Why is the Irish Left silent on the Holocaust of Sirte?

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Thursday October 06, 2011 19:23 by An Draighneán Donn

Sirte has become the Guernica of the 21st century. The bombing it has been subjected to surpasses Gaza and even Fallujah for its criminal targeting of civilian homes, hospitals, utilities such as water, gas and oil, etc. And yet, while the people of Sirte face extermination by gangs who have already lynched and ethnically cleansed thousands of Black people, the Irish Left maintains a cold silence towards this agony. Why?

The people of Sirte are now completely surrounded by hostile forces. From the sea, they are bombarded by NATO war ships. From the air, death is rained down on them in the form of high explosive, white phosphorus and depleted uranium, by land, they are surrounded on three sides by racist lynch mobs and Nato "special forces." These mobs firing randomly into a crowded city from tanks and heavy artillery. And yet, the spirit of the people of Sirte has not been broken. The spirit of No Pasaran holds the line.

What a contrast from the Spanish Civil war, when the Irish Left had the courage to stand up to Fascist Imperialism. Today, the Irish Left skulks in silence and guilt - afraid to speak out.

Why? Could it be that the Irish Left foolishly put high hopes in the so called "Arab Spring," and now that we see that the only result of this "Arab Spring" is total military dictatorship in Egypt and the Nato Holocaust of Libya, the Irish Left are just keeping their guilty heads down, hoping for the whole thing to pass over?

Or, could it be that certain elements in the Right are correct? That the Irish Left never even cared about Palestinians. After all, the Irish Left usually collaborated with British occupation in Ireland. Could it be that what motives the Irish Left in their condemnations of the bombing of Gaza is merely anti-Jewish hatred? They don't give a damn about the Palestinians themselves.