By Eilís Gallagher
A motion for Belfast City Council to call for a boycott of the White House this St. Patrick’s Day as an act of solidarity with Palestinian people has been rejected, after being voted down by Sinn Féín, the DUP, the UUP and Alliance.
The political establishment have made it clear that they will happily visit ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden’s White House on St. Patrick’s Day, where the warmonger-in-chief will be presented with a bowl of shamrocks – even as thousands of working class people protest the US’ support of the genocide in Gaza. Could there be an act more sickeningly evocative of the political classes’ bootlicking of US imperialist power?
Sinn Féin have engaged in performative solidarity with the Palestinian people – for example wearing Keffiyeh COVID masks in the Dáil. But when it comes to real, material solidarity, their support has been shown to be utterly empty. Their TDs (Southern MPs) initially abstained on a vote calling for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland. Only after a swell of pressure from below have they since changed their position. As Suzanne Breen writes for the Belfast Telegraph, Sinn Féín “are happy to tread the world stage draped in keffiyehs and faux principles”.
At their ironically named “Palestine Solidarity Rally” in the Europa Hotel, Sinn Féin aggressively threw out Palestinian activists who went to the meeting demanding a boycott of the White House and making criticisms of Sinn Féin’s cosy relationship with the corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) – which is hated by many Palestinian people for its de facto role as a subcontractor of the occupation.
Sinn Féin, along with all other pro-capitalist parties, have made it abundantly clear that their cosy relationship with US Imperialism takes precedence for them over the lives of Palestinian people. The Biden White House is the biggest sponsor of the Israeli state’s destruction of Gaza and the displacement, starvation and massacres of Palestinian people. Unbelievably, on an appearance on the Late Late Show, Michelle O’Neill defended her trip to the White House, claiming that the US have always been a ‘strong partner for peace’. This is the same imperialist power that In 2024 alone has bombed Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, threatening a wider regional war in the Middle East.
As they prepare to enter government in the South, Sinn Féin are desperate to show big business, both in Ireland and the US, that they can be a safe administrator of the status quo. The rottenness of their plastic solidarity has been exposed for a generation of young people becoming increasingly radicalised against the warmongering capitalist class, who can see that international solidarity is essential in the struggle for a ceasefire in Palestine and for liberation.
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