The airways and newspapers have been full of discussion around the “housing crisis”, its nature and possible causes and effects. What was clear from the recent local election results is that the majority of those who voted did so for parties who support the status quo, who support the economic […]
Previous Articles
Capitalist Democracy
Election coverage has become a dominant part of the entertainment/propaganda sector that passes for news coverage in Ireland and the rest of the capitalist world. The soap opera that is the US Presidential election has become prime-time viewing with its twists and turns, the latest being the attempted assasination of […]
Challenging Hegemony to Breakthrough
To the Marxist it is indisputable that a revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation; furthermore, it is not every revolutionary situation that leads to revolution. What, generally speaking, are the symptoms of a revolutionary situation? We shall certainly not be mistaken if we indicate the following three major symptoms: […]
Féile na bhFlaitheartach 2024
FÓGRA: Féile na bhFlaitheartach 2024“Idirnáisiúnachas Thomáis agus Liam Uí Fhlaithearta”“The internationalism of Tom and Liam O’Flaherty” A chairde, Is cúis áthais dúinn é a fhógairt gur ar an Satharn 24 Lúnasa agus Dé Domhnaigh 25 Lúnasa a bheas Féile na bhFlaitheartach ar siúl i mbliana ar Inis Mór, Árainn. Mar […]
Newslessness
Newslessness is a bilingual poem in Irish and English by Gabriel Rosenstock, in response to a work of art by the influential German artist Hans Haacke. Hans Haacke, News, 1969 (Fair Use) Newslessness What a day! a day like any other day a day full of news but unlike the previous […]
Occupation of Palestine is illegal – ICJ
The day after the ruling elites of the EU elected pro-Israel Ursula Von der Leyen as President of the European Commission, the International Court of Justice ruled that the occupation of Palestine is illegal. There has been almost no coverage of this historic ruling by the western media. In December […]
Revolutionary Climate Action
In June, RTÉ’s Hot Mess podcast featured an interview with Roger Hallam. In the weeks to come, Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, would have received the longest ever sentence for non-violent protest in front of a British court. The sentence was on the charges of “conspiracy […]
Ruling Class Sowing Discontent
How spontaneous are violent right-wing actions currently taking place in both jurisdictions on this island? There can be little doubt that sinister elements are playing a role organising these disturbances but what is the magnitude of the threat posed by these agitators. Are they just a small number of dangerous […]
Inheritance Tax and the Government of the 1%
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, emboldened by recent election results, are confident enough to return to policies that feather the nests of the ruling class. They have created the narrative facilitated as always by their lackeys in the media that inheritance tax is “too punitive and unfair and needs to […]
The Economics and Politics of Unity
With Sinn Féin recently securing a hat trick of seats, their border poll call has escalated. In this article, unity economics are engaged to strengthen preparation for such prospects and likely aftermath. In doing so, I assume that the economics of unity will be settled between the British and Irish […]
A Transformative Political Strategy – Decentralised Democracy and bourgeois electoralism – a reply to Comrade Eoghan O’Neill.
Many shades of Republicans and other groups/parties on the Left, have been calling for a coming together of the broader Left for some years now. Recently though, the calls for “unity of purpose” appear to be a bit more prolific, on social media and public speeches. Eoghan O’Neill, writing in […]
Building Beyond Electoralism
In the June issue of the Socialist Voice I wrote an opinion piece intended to stimulate a debate on what I thought was the best strategy in the electoral arena, specifically looking at the upcoming General Elections in the 26 counties. That article has indeed sparked discussion and it has […]
Recent Election in the Six Counties
The context within which any electoral or social struggles takes place is critical to an understanding of how the working class understands how or where change can be secured. The ongoing struggle between Irish democratic forces and forces wedded to imperialism is the basic context in which the elections must […]
An Electoral Transformative Strategy
The following article is presented to offer up for debate a potential transformative electoral strategy in the wake of the recent local and EU elections. There is a wider and more important debate and strategy to be formulated over the coming months and years on how to deepen and broaden […]
On The Terminal Decline of Empire
The US Empire is in the throes of a cycle leading to its terminal decline. It is not possible to predict how long this phase will last but there is ample evidence that this process is underway. History teaches us, too, that while imperialism is a affliction on humanity in […]
Why would we hand over our achievements to those who oppose us?
Many Socialist Republican and anti-imperialist groups in Ireland have a well-founded distrust of our parliamentary political system. They know from bitter experience that no solutions for the plight of the working class or a United Socialist Ireland will emanate from there. To quote Connolly: “Governments in capitalist society are but […]