Author: Graham Harrington

Imperialism Socialism

The war on socialist Cuba

On 11 July the world’s media gleefully reported that there were protests in Cuba. As expected, no context was given, just flippant explanations about shortages leading to “historic unrest.” It is astounding that the media managed to miss the fact that Cuba is in a situation of enduring the effects […]

Ireland

Saving life at sea—neoliberal style

Most maritime states have a service responsible for coastal life-saving and air-sea rescue, while some are also responsible for preventing maritime crime within their jurisdiction. In some countries the service is part of the military. Many Irish people are familiar to some degree with HM Coastguard in Britain and the US Coast […]

black ship on body of water screenshot
Imperialism Socialism

Capitalism is killing the planet

Before the Industrial Revolution, human activity did not create new, global environmental conditions that could translate into a fundamentally different stratigraphic signal. Since then, however, the exploration of coal, oil and gas, in particular, has enabled worldwide industrialisation, construction, and mass transport, producing a wide range of changes that leave […]

Obituary

Political activist and radical photographer

Séamus Ó Riain was born into poverty on 2 September 1937 to Katherine Ryan in Dublin. When Katherine married Tom Ryan, Séamus was fostered out to a family called Corbally; unfortunately, he was to end up in Daingean children’s detention centre in Co. Offaly. Daingean treated the children more like […]

Ireland

The last acceptable form of racism| Part 2

In part 1 of this article (Socialist Voice, March 2021) I used official statistics showing the gap between Travellers and society in general in health, employment, and educational achievement. Travellers die earlier, have greater ill-health, have lower educational qualifications, have higher unemployment and have more overcrowding and poorer housing than society […]

International

“Shared western values”

Rich countries, with 14 per cent of the world’s population, have secured 53 per cent of the “Western” covid vaccines. Meanwhile you have to search hard for information on vaccines being produced or tested in other countries, including Russia and Cuba. Almost all the Pfizer-Biontech vaccines will go to rich […]

Political Economy

Marx, Gamestop, and finance capitalism

As retail investors launched a short squeeze on large hedge funds, forcing large stock-market movements and frenzied recapitalisation, many commentators heralded it as a victory for “the little guy” against Wall Street. However, the truth is far from that simple. “The biggest owners of Gamestop: Fidelity (14%), Cohen’s RC Ventures […]