Thomas Sankara was born on 21st December 1949 in Upper Volta, which was a French colony, and like all African colonies at the time, the white colonisers exploited the natives by forcing them to build infrastructure so that they could more efficiently exploit the resources of the nation. Upper Volta […]
Previous Articles
Women’s Art Against War – Part 1
From its outset, International Women’s Day was characterised by the fight for peace, against militarism and war. At the Second International Conference of Socialist Women at Copenhagen in 1910, resolutions concerning the “maintenance of peace” and “to combat internationally militarism and secure peace” were tabled in response to the growing […]
Centenary of the death of V.I. Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, born in 1870, died 100 years ago on the 21st of January 1924. Lenin stands as an indomitable figure whose invaluable contributions to communist praxis, of putting theory into practice, remains an enduring cornerstone of revolutionary thought within the workers’ movement internationally. His profound insights, articulated in […]
Letters to the editor: COP28
Writing in March this year the leading climate scientist Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research stated ”to not exceed 1.5°C of warming requires 11% year-on-year cuts in emissions, falling to nearer 5% for 2°C. However, these global average rates ignore the core concept of equity, central […]
People Want It Now!
Thousands of activists have, over time, chanted these well known words. “What do we want, when do we want it”….”Now !!” This is a very well known chorous from all sorts of political demonstrations and calls for change, all over the world. However well intentioned and correct that call may […]
Against Centralised Online Platforms
A long time ago, around 2007, I published an article on some technical blog about how online platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and the likes can potentially manipulate the masses into revolting and rioting by propagating a skewed version of reality. Back then Twitter was still using SMS messages […]
The EU Directive on Collective Bargaining, Class Consciousness and Transformative Strategy
Previous articles in Socialist Voice, as well as our Party Programme, have explained and outlined what is meant by a transformative strategy to build socialism and replace capitalism as the mode of production, means of exchange and political, cultural and social relations of the State in Ireland. In essence it […]
Letters to the editor: Gaza
Who was it that said war was just? Each night I watch the horrors unfolding in front of my own eyes via the TV. As a boy we would watch old movies from the Second World War, the horrors, the emptiness, thinking it would never happen again. Then we had […]
Opinion: Sovereignty and Reunification
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. […]
Book Review: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Paul Lynch’s novel Prophet Song winning the 2023 Booker Prize signifies a notable awareness regarding the dismantling of democracy in the Western world. It underscores the realisation that the erosion of democratic principles is a pressing concern that transcends borders and could impact any country. Microbiologist Eilish Stack is married […]
Book Review – John Ellison, World War Two: A People’s War? (2023) Manifesto Press Coop
Illustrated with an interesting and refreshing selection of photographs, posters, paintings and newspaper clippings, John Ellison’s new book “World War Two A People’s War?” puts a long and complex story of World War Two into a brief and accessible narrative. Coming from the British perspective on the war and dominantly […]
The 1953 Iranian Coup and the CIA
The official podcast of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) “The Langley Files: CIA’s podcast” recently had an episode about Operation Argo and gave some background to the CIA and the coup in Iran in 1953 against the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh A few minutes in, the CIA historian […]
If I Must Die (Irish translation)
Má fhaighimse bás, ní mór duitse fanacht beo chun mo scéalsa a insint mo chuid giuirléidí a dhíol ruainne éadaigh a cheannach agus cúpla téad, (bíodh sé bán ags ruball fada air) chun go mbeadh radharc ag páiste, áit éigin i nGaza agus é ag stánadh ar neamh ag feitheamh […]
If I Must Die
If I must die, you must live to tell my story to sell my things to buy a piece of cloth and some strings, (make it white with a long tail) so that a child, somewhere in Gaza while looking heaven in the eye awaiting his dad who left in […]
Freedom for who and what: Argentina’s Milei
In December 2023, Javier Milei took office as Argentina’s new President, elected with 55% of the vote, following the inability of the Peronist alliance to provide decent well paid jobs, an affordable cost of living, a stable economy and decent services. Milei followed the Trump formula of critiquing a corrupt […]
Stormont Deadlock
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 […]