Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
Fresh off the back of a year of public-private financial blunders, including revelations of Ryan Tubridy’s secret overpayment, UK-based barter account use, undisclosed free-car deals and a Toy Show Musical money-pit scandal, our public-service broadcaster is back with ‘Inside Penneys’. During the summer of 2023, Motive Television / RTÉ production […]
When Barack Obama was elected as the first black president of the United States in 2008, there was jubilation and celebration of this “historic event”. The “We are One” concert was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the incoming President Obama where Pete Seeger and Bruce […]
One of the most interesting anecdotes in the history of the 1916 Rising is the picture of Pearse telling the British of the surrender alone. We know he did not stand alone but Elizabeth Farrell was there with him, a vital messenger airbrushed out of history. Many women throughout history […]
In January, Policy Exchange, a right-wing British think tank produced a report entitled, “Closing the Back Door: Rediscovering Northern Ireland’s Role in British National Security.” It has a foreword by two former British Defence Secretaries and is endorsed by a former First Sea Lord and Security Minister. It can therefore […]
The result of the double rejection of the government’s proposed amendments to the Constitution was not totally unexpected. The government tried to gain favour by removing outdated concepts of the family and the domestic role of women from the Constitution, while at the same time trying to place all responsibility […]
Family Amendment: The Communist Party of Ireland supports the proposed amendment removing article 41.3.1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. As the Constitution is the basic law of the state, it can be argued that the references to the family contained within it reflect an outdated Catholic orthodox conception of the family. […]
As part of the British Tory Government’s punishment budget last Autumn, aimed at putting the squeeze on the DUP to get them back into the Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland took the opportunity to direct all Departments to launch public “consultations” on measures to support “budget sustainability” […]
150,000 public sector workers recently undertook a 24-hour strike across the North. The demand was principally in relation to pay. Adding fuel to worker discontent are strained public services, which impact labour effort via intensification but also relativity of pay. Northern Irish workers’ salaries compare unfavourably to equivalents in Britain. […]
The Business Post of 14th January 2024 claimed that Sinn Féin had been on “an outreach programme” with big business to reassure them that Sinn Féin in government would not “rock any boats.”17 As the entrance fee to government under capitalism is to support the system, this “revelation” comes as […]
Over the years, the Socialist Voice has had some great articles advocating for the Irish language, seen from an anti-capitalist lens which are definitely worth re-reading. I didn’t go to school in Ireland so I don’t have any experience with learning Irish in that setting, but I did grow up […]
There’s a saying on the Isle of Man, “Cha jean oo cosney ping lesh y Ghailick”, which roughly translates as “You won’t make a penny with Manx”. This perfectly illustrates how every minority language struggles to financially justify its existence. It’s hard enough to make a living as a writer […]
On 18th January 2024, 150,000 public sector workers joined together in a wave of strikes across the North. The main reason for this strike was pay. Workers were demanding pay increases that match inflation. Public sector workers’ pay has been falling behind inflation for more than a decade: more than […]
A recent article in December 2023 Socialist Voice (“Sovereignty and Reunification”) muses on the benefits of a united Ireland, offering many insights. One argument advanced is that a single island-wide political structure would offer benefits from unified infrastructures, eliminating “duplication” in health and education, for example. This argument raises problems. […]
After almost two years without a devolved administration, the northern state appears politically deadlocked. The latest round of talks in Hillsborough castle between the British government’s Chris Heaton-Harris and the five largest parties in Stormont have concluded without a definite restoration of the institutions. This in spite of the fact […]
In a recent interview with the Irish Times, arch-revisionist historian Roy Foster opined that Irish reunification is nearer than he would have thought a couple of decades ago. A week earlier the Irish News published results of an opinion poll indicating a majority of Alliance Party voters believed that, in […]
In notebook no. 4 from Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, “The World in Economic Depression: A Marxist Analysis of Crisis”, Marxist economists, E. Ahmet Tonak and Sungur Savran state that the present state of capitalism can best be described as a Great Depression starting in 2008. They point out that […]