Archive for the ‘International Political Analysis’ Category
Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song – Ian Parker’s Critical Review
Source : Prophet Song The Grim Booker
The evening of 23 November 2023 in Dublin saw a mixture of racist protest fuelled by the far right and “riots” by marginalised youth taking what they could from stores, for which they will be punished. The alarm at the potent combination of populist rage and popular resentment was palpable (I arrived on Friday afternoon and heard accounts of what had gone on), and that Saturday’s Palestine solidarity march (which I had planned to attend) was postponed for a week.
On the Sunday evening this year’s Booker Prize was announced, Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (Oneworld, 2023). Some enthusiasts for the book are treating it as prophecy, and it does trace a downward spiral into chaos that engulfs the south of Ireland after the election of a “National Alliance Party”.
Austerity and reaction
There has been plenty of speculation in Ireland and abroad about how Lynch touches nerves about austerity and reaction, and warnings about plot spoilers now are hardly necessary. You know what is coming before you open the book.
Read the rest of this entry »Reflections: Dublin’s racist mobs smashed the city centre, 23.11.23 – “You Don’t get to be Racist and Irish” – Imelda May
Very often, like many others (in their millions), I walk into Dublin city centre, passing through Parnell Square. November 23 2023, shortly before 1.00pm seemed no different. That impression was soon shattered. I collected a monthly prescription from a chemist on Portland Row, off the North Circular Road. Proceeding into town past Mountjoy Square, I dropped into my former place of work – the FÓRSA Trade Union headquarters in Nerney’s Court off Gardiner Place – for a chat, a cup of coffee, and a visit to the jacks. The staff at reception were, as usual, very friendly. Then a woman in her 30’s entered, very shook. She told us about a big police cordon around Parnell Square and a horrible incident – news was spreading about a man who stabbed children and an adult outside an Irish language school. Rumours were circulating.
At this point I encourage readers to read and listen to a very good short Dáil speech of Paul Murphy delivered on November 28 2023. It explains a lot :
First, I send my thoughts and solidarity to the victims and the families of the victims of the stabbing attack. It is just horrifying and so nightmarish to think of children being attacked in such a way. In the response to that horror, we saw the very best of our city – Warren, Caio, Leo, Siobhán and others – people who were white Irish and immigrants coming together and putting their lives on the line to try to protect children.
Paul Murphy TD (Dublin South-West), People Before Profit, Dáil Éireann, November 28 2023
Our city and country should have now been uniting around the families of the victims in solidarity with them. Instead, sickeningly and disgustingly, far-right, racist and fascist agitators said this was their chance to incite a riot and to spread hatred and division. We know who incited this riot and called for people to come out on the streets. These people did not hide themselves or issue the calls anonymously. At 2.16 p.m., a white supremacist, Mick O’Keefe, issued his first tweet. He followed that at 2.50 p.m., saying that a foreign man entered the school and stabbed five children and he said the kids were dead. Fergus Power tweeted at 2.55 p.m. that a five-year-old girl was alleged to have passed away and that “This better get people off their arses and out onto the streets”. Phillip Dwyer, a crèche creeper and dog kicker, streamed a video at 4.04 p.m. in which he said he would be in town at 6 p.m. Gavin Pepper, another far-right agitator, called people onto the streets for 7 p.m. in town. Derek Blighe had a video in which he said “We are at war,” echoing the words of Conor McGregor. We know who called people out. We also have to look at the role of some people in this Chamber. I will mention one. Deputy Mattie McGrath earlier called for a “reasonable debate” on migration. Fine, let us have the debate but a part of that will be Mattie’s connections with the far-right. He has been photographed with Gavin Pepper; photographed with Andy Heasman; a street meeting with many of the people who were involved in organising this. He has been laundering far-right conspiracy theories using his platform in this Dáil repeatedly and he is not the only one.
Ukraine Needs Extra Aid – Everywhere, far-right forces are trying to facilitate Putin’s genocide – Oppose genocide in Ukraine and Palestine
Dublin City Council has voted unanimously to fly the Palestinian flag at City Hall on Dame Street for seven days. Great decision.
The Ukrainian flag should flutter alongside the Palestinian flag. Solidarity with the people of Palestine and Ukraine – under genocidal bombardment from the states of Israel and the Russian Federation.
Read the rest of this entry »Dublin Communities Against Racism (DCAR) Publishes an anti-Ukrainian Statement – People fled war against Ukraine – they did not come because Ireland had the most generous benefits
Garrett Mullan discusses an Anti-Ukrainian statement published by Dublin Communities Against Racism.
Irish Left With Ukraine activists were shocked to see anti-Ukrainian content in a post published online by Dublin Communities Against Racism (DCAR). The post by DCAR was meant to be a left position in response to the Dublin riots following the stabbing outside a primary school in Dublin’s Parnell Square on November 23 2023.
Some anti racists commented on the post, but the contents were deleted, and the posters were blocked from the site. I was surprised myself to find that I could no longer view the post of the DCAR page on facebook, as I too have been blocked. However, at the time of writing, I could still view the post on Twitter (1) Dublin Communities Against Racism on X: “1/20 Government asylum policy continues to be a hopeless shambles! For some decades prior to 2022 eligible asylum seekers were absorbed into Irish society without any great hue and cry.” / X (twitter.com)
Read the rest of this entry »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 »‘An African “Homeland” for the Jewish Refugees?’ by CLR James from Socialist Appeal. Vol. 2 No. 51. November 26, 1938.
This is a remarkable CLR James essay from 1938, where the writer explains that a proposal to deport Jews from Nazi Germany to Africa is a form of racist European colonialism :
The transference of Jews from Germany to Africa means the extension of the Palestine policy to Africa, the strengthening of European imperialism in Africa, with the additional crime that the emigrant Jews will be forced to occupy the position in Africa in regard to the Africans that the Nazis occupy in regard to the Jews in Germany. That is how the ordinary African will see it. He could not help seeing it otherwise.
Yes, one of the ideas floated by the Roosevelt administration when it was turning away Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution was to send them to Ethiopia or Uganda. ‘An African “Homeland” for the Jewish Refugees?’ by C.L.R. James from Socialist Appeal. Vol. 2 No. 51. November 26, 1938. New “Panacea” Put Forward by World Imperialists […]
‘An African “Homeland” for the Jewish Refugees?’ by C.L.R. James from Socialist Appeal. Vol. 2 No. 51. November 26, 1938.
Among Africans, as all over the world, there is widespread sympathy for the Jews and detestation of this latest brutality of the Nazis. Africans, more than most other social groups, can understand what it is that the Jews are being subjected to. They are ready to take common action against the imperialists, Fascists and “democrats” who have for generations subjected them to similar persecution in their own country. But the land situation in South and East Africa makes inevitable a wide-spread resentment among Africans at any proposal to send Jews there.
Wherever whites have been able to live in large numbers in Africa, there exists an economic, political and social situation of the most acute tension. The accepted policy is to take the best land for the whites and to segregate the Africans in areas too small for them. This is one of the means by which black labor is assured. Unable to earn a living and money for the Government tax in the restricted areas assigned to him, the African must go to the settler and seek employment at whatever terms the settler offers.
Read the rest of this entry »More Than 500 USA Officials Sign Letter Protesting Against President Biden’s Israel Policy – International Solidarity With Palestine is Growing Very Rapidly
International solidarity with Palestine is growing very rapidly. The Jewish state of Israel is conducting a war of genocide against people living in Gaza. The world’s population is also witnessing a Russian war of genocide against the people of Ukraine. These statements are not made lightly. Here is a recognised definition of genocide :
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people[a] in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
The alarm has spread to the highest levels of the United States government. We re-publish a New York Times report, dated November 14 2023.
More Than 500 U.S. Officials Sign Letter Protesting Biden’s Israel Policy
The signers, representing some 40 government agencies, reflect growing internal dissent over the administration’s support of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Read the rest of this entry »From Ukraine to Palestine – Occupation is a Crime
This statement comes from the USA Ukraine Solidarity Network. We thank Joan McKiernan for supplying the information.
Howie Hawkins, who was the Green Party Presidential Candidate in the 2020 General Election which Joe Biden won, explains the meaning of the demonstration photographed below :
Note the Ukrainian-themed flag in the center of this picture from the Palestine solidarity demonstration in Washington, DC on Saturday. It is not the official Ukrainian flag, but it has the same blue and yellow colors and the Ukrainian trident symbol. Apparently, somebody was trying to express solidarity with the Ukrainian as well as Palestinian liberation struggles. This picture is from a Green Party page of pictures and videos from that demonstration and others last weekend at https://www.gp.org/ceasefire_now.
From Ukraine to Palestine: Occupation Is a Crime!
Statement from the Ukraine Solidarity Network
We Stand with Ukraine. We Stand with Palestine.
End the Genocide in Gaza!
Read the rest of this entry »Ukrainian Letter of Solidarity with Palestinian people
Source : https://commons.com.ua/en/ukrayinskij-list-solidarnosti/
Лист українською | en français | en español | auf Deutsch
We, Ukrainian researchers, artists, political and labour activists, members of civil society stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine who for 75 years have been subjected and resisted Israeli military occupation, separation, settler colonial violence, ethnic cleansing, land dispossession and apartheid. We write this letter as people to people. The dominant discourse on the governmental level and even among solidarity groups that support the struggles of Ukrainians and Palestinians often creates separation. With this letter we reject these divisions, and affirm our solidarity with everyone who is oppressed and struggling for freedom.
As activists committed to freedom, human rights, democracy and social justice, and while fully acknowledging power differentials, we firmly condemn attacks on civilian populations – be they Israelis attacked by Hamas or Palestinians attacked by the Israeli occupation forces and armed settler gangs. Deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. Yet this is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinian people, identifying all residents of Gaza with Hamas and the indiscriminate use of the term “terrorism” applied to the whole Palestinian resistance. Nor is this a justification of continuation of the ongoing occupation. Echoing multiple UN resolutions, we know that there will be no lasting peace without justice for the Palestinian people.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 