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Release
Leonard Peltier
Last week I
posted a Christmas card to Leonard Peltier. I dont know if he will receive
it. Or the numerous other notes and cards I have sent over the years. At
80 years of age Leonard, a native American rights activist and victim of a
miscarriage of justice; has been imprisoned for 48 years. This makes him one of
the longest serving political prisoners in the world.
Like so often
before there was a lobby for President Biden to use his Presidential power to
include Leonard among those to be pardoned as he leaves office. On 12 December
the White House announced that 39 people were to be granted pardons and almost
1500 others had their sentences commuted. Leonard was not on the list.
The native
American activist was convicted in 1977 of the killing of 2 FBI agents at the
Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. He has always protested his
innocence. A few years ago James H. Reynolds the former US Attorney General
whose office prosecuted Leonard appealed for his sentence to be commuted. In
October 2022 Amnesty International appealed to President Biden to grant Leonard Peltier clemency
on “humanitarian grounds and as a matter of justice.”
Calls for
Leonard Peltier’s release have also been supported by international figures,
including the late Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish
President Mary Robinson.
With Israel’s
genocidal assault on Gaza and the occupied west Bank; its invasion of Lebanon
and events in Syria there are huge humanitarian crises across the world but if
you have a moment remember Leonard Peltier and write him a letter or send him a
card.
Leonard
Peltier
#89637-132 USP
Coleman
US
Penitentiary PO Box 1033
Coleman,
FL, 33521
USA
Hunger for
Justice
Well done to
all of those – 1600 at the last count – who last week participated in the
Hunger for Justice fast - Troscadh ar son na Córa – in support of the people of
Palestine. Over €100,000 has been raised. As well as individual contributions
scores of vigils and protests were held across the island of Ireland.
The decision
in recent days by the Irish government to finally support the case against
Israel at the International Court of Justice case, is a welcome
development but should have been taken months ago. More critically the incoming
Irish government must now set down a clear marker that its intention is to
robustly defend international humanitarian law. This means passing the Occupied
Territories Bill and enacting meaningful sanctions against Israel. This also
has to include passing into law the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment
Bill; provide no more approvals of export licences for Dual Use products, which
have a military application; take steps to ensure that Irish sovereign airspace
and our airports are not being used to transport weapons of war and intensify
efforts to suspend the EU-Israel Association agreement.
As Israel’s
allies continue to arm and politically defend the apartheid regime scores of
civilians die each day in Israel’s relentless slaughter. As we in Ireland
prepare for Christmas the people of Palestine prepare for more genocide and
more repression.
The bald
statistics of death and life in Gaza at this Christmas time make grim reading:
· Over
45,000 people have been killed. Many thousands more are believed buried beneath
the rubble.
· Almost
17,000 of these were children. Children loved by their parents and families and
robbed of life.
· 1.9
million people have been forcibly displaced – most several times.
· 2
million people, many of them children, suffering from acute food insecurity.
· The
healthcare system is almost non-existent.
· Not
a single hospital remains fully operational, and fewer than half are
functioning at all.
· Medical
care for the sick and injured is critically scarce.
Education
provision for our children is something we all take for granted. But not in
Gaza or the west Bank. The Gaza Strip has been especially hard hit. The schools
and Universities that once housed over 600,000 students are gone. They have
been deliberately targeted by the Israeli military. According to the United
Nations: “More than 625,000 students have been out of learning since
the war began, half of them were going to UNRWA schools. They have all lost a
year of education and learning to the war, risking becoming a lost generation.
They have all witnessed unimaginable atrocities no child should go through.”
The 782,000
students in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem are also impacted by Israel’s
apartheid and military policies. And yet in the midst of this devastation
the strength, courage and resilience of the Palestinian people still inspires.
This is especially true in the determination of parents, teachers,
educationalists and students to provide a measure of education for the young
people of Gaza. Tent classrooms have been established into which scores of
children of all ages are packed with teachers working hard to provide some
measure of education.
For
Palestinians education has always played a vital role in the sustaining their
culture, their history, identity, language, and values. The schools and
universities have also been critical in empowering Palestinian resistance to
Israel’s apartheid policies and it is for these reasons that the education
system in Gaza and in the occupied territories is being targeted by Israel.
The closure
of its Dublin Embassy by the Israeli Government is a compliment to the people
of Ireland. Of course it is not aimed at us. It is aimed at all those other
states who need to raise their voices in support of international law and
against genocide. It is aimed at the incoming Trump administration. Will he
welcome An Taoiseach and others to celebrate Irelands national day in March
while his allies in Israel rail against Ireland. We will see. One thing is for
sure. We must never be silent in support of peace in the Middle East and in
support of the right to freedom of the people of Palestine.
People
want to talk about Unity
On Monday
Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald TD joined National Party Chairperson
Declan Kearney, in publishing the report of the work of the party’s Commission
on the Future of Ireland. The Commission was established to undertake a
grassroots engagement by providing citizens with a space in which they can have
their say on the future of Ireland.
The extensive
work of the Commission is clearly evident in the twenty-one public events, the
thousands who have attended; the breadth of speakers who have participated,
including those from the Protestant/Unionist section of our people; and the
hundreds of written submissions that have been made.
The current
level of discussion on constitutional change is remarkable. As well as Sinn
Féin other groups have also been discussing Irish Unity. These
include Ireland's Future; Gaels le Chéile; Constitutional Conversations;
Belfast Women's Assembly; Trade Unions for Irish Unity; the SDLP’s New Ireland
Commission; Labour for Irish Unity and the Women's Assembly (Hosted by Mary
McAleese in conjunction with the National Women's Council).
The
Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Committee published a landmark report on
Perspectives on Constitutional Change; another report on Women and
Constitutional Change and last Friday 'The Women's Charter for Inclusive
Constitutional Futures' by Fidelma Ashe and others was published.
All of these
are part of the dynamic driving forward the debate on Irish Unity. The
Commission’s report highlights the fact that people want to be part of the
conversation on the future of Ireland, on the shape of constitutional change
and how best to navigate the next length of the journey to
reunification. They like to be asked and when given the opportunity are
pleased to be part of this process of dialogue.
If Sinn Féin
and others can facilitate dialogue on constitutional change how much more
effective and inclusive would the discussion be if the Irish government
fulfilled its constitutional responsibilities and obligations and took up a
more positive role. The next government in Dublin must prioritise planning for
reunification and for the unity referendums provided by the Good Friday
Agreement.
Mary Lou in
her remarks to the launch pointed to the practical steps proposed by Sinn Féin
that the incoming Irish government should take to advance preparations for the
future. Key to this is a Citizen’s Assembly.
It is
irresponsible of those in political leadership, especially in the Irish
government, to refuse to advance what is the most important conversation of a
generation.
The
Commission report demonstrates what can be done when one party prioritises an
open conversation about the future. Just imagine what is possible, what can be
achieved if a government did this?
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