Following a five-day encampment at the campus of Ireland’s prestigious Trinity College Dublin TCD in solidarity with Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip, students on Wednesday ended their rally when university administration announced that it had agreed with their demand of divesting from Israeli companies.
Every little win counts, and this is no little win. Boycotting and divesting from the occupation, makes it less viable and more of a liability.
Ireland winning again
Opinion of Ireland+++
Nice to see a functional democratic system respond to citizens (the cogs of a democratic machine).
Coming from the US perspective where the entire chain of politicians has been seized by bad faith actors plastered with invisible sponsorship patches.
I still want to live in the world where all politicians wear NASCAr style overalls that have a patch added each time they accept money from a lobbyist.
I always bothers me when people overpraise Ireland for things like this. Sure we were the OG settler colony and have a national identity rooted in colonial oppression. However the Irish state is a neoliberal glorified aircraft carrier and money laundry for imperialist capital. It is not a “functional democratic system”. It’s one of the few countries in the world that denies its citizens a right to vote based on whether they are currently living in the state. Crises are everywhere. Healthcare, Housing, Education, Policing… the same stories in most of the west right now.
All of the government parties support the genocide in deed if not in word. Ireland has done nothing real to protest, even the Israeli ambassador is still in the country despite repeatedly debasing herself as an extremist hate filled bigot on national tv. Even the incumbent party, Sinn Féin, which historically is rooted in national struggle, is succumbing to the forces of capital that just demonstrate the limits of bourgeois democracy. They visited Biden on St Patrick’s day and toed the line.
This win is from grassroots young people. People whose futures have been sold out by older generations and have little to lose. Far right racism is on the rise as immigration is increased by the neoliberal government. Generations are lost due to the housing crisis which is the worst in Europe. Our democracy is as bad as yours, just a little less developed.
I love anti-country rants. Good to know! Thank you.
I knew some of that. I suppose it’s obvious that we all have flaws in our respect countries.
The double-speak on the divestments in the US is insane, you’ll see a journalist say “the investments toward Israel are usually smaller than the investments towards the state of Colorado” and then in the next breath will state “Divestment from Israel will result in higher tuition for the students!”… usually they’ll just offer something pathetic like tuition to like 4 Gazans.
Common Irish W
