Report on the most recent national Palestine Solidarity demonstration in Dublin
Sympathy is not effective solidarity
08 October 2024
Palestine Solidarity demo, Dublin (05/10/24)
On October 5th, as Israel pounded both Gaza and Lebanon, up to 50,000 people marched through the streets of Dublin to protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the expansion of the war to Lebanon and what may be the beginning of a genocide there.
The march started off from Parnell Square and went to Molesworth St. There was some sense of routine about the march, despite the swell in numbers due to what is happening in Lebanon. Most of the slogans were the same, Free, Free, Palestine, with some renewed emphasis on enacting the Occupied Territories Bill, which the southern government has apparently reassured Israel will not be enacted. There were two small contingents holding PFLP flags and shouting We want ’48, not a two state, but this was very much a minority sentiment on the march, though on previous marches, stewards have tried to discourage people carrying such flags, they were let carry them this time.
The lack of urgency around the issue could be seen as the crowds assembled in Parnell Sq, where People Before Profit members used a megaphone to urge people to join PbP and fight the election, which was hardly the most pressing issue of the day, as Israel pushes us closer to a regional war, if not a wider world war. Whilst the speakers and musicians were interesting and it is important to hear people’s stories and comments, there was no Irish speaker to challenge the trade union movement on its lack of action in the face of genocide and the widening of the war.
It is now crystal clear that the Irish government is complicit in the massacres. It has allowed Israeli weapons to be shipped through Irish airspace and continues to allow them to use Shannon Airport (for which a protest is planned on October 12th). The Israeli Ambassador has not been expelled and now Israeli forces endanger the lives of soldiers serving with the Irish UN mission in Lebanon.
The coverage given to the protests was muted and slanted by the Irish media, but it was also understated by PbP and others on their websites. PbP’s site carries as its main article and ad for a public meeting they are organising on Thursday 10th, rather than any major political message from the march, which didn’t really raise political demands as such besides calling for government action.
The size of the protest after a year of war is encouraging but we cannot hide from the fact that the movement has made little political progress. The slogan remains Free, Free Palestine and the method Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS). In the face of regional war and genocide these are clearly insufficient. Why has the movement not progressed and what alternative direction is possible?
Perhaps the main issue is the extent to which radical politics in Ireland has been domesticated. The background of trade union partnership with the government has led to a focus on parliamentarianism. We make demands on the government, but have no plans to disrupt Irish collaboration with Israel if we are rebuffed. In this context PbP linking the genocide to their own electoral campaign doesn’t provoke comment.
Lack of political discourse is linked to Ireland’s subordination to imperialism, so there is little protest about Ireland’s submission to Genocide Joe or about Sinn Féin following in the government’s wake. This paralysed the solidarity movement. By failing to protest this political submission it was itself limiting protest to actions that would not provoke a strong response from the US.
However, the main problem was an earlier collapse. Ireland’s rush to link with the US and NATO in the Ukraine proxy war went unquestioned and this leaves an anti-imperialist analysis out of reach.
Big displays of sympathy and emotion should not be rejected, but an effective anti-war movement has to recognise that the proxy war in Ukraine is mirrored by the genocide in Gaza and by the plans for the coming war with China. The US hegemon and its Western allies are rushing towards war, the Irish government is a satrap of the US, and that is the political ground on which we must fight.