Bombs won’t bring peace to Syria
Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, Seán Crowe TD, has spoken out against the reported plans of Britain, France and the USA to attack Syria.
Crowe believes that foreign military intervention will increase the death and destruction that the Syrian people are experiencing and called on world leaders to work towards a ceasefire and peace talks.
Deputy Crowe said: “Sinn Féin opposed the lifting of the EU arms embargo on Syria at the end of May. We opposed it because we felt that flooding the country with more weapons will only cause more violence and bloodshed.
“Syrians, like people all over the world, have a right to peace, democracy and human rights.
“We have all seen the horrifying, distressing images of civilians, mainly children, suffering what seem to be the fatal effects of poisonous gas in a Damascus suburb. The exact circumstance surrounding this incident is still unclear.
“Actions against the civilian population from any participant or groups in this conflict are wrong and must stop immediately. A UN inspection team has visited the site, despite volatile and dangerous conditions in Syria.
“The rhetoric from some Western countries, such as Britain, France and the USA, suggest they are gearing up to directly militarily attack Syria.
“It is estimated that over 100,000 people have already been killed in Syria’s civil war and over 1.5 million have been made refugees. Any further military intervention from foreign countries will just bring more death and destruction to Syria.
“The only way to stop the conflict is through peace talks and a peace process. World leaders need to work to secure a ceasefire and bring all sides in this civil war to the table.
“Meaningful dialogue involving all sections of the Syrian people must be established to address all of the grave issues currently facing the citizens of Syria.
“World leaders should be rational and smart enough to know that European and American bombs won’t bring peace to Syria. Only a negotiated peace settlement and process will do that. They cannot bomb Syria into peace.
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5 responses to “Bombs won’t bring peace to Syria”
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I suppose Sinn Fein should know better than most that only negotiations will bring peace to a divided society, given that many of their members were involved in an utterly pointless puesdo-war against the British state for 30 years that they could never win and which contributed to the death and mutilation of several thousand civilians.
What is the relationship between SF and Left Unity? Is it policy to uncritically report their views? If so, who decided this policy?
If one doesn’t read the article in order to slag off Sinn Fein, but to read what Seán Crowe has to say, one will notice that what he is saying makes a lot of sense.
It’s an appalling article. “Meaningful dialogue involving all sections of the Syrian people must be established.” No. The Assad regime is a collection of anti-democratic butchers whose repression of the popular protests have permitted the rise of the most reactionary and brutal forms of Islamism in the country. We should be supporting the democratic forces struggling to bring it down.
Quite why Sinn Fein are considered part of the left by people in England is a mystery to many Irish socialists. They are in coalition government with the Irish equivalent of the Lega Nord. Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast recently put the journalists on the Anderstown News, a Sinn Fein fanzine he runs, on the minimum wage. A former SF depuuty mayor of Belfast was recently found by a court to have been guilty of nepotism in giving houses to his nieces in preference to homeless people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23725517
They have been bought off by British imperialism and are happy to participate in a sectarian division of resources and political office.
Liam is appearing in front of a hammer and sickle banner which group are you affiliated to i am bound to be interested in that given that the USSR as been gone since 1989 effectively 25 years. The politics of outside groups rather than the issues is what is driving the debate about what kind of party LU is going to be. NOt many Greens it seems! Or Anarchists for that matter.
Why is this even on the site? I doubt Sinn Fein sent it in, so it reflects the backward politics of a web editor or two.