Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Workers Party of Ireland: On the presence of the US President in Ireland. No to Biden! No to NATO!

In a statement, the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party of Ireland refers to US President Joe Biden's visit to Ireland:   

This week the US President, Biden, is in Ireland, supposedly to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This is a pretext. He will spend very little time in Northern Ireland where he has one brief engagement.

The real purpose of his visit is to secure an Irish-American vote in US Presidential elections and to glad hand a sycophantic Irish government and a fawning Irish media in an attempt to draw the Irish state closer to US foreign policy and NATO

The US, which Biden represents, is guilty of warmongering, exploitation and terror. It buttresses the rule of the monopolies. The US has at least three times as many overseas bases as all other countries combined and it has used these bases to launch wars and other combat operations against sovereign states. It uses Shannon airport to further foreign intervention and war.

The US blockade against Cuba is the most enduring blockade in history and has cost the Cuban economy many billions of dollars. Every year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passes a resolution condemning the blockade, all ignored by the US. Despite world opinion, the economic, commercial and financial blockade applied by the government of the United States against Cuba is being maintained and it continues to have profound repercussions on the Cuban economy. The blockade is deliberately designed to limit Cuba’s right to follow its own development path.  Biden continues to tighten this cruel and criminal blockade and has outrageously refused to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Biden continues support for the apartheid Israeli regime despite the fact that millions of people across the world are shocked and outraged at the brutal terror bombings, ethnic cleansing and communal violence being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people. These crimes are committed using American armaments and funding.

The Biden administration approved the sale of $735 million worth of JDAM and SDB “smart” bombs to Israel—the munitions which rained down on the population of Gaza. The United States has used its veto power many times to protect Israel from resolutions censuring its conduct in the United Nations Security Council.

Biden’s record on Somalia, Venezuela, Cuba, Palestine, support for dictators and autocrats in the Middle East and elsewhere who serve US interests, his support for the expansion of NATO and the US war machine, the ratcheting up of inter-imperialist rivalry and tensions and his continuing advocacy of imperialist intervention and war demonstrate his long record of support for naked US aggression.

More than a year has passed since the start of the imperialist conflict in Ukraine. Competition between competing imperialist blocs has produced a vicious and dangerous war where the working class (Ukrainian and Russian) is bearing the brunt. The imperialist war launched by Russia in Ukraine, and the eager and aggressive actions and provocations of the United States and European Union serve only to prolong and escalate the suffering of the Russian and Ukrainian people. The publication of documents over the past few days proves the presence of US and NATO forces on the ground in Ukraine.

The world faces a serious danger of a more generalized military confrontation given the clamour for coercive measures, intervention and war by the EU, NATO and the US. In Africa, AFRICOM, in collaboration with the European Union, seeks to increase and develop U.S. military power to control land, resources and labour in the service of the monopolies. Biden and his administration are key to these developments.

At a time when the world stands on the brink of disastrous and irreversible climate change, Biden’s administration has approved over 2,100 drilling permits on public and native American tribal lands since he took office.

The US Department of Justice, under Biden, is still pursuing the extradition of Julian Assange, attacking the scope of permissible press activities.

The Workers Party of Ireland opposes the Biden visit and is taking an active part  in the protests against him.

The way forward in the struggle for global peace and against war and imperialist barbarism is international solidarity, the unity of the working class and the struggle for socialism.

Workers of All countries Unite!
 
Ted Tynan, President
Gerry Grainger, International Secretary
 
https://workerspartyirelandorg.wordpress.com/
(+44)2890328663
email: wpi.international@gmail.com

solidnet.org