Laura Murphy speaks out about national day of solidarity with Palestine proposal

Poet and activist Laura Murphy has published a statement today in response to Tánaiste Simon Harris’ support of a government-led national day of solidarity with Palestine, which she called "calculated misdirection."

Last Thursday, The Irish Times published a letter from a reader proposing that the government call "a national day of protest" in which people participate in a government-organised display against the destruction of Gaza. Harris reposted the letter on Instagram this Saturday and called it "sensible and a good idea."

"At first glance, this may seem like a gesture of conscience," Murphy said.

"In reality, it is a calculated misdirection."

The former Herstory poet-in-residence wrote that "symbolic gestures" like the proposal "are no substitute for binding action" and demanded that the government take tangible action to "prevent and punish genocide" committed by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza.

"To delay is to deepen complicity," Murphy said.

The proposal claimed many people in Ireland do not march for Palestine for fear of being accused of antisemitism or supporting Hamas, and that the Irish "feel helpless" when it comes to the atrocities in Gaza.

Murphy argued that people in Ireland have been outspoken in their support for Palestine and that the more pressing concern is the government's neglect of the public's demands for action.

"The Irish public has been protesting in solidarity since the start of the genocide," Murphy said.

"Every week. In every county. We’ve already had sixteen national marches, none of which this government has acknowledged."

Murphy said a national day of solidarity would be welcome, if it were to be accompanied by "decisive material action" such as passing the Occupied Territories Bill.

"But symbolism without substance is spin," Murphy said.

"We have lost patience. We will not stop demanding justice - in the form of direct, material action - for Palestine."

In 2021, Murphy called for the establishment of Brigid's Day as a public holiday "to signal healing from historic trauma" in her open letter condemning the State apology to survivors of misconduct in mother and baby homes, in which Taoiseach Micheál Martin claimed "we as a society" bore part of the responsibility for wrongs committed.

Her call for Brigid's Day to be a national holiday came to pass in 2023, but Murphy contended that there is a difference between addressing the past versus the present.

"Whether this latest proposal was inspired by that campaign or not, there is no comparison," Murphy said.

"That call was about healing the past. This moment is about stopping an active genocide. Palestinian trauma is not historical, it is now."

Read the statement in full below:

 

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