Laurence McKeown poses the question: Where did the ‘litmus test of solidarity’ arise and why? Two words Laurence: Genocide and Imperialism.
No amount of ‘hand wringing’ or ‘political deflections’ over the genocide in Palestine or bowing and begging to any of the imperialist masters will make that fact disappear. The same goes for Zionism.
And yes, we have had our own sickening displays of ‘meet and greets’ as you call it here, too. Thinking and progressive Republicans have continued to correctly ask how that has advanced our struggle to rid our country of British imperialism? Or American or EU imperialisms?
Especially when we read about the actions of the PSNI/MI5 to prevent the truth about our own slaughters coming out and the British legacy Act to cement it. Not to mention All the secret files that will likely never be released in case the real truths about the 30-year war in the North should ever come out.
We know exactly what ‘hand shakes’ achieve. The handshakes, meets, and greets are from a position of subservience and weakness, Laurence. You know it, we know it, the people of Ireland know it, and certainly, the British ruling class knows it only too well. And it’s not our emotions running away with us either, Laurence, its reality.
Millions have Not marched around the world calling *only* for a ceasefire in Gaza. That’s a distortion and an insult to the people’s political intelligence. Have you not heard the chants and seen the banners against the US, in the form of Biden, calling for them to stop aiding and abetting the Zionists in their genocide in Palestine? Why did you leave that bit out? Does it fit your narrative to support the ‘unity in Ireland fantasy’ that the Irish people too Only want a ceasefire in Gaza and don’t see Biden’s bloody hands in the genocide?
Without American money, arms, and slaughter, too, in the Middle East, there would be no Israel. And that’s not emotional talk either but supported by more than 75 years of British and American imperialist actions there.
Saying that because you're not invited to the White House means you don’t have the “burden” of deciding to go or not is a poor attempt to silence legitimate opinion and thinking. It fails miserably. And to further say that legitimate opposition to Sinn Fein going to ‘cow tow’ to Biden is divisive and divides opinion on a Ceasefire is just laughable….if it weren’t so serious.
We might point out that the H-Blocks campaign, which had committees all over Ireland, was a deliberately squandered chance to build on, for an all-Ireland radical, revolutionary, and transformative movement to replace Dublin, British, EU, and American capitalist rulers in Ireland. But that couldn’t happen as the subsequent race to become an integral part of that very capitalist system has since shown.
The Bobby Sands and other Hunger Strikers' electoral interventions were carefully fostered to point the then Republican Movement down that pro-imperialist, capitalist road.
Quoting Jim McVeigh, Laurence, does not help your case at all. He points out that SF has supported the PLO/PA for 50 years and more latterly Hamas. What does that mean? First, the PLO/PA is in bed with Israel and totally at their ‘beck and call’. They arrest, kill, and tout on the Palestinian resistance. Ninety per cent, in a recent West Bank poll, want their “leader” Abbas to resign. The PA is pro-Israel and corrupt to boot. They will do what Israel tells them. They are a ‘castrated’ political laughing stock. Is that what SF supports? Sound familiar? And by the way, Hamas was an Israeli construct too, but clearly, the Yanks and the Zionists have other plans now that doesn’t include Hamas Or the Palestinian people, for that matter.
You further quote McVeigh as saying ‘ 50 years have been spent building up support in the US for Irish Unity, and as a…wait for it... 'counterbalance to the British’. What nonsense, Laurence. British and American imperialisms are the two cheeks of the same proverbial arse. Does Jim really think he or SF are going to play one off against the other ?? And more to the point, what type of Irish unity is the US going to support? An agreed Ireland, a shared Ireland, all wrapped up in the ‘blanket of capitalism/imperialism’ in Sinn Feins' safe pair of hands?
You can politically snub Biden if you want as long as you do it within their parameters. Don’t worry, it won’t stop the flow of US cash.
McVeigh appears not to like considered or alternative political opinions either. He employs the age-old tactic of denigration, faked surprise, and shooting the messenger. Believe it or not, people outside the SF fold have legitimate political views as well, particularly the younger generations. They are not going to be ‘ruled by fooling’ either. Neither will they be intimidated or silenced.
If SF really feel they need to make their case to stop the genocide in Gaza, then don’t go to the Biden camp but go to the Netanyahu one instead. Go straight to the snakes head if you really want to stop the war in Palestine. Better still go and hold a protest outside the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) and get world attention for the Palestinian cause. We think if Biden saw that happening, he would ‘forgive’ you for snubbing him.
All in all, Laurence, the self-serving political expedience of Sinn Fein, is clearly gathering pace and will not end there. The ejection of the Palestinian protesters from the Europa event is just further proof of Sinn Fein’s political arrogance. That, too, will not end well for many of us on the outside.
The unequalled horror of recent history genocide in Palestine and attempts to justify it has exposed this even more. It has exposed all the fellow travellers of imperialism, capitalism, and Zionism. And it will continue to do so for a long time to come.
The ’litmus test of solidarity’ with the Palestinian people is not to go to Biden in the US on St Patrick’s Day. The ‘Litmus test of solidarity’ is not to try to deflect the political pressure, not to go, by inferring that the Only thing the millions of protesters around the world, against the Gaza genocide, are looking for a Ceasefire. That’s a tactical distortion, a very poor deflection, an insult. The ‘litmus test of solidarity’with the people of Palestine is Not to be in the control of or supporting imperialism, capitalism, or Zionism.
Sinn Fein knows only too well that not meeting Biden would send a powerful if embarrassing message to the Yanks. The world would notice. But the question for them is, can they afford to do it, as SF sees it?
Are they so far into the bigger picture of the Yankee, British, and EU plans for their ‘managing’ of Ireland that they cannot?
Time will surely tell.
