May Day Events 2008

Belfast: Saturday, 3rd May. Assemble Belfast Art College 11.30am with march to Georges Market.

Cork: Thursday, 1st May. Assemble Connolly Hall 7.00pm with march to Daunt's Square.

Dublin: Thursday, 1st May. Assemble Parnell Square 7.30pm with march to Liberty Hall.

National Demonstration, Sat April 12th 2008 @ 2PM, Central Bank, Dublin.

Voice your opposition to the brutal and racist policies of the Israeli State over the past six decades and show your solidarity with the besieged and occupied people of Palestine, come along to the demonstration and make some noise!

There will also be a public meeting afterwards in Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey St starting at 4pm.

From Deir Yassin to Gaza - The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

60 years ago in Palestine, newly-arrived European Jewish settlers drove their long established Palestinian neighbours out of most of Palestine, which then became Israel. They did this through a combination of terror and massacre. Once again Israel is terrorising and massacring Palestinians – this time in Gaza – prompting fears of renewed mass ethnic cleansing.

Deir Yassin was a small village next to Jerusalem. Although its inhabitants hadn't taken part in the fighting to defend Palestine, it was here that the most infamous massacre took place 60 years ago. On the morning of April 9th 1948, Zionist forces drove into the village, rounded up the men, women and children and coldbloodedly massacred them. The massacre was pre-planned and designed to terrorise other Palestinians into fleeing.

Afterwards, twenty five of the survivors were paraded around Jerusalem, then taken to a quarry and murdered. Today this would be called 'collective punishment' – the terrorism of the powerful. Today a million and a half innocent people in Gaza are being collectively punished. They are imprisoned; they are starved of food and water, subjected to aerial bombardment, tank and rocket attacks; denied electricity, medicines, and sewerage facilities.

They are being denied a future. Hundreds have died so far this year. This senseless brutality must stop if there is ever to be peace. Make your voice heard - come to our demonstration and demand that Israel ceases - and the International Community stops being complicit in - the destruction of Gaza. We can't stop yesterday's atrocities; we must prevent today's.

Remember Deir Yassin! Remember the Palestinians in Gaza today!

Related Link: http://www.ipsc.ie

Crisis in Gaza

Violence in the Middle East has surged since the end of February. Coverage in the western media over the past week has concentrated heavily on the killing of eight Israeli students in Jerusalem, claimed by a previously unknown group, and the approval of that attack by Hamas spokesmen. It was cowardly and vicious for the gun-men to open fire on unarmed civilians, and it was both lousy and stupid of Hamas to praise the killings. But that can’t be allowed to conceal the fact that Palestinian civilians have been overwhelmingly the victims of the recent violence. Neither should it obscure the responsibility of the Israeli government, which has launched a murderous assault on Gaza and created the conditions that made the latest out-break of violence almost inevitable.

The U.S. elections

Some thoughts on the U.S. elections

RED BANNER Issue 31 of Red Banner is out now, available at €2 / £1.50 from Red Banner sellers, good bookshops, or from the address below

Kurdistan: A people in revolt - An interview with Adnan Mohammedi, a Kurdish political refugee who has succeeded in winning asylum in Ireland

SOCIALIST CLASSICS: Raya Dunayevskaya, Marxism and Freedom - Joe Conroy looks at a book that, fifty years ago, rediscovered the emancipatory heart of Marxist politics

The Russian revolution and the temporary advance of Soviet feminism - James Caspell considers the remarkable gains made by women in Russia after 1917, and how those gains were worn away

Léargas leathan ar chlé - Scrúdaíonn an staraí Éamon Ó Ciosáin leabhar a insíonn scéal na heite clé in Éirinn

The Ukrainian revolution 1917-21: Russia’s Ireland and the fate of socialism in Europe - Chris Ford examines a forgotten chapter of socialist history that had profound consequences for Russia and Europe

The Hidden Connolly - In a chapter of The Re-Conquest of Ireland not published since his death, James Connolly uncovers the roots of northern sectarianism

Getting poetry red - Henry Gibson reviews a collection of left-wing poetry from Wales

Correspondence - John McAnulty restates his position on sectarianism

€2 / £1.50 from bookshops, sellers or PO Box 6587, Dublin 6

http://www.redbannermagazine.com/

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