Letters

Stalinist pedant

Andrew Northall continues his denunciation of Moshé Machover and Tony Greenstein (Letters, September 5). Northall says he wants to see “the Palestinian perspective” in the Weekly Worker “from those within the secular, Marxist, communist traditions”. Fair enough, but the Palestinian perspective is indeed represented in the paper (and I haven’t heard that Palestinians have come forward to object to anything).

Northall’s criticisms have no rhyme or reason. It makes no sense that he disparages the important contributions of Machover and Greenstein. He implies that it is of less importance for Jews or non-Palestinians to articulate the plight of a group under attack: ie, the Palestinian Arab people. This is incorrect and, in my opinion, amounts to identity politics.

“It is inappropriate, and indeed pointless, for westerners to be prescribing in detail what should happen,” says Northall. I disagree with this rigid proposition. We all need to be involved; the nature and quality of that involvement is key to the rescue of our sisters and brothers who suffer under the yoke of colonialism and who desperately need our help.

Northall puts forth a litany of pedantic nonsense regarding Machover’s good-faith attempt to call out Judaism and its connection to Zionism. Northall says that Machover counterposes “a region-wide revolution to any efforts by the Palestinian people to liberate themselves”. Machover’s position is far more complex than this simplistic formula would suggest. Northall inhabits a strange black and white world without colours, greys or nuances.

I’m baffled by this exclamation: “GG makes the absurd assertion that I think there are ‘no Marxist, pro-Palestinian’ writers” (in the Weekly Worker). Yet he maintains that there is no representation of the Palestinian point of view. He has vigorously argued that Machover and Greenstein are not pro-Palestinian. In Greenstein’s case, “most definitely not a Marxist in any shape or form ... no socialist either”. In Machover’s case: He has “too much arrogance in his intellectualism to be a good Marxist or a communist”.

He says he wants to make the Weekly Worker “genuinely internationalist”. (I’ve seen no evidence that the Weekly Worker is not true to form internationalist.) He said he wants to make it a “better” Marxist paper (conceding that it is a Marxist paper). But he maligns the pro-Palestinian writers, Machover and Greenstein, to the nth degree, and could effectively scandalise the Weekly Worker, wittingly or unwittingly, to the point where the newspaper may stop publishing. If he really wants to make it “better”, he might contribute something: ie, recruit writers of his choosing for the Letters section, as a start. There’s no honour in complaining, obstructing and sitting on your hands. The concept of ‘democratic centralism’ (in my mind, like ‘constructive criticism’ in the public domain) is in a sense turned on its head by Andrew Northall, who weaponises his criticism of political opponents; this harkens back to the bureaucratic centralism of the early Soviet Union.

And it gets worse. It’s not enough to impugn the integrity of Machover and Greenstein. He goes after Vladimir Lenin himself, including a castigation of Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. They were committed communists and Lenin’s very close, trusted colleagues over the years leading up to 1917. Northall second-guesses Lenin’s decision to forgive them for what I would describe as treacherous conciliationism during 1917. Lenin forgave them apparently because they got behind the October revolution after its successful armed revolt.

I think it’s definitely true that the actions of Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev in the early 1920s to a great extent led to the degeneration of the CPSU and the resultant destruction of communist parties and revolutions around the world. (It’s to their credit that they initially didn’t want to relinquish the idea of proletarian internationalism and adhere to the ‘socialism in one country’ fiasco; Northall has things upside down). Be that as it may, Northall says it’s “inexplicable” that Lenin forgave Zinoviev and Kamenev. I don’t understand why he finds it so complicated. (Lenin also forgave Leon Trotsky for his years of anti-Bolshevik activity, pre-1917, remarking that there was no better Bolshevik than Trotsky after he joined the party in 1917).

Northall completely invalidates the work of Machover and Greenstein: ie, Machover’s exploration of Judaism - which should be encouraged and built upon. Northall says Greenstein “advocates the destruction of the state of Israel” and “the destruction of the Israeli people and nation”, etc. Does anyone believe this? Maybe Northall is a Daniel Lazare clone. I’m sure Tony wants the destruction of the Zionist state - a real communist would totally agree with that. Northall says, “1930s national socialism” is what Tony possibly wants for Israel. What hyperbolic falsification writ large!

Tony Greenstein’s view of Andrew Northall as a Stalinist is persuasive. Northall’s complete politics have yet to be revealed.

GG
USA

Hanging Lazare

It seems to me that Daniel Lazare’s account of events on his own website leave a few absolutely basic matters hanging in the air. For instance, if or when the Weekly Worker refers to Hamas as (quote) “heroic” - (ie, as Lazare especially points out), then clearly that is hugely problematic. Individual fighters involved in their self-styled Al Aqsa Flood operation on October 7 were unquestionably courageous, but not heroic - where surely heroism implies complete and unqualified virtue. Within our Marxian arena, of course, that’s exemplified by a class-based and internationalist ‘righteousness’ - (ie, in terms of historically progressive values, authentically democratic objectives, etc.)

But there’s also this somewhat glaring counterpoint quandary to be acknowledged by everyone concerned. The Weekly Worker is more than comfortable to continue to entertain streams of Stalinist weasel words and simple fucking treachery from a certain Andrew Northall, but not willing to continue to offer engagement/polemical space to Lazare after his perceived ‘crossing of the line’ - ie, in terms of proletarian interests and/or Communist Party principles.

As I say: some basic matters have been left hanging in the air, maybe with some of the readership/followers of it all left in extremely unhappy bewilderment?

Bruno Kretzschmar
email

IDF murder

During the weekly demonstration in Beita, Palestine, on the morning of September 6 the Israeli army intentionally shot and killed an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) human rights activist named Ayşenur Eygi. The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. Initially, the army fired a large amount of tear gas and then began using live ammunition. The human rights activist, who we consider a martyr in the struggle, was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020. She was an American citizen of Turkish descent.

The Israeli forces fired two rounds. One hit a Palestinian man in the leg, injuring him. The other round was fired at international human rights activists who were observing the demonstration, striking one of them in the head. Eygi died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus.

Fellow ISM volunteer Mariam Dag was on the scene, and witnessed the fatal injury of her comrade. She said: “We were peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians against the colonisation of their land, and the illegal settlement of Evyatar. The situation escalated when the Israeli army began to fire teargas and live ammunition, forcing us to retreat. We were standing on the road, about 200 metres from the soldiers, with a sniper clearly visible on the roof. Our fellow volunteer was standing a bit further back, near an olive tree with some other activists. Despite this, the army intentionally shot her in the head.

“This is just another example of the decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and army, bolstered by the support of the US and European governments, who are complicit in enabling genocide in Gaza. Palestinians have suffered far too long under the weight of colonisation. We will continue to stand in solidarity and honour the martyrs until Palestine is free.”

A friend of the slain human rights activist and fellow volunteer with the ISM, who does not wish their name released, said: “I don’t know how to say this. There’s no easy way. I wish I could [say] something eloquent, but I can’t through my sobbing tears ... my friend, comrade and travel partner to Palestine was just shot in the head and murdered by the Israeli occupation forces. May she rest in power. She is now one of many martyrs in this struggle.”

Beita is a village in the West Bank, where just weeks ago Amado Sison, another American volunteer, was struck by live ammunition in the back of the leg. Beita has a long history of resistance against Israeli occupation and has been a focal point of violence directed towards Palestinian residents by Israeli forces. Located near several illegal Israeli settlements, the village holds regular demonstrations. Due to escalating aggression by the Israeli forces, residents are currently refraining from marching or chanting, instead gathering together on the land and praying.

In recent years, Beita has seen ongoing demonstrations, particularly against the construction of new illegal Israeli outposts on the lands of the village. For example, Evyatar outpost, on Sabih Mountain, has been established on Palestinian land. In June, the Israeli security cabinet approved the ‘legalisation’ of Evyatar, causing the people of Beita to strengthen their popular resistance.

Residents of Beita recently restarted weekly Friday demonstrations to resist the further theft of their land. While protests had nearly ceased since October 7 2023, due to escalating violence from Israeli occupation forces, there was a renewed push on July 5 this year, when dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, marched from the adjacent mountain, through the valley and towards the outpost.

In recent months, international activists have experienced a sharp increase in violence from Israeli forces and the occupation must be held accountable for this. The International Solidarity Movement provides protective presence and solidarity in the West Bank. Founded in 2002, the ISM has maintained a steady presence in Palestine ever since, supporting the Palestinian popular struggle against the occupation. Our comrade is added to the 17 Palestinian protestors already slain in Beita.

Some media reports have repeated false claims that ISM activists threw rocks during the peaceful demonstration in Beita. All eye witness accounts refute this claim. Not only was Ayşenur more than 200 metres away from where the Israeli soldiers were, but there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot. Neither she nor anyone else could have possibly been perceived as posing any threat from such a distance. She was killed in cold blood.

International Solidarity Movement
Palestine

Dirty war

Excited reports have emerged that the body of Captain Robert Nairac is about to be discovered south of the Irish border. He was given a George Cross medal by Margaret Thatcher after his execution by the IRA in 1977.

Over the years since then gory details have emerged of what he did in his four tours of duty for the M16-M15 in collusion with the Glenanne Gang, who organised assassinations and bombings, including the Dublin/Monaghan bombings (I witnessed the one in South Leinster Street in 1974), the Miami Showband massacre, and many other atrocities.

Ken Livingstone, in his maiden speech in the House of Commons in August 1987, concluded: “There is something rotten at the heart of the British security services, and we will not have a safe democracy until it is exposed in its entirety and dealt with.” Former MI5-MI6 operatives Fred Holroyd, Colin Wallace and former RUC Special Patrol Group member John Weir concurred, according to the Wikipedia entry on Robert Nairac. A 1993 Yorkshire Television documentary Hidden hand told more of the gruesome story.

Former MI6 operative Fred Holroyd said Nairac admitted to him involvement in the assassination of IRA member John Francis Green in 1975. Holroyd claimed in a New Statesman article written by Duncan Campbell that Nairac had boasted about Green’s death and showed him a colour photograph of his corpse taken directly after his assassination.

Fred Holroyd and John Weir also linked Nairac to the Miami Showband killings. Martin Dillon, however, in his book, The dirty war, maintained that Nairac was not involved in either attack. Geoff Knupfer of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains states Nairac was in Derry at the time of the Green killing and in either London or Scotland at the time of the Miami killing. Knupfer might have added Timbuktu to his list.

The account of what happened to Nairac is that he went to a republican pub, the Three Steps in South Armagh, was set upon by Republicans as he was leaving, who overpowered him and took him south of the border and killed him. Details of torture and whether he gave any information during this are contested, but nevertheless the account is that he was executed and buried in a field, which is now being excavated. No body has yet been found.

I was given an alternative account by local Sinn Féin supporters in Kilburn at the time of the killing, who are sadly no longer with us. Nairac, they said, had begun his career as a state spy around the building industry, working for Irish subcontractors. He was a Catholic, but suspicions began to be voiced until one night he turned up half drunk with one of his M15 handlers, who was recognised. They were taken outside, severely beaten and that finished the Kilburn operation.

He then went to Northern Ireland to assist the British state in its ‘dirty war’, under the name, ‘Danny McErlean’. He worked with community groups connected with the Official IRA - the ‘stickies’, as they were known - to gather information for the assassinations. Word spread from Kilburn on who Danny really was. He did go to the Three Steps in Dromintee, on that fateful night and spotted the IRA at the exit and knew they had come for him. He jumped up on the stage and began belting out the Irish rebel song, ‘The boys of the old brigade’. He got the whole crowd joining in and the IRA men moved off the door. He then made his escape bid, but only made it as far as his car door.

What happened to the body? According to the Sinn Féin account, he was taken to the meat and bone factory in Ardee, Co Louth, near Dundalk, now called APB Foods, his corpse was shredded and the van carrying the remains passed an incoming Garda patrol car, acting on a tip-off that his body was there. Maybe they did dump the remains in the field where they are searching, but their DNA forensic team would have to be very good to find any trace.

Or maybe this is just a good story invented by the local Sinn Féin supporters in Kilburn to have a laugh. Either way, no tears for this MI5-MI6 organiser of the dirty war - unlike the desperate attempts of the likes of Alister Kerr to sanitise the record of the killer who did his best for Queen and Empire. The British working class will face the same enemy, when it rises in revolution.

Gerry Downing
Socialist Fight

Deep conspiracy

More on the Southport stabbings. It was the revenge against the Labour Party for coming close to wiping out the Conservatives in parliament in the recent general elections by fascist elements in the deep state apparatus mind-control programme. In other words, the Southport killer was a deep state asset. These assets, as experience in the US and elsewhere shows, can be triggered to carry murder and mayhem at will. In the recent case in Britain, what the psychopath controllers weren’t counting on was the mobilisation of the anti-racist movement in response to the racist riots occasioned by the Southport stabbings.

Those involved in deep state mind-controlled activities often target individuals involved in the entertainment industry - that usually means music and acting. So it was no surprise to me when I found out that Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, the Southport killer, had recently starred in a ‘Dr Who’-themed music video. The general public, most people in the media and most people in politics, including the left, have no idea that these things are going on. We need to pay more attention to individuals who have escaped from mind control and the stories they have to tell.

Tony Clark
For Democratic Socialism