The Plough
Volume 3, Number 3
27 September 2005
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) The Protestant Question: Some Reflections
3) Loyalism, Republicanism, Sectarianism and the Good Friday Agreement
4) Letters
5) What's On
The Annual Seamus Costello National Commemoration will take place on
Sunday the 2nd of October in Little Bray, Co. Wicklow. Assemble at
1:30pm at the Old Town Hall (McDonalds) for march to Little Bray
Cemetery.
*******
EDITORIAL
This edition carries two personal pieces by two leading members of the
IRSP addressing some of the issues that the recent upsurge in violence
in some Protestant working class districts has posed. We hope these
articles can provoke some response from our readers and we will be
delighted to publish any reasoned response from our readers.
*******
THE PROTESTANT QUESTION: SOME REFLECTIONS
By Liam O'Ruairc
The majority of the Protestant population in the North of Ireland
consider themselves to be British and are deeply hostile to Irish
reunification and any threat to their position. The political
expression of this is unionism and loyalism.
1) Republican socialists are not sectarian and not nationalists. We do
not have a problem with people believing in the Protestant religion or
considering themselves to be British. Our movement does not tell the
Protestants, "You are not British, you are in fact Irish". We believe
that everyone in Ireland has the right to hold on to their own
identity, culture and perceived nationality. For example, there are
Chinese people in Ireland who consider themselves to be Chinese and
are holding on to their language and culture, the same with Polish or
Nigerian people, etc. So if the Protestant people in the North
consider themselves to be British and not Irish, our movement has no
problem with it.
2) There are lots of things in the British culture and history that
republican socialists can identify with, think for example of the
democratic tradition of the Levellers, the Chartists, etc. However one
of the objections our movement has is that many Protestants who
consider themselves to be British only hold on to one
aspect/expression of British identity: the monarchy, nostalgia for the
Empire, etc. Republican socialists would say that there are other ways
of being British, why don't they explore and appropriate for
themselves all the progressive British heritage?
3) Republican socialists distinguish the Protestant tradition from the
unionist and loyalist traditions which call for the British state to
rule the six counties. Our problem is with them. The unionist majority
in the North is not ethnic or religious but political in nature. There
is something circular in saying that partition is democratic because a
majority in the North desires it when partition creates that majority
in the first place!
4) The Protestants do not constitute a nation apart (they never
claimed it), they are either British or Irish, and in both cases
unionism constitutes a political minority. While Unionists are free to
hold whatever opinion they want, they do not have a right to frustrate
the wishes of the majority of the people in Britain (who favour
withdrawal from Ireland) and in Ireland (who support independence).
5) There is no such thing as a unilateral right to union. Those who
say that you can't force one million unionists into a united Ireland
are not disturbed at the idea of forty million people in the British
Isles being denied their wish to see the Britain leave Ireland! Those
who insist that there should be "unity by consent" don't seem to have
a problem with "partition by coercion".
6) Our problem with unionism and loyalism has thus nothing to do with
nationality (we have no problem with people considering themselves
British) or territory (we do not say one island means one state). Our
issue with unionism and loyalism is that they are essentially
anti-democratic in nature. What we are in conflict with is the
unionist veto.
7) Commentators have recently talked about "Protestant alienation".
From a republican point of view it is unfortunate how this crisis has
encouraged so few Protestants to question the relevance of unionism
and loyalism and explore progressive elements of their own Protestant
and British heritage (think of the whole Dissenter tradition for
instance) which provides alterative resources. The problem is that as
long as the British state guarantees that Northern Ireland will remain
part of the United Kingdom, the Protestant and unionist population
have no incentives to question and change their position. Unionist and
loyalist intransigence is proportional to the lack of resolve in
confronting it. That leaves republicans pessimistic about winning over
substantial sections of the Protestant population…
8) In the meantime, there is a deepening crisis in Protestant working
class areas in the North. Apart from poverty and unemployment,
Protestant working class communities suffer the daily brunt of
paramilitary oppression and gangsterism. Yet those in positions of
power and influence show little interest in their plight. The unionist
middle classes have turned their back on the Protestant working class,
preferring their golf courses in Bangor and Helen's Bay. This trend,
hastened by the flight of Protestant middle class children to
university in Scotland and England, is set to continue.
9) It has not been a priority of nationalist politicians to address
the growing alienation of the Protestant working class. In addition,
the British government is trying to give recognition, influence,
status and funding to the worst elements within loyalist
paramilitarism. That approach has underpinned paramilitary power and
helped create the current crisis within Protestant working class
communities.
10) Republican socialists can advance some proposals to manage the
decline of traditional communities of Protestant working class, and
enhance what is good and positive about those communities. Because it
should be emphasized that the IRSP believes that there are things that
are good and positive in Protestant working class areas. The IRSP
believes that the emancipation of the Protestant working class should
be the work of Protestant workers themselves. However, the problem is
that working class Protestant communities are characterised by a weak
political culture, and this has had a major effect on its ability to
develop outward and progressive looking policies capable of developing
their positive potential. We believe that there are two spheres of
Protestant civil society in which elements could emerge that could
provide this.
11) Within the working class, a rudimentary trade union solidarity
still remains, residue from the large scale Protestant working class
participation in the manufacturing industry prevalent in the building
of industrial Belfast -- linen, textiles, engineering and
shipbuilding. Every working class district had, until recently, many
men and women who were involved at shop steward or convenor level
within their union, and those organisation skills learnt in the unions
lent discipline to the Protestant community.
12) In most predominantly Protestant districts today, most of the
"social cement" is provided by, or within the sphere of influence of
churches. In many districts over the past twenty years, churches have
acted as intermediaries for government training schemes. The influence
of Protestant clergy in the resolution of community problems has been
noticeable. The Rev. Norman Hamilton, for instance, was to the fore in
helping Protestant paramilitarism to reconsider the wisdom of their
sectarian campaign at Holy Cross School in Ardoyne. Methodist minister
Rev. Gary Mason was paramount in influencing the recent removal of
intimidating wall graffiti across East Belfast. And the Rev. Roy Magee
has had a long-term role in negotiating the loyalist ceasefire. At
their best, the influences of church leaders and the labour movement
were seen in the development of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. At
its height, it had four Stormont MPs in the 1960s.
13) To prevent the worst effects caused by the decline of Protestant
working calls communities, the IRSP demands the development centrally
planned state services aimed at the people in need in the Protestant
community and that these be channelled through universally available
statutory services (e.g. statutory youth centres, reading and writing
schemes in neighbourhood libraries, etc.), established national
charitable bodies such as Citizens Advice Bureaux, Mencap, etc., or
via the two main civilising bodies in Protestant civil society, the
churches (church based influences, women's groups, sporting
associations, etc.) and the trade union movement. The IRSP believes
that as a general rule partnership with these should be encouraged
over schemes or programmes within the paramilitary sphere of
influence.
14) Republican socialists are not the only one to advocate such
policies. These were first proposed by Rathcoole Independent Labour
Councillor Mark Langhammer. He recognised that this was the priority.
15) "The step now required is to enable civil society within the
Protestant working class areas -- notably those responsible for
providing social and community services within the sphere of influence
of churches -- to be enabled to occupy a central position in the
public lives of their communities." This is necessary if Protestant
workers are to move forward in their own emancipation.
16) On their own side of the sectarian divide, republican socialists
should develop measures and do everything in their own power to combat
Catholic/nationalist manifestations of sectarianism.
*******
LOYALISM, REPUBLICANISM, SECTARIANISM AND THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT
By Gerry Ruddy
When I was growing up, I was conscious of the heroic republican
tradition. My uncle had tried to take part in the 1916 uprising and my
mother's cousin had been sentenced to death for the shooting of a
police officer in Belfast in the forties. So I was well aware of the
800 years oppression from the British. My neighbors were Protestant
and every July for a few weeks they would not talk to their Catholic
neighbors until the Orange marches were out of the way. We grew up
with the simplistic belief that when we had a united Ireland the
unionists would see sense and become good Irish people. We had no
sense of the importance to them of their sense of Britishness.
Republican ideology never really did take into account how to deal
with unionism in the north-east of Ireland. Generally speaking, there
were two approaches taken. One, the benign approach, simply felt that
in the struggle for freedom unionism would be converted by the
non-sectarian republican struggle against an evil British imperialism.
The more malign approach saw the unionists as a 'settler class' or as
planters who either would submit to the 'Republic' or take the boat
from Larne back to where they came from. Parallels were drawn by
Michael Farrell of People's Democracy in the early 1970s with the
French settler class, or Colons, in Algeria.
During the seventies and eighties, most republicans simply dismissed
the loyalists as dupes of British imperialism without any independent
stance of their own. The large number of police agents in the ranks of
the UDA and UVF only confirmed this belief for republicans. Subsequent
revelations about 'republican' agents somewhat tempered this belief.
Individual republicans such as Daithi O'Connell tried to reach out to
Protestants with concepts such as Dail Ulaidh and then the Eire Nua
policy, now the policy of Republican Sinn Fein. However the rising
tide of sectarian slaughter meant that any progressive ideas were not
going to be listened to. In reaction to the military policy of the
loyalists -- ATWD (Any Taig Will Do) -- some republicans committed
sectarian acts which only served to further drive more and more
working class Protestants into the shelter of the loyalist gangs.
Meanwhile some anti-republican socialists saw no distinctions between
Catholic and Protestant working classes and with a narrow economistic
perspective preached class unity while ignoring or downplaying
democratic issues. Nor did they try to grapple with the partition of
the country with imperialism or with the plight of political
prisoners. These all are key issues, which unfortunately divide the
working class. Also the economistic left appealed to past examples of
working class united actions in the North, such as strikes in 1907,
1919 and then during the outdoor relief riots in the 1930s. What they
forgot to mention was how few these were and how the fragile unity was
so easily smashed by the waving of the Union Jack.
Now today in the wake of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement
there has never been a more divided North. Catholics and Protestants
feel safer living in exclusively single identity housing estates.
Every advance towards a more democratic North is perceived to be a
victory for republicans and a defeat for unionism. Hence the recent
call by loyalist paramilitaries, following intense violence on the
streets of Belfast, to end what they call the "suppression and
containment" of Protestants in the North of Ireland. Loyalist gunmen
opened fire on police and soldiers as petrol and blast bombers went on
the rampage throughout the city and other parts of the North. Text
messages to Protestant teenagers helped organise some of the heaviest
rioting in recent years. This was all because the route of a parade by
the reactionary Orange Order was moved away from a nationalist area of
West Belfast. The UDA, whose overall leader Jackie McDonald had only
recently met the Irish President in a loyalist area of South Belfast
said it would not "stand idly by and allow injustice and inequality to
run rife through our community".
There has been a lot of talk about "Protestant frustration and
alienation" as being the reason for the riots. In response the British
direct ruler, Peter Hain, has said that he wanted to embark on a
programme of intensive engagement with elected representatives and
civic leaders of the Protestant community and that more investment
will be directed towards deprived areas. On the same day he also
announced that he was going to take tough financial measures to
extract higher rates and water charges as he claimed the North paid
less per head than the rest of Britain for public services. So what
goes into areas will also come out, as these charges will hit heaviest
on the poorest working class districts, both Protestant and Catholic
alike.
At the same time the DUP has indicated that it has no intention of
taking part in early negotiations with Sinn Fein over power-sharing
even now with the IRA(P) having total decommissioned its weaponry.
This is negative leadership from the unionist leaders, saying no to
talks with Sinn Fein and refusing to meet with representatives of
nationalist residents affected by Orange marches. They claim all sorts
of gains for nationalists and how Protestants are being discriminated
against and this only perpetuates sectarian divisions and demoralises
sections of Protestant working class opinions. The unionist
politicians are happy to sit and talk with loyalist paramilitaries
perhaps in the hope of using their muscle to force the British
government to cede to their demands and stop any further democratic
advances.
It should not be forgotten that since last April there have been on
average five sectarian attacks a day. These attacks are carried out in
the main by murder gangs under the control of the loyalists. For
example a Catholic man from North Belfast has been viciously stabbed
by a loyalist gang under the direction of a young woman who yelled
"slice the Fenian bastard". The Ardoyne man was stabbed at least six
times in the attack. Also in Longlands in North Belfast a Catholic
home was petrol bombed. A man from the Short Strand was severely
beaten by a loyalist gang of 15 men full of sectarian hate, just prior
to widespread loyalist rioting. A Catholic secondary school in
Portadown was damaged in an arson attack. A blast bomb attack in Derry
caused damage to a house occupied by two pensioners. The device was
thrown into the predominately Catholic Upper Bennett Street from the
mainly unionist Fountain area on a Friday night. The Fountain area
itself has been frequently attacked by nationalist youths.
While the IRSP rightly condemns all these attacks and our comrades
work hard to prevent them, it is a sad fact that these attacks are
just the public manifestation of the sectarianism that lies beneath
the surface of everyday life in the North. The six county state was
built on injustice, inequality and discrimination against Catholics
and nationalists. Believing they were superior many middle class
unionists ignored the socioeconomic deprivation and the
anti-democratic nature of the state or worse still tried to justify
it. Their followers were lulled into a similar mindset and believed
not only that they were superior but also that Catholics were lesser
human beings. Hence the spread of sectarianism through out the body
politic. In 1977 Seamus Costello, founder of our movement, wrote the
following about how the workers have been used:
"In the North the Protestant working class were led to believe that
the only way in which they could preserve the marginal supremacy which
they held over their Catholic counterparts in jobs and housing was
through supporting corrupt unionist politicians and through them the
union with Britain. Their genuine and well founded fears regarding the
preservation of their religious and civil liberties in the context of
a united and clerical dominated Ireland were also exploited by the
same corrupt politicians. At the same time the Catholic working class
were conned into believing that their salvation lay in supporting
green Tory politicians who, while hypocritically advocating the
reunification of Ireland as a guarantee of their ultimate salvation,
completely submerged themselves in corrupt unionist politics in
exchange for favours for the class they really represented, the
Northern Catholic middle class. As history has shown, the working
class, North and South, Protestant and Catholic, have been victims of
the so-called solutions to the 'Irish Question' imposed by Britain and
her subservient native parliaments."
There is no doubt that both Catholic and Protestant working class
areas have a weak infrastructure, according to research (DSD) caused
in the main by
-A failure to invest in community development support;
-The continuing impact of community tensions and paramilitary
activities;
-The dominance of local activities by a single agency; and
-Cultural traditions and attitudes that discourage collective and
inclusive activities.
However, recent claims by unionist politicians that their communities
are suffering in comparison with nationalist area is countered by all
the economic evidence. They are perpetuating myths and misleading
analysis about where and why deprivation exists. These leaders are
leading their communities into self-destruction mode. They seem
incapable of recognising the new political realities in the North.
Under the GFA there was to be equality of citizenship. But
unfortunately political unionists while they knew the words of
"equality", they never learnt the tune. The mindset of unionism is
still stuck in the old colonial way of thinking. The few progressive
unionists who began to talk about citizenship and the finer qualities
of British democracy have little or no influence within the unionist
body politic.
The pathetic sight of the Orange leaders doing a Pontius Pilate act
over the violence following their march on the Springfield Road in
Belfast would have been funny if it had not been so sad. Sad because
many loyalist working class areas suffered in the aftermath and the
violence gave the gangsters and drug dealing thugs in the UDA and UVF
the pretence that they were defending their communities from the
police. The violence also has acted as a pole of attraction for many
young Protestant youths who, brought up on a culture of consumerism,
see the drug dealing membership of gun gangs as a shortcut to wealth.
Gangsterism now is in the process of ruining the lives of thousands of
working class Protestants. Criminality is rampant. The greatest threat
to the Protestant working class comes not from republicans, not from
the many IRAs or the INLA, but from their so-called loyalist
defenders.
The journalist Tom McGurk has compared heartland unionism to "an
American white-trash trailer park". With vicious sectarianism, low
educational achievement, unemployment, a huge increase in drug taking
in all its forms and a failure to face reality, Ulster loyalism is now
"synonymous with poverty, dysfunctionality and social breakdown"
(McGurk). What a comedown for a people who once were proud of their
industrious nature and loyalty to the British crown!
However, republican socialists cannot be complacent. While our
movement will quite rightly help defend nationalist areas from
sectarian attacks we must never forget that the working class --
Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter -- is our class and without the
support of that class we can not build socialism in Ireland. Only
socialism will overcome the prejudices, sectarianism and bitterness
that permeates Northern life.
The Good Friday republicans accepted partition when they signed the
GFA. The organisation of a rally in Dublin to make partition history
as part of their celebration of 100 years of Sinn Fein was pure
theatre; a method to rally the troops while the cement was being
poured over the arms dumps. We recognise that the Agreement in 1998
signalled the end of a phase in the dispute between Britain and
Ireland over the issue of sovereignty. It was and is a moment of
historic importance.
But republican socialists have argued and continue to argue that it is
not a lasting settlement. It was a political compromise. In signing
it, the GFA republicans were working based on a pan-nationalist
consensus that had underpinned their whole peace process.
The Dublin government, the SDLP and the Irish-American lobbies in the
USA were all seen as power points to be directed against the British
government to make it become persuaders of Irish unity. However, when
you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas! The GFA republicans
changed their view of the conflict following their tactical alliances
with 'the great and the good'. They began to manage the conflict and,
in so doing, they then began to reinterpret their republican
principles and goals. That in itself was a tremendous victory for the
British establishment.
Irish republicanism has traditionally seen itself as based on the
principles of the French Revolution and its rally cry of "liberty,
equality and fraternity". All the famous republicans from Wolfe Tone
onwards firmly rejected sectarianism. They regarded sectarianism as a
tool used by the British to divide the people. Instead, Irish
republicanism embraced a universal view of the world. Republicans saw
themselves as citizens of that world, in favour of tolerance and
freedom of thought. Most of the republicans from the past who are
honoured by present day republicans are generally seen as being
radical, universal and on the left.
Sadly that position has now been undermined by the Peace Process. It
has been argued, and republican socialists would agree, that the view
from the GFA republicans is "ethnically-centred" (McGovern).
In essence this accepts that the conflict in the North is the result
of a clash between "two hostile and mutually exclusive ethnic
identities, Irish Catholic Nationalism and Ulster Protestant Unionism"
(McGovern)".
The benefit of this analysis is that the issue of colonialism slips
off the map. Britain can now be seen, as it always tried to portray
itself, as the neutral referee between two warring sides, which for
historical reasons of geography and kinship Britain had an interest
in.
Instead of the question of imperialism and capitalism being the issue
of discourse we now have "celebrations of differences". All cultures
and identities are to be seen as equally valid and legitimate. This
multicultural approach in the North of Ireland in essence means that
that there are two distinctly recognised traditions, which should be
seen as of equal validity. Tolerance of each other's position then
becomes the norm. Organisations like the Community Relations Council
then have a key role in persuading the community to accept the
multiculturalist approach.
The logic of this approach ends in the absurdity of giving a local
dialect, Ulster Scots, the status of a language on a par with the
Irish language. Cultural parity is all very fine but who ever heard of
Ulster Scots before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement?
Furthermore the issue of parity has been used not for the sake of
justice but as a political weapon against the 'other side'.
So the Orange Order demand that local residents in nationalist areas
recognise, respect and tolerate the Orange Order marching through
nationalist areas while that Order at the same time refuses to
negotiate with the selfsame residents directly. That is certainly not
parity of esteem. Nor can one be convinced by the Loyal Orders' sudden
conversion to human rights and sudden recognition of the existence of
poverty in Protestant working class districts.
What must never be forgotten is that those same districts suffered
poverty deprivation and unemployment during the sixty years of
unionist control of Stormont. However, to complain or agitate for
better conditions was to be labelled as "disloyal", and a "rotten
Prod". Nor should it ever be forgotten that from 1922 until 1972,
every minister in the unionist one-party government of those years bar
one were all members of the Loyal Orders.
Historically the Loyal Orders have been an instrument of the ruling
class, to be used when the lower orders begin to question the system.
From suppressing the United Irishmen to strike breaking against the
Land League to trying to suppress and drive the civil rights movement
from the streets the Loyal Orders have been a reactionary and
sectarian force to keep the Fenians down. But not only the Fenians but
the "rotten Prods" also. Many fine working class militants from a
Protestant background agitated for better social and economic
conditions and came from not only the Northern Ireland Labour Party
but the Communist Party and the pre-1969 Republican Movement. Purges
against these heroic people took place on a number of occasions when
they seemed to pose a threat to unionist hegemony over the Protestant
masses. Unfortunately not only were unionists afraid of radicalised
Protestant socialists. When a contingent of Protestant supporters of
the Republican Congress attempted to march to Bodenstown to honour
Wolfe Tone, right wing republicans attacked them.
Even today, there is an attempt by the reactionary elements within
loyalism and including the DUP to stop all contact by working class
community activists within Protestant areas with working class
nationalists or Catholics. The forthcoming rally by the Love Ulster
Campaign planned for the end of October is just another attempt to
re-unite all from the British tradition around what in essence is a
sectarian mass campaign based on whipping up fears within the unionist
population. But there is also a more insidious campaign taking place
against progressive, radical or left wing activists within Protestant
areas. The DUP are actively campaigning for control of community
funding. They want the politicians to have the final say in which
groups get funding. This would effectively mean that no dissent would
be tolerated in areas under the control of the DUP. It is also in the
community sector that there is a large body of progressive workers
happy to reach out to other communities. If ever a local
administration is restored then there would be a very high risk of
funding under the control of local politicians be re-directed to their
cronies and fellow travellers.
So in effect the multicultural approach would not have the effect of
creating more tolerance but would create a situation whereby a
monolithic view would be imposed on the working class and they would
be forced to identify with competing nationalisms, Irish or British.
In other words no change to what we now have.
If republicans accept the multiculturalism approach then they are in
danger of retrospectively justifying not only the history of Orangeism
but of acquiescing in a form of cultural imperialism. Not all cultures
are of equal validity. Cultures arise out of certain socioeconomic and
geographical conditions. Slavery was once considered as the norm, as
indeed was cannibalism. No one today would defend these two activities
so why today should people in the North of Ireland be expected to
treat the Orange Order as merely a cultural expression of
Protestantism when it is so blatantly not. It is certainly not an
expression of being British today. Few people in Britain could
identify with the Orange Order and its triumphalist posturing. The
days of the Raj are long gone but the Loyal Orders do not seem to have
understood that those days of converting the natives with a bible and
a gun have vanished forever.
Multiculturalism is but another form of post-nationalism and is a
suitable vehicle for the southern ruling class to impress upon the
North, because it helps reduce the northern conflict to ethnic
conflict which can be ameliorated within the wider European context of
the expanding European Union. It also removes the southern
establishment from any concerns about solving the national question.
In the new dispensation of the GFA, terms or phrases like the National
Question, Anti-Imperialism and Self-Determination become obsolete. The
new buzzwords include "equality", and "parity of esteem" and "a Europe
of the regions". Well integrated into the European Union, the southern
ruling class have a clear vested interest in putting the Northern
question to bed. Instability threatens the Celtic Tiger. The southern
bourgeoisie has no wish for that.
Of course, all of this has the attraction of diverting people from
real issues such as who has power and why does oppression continue.
Instead, let's just keep repeating the mantra of the buzz words
"equality", "parity of esteem" and "human rights".
The problem about equality in the North of Ireland is that under the
current economic system, capitalism, to create equality where there
are inequalities means in effect taking from those who have to
redistribute to those who have not. In other words, take from the
Protestants and give to the Catholics. The 50% quota for Catholics to
the PSNI is a case in point. Traditionally the police, prison services
and the military were overwhelmingly Protestant and many Protestants
had a secure career path before them in those services. Now that has
been taken from them. The closure of the traditional heavy industry
which was also a main career path for Protestants has now all but
vanished. Even the major universities in the North have a
predominantly Catholic/nationalist feel to them and many Protestants
feel alienated. Hence, the flight of the Protestant middle classes to
English and Scottish universities. Traditionally, the Protestant
working classes, guaranteed jobs in industry, put little or no
reliance on education and now are in grave danger of becoming an
underclass or "trailer trash" to use McGurk's phrase as the low
educational achievements in Protestant areas leaves working class
youths the option of unemployment, low wages or a life of crime.
Despite over the last number of years all sorts of schemes including
the Belfast Action teams, Belfast Regeneration Office and millions of
pounds and dollars in peace money being poured into Belfast, poverty
is widespread and there is a growing sense of alienation from the
political process growing in Protestant areas. All that has happened
in terms of equality is that now poverty is more evenly spread between
the different communities. Rather than abolishing it, all the schemes
have ever done is cause a slight redistribution of poverty. Not a
recipe for abolishing sectarianism!
The in-built sectarianism of the GFA means that those parties have to
designate themselves as nationalist, unionist or other. So the parties
have an incentive to maximise the vote on their side of the house.
That partially explains why both the DUP and Sinn Fein rose to the
top. They maximised their votes on sectarian lines. However, the IRSP
does not regard them as two sides of the same coin. Sinn Fein is
undoubtedly the more progressive party but they now have limited
options in delivering progressive policies. The problem of power
sharing under the GFA is that any coalition government must deliver
under the neo-liberal agenda and the parties must appeal for electoral
success to only one section of the population.
That is what the whole peace process was about. The peace process was
underpinned by a belief that the conflict was ethnic and so the end
result of the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement,
institutionalised communally based politics. That is not the way
forward for either the Catholic or the Protestant working class.
References
Costello, Seamus, "IRSP Broad Front Document" (1977)
Department For Social Development (DSD), "Research To Develop A
Methodology For Identifying Areas Of Weak Community Infrastructure"
(September 2004)
Irish Republican News, September 16-19 2005
McGovern, Mark, "IRISH REPUBLICANISM AND THE POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF
PLURALISM", Capital and Class Journal no. 71 (Summer 2000)
McGurk, Tom, Sunday Business Post (September 18, 2005)
*******
LETTERS
*
Students Against Poverty are calling a picket of the shell Garage on
the Falls Road in solidarity with the Rossport 5 this Saturday October
1st. SAP, which recently sent 30 people down to the Shannon Peace
Festival, is a broad alliance of school and university students.
On Sat 10th of September we held a picket of the Andersontown Shell
Garage which was well attended and supported. It was covered by the
The Andersontown News.
This Saturday a national rally to demand the release of the Rossport
Five and the relocation of a potentially dangerous gas refinery will
be held in Dublin.
In solidarity with this action and with the Rosspport 5 we are calling
on organisations to support (press release etc) and attend the picket.
We want to make this as big as possible. If you could circulate this
to IPSC members and email me back.
The picket will begin at 12.30 this Saturday at the Shell, garage on
the Falls Road, Belfast.
In solidarity
Seán Mitchell 07717123462
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
Wednesday, 28 September
Dispelling the Myths: Refugee Awareness Day
Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
28 September 2005
9 am - 1 pm (followed by light lunch)
Mayo Intercultural Action in conjunction with the Citizens Information
Centre, Louisburgh Community Project, and Kiltimagh CDP are organising
this event to provide an opportunity for service providers, community
and voluntary groups, refugees and asylum seekers, concerned
individuals to gain and to share information on issues affecting
asylum-seekers and refugees in County Mayo.
Three panels will focus on: Why people come here - the reality on the
ground / Rights, entitlements and accessing services / Integration.
There will be inputs/contributions from Government agencies, UNHCR,
Irish Refugee Council, Integrating Ireland, Refugee Information
Service, local statutory agencies, County Council, local community
groups, Mayo Intercultural Action, as well as refugees and asylum
seekers living in direct provision hostels and in the community.
The event will be chaired by Donncha O Connell, Dean of the Faculty of
Law at NUIG and Irish member of the EU Network of Independent Experts
on Fundamental Rights
To confirm attendance, contact: Teresa O Sullivan, CIS @ 094 9025544
/ Breda Ruane, Louisburgh Community Project @ 098 66218
Creche facilities available
*
9-16 November
3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!
"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"
This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:
Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.
Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.
Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.
The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.
To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491
Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!
Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491
While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.
The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.
Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:
-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!
-Enact boycott initiatives!
-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!
-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!
-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!
Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!
Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!
We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.
Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:
Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!
Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491
Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!
Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!
http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.
*******
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*
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Tuesday 27 September 2005
Wednesday 21 September 2005
The Plough Vol 03 No 02
The Plough
Volume 3, Number 2
21 September 2005
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) Reasons to be Socialist (Part One)
3) Reasons to be Socialist (Part Two): Human Development Disaster
4) Statement of the Israeli Communist Forum (20.8.2005)
5) Support the Iraqi Resistance!
6) What's On
The Annual Seamus Costello National Commemoration will take place on
Sunday the 2nd of October in Little Bray, Co. Wicklow. Assemble at
1:30pm at the Old Town Hall (McDonalds) for march to Little Bray
Cemetery.
*******
EDITORIAL
Since 1994, when the IRSP reformed and reclaimed its roots of
republican socialism, it has always been implicit that as republicans
in the Wolfe Tone tradition we were not nationalists but
internationalists. In the past three years in particular, we have
become more explicit in expressing our internationalism. Our comrades
have visited Italy, Germany, Turkey, Spain, the Basque Country, Cuba,
Venezuela, and even England on political business to express our
political orientation and develop our international contacts. Only
last weekend, along with many other comrades from other organisations,
members of the IRSP took part in Camp Havana in Glencolmcille in
County Donegal to raise funds for the Miami Five, our Cuban comrades
imprisoned by the USA for anti-terrorist work. On local radio in
Ardoyne, Belfast, on a two hour radio slot for Teach na Failte
(republican socialist ex-political prisoner organisation), Comrade
Gerard Murray gave a very moving account of the visit of republican
socialists to the grave of Che Guevara and of the fine welcome they
received from their Cuban hosts. Another comrade, Tomas Gorman,
visited Venezuela this year and saw at first hand the struggle to
build socialism.
Last week the leader of that struggle to build a socialist Venezuela,
Hugo Chavez, visited New York to attend the United Nations meeting of
world leaders. He stood on the streets of Manhattan and observed
gridlock. Clearly shocked at the number of single occupant cars
burning up oil, Chavez said that this continuing burning and polluting
of the atmosphere could not continue and the world could not tolerate
the American way of life and survive.
This edition of The Plough gives some more reasons why we as a world
cannot tolerate the American way of life. As now practiced, the
American way of life is unbridled capitalism and militaristic
imperialism. Although the mere recitation of facts can be boring
remember behind the facts listed below (collated by Comrade Liam
O'Ruairc) are stories of human misery, starvation, and death. Use the
facts in "Reasons to Be Socialist" to convince our fellow humans that
if this old world is to survive then we need a socialist world.
(Editor's Note: The Plough 3.3 will deal with the question of loyalist
alienation and the republican socialist response.)
*******
REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART ONE)
-The richest 1% of the world received as much income as the poorest
57%. The richest 10% of the US population (around 25 million people)
have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 43% of the
world population (around 2 billion people)(2001, 19)
-The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in
the four years to 1998, to more than $1 trillion. The assets of the
top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least
developed countries and their 600 million people. (1999, 3)
-The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth of over $1
trillion, equal to the annual income of the poorest 47% of the world
(2.5 billion). It is estimated that the cost of achieving and
maintaining universal access to education for all, health care for
all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and
safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40 billion a year (0.1%
of world income). This is less than 4% of the combined wealth of the
225 richest people in the world. (1998, 30)
-Between 1989 and 1996, the number of billionaires increased from 157
to 447. Today the net wealth of the ten richest billionaires is $133
billion, more than 1.5 times the total national income of all the
least developed countries. (1997, 38)
-Inequality WITHIN countries. A study of 77 countries with 82% of the
world's population who’s that between the 1950s and the 1990s,
inequality rose in 45 of those countries and fell in 16 countries.
(2001, 17)
-Income gap between the richest fifth and the poorest was 1: 30 in
1960, 1:60 in 1990 and 1:74 in 1997. In the 19th century, the income
gap between the top and bottom countries increased from 1:3 in 1820 to
1:7 in 1870 and 1:11 in 1913(1999, 3) In 1950 it was 35:1, 44:1 in
1973 and 72:1 in 1992. (1999, 38)
-The share of the poorest 20% of the world's people in global income
stands at 1.1% down from 1.4% in 1991 and 2.3% in 1960. The ratio of
the top 20 to the bottom 20 rose from 30: 1 in 1960 to 61:1 in 1991
and to 78:1 in 1994. (1997, 9)
-The fruits of economic growth mostly benefit the rich. During
1970-1985 global GNP increased by 17%. While 200 million people saw
their per capita incomes fall during 1969-1985, more than one billion
people did in 1980-1993. (1996, 2)
-2.4 billion people with no access to basic sanitation, 968 million
people with no access to improved water sources, 854 million
illiterate adults, 543 of them women, 325 million children out of
school at primary and secondary levels, 183 of them girls, 11 million
children die each year from preventable causes. (2001, 9)
-Some 2 billion people do not have access to low cost essential
medicines (2001, 3) 1.3 billion no clean water, one in seven children
of primary school age no school, 840 million no food (1999, 28)
-Annual expenditure. Basic education for all $6 billion (cosmetics in
USA $8 billion), water and sanitation for all 9 billion (ice cream in
Europe 11 billion) reproductive health for all women 12 billion
(perfumes in Europe and USA 12 billion) basic health and nutrition 13
billion (pet foods in Europe and USA 17 billion). Military spending in
the world: $780 billion. (1998, 37)
-Global GDP increased nine folds from $3 trillion to $30 trillion over
the past 50 years. (1999, 25)
-Between 1960 and 1993, global income increased from $4 trillion to
$23 trillion, and per capita income more than tripled. (1996, 12) If
trends continue, it should grow form 23 trillion in 1993 to 56
trillion in 2030. (1996, 36)
-Global output increased more than eleven-fold between 1850 and 1960,
from $611 billion to $6936 billion in 1993 dollars. The world's
population more than doubled, rising from 1.2 billion in 1850 to 3
billion in 1960. The net outcome: nearly a fivefold increase in per
capital income. The goods and services produced in the industrial
countries expanded nearly thirty-fold, from $212 billion to $6103
billion (1996, 12)
-World consumption. Private and public consumption expenditure reaches
$24 trillion in 1998, twice the level of 1975 and six times that of
1950. In 1900, real consumption expenditure was barely $1.5 trillion.
(1998, 1)
-The 20% of the world's people in high-income countries account for
86% of total private consumption expenditure. The poorest 20% a mere
1.3%The richest fifth consume 45% of all meat and fish, poorest fifth
5%, 58% of total energy (poorest: less than 4%), 65% electricity, jave
74% of phone lines (poorest 1.5%), consume84% of all paper (poorest
1.1%), own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet (poorest less than 1%)
(1998, 2)
-OECD countries with 19% of global population have 71% of global trade
in goods and services, 58% of all FDI and 91% of all internet users.
(1999, 3)
-Top 20% have 86% of global GDP, 82% of world export markets, 68% of
FDI, 74% of telephone lines (1999, 3)
-Of the $23 trillion of global GDP in 1993, $18 trillion are in
industrial countries, only $5 trillion in the rest, even if they have
80% world's population. (1996, 13)
-Sulphur dioxide emissions have grown from 30 millions tons in 1950 to
71 millions tons in 1994(1998; 55). Carbon dioxide has quadrupled from
5740 million tons in 1950 to 22 660 in 1995 (1998, 56) The problem is
that corporations resist regulations and do not take into account
damage to the environment.
-Annual carbon dioxide emissions quadrupled over the past 50 years. In
industrial countries, per capita waste generation has increased
threefold in the past 20 years. Water's global availability has
dropped from 17000 cubic meters per capita in 1950 to 7000 today. A
sixth of the world's land area (2 billion hectares) is degraded
because of poor farming since 1945. Forests are shrinking, since 1970
the wooded area per 1000 people has fallen from 11.4 square kilometre
to 7.3. Fish stocks are declining with about a quarter in danger of
depletion and another 44% being fished at their biological limits.
Wild species are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they
would naturally. (1998, 4)
-In past 50 years: burning of fossil fuels has almost quintupled since
1950, consumption of fresh water has doubled since 1960, marine catch
has increased fourfold, wood consumption is now 40% higher than 25
years ago. (1998, 2)
-Water scarcity, deforestation, desertification, pollution and natural
disaster. In 1996, in developing countries, water supply per capita is
only a third of what it was in 1970.
-Some eight million to ten million acres of forest land are lost each
year. Air pollution is a serious problem for 700 million people,
primarily women and children. In addition, during 1967-1993 natural
disasters affected three billion people in developing countries with
more than seven million deaths and two million injuries. At current
rate of loss, 15% of the earth's species could disappear over the next
25 years. (1996, 26).
*******
REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART TWO)
Human Development Disaster
By Liam O'Ruairc
In its latest Human Development Report, the UN warned that the world
is heading for a 'heavily signposted human development disaster' of
needless child deaths, needless hunger, illiteracy and abject poverty.
Everyone should take at least ten minutes of his or her time to glance
through this important report. "In the midst of an increasingly
prosperous global economy, 10.7 million children every year do not
live to see their fifth birthday, and more than one billion people
survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day", the report says.
This means that every hour of everyday, 12000 children die of
preventable causes..."One fifth of humanity lives in countries where
many people think nothing of spending $2 a day on cappuccino. Another
fifth of humanity survives on less than $1 a day and live in countries
where children die for want of a simple anti-mosquito bed net." A
Zambian today has less chance of reaching thirty years of age than
someone born in England in 1840. Inequality is on the increase in
countries which account for 80% of the world's population. The poorest
40% of the world's population account for 5% of global income, the
richest 10% account for 54%. The report says that the world's richest
500 individuals have got a combined income that is greater than the
poorest 416 million individuals; and 2.5 billion people, or 40% of the
world's population are living on less than $2 a day. 18 countries,
with a combined population of 460 million registered lower scores on
the human development index than in 1990; an unprecedented reversal.
Those include Russia and most countries that reversed to capitalism.
Redistributing 1.6% of the income of the richest 10 percent of the
global population would provide the $300 billion needed to lift the
one billion people living on less than a dollar a day out of extreme
poverty. However, for every $1 that rich countries spend on aid, they
allocate $10 to military spending. Europeans spend more on perfume
each year than the $7 billion needed to provide 2.6 billion people
with access to clean water.
Poor human development indicators are not a fate of nature, but a
result of the way societies are organised. A recent article in the
Irish Times ("Only now is healthcare becoming a reality for the poor
of Venezuela", 17 September 2005) shows how things can change if
society is organised differently. The article reports than in
Venezuela, where an oil economy has over the decades produced an elite
of super-rich people, a quarter of under-15s go hungry and 60 percent
of people over 59 have no income at all. Less than a fifth of the
population benefits from social security. The UN's World Health
Organisation suggests that there should be 40 hospital beds for every
10,000 members of the world's population. In Venezuela, there are
fewer than 18 beds per 10,000 people on average and the system is
short of 18,700 nurses. The Bolivarian Revolution seeks to change
this. "Only now under President Chavez, has medicine started to become
something of a reality for the poverty-stricken majority in the rich
but deeply divided society....The country's health is struggling
ahead, helped by a scheme to get cheap staple food out to state-run
shops in poor areas. As a result, in the years from 1998 to 2002,
infant mortality has fallen slightly to 17.2 per 1000 and life
expectancy has increased a little 73.7 years. Meanwhile Castro and
Chavez are launching a scheme aimed at saving the sight of six million
people on the continent of America, from Alaska to Cape Horn, at no
cost for the patients, at the rate of 600,000 a year. A quarter of
places on this scheme which will require treatment in Cuba and later
Venezuela, are reserved for US citizens."
*******
STATEMENT OF THE ISRAELI COMMUNIST FORUM (20.8.2005)
Deepening Occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank Under cover of the
Gaza Disengagement
Under cover of the Gaza Disengagement Plan, the Sharon Government is
carrying out far-reaching steps to deepen the occupation throughout
the West Bank, especially in the Jerusalem Area. While the attention
of Israeli and world public opinion is riveted to Gaza, erection of
the so-called Separation Fence in Jerusalem was greatly accelerated.
For nearly its entire length, this fence is passing through East
Jerusalem, and its completion on that route would cut off from the
city some 60,000 Arab East Jerusalemites. Not only is this a
far-reaching political step, it would also seriously disrupt the
private daily life of these tens of thousands. Any daily errand at the
city centre would require getting permits from the Israeli authorities
and going through the ordeal which Palestinians go through when
needing to get through Israeli barriers and checkpoints.
Meanwhile, the demolition of Palestinian houses in the Jerusalem area
(and not only there) is sharply on the rise, and thousands of new
demolition orders have been issued, which might be implemented in the
near future. And at the same time, construction of Jews-only housing
is also accelerated in the settlements around Jerusalem, and plans
have been floated to even deepen the settler penetration into the
Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
For Sharon, all of that is far from enough. Recently, the PM declared
that "The Major settlement blocs" -- which comprise the majority of
the West Bank lands -- would remain "forever" under Israeli rule.
Moreover, he declared Jerusalem "non-negotiable". On other issues, he
would be ready to enter negotiations only "after the Palestinian
Leadership dismantles all terrorist infrastructures". In effect, he is
demanding that the Palestinian Authority embark on what amounts to a
civil war. But this is less a concrete demand which Sharon expects the
Palestinians to comply with, and much more a convenient excuse to
avoid negotiations altogether, so as to perpetuate the existing
situation of continuing Israeli occupation in the great majority of
West Bank lands.
Israeli exit from the 22 Gaza Strip settlements and from a very
limited number of ones on the West Bank is a positive step in itself.
It needs to be remembered, however, that this would not constitute a
complete withdrawal, since Israeli would retain total control over all
passages connecting the Gaza Strip to the outside world -- by land,
sea or air. An area, which remains totally besieged by the occupier,
cannot in any way be said to be totally free of the occupation, even
if the presence of settlers and army deeper inside is removed.
The Gaza Disengagement could, indeed, have been a step promoting a
comprehensive solution to the conflict -- but only if it had been
carried out in the framework of an agreement with the Palestinian
Authority on the basis of a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,
followed later by evacuation of the other Occupied Territories and the
creation of an independent Palestinian state. But what is actually
taking place is quite the opposite: the Gazan settlements were
"sacrificed" so that the far more numerous ones on the West Bank,
holding a far greater number of settlers than in Gaza, would not only
remain in place but go on expanding, pushing further the process of
deepening occupation and de-facto annexation throughout the West Bank.
It should be noted that opposition to the Gaza Disengagement often
entails extreme-right rampages - which the authorities fail to stop or
adequately deal with. In fact, such rampages serve Sharon well,
helping him to present himself as "a peace-seeker" to both the local
and the international public opinion. Extreme-right militants get a
wide audience in the mass media, both state-owned and private - and
make use of it to make far-reaching nationalist pronouncements and
even utter bald threats against anybody who dare oppose their views
and acts.
It was against this background that an army deserter and extreme right
sympathizer earlier this month carried out a murderous terrorist
attack at the Israeli Arab town of Shefar'amer, killing at random four
of its inhabitants and wounding several others. Two weeks later, a
second such attack, at the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, claimed the
life of four Palestinian workers. Evidently, both these assassins
intended to precipitate a bloody cycle of retribution and
counter-retribution, which might have have halted the Gaza withdrawal
even at the last moment (which, of course did not happen). Still,
responsibility for Shefar'amer attack is shared also by the
individuals and groups who in recent years conduct a campaign of
de-legitimation against the Arab population and its leadership. Part
of this campaign is the presentation of the Arab population as "a
demographic danger", presenting a "threat" which must be "countered"
in whatever way.
Under these circumstances, one should highly commend the solidarity
manifested by Israeli Jewish democrats and peace-seekers towards the
Shefar'amer inhabitants and the Arab population in general.
Peace-seekers arrived in the town for solidarity visits, met with the
victims' families and condemned those responsible for creating an
atmosphere conducive to such crimes. And when right-wingers came up
with a provocative demand to "investigate the circumstances" in which
the assassin was killed after shooting down four unarmed Shefar'amer
inhabitants, peace-seekers rebuffed this crude attempt to distract
attention from the real culprits and putting the victims in the dock.
Meanwhile, recently published official reports make clear that in all
spheres of life the discrimination of the Arab population in Israel is
continually worsening. The percentage of Arab citizens suffering from
severe poverty is much higher than in the general Israeli population
-- even though Israeli poverty in general is very much on the rise.
All of this is yet another "achievement" to be chalked up to the
credit of the Sharon Government -- a government in which the Labour
Party, led by Shimon Peres, is a major partner, fully responsible for
all its policies.
According to the report published on August 8 by the National
Insurance Institute, the number of Israelis living under the poverty
line has reached 1.53 million, that is 23.6% of the population --
which is the largest number and the highest percentage ever recorded
in Israel. The number of children living in poverty has reached
714,000 -- a third of all Israeli children (and a majority of children
in the Arab population!).
This situation is the result of the enormous cuts in welfare benefits,
carried out by successive Israeli governments over the past few years.
The temptation should be resisted to place exclusive responsibility at
the doorstep of Binyamin Netanyahu, the recently resigned Finance
Minister -- even though he certainly carried out the welfare cuts in
an especially blatant and brutal ways, while striving to benefit the
rich by such measures as reduction of the taxation to which they are
liable.
Given all of the above, we believe that intensive struggle should be
conducted against all aspects of the government policy. Especially
given the widely mooted possibility of early general elections, it is
vital to achieve the maximum possible cooperation between the
political parties and movements active among the Arab population in
Israel, as well as between these parties and movements and the
consistent Israeli Jewish peace forces, to strongly confront the new
conspiracies against the Palestinian people. A common basis for such a
wide cooperation would include such principles as withdrawal from all
the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem (and
from the Syrian Golan Heights); the creation of a Palestinian state in
the June 1967 borders, side by side with Israel; the right of
Palestinian refugees to implement their rights in accordance with the
relevant UN resolutions; an end to the Arab population's
discrimination in all spheres; and a substantial change in
socio-economic policies, including the slashing of occupation,
settlement and military expenditures, increasing the welfare budgets,
and abolishing the draconian measures enacted in recent years against
the workers and the disadvantaged.
*******
SUPPORT THE IRAQI RESISTANCE!
Towards the fifth anniversary of the Intifada: Build international
support for the Iraqi Resistance!
We, the undersigned, call for an international conference in support
of the Iraqi Resistance on October 1-2, 2005, to coincide with the
anniversary of the Intifada. The venue of the conference will be Italy
as the popular opposition against war and occupation was paramount
while the government continues to be one of the most important allies
of the US providing some 3,000 occupation troops. Massive opposition
was mounted against the war and occupation of Iraq. But for all those
who opposed the war and occupation of Iraq it is now necessary to move
on also with a clear support to the Iraqi resistance that is
struggling to liberate their homeland. It is not possible to, on the
one side, be against the occupation and on the other side not support
and acknowledge the impressive resistance being fought in Iraq to oust
the occupiers. We call for the full recognition of the Iraqi popular
and armed resistance. The Iraqi resistance includes every current
regardless of political or religious standing that resists the
occupation under the simple slogan of liberating the Iraqi homeland
The Iraqi people's resistance against the imperialist occupation
encompasses all forms of resistance including protests, strikes, civil
disobediences, non-violent direct actions and the armed struggle.
Further more, the Iraqi people's resistance to the occupation is an
inseparable part of the people's movement on an international level to
resist and fight against imperialism, Zionism and all forms of
reaction.
Neither the US-sponsored "elections" nor the catchword of "democracy"
can veil the reality. Behind the Iraqi puppets is the US regime,
represented by its giant American Embassy in the "Green Zone" of
Baghdad. While there is an "election process" Iraq is robbed of its
oil resources. Her cultural treasures are being plundered. Meanwhile
more and more Iraqis suffer without food, water or electricity. All
political opposition is brutally suppressed. Up until the "elections"
prisons were packed, and fifty people arrested every day.
Iraq has become the new symbol of both the suffering and the
resistance of the Arab nation. The Iraqi resistance is spearheading
the movement against American hegemony in the Middle East and in the
world. The resistance has given new hope to the Palestinian Intifada
which has moved into its fifth year of confronting the brutal Zionist
occupation. It has given new hopes to the millions still residing in
refugee camps of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. And it has been an
inspiration for the Arab masses who struggle to overthrow the
US-loyalist regimes in the Middle East.
We need to rally around the Iraqi resistance as the main pole which
can stop imperialism's onslaught in the Middle East. The struggle for
the liberation of Iraq is not only the struggle for Iraqis, but for
all the world. The masses in Iraq are fighting the very "project for a
New American Century". Because of the Iraqi resistance it was
impossible for Bush and the American warmongers to proceed to attack
Syria, Korea, Iran and Venezuela.
The imperialist powers led by the US have tried to put a wedge between
the people of Iraq and the Middle East on the one hand and the
anti-war and anti-globalization movement in the West on the other by
using the rhetoric of the "clash of civilizations" and "war on
terror". They have sought to demonize the struggle of the Iraqi people
by labeling it "terrorist". In fact, it is the war of aggression and
occupation that is illegal and criminal. The Iraqi people's armed
resistance to that illegal and criminal war is just and legitimate.
The international conference that we propose aims to bring together
the representatives of the Iraqi resistance and the struggling people
of the Middle East and the forces of the anti-war and
anti-globalization movement. We hope thereby to strengthen the unity
between the peoples who are struggling for national self-determination
and the working people in the West who suffer under the yoke of their
own governments that are engaged in foreign adventures of war and
plunder.
Support and recognize the Iraqi Resistance! Release all political
prisoners, withdraw all foreign troops, reparations for sanctions and
plundering! Struggle against US and Israeli hegemony in all the Middle
East, and for victory to the Iraqi resistance and the Palestinian
Intifada! Bring the voice of the resistance into the anti-war and
globalization movement!
Supporters of the Call for an Int’l Conference in Support of the
Iraqi Resistance
As of Monday, 25 April 2005 (sorted by area and alphabetically)
Iraq: Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA), Patriotic Democratic Communist
Current, Iraq People's Struggle Movement (Al Kifah), Iraqi Flame
(Wahaj el-Iraq); Pro Iraqi and Arab solidarity associations: Danish
Committee for a Free Iraq, First Int'l Conference for the Support of
the Resistance of the Iraqi People (France), Free Iraq Committee
(Austria), Free Iraq Committee (Germany), Free Iraq Committee
(Hungary), Free Iraq Committee (Italy), Free Iraq Committee (Norway),
Greek Initiative for Solidarity to Iraqi Resistance; Sweden: Iraq
Committee Lund, Iraq Committee Malmo (Sweden); Spain: Solidarity
Committee for the Arab Cause Spain (CSCA), Spanish Campaign Against
Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (SCOSI); Belgium: Mohammed
Belfilalya, President of the Young Arab Progressives; France: Ginette
Hess Skandrani, President of the solidarity network with Palestinian
People "La Pierre et L'Olivier".
International organisations
Anti-imperialist Camp, International League of People's Struggle
(ILPS), International Leninist Current (ILS), Organisation of
Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL)
Arab World, Middle East, Al-Moharer, Dr. Hisham Bustani,
Anti-Normalisation Committee, Jordan, Movement Loyalty to Men and
Earth, Lebanon, Ozgur Der, Turkey, Toufan, Iran, Unified Socialist
Left (GSU), Maroc, Chokri Latif, Popular Committee for the Support to
the Palestinian People and the Struggle against the Normalisation with
the Zionist Enemy (Tunisia), Anti-imperialist Youth Committee Against
Globalisation (Tunisia).
Europe
Action Circle March 24 (Thuringia, Germany), AGIF, Europa, Arab
Palestine Club Vienna Austria (APC), Communist Party of Greece
Marxist-Leninist (KKEml), Franz Fischer, Anti-Imperialist Group
(Switzerland), Friends of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) in Europe, German Communist Party (DKP) (Thuringia),
Human Rights and Dignity (HDR) (Germany), Initiativ e.V. Duisburg
(Germany), International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (Irish
Section), Left Front (Hungary), Militant Movement of Students
(Greece), National Peace Council (Bulgaria), Offensiv Germany,
Patriotic Socialist People's Front (Poland), Red Table (East
Thuringia, Germany), Revolutionary Communist League (RKL) (Thuringia,
Germany), Russian Anti-Globalists, Union of Working People (Greece).
Asia
Afghanistan Socialist Association (ASA), All Indian People's
Resistance Forum (AIPRF), Chandraprakash Jha - General Secretary
Peoples Media (India), Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party Pakistan (CMKP),
Kamal Mitra Chenoy - Vice President All India Peace & Solidarity
Organisation (AIPSO), Left Radicals of Afghanistan (LRA), Lokayat
(Pune, India), Muslim Youth of India (MY INDIA), People's Democratic
Party Indonesia (PRD); Pakistan: Rubina Jamil, All Pakistan Trade
Union Federation-Pakistan, Gulzar Chaudhary, All Pakistan Trade union
Federation, Aima Mahmood, Working Women Organization-Pakistan, Nasir
Chaudhary, Alliance Against Bonded & forced Labour-Pakistan, Ranou
Ahmed, Progressive Youth Organization-Pakistan.
America
Freedom Socialist Party (USA).
Africa
Action for Unity and Socialism.
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
Thursday, 22 September/Tuesday, 27 September
MARK BARNSLEY IN IRELAND
Former political prisoner and miscarriage of justice victim Mark
Barnsley will be speaking in Belfast on the subject of 'Resisting the
Prison State' on Thursday 22nd September, 7.00pm at Glor Na Gael, 145
Falls Rd. Another talk in Belfast will hopefully be arranged, along
with talks in Dublin and Derry. See Indymedia for up to date details.
To accompany the talks, there will be a benefit gig for political
prisoners on Tuesday 27th September at Belfast Pavillion, starting at
7.00pm, and featuring Running Riot and Complan. Admission £5 (£3
unwaged).
*
Wednesday, 28 September
Dispelling the Myths: Refugee Awareness Day
Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
28 September 2005
9 am - 1 pm (followed by light lunch)
Mayo Intercultural Action in conjunction with the Citizens Information
Centre, Louisburgh Community Project, and Kiltimagh CDP are organising
this event to provide an opportunity for service providers, community
and voluntary groups, refugees and asylum seekers, concerned
individuals to gain and to share information on issues affecting
asylum-seekers and refugees in County Mayo.
Three panels will focus on: Why people come here - the reality on the
ground / Rights, entitlements and accessing services / Integration.
There will be inputs/contributions from Government agencies, UNHCR,
Irish Refugee Council, Integrating Ireland, Refugee Information
Service, local statutory agencies, County Council, local community
groups, Mayo Intercultural Action, as well as refugees and asylum
seekers living in direct provision hostels and in the community.
The event will be chaired by Donncha O Connell, Dean of the Faculty of
Law at NUIG and Irish member of the EU Network of Independent Experts
on Fundamental Rights
To confirm attendance, contact: Teresa O Sullivan, CIS @ 094 9025544
/ Breda Ruane, Louisburgh Community Project @ 098 66218
Creche facilities available
*
9-16 November
3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!
"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"
This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:
Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.
Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.
Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.
The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.
To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491
Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!
Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491
While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.
The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.
Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:
-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!
-Enact boycott initiatives!
-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!
-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!
-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!
Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!
Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!
We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.
Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:
Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!
Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491
Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!
Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!
http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.
*******
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*
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Volume 3, Number 2
21 September 2005
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) Reasons to be Socialist (Part One)
3) Reasons to be Socialist (Part Two): Human Development Disaster
4) Statement of the Israeli Communist Forum (20.8.2005)
5) Support the Iraqi Resistance!
6) What's On
The Annual Seamus Costello National Commemoration will take place on
Sunday the 2nd of October in Little Bray, Co. Wicklow. Assemble at
1:30pm at the Old Town Hall (McDonalds) for march to Little Bray
Cemetery.
*******
EDITORIAL
Since 1994, when the IRSP reformed and reclaimed its roots of
republican socialism, it has always been implicit that as republicans
in the Wolfe Tone tradition we were not nationalists but
internationalists. In the past three years in particular, we have
become more explicit in expressing our internationalism. Our comrades
have visited Italy, Germany, Turkey, Spain, the Basque Country, Cuba,
Venezuela, and even England on political business to express our
political orientation and develop our international contacts. Only
last weekend, along with many other comrades from other organisations,
members of the IRSP took part in Camp Havana in Glencolmcille in
County Donegal to raise funds for the Miami Five, our Cuban comrades
imprisoned by the USA for anti-terrorist work. On local radio in
Ardoyne, Belfast, on a two hour radio slot for Teach na Failte
(republican socialist ex-political prisoner organisation), Comrade
Gerard Murray gave a very moving account of the visit of republican
socialists to the grave of Che Guevara and of the fine welcome they
received from their Cuban hosts. Another comrade, Tomas Gorman,
visited Venezuela this year and saw at first hand the struggle to
build socialism.
Last week the leader of that struggle to build a socialist Venezuela,
Hugo Chavez, visited New York to attend the United Nations meeting of
world leaders. He stood on the streets of Manhattan and observed
gridlock. Clearly shocked at the number of single occupant cars
burning up oil, Chavez said that this continuing burning and polluting
of the atmosphere could not continue and the world could not tolerate
the American way of life and survive.
This edition of The Plough gives some more reasons why we as a world
cannot tolerate the American way of life. As now practiced, the
American way of life is unbridled capitalism and militaristic
imperialism. Although the mere recitation of facts can be boring
remember behind the facts listed below (collated by Comrade Liam
O'Ruairc) are stories of human misery, starvation, and death. Use the
facts in "Reasons to Be Socialist" to convince our fellow humans that
if this old world is to survive then we need a socialist world.
(Editor's Note: The Plough 3.3 will deal with the question of loyalist
alienation and the republican socialist response.)
*******
REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART ONE)
-The richest 1% of the world received as much income as the poorest
57%. The richest 10% of the US population (around 25 million people)
have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 43% of the
world population (around 2 billion people)(2001, 19)
-The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in
the four years to 1998, to more than $1 trillion. The assets of the
top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least
developed countries and their 600 million people. (1999, 3)
-The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth of over $1
trillion, equal to the annual income of the poorest 47% of the world
(2.5 billion). It is estimated that the cost of achieving and
maintaining universal access to education for all, health care for
all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and
safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40 billion a year (0.1%
of world income). This is less than 4% of the combined wealth of the
225 richest people in the world. (1998, 30)
-Between 1989 and 1996, the number of billionaires increased from 157
to 447. Today the net wealth of the ten richest billionaires is $133
billion, more than 1.5 times the total national income of all the
least developed countries. (1997, 38)
-Inequality WITHIN countries. A study of 77 countries with 82% of the
world's population who’s that between the 1950s and the 1990s,
inequality rose in 45 of those countries and fell in 16 countries.
(2001, 17)
-Income gap between the richest fifth and the poorest was 1: 30 in
1960, 1:60 in 1990 and 1:74 in 1997. In the 19th century, the income
gap between the top and bottom countries increased from 1:3 in 1820 to
1:7 in 1870 and 1:11 in 1913(1999, 3) In 1950 it was 35:1, 44:1 in
1973 and 72:1 in 1992. (1999, 38)
-The share of the poorest 20% of the world's people in global income
stands at 1.1% down from 1.4% in 1991 and 2.3% in 1960. The ratio of
the top 20 to the bottom 20 rose from 30: 1 in 1960 to 61:1 in 1991
and to 78:1 in 1994. (1997, 9)
-The fruits of economic growth mostly benefit the rich. During
1970-1985 global GNP increased by 17%. While 200 million people saw
their per capita incomes fall during 1969-1985, more than one billion
people did in 1980-1993. (1996, 2)
-2.4 billion people with no access to basic sanitation, 968 million
people with no access to improved water sources, 854 million
illiterate adults, 543 of them women, 325 million children out of
school at primary and secondary levels, 183 of them girls, 11 million
children die each year from preventable causes. (2001, 9)
-Some 2 billion people do not have access to low cost essential
medicines (2001, 3) 1.3 billion no clean water, one in seven children
of primary school age no school, 840 million no food (1999, 28)
-Annual expenditure. Basic education for all $6 billion (cosmetics in
USA $8 billion), water and sanitation for all 9 billion (ice cream in
Europe 11 billion) reproductive health for all women 12 billion
(perfumes in Europe and USA 12 billion) basic health and nutrition 13
billion (pet foods in Europe and USA 17 billion). Military spending in
the world: $780 billion. (1998, 37)
-Global GDP increased nine folds from $3 trillion to $30 trillion over
the past 50 years. (1999, 25)
-Between 1960 and 1993, global income increased from $4 trillion to
$23 trillion, and per capita income more than tripled. (1996, 12) If
trends continue, it should grow form 23 trillion in 1993 to 56
trillion in 2030. (1996, 36)
-Global output increased more than eleven-fold between 1850 and 1960,
from $611 billion to $6936 billion in 1993 dollars. The world's
population more than doubled, rising from 1.2 billion in 1850 to 3
billion in 1960. The net outcome: nearly a fivefold increase in per
capital income. The goods and services produced in the industrial
countries expanded nearly thirty-fold, from $212 billion to $6103
billion (1996, 12)
-World consumption. Private and public consumption expenditure reaches
$24 trillion in 1998, twice the level of 1975 and six times that of
1950. In 1900, real consumption expenditure was barely $1.5 trillion.
(1998, 1)
-The 20% of the world's people in high-income countries account for
86% of total private consumption expenditure. The poorest 20% a mere
1.3%The richest fifth consume 45% of all meat and fish, poorest fifth
5%, 58% of total energy (poorest: less than 4%), 65% electricity, jave
74% of phone lines (poorest 1.5%), consume84% of all paper (poorest
1.1%), own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet (poorest less than 1%)
(1998, 2)
-OECD countries with 19% of global population have 71% of global trade
in goods and services, 58% of all FDI and 91% of all internet users.
(1999, 3)
-Top 20% have 86% of global GDP, 82% of world export markets, 68% of
FDI, 74% of telephone lines (1999, 3)
-Of the $23 trillion of global GDP in 1993, $18 trillion are in
industrial countries, only $5 trillion in the rest, even if they have
80% world's population. (1996, 13)
-Sulphur dioxide emissions have grown from 30 millions tons in 1950 to
71 millions tons in 1994(1998; 55). Carbon dioxide has quadrupled from
5740 million tons in 1950 to 22 660 in 1995 (1998, 56) The problem is
that corporations resist regulations and do not take into account
damage to the environment.
-Annual carbon dioxide emissions quadrupled over the past 50 years. In
industrial countries, per capita waste generation has increased
threefold in the past 20 years. Water's global availability has
dropped from 17000 cubic meters per capita in 1950 to 7000 today. A
sixth of the world's land area (2 billion hectares) is degraded
because of poor farming since 1945. Forests are shrinking, since 1970
the wooded area per 1000 people has fallen from 11.4 square kilometre
to 7.3. Fish stocks are declining with about a quarter in danger of
depletion and another 44% being fished at their biological limits.
Wild species are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they
would naturally. (1998, 4)
-In past 50 years: burning of fossil fuels has almost quintupled since
1950, consumption of fresh water has doubled since 1960, marine catch
has increased fourfold, wood consumption is now 40% higher than 25
years ago. (1998, 2)
-Water scarcity, deforestation, desertification, pollution and natural
disaster. In 1996, in developing countries, water supply per capita is
only a third of what it was in 1970.
-Some eight million to ten million acres of forest land are lost each
year. Air pollution is a serious problem for 700 million people,
primarily women and children. In addition, during 1967-1993 natural
disasters affected three billion people in developing countries with
more than seven million deaths and two million injuries. At current
rate of loss, 15% of the earth's species could disappear over the next
25 years. (1996, 26).
*******
REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART TWO)
Human Development Disaster
By Liam O'Ruairc
In its latest Human Development Report, the UN warned that the world
is heading for a 'heavily signposted human development disaster' of
needless child deaths, needless hunger, illiteracy and abject poverty.
Everyone should take at least ten minutes of his or her time to glance
through this important report. "In the midst of an increasingly
prosperous global economy, 10.7 million children every year do not
live to see their fifth birthday, and more than one billion people
survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day", the report says.
This means that every hour of everyday, 12000 children die of
preventable causes..."One fifth of humanity lives in countries where
many people think nothing of spending $2 a day on cappuccino. Another
fifth of humanity survives on less than $1 a day and live in countries
where children die for want of a simple anti-mosquito bed net." A
Zambian today has less chance of reaching thirty years of age than
someone born in England in 1840. Inequality is on the increase in
countries which account for 80% of the world's population. The poorest
40% of the world's population account for 5% of global income, the
richest 10% account for 54%. The report says that the world's richest
500 individuals have got a combined income that is greater than the
poorest 416 million individuals; and 2.5 billion people, or 40% of the
world's population are living on less than $2 a day. 18 countries,
with a combined population of 460 million registered lower scores on
the human development index than in 1990; an unprecedented reversal.
Those include Russia and most countries that reversed to capitalism.
Redistributing 1.6% of the income of the richest 10 percent of the
global population would provide the $300 billion needed to lift the
one billion people living on less than a dollar a day out of extreme
poverty. However, for every $1 that rich countries spend on aid, they
allocate $10 to military spending. Europeans spend more on perfume
each year than the $7 billion needed to provide 2.6 billion people
with access to clean water.
Poor human development indicators are not a fate of nature, but a
result of the way societies are organised. A recent article in the
Irish Times ("Only now is healthcare becoming a reality for the poor
of Venezuela", 17 September 2005) shows how things can change if
society is organised differently. The article reports than in
Venezuela, where an oil economy has over the decades produced an elite
of super-rich people, a quarter of under-15s go hungry and 60 percent
of people over 59 have no income at all. Less than a fifth of the
population benefits from social security. The UN's World Health
Organisation suggests that there should be 40 hospital beds for every
10,000 members of the world's population. In Venezuela, there are
fewer than 18 beds per 10,000 people on average and the system is
short of 18,700 nurses. The Bolivarian Revolution seeks to change
this. "Only now under President Chavez, has medicine started to become
something of a reality for the poverty-stricken majority in the rich
but deeply divided society....The country's health is struggling
ahead, helped by a scheme to get cheap staple food out to state-run
shops in poor areas. As a result, in the years from 1998 to 2002,
infant mortality has fallen slightly to 17.2 per 1000 and life
expectancy has increased a little 73.7 years. Meanwhile Castro and
Chavez are launching a scheme aimed at saving the sight of six million
people on the continent of America, from Alaska to Cape Horn, at no
cost for the patients, at the rate of 600,000 a year. A quarter of
places on this scheme which will require treatment in Cuba and later
Venezuela, are reserved for US citizens."
*******
STATEMENT OF THE ISRAELI COMMUNIST FORUM (20.8.2005)
Deepening Occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank Under cover of the
Gaza Disengagement
Under cover of the Gaza Disengagement Plan, the Sharon Government is
carrying out far-reaching steps to deepen the occupation throughout
the West Bank, especially in the Jerusalem Area. While the attention
of Israeli and world public opinion is riveted to Gaza, erection of
the so-called Separation Fence in Jerusalem was greatly accelerated.
For nearly its entire length, this fence is passing through East
Jerusalem, and its completion on that route would cut off from the
city some 60,000 Arab East Jerusalemites. Not only is this a
far-reaching political step, it would also seriously disrupt the
private daily life of these tens of thousands. Any daily errand at the
city centre would require getting permits from the Israeli authorities
and going through the ordeal which Palestinians go through when
needing to get through Israeli barriers and checkpoints.
Meanwhile, the demolition of Palestinian houses in the Jerusalem area
(and not only there) is sharply on the rise, and thousands of new
demolition orders have been issued, which might be implemented in the
near future. And at the same time, construction of Jews-only housing
is also accelerated in the settlements around Jerusalem, and plans
have been floated to even deepen the settler penetration into the
Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
For Sharon, all of that is far from enough. Recently, the PM declared
that "The Major settlement blocs" -- which comprise the majority of
the West Bank lands -- would remain "forever" under Israeli rule.
Moreover, he declared Jerusalem "non-negotiable". On other issues, he
would be ready to enter negotiations only "after the Palestinian
Leadership dismantles all terrorist infrastructures". In effect, he is
demanding that the Palestinian Authority embark on what amounts to a
civil war. But this is less a concrete demand which Sharon expects the
Palestinians to comply with, and much more a convenient excuse to
avoid negotiations altogether, so as to perpetuate the existing
situation of continuing Israeli occupation in the great majority of
West Bank lands.
Israeli exit from the 22 Gaza Strip settlements and from a very
limited number of ones on the West Bank is a positive step in itself.
It needs to be remembered, however, that this would not constitute a
complete withdrawal, since Israeli would retain total control over all
passages connecting the Gaza Strip to the outside world -- by land,
sea or air. An area, which remains totally besieged by the occupier,
cannot in any way be said to be totally free of the occupation, even
if the presence of settlers and army deeper inside is removed.
The Gaza Disengagement could, indeed, have been a step promoting a
comprehensive solution to the conflict -- but only if it had been
carried out in the framework of an agreement with the Palestinian
Authority on the basis of a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,
followed later by evacuation of the other Occupied Territories and the
creation of an independent Palestinian state. But what is actually
taking place is quite the opposite: the Gazan settlements were
"sacrificed" so that the far more numerous ones on the West Bank,
holding a far greater number of settlers than in Gaza, would not only
remain in place but go on expanding, pushing further the process of
deepening occupation and de-facto annexation throughout the West Bank.
It should be noted that opposition to the Gaza Disengagement often
entails extreme-right rampages - which the authorities fail to stop or
adequately deal with. In fact, such rampages serve Sharon well,
helping him to present himself as "a peace-seeker" to both the local
and the international public opinion. Extreme-right militants get a
wide audience in the mass media, both state-owned and private - and
make use of it to make far-reaching nationalist pronouncements and
even utter bald threats against anybody who dare oppose their views
and acts.
It was against this background that an army deserter and extreme right
sympathizer earlier this month carried out a murderous terrorist
attack at the Israeli Arab town of Shefar'amer, killing at random four
of its inhabitants and wounding several others. Two weeks later, a
second such attack, at the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, claimed the
life of four Palestinian workers. Evidently, both these assassins
intended to precipitate a bloody cycle of retribution and
counter-retribution, which might have have halted the Gaza withdrawal
even at the last moment (which, of course did not happen). Still,
responsibility for Shefar'amer attack is shared also by the
individuals and groups who in recent years conduct a campaign of
de-legitimation against the Arab population and its leadership. Part
of this campaign is the presentation of the Arab population as "a
demographic danger", presenting a "threat" which must be "countered"
in whatever way.
Under these circumstances, one should highly commend the solidarity
manifested by Israeli Jewish democrats and peace-seekers towards the
Shefar'amer inhabitants and the Arab population in general.
Peace-seekers arrived in the town for solidarity visits, met with the
victims' families and condemned those responsible for creating an
atmosphere conducive to such crimes. And when right-wingers came up
with a provocative demand to "investigate the circumstances" in which
the assassin was killed after shooting down four unarmed Shefar'amer
inhabitants, peace-seekers rebuffed this crude attempt to distract
attention from the real culprits and putting the victims in the dock.
Meanwhile, recently published official reports make clear that in all
spheres of life the discrimination of the Arab population in Israel is
continually worsening. The percentage of Arab citizens suffering from
severe poverty is much higher than in the general Israeli population
-- even though Israeli poverty in general is very much on the rise.
All of this is yet another "achievement" to be chalked up to the
credit of the Sharon Government -- a government in which the Labour
Party, led by Shimon Peres, is a major partner, fully responsible for
all its policies.
According to the report published on August 8 by the National
Insurance Institute, the number of Israelis living under the poverty
line has reached 1.53 million, that is 23.6% of the population --
which is the largest number and the highest percentage ever recorded
in Israel. The number of children living in poverty has reached
714,000 -- a third of all Israeli children (and a majority of children
in the Arab population!).
This situation is the result of the enormous cuts in welfare benefits,
carried out by successive Israeli governments over the past few years.
The temptation should be resisted to place exclusive responsibility at
the doorstep of Binyamin Netanyahu, the recently resigned Finance
Minister -- even though he certainly carried out the welfare cuts in
an especially blatant and brutal ways, while striving to benefit the
rich by such measures as reduction of the taxation to which they are
liable.
Given all of the above, we believe that intensive struggle should be
conducted against all aspects of the government policy. Especially
given the widely mooted possibility of early general elections, it is
vital to achieve the maximum possible cooperation between the
political parties and movements active among the Arab population in
Israel, as well as between these parties and movements and the
consistent Israeli Jewish peace forces, to strongly confront the new
conspiracies against the Palestinian people. A common basis for such a
wide cooperation would include such principles as withdrawal from all
the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem (and
from the Syrian Golan Heights); the creation of a Palestinian state in
the June 1967 borders, side by side with Israel; the right of
Palestinian refugees to implement their rights in accordance with the
relevant UN resolutions; an end to the Arab population's
discrimination in all spheres; and a substantial change in
socio-economic policies, including the slashing of occupation,
settlement and military expenditures, increasing the welfare budgets,
and abolishing the draconian measures enacted in recent years against
the workers and the disadvantaged.
*******
SUPPORT THE IRAQI RESISTANCE!
Towards the fifth anniversary of the Intifada: Build international
support for the Iraqi Resistance!
We, the undersigned, call for an international conference in support
of the Iraqi Resistance on October 1-2, 2005, to coincide with the
anniversary of the Intifada. The venue of the conference will be Italy
as the popular opposition against war and occupation was paramount
while the government continues to be one of the most important allies
of the US providing some 3,000 occupation troops. Massive opposition
was mounted against the war and occupation of Iraq. But for all those
who opposed the war and occupation of Iraq it is now necessary to move
on also with a clear support to the Iraqi resistance that is
struggling to liberate their homeland. It is not possible to, on the
one side, be against the occupation and on the other side not support
and acknowledge the impressive resistance being fought in Iraq to oust
the occupiers. We call for the full recognition of the Iraqi popular
and armed resistance. The Iraqi resistance includes every current
regardless of political or religious standing that resists the
occupation under the simple slogan of liberating the Iraqi homeland
The Iraqi people's resistance against the imperialist occupation
encompasses all forms of resistance including protests, strikes, civil
disobediences, non-violent direct actions and the armed struggle.
Further more, the Iraqi people's resistance to the occupation is an
inseparable part of the people's movement on an international level to
resist and fight against imperialism, Zionism and all forms of
reaction.
Neither the US-sponsored "elections" nor the catchword of "democracy"
can veil the reality. Behind the Iraqi puppets is the US regime,
represented by its giant American Embassy in the "Green Zone" of
Baghdad. While there is an "election process" Iraq is robbed of its
oil resources. Her cultural treasures are being plundered. Meanwhile
more and more Iraqis suffer without food, water or electricity. All
political opposition is brutally suppressed. Up until the "elections"
prisons were packed, and fifty people arrested every day.
Iraq has become the new symbol of both the suffering and the
resistance of the Arab nation. The Iraqi resistance is spearheading
the movement against American hegemony in the Middle East and in the
world. The resistance has given new hope to the Palestinian Intifada
which has moved into its fifth year of confronting the brutal Zionist
occupation. It has given new hopes to the millions still residing in
refugee camps of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. And it has been an
inspiration for the Arab masses who struggle to overthrow the
US-loyalist regimes in the Middle East.
We need to rally around the Iraqi resistance as the main pole which
can stop imperialism's onslaught in the Middle East. The struggle for
the liberation of Iraq is not only the struggle for Iraqis, but for
all the world. The masses in Iraq are fighting the very "project for a
New American Century". Because of the Iraqi resistance it was
impossible for Bush and the American warmongers to proceed to attack
Syria, Korea, Iran and Venezuela.
The imperialist powers led by the US have tried to put a wedge between
the people of Iraq and the Middle East on the one hand and the
anti-war and anti-globalization movement in the West on the other by
using the rhetoric of the "clash of civilizations" and "war on
terror". They have sought to demonize the struggle of the Iraqi people
by labeling it "terrorist". In fact, it is the war of aggression and
occupation that is illegal and criminal. The Iraqi people's armed
resistance to that illegal and criminal war is just and legitimate.
The international conference that we propose aims to bring together
the representatives of the Iraqi resistance and the struggling people
of the Middle East and the forces of the anti-war and
anti-globalization movement. We hope thereby to strengthen the unity
between the peoples who are struggling for national self-determination
and the working people in the West who suffer under the yoke of their
own governments that are engaged in foreign adventures of war and
plunder.
Support and recognize the Iraqi Resistance! Release all political
prisoners, withdraw all foreign troops, reparations for sanctions and
plundering! Struggle against US and Israeli hegemony in all the Middle
East, and for victory to the Iraqi resistance and the Palestinian
Intifada! Bring the voice of the resistance into the anti-war and
globalization movement!
Supporters of the Call for an Int’l Conference in Support of the
Iraqi Resistance
As of Monday, 25 April 2005 (sorted by area and alphabetically)
Iraq: Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA), Patriotic Democratic Communist
Current, Iraq People's Struggle Movement (Al Kifah), Iraqi Flame
(Wahaj el-Iraq); Pro Iraqi and Arab solidarity associations: Danish
Committee for a Free Iraq, First Int'l Conference for the Support of
the Resistance of the Iraqi People (France), Free Iraq Committee
(Austria), Free Iraq Committee (Germany), Free Iraq Committee
(Hungary), Free Iraq Committee (Italy), Free Iraq Committee (Norway),
Greek Initiative for Solidarity to Iraqi Resistance; Sweden: Iraq
Committee Lund, Iraq Committee Malmo (Sweden); Spain: Solidarity
Committee for the Arab Cause Spain (CSCA), Spanish Campaign Against
Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (SCOSI); Belgium: Mohammed
Belfilalya, President of the Young Arab Progressives; France: Ginette
Hess Skandrani, President of the solidarity network with Palestinian
People "La Pierre et L'Olivier".
International organisations
Anti-imperialist Camp, International League of People's Struggle
(ILPS), International Leninist Current (ILS), Organisation of
Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL)
Arab World, Middle East, Al-Moharer, Dr. Hisham Bustani,
Anti-Normalisation Committee, Jordan, Movement Loyalty to Men and
Earth, Lebanon, Ozgur Der, Turkey, Toufan, Iran, Unified Socialist
Left (GSU), Maroc, Chokri Latif, Popular Committee for the Support to
the Palestinian People and the Struggle against the Normalisation with
the Zionist Enemy (Tunisia), Anti-imperialist Youth Committee Against
Globalisation (Tunisia).
Europe
Action Circle March 24 (Thuringia, Germany), AGIF, Europa, Arab
Palestine Club Vienna Austria (APC), Communist Party of Greece
Marxist-Leninist (KKEml), Franz Fischer, Anti-Imperialist Group
(Switzerland), Friends of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) in Europe, German Communist Party (DKP) (Thuringia),
Human Rights and Dignity (HDR) (Germany), Initiativ e.V. Duisburg
(Germany), International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (Irish
Section), Left Front (Hungary), Militant Movement of Students
(Greece), National Peace Council (Bulgaria), Offensiv Germany,
Patriotic Socialist People's Front (Poland), Red Table (East
Thuringia, Germany), Revolutionary Communist League (RKL) (Thuringia,
Germany), Russian Anti-Globalists, Union of Working People (Greece).
Asia
Afghanistan Socialist Association (ASA), All Indian People's
Resistance Forum (AIPRF), Chandraprakash Jha - General Secretary
Peoples Media (India), Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party Pakistan (CMKP),
Kamal Mitra Chenoy - Vice President All India Peace & Solidarity
Organisation (AIPSO), Left Radicals of Afghanistan (LRA), Lokayat
(Pune, India), Muslim Youth of India (MY INDIA), People's Democratic
Party Indonesia (PRD); Pakistan: Rubina Jamil, All Pakistan Trade
Union Federation-Pakistan, Gulzar Chaudhary, All Pakistan Trade union
Federation, Aima Mahmood, Working Women Organization-Pakistan, Nasir
Chaudhary, Alliance Against Bonded & forced Labour-Pakistan, Ranou
Ahmed, Progressive Youth Organization-Pakistan.
America
Freedom Socialist Party (USA).
Africa
Action for Unity and Socialism.
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
Thursday, 22 September/Tuesday, 27 September
MARK BARNSLEY IN IRELAND
Former political prisoner and miscarriage of justice victim Mark
Barnsley will be speaking in Belfast on the subject of 'Resisting the
Prison State' on Thursday 22nd September, 7.00pm at Glor Na Gael, 145
Falls Rd. Another talk in Belfast will hopefully be arranged, along
with talks in Dublin and Derry. See Indymedia for up to date details.
To accompany the talks, there will be a benefit gig for political
prisoners on Tuesday 27th September at Belfast Pavillion, starting at
7.00pm, and featuring Running Riot and Complan. Admission £5 (£3
unwaged).
*
Wednesday, 28 September
Dispelling the Myths: Refugee Awareness Day
Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
28 September 2005
9 am - 1 pm (followed by light lunch)
Mayo Intercultural Action in conjunction with the Citizens Information
Centre, Louisburgh Community Project, and Kiltimagh CDP are organising
this event to provide an opportunity for service providers, community
and voluntary groups, refugees and asylum seekers, concerned
individuals to gain and to share information on issues affecting
asylum-seekers and refugees in County Mayo.
Three panels will focus on: Why people come here - the reality on the
ground / Rights, entitlements and accessing services / Integration.
There will be inputs/contributions from Government agencies, UNHCR,
Irish Refugee Council, Integrating Ireland, Refugee Information
Service, local statutory agencies, County Council, local community
groups, Mayo Intercultural Action, as well as refugees and asylum
seekers living in direct provision hostels and in the community.
The event will be chaired by Donncha O Connell, Dean of the Faculty of
Law at NUIG and Irish member of the EU Network of Independent Experts
on Fundamental Rights
To confirm attendance, contact: Teresa O Sullivan, CIS @ 094 9025544
/ Breda Ruane, Louisburgh Community Project @ 098 66218
Creche facilities available
*
9-16 November
3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!
"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"
This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:
Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.
Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.
Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.
The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.
To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491
Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!
Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491
While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.
The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.
Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:
-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!
-Enact boycott initiatives!
-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!
-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!
-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!
Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!
Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!
We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.
Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:
Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!
Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491
Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!
Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!
http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.
*******
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*
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Monday 12 September 2005
The Plough Vol 03 No 01
The Plough
Volume 3, Number 1
12 September 2005
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial: An Apartheid Society
2) Unionist Violence, Britain No 'Honest Broker'
3) Alternatives
4) Education in the Republic of Ireland – Class Size Disgrace
5) Statement on Housing Discrimination in North Belfast
6) Hurricane Katrina - A Question of Class
7) Letters
8) What's On
Due to the usual technical difficulties The Plough has not appeared
since Vol. 2, No. 50. Apologies to our loyal readers. This edition is
Vol. 3, No. 1.
*******
EDITORIAL: AN APARTHEID SOCIETY
The last few days has seen loyalist violence exploding in a number of
areas of the North. The immediate reason for the violence was the
determination by the Parades Commission restricting an Orange march to
a small area of the Springfield Road away from the homes of Catholics.
The Orange Order and unionist politicians whipped up the fears of
Protestant working class people about the erosion of their cultural
traditions (i.e. the right to march through Catholic areas). The
loyalist murder gangs of the UDA, the UVF and the LVF put aside their
differences and came onto the streets in a show of force attacking the
police and trying to provoke a reaction from nationalist residents in
a wide number of areas. Suddenly in a attempt to retrospectively
justify the violence, politicians from all parties on the unionist
side suddenly discovered the marginalised and neglected position of
the Protestant working class. These are the same politicians who for
years only waved the Union Jack to distract those same people from
their actual real social and economic conditions. Of course what this
is all about is the battle for control of the Protestant masses by the
various elements of unionism using the sectarian card.
It is clear from all that they have said and done over the past year
that the leadership of unionism is not prepared to countenance a power
sharing government with nationalists. Sinn Fein's stealing of the
nationalist policies of the SDLP will not get them into power.
Destroying most of the weapons of the IRA(P) will not get them power.
All that the Northern nationalists and republicans can look forward to
in the coming years is more of the same – more sectarian attacks -
more Catholics burnt out - more Catholics forced into overcrowded
districts for safety. We now live in an apartheid society. That is the
fruit of the Good Friday Agreement.
What has happened not only over the last few days but over the 7 years
since the signing of the Belfast Agreement is the clearest yet
indication that the strategy of the Provisionals, while it may give
them electoral respectability, will never give them the ending of
partition. It's time some of their members woke up to reality and
smelt the burning on the streets. It is time to turn away from the
reformist road and return to republicanism.
*******
UNIONIST VIOLENCE, BRITAIN NO 'HONEST BROKER'
The IRSP are calling on working class communities to remain calm and
vigilant in the wake of this weekend's violence from within the
unionist community. There have been concerted attempts by loyalists to
provoke the nationalist community by sectarian attacks on homes and
people.
There needs to be no inquiry into the cause of the unrest in loyalist
working class areas, the failure of the British government and
unionist politicians to explain and promote the inevitable outcomes of
even the limited democracy provided for by the Belfast Agreement lies
at the core of unionist working class fears.
One of those inevitable outcomes is equality, no more unionist
supremacy, no more 'special favours' from the British government.
"If the unionist community view each small step towards equality as a
concession to the Catholic community, it demonstrates that there has
been no real work done by the British government in the past eleven
years and a direct example of how Britain's attempt to portray itself
as an honest broker rather than a major protagonist in Ireland leads
directly to violence on the streets and attacks against the minority
community in the six counties."
In conclusion, Belfast IRSP representative Paul Little said: "It is
imperative that all those progressive elements within communities
continue to explore all possible avenues open to securing real peace
for the working class. To do otherwise, will be to return to the
divisive, sectarian agenda of the ruling classes. Communities that
feel themselves under threat of sectarian attack should remain calm,
vigilant and act only in a defensive manner."
*******
ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES
A successful seminar on Alternative processes was held on Saturday
10th of September in Belfast. Against a background of Irish
Republicanism struggling to find relevancy as a working ideology
today, the IRSP held a meeting to look at where Irish republicanism is
today. The seminar was an attempt to begin to answer the question how
can we as a movement and as republican socialists show leadership, in
whatever spheres we operate, in order to develop an alternative
process of conflict transformation that can galvanise the Irish people
into an effective resistance against colonisation and capitalism. As
part of its broad front strategy the IRSP invited a speaker from the
32 County Sovereignty Movement to speak and it was clear certainly
among the audience that this openness was welcomed.
The speakers were Paul Little, ex-INLA prisoner, and North Belfast
IRSP member and community worker; Marion Price, ex-IRA prisoner and
member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement; and Gerry Ruddy, Ard-
Chomhairle IRSP.
The format of the day was a 10 minute presentation from each speaker
and then an open floor for questions and answers. The speakers
addressed a number of key issues and there was a fair degree of
consensus particularly about the failure of the Good Friday (Belfast)
Agreement. While the republican socialists argued strongly for the
interconnection between the class and the national question, Marion
stated that while she believed that the only republic worth fighting
for was a socialist republic, the national struggle took precedence
over the class question. On other issues such as the defence of
political prisoners, nationalism and Catholic defenderism there was a
shared view. The question of the Protestant working class was
discussed and generated much debate. Questions and comments from the
floor were lucid and focussed. The way in which the British state has
integrated the community sector into its strategic aims was mentioned,
as was the failure of republicans to engage with the trade union
movement. Although the audience was relatively small - 25 in all -
that has to be seen against a backdrop of the Orange march on the
Springfield road and high tension in the Short Strand following the
vicious attack on a Catholic man by 10 loyalists.
The audience of mainly IRSP comrades were impressed by the high level
of debate, the contributions from both the platform and the floor, and
the openness and willingness of all to listen and learn from each
other. All expressed the wish for more of the same.
The struggle for national and socialist liberation is floundering in a
sense of general apathy amongst the Irish people devoid of any radical
leadership.
*******
EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND - CLASS SIZE DISGRACE
Schools in the 26 Counties are being treated disgracefully by a
government that has failed to reduce class size. Thousands of four and
five year old children are in school in classes of thirty or more
children. This despite a clear commitment by the Fianna
Fail/Progressive Democrats Coalition that class sizes for children
under nine would be reduced to less that twenty. Irish primary school
children are taught in bigger classes and have less government money
spent on them than students at second and third level.
Ireland's class sizes are the second highest in the EU despite it
being clear that smaller classes at primary pay dividends. That is why
other countries have made class size reductions the cornerstone of
national educational policy. From Norway to New Zealand, countries
with smaller classes than Ireland are implementing or planning further
reductions. The figures speak for themselves.
Average Class Size in European Union
COUNTRY PRIMARY CLASS SIZE
United Kingdom 26.0
Ireland 24.2
France 22.3
Germany 22.2
Czech Republic 21.3
Poland 21.1
Slovak Republic 20.8
Hungary 20.5
Austria 20.0
Belgium 20.0
N. Ireland 20.0
Denmark 19.4
Spain 19.4
Portugal 18.7
Italy 18.1
Latvia 18.0
Greece 17.2
Luxembourg 15.6
Lithuania 15.2
Source: INTO (Irish National Teachers' Organization)
http://www.into.ie/
*******
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION IN NORTH BELFAST
The IRSP in North Belfast have called on the Housing Executive to
scrap its North Belfast Housing strategy as it is clearly not working.
There needs to be a fundamental change in the thinking of NIHE, their
North Belfast strategy, far from addressing decades of discrimination,
over the lifetime of this strategy which has one year left to run
housing discrimination against Catholics has got much worse.
NIHE if it is to retain any credibility needs to begin to allocate
social housing on the basis of need, not on a person's religion or
politics. Presently the NIHE is facilitating a unionist agenda of
gerrymandering, where the political status quo is maintained by direct
discrimination against those in housing need. No amount of fancy words
or spin changes the fact that social housing allocations and new
builds are geared towards trying to sustain a diminishing unionist
community at direct costs to non-unionists.
Do the NIHE honestly believe that that people who believe in equality,
human rights and fairness are going to accept a return to the
sectarian practices of 50 years of unionist misrule?
*******
HURRICANE KATRINA - A QUESTION OF CLASS
9 September 2005
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America have issued the
following statement about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
We wish to first extend our sympathy to all the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, our condolences to all those who lost friends and family, and
our solidarity with all of the survivors.
There is no doubt that the question of Hurricane Katrina and its
aftermath is a question of class and race. The wealthy and middle
classes, mostly white, were able to escape while the working class,
mostly black, was left to die and the survivors left with an even
greater nightmare.
While hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, their impact on human
communities can be managed to prevent loss of life and even to reduce
the damage caused by the hurricane itself. Hurricane Katrina has
revealed that there was a clear pattern of systemic neglect which
contributed to making New Orleans and nearby areas of the Gulf Coast
more vulnerable to hurricanes and a disaster of this magnitude more
likely. The systemic neglect was a conscious decision based on class
and race, with a quarter of metropolitan New Orleans living under
poverty level, most of whom are African-Americans.
Flood control systems could have been strengthened, especially after a
2001 report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a
hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the most likely disasters to
happen in the near future (the most likely disaster was a terrorist
attack on New York City, another failure of the Bush Administration to
heed the report's warnings). The Bush Administration, however, chose
to cut flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the illegal
imperialist war against Iraq. To the Bush Administration and the
capitalist class it represents, sacrificing working class men and
women in foreign imperialist wars is of far greater importance than
protecting working class lives in the US.
In 2004, the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New
Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush
Administration refused to fund the research. In 1990, a federal task
force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans, which
would have reduced storm surge during a hurricane, but starting in
2003 the Bush Administration's policy was to turn this land over to
wealthy developers. For the Bush Administration or anyone else to say
this wasn't avoidable is a lie.
There were deep flaws in how the disaster was managed even before the
hurricane made landfall, both by federal and local authorities. It
was appropriate to order a mandatory evacuation, but what about the
people without cars or money? What about the elderly, the disabled,
or the homeless? While the US government and media have attempted to
lay blame on the victims or survivors for not leaving, all methods of
egress were blocked -- train service, bus service, and plane service
were all halted before Katrina hit.
The poorer sections of the working class, especially those who were
African-American (the population of New Orleans is 70%
African-American), were abandoned to their fate by the capitalist
system and a corrupt political leadership on several levels. Those
that survived were again abandoned when it took nearly five days for
relief efforts to begin, and those efforts began rather halfheartedly
and only after there was mass outrage from people in the US and around
the world.
Members of the media were able to get to areas hit hard by Katrina as
early as Monday, yet it took until Thursday and Friday for official
aid to start arriving. During that delay, offers from other states and
countries were refused by the federal government, condemning countless
survivors of the initial flooding to death by hunger, dehydration, and
drowning. Cuba generously offered to send 1,100 medical doctors
with 26.4 tons of medications and diagnosis kits at no expense to the
US, but this was rejected while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
favored waiting for "the Lord" to come.
We can easily contrast this with how well Cuba handles hurricanes.
Cuba only lost sixteen people when last a powerful category 4
hurricane struck, the highest death toll in forty-one years on an
island constantly hit by hurricanes. Less then two months ago, 1.7
million people were quickly and safely evacuated on short notice in
preparation for Hurricane Dennis. If a third world nation is capable
of such a response, the US has no excuse.
The interests of the capitalist and middle classes were represented by
the voices hysterically condemning looting and calling for the looters
to be shot. For those people, the crime of stealing a television was
much greater than the crime of abandoning tens of thousands of people
to death or the survivors to squalid refugee centers. Are a few DVD
players, which are no doubt insured by the stores in the first place,
really of more importance than human lives? Sadly, the answer appears
to be yes. This is the reality of the capitalist ideology and its
promotion of private property as the most important thing in society.
It should be noted that while Alabama suffered the ravages of the
hurricane, native daughter Condoleezza Rice bought a $3000 pair of
shoes in New York, and while New Orleans drowned, Bush reminded many
of Nero by strumming a guitar.
We hold the capitalist system and the Bush Administration primarily
responsible for the deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina and the gross
neglect of the survivors. We demand that all of the survivors be
treated with dignity and given safe, clean housing rather than being
pushed into squalid, overcrowded refugee centers. We demand that the
US government accept the generous offer from the Cuban government to
send medical aid. We demand that the rebuilding of New Orleans and
other areas affected by the hurricane, such as Biloxi, Mississippi,
includes rebuilding wetlands, increasing the efficiency and safety of
flood management systems, and a real concern for working class
communities, as well as plans for future disasters which includes
quickly and safely evacuating everyone, no matter their income or skin
color.
In conclusion, this should be a wake-up call to all workers that our
lives are of no consequence to those who hold the real power in our
society. The hurricane did more than destroy cities and lives, it
also laid bare the cruelties of the capitalist system for all to see.
It's up to all of us to not forget what we saw and to redouble our
efforts to create a system where human lives always come first.
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 8266
Austin TX 78713-8266
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
*******
LETTERS
*
Dear Friends,
We have again seen the deaths of 'homeless' people on the streets of
Dublin. A situation that cannot go unchallenged. Please add your
support to the now growing number of people and organisations that are
supporting this rally call. Please support and forward to those of
concern. Bring banners, placards and your support.
Davy Carlin
PS - To add your name to the list of supporters you can e-mail me at
carlindavid@hotmail.com or contact Mark or Jon as below. Cheers.
No More Deaths On Our Streets
Saturday 17 September @ 2pm
Central Bank
Dame Street
Dublin 2
Street Seen is calling on all those individuals, groups and
organisations who wish to see the end of avoidable deaths on Irish
streets and homelessness to support this demonstration as a matter of
urgency.
The recent tragic deaths of two homeless people in Dublin highlights
the government's acute inadequacies in serving its citizens. On a
weekly basis people die needlessly on Irish streets due to the acute
lack of housing and lack of services to those in need. In response to
these recent deaths Street Seen, Irish Anti-Poverty Paper, are calling
on people to protest in Dublin saying clearly enough is enough: No
More Deaths On Our Streets. Numbers of people sleeping rough in Dublin
city centre remain at record high levels, according to a new survey
conducted by homeless organisations. Two hundred and thirty seven
(237) people sleep rough in Dublin on any given night. These people
are vulnerable to changes in the weather, violence, abuse and sexual
exploitation. The survey co-ordinated by the Homeless Agency was
carried out by Focus Ireland, Dublin Simon Community, Merchant's Quay
Ireland along with Dublin City Council and other homeless services.
It was only with the introduction of the Housing Act in 1988 that any
kind of national assessments of homelessness by local authorities were
carried out. Although the early assessments were deeply flawed the
most recent one (2002) found that a record 5,581 people were homeless
throughout the state (according to the Housing Act definition). The
majority of these were in Dublin. The Homeless Agency also
co-ordinated a separate assessment for Dublin. This counted 2,920
homeless people in Dublin in 2002. There are currently 48,413
households on the housing waiting lists nationally and 5,581 people
who are homeless. The vast majority of these live in emergency
hostels and B&B accommodation on a night-by-night basis. Not only has
the number of homeless households increased substantially over the
years but the crisis in social/public housing has also deepened. The
slow-down in the construction of social housing by the local
authorities in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rise in the cost of
renting private accommodation and the increasing cost of purchasing a
property have lead to an increased demand for social housing.
Housing charity Threshold recently called on the government to prevent
the creation of modern-day slums by radically improving living
conditions in private rental accommodation. Threshold in its 2004
Annual Report showed the number of calls from people living in unfit
accommodation had risen by more than a third last year. Conditions
people were reporting included problems with hot and cold running
water, mould growing on walls, vermin infestations and living in
windowless rooms, Threshold claimed local authorities were failing in
their duty to inspect privately-rented accommodation, with only 7,232
of an estimated 150,000 dwellings checked by inspectors. According to
the report, almost 30% of inspected properties were found to be
falling below minimum standards.
Homelessness means more than just sleeping rough. If you are living in
Ireland in a hostel or bed and breakfast or staying temporarily with
friends because you have nowhere else to go, you are homeless.
Street Seen is calling on all those individuals, groups and
organisations who wish to see the end of avoidable deaths on Irish
Streets and homelessness to support this demonstration as a matter of
urgency.
No More Deaths On Our Streets
Saturday 17 September @ 2pm
Central Bank
Dame Street
Dublin 2
Further Details:
Jon Glackin 0774 327 5533 streetseen@hotmail.co.uk
Mark Grehan 087 797 4622 m_grehan@eircom.net
Supported by:
Street Seen
Fr. Peter McVerry
Mick O'Reilly, Reg. Sec. TGWU
Ray O'Reilly, Asst. Gen. Sec. IWU
International Homeless Forum http://www.forums.homeless.org.au/
Residents Against Racism
*
(We received the following from the Colombian Solidarity Campaign.
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson and members of FAIR visited
Colombia as part of their campaign against the 3 republicans arrested
in Columbia a few years ago and now resident in the republic. We have
no doubt that the unionists did not raise the issue of human rights
abuses in Colombia. The hypocrisy of the unionist politicians stinks
to high heavens.)
THE REGIONAL INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF CAUCA (CRIC) AND THE ASSOCIATION OF
INDIGENOUS COUNCILS OF NORTHERN CAUCA (ACIN) Cxab Wala Kiwe INFORM
THAT
1. Today, Monday September 5th at 1700 hrs, Colombian armed forces
attacked unarmed indigenous peoples with live ammunition, tear gas and
clubs. The victims are men and women who have peacefully recovered the
farm "La Emperatriz" as a result of the Colombian Government's failure
to abide by their international obligations towards indigenous
communities as a consequence of a State lead paramilitary massacre
that took place in December of 1991 that was documented by the
International Commission for Human Rights. The ICHR Resolution of 1997
condemned the Colombian Government to compensate indigenous peoples
for the massacres.
2. As we write this communique, we have been informed that several
indigenous people have been captured and wounded and that ambulances
are not allowed out of the scene with casualties.
3. This attack takes place as the Government has refused to meet with
indigenous leaders to hear a dialogue and negotiation proposal. The
Government had offered to negotiate if the communities would leave the
recovered faro, which they did as a goodwill unilateral gesture.
4. The Deputy Minister for the Interior refused to meet with the
communities and the dialogue proposal had to be sent to him by email.
THE COLOMBIAN STATE HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF THE MASSACRE COMMITTED AT
EL NILO FARM ON DECEMBER OF 1991, FOLLOWING WHICH IT HAD THE
OBLIGATION TO RETURN 15663 HECTARES OF LAND TO THEIR INDIGENOUS
OWNERS. THE LAND TO BE RETURNED INCLUDED THE 300 HECTAR "LA
EMPERATRIZ" NOW RECOVERED BY THE COMMUNITIES.
NOT ONLY DID THE STATE NOT FULFILL ITS OBLIGATIONS, BUT IT GAVE LAND
TO THE PARAMILITARIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRIME, REFUSED DIALOGUE AND
IS NOW COMMITTING A SECOND MASSACRE TO REMOVE INDIGENOUS MEN, WOMEN
AND CHILDREN FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL TERRITORY.
WE URGENTLY APPEAL
1. To organizations, individuals and social movements in Colombia and
the world to put pressure on the Colombian Government to cease the
attack immediately and to do justice to indigenous peoples.
2. To all those people in Colombia and surrounding countries that can
mobilize themselves immediately to Santander de Quilichao and Caloto,
to arrive to "La Emperatriz" tomorrow from 8 a.m. for the vigil
"FREEDOM FOR MOTHER EARTH" and for the protection of our brothers and
sisters.
WE CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION TO SAVE LIVES AND FREE MOTHER EARTH
ADDRESSES:
ALVARO URIBE VELEZ
Presidente de la Republica,
Presidencia de la Republica, Carrera 8 n. 7-26 Palacio de Narino,
Santa Fe
de Bogota
Telefono. +57.1.5629300 ext. 3550 (571 ) 284 33 00
Fax (571 ) 286 74 34 - 286, 68 42 -284 21 86
Mail to auribe@presidencia.gov.co
OR to better send e-mail to Uribe login to
http://www.presidencia.gov.co/ and
click on ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE at the bottom of the page
SABAS PRETELT DE LA VEGA
Ministro del Interior y Justicia
Carrera 8 # 8-09 - Bogota
Fax: 0057-1-286.80.25
Mailto: mininterior@myrealbox.com; ministro@minjusticia.gov.co
CAMILO OSPINA BERNAL
Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional
Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN Santa Fe de Bogota
Telex: 42411 INPRE CO; 44561 CFAC CO Tel-fax: +57.1.222.1874
E-mail de la Secretaría General: infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
MARIO IGUARAN
Fiscal General de la Nacion
Diagonal 22 B n. 52-01 Santa Fe de Bogota.
Tel fax: +57.1.570.2022
Mail to contacto@fiscalia.gov.co; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
FRANCISCO SANTOS
Vicepresidente de la Republica
Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos
Calle 7 No 6-54 Piso 3, Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C.
Telefax: +57.1.337.1351
Mail to fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
Programa Presidencial de Derechos Humanos y DIH
Mail to rdh@presidencia.gov.co
Mision Permanente de Colombia ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra.
Chemin du Champ d'Anier 17-19, 1209 Ginebra.
Tel.: (+41 22) 798 45 54; (+ 41 22) 798 45 55
E-mail: mission.colombia@ties.itu.int
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
Saturday, 17 September
No Pasaran! North West Spanish Civil War 1936ˆ1938 Project
Honouring the International Brigades - Tyrone, Derry, Donegal
Volunteers
Public Discussion & Video Showing:
Sandinos Cafe Bar (upstairs) Derry City
Saturday 17th September at 3pm
Everyone Welcome
*
Saturday, 17 September
JUSTICE FOR THE ROSSPORT 5---MARCH AND RALLY IN CORK CITY
This Saturday, September 17.
Assemble at 2.30pm at Grand Parade at City Library/Bishop Lucey
Park
Show your solidarity with the 5 prisoners imprisoned by the
Irish State/Shell Oil Multinational
Bring Colour, noise, lots of friends
*
Saturday, 17 September
The Irish Republican Socialist Party will be hosting a fundraiser on
the 17th of September 8.30pm in the Ardee Public House (off Cork
Street) Dublin. Admission is 5 euro and will be strictly ticket only.
There will be a benefit draw on the night concisting of a selection of
prison craft with proceeds going to Republican Socialist POWs. For
more details contact DublinIRSP@hotmail.com.
*
Camp Havana Glencolmcille
From Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September 2005 over 100 men, women and
children from every corner of this island - and indeed from much
further away - will gather in Glencolmcille / Donegal. They will
come in busses, by car, bicycle or on foot.
They will erect CAMP HAVANA and walk to the top of Slieve League.
Some will take the challenging hike across the whole ridge,
accompanied by a trained mountain guide. Some will use a more relaxed
walking route and some will only go as far as the bus can take them.
All of them will enjoy Europe's highest sea - cliffs which are
surrounded by scenery incomparable to anywhere else on this earth.
Of course we are not just gathering to admire spectacular scenery. We
will get together in what is going to be the biggest show of
friendship with people from another island, Cuba, ever to happen on
these shores.
We are making this effort mainly because five young men are serving
lengthy prison sentences in the USA, guilty of nothing but the attempt
to stop terrorism; murderous and destructive acts which have killed
over 3,500 civilians in Cuba - more than the troubles in Northern
Ireland.
These men went to Miami to try and stop the people who orchestrate
this terrorism and ended up in US prisons. They have spent months in
isolation cells; their wives, kids and relations have been denied
visits.
The Miami 5 are victims of one of the most brutal human rights
violations in recent history, victims of breaches of both
international and US law.
We want freedom for these innocent men!
With our sponsored mountain walk and the large meeting / concert on
the evening of Saturday September 17th we will achieve;
- Massive publicity and increased awareness about the case.
- Pressure on political representatives (TDs, MPs, MEPs) to act
as opposed to talk.
- Raising of much needed financial support for the campaign and for
another urgent aid project in Cuba
- Pushing forward the world-wide campaign to free the Miami 5
and strengthen the links between campaigners from various countries
(At this very early stage we already know that there will be people
from England, the USA, Austria, Germany and Denmark coming to show
their support).
We can and we will free the Miami 5!
Nobody in this world is going to do it for us!
Lend us your support!
Join Camp Havana Glencolmcille 2005!
Get in touch with us now!
On behalf of the organisers of Camp Havana
Yours fraternally
Hermann Glaser-Baur
Phone us at: 028 77742655 (from Republic of Ireland: 04877742655)
E-mail: yohoocamphavanaglen@yahoo.ie
*
9-16 November
3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!
"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"
This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:
Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.
Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.
Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.
The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.
To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491
Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!
Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491
While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.
The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.
Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:
-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!
-Enact boycott initiatives!
-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!
-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!
-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!
Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!
Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!
We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.
Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:
Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!
Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491
Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!
Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!
http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.
*******
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*
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Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
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Volume 3, Number 1
12 September 2005
E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial: An Apartheid Society
2) Unionist Violence, Britain No 'Honest Broker'
3) Alternatives
4) Education in the Republic of Ireland – Class Size Disgrace
5) Statement on Housing Discrimination in North Belfast
6) Hurricane Katrina - A Question of Class
7) Letters
8) What's On
Due to the usual technical difficulties The Plough has not appeared
since Vol. 2, No. 50. Apologies to our loyal readers. This edition is
Vol. 3, No. 1.
*******
EDITORIAL: AN APARTHEID SOCIETY
The last few days has seen loyalist violence exploding in a number of
areas of the North. The immediate reason for the violence was the
determination by the Parades Commission restricting an Orange march to
a small area of the Springfield Road away from the homes of Catholics.
The Orange Order and unionist politicians whipped up the fears of
Protestant working class people about the erosion of their cultural
traditions (i.e. the right to march through Catholic areas). The
loyalist murder gangs of the UDA, the UVF and the LVF put aside their
differences and came onto the streets in a show of force attacking the
police and trying to provoke a reaction from nationalist residents in
a wide number of areas. Suddenly in a attempt to retrospectively
justify the violence, politicians from all parties on the unionist
side suddenly discovered the marginalised and neglected position of
the Protestant working class. These are the same politicians who for
years only waved the Union Jack to distract those same people from
their actual real social and economic conditions. Of course what this
is all about is the battle for control of the Protestant masses by the
various elements of unionism using the sectarian card.
It is clear from all that they have said and done over the past year
that the leadership of unionism is not prepared to countenance a power
sharing government with nationalists. Sinn Fein's stealing of the
nationalist policies of the SDLP will not get them into power.
Destroying most of the weapons of the IRA(P) will not get them power.
All that the Northern nationalists and republicans can look forward to
in the coming years is more of the same – more sectarian attacks -
more Catholics burnt out - more Catholics forced into overcrowded
districts for safety. We now live in an apartheid society. That is the
fruit of the Good Friday Agreement.
What has happened not only over the last few days but over the 7 years
since the signing of the Belfast Agreement is the clearest yet
indication that the strategy of the Provisionals, while it may give
them electoral respectability, will never give them the ending of
partition. It's time some of their members woke up to reality and
smelt the burning on the streets. It is time to turn away from the
reformist road and return to republicanism.
*******
UNIONIST VIOLENCE, BRITAIN NO 'HONEST BROKER'
The IRSP are calling on working class communities to remain calm and
vigilant in the wake of this weekend's violence from within the
unionist community. There have been concerted attempts by loyalists to
provoke the nationalist community by sectarian attacks on homes and
people.
There needs to be no inquiry into the cause of the unrest in loyalist
working class areas, the failure of the British government and
unionist politicians to explain and promote the inevitable outcomes of
even the limited democracy provided for by the Belfast Agreement lies
at the core of unionist working class fears.
One of those inevitable outcomes is equality, no more unionist
supremacy, no more 'special favours' from the British government.
"If the unionist community view each small step towards equality as a
concession to the Catholic community, it demonstrates that there has
been no real work done by the British government in the past eleven
years and a direct example of how Britain's attempt to portray itself
as an honest broker rather than a major protagonist in Ireland leads
directly to violence on the streets and attacks against the minority
community in the six counties."
In conclusion, Belfast IRSP representative Paul Little said: "It is
imperative that all those progressive elements within communities
continue to explore all possible avenues open to securing real peace
for the working class. To do otherwise, will be to return to the
divisive, sectarian agenda of the ruling classes. Communities that
feel themselves under threat of sectarian attack should remain calm,
vigilant and act only in a defensive manner."
*******
ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES
A successful seminar on Alternative processes was held on Saturday
10th of September in Belfast. Against a background of Irish
Republicanism struggling to find relevancy as a working ideology
today, the IRSP held a meeting to look at where Irish republicanism is
today. The seminar was an attempt to begin to answer the question how
can we as a movement and as republican socialists show leadership, in
whatever spheres we operate, in order to develop an alternative
process of conflict transformation that can galvanise the Irish people
into an effective resistance against colonisation and capitalism. As
part of its broad front strategy the IRSP invited a speaker from the
32 County Sovereignty Movement to speak and it was clear certainly
among the audience that this openness was welcomed.
The speakers were Paul Little, ex-INLA prisoner, and North Belfast
IRSP member and community worker; Marion Price, ex-IRA prisoner and
member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement; and Gerry Ruddy, Ard-
Chomhairle IRSP.
The format of the day was a 10 minute presentation from each speaker
and then an open floor for questions and answers. The speakers
addressed a number of key issues and there was a fair degree of
consensus particularly about the failure of the Good Friday (Belfast)
Agreement. While the republican socialists argued strongly for the
interconnection between the class and the national question, Marion
stated that while she believed that the only republic worth fighting
for was a socialist republic, the national struggle took precedence
over the class question. On other issues such as the defence of
political prisoners, nationalism and Catholic defenderism there was a
shared view. The question of the Protestant working class was
discussed and generated much debate. Questions and comments from the
floor were lucid and focussed. The way in which the British state has
integrated the community sector into its strategic aims was mentioned,
as was the failure of republicans to engage with the trade union
movement. Although the audience was relatively small - 25 in all -
that has to be seen against a backdrop of the Orange march on the
Springfield road and high tension in the Short Strand following the
vicious attack on a Catholic man by 10 loyalists.
The audience of mainly IRSP comrades were impressed by the high level
of debate, the contributions from both the platform and the floor, and
the openness and willingness of all to listen and learn from each
other. All expressed the wish for more of the same.
The struggle for national and socialist liberation is floundering in a
sense of general apathy amongst the Irish people devoid of any radical
leadership.
*******
EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND - CLASS SIZE DISGRACE
Schools in the 26 Counties are being treated disgracefully by a
government that has failed to reduce class size. Thousands of four and
five year old children are in school in classes of thirty or more
children. This despite a clear commitment by the Fianna
Fail/Progressive Democrats Coalition that class sizes for children
under nine would be reduced to less that twenty. Irish primary school
children are taught in bigger classes and have less government money
spent on them than students at second and third level.
Ireland's class sizes are the second highest in the EU despite it
being clear that smaller classes at primary pay dividends. That is why
other countries have made class size reductions the cornerstone of
national educational policy. From Norway to New Zealand, countries
with smaller classes than Ireland are implementing or planning further
reductions. The figures speak for themselves.
Average Class Size in European Union
COUNTRY PRIMARY CLASS SIZE
United Kingdom 26.0
Ireland 24.2
France 22.3
Germany 22.2
Czech Republic 21.3
Poland 21.1
Slovak Republic 20.8
Hungary 20.5
Austria 20.0
Belgium 20.0
N. Ireland 20.0
Denmark 19.4
Spain 19.4
Portugal 18.7
Italy 18.1
Latvia 18.0
Greece 17.2
Luxembourg 15.6
Lithuania 15.2
Source: INTO (Irish National Teachers' Organization)
http://www.into.ie/
*******
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION IN NORTH BELFAST
The IRSP in North Belfast have called on the Housing Executive to
scrap its North Belfast Housing strategy as it is clearly not working.
There needs to be a fundamental change in the thinking of NIHE, their
North Belfast strategy, far from addressing decades of discrimination,
over the lifetime of this strategy which has one year left to run
housing discrimination against Catholics has got much worse.
NIHE if it is to retain any credibility needs to begin to allocate
social housing on the basis of need, not on a person's religion or
politics. Presently the NIHE is facilitating a unionist agenda of
gerrymandering, where the political status quo is maintained by direct
discrimination against those in housing need. No amount of fancy words
or spin changes the fact that social housing allocations and new
builds are geared towards trying to sustain a diminishing unionist
community at direct costs to non-unionists.
Do the NIHE honestly believe that that people who believe in equality,
human rights and fairness are going to accept a return to the
sectarian practices of 50 years of unionist misrule?
*******
HURRICANE KATRINA - A QUESTION OF CLASS
9 September 2005
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America have issued the
following statement about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
We wish to first extend our sympathy to all the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, our condolences to all those who lost friends and family, and
our solidarity with all of the survivors.
There is no doubt that the question of Hurricane Katrina and its
aftermath is a question of class and race. The wealthy and middle
classes, mostly white, were able to escape while the working class,
mostly black, was left to die and the survivors left with an even
greater nightmare.
While hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, their impact on human
communities can be managed to prevent loss of life and even to reduce
the damage caused by the hurricane itself. Hurricane Katrina has
revealed that there was a clear pattern of systemic neglect which
contributed to making New Orleans and nearby areas of the Gulf Coast
more vulnerable to hurricanes and a disaster of this magnitude more
likely. The systemic neglect was a conscious decision based on class
and race, with a quarter of metropolitan New Orleans living under
poverty level, most of whom are African-Americans.
Flood control systems could have been strengthened, especially after a
2001 report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a
hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the most likely disasters to
happen in the near future (the most likely disaster was a terrorist
attack on New York City, another failure of the Bush Administration to
heed the report's warnings). The Bush Administration, however, chose
to cut flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the illegal
imperialist war against Iraq. To the Bush Administration and the
capitalist class it represents, sacrificing working class men and
women in foreign imperialist wars is of far greater importance than
protecting working class lives in the US.
In 2004, the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New
Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush
Administration refused to fund the research. In 1990, a federal task
force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans, which
would have reduced storm surge during a hurricane, but starting in
2003 the Bush Administration's policy was to turn this land over to
wealthy developers. For the Bush Administration or anyone else to say
this wasn't avoidable is a lie.
There were deep flaws in how the disaster was managed even before the
hurricane made landfall, both by federal and local authorities. It
was appropriate to order a mandatory evacuation, but what about the
people without cars or money? What about the elderly, the disabled,
or the homeless? While the US government and media have attempted to
lay blame on the victims or survivors for not leaving, all methods of
egress were blocked -- train service, bus service, and plane service
were all halted before Katrina hit.
The poorer sections of the working class, especially those who were
African-American (the population of New Orleans is 70%
African-American), were abandoned to their fate by the capitalist
system and a corrupt political leadership on several levels. Those
that survived were again abandoned when it took nearly five days for
relief efforts to begin, and those efforts began rather halfheartedly
and only after there was mass outrage from people in the US and around
the world.
Members of the media were able to get to areas hit hard by Katrina as
early as Monday, yet it took until Thursday and Friday for official
aid to start arriving. During that delay, offers from other states and
countries were refused by the federal government, condemning countless
survivors of the initial flooding to death by hunger, dehydration, and
drowning. Cuba generously offered to send 1,100 medical doctors
with 26.4 tons of medications and diagnosis kits at no expense to the
US, but this was rejected while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
favored waiting for "the Lord" to come.
We can easily contrast this with how well Cuba handles hurricanes.
Cuba only lost sixteen people when last a powerful category 4
hurricane struck, the highest death toll in forty-one years on an
island constantly hit by hurricanes. Less then two months ago, 1.7
million people were quickly and safely evacuated on short notice in
preparation for Hurricane Dennis. If a third world nation is capable
of such a response, the US has no excuse.
The interests of the capitalist and middle classes were represented by
the voices hysterically condemning looting and calling for the looters
to be shot. For those people, the crime of stealing a television was
much greater than the crime of abandoning tens of thousands of people
to death or the survivors to squalid refugee centers. Are a few DVD
players, which are no doubt insured by the stores in the first place,
really of more importance than human lives? Sadly, the answer appears
to be yes. This is the reality of the capitalist ideology and its
promotion of private property as the most important thing in society.
It should be noted that while Alabama suffered the ravages of the
hurricane, native daughter Condoleezza Rice bought a $3000 pair of
shoes in New York, and while New Orleans drowned, Bush reminded many
of Nero by strumming a guitar.
We hold the capitalist system and the Bush Administration primarily
responsible for the deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina and the gross
neglect of the survivors. We demand that all of the survivors be
treated with dignity and given safe, clean housing rather than being
pushed into squalid, overcrowded refugee centers. We demand that the
US government accept the generous offer from the Cuban government to
send medical aid. We demand that the rebuilding of New Orleans and
other areas affected by the hurricane, such as Biloxi, Mississippi,
includes rebuilding wetlands, increasing the efficiency and safety of
flood management systems, and a real concern for working class
communities, as well as plans for future disasters which includes
quickly and safely evacuating everyone, no matter their income or skin
color.
In conclusion, this should be a wake-up call to all workers that our
lives are of no consequence to those who hold the real power in our
society. The hurricane did more than destroy cities and lives, it
also laid bare the cruelties of the capitalist system for all to see.
It's up to all of us to not forget what we saw and to redouble our
efforts to create a system where human lives always come first.
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 8266
Austin TX 78713-8266
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
*******
LETTERS
*
Dear Friends,
We have again seen the deaths of 'homeless' people on the streets of
Dublin. A situation that cannot go unchallenged. Please add your
support to the now growing number of people and organisations that are
supporting this rally call. Please support and forward to those of
concern. Bring banners, placards and your support.
Davy Carlin
PS - To add your name to the list of supporters you can e-mail me at
carlindavid@hotmail.com or contact Mark or Jon as below. Cheers.
No More Deaths On Our Streets
Saturday 17 September @ 2pm
Central Bank
Dame Street
Dublin 2
Street Seen is calling on all those individuals, groups and
organisations who wish to see the end of avoidable deaths on Irish
streets and homelessness to support this demonstration as a matter of
urgency.
The recent tragic deaths of two homeless people in Dublin highlights
the government's acute inadequacies in serving its citizens. On a
weekly basis people die needlessly on Irish streets due to the acute
lack of housing and lack of services to those in need. In response to
these recent deaths Street Seen, Irish Anti-Poverty Paper, are calling
on people to protest in Dublin saying clearly enough is enough: No
More Deaths On Our Streets. Numbers of people sleeping rough in Dublin
city centre remain at record high levels, according to a new survey
conducted by homeless organisations. Two hundred and thirty seven
(237) people sleep rough in Dublin on any given night. These people
are vulnerable to changes in the weather, violence, abuse and sexual
exploitation. The survey co-ordinated by the Homeless Agency was
carried out by Focus Ireland, Dublin Simon Community, Merchant's Quay
Ireland along with Dublin City Council and other homeless services.
It was only with the introduction of the Housing Act in 1988 that any
kind of national assessments of homelessness by local authorities were
carried out. Although the early assessments were deeply flawed the
most recent one (2002) found that a record 5,581 people were homeless
throughout the state (according to the Housing Act definition). The
majority of these were in Dublin. The Homeless Agency also
co-ordinated a separate assessment for Dublin. This counted 2,920
homeless people in Dublin in 2002. There are currently 48,413
households on the housing waiting lists nationally and 5,581 people
who are homeless. The vast majority of these live in emergency
hostels and B&B accommodation on a night-by-night basis. Not only has
the number of homeless households increased substantially over the
years but the crisis in social/public housing has also deepened. The
slow-down in the construction of social housing by the local
authorities in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rise in the cost of
renting private accommodation and the increasing cost of purchasing a
property have lead to an increased demand for social housing.
Housing charity Threshold recently called on the government to prevent
the creation of modern-day slums by radically improving living
conditions in private rental accommodation. Threshold in its 2004
Annual Report showed the number of calls from people living in unfit
accommodation had risen by more than a third last year. Conditions
people were reporting included problems with hot and cold running
water, mould growing on walls, vermin infestations and living in
windowless rooms, Threshold claimed local authorities were failing in
their duty to inspect privately-rented accommodation, with only 7,232
of an estimated 150,000 dwellings checked by inspectors. According to
the report, almost 30% of inspected properties were found to be
falling below minimum standards.
Homelessness means more than just sleeping rough. If you are living in
Ireland in a hostel or bed and breakfast or staying temporarily with
friends because you have nowhere else to go, you are homeless.
Street Seen is calling on all those individuals, groups and
organisations who wish to see the end of avoidable deaths on Irish
Streets and homelessness to support this demonstration as a matter of
urgency.
No More Deaths On Our Streets
Saturday 17 September @ 2pm
Central Bank
Dame Street
Dublin 2
Further Details:
Jon Glackin 0774 327 5533 streetseen@hotmail.co.uk
Mark Grehan 087 797 4622 m_grehan@eircom.net
Supported by:
Street Seen
Fr. Peter McVerry
Mick O'Reilly, Reg. Sec. TGWU
Ray O'Reilly, Asst. Gen. Sec. IWU
International Homeless Forum http://www.forums.homeless.org.au/
Residents Against Racism
*
(We received the following from the Colombian Solidarity Campaign.
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson and members of FAIR visited
Colombia as part of their campaign against the 3 republicans arrested
in Columbia a few years ago and now resident in the republic. We have
no doubt that the unionists did not raise the issue of human rights
abuses in Colombia. The hypocrisy of the unionist politicians stinks
to high heavens.)
THE REGIONAL INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF CAUCA (CRIC) AND THE ASSOCIATION OF
INDIGENOUS COUNCILS OF NORTHERN CAUCA (ACIN) Cxab Wala Kiwe INFORM
THAT
1. Today, Monday September 5th at 1700 hrs, Colombian armed forces
attacked unarmed indigenous peoples with live ammunition, tear gas and
clubs. The victims are men and women who have peacefully recovered the
farm "La Emperatriz" as a result of the Colombian Government's failure
to abide by their international obligations towards indigenous
communities as a consequence of a State lead paramilitary massacre
that took place in December of 1991 that was documented by the
International Commission for Human Rights. The ICHR Resolution of 1997
condemned the Colombian Government to compensate indigenous peoples
for the massacres.
2. As we write this communique, we have been informed that several
indigenous people have been captured and wounded and that ambulances
are not allowed out of the scene with casualties.
3. This attack takes place as the Government has refused to meet with
indigenous leaders to hear a dialogue and negotiation proposal. The
Government had offered to negotiate if the communities would leave the
recovered faro, which they did as a goodwill unilateral gesture.
4. The Deputy Minister for the Interior refused to meet with the
communities and the dialogue proposal had to be sent to him by email.
THE COLOMBIAN STATE HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF THE MASSACRE COMMITTED AT
EL NILO FARM ON DECEMBER OF 1991, FOLLOWING WHICH IT HAD THE
OBLIGATION TO RETURN 15663 HECTARES OF LAND TO THEIR INDIGENOUS
OWNERS. THE LAND TO BE RETURNED INCLUDED THE 300 HECTAR "LA
EMPERATRIZ" NOW RECOVERED BY THE COMMUNITIES.
NOT ONLY DID THE STATE NOT FULFILL ITS OBLIGATIONS, BUT IT GAVE LAND
TO THE PARAMILITARIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRIME, REFUSED DIALOGUE AND
IS NOW COMMITTING A SECOND MASSACRE TO REMOVE INDIGENOUS MEN, WOMEN
AND CHILDREN FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL TERRITORY.
WE URGENTLY APPEAL
1. To organizations, individuals and social movements in Colombia and
the world to put pressure on the Colombian Government to cease the
attack immediately and to do justice to indigenous peoples.
2. To all those people in Colombia and surrounding countries that can
mobilize themselves immediately to Santander de Quilichao and Caloto,
to arrive to "La Emperatriz" tomorrow from 8 a.m. for the vigil
"FREEDOM FOR MOTHER EARTH" and for the protection of our brothers and
sisters.
WE CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION TO SAVE LIVES AND FREE MOTHER EARTH
ADDRESSES:
ALVARO URIBE VELEZ
Presidente de la Republica,
Presidencia de la Republica, Carrera 8 n. 7-26 Palacio de Narino,
Santa Fe
de Bogota
Telefono. +57.1.5629300 ext. 3550 (571 ) 284 33 00
Fax (571 ) 286 74 34 - 286, 68 42 -284 21 86
Mail to auribe@presidencia.gov.co
OR to better send e-mail to Uribe login to
http://www.presidencia.gov.co/ and
click on ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE at the bottom of the page
SABAS PRETELT DE LA VEGA
Ministro del Interior y Justicia
Carrera 8 # 8-09 - Bogota
Fax: 0057-1-286.80.25
Mailto: mininterior@myrealbox.com; ministro@minjusticia.gov.co
CAMILO OSPINA BERNAL
Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional
Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN Santa Fe de Bogota
Telex: 42411 INPRE CO; 44561 CFAC CO Tel-fax: +57.1.222.1874
E-mail de la Secretaría General: infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
MARIO IGUARAN
Fiscal General de la Nacion
Diagonal 22 B n. 52-01 Santa Fe de Bogota.
Tel fax: +57.1.570.2022
Mail to contacto@fiscalia.gov.co; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
FRANCISCO SANTOS
Vicepresidente de la Republica
Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos
Calle 7 No 6-54 Piso 3, Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C.
Telefax: +57.1.337.1351
Mail to fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
Programa Presidencial de Derechos Humanos y DIH
Mail to rdh@presidencia.gov.co
Mision Permanente de Colombia ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra.
Chemin du Champ d'Anier 17-19, 1209 Ginebra.
Tel.: (+41 22) 798 45 54; (+ 41 22) 798 45 55
E-mail: mission.colombia@ties.itu.int
*******
WHAT'S ON
*
Saturday, 17 September
No Pasaran! North West Spanish Civil War 1936ˆ1938 Project
Honouring the International Brigades - Tyrone, Derry, Donegal
Volunteers
Public Discussion & Video Showing:
Sandinos Cafe Bar (upstairs) Derry City
Saturday 17th September at 3pm
Everyone Welcome
*
Saturday, 17 September
JUSTICE FOR THE ROSSPORT 5---MARCH AND RALLY IN CORK CITY
This Saturday, September 17.
Assemble at 2.30pm at Grand Parade at City Library/Bishop Lucey
Park
Show your solidarity with the 5 prisoners imprisoned by the
Irish State/Shell Oil Multinational
Bring Colour, noise, lots of friends
*
Saturday, 17 September
The Irish Republican Socialist Party will be hosting a fundraiser on
the 17th of September 8.30pm in the Ardee Public House (off Cork
Street) Dublin. Admission is 5 euro and will be strictly ticket only.
There will be a benefit draw on the night concisting of a selection of
prison craft with proceeds going to Republican Socialist POWs. For
more details contact DublinIRSP@hotmail.com.
*
Camp Havana Glencolmcille
From Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September 2005 over 100 men, women and
children from every corner of this island - and indeed from much
further away - will gather in Glencolmcille / Donegal. They will
come in busses, by car, bicycle or on foot.
They will erect CAMP HAVANA and walk to the top of Slieve League.
Some will take the challenging hike across the whole ridge,
accompanied by a trained mountain guide. Some will use a more relaxed
walking route and some will only go as far as the bus can take them.
All of them will enjoy Europe's highest sea - cliffs which are
surrounded by scenery incomparable to anywhere else on this earth.
Of course we are not just gathering to admire spectacular scenery. We
will get together in what is going to be the biggest show of
friendship with people from another island, Cuba, ever to happen on
these shores.
We are making this effort mainly because five young men are serving
lengthy prison sentences in the USA, guilty of nothing but the attempt
to stop terrorism; murderous and destructive acts which have killed
over 3,500 civilians in Cuba - more than the troubles in Northern
Ireland.
These men went to Miami to try and stop the people who orchestrate
this terrorism and ended up in US prisons. They have spent months in
isolation cells; their wives, kids and relations have been denied
visits.
The Miami 5 are victims of one of the most brutal human rights
violations in recent history, victims of breaches of both
international and US law.
We want freedom for these innocent men!
With our sponsored mountain walk and the large meeting / concert on
the evening of Saturday September 17th we will achieve;
- Massive publicity and increased awareness about the case.
- Pressure on political representatives (TDs, MPs, MEPs) to act
as opposed to talk.
- Raising of much needed financial support for the campaign and for
another urgent aid project in Cuba
- Pushing forward the world-wide campaign to free the Miami 5
and strengthen the links between campaigners from various countries
(At this very early stage we already know that there will be people
from England, the USA, Austria, Germany and Denmark coming to show
their support).
We can and we will free the Miami 5!
Nobody in this world is going to do it for us!
Lend us your support!
Join Camp Havana Glencolmcille 2005!
Get in touch with us now!
On behalf of the organisers of Camp Havana
Yours fraternally
Hermann Glaser-Baur
Phone us at: 028 77742655 (from Republic of Ireland: 04877742655)
E-mail: yohoocamphavanaglen@yahoo.ie
*
9-16 November
3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!
"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"
This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:
Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.
Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.
Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.
The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.
To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491
Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!
Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491
While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.
The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.
Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:
-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!
-Enact boycott initiatives!
-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!
-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!
-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!
Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!
Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!
We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.
Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:
Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!
Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491
Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!
Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!
http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.
*******
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*
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