Belfast – 8pm, Tues 21st Feb, Holiday Inn, Ormeau Avenue
Paul Murphy – Socialist Party MEP for Dublin – is to speak on the revolutionary movements in the Middle East and North Africa and what they mean for the struggle of the Palestinian people at public meetings in Derry and Belfast. Paul recently took part in the Freedom Flotilla which attempted to break the Israeli state’s blockade of Gaza. Along with other activists, he was kidnapped by the Israeli military and spent a week in prison. He has since visited Gaza, meeting with activists from the trade union and social movements. Paul also visited Tunisia in the wake of the revolutionary movement there.
Paul said:
“In recent months, I have witnessed firsthand the brutality of the Israeli state in its oppression of the Palestinian people and those who stand with them. The blockade of Gaza is causing unspeakable poverty and misery for its people. In the Occupied Territories, violence and repression are an everyday fact of life, while Palestinians inside the Israeli state are facing new racist laws.”
“The revolutionary wave sweeping the region can have a real impact on the struggle of the Palestinian people. The mass movements – particularly the uprising in Egypt, one of the prison guards of Gaza – concretely pose the question of action to support the Palestinian people. They can inspire a new Intifada based on mass resistance, not diplomatic manoeuvres. This is key in the fight for real liberation.”
“In Israel, last summer’s historic ‘tent movement’ – with tens of thousands protesting against poverty and inequality – and the subsequent general strike demonstrate that there is huge discontent and class anger. If unity can be built with Israeli workers and poor based upon their common interests, this would enormously strengthen the Palestinian struggle.”
Tunisia is a different country to the one it was a month ago. The powerful movement of revolt of the Tunisian masses has swept away the dictator President Ben Ali with lightning speed, testimony to the rage that has been accumulated by decades of autocratic rule. Fear of talking about politics, even in private, has been replaced by a gigantic process of political ferment; a revolution is beginning. How far away are the days of Ben Ali’s ‘uncontested’ dictatorship!
Capitalist failure, then and now!