Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1
Part of a Day of Action on June 1 2025, International Day for Children
Assemble Sunday June 1, 12.30pm The Spire, O’Connell Street
Statement, Ivana Bacik TD, Labour Party Leader
“‘Since 2014, it is known that Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric war crime are occurring all over the world, and Russia’s criminal actions have been condemned in the European Parliament and across EU Member States. I commend all activists who are taking part in protests against Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainan children. I have raised this issue in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and have demanded that the Irish government takes appropriate action to express the strongest possible condemnation of Russian war crimes.’”
Statement, John Boyle, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
“ The INTO endorses the campaign to end the forceful transfer & deportation of Ukrainian children & return them all, ending the enforced Russification process & militarisation”
Supporters Include :
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) The Labour Party
Ivana Bacik TD (Leader, Labour Party)
John Lyons Dublin City Councillor (Independent Left) Lesley Byrne Dublin City Councillor (Social Democrats) Nóirín Greene (Senior Irish Trade Unionist) Des Derwin, Vice Chair, SIPTU Dublin District Council Tadhg Mac Pháidín, Teachers’ Club (Cumann na Múinteoirí) Gregor Kerr (INTO) European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU) Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU)
Days after his election as head of Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV calls Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Pope Leo XIV has called Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a western-backed 30-day ceasefire, in a shift from the previous pontiff who had struck a more neutral stance on Moscow’s war. Ukraine’s president said on Monday that his first conversation with the new pope, who was elected last week, was “very warm and truly substantive” and thanked him for his support.
“We deeply value his words about the need to achieve a just and lasting peace for our country and the release of prisoners,” he said. The Vatican confirmed the two men had spoken on the phone but declined to provide any further details. “I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Pope Leo said on Sunday, and called for “an authentic, just and lasting peace as soon as possible”. “May all the prisoners be freed and may the children return to their families,” he added. His explicit support for Ukraine in its years-long war against Russia’s invasion was met with appreciation from Ukrainians and especially the country’s Catholics.
(image credit: Francesco Sforza/Vatican Media Handout Via Reuters)
I have never seen anything like this in New York City. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff
I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff
I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff
From inside the statehouse in Montpelier (The Capitol of Vermont) – it was good to see people waking up, now this has to be sustained, organized and intentional.
The nationwide anti-Trump protests in the USA are well underway.
Here are photos from just a small selection of varying cities. Minnesota, New York, Orlando (love the Ukraine flags) and Montpelier, a town in Vermont with only 7000 inhabitants!
The nationwide anti-Trump protests in the USA are well underway.Here photos from just a small selection of varying cities. Minnesota, New York, Orlando (love the Ukraine flags) and Montpelier, a town in Vermont with only 7000 inhabitants!
There is only one civilised response over rows about offering decent accommodation to refugees and asylum seekers : the Irish state must help and support human beings fleeing from wars, famine, destruction and poverty in their native lands. Protests against accommodation centres, hotels, and hosting schemes are a magnet for racist attacks on immigrants.
In other words :
Socialism With a Human Face Versus Liberalism With a Shark Smile
These protests are often presented as demands for local “consultation”
Claims are broadcast that refugees and asylum seekers are getting favourable treatment
Vulnerable people are threatened with the old ugly policy of “Go, Move, Shift”
The real story is an old one : Go, Move, Shift. Christy Moore’s song says it all :
Six in the morning out in Inchicore The guards came through the wagon door. John Maughan was arrested in the cold A travelling boy just ten years old.
CHORUS
Mary Joyce was living at the side of the road No halting place and no fixed abode. The vigilantes came to the Darndale site And they shot her son in the middle of the night.
Similar racist protests have stained many parts of Ireland since 2023 : O’Connell Street, Coolock, Darndale, and the East Wall area in Dublin; Newtownmountkennedy (Wicklow), Athlone (Midlands), Ballaghaderreen (Roscommon) and Roscrea (Tipperary) are other examples.
In recent days this political cancer has erupted again – this time in Galway.
Sad to say, we witness more shameful dog-whistle racism, again dressed up as “consultation” with the local community. It continues. Sinn Féin TD for Galway West Mairéad Farrell is following the wretched example set by a number of her party colleagues – lessons have not been learned.
The story is covered on the Cedar Lounge Site – a link is here :
“According to the department, an appraisal of the offer has been paused for three months to allow locals to advance a proposal to develop a community hotel at the site.
A meeting took place earlier this month inviting members of the community to voice their concerns over the possibility of using the hotel to house asylum seekers.
Local councillors and TDs have spoken out over the issue, attempting to assure locals that a proper consultation process will be followed through.
TD for Galway East Mairead Farrell said: “I have organised a meeting with the department for tomorrow morning. I have been in constant contact with the department from last night to this morning.
“They have told me categorically that no one has been moved into Carna and I have organised a meeting, I will give an update at that point.”
In a statement, the department have confirmed that a pause on the appraisal of the hotel remains in place. They said that there was no current contract in place for IPAS but that some people fleeing the war in Ukraine were still being housed there.”
Irish Independent, online, March 26 2025
Ukrainians in Ireland feared cut in ‘vital’ accommodation payment – Red Cross Payment to hosts worth €800 a month was due to expire on March 31
The Irish government is jumping in; part of its agenda is the old tactic of Divide and Rule.
A payment to hosts worth €800 a month, enabling Ukrainian refugees to get accommodation was due to expire on March 31. The state authorities have backed down temporarily, thanks in part to protests by welfare agencies such as the Red Cross and the Ukrainian community in Ireland. Here is a link :
There has been an increase in reports of uncertainty and anxiety among Ukrainians living in Ireland, as the Government is expected to make a decision on the continuation of payments to accommodation hosts, the Irish Red Cross has said.
The humanitarian charity said there has been “a significant rise” in calls from concerned individuals since late last year.
The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is a tax-free payment of €800 for those providing accommodation to Ukrainians who arrive in the Republic under the EU Temporary Protection Directive. The scheme is due to expire on March 31st.
The Government is expected to extend the scheme with consideration being given to a €200 reduction in the monthly rate.
decision is “most likely” to be announced towards the end of this week, according to a source, with meetings taking place between the Department of Integration and Department of Justice.
“There has been no final decision yet, with nothing signed off,” the source added.
The Irish Red Cross said on Monday that the payment has been “a vital financial support” for 19,000 Irish hosts.
The organisation is due to present findings of the largest survey of Irish hosts to date to the Government on Tuesday.
Niall O’Keeffe, head of international and migration with the Irish Red Cross, said the accommodation programme has been “a lifeline for many very vulnerable people”.
“It’s not just a value-for-money accommodation solution, many hosts have become invaluable support networks, helping their guests in the transition to life in Ireland and guiding them to access essential supports and training,” Mr O’Keeffe said.
“Reducing support for vulnerable people will force them to make difficult decisions: living in poverty or returning to danger.”
Minister for Integration Norma Foley said last week there would likely be changes to the monthly €800 payment with an announcement due shortly.
Ms Foley said the issue was being dealt with and required engagement with the Department of Justice. The Fianna Fáil TD said she would not “pre-empt” the decision but was conscious that the scheme was due to expire at the end of next month.
Deirdre Garvey, secretary general of the Irish Red Cross, said the conflict in Ukraine has dramatically changed the lives of millions of people and has had a devastating impact on individual lives that “we can never measure”.
“Ireland has recognised this suffering and continues to respond generously. The Irish Red Cross has worked with the wider Red Cross Movement to provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and in the surrounding countries that have hosted most of those fleeing conflict in Ukraine,” Ms Garvey said.
“The needs now are as great as ever. Many of the millions who fled are unable to return home, and those who remain face dire conditions, with limited access to water, heat, healthcare and other essential services. Three years on, the mental health toll is huge, both for those who remain and those who fled to safety.”
In a remarkable development, the Sinn Féin migration spokesperson Matt Carthy TD (Cavan-Monaghan) criticises the government’s temporary climbdown : See the link here :
The Red Cross and Ukrainian community protests persuaded the government to back off. Vigilance is necessary, because the state may come back with cutback proposals later this year.
At this point it should be obvious to all anti-racists that saying the ARP is “unfair” to other renters is a racist cop-out. The issue is whether it should be scrapped, or extended to others in need of housing. Leftists should argue the latter as a matter of principle. A possible slogan could be “ Don’t End…Extend “. In other words Extend the ARP to extend to all asylum seekers and refugees as a first step.
Some public representatives have got the balance right :
Example 1 is Ruth Coppinger TD (Solidarity – People Before Profit) :
“A rightward change in government in Germany, and a similar likely change in government in France in 2027, means that Europe will no longer present a united front on the issue.
Much like the initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the John Lennon-esque vision of a country truly united in the face of a societal challenge gave way to good old-fashioned pessimism.
The (Sinn Féin) manifesto read “the special status of Ukrainians under the Temporary Protection Directive should come to an end no later than March 2026. We believe that continually extending temporary measures is not a sustainable solution and is problematic for everyone.”
“If a beneficiary of Temporary Protection is from a part of Ukraine that is safe then, save for exceptional cases, return should be assisted.”
Socialism With a Human Face Versus Liberalism With a Shark Smile
Ukrainian refugees are targets of state racism; left-wing public representatives should support them :
240 refugees are housed at Hubble Student Accommodation; of the 240 Ukrainians at the site, there are 49 school students and 77 are in employment. Following pushback, plans to move the refugees with six days’ notice were paused. Local Labour TD Marie Sherlock said, “the reasoning put forward by the government does not add up” and stated that the decision by the government is “unconscionable.” The government claimed that there was a need to vacate the rooms in a bid to protect the rent pressure zone status of the accommodation, a claim which Sherlock refuted. “The RPZ exemption has already kicked in because the student accommodation units have not been rented out to students for more than two years.” “This flies in the face of a stated government intent to try and help Ukrainians integrate into the communities they live in,” she stated. The term “socialism with a human face” is closely associated with the Prague Spring of 1968, and it appears the new government is pursuing a “liberalism with a shark smile” approach with regard to immigration.
The 18th World Congress of the Fourth International took place in Belgium from 23 to 28th February. The wide-ranging discussion covered the international situation in all its aspects from the structural polycrisis in its environmental, economic, social and political aspects to the movements of resistance, and the need to build and strengthen our own International. One particular point of debate was how as internationalist revolutionary Marxists we express our opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and our solidarity with the resistance of the Ukrainian people to this invasion, to the neoliberal policies of the Zelensky government and to neoliberal militarization.
We publish here the resolution presented by the majority of the outgoing IC, approved by the congress by 95 votes in favour, 23 against, 3 abstentions and 5 no votes, and the alternative resolution presented by a number of delegations rejected 31 for, 80 against, 9 abstentions.
Duncan Chapel has complied a table comparing both resolutions, indicating areas of agreement and disagreement.
1. In February 2022, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an attempt to turn the country into a Russian satellite. This attempt has caused hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded already. But the regime in Moscow has long been characterised by expansionist Greater Russian imperialist ideology, which sees superpowers as endowed with the right to extend their zone of influence by all means possible, challenging established norms of international law and legitimising a new era of imperialist redistribution. Thus, for the Kremlin, the daily increasing human cost of this aggression is no reason to cease it, and further intensification is instrumental to terrorise the Ukrainian people into submission.
2. What was supposed to be a “special military operation” to bring down the Kyiv government in a matter of days has turned into a three-year entanglement in full-scale war. This development was unexpected not only for Putin but also for the Western powers—Biden even offered to help Zelensky evacuate. It is precisely the determination and resilience of the Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted Putin’s plans to this day.
3. The invasion of Ukraine was not only an attempt to reassert the role of Russia in the capitalist competition but also a deliberate attempt to tighten control over Russian society and crush all dissent. Anti-war activists have been prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms on trumped charges. Socialist organisations, such as that of our comrades in the Russian Socialist Movement, have been forced to disband, and their members have had to flee. While feminists continue to mobilise, they do it under constant pressure with threats of imprisonment for even uttering the word “war”.
4. As internationalists, we defend Ukraine’s right to self-determination and their right to resist the invasion. People’s movements are an integral part of this resistance, waging a struggle on two fronts: against the occupants and against the Zelensky government. In this unequal fight, we stand together with other progressive forces in the country. We urge all internationalist left to develop political and material solidarity with trade unionists, feminists, and social and democratic activists in Ukraine. Just as the Fourth International has been doing this since the beginning of the aggression within the framework of the “European Network of Solidarity with Ukraine” (ENSU/RESU) and together with the Ukrainian left-wing organisation, Sotsialnyi Rukh.
5. Once again, we underline that we have no illusions about the nature of Ukraine’s regime. Their government is right-wing and neo-liberal, not shying away from mobilising fear to stay in power. It is just as keen to satisfy domestic capitalists as to reassure the Western powers of its ability to adapt to their demands. Its anti-social and anti-democratic policies are counter-productive in terms of defending Ukraine. They oppose the needs of its working classes, provoke their resentment, undermine social trust, and, as a result, the government relies on increasingly authoritarian measures. This makes standing with the Ukrainian wage earners and their organisations all the more important. We cannot abandon them when they desperately need solidarity, especially if our vision of emancipation is that of a struggle from below, where the people rise to fight, independant from the government and the great powers.
This is an important discussion because a Trump-Putin alliance threatens Ukraine.
What are the implications in Ireland?
A very simple policy should be supported by the left in Ireland :
We do not have a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Israel and Palestine – we are for Palestine. We must not have a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – we must be for Ukraine. Trump-Putin are promoting genocide in Palestine and Ukraine.
Concretely, the Irish state helps Ukraine to clear mines planted by the Russian genocidal invaders.
The Irish left must support this measure.
Moving things forward :
Expand mine clearing and related non lethal military support.
That has to be the policy of the Irish left – no ifs and buts.
Alongside that, we must oppose any Irish state attempt to to join imperialist military alliances such as NATO – a firm policy of Non-Alignment is required.
I understand your arguments. I share your argument that we need a perspective of solidarity for the whole continent of Europe. This perspective includes massive support for the Ukrainian resistance. However, the fact that the countries of Europe and the USA have so far given too little support to Ukraine is not due to military inferiority vis-à-vis Russia but has political and economic reasons. At least some important sectors of capital have always focused on resuming “reasonable economic relations” with Russia.
Former Polish President and Labour Leader Lech Wałesa has denounced a thuggish attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Washington DC White House on Friday February 28. The perpetrators were a convicted rapist – the US President Donald Trump – and the rapist’s sidekick, the US Vice President JD Vance. TV viewers all over the world were shocked by these scenes. One day afterwards, Vance was forced to abandon a skiing holiday by many pro-Ukraine protesters in the New England state of Vermont.
This makes me so happy. Thank you Vermont. This is so deserving to the POS human being vance is. He was beyond rude to a world leader and showed that he had no breadth of the ongoing war in Ukraine. http://www.politicususa.com/p/jd-vance-f…
Vermont Says No to Ignorant Thug, US Vice President JD VanceTrump-Putin Ethnic Cleansing AllianceFull Embargo on Russian OilLi Andersson, Left Alliance MEP, Finland
As Ukraine enters the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, shifting political dynamics in the U.S. threaten to influence the course of the war. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly misrepresented the war’s origins, excluded Ukraine from initial negotiations, and advocated for what many see as an exploitative deal that would force Ukraine to surrender national resources as “repayment” for U.S. aid.
The Trump-Putin Imperialist and Ethnic-Cleansing attack on Ukraine is a major turning point.
The anti-imperialist left everywhere is at a fork in the road : Either With Ukraine or Against Ukraine
UN General Assembly passes resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The Financial Times reported (February 24 2025) :
The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine co-sponsored by Kyiv and EU nations, despite the US voting against it and urging other states to do so.
The resolution passed with 93 votes in favour. The US and Russia were two of 18 votes against. China abstained, alongside 64 other countries.
The US had urged countries to vote against as it has its own resolution that calls for peace in the three-year long war, and does not condemn Russia’s invasion or its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
The UN Security Council, in which the US and four other permanent members have veto rights, is likely to vote on the issue later in the day.
The General Assembly vote, which came shortly after G7 leaders failed to agree on a joint statement condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine on the third anniversary of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, has exposed the widening gulf between the US and Europe in the early months of Donald Trump’s second term.
The good news is that progressive revolt seems to be starting in the United States of America.
A leading spokesperson is Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator from the New England state of Vermont.
Bernie SandersI don’t want to hear any Republicans talk about “freedom” unless they have the guts to call out Trump for the lies that he is telling about Putin and Ukraine.It was Russia that started the war, not Ukraine.Putin is the dictator, not Zelensky#News&Politics
The ignorant racist anti-Ukraine thug, Vice-President JD Vance, is not welcome in Vermont :
This makes me so happy. Thank you Vermont. This is so deserving to the POS human being vance is. He was beyond rude to a world leader and showed that he had no breadth of the ongoing war in Ukraine. http://www.politicususa.com/p/jd-vance-f…
One man is not joining the growing progressive popular pro-Ukraine in the USA.
His name is Jeffrey Sachs, a right-wing economist whose hands are very dirty ; “Sachs’ methods for stabilizing economies became known as shock therapy and were similar to successful approaches used in Germany after the two world wars”
The anti-Ukraine views of Dr Sachs are endorsed and shared by the ignorant imperialist thugs running the Washington White House, the convicted rapist President Donald Trump and his sidekick JD Vance, who publicly ambushed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28 2025 in the White House.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 