My grandmother talks about how growing up in Belfast, Ireland, British soldiers would raid the local Irish people's houses, steal from them, smash up their homes or burn them out, beat up or kill or imprison the men, rape the women, and then justify their actions by saying the local people were harbouring IRA terrorists and illegal weapons stores even though they weren't. Any time the British committed an act of violence against the Irish it was the same excuse.
And every time Israel blows up a school, hospital, refugee camp killing hundreds of civilians in the process and justifies it by saying they were harbouring Hamas it makes me think of that. Colonialism never changes.
Hi everyone, I am Palestinian born and raised in Gaza city, I moved to London Ontario 4 years ago with my husband. I am raising this fund to help my family flee the war and come safely to Canada and reunite with me and my kids again. I'm writing to you at a really critical and urgent moment. Presently, my family is in Gaza and is dealing with unspeakable conditions. My family and I are fervently requesting your assistance so that we can help them flee to safety and reunite with me in Canada. I live in Canada with my 2 kids , yet I feel like I'm thousands of miles away from my family and are helpless to stop the suffering caused by ongoing aggression in Gaza. The situation is getting worse every day, and I worry about their safety.
"Like Ireland, Palestine unfree will never be at peace" - Pádraic MacCoitir (1/4/2024)
Inspired by Padraig Pearse's graveside oration at the funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa - " They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools!– they have left us our Fenian dead; and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace"
"Why are Irish people so quick to defend the Palestinians and to call out Israel?"
This is a list of what the British authorities were allowed to do to the local Irish population in Northern Ireland:
This Act was only repealed in the 1970s.
Violence, oppression, and discrimination against the Irish is not ancient history. Many Irish people are still feeling the effects today. Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of PTSD in the world. It has some of the worst mental health statistics in general. It's still plagued by political dysfunction, which is a direct result of Britain's colonial activity in Ireland.
So why do the Irish support Palestine?
It's because many of us have lived through very similar things to what they are going through.
TODAY: Palestinian and Irish-American activists marched for Gaza in Rochester, NY on St. Patrick’s Day. Participants proudly displayed banners with Palestinian and Irish flags that read, “Occupation is a crime from Ireland to Palestine.” from BreakThrough News, 17/Mar/2024: