Statement by the Communist Party of Ireland
4 June 2017
We condemn the attack in London last night, and our sympathies are with those killed and injured and with their families and friends.
To end the attacks on innocent civilians, in London, Manchester, or Paris, the first step is to end the terrorising and killing of civilians in the wars created and funded by Western governments throughout the Middle East, and to stop the arming and training of proxy Islamic forces in this region by NATO and its allies in the region: Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and Israel.
While we should remember the victims of Manchester, we should also remember those other victims, the people of Syria and Yemen, many of whom will die today at the hands of terrorist and other reactionary forces armed and trained by Western governments and their allies. These victims’ names will not appear on our screens or be splashed across our newspapers.
It is this type of establishment hypocrisy that gives rise to alienated youth doing what they did in London and other cities.
War and the results of war are not video games, nor are they for entertainment at “air shows.” The pain and the suffering of working people in Syria and Yemen is just as great as in London and Manchester. The shattering of lives and communities is no less in those countries. The hypocrisy of Western governments and their crony media is a poison that nurtures these acts of rage and violence among some youth.
We must face up to the realities and consequences of these wars and oppose them at every opportunity. “Air shows” glorify and normalise these wars, and act as recruitment agents for them. To be entertained by these shows is to collaborate with them. Shannon Airport facilitates this slaughter every day, in our name.
War is never fun. No to the Bray Air Show! No to war!
