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TPQ
Pádraig Drummond  ✊ They come to you draped in flags and polished medals, imperial armies grinning like bookmakers who already know the result. 

They tell you the world is on fire and that socialism is the match. Cuba, Vietnam, Chile, Libya, Venezuela, Afghanistan, pick a decade, pick a graveyard. Wherever working people tried to seize control of land, labour, or dignity, the empire arrived with bombs, advisors, and a dictionary of euphemisms. Different uniforms, same mission: crush anything that smells like collective power.

The British Empire did it with bayonets and hunger, from Ireland to Malaya. The French tried to drown it in Indochina. The Americans napalmed it in Vietnam, strangled it with coups across Latin America, and armed fanatics in Afghanistan to smash a socialist government into rubble. The story never changes. When profits are threatened, ideology becomes a pretext, and the poor are drafted to defend wealth they will never see.

Then comes the sales pitch, slick as a Pentagon press release and twice as cynical, and just as dishonest. Join us. Fight socialism. Fight the people demanding free healthcare, free education, public housing, and control over their own lives. Fight them so the system can remain exactly as it is.

And for your trouble, the empire makes you an offer it claims is impossible for civilians. Free healthcare. Free education. Housing. Food. Training. A pension if you survive intact. A fully socialised system of care, handed out inside the barracks and denied outside the gate. Socialism, but only for those willing to enforce empire at gunpoint.


This is the great confidence trick. Imperial armies do not oppose socialism in practice. They practise it internally with ruthless efficiency. They just restrict it to a disciplined caste whose job is to destroy it everywhere else. The largest military machine on earth functions as a socialist institution while bombing, sanctioning, and destabilising any society that tries to organise along similar lines without permission.

As an Irish mam, the smell of it is all too familiar. Empire has always offered security in exchange for obedience, bread in exchange for silence, and uniforms in place of freedom. It asks the poor to defend the structures that exploit them, and calls it opportunity. It asks you to die for a flag that would never feed your family if you refused.

They do not hate socialism. They weaponise it. They demand it be earned through service, violence, and submission, and insist it never be extended to those on the receiving end of empire’s bombs or blockades.

So when an imperial army asks you to fight socialism, understand what is really being said. Kill the idea for everyone else, and we will let you live it . . .  conditionally. That is not freedom. It is empire, recycling the same lie, written in blood and sold as a career.

⏩Pádraig Drummond is an anti-racism activist.

Socialism For The Enforcers, Bullets For Everyone Else

Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières 💣 Written by 
Oleksandr Kyselov,

The Trump administration’s proposals for peace in Ukraine sound like a real estate deal, where the United States gets a payoff for handing over Ukrainian land. But with Kyiv’s leverage shrinking, the country may be forced to swallow a grim deal.

On 21 November, Ukrainians found themselves staring at a peace proposal that demanded near-immediate acceptance. The leaked twenty-eight-point peace plan, drafted by Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff [1] and Russian official Kirill Dmitriev [2], reads like a real estate transaction. Russia gets the land, the United States takes its cut, Europe foots the bill, and Ukraine can choose between surrendering now or surrendering later. Under pressure, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, addressed the nation bluntly: “Loss of dignity or of a key partner. Twenty-eight difficult points or an extraordinarily difficult winter.”

Stunned European leaders — taken aback by the initiative’s provisions — scrambled to improvise counterproposals. Amid outrage in the White House over the leak, emergency talks in Geneva produced a revised nineteen-point framework, deferring the hardest questions to future high-level dialogue. Trump declared “tremendous progress” and announced Witkoff’s sixth visit to Moscow this year. 

Continue @ ESSF.

The Imperial Carve-Up Of Ukraine

I Fucking Love Australia ★ Recommended by Paul Harrison. 

Every time something horrific happens, the same idiots crawl out screaming: “That’s it, shut the borders, ban Muslims, stop letting these people in.”

And right on cue, like a taxpayer-funded foghorn of bullshit, here comes Pauline Hanson.

Let’s deal with the logic first, because it collapses immediately.

If you want to ban people based on religion, beliefs, or where they come from, then you don’t just get to point outward. You have to look inward too.

So let’s do that.

Martin Bryant.
Australian.
Anglo-Saxon.
Atheist.
Mass murderer.
So what now, Pauline?
Deport him to where, the moon?

Then there’s Brenton Tarrant.
Australian.
Raised here.
White supremacist.
Walked into mosques in New Zealand and murdered 51 Muslims.
By your own logic, Australia exported one of the worst mass killers on Earth.
So what’s the solution now?
Ban Australians from travelling?
Start revoking citizenship based on vibes?
This is where your whole argument faceplants.

Violence isn’t imported.

It isn’t Muslim.
It isn’t Christian.
It isn’t atheist.
It’s human.

Every country produces monsters. Every race. Every belief system. The difference is whether society limits how much damage one lunatic can do when they snap.

Nobody ever says,

“Well after Martin Bryant, maybe we should ban Anglo-Saxon men.”
Because that would sound insane.

But somehow banning millions of peaceful Muslims is pitched as “common sense”.

Now let’s talk about Pauline Hanson the politician, because this is where the grift really shows.
She’s been in politics for decades. Decades.
Name one policy she’s implemented that helped:
impoverished children
battered women
the unemployed
pensioners
working Australians
You can’t. Because there isn’t one.

Go look at HowTheyVote.org. It’s public. It’s boring. It’s damning.
She votes with the Liberal Party almost every single time.
Against workers.
Against welfare.
Against social services.
Against anything that would materially help struggling Australians.
She’s never fought for wages.
Never fought for housing.
Never fought for healthcare.
Nothing.

She’s not a champion of the battler. She’s a taxpayer-funded grifter who cosplays as an outsider while cashing a senator’s pay cheque.

And incidents like this?
She doesn’t fear them.
She feeds on them.
You can practically see her salivating, finally something she can use to rile up her base, because without fear, she has nothing. No policy. No vision. No solutions.
Just division.

Pauline Hanson doesn’t protect Australia.
She fractures it.
She doesn’t stand for victims.
She weaponises them.
She is a bigoted, racist, divisionary, twisted, wretched crab who survives by dragging society sideways while contributing absolutely nothing of value.
And the most offensive part?
She wraps all of that in the Australian flag and calls it patriotism.
It’s not.
It’s exploitation.

Exploitation Is Not Patriotism

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Twenty Three

 

A Morning Thought @ 3004

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh ☭ writing in Substack on 16-December-2025.


US threats against Venezuela are not new. They have been threatening the country for years, sending mercenaries, financing politicians with a dodgy reputation such as Juan Guaidó and imposing a blockade on the country. Nothing has worked for them and Trump remembered the old wildcard of all US governments from the end of the 19th century: drugs. It is the perfect excuse for all types of interference in the internal affairs of any country, but it is not new. Trump’s antics are not copyrighted -  they are plagiarised.

The plagiarism is of previous presidents such as Obama, Clinton and even Theodore Roosevelt (the one who stole Panama from Colombia) under whose mandate the meeting of the Opium Commission was held in Shanghai in 1909. A lot of talk about the evil of drugs and against consumption, but in reality, it was part of a manoeuvre to get into China’s good books to favour their economic interests in exchange for helping them eliminate opium consumption.[1] They were never concerned about consumers’ health. Every attempt and international treaty to limit or prohibit drug consumption always excluded alcohol and tobacco, two drugs produced by large north American and European companies.

Nowadays, despite all the modern campaigns against tobacco consumption, the industry generates mouthwatering profits. Just five companies dominate the world market, the largest being Altria, the owner of companies like Phillip Morris USA. Between 2020 and 2024 this company paid out a total of USD 32 billion in dividends to the shareholders.[2] Something similar happens in the case of alcohol with a global market of more than USD 2,400 billion.[3]

But those drugs, whose markets were not dominated by the USA, were prohibited leaving juicy profits for the Yankee companies with the sale of legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. But that does not mean that the illegal drugs don’t generate huge profits for north American and European companies in money laundering and the supply of precursor chemicals to make heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs.

It is not surprising that the first attempts to militarise the interdiction of narcotics took place under a republican government. It is not that the democrats are better, but that sometimes they leave the dirty work to the republicans, in this case Reagan and Bush Sr. who militarised the war on drugs both internationally and within the country, particularly on the border with Mexico.[4]

At the end of the 1980s, in the midst of debates on overturning the Posse Comitatus Act[5] and allow for a freer use of the military against the civilian population they ended up recognising the military as the lead agency for the detection and monitoring of drug trafficking towards the USA.[6] Both Bush and Obama sent troops to the Mexican border as part of the war on drugs.[7] In Latin America the USA promoted the militarisation of the war on drugs, financing anti-narcotic units within the military, as was the case in Bolivia. And even in the case of Colombia the first anti-narcotics battalion was agreed to in a meeting between US Secretary of Defence William Cohen and the Colombian Minister for Defence Rodrigo Lloreda. The US provided the funds. When we think of the Colombian conflict, it seems implausible that the Colombian military turned down flat an offer of USD 2.8 million to set up military anti-narcotic units.[8]

The first international anti-narcotics operation where US troops publicly took part was Operation Blast Furnace in Bolivia, 1986. Approximately 160 north American troops in Panama were transferred to Bolivia to supposedly help the Bolivian police destroy laboratories and seize cocaine. It was the first of many joint operations. In 1990, the governments of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and the US agreed that the armed forces of each country can and should take part in the fight against drugs.

The control of illegal trafficking in drugs is essentially a law enforcement matter. However, because of its magnitude and the different aspects involved, and in keeping with the sovereign interest of each State and its own judicial system, the armed forces in each of the countries, within their own territory and national jurisdictions, may also participate. The Parties may establish bilateral and multilateral understandings for cooperation in accordance with their interests, needs and priorities.[9]

Amongst the military options was aerial interdiction, that initially consisted of the destruction of runways, but in the 1990s Colombia and Peru began a programme of shooting down aeroplanes in mid-flight. The US was worried about the possibility of lawsuits over those acts and for a while suspended the sharing of intelligence with Peru and Colombia.[10] Clinton however, approved a law protecting US military officers involved in such attacks. Between 1995 and 2001, the US military took part in the downing of 14 small planes in Peru, and the Peruvians on their own a further 24. And it is not known how often the Colombians downed planes.[11] But the programme was suspended for a while following an attack on a small plane that was carrying a US evangelical missionary and her infant who were killed in the attack. Later it was renewed with new rules in place.

So, Trump’s attacks on speed boats and fishing boats are the continuation of a drugs policy developed to its logical conclusion. What he is doing is not new and the same doubts about the legality of such actions have always existed regarding the downing of planes. Of course, there is a difference and it is only that Trump’s actions are unilateral and are not carried out in the context of a previously agreed plan. Although, it worth saying that in the case of Colombia, Petro has not taken any of the measures to hand to put a stop to the military actions. The US still has seven military bases in the country and the military and the police not only continue to cooperate with them but rather Petro even boasts about the participation of US intelligence in the bombarding of FARC dissidents and stated on his Twitter account:

There have been twelve bombardments ordered by me and only by me, respecting to the utmost degree human rights. US intelligence is used but under human rights conditions that I myself have adopted.[12]

It should be pointed out that all presidents say they respect human rights, even Uribe did so. Whether they do or not (and they don’t) is another matter.

So, Trump represents a development and at the same time a continuity regarding drugs and the military. He also represents a continuity with all the other presidents of the USA regarding the real interests behind their discourse on drugs. Trump is not interested in drugs. If he was, he wouldn’t have pardoned the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández convicted of importing 400 tons of cocaine. Hernández is not the only drug trafficker to have been pardoned by Trump.[13]

If Obama had been interested in drugs he would have taken stern action against HSBC following the scandal of the laundering of USD 881 million. But he did little. He could have suspended their banking licence, he could also have placed the entire board of directors of the bank on the Clinton List, but he didn’t. Instead, the bank paid a fine of USD 1.8 billion and went on as if nothing. It should be said that it was not the first, nor the last time that bank and others launder the proceeds of the sale of illegal drugs. Amongst the banks fined for money laundering are Credit Suisse USD 536 million in 2009; Barclays USD 298 million in 2010; ING USD 619 million in 2012; Standard Chartered USD 330 million in 2012 and another USD 1.1 billion in 2019; BNP Paribas USD 8.9 billion in 2014 and Deutsche Bank USD 258 million in 2015.[14] Clinton himself freed from a jail a lawyer that had laundered money for the Cali Cartel. If it was really about drugs the board of directors of those banks would be in prison and/or on the Clinton List and Clinton would never have freed Harvey Weinig from prison.

If they wanted to solve the drug problem by military means in the US, they could bomb the headquarters, if not the factories of the major pharmaceutical companies in the US. The opiate crisis in the US began with the abuse of legal pharmaceuticals, amongst them fentanyl. The illegal market began with meeting the needs of that abuse, supplying a cheaper product that was easier to obtain. Even so, 125 million prescriptions for opioids are issued in the country and 96% of those who use illegal opiates consume legal ones at least once a year.[15] The problem is Made in USA.

If they wanted to prevent the fabrication of cocaine they could bomb the German hydrochloric acid factories, an essential precursor chemical for making cocaine. But of course, they are not going to do any of that.

As the title of this article indicates, the drugs issue is a wildcard that can be used at any time to do whatever they want. When they invaded Panama, they said that it was because Noriega was a drug trafficker. He may have been, but he was their drug trafficker. What they want is Venezuela’s oil, as in other moments the stability of Colombia in order to take control of the natural resources. When a Yankee president says that he has to intervene in a country because of drugs, he plays with the truth, he plays poker with the future of millions and his wildcard is drugs. The excuse that convinces many.

References

[1] Bewley-Taylor, D.R, (1999). The United States and International Drug Control. 1909-1997, London: Pinter. P-18 – 19.

[2] See.

[3] See.

[4] See History of Joint Task Force North 

[5] A US law that restricted though did not totally prohibit the use of the military against the civilian population in the exercise of a police role. It dates from 1878.

[6] Withers, G. et al (2010) Preach What you Practice: The Separation of Military and Police Roles in the Americas. WOLA. pp. 7-8 

[7] Ibíd. p.9

[8] Ibíd. p.17

[9] Declaration of Cartagena. 

[10] Huskisson, Major D.C. (2004) The Airbridge Denial Program and the Shootdown of Civil Aircraft Under International Law. Magill University. pp. 10-11 https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA425906.pdf

[11] Ibíd. p.14

[12] See.

[13] Complex (04/12/2025) Here’s The Drug Dealers Trump Has Pardoned. Joe Price. 

[14] Investopedia (12/10/2025) HSBC Money Laundering Scandal: A Case Study in Compliance Failures. Marc L. Ross. 

[15] See.

⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.

The Drugs Wildcard

Drogheda Stands With Palestine     will host its final vigil before the Christmas Season.

Date: 20 December 2025

Time: 1200

Venue: West Street 



Drogheda Stands With Palestine Last Vigil Before Christmas

Christopher Owens 🔖 As you’ve undoubtedly guessed from the title, here’s my list of, what I consider to be, the best books that were published in 2025. Most have been reviewed on here by me, but everyone loves a good list, especially at the end of the year.

10. The Sacrifices – Alexander Kattke

Underground writer Alexander Kattke is back with another piecing compendium of pieces looking at/imagining the mindsets of serial killers, victims, God, soldiers, writers and optimists, wrapped up in a literary style that is hectoring, confessional, delusional and disturbing. All very much fertile grounds for exploration in the manner we’re accustomed to with Kattke and, unsurprisingly, he doesn’t miss.

9. The Capitalcyst – Craig Podmore

It’s been a few years since Your Misery is for Entertainment Purposes Only and now we get this new collection of poems and stories which Podmore has described as “…an onslaught, an assault, an examination of the futility of modern man.” Lofty heights to reach for, but Podmore does it. The opening essay sets out the terrain: poets are pornographers, writing is fornication and we should abandon all pretence and indulge.

8. A Condescending Wound - Benzo Monroe

Described as an “…artist, poet, and author from Michigan”, Benzo Monroe’s new collection nails the self-absorbed and deadpan monotone that often accompanies depressive thoughts and aggravates those who do their best to be sympathetic. Some poems are only two lines long, implying that the narrator is at the end of his tether and found it taxing to hammer these demons to the page.

7. Race the Undead – Jonathan Traynor

Post-apocalyptic/survival tales thrive when you care for the band of misfits who would never be friends in a normal setting and must now survive while trying to make sense of what has happened to the world. We certainly get plenty of this material throughout as Greg grieves the death of his family at his own hands due to zombification while struggling with his advancing years and resenting the mantle of leader.

6. Everyday Jews: Why the Jewish People Are Not Who You Think They Are – Keith Kahn Harris

Opening with a recollection of a trip to Poland which took in baseball, the Holocaust and a Kinder Surprise egg, Kahn-Harris tells the reader that the endless focus on the bleakest moments in Jewish history made him feel like a museum artefact. Thus begins a work that, with a tone that is both gently humorous and sternly academic acknowledges that Jews can be as boring as everyone else.

5. Far From EUtopia: How Europe is Failing – And Britain Could Do Better – Ross Clark

At times quite heavy on statistics, this is a skilful, entertaining and provocative piece of propaganda that isn’t afraid to criticise the various Tory and Labour governments failing to utilise the opportunities on offer due to no longer being tied to the EU. Hence why some have ‘Brexit regret’. One that will provoke many a pointed argument and should be read by those who wish to see an Irexit: England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity.

4. 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times - Ross Benes

A freelance journalist as well as a market research analyst, Ross Benes has put together a fascinating tome that intricately dissects this period, makes connections that you may not have considered before and all with the gusto and enthusiasm of a lifelong fan of pop culture. Written with a critical love of the period and the culture, Benes offers up plenty of thinking points and laughs along the way.

3. ‘Preparing for Power’: The Revolutionary Communist Party and Its Curious Afterlives, 1976-2020 - Jack Hepworth

Telling the story of how three members of the Revolutionary Communist Group split to form their own organisation, Hepworth does a solid job at narrating the various twists and turns as well as discussing the party’s pariah status among left wing activists in a time where it was felt that radical change was in the air before they declared class politics moribund and began a slow transition into libertarianism via spiked online.

2. The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s - Jason Burke.A lot has been written about events since October 7th. But few have really sought to understand the history, the nuances and the missed opportunities that have come and gone over the years. Quite the tall order and it’s a task that journalist Jason Burke has clearly relished as he has given us a tome that tells the story of Palestinian resistance but also how secular Marxism ended up being replaced with theocratic Islamism.

1. Strangers And Intimacies: The Rise and Fall of Private Life - Tiffany Jenkins

This book from sociologist and Scotsman columnist Tiffany Jenkins not only proves to be an excellent call for the return of a private life for us all but also demonstrates how hard-won victories have been frittered away in the face of technological advancement and disintegrating social bonds. Believe it or not, it all starts with the Reformation, and it concludes with a defence of private life. An enthralling and stimulating read.

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

TPQ Books Of 2025

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Twenty Two

 

A Morning Thought @ 3003

Prisoners For Palestine   Qesser Zuhrah with a statement.

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

We who are imprisoned by the British state for Resisting the genocide of our beloved Palestinian people declare the beginning of our Hunger Strike, as we reaffirm our commitment to our struggle from within these Prison walls.

For 15 months, we who are imprisoned for Palestine have tested this “justice system”, and for 15 months we have watched Elbit Systems, the zionist entity and our Government abuse justice and prolong our imprisonment, demanding that we forsake our cause in exchange for our freedom. And so now, we’re forced to confront those that refuse to look us in the eyes with the very foundation of the humanity they deny recognising in us – our life, and our right to life.

On this day in 1917 is when our British state effectively began its colonisation of Palestine. Our British state is the origin of the zionist entity, and while it now likes to act as secondary in the zionist project, we remember and reiterate it’s shameful role in founding one of the most racist and genocidal settler-colonies to exist.

Elbit Systems is the despicable arm of the zionist entity, entrenched here in our British soil, that is manufacturing the weapons that are being used to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

Elbit Systems is the despicable entity that supplies 85% of the land-based weaponry that is being used to colonise the land of Palestine.

Elbit systems is the despicable entity that reaffirms its commitment to and facilitation of the colonisation of Palestine and Holocaust of our beloved Palestinian people in its sloganeering of its weapons as “battle tested on Palestinians”.

And this is the entity that has ordered our imprisonment. And so:

  • On count 1 of the genocide of the Palestinian people;
  • On count 2 of the starvation of the Palestinian people;
  • And on count 3 of the brutal colonisation of Palestine;

On all counts, we who are Prisoners for Palestine, find Elbit Systems: Guilty.

As a result of this criminality, we demand:

1. End all censorship

We demand to be able to send and receive communications without restriction, surveillance, or interference from the prison administration. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that is vital for prisoners, whose voices are already systematically silenced. Censorship inside prisons is a tool of control used to punish resistance. Letters, phone calls, political statements, books and all other forms of expression must be respected.

2. Immediate bail

We demand that we be released from custody while awaiting trial. Holding people on remand, in some cases indefinitely, is a deliberate abuse of power, used to punish Prisoners before they have even faced a court or been convicted of any crime. Some of us will have been imprisoned for nearly two years without a conviction. The right to a fair trial must include the right to prepare for it in freedom, not behind bars.

3. Right to a fair trial

We demand the right to a fair trial, which cannot happen until all relevant documents related to our cases are released in full. This includes all meetings between British and israeli entity officials, the British police, the Attorney General, Elbit Systems representatives, and any others involved in coordinating the ongoing witch-hunt of Actionists and Campaigners.

We also demand the release of government records of all Elbit Systems UK exports from the last five years. We have the right to know what arms are being made and exported from the UK, especially when they are used to commit genocide.

4. Deproscribe

We demand the immediate dropping of all terror-related charges and ‘links’, and an end to the use of the Prevent strategy. The Government’s use of counter-terror laws to target those engaged in protest and direct action is unjustified and unprecedented, and must be stopped.

In light of this, we demand that the British government deproscribe Palestine Action. Direct action is not terrorism. It is a legitimate tactic deployed when democratic channels fail to reflect the will of the people. When the government breaks the law, citizens have the moral responsibility to act in defence of life, human rights, and collective dignity.

We also demand an apology from Yvette Cooper for spearheading a smear campaign in a cynical attempt to justify her decision to proscribe Palestine Action. Her claim that Palestine Action was a violent organisation “possibly funded by Iran” has no basis in fact.

5. Shut Elbit down

Many of us are imprisoned for allegedly taking action against Elbit Systems, israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Since 2012, Elbit has won 25 public contracts in the UK totalling more than £355m. Now, the Ministry of Defence is preparing to sign a £2.7 billion contract with Elbit that would designate it as a “strategic partner” and see the company train 60,000 British troops each year.

We demand that the government does not use taxpayer´s money to fund the machinery of genocide and scrap this contract. Furthermore, we demand that all Elbit systems’ sites and its subsidiaries in the UK are permanently shut down.

Until our demands are met, we will Resist. We ask our Government now: Are you willing to let us die before you stop arming a genocide?

As we take on this struggle, we follow in the honoured legacy of Prisoners throughout time, from Ireland to Guantanamo to Palestine. The Resistance has always been banished by the oppressors to the Prisons in the hopes that this is where they will send it to die. But now, it is from within these Prison walls that we will use the Prisoners tools to disarm the master’s house.

As a Nation, we have made a shameful mockery of Resistance.
It is from our Palestinian people that we learn what Resistance truly entails.
It is from our Palestinian Prisoners, whose captivity and unspeakable torture could not extinguish their desire for the liberation of their homeland, that we learn.
It is from our Resistance whom we have cowardly forsaken, that we learn.
It is from them that we learned, O Palestine, that we can do more for you than bang our pots and pans! And it is in their footsteps we follow as we determine to put our bodies on the line in Resistance to the zionist project, its manifestation as Elbit Systems, and its implementation by the British State.

We seek to do this in service of the Palestinian Cause; in service of our duty to humanity; and in service of our duty to justice, entrusted to us by our Lord,
Al-Shaheed, The Witness. Because in the words of martyred Palestinian Journalist Hossam Shabat, this struggle is the “highest honour” of our lives.

We seek fulfilment and triumph only from Allah, with full certainty and the fact that it is He who presides over all matters. In this matter, we seek the support of Allah, certain that victory is only from Al-Adl, The Most Just. Ya Allah, we ask that you purify our intentions, makes sincere our actions and forgive us for our sins, so that we may earn through this struggle Your Mercy and Your Favour upon us. Ameen.

Elbit, while you boast of how your weapons have been “battle tested on Palestinians”, our Resistance will inform you that your tests have failed. Because Gaza will rise and Palestine will never die.

I do not have words that are more comforting than the words of our Lord. So, to my fellow prisoners, “Persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah so that you may be successful” (Quran, 3: 200).

And to my dearest people of the Land that is Palestine, “Be Patient, indeed the promise of Allah is true. Do not let those with no certainty weaken your firmness” (Quran 30:60). And please, forgive us for our failures, Ya Gaza.

And to the free people of this world, we, your Prisoners, urge you as our martyred Palestinian Journalist Anas Al-Sharif urged us all: “Not to let chairs silence you, nor borders restrain you”, and join us in pursuit of justice by Resisting the war machine in any and every capacity you can! Because “Whoever does Righteousness, it is for his own soul; and whoever does evil does so against it” (Quran 41:46).

So, from your Prisoners to you: Shut Elbit Down!

Sincerely,

Qesser Faryal Zuhrah
Prisoner No. A9259FG

Statement From Qesser Zuhrah

Caoimhin O’Muraile  ☭ On 23rd October 2025 racist gangs attacked the City West hotel in Dublin which has been commandeered by the Twenty-Six-County Government to house International Protection Applicants. 

The attack was encouraged by posts on social media after the sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl allegedly by one of these applicants and such an assault must be condemned unreservedly. 

Local residents who had been ‘peacefully’ protesting throughout the summer against this hotel being used for the purposes of housing these people, many fleeing for their lives, called another protest against the residents apparently blaming every applicant for this sickening assault. So much for ‘Cead Mile Failte’ (one hundred thousand welcomes) which obviously does not apply to the not so good people of City West who certainly are not making these people from foreign lands welcome.

Initially their protests were no doubt well intended but appear to have been hijacked by far-right elements. The protest planned by these locals, unsavoury as it was, intended to be peaceful but once social media had done its work all kinds of less peaceful elements turned up, involving some surprise packages including one-time revolutionary socialists apparently turned racists! 

It is not the first time in history individuals and organisations have switched sides, perhaps the most famous individual would be Benito Mussolini who shifted from a revolutionary syndicalist position to extreme right-wing fascism in Italy. Oswald Mosely was another who moved from left to a far-right position. A one-time Labour MP he crossed the floor to the Conservatives then went further to form the British Union of Fascists (BUF). This does not excuse ‘political treachery’ and to use the excuse in a statement of “standing with the Irish working-class” in explaining their presence these individuals exposed themselves for what they have unfortunately become. Others who would be more expected to fuel the flames of racism in Ireland are the likes of Hermann Kelly and Luke O’Connor of the Irish Freedom Party, Patrick Quinlan of the National Party who once stated to Fingal County Council; “the only reason Fingal County Council is increasing social housing rents is to accommodate for the plantation of this country”. He went on to rant against mass immigration claiming it is having a “disastrous” effect on “Irish families.” How exactly is a little unclear.

The City West incident which involved petrol bombs, not dissimilar to the Kristallnacht in Germany 1938, is not the only racist protest in this state. The far-right have been furrowing away at people’s fears turning them into a kind of paranoia against the ‘foreigner’. This is just the same way Hitler began his crusade against Jewish people in Nazi Germany. Justin Barret of the National Party, the same organisation as Patrick Quinlan, is a self-confessed neo-Nazi and admirer of Adolf Hitler. Though no evidence is present linking any of these to the City West atrocities they have all been active on social media at some point throwing petrol on the fires of people’s fears, fuelling into an inferno of racism.

Historically the Nazis in Germany gained power firstly by controlling the streets as the left opposition was fractured. The Social Democrats and the German Communist Party, the KPD, refused to unite their forces against Hitler’s thugs and the net result was both organisations were kicked off the streets. Soviet Union leader, Joe Stalin, issued a directive to German communists not to work with the Social Democrats who he claimed were the “real enemy” and not the Nazis. Stalin was no socialist and certainly not an internationalist, and he set the socialist cause back decades if not irreversibly. The opposition to the Nazi surge was weak, at best non-existent, at worst during those years of the Nazi ascendancy. We must learn the lessons of the past here in Ireland right across the 32 counties as this far-right neo fascist/racist* trend affects both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.

What has been notable on our streets is the lack of any meaningful anti-fascist/anti-racist opposition. A broad front anti-fascist/anti-racist movement should be built as a matter of urgency. The racists have already gained much control on the streets, as did the Nazis in Germany. Their next move will be controlling the elected chambers then we really do have problems. Once this, if ever, is achieved those people who through their once peaceful legitimate protests, hijacked by the thugs of fascism, who got these neo-fascists to power will be discarded like a piece of unwanted trash. The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ springs to mind again in Nazi Germany when Hitler had the leaders of the Brown Shirts or SA’s (Sturmabteilung or Storm Division), the thugs which were instrumental getting the Nazis to power, liquidated. If all anti-fascists/anti-racists are to put up a credible opposition it will mean for many parking their individual political ideologies and working on an ad-hoc basis with each other. It will mean Marxists working with people from Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, the Irish Labour Party and other constitutionalist parties and individuals who are anti-fascist in a unified front opposing the far right both ideologically and physically. This for the purpose of opposing the far-right should be the only policy up for discussion, not the economy or the rights and wrongs of capitalism, just anti-fascism. For those of us who oppose capitalism this may be problematic but essential, ideology cannot get in the way of stopping the far-right before it really is too late.

Huge mobilisations against the fascists have been massed before. In London, 1936, Cable Street, 3,000 of Mosley’s fascists were determined to march through the East End and had 7,000 policemen, some sympathetic to Moseley, to protect them. Over 50,000 anti-fascists many from the East End turned out to stop the BUF from marching and despite the police’s best efforts were successful, the fascists did not pass. Under the motto ‘they shall not pass’ (No Pasaran, a motto adopted by Spanish republicans opposing Franco’s fascists during the Spanish Civil War) Mosley was prevented by people from the Communist Party, various socialist organisations, Syndicalists, the Labour Party, even some liberals turned out to stop them. It was a very broad-churched mobilisation. Fast forward to the 1970s and the temporary rise of the National Front (NF) in Britain. The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) formed the Anti-Nazi League (ANL) which, like in 1936, consisted of a number of ideologies with the sole aim of stopping Martin Webster, John Tyndal and the NF. Once again huge numbers were involved in the ANL and the fascists were beaten off the streets. These are the kind of movements Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) and other likeminded organisations should be trying to forge in Ireland today before it’s too late!

Have the fascist leaderships, such as they are, managed yet to completely hijack these protests turning those taking part into raving Nazis? No, not yet they haven’t, and must be prevented from doing so. Anti-fascists have been absent not only on the streets but also the public meetings about ‘refugee accommodation’ in residential areas where far-right speakers have been threading in their hate on the backs of people’s concerns. Their arguments are not difficult to beat and it must be conceded the government have handled the entire refugee project very, very badly. At City West TUSLA the child and family agency handled the assault on the 10-year-old girl badly and left themselves wide open to criticism from those on the far-right and their new allies. 

Is Ireland ready for fascism? No, the conditions both north and south usually associated with the rise of far-right organisations do not exist. The bourgeoisie are not in crisis and the economies in both jurisdictions are not in trouble. Yes, in the Six Counties the Legislative Assembly at Stormont want more investment from the British Government but this is always the case and always will be so long as they are dependent on such a foreign government. The mistakes of Italy and Germany during the late 1920s and early 1930s must not be repeated today in Ireland. To make those errors would be unforgivable because, unlike the anti-Nazis in Germany, we have their experiences as a blue print of what not to do. Learn from the past do not repeat it!

*Neo-fascism, unlike orthodox fascist movements of the 1920s and 30s, not including the Nazis, has race, racism and immigration as a central component factor of their makeup. Race was not initially central to Mussolini’s fascist party in Italy, differing from Hitlers Nazis on this point, but in neo-fascism it is central to most movements. Neo-fascist groups are an updated version of the orthodox movements adding race and immigration as leading components to their agenda.
 
Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Learn The Lessons Of The Past, Germany 🪶 Do Not Repeat Them!

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