12.06.2025
Pro-Palestine symbolism
Rival demonstrations brought large numbers on to the streets of Cork. Some want to drape themselves in the Irish tricolour, others raise the red flag of internationalism. Anne McShane reports
Solidarity demonstrations for Palestine have taken place every Saturday in Cork since Israel attacked Gaza in October 2023. The marches have become part of the city’s political culture. With attendances of between 600 and 1,000, they are loud, disciplined and militant, bringing together activists and their families. They not only include Palestinians, but other migrants in the area.
For Derek Blighe, a prominent rightwinger, the Palestine solidarity movement is a problem. He mocks its participants as “loony lefties” and foreigners. When he announced a national mobilisation for an ‘Ireland Says No’ demonstration in Cork on Saturday June 7, assembling close to the Palestine protest, it was clearly a provocation. Another rabid racist, martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, sponsored the march and provided a bus to ferry demonstrators from Dublin to Cork. Boosted by the warm reception he received at the White House on Patrick’s Day, McGregor has declared his intention to run in this year’s presidential race on an anti-immigration platform. He has adopted a version of Trump’s ‘MAGA’ slogan: ‘Make Ireland Great Again’ (or the rather unfortunate ‘MIGA’).
Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign called on activists from the other five counties of Munster to join us on the day. And they came in large numbers, waving Palestine flags and banners, along with placards declaring opposition to the scapegoating of migrants. The march of more than 4,000 was a loud and very empowering experience, with Palestinians from Gaza among the speakers. They spoke about the experience of being a refugee - the trauma of watching from afar, as their people are subjected to relentless genocidal attacks, starvation and denial of healthcare. But they refused to give up fighting and had immersed themselves in the solidarity movement and thereby achieved a real sense of belonging.
Saying no
The Ireland Says No protest assembled just as the Palestine demonstration was setting off. MIGA hat wearers chanted, “Send them home!” and “These streets, our streets!” One was waving an Israeli flag and another had a large placard of Putin and Trump, with McGregor sandwiched between them. A large section had travelled from Dublin, with a few overseas supporters and locals. The main symbol was the Irish flag. About 3,000 set off down the South Mall waving the Irish flags - it was, as reported by the far right’s social media platform Gript, “a sea of tricolours”.
At Cork City Hall, Blighe spoke about his determination to bring Irish emigrants back - to give them a “homeland to return to.” He was a migrant himself - leaving for Canada after the collapse of the period of rapid economic growth in Ireland, known as ‘Celtic Tiger’, in 2008. When he returned in 2019, with his Canadian-born wife, he had become a supporter of Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini, advocating far-right conspiracy theories, “such as the Great Replacement, alleging that Europe is overrun by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East”.1 Unlike his father, Denis Blighe, who had been a supporter of the Workers Party, as well as a trade unionist and fighter for refugee rights, Derek is deeply antagonistic to migrants, claiming that Ireland is “under a sustained assault” from “unvettable fake refugees”. He claimed in 2022 that the Ukraine war was also fake, aimed at pushing Ukrainians to become fake refugees in Ireland. These ‘fakeugees’ are allegedly paedophiles and rapists.
Blighe is a thug and a fascist, as are many of his supporters. But he is mobilising working class people who are not fascists - those frustrated and stressed with the ongoing housing crisis and blaming migrants for their misfortune. Many are angry with Palestine solidarity activists for “not looking after our own”, for not “being patriotic”. There is a sense among them of being forgotten, unable to get housing and access to healthcare. Blighe and Gript pump out ridiculous myths and misinformation about “undocumented male migrants” posing a threat to Irish women and children. The migrant bogeyman is like a monster waiting to pounce.
The ghettoisation of asylum-seekers as part of the government’s ‘direct provision’ (DP) policy is a key problem. There are approximately 50 DP centres in converted hotels. Single men have the worst conditions, crammed into dingy accommodation with up to 15 others. Single women are not much better off, and families have to share one room. There are usually no cooking facilities. Asylum-seekers are not allowed to work for the first six months in Ireland and if their application is refused in that time then they will never be allowed to do so. DP centres are often opened in small towns, where there are not enough resources for this additional population, and the stress on services produces even greater enmity towards them. Once news gets out of a centre opening, Blighe and other rightwingers turn up to stir up locals into angry opposition. Arriving DP residents are subjected to vitriolic and racist attacks.
The Irish government, along with other EU states, is determined to create a ‘hostile atmosphere’. Over the last two years it has introduced one scheme after another to stymie inward migration from the poorest countries. Some on the left argue that the government is giving in to the far right in accelerating deportations, but it is the opposite. It is the state which is setting the agenda, and has plans to implement the European pact on migration very soon. This will mean holding asylum-seekers in ‘no-man’s land’ vetting centres, with deportation procedures put in place even before appeals are heard. If refused, they will be held like prisoners in ‘reception centres’ until they are deported.
Tricolour
Some in the Palestine solidarity movement have argued that, by promoting the tricolour at our demonstrations, we can show that Irish people are pro-Palestine. At the moment it is mostly Palestinian flags, although some people bring their tricolour. It is true that the experience of British colonialism both historically and now, with the continuing occupation of the Six Counties, is something that connects us Irish deeply to the Palestinian struggle. There were strong bonds of solidarity between republican prisoners and their Palestinian comrades, especially during the hunger strikes. This connection is expressed in songs and poetry, linking the struggles.
In the Six Counties the tricolour continues to symbolise the struggle for self-determination. But in the Twenty‑six Counties it became the flag of a deeply reactionary capitalist state, which has oppressed the working class since its inception, and persecuted the republican movement in the south. Now, despite claiming formal support for Palestine, the government is actually complicit in the genocide, having buckled under to pressure from Biden, Trump and the EU. US planes transporting weapons to Israel use Shannon airport as a stopover. The government refuses to inspect them and instead the Gardaí arrest and prosecute peaceful protestors. In addition, the Irish Central Bank is the designated authority for the sale of Israeli bonds in the EU. In May the government voted down Sinn Féin proposals to end this practice. The Occupied Territory Bill was passed by the Dáil in 2018, but successive Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael governments have refused to implement it.
Our flag
The tricolour has now most definitely become the flag of the far right. They claim to stand in the legacy of the 1916 rising and patriotic republicanism. Their nationalism is exclusionary and deeply conservative. But is the most effective way of combating it to drape our movement in the same colours? The reason we raise the Palestine flag is to call for its self-determination and freedom from colonial oppression. To me that makes us internationalists and not nationalists. The campaign fights for the rights of Palestinians as refugees, both to remain in Ireland and to return to Palestine. As was seen on Saturday’s demonstration, a large section of our campaign support freedom of movement.
My flag is red, symbolising international workers’ unity and the struggle to overthrow this brutal capitalist system, symbolised today by antagonism towards migrants everywhere. People who are displaced due to genocide, famine, poverty and war are being blocked and deported back to a living hell. ‘Fortress Europe’ is overseeing pushbacks of those in boats to Libya, with people being deported to Somalia, Congo and Syria. The ugly rejection of those desperate for a new life, to escape the conditions caused by imperialist exploitation and war, is a stain on our humanity.
Those of us who want to overthrow this system need to recognise that there is no national solution. An Irish revolution would not last candlelight, without at the very least being part of a European movement which can assert itself against the attacks which would surely come from the US and its allies. We need to inspire and win over the US working class to challenge their state. We have seen the tragedy of the Russian Revolution - how it could not last in isolation. It became a prison-house of peoples, repressing rather than liberating its citizens.
Nationalism means borders, it means exclusion. Internationalism means defending freedom of movement and bringing migrants into our trade unions, our socialist parties and our solidarity movement. And ultimately, if the international working class can get its act together, it means rising up together in world revolution.