|
Dublin palestinian Fwd: Fw: Demonstration in Dublin (fwd)
>I am just back from the demonstration supporting Palestine. It was very
>impressive numbers wise - some 2000-2500, I think. The most visible were
>Arab and Palestinian people, but there was a weired political alliance of
>left wing parties such as the Socialist Workers Movement and Sinn Fein,
>antiracistm activists, the Islamic Centre, etc. However, among the speakers
>were a senator from the ruling party Fianna Fail, a senator from the
>Labour (opposition) party, a member of Parliament from the Green party, as
>well as representatives of the Arab community and the Islamic Centre. I
>spoke as an Israeli peace activist who was bringing them greetings from the
>Israeli peace camp - I was talking about the difference between state
>terrorism and individual terrorism and said that all Israelis, including
>myself, shoulder responsibility to the ongoing occupation and invasion. I
>told them briefly about the work done by the Israeli peace organisations -
>it was a 2 minute speech, no time for details - but I wanted them to know
>that there are Israelis who are opposing these actions and policies. The
>demonstration began outside the Central Bank and marched to the General
>Post Office, usual sites for political demonstrations. The march then
>planned to go the Israeli embassy to support two Irish women who have been
>demonstrating on trees outside the embassy for the last week (I had left it
>at this stage).
>
>The slogans varied from extremely nationalistic ones, extremely
>anti-Israel ones, request for help (please help to rescue our people, with
>good pictures), anti-Bush slogans, and the main messages were 'freedom for
>Palestine' and anti Sharon messages. The Holocaust was used inappropriately
>(as in a slogan which read ' Hilter killed 6 million, Sharon is doubling
>it', or 'from the Warsaw Ghetto to Bethlehem'...), but there a few good
>home-made slogans carried by children which read 'born a Palestinian but
>not allowed to live there'... There were many Arab women and chidlren (I
>had no way of knowing whether they were Palestinians, and I do not know how
>many Palestinians there are in Dublin, but one man spoke to me after I
>spoke, in very good Hebrew which he learnt in Israeli jails - he is from
>Gaza and has been in Ireland as a convention refugee for two years - he
>has a doctorate in literature and is looking for work...)
>
>One good thing was that I met some feminist activist friends and we decided
>to begin Women in Black vigils as soon as possible (probably the first
>outside the Israeli embassy reception for Independence Day). Many people
>thanked me for speaking, but only some (friends) understood how difficult
>it is to act alone, when the Jewish / Israeli community in Ireland seems
>united behind Israel... but this is the least I can do, although working
>with a group of feminists would be more in line with my politics. But I am
>glad I did it and the demonstration certainly made serious impact.
>
>
>Love, Ronit
>
>Dr Ronit Lentin
>Course coordinator,
>MPhil in Ethnic and Racial Studies,
>Department of Sociology, University of Dublin,
>Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
>Tel: 353 1 6082766. Fax: 353 1 6771300.
>Email: rlentin@tcd.ie.
>http://www2.tcd.ie/Sociology/mphil.htm
>
|
|
