May Day Statement
Unity, solidarity against a new war in the Middle East
5 May 2018
(text of leaflet distributed at Belfast May Day parade)
Recently social media has been filled with claim and counterclaim about the use of chemical weapons in Britain and Syria. Yet almost universally ignored is a drive towards a new war that threatens us all and raises a new need for solidarity.
The western powers, their own hands dripping with blood, do not eject diplomats or stage missile bombardments out of humanitarian concern. As is shown by their support for genocide in Yemen. What is occurring is an attempt to neutralise Russia and mobilise against Iran. Europe tries to maintain an existing nuclear deal, not by opposing Trump, but by offering a new offensive against Iran.
Israel stages a bizarre pro-war fake news broadcast while slaughtering Palestinian demonstrators and deliberately targeting reporters.
Elements of the coming war are already close to home. Supporters of Israel are witch hunting Labour party militants and defining criticism of Zionism as anti-Semitism. The BBC obliges them by calling mass murder of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza "clashes."
We need to unite, mobilise and fight tooth and nail against the mass brainwashing organised by the BBC and mainstream media.
In this new battle militants in Britain have already found that Corbynism by itself is not sufficient. They need their own policies and organization to avoid being thrown under the Zionist bus.
In Ireland we haven't taken even the first steps towards a working class party. A good starting point would be to abandon a trade union policy of supporting a "two state solution" in Palestine. We could also step away from a failed two state solution in Ireland that at every turn elevates the interests of the capitalists above those of the workers.