A growing international tendency that should concern political activists is the rightward turn of working-class voters. In the United States, workers’ support determined the election of the ultra-rightist Donald Trump, presenting himself as fighting neo-liberalism and the globalisation policies of the ruling Democratic Party, seen as driving American industry overseas. […]
Author: Tomás Mac Síomóin
Even more US bombs dropped on Afghanistan (with a lot of help from Ireland)
At the end of last year the US Air Force had dropped about three times as many bombs on Afghanistan as in 2016. New statistics show that by the end of October there had already been 3,554 “fired weapons.” Over the past year they had registered 1,337 munitions drops. The […]
Educational peace project proposed for schools
A number of peace activists and groups have come together to promote an educational project in national and secondary schools entitled “Fly Kites, Not Drones / Eitleoga Seachas Dróin.” The initiative was first launched in Britain by a number of organisations, including the Catholic Church’s Pax Christi and the Society […]
National Day of Action against US Wars at Home and Abroad
Resolution of the Conference on US Foreign Military Bases, held at Learning Commons Town Hall, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, 12–14 January 2018 WHEREAS the United States has been in a state of perpetual war and has been using its unrivalled military might in every corner of the world to […]
“The name is communism”
Cover of the first edition, written in German, published in London in 1848. It reads: “Manifesto of the Communist Party | Published February 1848 | Proletarians of all Lands, Unite! | London | Printed in the offices of the Workers’ Educational Association | By J. E. Burghard | 46, Liverpool […]
Something to celebrate: The first Dáil Éireann and the Democratic Programme
Next January the Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum will mark the centenary of the first Dáil Éireann and the publication of one of modern Ireland’s landmark documents, the Democratic Programme. The forum will celebrate the occasion with a conference in Liberty Hall, Dublin. While it is important that seminal events […]
The EU driving privatisation
The crisis in health services is Europe-wide. The pace of market-driven health “reform” has speeded up since capitalism’s 2008 crash as neo- liberal governments—with both conservative and social democratic labels—have imposed the costs of saving the banks on working people. Public health services, with their massive property holdings, substantial staff […]
Beyond the National Health Service
With the mainstream of the Democratic Party in the United States beginning to get behind Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” policy, it brings a sharp focus to how this sort of policy is financed. That such a policy could be gaining traction in the United States, especially in its current […]
The housing crisis: Solutions or tweaks?
A number of proposed solutions have been put forward for the manufactured housing crisis. So let us analyse their suitability and see who they benefit: the citizens and society as a whole or landlords and profiteers. Limited-equity affordable housing, also known as the cost-purchase ownership model, is one whereby the […]
International Working Women’s Day, 2018
Join us on Thursday 8 March at 8 p.m. in the Liquor Rooms, Wellington Quay, Dublin, for our celebration of International Working Women’s Day. On 8 March, a day established to honour the accomplishments, the lives and the struggles of working women, we wish to mark the courage of women—women […]
Repeal the 8th! The role of trade unions
Jointly hosted by the Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment (TUCR8A) and the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth, this public meeting dealt with article 40.3.3 as a work-place, class, equality and human rights issue. Like most trade union meetings, Repeal the 8th: The Role of Trade Unions started […]
Recovery for whom?
It is constantly repeated in the pro-boss media that the Irish economy is in recovery, and that this is in full swing throughout the European Union. One has to ask the serious question: A recovery for whom, and at what price? They repeat the mantra that unemployment levels are coming […]
The biggest bubble of all time?
Speculators no longer know where to go with their money. The German share index DAX stands at more than 13,000 points; on the eve of the financial crisis, in July 2007, it was 8,000. Property prices shoot up; art becomes almost priceless. For $450 million Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi […]
Macron: shiny teeth don’t mask a vicious bite
It’s almost eight months since Emmanuel Macron took up residence in the Élysée Palace after a second-round “victory” over Marine Le Pen’s Front Nationale. This “victory” was accompanied by a historic vote for Le Pen, dwarfing that of her father’s in 2002 against Chirac. Macron did not have the support […]
Patrick Pearse: A revolutionary democrat
Patrick Pearse is an often misunderstood revolutionary leader. He is seen more as a romantic nationalist when compared with James Connolly. Indeed even today some on the left criticise Connolly for making an alliance with Pearse and the Irish Volunteers in 1916. The problem with this simplistic view is that […]
Cocky Abdul
Gabriel Rosenstock introduces and translates another poem from the Indian subcontinent, a poem that sings of man’s hope and despair and the never-ending disparity between the privileged and the poor. [one_half padding=”0 4px 0 4px”] Abdul Sotalach Rahul Rai Samhlaigh le do thoil sotal Abdul bhoicht: Arsa Abdul bocht: “Bead […]