“Women, Life, Freedom” Against War

27/06/2025 by admin Leave a Comment

A Statement against Genocidal Israel and the Repressive Islamic Republic

Women Life Freedom feminist protest Iran

By the Roja collective, comprised of Iranian, Kurdish, and Afghani internationalist feminists.

This statement was issued on 16 June 2025, the third day of the war. It was originally published in Persian and was translated and published by Crimethinc. We are reposting the English version on the Independent Left website with their approval.

Much has happened since then, including the direct attack that the United States carried out against Iran on 21 June 2025. Nevertheless, this text provides valuable analysis on the strategy of the United States and Israeli governments to reshape the Middle East.

For background on the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (“Woman, Life, Freedom”) movement in Iran, read this; for more information on the uprising that broke out in 2022, start here. You can read another statement from Roja here.

Against Israel, the US, and the Iranian Regime

We stand against both of the warmongering, patriarchal, colonial powers. But this is not passivity. It is the starting point of our active struggle for life.

If Israel drives Gaza’s children to the slaughter with a queer rainbow flag, the Islamic Republic of Iran drenched Syria in blood under an anti-imperialist guise. One commits genocide against Arabs in Palestine, the other subjugates non-Persian ethnicities within its borders. Netanyahu seeks to usurp the meaning of “Women, Life, Freedom” in order to disguise his colonial expansionism and military aggression as “freedom,” while Khamenei has poured all resources into building a Shia empire supposedly to combat ISIS and defend Palestine.

Indeed, these two longstanding foes mirror each other in killing and malevolence. We must not equate these two capitalist regimes in terms of their positions within the global order: the Islamic Republic’s capacity for military aggression is undoubtedly far less than the capacity of Israel and its Western imperialist backer. Still, the suffering it has inflicted is as absolute as the violence of Zionist fascism. Any attempt to relativize this suffering, quantitatively or qualitatively, is reductive and misleading. That suffering spans multiple forms of oppression, including the exorbitant costs of its nuclear project and taking human dignity a hostage.

This asymmetrical war between Israel and the Islamic Republic is, above all, a war against us.

It is a war against what we have created in the “Jin, Jyain, Azadi” uprising, what we’ve achieved, and what lies at its potential horizon: a feminist, anti-colonial, egalitarian uprising that did not emerge from state power, but originated in the popular struggles of Kurdistan—especially those led by women—and then echoed across the geography of Iran.

It is simultaneously a war against the oppressed and working classes: against the nurses at Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah and the firefighters of the small town of Musian in Ilam, who were struck by Israeli air attacks—the former on June 16, the latter twice, on June 14 and 16.

This war targets the infrastructure and networks that sustain daily life in this region.

Taking a clear, uncompromising stance on the war—condemning Israel’s assault and saying “no” to the Islamic Republic—is the minimum strategic foundation for shaping a collective campaign demanding an immediate ceasefire. “Women, Life, Freedom Against War” is not just a slogan; it draws a sharp boundary around a set of tendencies whose contradictions and conflicts are clearer today than ever.

On one side are opportunistic advocates of regime change who, for years, have supported Western and US sanctions, beaten the drums of war, denied Gaza’s genocide—and now plead for “liberation” in abject subservience to their master, Israel. In short: those who minimize Western imperialist warmongering, above all the far-right Persian-nationalist royalists.

On the other side is campism, the political position that lends its support to any project—no matter how authoritarian—that opposes the Western bloc, presenting it as “resistance.”

In addition, there are forces that prioritize the struggle against Israel’s criminal assault by appealing to a “state of emergency” or “the people’s interest.” This latter group ends up either whitewashing the Islamic Republic’s crimes at home and abroad or adopting a strategic silence regarding them. These are the ones who, after October 7, 2023, issued warnings about the danger of indifference to the shared fate of Middle Eastern peoples—but instead of emphasizing grassroots internationalist struggle, blurred the line between popular resistance and state power. They correctly noted that Iran comes next after Lebanon and Palestine in the so-called “new Middle East order,” but only to downplay and deprioritize the struggles of women, ethnic minorities, and the oppressed classes in this “moment.” Their warnings remained abstract because they did utter not a word about the Islamic Republic’s longstanding appropriation—and ideological monopolization—of anti-colonial discourse since the 1979 revolution.

We believe that only by drawing these boundaries—emphasizing the mutual and inseparable relationships between multiple social struggles in the region—can we form a solid front against Israel’s genocide and simultaneously wrest anti‑colonial discourse from the Islamic Republic’s monopoly while confronting ethno‑nationalists who deny the existence of ethnic minorities and “internal colonialism” within the Islamic Republic.

In solidarity with the shared fate of Middle Eastern peoples—from Kabul to Tehran, from Kurdistan to Palestine, from Ahvaz to Tabriz, from Balochistan to Syria and Lebanon—which is the material basis of internationalist struggle, we address this statement to the oppressed and the downtrodden within Iran and the region, to the diaspora, and to the “wakeful consciences” of the world.

A sign at a demonstration in Paris organized by Roja, Feminists4Jina, and Socialist Solidarity.

13 June / 23 Khordad: Death by Bombs and Missiles

The ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the criminal Israeli state is not confined to this day, this year, or even this century. Yet the geopolitical fault line that opened up on October 7, 2023 now threatens to swallow the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran from within—at a staggering speed and with shocking intensity—casting a darkening horizon that strains our emotional and psychological limits.

These may be the most critical days of our lives since the 1979 Revolution.

From the dawn of Friday, June 13, to Monday, June 16, the Israeli military carried out 170 attacks, striking 720 targets across Iran.

Phase One: Nuclear facilities, missile bases, air-defence systems, and assassinations of researchers and military commanders in residential areas—targeting dozens of senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces], inflicting an unprecedented blow to the IRGC’s military-security structure.
Phase Two: Coordinated strikes on refineries and fuel depots (Shahran in Tehran and Pars South in the Persian Gulf), ports, airports, and critical infrastructure affecting not only military arteries, but social reproduction and everyday life.
Phase Three: Assaults on symbols of governmental authority—ministries, official buildings, and the Islamic Republic’s main broadcasting agency in Tehran—the central hub of interrogators, torturers, and hate propagators. A media institution with a four-decade record of fabricating dossiers, spreading lies, and slandering the poor, women, Afghan migrants, and political dissidents.

Across all of these phases, contrary to the seductive promises of fascist propagandists selling bomb-delivered freedom, what has unfolded is not “pinpoint strikes” on military targets, but the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, women, and children. As of June 15, at least 600 people have been killed and 1277 injured. [On June 23, as we publish this, the numbers are considerably higher.]

In response, the Islamic Republic had launched over 350 missiles and drones at Israel by June 16. One major strike targeted northern Israel, including Haifa—the strategic industrial core and an energy-logistical hub. Although most of the projectiles were intercepted by the defense systems of the Israeli military and its allies, several reached civilian areas. As of this writing, 24 Israelis have been killed, including four women from a single family.

In this dire situation, the Islamic Republic has not only abandoned a terrified populace—failing to provide even the most basic services such as transparent public information, air raid shelters, or alarm systems—but has also escalated state control: deploying riot squads, erecting checkpoints across cities, and sharpening its blade for executions under the pretext of “spying for Israel.” While this is unsurprising during wartime—indeed, it is symptomatic of the regime’s inability to ensure safety—it carries with it the whispered threat of “hanging traitors from every tree.” Such logic flows naturally from a regime whose very survival depends on internal repression, executions, the militarization of daily life, and relentless regional expansion.

Women Life Freedom Israel Iran — The Roja banner at a demonstration in Paris on June 14 against the genocide of Palestinians.

Women Life Freedom Israel Iran 2 — A demonstration in Paris organized by Roja, Feminists4Jina, and Socialist Solidarity.

Colonial Representation and the Normalization of War

The “War on Terror”—the imperialist project which unleashed bloodshed across Afghanistan and Iraq at the dawn of the 21st century—has now passed the torch to Israel: a “preventive” strike aimed at containing the Iranian nuclear threat.¹ Once again, the dominant media script is repeated: Israel targets only “military sites,” deploying “precision missiles” and “smart drones” to deliver freedom and democracy to the Iranian people.

But this narrative does not address Parnia Abbasi, the 24-year-old poet killed in Sattarkhan, Tehran. It makes no mention of the murders of Mohammad Ali Amini, the teenage taekwondo athlete, or Parsa Mansour, a national padel player. Not a whisper of Fatemeh Mirheidar, Niloufar Qalewand, Mehdi Pouladvand, or Najmeh Shams. These were neither “military targets” nor “nuclear threats”—only human beings, their bodies dismembered in global media silence, shredded by Israeli missiles. This is merely the tip of the iceberg of the “freedom” that Israel—backed by the West—intends to introduce by heaping up corpses and devastation.

Reactionary forces that reduce “regime change” to a mere political reshuffling from above—without any real social transformation—are now openly embracing their longtime savior, Israel. Monarchists have turned bombing victims into statistics, shamelessly declaring, “The Islamic Republic executes thousands annually, so the killing of dozens or hundreds by Israel is justifiable.” This is the same dehumanizing logic—the quantitative calculus of death—that the United States deployed to justify destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “If the war continues, more will die, so drop the bomb.”

The killing of civilians in Israel’s recent assaults, the heightened state control within Iran, the destruction of social infrastructure—none of these are “unintended mistakes” or collateral damage. They are the logic of war, especially when waged by a regime like Israel’s. The familiar claim that civilians or non-military sites are being used as “human shields”—once invoked in Gaza, now used to justify attacks on Dizelabad Prison and Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah—is a deliberate distortion, deployed to mask and invert the truth of this exterminatory logic.

There is no such thing as a “just strike” or a “fair bombing.” The historical experiences of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya—yes, the very Libya that Netanyahu openly cites as a model for regime change in Iran—testify in blood to this truth.

Women Life Freedom Israel Iran 4 — A demonstration in Paris organized by Roja, Feminists4Jina, and Socialist Solidarity.

“The New Middle East Order”: Why Did Israel Attack Iran?

The unprecedented scale of Israel’s attacks indicates that Israel is attempting to achieve full-scale regime change—or regime collapse. We cannot dismiss Operation “Rising Lion” as a mere extension of the longstanding hostility between the two states. It is rooted in a broader regional process that began on October 7 with a blow to the so-called “Axis of Resistance” and has now reached deep into the core of Tehran’s power structures.

Israel’s strike on the Islamic Republic marks the latest chapter in a broader transformation of Middle Eastern geopolitics and economics.

Gaza, for Israel, is not merely a battlefield—it is a colonization project. The assault on Gaza is a campaign to exterminate or expel over two million Palestinians and transform the blood-soaked coast into Trump’s vision of a “Middle Eastern Riviera”—luxury beaches, casinos, and a free trade zone for white people.

Step by step, Israel has driven Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, destroying its infrastructure, killing commanders, and dismantling its war machine. The same is now unfolding with the IRGC. In Syria, a regime propped up by Russia, Hezbollah, and the IRGC—at the cost of half a million deaths and twelve million displaced—has abruptly collapsed under Turkish-backed rebels. The Tehran–Beirut Shia Corridor, once a strategic artery linking Iran to the Mediterranean, has become its Achilles’ heel—the runway via which warplanes now strike it.

In the newly imposed order of the Middle East, a bloc of Israeli–US capitalist power is aggressively reshaping the region via logistical-economic routes (the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor), political-economic normalization (the Abraham Accords), and expansionist militarism in the form of the genocide and annexation of Gaza.²

Amid the disintegration of the “Axis of Resistance,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ longstanding doctrine of “neither war nor peace”—a strategy of manufactured crises and calculated brinkmanship—has collapsed. For years, the regime weaponized limited, controlled confrontations to forestall both total war and genuine peace. Today, it finds itself exposed on a battlefield where the rules have irrevocably shifted.

This collapse, compounded by the regime’s total loss of domestic legitimacy—marked by the mass uprisings of December 2017, November 2019, and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement—amounts to a final blow. The Islamic Republic can no longer manage, defer, or externalize its crises. It commands no legitimacy at home and holds no strategic leverage in the region. It is a scorched remnant in an emerging militarized, multipolar order.

In this vortex of blood, the United States—racing against China and maneuvering through Russia—is striving to reclaim its fractured hegemony. Netanyahu clings to endless war as his ticket to domestic survival. And within the Islamic Republic’s ruling apparatus, many now aim to become instruments of regime change themselves. Meanwhile, the people remain hostage—trapped in a war that is not theirs, a war that offers no horizon of liberation.

No to the Repetition of Libya, No to the Summer of 1988 Massacre

Recalling the path from the “blessing” of the Iran–Iraq War for the Islamic Republic’s consolidation in its infancy to the regime’s mass execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 is as urgent today as remembering the imperialist course that led to the “Libyaization” of an entire society.³

The history of “humanitarian interventions” in Iraq and Afghanistan—whether under the pretext of “weapons of mass destruction” or “crimes against humanity”—must be read alongside the history of those struggles in Iran that, from before the 1979 Revolution to today, have wrongly prioritized anti-imperialism above all else. Similarly, the settler-colonial history of Israel—from the 1948 Nakba to Nasser’s betrayal of pan-Arabism in 1967—must be understood from the vantage point of Turkmen Sahara and Kurdistan, sites of internal colonialism.

For over a decade, ideologues of the “island of stability” (the name that the campists once gave to the Islamic Republic of Iran) have used the fear of “Syriaization” to shame independent popular struggles and call people to the ballot box, selling the IRGC’s bloody intervention in Syria as a deterrent strategy to prevent the “Syriaization” of Iran. Just recounting this history is enough to justify a decisive “no” to the discourse of campists—a discourse that, rather than relying on organized popular power from below, stoops to realpolitik and, in the name of anti-imperialism, treats the enemy of the enemy as a friend even when they are just as bad.

Nearly 45 years ago, at the onset of the Iran–Iraq War, some progressive groups fell into nationalism—treating the war as a “national” event. That only served to consolidate Islamic authoritarian rule. Some remained silent as the Islamic Republic threw around the word “imperialist” to justify imposing mandatory veiling on women and deploying troops to Kurdistan; others, though they spoke up, failed to mobilize public opinion against the internal enemy fashioned in the image of an external one, thus helping to normalize a hierarchy centered on man/Persian/Shia.

Right now—when the “state of emergency” narrative suggests that this is some exceptional, disconnected moment—there is no greater imperative than invoking a plural, multi-layered historical memory. Only from a heterogeneous, multi-voiced historical memory—from the standpoint of oppressed peoples—can we say “no” to imperialism, war-based state control, and campism all at once. The project of remembering that layered history—from Kabul to Gaza, across shared fates and differences—we call internationalism.

In a world oscillating between fascist militarization and seemingly endless wars, our path lies in active, mass organizing for an immediate ceasefire, for peace, and for the reproduction of life against the machinery of death. Our field of action is neither aligned behind states nor invested in casting hopeful glances toward them—it lies in caring for one another, in mutual aid, and in building a network of support, awareness, and solidarity—from elders and children to the marginalized and disabled—as we witnessed magnificently in the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, in which solidarity among the oppressed became a force for living, resisting, and creating.

Transparency of information and consciousness-raising—without reproducing either Israeli or Islamic Republic narratives—must be the pillars of this cultural and political resistance.

Submitting to fatalism and painting an apocalyptic future in which everything is already over—these are ways of reproducing the logic of death. Against that notion of the future, what is vitally urgent is to shape an all-out campaign aimed at immediate ceasefire and at opening a horizon of liberation:

Women, Life, Freedom Against War
Berxwedana Jiyan e
Resistance is Life
Free Palestine
Roja
18 June 2025

Although the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program has, from the very beginning, been a costly and undemocratic process with serious ecological consequences—pushed forward by the Revolutionary Guards to secure the regime’s survival in regional and global geopolitical competitions, at the expense of impoverishing society and destroying the environment—and although we recognize no “right” for the Islamic Republic or any other state to acquire nuclear weapons, and believe that nuclear arms and the global race for them must be entirely dismantled, Netanyahu’s attack is nonetheless based on a false narrative, reminiscent of the US invasion of Iraq under the pretext of eliminating “weapons of mass destruction”: namely, that Iran is only a few steps away from building “the bomb.” While the Islamic Republic has indeed significantly increased its stockpile of uranium close to weapons-grade, there is no evidence of a decision to build a nuclear bomb. Even if we assume that the Islamic Republic has acquired a bomb, it is the peoples themselves within the political geography of Iran who must decide their own fate with autonomy and self-determination—and this in no way justifies Israel’s military assault. ↩
The “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation of October 7 can be interpreted within the context of this new architecture of domination: as an attempt to disrupt Israel’s normalization project through the Abraham Accords, and to interfere with one of the most vital routes of transnational capital flow—beginning in India, passing through Saudi Arabia and the UAE, reaching Israel, and extending from there to the shores of Greece in the Mediterranean. ↩
Libyaization refers to an imperialist strategy in which a state is first diplomatically pressured into disarmament—often under the guise of international agreements or humanitarian concerns—then subjected to military intervention, and ultimately pushed into state collapse and prolonged chaos. The term draws from the case of Libya, where the Gaddafi regime was persuaded to abandon its weapons programs, later targeted by a NATO-led military campaign in 2011, and eventually disintegrated into a fragmented, war-torn country without a functioning central government. ↩

Vote No. 1 John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024

12/11/2024 by admin 1 Comment

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024

I am asking for the privilege to represent you at national level as an Independent TD for Dublin Bay North.

My pledge to you is to act in a principled, consistent, transparent, accountable and focused manner in addressing the issues of most importance to you, your family and community.

Councillor John Lyons

It has been an honour to represent communities across Dublin Bay North as a Dublin City Councillor since 2014. Over that time I have seen firsthand many people, families and communities struggle, yet I believe that if we genuinely address the issues in housing and health, community investment, childcare and climate action, we can improve peoples’ lives by creating a more inclusive, healthy, sustainable and caring society.

Born and reared on the northside of Dublin, I have been politically active in the area for the past 15 years, campaigning against water charges and local property taxes; for better public transport and cycling infrastructure; the Repeal of the 8th Amendment; public and affordable housing on the Oscar Traynor Road site, workers’ and pensioners’ rights; the Save Moore Street Campaign; the need for new community, sporting and cultural facilities as well as being involved in the campaign to bring our bin service back into public ownership.

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024 on Housing

The lack of public and affordable housing is having such a detrimental impact upon so many thousands of people across Dublin. Far too many people are faced with unaffordable, insecure housing or are stuck at home, unable to get on with their lives whilst thousands of people are currently enduring the horror of homelessness. This must change.

I will continue to fight for the following:

A comprehensive five-year programme of public and affordable homes to rent and purchase delivered directly on public lands by the Dublin Local Authorities via a new state home-building agency
A ban on no-fault evictions
The proper planning of new residential developments with the parallel delivery of key infrastructure and services
Empowering local authorities to comprehensively address vacancy, dereliction and housing maintenance issues more rapidly
Significantly increase the supply of affordable student accommodation.

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024 on Housing

On Health

I believe in a universal public health service which is centred on treating patients’ medical needs rather than their financial status and insurance cover.

Significant investment in primary care is required to ensure children can access speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and other necessary therapies and supports in a timely manner.

Mental Health services require significantly increased funding from the current 5.8% of the health budget to a minimum of 10%.

Drug policy: The holistic, health-led approach to drug use must be extended. Significant additional funding on a multi-annual basis for drugs services across the statutory, community and voluntary sectors is required.

The decriminalisation of drugs for personal consumption and improved education and prevention awareness campaigns are essential.

A Dual Diagnosis approach to substance misuse and mental health must be embedded across all services via the implementation of the HSE’s Dual Diagnosis National Clinical Programme.

On Creating Safer Communities

We need to Strengthen Local Government, Fund Youth Services and Invest in our Communities: our areas need and deserve more community centres, sports facilities, arts and cultural venues, well-maintained areas and playgrounds. Such facilities help foster a sense of community and add life and vibrancy to our areas. Without them and the proper funding for the essential Youth Services, anti-social behaviour grows. The volunteer work that people do in the community is inspiring and it should be backed by investment at the local and national level.

On Workers’ Rights

Workers in Ireland need better rights, protections, pay and conditions. Collective action is the only way to guarantee these entitlements. I will work with the trade unions to introduce legislation to provide for the introduction of a statutory framework and protection for collective bargaining.

The minimum wage must become a Living Wage of €15 per hour.

On Early Years Education / Childcare

I believe we can do so much better for families when it comes to the provision of early years education and childcare. We need to create a publicly-funded and managed system of early years education.

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024 on Disability Rights

People living with a disability know from their own experience that the Irish government has failed to provide for their needs.

People with disabilities should be able to live independently and with the same access to jobs, education, and amenities as everyone else. I will continue to support the goals and campaigns of Disability Power Ireland, the Independent Living Movement Ireland, Neuropride Ireland and all those campaigning for disability rights.

On Climate Action and Animal Rights

The climate emergency is an existential crisis. At a bare minimum, Ireland needs to implement the recommendations of the Climate Change Advisory Council on a cross-sectoral basis as a matter of urgency.

As part of this socially just and sustainable transition to a low carbon future, we must reappraise our relationship to animals:

I want to see an end to the mistreatment of animals and if elected would introduce legislation to ban fox hunting, live exports, puppy farming, pheasant shooting and the importation of exotic animals for the pet shop industry.

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024 on Animal Rights

On Education

All our children deserve the best education possible. It should be genuinely free from primary, post-primary to third level and adult education.

Schools should be funded to ensure that all students and teachers are learning and working in the best equipped classrooms and labs in quality-built, energy-efficient school buildings.

Higher education requires increased funding and third level students need the abolition of the contribution fees.

On Unity Over Division

The difficulties we face as a society are the result of government policy which always prioritises the wealthy over the rest of us. The far-right want people to punch down but we know it is only by standing together that we can win better services and create safer communities for everyone, no exceptions.

No matter who we are, where we are from or how we identify, we all deserve a secure warm place to call home, and the chance to live to our fullest potential.

John Lyons Dublin Bay North 2024 on Palestine and Peace in the World

The genocide of the people of Gaza and the war in Ukraine are two of the most horrific events of recent times. As a neutral country with a proud record of opposing imperialism, Ireland is an important voice in world affairs. I want to use that voice to stand with all people whose lives are being torn apart by war.

John Lyon’s Experience

– Director of the Dublin North-East Drugs & Alcohol Taskforce and Chairperson of its Finance Committee;

-Member of the Special Inter Local Authority Committee on Fire/Ambulance Services and Emergency Management;

-Member of Dublin City Council’s Local Community Safety Partnership (formerly Joint Policing Committee);

– Member of Dublin City Council’s Community, As Gaeilge, Sport, Arts & Culture Strategic Policy Committee (SPC);

– Member of Dublin City Council’s Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee (LTACC);

-Member of The Darndale Implementation & Oversight Group

-Chairperson of Darndale F.C.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture of their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.

Martin Luther King

To give a donation to John’s campaign, please visit his GoFundme page.

To join Independent Left or sign up for our newsletter please click the link.

In Memory of Sergiy – Support Solidarity Collectives

24/08/2024 by admin Leave a Comment

Support Solidarity Collectives Remember Sergiy — Bez of Solidarity Collectives

At the end of June of this year I learned the news from Ukrainian military front about the death of one special person. It was my former beloved. Our relationship lasted about two years. He was much older than me. I loved him very much when we were together.

He was talented in sports. He taught me to swim breaststroke and crawl. He also taught me to love summer. I used to think that summer was not for me. This man, Sergiy, loved when nature blossomed, when fruits ripened and when it was warm, so that you could walk in shorts and sandals, when you could just go out on the road and walk and walk, feeling freedom. He also loved to read. And he loved his son very much.

He had some disappointment with life, but nevertheless there was fire in him, there was some talent. Probably, it didn`t fade away from his youth. He definitely had a style: in clothes, in behavior and in life.

He was quite ironic. Sometimes even cynical. But at the same time he was a sensitive person. We were very attached to each other.

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine began, Sergiy called me, although we had not spoken for a long time. I am grateful to him for worrying about me. Then I called him when I was leaving Ukraine, and a couple of times from the EU.

When I first met Sergiy, I couldn`t remember who he reminded me of, but there was a feeling of someone very familiar. I still can`t remember.

Sergiy went to the front as a volunteer. This is the first person close to me who died in the war. And I hope the last one.

Take care of each other, bring the end of the war and the victory of Ukraine closer by all means available to you, donate to the Solidarity Collectives, promote funding for Ukraine from Western governments. And in the most difficult times, remember the good.

Vita from Kyiv

24 August 2024

2.5 years of full-scale war in Ukraine

A message from Solidarity Collectives

Hello, I’m Bez, an anarchist who has been helping anti-authoritarian fighters at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

For more than a year now, I myself have been fighting in the Defence Forces. I just joined the newly created unit to counter enemy UAVs. Even though our team is new, we are already performing combat missions in Donetsk region.

But as is the case with new units, we lack a lot of things. Most of all, we need the pick-up truck. We need your support – help us save lives!

Link to the Monobank: https://send.monobank.ua/jar/349oybUfYt

Card number: 5375 4112 2188 5523

PayPal: kseniia19.beziazychna@gmail.com

Independent Left on Election 2024

21/06/2024 by admin 1 Comment

Independent Left candidate Councillor John Lyons topped the poll in Artane-Whitehall 2024 for first preferences in the local government elections of 7 June 2024. This was a terrific result for our small party and above all is a recognition of the consistent, empathetic and determined work carried out by John for individuals and groups in the community he represents on Dublin City Council. The high vote might also be connected to the values and priorities of Independent Left and this deserves some reflection.

Before getting to that, however, what happened in the bigger picture? What do the results tell us about Irish politics in the snapshot provided by the election?

1. Fine Gael turned public concern onto the question of immigration.

It’s an old and, unfortunately, successful tactic by conservative and governing parties that to deflect from how they have facilitated the rich getting richer, they focus public anxiety on immigrants. In the run up to the election, Fine Gael, and their Fianna Fáil and Green partners in government, forced refugees into homelessness then arranged performances such as bulldozing tents to generate attention to the issue. This worked to put a spotlight on Sinn Féin’s response.

2. The Centre Held?

Ever since COVID restrictions gave fascists a focus to organise around, they’ve been growing in Ireland. By mobilising against refugee centres, they gained a following beyond a fringe. Encouraging people to be angry against immigrants plays right into the hands of these fascists. Fine Gael took a calculated risk on this: they chose to give fascism a boost rather than face the electorate on their record in government. After the election they breathed a sigh of relief and pundits everywhere said that the centre held. The reality, unfortunately, is that fascists did make significant gains. Not the gains that they themselves and their US funders hoped for, but about 5% of the electorate voted far-right in the European elections and in the local elections they got five seats, coming very close to a sixth in Artane-Whitehall.

3. Sinn Féin’s Troubles

Sinn Féin performed far worse than everyone predicted. In large part this was due to a weakness on the issue of immigration, although the tactical mistake of running too many candidates was costly too. The Sinn Féin line on immigration sounded evasive: better procedures are needed; the government is a shambles. On the doorstep, the left (politely) disagreed with anti-immigrant sentiment. Guided by resources like those of the Hope and Courage Collective we did our best to hear the underlying anger and turn it back towards the government and away from division. We can’t imagine Sinn Féin were as effective in these conversations, having implicitly conceded that immigration is a problem.

It also became evident that Sinn Féin were perceived by a surprising number of people as establishment-in-waiting rather than a radical party who could make a real difference.

4. The Social Democratic Left

Labour didn’t lose ground in the local government elections, which must have been a relief given that they are being squeezed by the rise of the Social Democrats. And they gained a European seat in Dublin. The Social Democrats made modest progress. There is a difference between the two centre left parties, as evidenced by where their transfers went. While the SocDems showed a slight preference for Labour, they also transferred well to Greens and People Before Profit. Labour voters, as could be seen in Artane-Whitehall, much preferred a government party to Independent Left, transferring more than twice as heavily to Fine Gael and Fianna Fail than to John Lyons. This might have implications for whether the Labour leadership prefer to work with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael than a left alliance, as evidenced by the negotiations for a ruling group in Dublin City Council, where Labour have refused to cooperate with a left initiative.

The formation of a leading group on Dublin City Council after the 2024 election is instructive. Sinn Féin (9 seats) and the Social Democrats (10 seats) proposed to Labour (4) and the Green Party (8) as well as PBP (2), Independent Left and others on the left that a group be formed with a commitment to the inclusivity and using what resources the council has on behalf of those who need it most, including the idea of the re-municipalisation of waste.

Independent Left Councilor John Lyons was willing to support this initiative – with the caveat that this did not commit us to voting for every resolution, mayoral candidate or budget proposed by alliance members – but Labour refused to support a left project, prompting John Lyons to say:

To see Green and Labour councillors moving toward an agreement with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael at the expense of a genuine progressive alliance which has the potential to make such a positive impact on the lives of Dubliners is, to my mind, unforgivable.

They’ve truly lost their way.

5. People Before Profit / Socialist Party / Right2Change

Explicitly socialist parties and individuals did quite well. People Before Profit went from 6 to 10 seats, albeit two of those were at the expense of the Socialist Party, who ended up with 3 councillors. Pat Dunne for Right2Change held his seat, as did independent Cieran Perry. Pat English in Clonmel held his seat, as did Ted Tynan in Cork, although unfortunately Lorna Bogue lost hers in Cork. Dean Mulligan took a seat in Swords on the first count and Declan Bree kept his seat in Sligo. Other independents on the left include Jimmy Brogan (Donegal); John Dwyer (New Ross); and Mícheal Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig (Glenties). Apologies to anyone we missed.

So by way of discussion, are there any lessons from the 2024 election for those wanting radical change?

Quick out of the blocks are those saying the main lesson is that the left should unite in forming an electoral pact for a left government in Ireland.

Independent Left are very willing to support unity on the left, including election pacts. The idea of forming a left government with Sinn Féin, though, needs a reality check. The hundred-year history of left governments, without exception, is a history of failure. The reason for this is structural, rather than any lack of principle among the elected socialists. Short version: you can no more stand in the way of capitalism by passing legislation in the Dáil than you can stop a tsunami by digging a small trench.

Should Independent Left have a TD following a general election, we would support all positive legislation proposed by a left government, but not join it. We would want to keep our freedom to criticise and to speak and organise against the government when necessary.

Imagination not pragmatic politics is at the heart of fundamental transformations in human history. Martin Luther King’s most powerful speech included a refrain that he had a dream: a dream of black and white people living together as equals. The equivalent to that speech is needed in the world today with regard to imagining an alternative to capitalism.

Independent Left are dreamers in this sense. Of course we help the communities we are part of obtain the investment they deserve – new sports grounds, housing, meeting centres – and of course we’d welcome a left government, especially one that set about building affordable housing. But at the same time, we are not going to give up on our dreams for the sake of supporting a government that must inevitably fall, perhaps demoralising their supporters as severely as did Syriza in Greece in 2019.

The type of changes necessary to get humanity out of the mess we are in are really deep. They include taking the wealth from the billionaires and redistributing it and they also include a fundamental, bottom to top, transformation in the way that we live and work, not least in creating a world where disability is no obstacle to independent living and the phasing out of animal farming. No Sinn Féin-led government is going to have such radical ambition.

Which brings us back to the question of whether Independent Left are doing something right in both having such radical ambition and managing to develop community support around John Lyons. Well, perhaps, to some extent. You can see our main election leaflet if you scroll down here. In a lot of ways, it is similar to other socialist messages: we want to address the unfair distribution of investment by Dublin City Council and we strive to get more affordable housing built, along with the necessary schools, GP services and traffic systems to integrate these. Other priorities are disability rights and active travel around Dublin.

Where Councillor John Lyons and Independent Left are currently somewhat different to most Irish socialists is in our opposition to all imperialism, both Israel’s US-backed genocide against Palestinians and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The other notable difference is our advocacy of animal rights. These policies seem to have done no harm electorally and the latter might well have been attractive to those increasingly concerned about the horrendous treatment of animals here.

Finally, there’s a difference in approach too, which might be unique. Independent Left members include anarchists and that brings an emphasis on listening to community activists and campaigners on specific issues and learning from them. John himself has been a steady and consistent participant in many community campaigns, often ones that have been ongoing for years. If you are a socialist or Sinn Féin activist who appears for elections or to advertise immediate, urgent demonstrations but then disappears in between, you won’t create lasting relationships with those who are serious about addressing the needs of the community.

Maybe it’s our small size, and there will be challenges if we were to grow significantly, but nearly all our decisions are made by consensus. WhatsApp chat is a useful day-to-day supplement to more formal meetings and allows everyone to know what issues have come up for each other.

The Irish left have a lot of work to do, not least in checking the progress of the far right. Independent Left will play our part and cooperate with all others both electorally, in constructive efforts to get the most resources from Dublin City Council for those who need it most, and in joint campaigns. We’ll also continue to develop our approach to combining a commitment to practical and immediate work with our dreams of a better world.

Artane Whitehall 2024

10/05/2024 by admin 1 Comment

Artane Whitehall 2024 Local Election Results, Tallies, Counts

The Artane Whitehall 2024 constituency for the local government election to Dublin City Council consists of Artane, Beaumont, Belcamp, Clonshaugh, Coolock, Darndale, Kilmore West, Santry, and Whitehall. The local government elections in Ireland took place on 7 June 2024.

There were six seats available in Artane – Whitehall. Fine Gael ran two candidates; Fianna Fáil two; the Greens one; Labour one; the Social Democrats two; Sinn Féin four and of course Councillor John Lyons ran for Independent Left.

Councillor John Lyons retained his seat, after topping the poll on the first count.

Here are the results of the count.

The Official First Count for Artane – Whitehall Local Government Council Election 2024

Official first count Whitehall Artane 2024

A fantastic result for Councillor John Lyons who topped the poll in Artane Whitehall.

Councillor John Lyons topped the poll and retained his seat. This was very welcome news of course but the growth of support for the far right in the constituency means there is a lot of work to be done for the community to show that unity not division is the way forward.

Councillor John Lyon’s leaflet for the local government election 2024 said:

An Honour to Serve Artane Whitehall in Local Government

It has been an honour to serve as your Dublin City councillor since I was first elected in 2014 and am asking for your No. 1 vote on Friday 7 June as I run for re-election.
Councillor John Lyons

As a councillor, I’ve helped our community challenge the unfair way that Dublin City Council operates. Decisions are made which put plenty of money into the bank accounts of developers, but when it comes to funding local services and amenities, it’s always an uphill struggle. Recent analysis of DCC’s capital expenditure clearly shows that this area of the city has received the least amount of investment of all areas. This is completely unacceptable.

The focus of my advocacy for the people of Artane, Beaumont, Belcamp, Clonshaugh, Coolock, Darndale, Kilmore West, Santry, and Whitehall is in the following areas.

Housing & Planning

I want high quality, energy-efficient social and affordable housing to be delivered in such numbers that we finally end the housing and homelessness crises. The main reason that Ireland has a massive housing crisis is that from 1990 successive governments stopped investing in state-built homes. The government parties are highly networked among developers and landlords (many FF and FG TDs and councillors are landlords), the very people who benefit from the housing and homelessness crisis.

Artane Whitehall 2024 Councillor John Lyons Housing

We need:

A full programme of directly built, public and affordable housing delivered by local and national government.
To stop evictions into homelessness.
To introduce rent controls and reductions: ensure that nobody is paying more than 30% of their income on rent.
Stop selling off public land that could be used to address the housing crisis

We need a more democratic, community-centred planning system which treats planning applications in a holistic manner. The new residential developments we so badly require to address the housing crisis must be delivered along with the community, educational and health facilities required for new and existing communities to integrate properly together.

Community Investment

We deserve more sports facilities, community centres, well-maintained areas and playgrounds. Such facilities help foster a sense of community and add life and vibrancy to our areas. Without them, anti-social behaviour grows. The volunteer work that people do in the community is inspiring and it should be backed by investment from DCC.

My successful motion to DCC for a publicly-owned all-weather football facility in Artane-Whitehall is finally being delivered on, with the site currently being selected. But we need a lot more, just to catch up with the levels of investment other areas have obtained from DCC, such as a new Community Centre for Coolock where many groups like the Priorswood & District Men’s Shed can meet.

Disability Rights

We all know people with extra needs and it’s shocking how hard it is to get the support that people with disabilities are entitled to and deserve. I want people with disabilities to be able to live independently and with the same access to jobs, education, and amenities as everyone else. They rarely say it openly, but from the point of view of the government, people with disabilities are an unaffordable burden and their funding priorities reflect this. Even when we do have rights in theory, such as to reasonable accommodation in the workplace, it’s a non-stop and exhausting battle to obtain them. I support the goals of Disability Power Ireland, the Independent Living Movement Ireland, Neuropride Ireland and all those campaigning for disability rights.

Active Travel

I want to help create a Dublin that is easy, safe and pleasant to travel around. I will continue to support Dublin City Council’s Active Travel Network which aims to enhance the quality of life of Dubliners by connecting all people through the delivery of an integrated 310 km walk-wheel-cycle network.

Climate Change and Animal Rights

Instead of transitioning towards a harmonious relationship between humans and the environment, the planet continues to heat and wildlife continues to be driven to extinction. We could—and should—implement more green policies locally, but real fundamental change is needed across the world, including a reappraisal of our relationship to animals. I want to see an end to the mistreatment of animals and now believe that Ireland’s food system needs to transition to one that is ethical, sustainable and plant-based.

Opposition to War

For decades it seemed as though the horrors of events like the Second World War were behind us. But the word’s imperial powers are once more resorting to state violence in a race to control the world’s resources. The unbearable suffering of Palestine has its origins in the creation of Israel as a watchdog for US interests in the Middle East. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is another act of imperialism and I was a founding member of Irish Left with Ukraine in order to offer aid and solidarity to the people of Ukraine.

We live in a world which in the last year in particular has become a darker place, with the growing impact of climate change, war in Ukraine, and the genocide in Gaza. This affects us all but especially the young, whose levels of depression and anxiety are soaring.

Artane Whitehall Councillor John Lyons Justice for Gaza

Independent Left helped found Irish Left with Ukraine Councillor John Lyons

As a councillor I strive not only to give voice to our local community, but also to use my role as much as I can to make the world a better place.
Councillor John Lyons

Artane Whitehall 2024 Election: Unity Over Division

Unity Over Division

In recent months there have been attempts to divide our communities with the dehumanisation of people seeking safety in Ireland. It suits the government to focus on this issue and not their own record on housing, healthcare, and education. Then there is the Far-Right, who want people to punch down, to target anger and hate at the people seeking international protection. I’ve never seen any of them offer the slightest support to the community when we are standing together in campaigns on housing and community investment.

I believe every human being has the right to try to make a better life for themselves, as we did and as our young people still are doing when they are forced to emigrate for lack of affordable homes. Our communities are warm and welcoming places filled with great people and wonderful neighbours. We are better and stronger when we are united.

John Lyons Darndale Together Unity not Division

MY PLEDGE

Never to vote for the sale of public land for private profit

To vote against and fight any further reduction in council responsibilities

To fight against racism and discrimination in all its forms and welcome people seeking refuge in Dublin

Never do any deals with Fine Gael or Fianna Fail

Never participate in any council junkets

Vote Number 1 Councillor John Lyons for Artane Whitehall 2024 Dublin Local Government Election

Running for Dublin City council for the people of Artane, Beaumont, Belcamp, Clonshaugh, Coolock, Darndale, Kilmore West, Santry and Whitehall.

To support John, contact him directly johnj.lyons@dublincity.ie; instagram; Facebook; X; or phone 087-7729292.

You can help fund John’s election campaign.

To join Independent Left’s mailing list, scroll down to the bottom of the page here.

The Artane Whitehall local elections interview with John Lyons on Northside Today: