{"id":1030,"date":"2014-11-01T19:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T18:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/?p=1030"},"modified":"2014-11-26T13:12:19","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:12:19","slug":"they-shall-not-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/they-shall-not-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"They shall not pass!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/demo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1033\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/demo.jpg\" alt=\"demo\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/demo.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/demo-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>This is the speech I gave today in Trafalgar Square at the demonstration in support of Kobane &#8212; part of an international day of action.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Comrades and friends, brothers and sisters, good afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>I have been asked to speak with you today about the support trade unions are showing for the heroic people of Kobane.<\/p>\n<p>We are all inspired by the steadfast resistance shown by the people of Kobane, men and women, working people like ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>We must be clear about our language here: Islamic State is a fascist organization and the fighters in Kobane are on the front lines of the fight against fascism in our time.<\/p>\n<p>They are fighting with great heroism and determination and I am confident that they will win.<\/p>\n<p>This is a fight that the international trade union movement needs to support.<\/p>\n<p>It is our fight too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/erickobane.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1038\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/erickobane.jpg\" alt=\"erickobane\" width=\"178\" height=\"178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/erickobane.jpg 178w, https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/erickobane-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px\" \/><\/a>But we are not doing enough.<\/p>\n<p>The British and international trade union movements have the moral responsibility to come to the defense of the heroic fighters in Kobane.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, the trade union movement has known what it needs to do.<\/p>\n<p>Eight decades ago, when fascists were besieging Madrid, trade unionists were on the front lines &#8212; literally &#8212; in the fight. The entire international working class movement, Communists and Socialists alike, were inspired by the slogan &#8220;No pasaran!&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;They shall not pass!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Today it is the responsibility of trade unionists to once again throw our full support behind a people standing up to a fascist onslaught.<\/p>\n<p>It is not enough to issue a press release.<\/p>\n<p>It is not enough to pass a resolution in a trade union branch.<\/p>\n<p>Comrades and friends, brothers and sisters, we must do more.<\/p>\n<p>The TUC must take the lead and mobilize British workers in acts of solidarity, including bringing thousands of them into the streets to rallies like this one.<\/p>\n<p>The International Trade Union Confederation and the global union federations must do the same at global level.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1930s, we were not strong enough and we were unable to stop the fascists from taking Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>That victory for Franco, Hitler and Mussolini must not be repeated today.<\/p>\n<p>Kobane must not be allowed to fall.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>They shall not pass! No pasaran!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the speech I gave today in Trafalgar Square at the demonstration in support of Kobane &#8212; part of an international day of action. Comrades and friends, brothers and sisters, good afternoon. I have&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1030"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}