RM, Corcaigh
Originally delivered by a CYM member at the 2022 Nakba Day commemoration in Cork
Today what we are talking about the current situation in Palestine. and the path to Palestinian liberation. We in the Connolly Youth Movement are revolutionary optimists. We believe that there’s a path to liberation for all oppressed people, and this includes the people of Palestine. Right now they’re fighting for their freedom and we believe that if you’re willing to fight for freedom, then freedom is what you deserve.
You’ve all heard about Shireen Abu Akleh. Shireen was shot dead by the Israeli Defence Forces. Shireen was a journalist, wearing a “Press” vest. She was reporting on house raids in Jenin in the West Bank by the IDF when she was shot. Forbes, an American magazine of course, reported on her death saying she was “hit by a bullet”.
They make it sound like it fell out of the sky. They make it sound like it was an accident. It was anything but. What they should have said is that she was shot by Israeli forces. She was killed by a foreign army in her own country. They want people to think it was some kind of accident. But the fact of the matter is that Shireen was murdered, just like thousands of other Palestinians. It was murder, and there’s no other way to say it.
Today we have people like Shireen on our minds, people like Admad Sa’adat and other political prisoners, people who are fighting for their liberation. People putting words into action, theory into practice.
What is the path to liberation then? If you’re going to fight for liberation, you’re going to have to know who you’re fighting. You have to know who the enemy is.
The State of Israel, this is the enemy of the Palestinian people. Israel is a racist, imperialist, and apartheid state, dead set on robbing Palestinians of their land, their freedom and their rights. Who are their greatest supporters? Where do they get their funding? Where do they get their weapons and their training? The imperialist world. The capitalists in America, in Canada, in England, in Germany and more. These capitalist imperialists use Israel as a gateway to the resources of the Middle-East. They wage war through Israel with Arab nations, primarily for oil. But Israel is just one link in the imperialist chain. Imperialism is the enemy of the people everywhere. Imperialism is oppressing people everywhere in every country. Imperialism is the enemy of the Palestinian people and it is the enemy of Irish people.
The Connolly Youth Movement is an internationalist organization. We support our comrades in Palestine in their struggle for national liberation, just as we support the struggle for liberation everywhere. We believe that if you dare to struggle you dare to win and if you don’t struggle then you don’t deserve to win. We are supporting the Palestinian struggle 110%.
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA,
PALESTINE WILL BE FREE