Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
It has long been held that states do not have friends, they have interests.¹ With that in mind I read the Defence Forces Review, 2020,² to see how an important part of the Irish state bureaucracy, the officer corps of the Defence Forces and the civil servants within the Department […]
Colum McCann, Apeirogon (London: Bloomsbury, 2020) In the context of the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East, and Ireland’s condemnation de facto of Israel’s annexation policy, this book by Colum McCann is worth reading more than ever. Unlike a pentagon, an apeirogon has an infinite number of sides, […]
The Americas are very much the front line in the struggle against US imperialism’s drive for unipolar, planetary dominance. The United States first tested its Monroe Doctrine there—the brazen assumption that the entire continent is America’s “back yard”—and has since sought to export this sense of colonial proprietorship throughout the […]
Three important events happened in 1979 that continue to explain the modern struggles in the Middle East: the Islamic revolution (i.e. counter-revolution) in Iran, the siege of Mecca, and the sponsoring of anti-communists in Afghanistan. After the Second World War the Middle East experienced the growth of anti-colonial movements, which […]
Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, Priests de la Resistance! (London: Oneworld Publications, 2019) With a jokey title like that, an equally jokey subtitle (The Loose Canons Who Fought Fascism in the Twentieth Century), and a super-scrupulous attention to his own title (“the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie”), I should have sensed something fishy, but […]
The crisis in housing is official Government policy. It is not an unintended consequence. The profit margins of the various corporate property funds that have entered the Irish housing market since 2013 require a crisis, in the supply of both public housing and affordable housing for purchase, leading to a […]
In Ireland, just like elsewhere, our movement stands in front of a seemingly impenetrable wall: the great wall of capital. The unfortunate reality is that we are even further from tearing it down than we were a hundred years ago, when the last revolutionary high point of Irish history was […]
One hundred and ten years ago James Connolly opened up what became known as the Connolly-Walker controversy with the following sentence: “All thoughtful men and women who observe the political situations of their countries must realise that Ireland is on the verge of one of the most momentous constitutional changes […]
■ This is the first in a short series of articles dealing with the Middle East Palestine was first occupied by the Ottoman Empire, but after the break-up of that entity in the First World War it was transferred to the British Empire under the Sykes-Picot agreement, which divided up […]
The mass demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and all around the globe show that the craven operation by elements of the bourgeoisie to frame all opposition to Zionism as anti-Semitism has completely failed to hoodwink the working class. As workers, and simply as human […]
In this centenary year of the foundation of the northern six-county state, the crisis within unionism appears to increase almost weekly. Standing out above the rest was the messy defenestration of the DUP leader Arlene Foster, because, difficult as it may be to believe, she was considered too liberal. The […]
Mephistopheles, a demon of German legend, says: “Hell is where I am. Wherever I go I’m still in it.” These words are relevant to imperialism as well. Recently the world’s attention converged on two issues: Ivan Duque’s oppression of the Colombian people’s strike and the Israeli bombing of Palestine. In […]
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 […]
On 18 May the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications issued a policy statement on the importing of fracked gas, in which it was noted that the Programme for Government contained a commitment to banning it. The press release stated that because of EU membership, in particular EU Directive […]
Climate change is the most important challenge faced by Irish agriculture today. From next year onwards the basic payment scheme grant will be changed, so that 35 per cent of the payment will be based on full adherence to environmental measures on the farm. In other words, farmers will have […]
The Communist Party of Ireland wants to announce, and welcomes, the establishment of a new branch in the Belfast region. The new branch will be called the Greater Belfast Branch. Its officers and branch members have the full support of the NEC and the membership of the CPI. This follows […]