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International

Solidarity with Nicaragua

Paper given by Philip Kelly, Greater Belfast Branch, CPI ■ Today I joined comrades from around Latin America and Europe in a meeting with the Foreign Ministry of Nicaragua. Below is the text of my contribution. Brothers and sisters, comrades of the Sandinista Revolution, I speak to you today from […]

Art Culture

Caravaggio and the Reformation

Born 450 years ago, on 29 September 1571, Caravaggio lived during the Counter-Reformation. The art form of that time, with a specific political function, was the Baroque. The development of the new middle class—the bourgeoisie—brought with it the dawn of the modern, capitalist era. The artistic expression of this new […]

Current Affairs Ireland

Brexit and reunification

Five years after the Brexit referendum, its effects on the relationships between the Irish state, Britain and the European Union continue to evolve. As a direct result of Brexit, the issue of Irish reunification has become “respectable” and is no longer confined to Republicans and the Communist Party. However, others […]

Letters

Letter from Galway

In this seemingly never-ending “Decade of Commemorations,” with such highlights as the recent commemoration of partition (!), some things seem to get forgotten (besides truth and common sense)—things close to home and things far away. Close to home, here in Galway, it won’t be the execution of Commandant Liam Mellows […]

History

The true face of fascism

Juvenile and other immature males seem to have a morbid fascination with fascism, or rather with the trappings of fascism: uniforms, flags, marching, and of course shouting and threatening. But they are only trappings. There’s more to fascism than that. In various European countries where “normal” capitalism is collapsing, fascism—the […]

Culture Ireland

Laughing at what we are

In what other country would there be web sites offering the equivalent of “funny Irish place-names”?—which in fact are not Irish at all but corruptions. And the great majority of these are not even corruptions in the usual linguistic sense—i.e. changes made over time by the usage of people (in […]