.ie/news/elections-2024/2024/0611/1454089-european-election-roundup/
The best that can be said about Niall Boylan is that he is a mini-Trump who should be shunned, like the mini-Hitler political trash which transferred heavily to him in the Dublin Euro-parliament election contest.
An Immigrant History of a Dublin Street – Reflections: Dublin’s racist mobs smashed the city centre, 23.11.23
From O’Connell Bridge to the Gate Theatre, via Jamaica, Finland, Ukraine and France – Maurice J Casey
Introduction :
Maurice Casey’s article is brilliant.
This article should encourage all Irish revolutionary socialist activists who are anti-racists to examine our connections with the Eastern part of the European continent.
Below Maurice’s article we publish the words of Imelda May’s stunning poem “You Don’t Get to be Racist and Irish”.
An Immigrant History of a Dublin Street – From O’Connell Bridge to the Gate Theatre, via Jamaica, Finland, Ukraine and France
My thoughts are with all those impacted by the attack that took place in Parnell Square, Dublin, on 23 November. You can find some fundraisers to help here.
Irish migration history is traditionally told as a history of emigration outwards. We rarely talk about the history of immigration inwards to Ireland.
Yet a migrant population has existed in Ireland throughout its modern history. And this community’s overlooked story reflects common European migrant experiences: adversity, cultural influence, assimilation, xenophobia, and so on.
In other words, it is the kind of history that defies notions of Irish exceptionalism.
To explain more, let me take you through the immigration history of a single patch of Dublin city centre. Together, we can traverse the same streets associated with the appalling images from last Thursday; from O’Connell Bridge up towards the Gate Theatre.
I’ll try and give those images of the far-right instigated riots, now burned into so many of our anxious minds, a few historical counterpoints.
Read the rest of this entry »Irish President Michael D Higgins Mocked a British Empire Dame from Waterford, Louise Richardson – Is this Expert a good choice to chair an Irish Public Forum on the Neutrality Foreign Policy?
The Irish President Michael D Higgins is publicly opposing Dublin government attempts to soften deep public opposition to participation in the imperialist military alliance, NATO.
Speaking at length in a Sunday Business Post interview (June 18 2023) the Irish Head of State (a largely ceremonial post) concisely summarised the main issue :
Ireland’s foreign policy was one of “positive neutrality, and it can be defined very simply as Ireland’s right to belong to any group that it chooses in relation to non-militaristic international policy… If you interfere with that, there’s no difference between you and Lithuania and Latvia.”
Irish Times Online, June 18 2023
Set against the background of Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Higgins has upset the right-wing Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/Greens + Gombeens coalition government (FFFGGG). Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin set up a public “consultative” forum examining Irish foreign policy – which is designed to push the Irish state closer to NATO.
To his credit, unlike many left-wing public representatives in Ireland, President Higgins unambiguously sides with the masses of Ukraine against the genocidal Russian invasion.
See for example :
Ukrainians Reject “Ridiculous” Calls for Negotiations with Putin’s Ethnic-Cleansing Invaders – That should be the Common Sense Policy of the Radical Left
Supporting, unambiguously, the right of Ukraine to defeat the genocidal Russian invasion with weapons supplied by NATO, does not mean supporting membership of NATO or its aims. Irish Citizens’ Army (ICA) commander James Connolly was a leader of the Easter 1916 Rising – using weapons supplied by the German war-mongers who were at war with the ancient enemy of Irish Independence, British Imperialism. The ICA proudly promoted a famous banner at Liberty Hall, headquarters of the Irish Transport and Geneeral Workers’ Union (ITGWU) : “We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland”.
President Higgins is out of step with current Irish establishment thinking on such matters. He made derogatory throwaway remarks about the chairperson of the Dublin government’s consultative forum, and its chosen experts. :
Michael D highlighted the composition of the panels at the forum saying they include “the admirals, the generals, the air force, the rest of it” as well as “the formerly neutral countries who are now joining Nato”.
The President made comments about the forum chairperson British Empire Dame Louise Richardson, and then offered a very qualified apology :
[I think this is best categorised as a Michael D Classic : A Non-Apology Apology]
President Michael D Higgins has apologised for any offence he caused by making a “throwaway remark” about the chair of the Government’s Consultative Forum on International Security Policy being a Dame of the British Empire (DBE).
A clarification issued by his office on Monday said President Higgins referred to Prof Louise Richardson of Oxford University and her “very large letter DBE” in a casual manner during the course of a long interview, which was published in the Business Post on Sunday.
The references to the DBE were received in some in some quarters as the President disparaging the objectivity of the Waterford-born academic, in advance of her chairing the forum.
The statement from Áras an Uachtaráin referred to President Higgins looking through a copy of the programme for the forum at the time of the interview. It said he was referring casually to the fact that almost every reference to Prof Richardson in the programme was in a bold typeface, with DBE in capital letters after her name.
Irish Times Online, June 18 2023
This spat is unlikely to benefit the Dublin government. The public pressure against the British Empire Dame Richardson should continue. We offer two further items of evidence meaning Dame Richardson should immediately withdraw from the role given to her by the forelock-tugging Dublin Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
Dame of the British Empire Richardson opposed the campaign of H-Block/Armagh political status prisoners, backing the terrorist policy of the Thatcher British Government
Dame Richardson strongly opposes the campaign in Oxford University starting “Rhodes Must Fall” (RMF) – this is a spin-off from the Black Lives Matter mobilisations. https://euroclio.eu/2020/08/13/the-legacy-of-cecil-rhodes-at-oriel-college/. here is the context :
When a protestor left a sign on the doors of Oxford’s University Church reading ‘Rhodes, You’re Next’, there was little doubt that the monumental Black Lives Matter movement, sweeping the world after the death of George Floyd, would next be turning its attention to the statue of the imperialist figure adorning Oriel College’s entrance arch.
With the pulling down of a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol only days earlier, a fresh series of protests, beginning on Tuesday 9th June, sought removal of the controversial monument of Cecil Rhodes, fuelled by the 19th century mining magnate’s association with colonialism and racism on multiple accounts.
On the 12th June, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, released an open letter that reached no binary view about Rhodes’ legacy, though did warn against “hiding our history” and indicated little accord to the aims of the protestors. Her statement was also later criticised by fourteen dons at the University who wrote that it was “inappropriate” of Professor Richardson to “ventriloquise” the anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, by using his words to defend a colonial-era statue. (1)
British Empire Dame Louise Richardson Must Go Now!
John Meehan June 20 2023
Tomás Ó Flatharta 