National March for Palestine to take place in Dublin TOMORROW Saturday 18th May

March will commemorate the Palestinian Nakba and call for Irish government to sanction Israel for genocide

Tomorrow, Saturday 18th May the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by over 100 Irish civil society groups, is holding a National Demonstration for Palestine – calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal assault on the people of Gaza, and for the Irish government to take action to hold Israel accountable. It will be the sixth such national mobilisation since October - all of which have seen tens of thousands flood Dublin's streets. This march will also commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba ('Catastrophe'), the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Indigenous Palestinians from their homeland between 1947 and 1949 so that the Apartheid State of Israel could be forcibly created.

Protestors will assemble at 1pm at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square, and will march from there to Leinster House for a rally outside the Dáil.

Special guest speaker at the rally will be Lubnah Shomali of BADIL - Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. Other speakers include Zoë Lawlor IPSC Chairperson, Zak Hania who was until recently the last Irish citizen trapped in Gaza, Walaa Ajjawi a Palestinian refugee woman living in Ireland, and Jenny Maguire, President-elect of TCD Students' Union speaking about the student encampment movement for Palestine.

There will also be a musical performance by Leen and Latif, a Cork-based Palestinian/Moroccan musical duo. Christina Collins, Committee member of the Cork branch of IPSC will MC the event.

There will be a disability access point at the intersection of D'Olier St and College Green. The end of the march will also see a children's creative arts space hosted by Creative Arts Therapists for Palestine. 

Note: The event is organised by the IPSC, and the full list of endorsing organisations are Gaza Action Ireland, A4 Sounds, Academics for Palestine, Adult Education Tutors for Palestine, Afri – Action from Ireland, Animal Rebellion Ireland, Apartheid-Free Arts, Art in Solidarity, Balbriggan Palestine Solidarity, Bloody Sunday Trust, Bray & District Council of Trade Unions, Cairde Palestine, Cairdeas Falasteen Chonamara, Centre for Global Education, Clare Solidarity Network, Climate Camp Ireland, Comhlámh, Comhlámh Justice for Palestine, Communincation Workers Union, Community Action Tenants Union – CATU, Cork Families 4 Palestine, Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Cross-Cultural Conversations, Disability Power Ireland, Drogheda Stands with Palestine, Dublin 4 Gaza, Dublin Bay North for All, Dublin Council of Trade Unions, Dublin Ecofeminist Collective, Dublin LGBTQ Pride, Dublin Vegfest, Dún Laoghaire for Palestine, East Wall Here for All, Ecojustice Ireland, Financial Justice Ireland, Foyle Pride, Friends of the Earth – Ireland, GCN – Gay Community News, Grandfathers Against Racism, Independent Workers’ Union, Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network, Irish Anti-War Movement, Irish Artists for Palestine, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Irish Creative Arts Therapists for Palestine, Irish Farmers for Palestine, Irish Football Fans Against Israeli Apartheid, Irish Lawyers for Palestine, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Irish Occupational Therapists for Palestine, Irish Pakistani Community Network, Irish Second-Level Students’ Union, Irish Social Workers and Social Care Workers for Palestine, Irish Sport for Palestine, Jews for Palestine – Ireland, Kairos Ireland, Kashmir Peace and Solidarity Council Ireland, Kerry Friends of Palestine, Killorglin 4 Palestine, Kinvara Palestine Support Group, Lawyers Against Racism, Le Cheile – Diversity Not Division, Left Bloc, Mandate, Maynooth Student’s Union, Mothers Against Genocide, Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, Mullingar 4 All, National Animal Rights Association, National Women’s Council of Ireland, NCAD Students’ Union, North Wicklow Against Genocide, Palestinian Rights Institute, PalFest Ireland, Pallas Projects/Studios, Pals for Palestine, Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Peadar Brown’s Bar, Phibsboro For All, Postal Workers for Palestine, Psychologists for Palestine, Rosa Socialist Feminist Movement, Sadaka – The Ireland-Palestine Alliance, Shannonwatch, SIPTU, Slí Eile, Socialist Lawyers Association of Ireland, TCD BDS Campaign, TCD Students’ Union, Teachers for Palestine, Teachers’ Union of Ireland, The People’s Movement, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Trademark Belfast, Trans & Intersex Pride, UCD Students’ Union, UG Student’s Union, Union of Students in Ireland, Unite the Union, United Against Racism, Waterford Ramallah Twinning Committee, West Cork for Palestine, Queers for Palestine Ireland, Spunout, and more to be announced.

"No way Israel will be victorious" : Diana Buttu

Another outstanding interview by Owen Jones. This time with the Diana Buttu, former Palestinian negotiator & lawyer👇

 

Tomorrow: Protest calling for Eurovision Boycott to take place at RTÉ Studios - singers, musicians, artists and activists to take part in mini-concert

Tomorrow evening, Thursday 2nd May, between 4.30pm and 6pm the Irish Boycott Eurovision 2024 Coalition will stage a visual spectacle and mini-concert calling for Ireland to boycott Eurovision 2024 outside RTÉ Studios gates. The action will feature artists, musicians, and LGBT and human rights activists, and a 'die-in' by health workers in scrubs, depicting Eurovision as a contest actively artwashing Israel’s war crimes. 

Award-winning actor Stephen Rea will read Refaat Alareer's poem 'If I Should Die', legendary blues singer Mary Coughlan, Hothouse Flowers frontman Liam Ó Maonlaí, jazz chanteuse Honor Heffernan, and a host of other musicians will sing on stage. The event will be MC'd by queer artist Ciarna Hackett. 

Great visuals for photographers and television reporting. Interviews with musicians, artists, and activists available at the RTE gate.
 
When: Thursday 2nd May, 4.30pm - 6pm
Where: RTÉ Studios, Stillorgan Road entrance, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 

Irish Boycott Eurovision 2024 Coalition Spokesperson and IPSC Chair, Zoe Lawlor said: “Israel’s President Yitzhak Herzog has stated ‘it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision.’ We say the opposite. It’s vital to exclude the genocidal apartheid state of Israel from this global cultural platform. Ireland has shown the way in the 1980s in exposing the crimes of Apartheid South Africa. It can do the same now, by withdrawing its participation, and standing on the side of humanity, equality and human rights. Boycott Eurovision 2024!” 
 
Israel has been waging a genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza, with at least 34,500 killed, 14,500 of them children, and many thousands more buried under the rubble. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war, according to UNICEF, who have declared Israel’s campaign, “a war on children." Mass graves show doctors, patients and children among those hand-bound and executed by Israeli soldiers. The International Court of Justice is investigating Israel for a plausible case of Genocide. And only yesterday, Israel confirmed their determination to continue their killing spree into the area of Rafah, where 1.5 million Gazan civilians are huddled in what supposed to be a place of safety for them, having been forced from their homes by Israeli bombardment.

Israel is determined to artwash these war crimes, and is using the occasion of the Eurovision Song Contest to pretend all is normal. This protest against Ireland's participation in ogranised by a coalition of Irish artists, actvists and individuals who are calling for Ireland to boycott the contest, and not play on a stage with the rogue state of Israel. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural boycott of Israel (PACBI), and the Palestinian led global BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement have called on all countries to refuse to participate because of Israel’s inclusion by the EBU - the same EBU that indefinitely suspended Russia and Belarus in 2022.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign has written to RTEs Director General Kevin Bakhurst, and the RTE board, asking them to respect the Palestinian boycott request. More than 16,500 Irish people have signed a petition to RTE to this effect, and some 400 artists have written to Irish participant Bambie Thug requesting that they make a historic stand for justice by refusing to perform.