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Showing posts with label People Before Profit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label People Before Profit. Show all posts
Fra Hughes ðŸ’£I would not want to be standing in the elections as a Sinn Fein candidate when the chickens come home to roost. 

Well. well. well -  let us just take a moment of reflection to see were the parties stand on Palestine. The first word that springs to mind is hypocrisy, the second derision and the third abandonment. As someone who has been the victim of a smear campaign by some Sinn Fein party members, and the groups they manipulate for the last 14 years, I am delighted to see how they have finally outed themselves as the failed control freaks that they actually are. 

Sinn Fein has ridden so many horses since 1998 in their pursuit of power they are no longer recognisable as the revolutionary party they once were. No better than Fianna Fail and Fine Gael nor even their fellow constitutional opponents in the North, the SDLP,  SF is now a neoliberal establishment driven constitutional party Their pursuit of popularism not principle is as telling as their betrayal of everything they once stood for. 

Their representative was heckled from the stage at the rally against genocide outside the American Embassy in Belfast while their senior party members were frolicking with genocidal Joe Biden at the White House. A perfect example of betrayal of the people of Gaza and the parallel approach SF takes of fooling voters at home while sucking at the teat of American imperialism. One face for the people of Ireland and another for the capitalists and the imperialist war mongers in the EU and America.

I personally cannot wait for elections north and south to see the backlash against Sinn Fein and their betrayal of the people of Palestine and indeed the people of Ireland. One two three four open up the Gaza door, five six seven eight Sinn Fein will get bait(beat) Now there is an election slogan that would resonate with Sinn Fein's revolutionary past, and sadly it's very far in the past now. 

So, let us look at the opposition. Varadkar stood beside a genocidal maniac at the White House, as he explained why the Irish people are so in tune with the plight of the Palestinian people - a common history (one which includes military occupation, famine, colonisation, oppression, brutality and frequent massacres of the indigenous population) my words. Did he expel the Israeli Ambassador? No. Did he stop American war planes refuelling at Shannon Airport? No. Did he call on Genocide Joe to stop rearming Israel, to stop using their veto at the United Nations, to stop financing the apartheid racist state of Israel? No. He is another political chameleon, shedding skin, policies and principles when it suits. 

Shameless self-serving politicians are the same all over the world. Spineless cowardly and corrupt in many instances. Sinn Fein will cynically manipulate and try to control every narrative that comes into the public discourse and try to undermine marginalise and pillory critical thinkers, like myself, who they cannot control. Bullies and thugs - you know who you are. I have a long memory and I will not forget. We see you for what and who you really are. 

Now, who could we vote for and more importantly who should we vote for. Well the rivals to Sinn Fein, north and south are a motley collection of imperialist leftists and the remnants of the Socialist Workers Party. If candidates stood under the party banner vote for the Socialist Workers Party they would get about as many votes as the Workers Party which is a true socialist party, unlike these pseudo socialists who cheer-led the wars of intervention with chants of Gaddafi must go! Look at Libya now ? Sheep dressed as lions, champagne socialists, only interested in getting elected. 

People Before Profit, what a great name More a political slogan than a political party. They have risen on the failures of SF. They are not leading a socialist revolution at the ballot box LOL. People are simply sick and tired of the lies, duplicity and deception of the established parties, Indeed the rise of SF in the south is proportional to the failures of FF and FG in government. Leading us to a United Ireland, don't make me laugh. The people of Ireland will reunite the country, not SF.

In conclusion we are represented in government and council by self serving sell-outs, each carving a little niche for themselves in the political landscape, then waiting for the others elected to slip up so they can slide in. FF-FG-SF are one and the same. Parties for capitalists, big business and the ruling elite do not let them tell you otherwise. Their opponents, the likes of PBP are simply Sinn Fein-lite. Stepping into the space the once revolutionary SF party has abandoned, more rhetoric than substance. Their reversals in the last elections in the north goes to prove getting elected is the easiest part staying elected is harder, 

A curse on all your houses, Vote independent candidates.

Fra Hughes is a Belfast based writer and activist.

Curse Them All

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh ☭ writing in Socialist Democracy looks at the boomerang effect of the Hate Speech bill. 

A Palestinian woman stands in front of Israeli soldiers.

Paul Murphy has saw fit to complain about hate speech again. This time he is not complaining about what he considers hate speech but rather some of the things he says that others might consider to be hate speech.(1)

Paul and others in People Before Profit (yeah, it is ironic he doesn’t seem to consider women to be people, just an idea) have repeatedly called for women to be pushed aside to make way for men who identify as women. They have described such women as fascists, transphobes and engaged in hate speech. They are not opposed to the hate speech bill that was presented to the Dáil (Irish Parliament), though they had some misgivings about the lack of clarity on what constituted hate speech. But “misgendering”, refusing to accept men can become women, or that lesbians have penises could all constitute hate, not only in the law makers minds, but in the fevered imagination of the misogynists of People Before Profit.

To be clear none of these are examples of hate, rather they are common sense. Ten years ago, the men in white would have carted you off had you stated lesbians have penises. However, as it is the perception of the offended party that counts in hate speech legislation, who knows whether legally speaking all of these will actually be considered as such in Irish legislation. The odds do not look good and we will have to deny reality.

Now however, PbP find themselves in the firing line of hate speech legislation. This time it is on the issue of Palestine. The reaction to what happened in Gaza has been a mixture of genuine concern from some feminists, nauseating hypocrisy and the wilful ignorance of history by others. Some reacted, as if this was the first- and only-time rape and sexual abuse have been used as weapons of war in Palestine. It is just simply not true. It is beyond the scope of this article to deal with the history of the conflict and Israeli sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian women. Some feminists reacted angrily to the rapes by Hamas and this reaction is justified. What is not justified is to pretend this was the first time ever, nor for Zionists to claim they are concerned about rape as a weapon of war, when they are clearly not. Leading feminists with a track record of either being Zionists or ignoring Zionist violence, including sexual violence jumped on the bandwagon.

Figures for 2020 released in 2022 by the Israeli Defence Forces showed that “Out of 1,542 IDF sexual assault complaints, just 31 indictments [were] filed.”(2) Abuse is also rife within the Israeli forces themselves with one official report pointing out that one in four female recruits in the Police and Shin Bet had been the victims of sexual assault.(3)

Violence is not limited to sexual violence either. The Breaking the Silence report from IDF veterans details the abuse and torture of Palestinians by the Israelis. Even The Guardian, a cheerleader for Zionists had to acknowledge that “Some of the hardest testimony comes about the abuse of children and the torture of detainees.”(4) The abuse by Hamas of children is also something that was raised in the press by right wingers who had suddenly discovered Palestine and the sexual abuse of women and children there. Any attempts to point out that they weren’t really concerned about women or children, just Israeli women and children, was met with claims that people were trying to justify rape or whataboutery. It wasn’t it was just pointing out the hypocrisy of those who have chosen this one occasion to talk about such matters, not to protect women and children but to further the Zionist agenda which includes the bombing of women and children. Which brings us back to Paul Murphy and PbP.

The letter he complains about is from the British Home Office to the Chief Constables and warns about suspicious activities.

• wear clothing or carry articles in public which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of Hamas;
• or publish an image of an article such as a flag or logo in the same circumstances(5)It goes on to state:

I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world, and whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence.(6)

The fact that Israeli supporters in New York changed that slogan to From the Land to the Sea, Palestine will be Deceased in calls for genocide,(7) a call that has been made by leading Israeli politicians on repeated occasions. One such politician being Ayelet Shaked, who became Justice Minister in 2015. She was not alone in that. Even the conservative journal Foreign Policy, which can be relied upon to support the broad aims of the US government stated in recent days in an article penned by the head of the Palestine / Israel program at the Arab Center Washington DC in relation to the Israeli onslaught that “Washington is not merely abdicating official and moral responsibility but enabling mass atrocities at a time when all the red flags for genocide are up.”(8)

Nonetheless, Hamas’ atrocities have helped the right-wing press and others to create an atmosphere in which any support for basic political demands in Palestine is seen as supporting rape, which is not the case, and also tantamount to hate speech. Calls by Israelis for genocide are not considered to be hate speech, because they are on the side of the powerful.

PbP apparently never thought that they might be on the end of hate speech legislation and find themselves in an unusual position of being the victims of legislation they have stupidly supported on the altar the men’s rights movement that is Gender Ideology. They decided to support a movement backed by Biden, Zuckerberg, lots of right-wing governments in Europe, including the Irish one and further demanded the suppression of feminist voices. It is hardly surprising that few of the new generation of feminists are willing to listen to them on Palestine and swallow the rubbish from the right-wing media on Palestine, when PbP has actually backed violence against women and censorship.

Women look at the PbP misogyny and easily come to the conclusion that they support or are not concerned about the rapes. Now Murphy complains. Socialists have long argued against censorship and suppression of freedoms on the grounds that they will inevitably be used against progressive causes. It is not a new idea. Marx argued against censorship in his day as did Trotsky, both of whom are supposed reference points for Murphy and PbP, though in reality, they put both of them aside a long time ago.

PbP turned their backs on women a long time ago. They turned their backs on freedom of assembly by backing male thugs attacking women’s rallies. They lined up with the right-wing government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to attack freedom of speech, thinking that as they were the nice “socialists” who went along meekly and nicely with their masters diktats, that Varadkar and Martin would be nice to them as well and in Britain their counterparts did the same with the Labour right and the Tories and now, lo and behold the same repressive legislation and concepts they have argued for have come back to bite them.

Attempts are being made to undermine solidarity with Palestine. PbP bear part of the blame for that. They paved the way for thought crimes and they actively encouraged attacks on women’s rights. Arguing for rapists to be housed in women’s spaces and then expecting to be believed over atrocities against women in a conflict is cynical at best. Standing up for Palestine means standing up for women, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. Consistency and coherence are key.

Free Palestine!

Notes

(1) See Paul Murphy 

(2) The Jerusalem Post (05/01/2022) Out of 1,542 IDF sexual assault complaints, just 31 indictments filed. Anna Ahronheim. 

(3) Ynet News (28/11/2022) IDF soldier's rape in prison 'only tip of iceberg', says state comptroller 

(4) The Guardian (15/12/2022) ‘I became more and more violent’: shocking testimonies of abuse from IDF veterans. Chris McGreal. 

(5) Paul Murphy Op. Cit.

(6) Ibíd.

(7)  Twitter.

(8) Foreign Press (09/10/2023) Laying Siege to Gaza Is No Solution. Yousef Munayyer. 

⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.

Women, Palestine And Freedom Of Speech

Matt Treacy ✒ Students from various third level institutions in Dublin held a protest outside City Council offices on Wednesday to call on Dublin CEO Owen Keegan to resign following his smart-ass advice that the UCD students union might become involved in the property market if they are serious about providing accommodation for their beleaguered members.

The protest was predictably attended by representatives of Sinn Féin and People Before Profit. Two parties of the same name were part of a left majority on Dublin City Council between 2014 and 2019, but they never actually got around to solving the student accommodation problem when they had the chance.

They were likely far too busy deciding where to place multi-coloured paths, which countries not to buy computers from, which cool flags to fly on public buildings, and who to name bridges for, to be wasting their time at such trivia. It is quite apt really that they have such an affinity with student unions.

It is also a fact that both parties – and the Social Democrats who sent someone along as well to regale the yoof with promises of jam tomorrow – seem to think that there is an endless supply of housing at any or no price.

For of course, the left is forever promising to ensure that not only everyone on local authority housing lists will be given a place to live, but that the same guarantee ought to apply to randomers who arrive here from around the globe to be welcomed to the bottomless trough of free stuff.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin who is constantly going on about the housing crisis seems to believe that providing houses specially for people who have not even been granted proper legal status, or may not even be here yet, might be part of the solution to it. How in all seriousness is that supposed to work?

The Union of Students of Ireland, which is the umbrella body for the UCD students union at the centre of the Keegan mini-controversy, has also supported calls for asylum seekers – most of whose applications are ultimately rejected – to be provided with housing not only at the expense of the state but presumably in preference to people on the local housing waiting lists.

Well, that is not how things work. Every good has a limited supply. If there are 10 cakes and there are 13 people who want to buy a cake, not only will at least three of them not get a cake but the prices of the cakes will increase. And yet, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and the USI are under the impression that this does not apply to houses and apartments.

Oh, but “We will build more” they cry. Fair enough, but even the pig-in-a-poke figures thrown out by Sinn Féin will not be enough to meet current or forecast housing demand. And especially not if they are proposing to welcome an unquantifiable number of people from overseas to claim dibs – first dibs in fact – on this limited supply.

There is a serious issue to be addressed if students here find that accommodation is both hard to find and expensive. The solution to that is unlikely to be found in student unions buying up apartments. Nor is it going to be made any easier by cheer leading the sort of migration policies that particularly in Dublin are a major contributor to those difficulties.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland. 

The Left’s Housing Promises Do Not Add Up





Workshop For Trade Unionists

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