Tomás Ó Flatharta

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Archive for the ‘Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF)’ Category

Ukraine excommunication. Brokenhearted . Not

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Guest post by Des Derwin

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB, ) have the merit of consistently applying the ‘proxy inter-imperialist war’ position. If only for that there is value in reading this, Social imperialism is betrayal (Weekly Worker, Issue 1428, 2nd February 2023).

But even they, for all their bold declaration of ‘revolutionary defeatism’, can’t bring themselves to say they want Ukraine defeated, Russia to occupy Kyiv ‘this time’ and the Russian occupation regime to be extended to the whole of Ukraine, crushing the labour movement in Ukraine and the democratic and civil rights still surviving there.

Who cares that they have irrevocably broken with us and the likes of us. We should break with them and the likes of them. If socialism still has two souls ours is not theirs. 

Written by siptuactivist

May 30, 2023 at 9:15 pm

“Hate campaign over asylum seekers’ hostel drives French mayor out of town”. – Irish Parallels? – Grim Weekend in Dublin.

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Contributors to the Cedar Lounge Blog are discussing a grim weekend in Dublin and other parts of Ireland. Racists are active :

That was a grim weekend in Dublin. 

There have been confrontations between anti-immigration protestors and gardaí after protester marched to the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin city centre.

Since March a growing number of tents have been pitched outside the office and in surrounding streets.

The protestors shouted at asylum seekers, telling them they were not welcome and there were also confrontations with gar

https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2023/05/15/a-different-strategy-from-the-protestors/#comment-828054

Contributors are asking if similar events are occurring elsewhere – this report from France concerns Yannick Morez, mayor of a small town in north-west France. Arsonist Racists have forced Morez to leave his elected office and town while the central government fails to confront the far-right criminals. There are disturbing parallels with current events in Ireland.


Hate campaign over asylum seekers’ hostel drives French mayor out of town

The mayor of a small town in north-west France announced his resignation this week following a vicious, months-long hate campaign whipped up by the far-right over the creation of a hostel for asylum seekers in a residential area close to a school. Yannick Morez, who is to move out of the town he has lived in for 32 years, said his decision was prompted by an arson attack on his home and the disinterest of the authorities to the successive threats made against him. The resignation caused a political storm this week, over both the apparent lack of support and protection given to the mayor, and the rising tensions and climate of violence in French political life.

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Leader of Britain’s anti-monarchy group Republic arrested at coronation protest

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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

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Against Half-Solidarity and False Pacifism – Statement of the Russian Socialist Movement on May Day

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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 :

We would like to highlight that such pacifism is false for several reasons. First, it is armed with old dogmas which are not reconsidered in light of current circumstances. Rejecting ‘concrete analysis of a concrete situation’, the Left devalues the concepts and principles of the Left movement, turning them into mere abstractions. “Anti-imperialism” is reduced to struggle with American imperialism and NATO expansion whereas pacifism is transformed from the instrument of struggle against the aggressor into the instrument of the appeasement of the aggressor. “False” pacifism promotes neutrality or limited support for Ukraine. However, we are convinced that the application of the same critical standards the Left apply to capitalist societies of the Global North means full-blown support of Ukraine since Russia is an imperialist aggressor which has already annexed part of the Ukrainian territory, killed more than 120 000 people and displaced millions of Ukrainian peoples whereas Ukraine is fighting a war of national liberation.

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.

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“War and an Irish Town” – Joan McKiernan reviews a classic Eamonn McCann study of Derry and Partitioned Ireland

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Joan McKiernan is an Irish-American socialist-feminist activist living in New York.

Joan McKiernan

War and an Irish Town
By Eamonn McCann
First publication Pluto Press, 1974. Chicago: Haymarket Books edition, 2018, $20 paperback.

Source : https://againstthecurrent.org/atc223/war-and-an-irish-town/

“‘WE’RE GONNA WALK on this nation, we’re gonna walk on this racist power structure, and we’re gonna say to the whole damned government — “STICK ‘EM UP MOTHERFUCKERS.’”

WITH THIS QUOTE from a film of the Black Panthers, Eamonn McCann, launches the Haymarket edition of his classic study of Derry and the North of Ireland Troubles, War and an Irish Town, taking us back to those heady days when so much change not only seemed possible, but likely to happen.

This is an especially timely reissue when the question of a united Ireland is again on the table.

Those in Derry that 1968 night cheering the Black Panthers’ words shared a common goal: the fight against inequality and repression, whether on the streets of Derry or Chicago where Black activists were “then under murderous assault by the feds and local police forces across the US.”

In those years, from Vietnam to Yugoslavia, Chicago to Mexico and many other places, the world was filled with students, workers, communities fighting back. McCann argues that “Each upsurge of struggle sent out a flurry of sparks which helped ignite struggle elsewhere.”

He situates The Troubles in the North of Ireland in this time of international struggles. Those who were there for those struggles should read this latest edition, with a new introduction by the author, to reconsider what happened and why we did not win. Those who were too young at the time can read about those exciting times and what lessons can be learned for the future.

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The Irish Left’s response to Russia’s war on Ukraine – Debate on the letters page of the Irish Times – Part Two

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We published a post covering the Irish left’s response to Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine on February 25 :

https://tomasoflatharta.com/2023/02/25/russias-imperialist-genocidal-and-ethnic-cleansing-invasion-appeasing-putins-aggression-will-not-bring-peace/

We included references to an Irish Times letter signed by 12 Oireachtas public representatives ((TD’s and Senators) – which prompted several critical replies. One of the original Oireachtas 12, Senator Tom Clonan, responded positively to the critics.

On Wednesday March Ivana Bacik TD (Labour Party Leader) joined the discussion – robustly stating

We believe that it is misguided for anyone on the left in Ireland to call for a ceasefire, without making any reference to the need for Russian withdrawal from this illegal and barbaric occupation

Ivana Bacik TD, Irish Labour Party Leader
Ivana Bacik TD (Irish Labour Party Leader) and others discuss the Irish left’s response to Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine

Ivana Bacik’s letter is below, along with a number of other letters.

Left’s response to Russia’s war on Ukraine

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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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Ukraine: Voices of Resistance and Solidarity – Dublin Book Launch Report and Video

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We wish to thank Independent Left, Conor Kostick, Donnacha Ó Bríain, Halyna Herasym and Nóirín Greene for this report and visual record. Source : https://independentleft.ie/voices-of-resistance/

Ukraine: Voices of Resistance and Solidarity

27/02/2023

Ukraine Book Launch Voices of Resistance and Solidarity
Irish book launch of Ukraine: Voices of Resistance and Solidarity

Ukraine: Voices of Resistance and Solidarity is a book edited by Fred Leplat and Chris Ford, published by Resistance Books and Ukraine Solidarity campaign. It contains essays by Mick Antoniw, Welsh Labour MP; John-Paul Himka, history professor; Taras Bilous, activist for Sotsialnyi Rukh / Social Movement; Yuliya Yurchenko activist for Ukraine Solidarity Campaign and Sotsialnyi Rukh / Social Movement; Oksana Dutchak, co-editor of Spilne/ Commons; Viktoriia Pihul, Ukrainian feminist; Nataliya Levytska, Deputy Chair of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine; Vitalii Dudin president of Sotsialnyi Rukh / Social Movement; Bogdan Ferens, founder of the Social Democratic Platform; Eric Toussaint, spokesperson of the CADTM International; Ilya Budraitskis, activist in the Russian Socialist Movement; Niko Vorobyov, Russian-British freelance journalist; Gilbert Achcar, Lebanese socialist; Simon Pirani professor of modern languages and cultures; Stephen R. Shalom, editor of New Politics; and Dan La Botz, editor of New Politics.

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For the right of Ukrainians to decide their future! Complete withdrawal of Russian troops! Stop the war!

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Statement by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International

The first duty of internationalists is to support and solidarize with the resistance of the Ukrainian people

The first duty of internationalists is to support and solidarize with the resistance of the Ukrainian people

Sources : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article65758 and https://fourth.international/en/566/europe/505

The unjustified and atrocious Russian invasion of Ukraine decided by Putin on 24 February 2022 and the war it provoked have already caused over 100 000 deaths for each side, half of those in Ukraine of civilians. The suffering of those in Ukraine and Russia who have lost family members and friends is commensurably immense, through war crimes, rapes, kidnapping of children and continuing Russian bombing in civilian zones.

The first duty of internationalists is to support and solidarize with the resistance of the Ukrainian people in both their direct opposition to this bloody invasion and the self-organization of society in ways that help the population to survive, with particular support to those laying the basis for a future more just society by defending anti-capitalist policies, and the feminist and lgbt networks.

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Ireland Fought for Freedom against an Empire – Now we on the Irish Left Support Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom – Global Week of Action Events in Ireland – February 21-26 2023

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A global week of action for solidarity with UkraineStop the Russian war of aggression! Peace for Ukraine!

Friday February 24 will mark one year since the Russian army invaded Ukraine on the orders of Putin and his regime. A year of indescribable suffering and bloodshed for the Ukrainian people.

The completely unjustified invasion has already cost the lives of many tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and military personnel. Every day the Ukrainian people face brutality and violence. Millions of civilians have been forced to flee abroad, millions are internally displaced.

Entire towns and villages have been reduced to rubble by Russian bombing and airstrikes. Civilian infrastructure (electricity and heating networks, schools, hospitals, railroads, ports, etc.) is being systematically destroyed, making the country unliveable.

Calendar of Events

February 21-26 2023 Events Supported or Organised by ILWU

Tuesday February 21, 7pm

Why You Should Support Ukraine (via Zoom)

Speakers :

Vladyslav Starodubtsev (Sotisalniy Rukh); Vlad Dziuba (Ukrainian Action in Ireland)

Join us on Tuesday February 21 at 7pm to discuss Why you should support Ukraine – Hear two Ukrainian activists. Email irishleftwithukraine@gmail.com for zoom link

Friday February 24 2023 Dublin, GPO, 2pm.

Called by Ukrainian Action on Ireland : 1st Anniversary of Russian Invasion of Ukraine : “Fighting for Europe”

Immigrants Involved in Irish Radical Left/National Liberation Movements – Before, During and After the Easter 1916 Rising

A Maurice Casey Walking Tour – supported by Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU)

Saturday February 25 – 1-3pm – Portobello to the GPO

1pm to 3.00pm, starting at Portobello Square (at 1 Portobello Harbour, opposite BelloBar), finishing at the GPO.

The route and the stories Maurice Casey will be covering at each stop :

Portobello Place – Harry Kernoff

Harry Kernoff’s woodcut of James Connolly in the uniform of the Irish Citizen Army, whose flag is on the banner of the ILWU.

Lombard Street West – The Harmel Family

St Stephen´s Green – Casimir Dunin

Mansion House – Sidney Aronson and Rose McKenna, WILPF Ukraine
delegates
National Library of Ireland – Nora Dryhurst and Georgian Independence, Kropotkin

Peterson´s Pipe store – Conrad Peterson, Helen Lena Yeates

Trinity College Dublin – Russian Department – Daisy McMackin

GPO – The Bolshevik delegation to Dublin – Point up to the Mater
Hospital – End with story of the Finn and the Swede in 1916

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