The genocide in Gaza has caused an outpouring of rage and grief across the world and waves of protests. Ireland has not been immune to this and we
have seen many protests, some big and others small. But it was not till the students at Trinity College took action that we have seen the first really powerful
action. The students copied the protests which began at Columbia University in the USA. The spark spread like wildfire throughout the US with more than 130
universities seeing encampments or sit ins. (read more)
The
resounding collapse of freedom of expression and academic freedom in the United
States over the last few months has not been seen since the McCarthyite 1950s
and the violent suppression of Vietnam War protests in the late 1960s. Repressive
campaigns also followed 9/11 and the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan,
primarily in the realm of law and surveillance and often waged on university
campuses. (read more)
The CPT, (the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) has
just published its 33rd annual report for the year 2023. This time it places a heavy emphasis on the
issue of what it terms transgender prisoners and their rights in a prison
setting. It was an opportunity for a
rational discussion on the issue, but the CPT seems to have squandered this on
an ideological altar, seen even in throwaway praise for Ukraine, a praise not
extended to other countries that the full report says also fully cooperated
with the CPT. (read more)
Veterans of
mass protests around the world and across the decades will be very familiar with
the struggle at the University of California, Los Angeles. The police suddenly disappear. They are replaced by masked and armed right
wing Zionist vigilantes. In this case the
students are successful in beating back the attack in a battle that lasts many
hours. The attackers withdraw under the protection of the police. The police return. It is they, the state, that
aim to dismantle the camp, not the right wing. (read more)
We are publishing the text of a letter sent to the organisers of the International Women’s Day rally in Belfast regarding an incident in which stewards confronted a female activist from the Free Assange campaign. This letter was sent as an email message to the account of Reclaim the Agenda but there has been no reply. We are now bringing this to public attention. A reply from Reclaim the Agenda is still welcome as are responses from activists within the broader feminist movement in Belfast. (read more)
This year workers are gathering for May Day events in an increasingly
hostile environment. On a local, national and international level the lives and
livelihoods of working-class people are under threat like never before. Austerity and racism are the order of the day
while the drumbeat for war sounds ever louder. (read more)
The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April 2023 was met with jubilation and celebration in Belfast. Past and present taoisigh (Irish government leaders), British prime ministers, US presidents and a raft of academics were brought together by the local universities and media in an extended celebration.Yet all is not well. If the decay of the agreement is of concern, the universal failure of academia, of the press, the trade unions and political parties to acknowledge such decay is astounding. John McAnulty provides that missing critique and suggests how Ireland will move beyond this historic inflection to fulfill the revolutionary implications of its initial struggle for freedom.
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10 April 2023
25 Years On: in the debris of the Good Friday Agreement
The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is being
marked by assemblies of the great and the good. Joe Biden rushes through the
North, avoiding attention to the barren political landscape. On RTE television
the ghost of Bertie Ahern dominates, while the high point will be the upcoming visit
of Bill and Hilary Clinton and Tony Blair to a celebration at Queens
University.
No-one will remark on the unsavoury character of
these saints of peace. Even less will anyone notice that the fine mansion that
they built is now in ruins. (read more)
Defend a woman’s right to tell
the truth - 20/10/21
People before Profit student
society calls for ‘no-platforming’ of feminists and LGB rights activists -
25/03/21
Puberty Blockers: An
unregulated live experiment on children - 17/04/21
Vulnerable children being seen
at Gender Clinics - 06/03/21
On the Reactionary Roots of
Queer Theory - 28/02/21
A new front in human
liberation, or a medical scandal in the making? - 09/01/21
Amnesty International Ireland opposes the right to free speech -
06/11/20
Gender Identity Ideology, the Trans Rights
Movement, and
homophobia - 27/09/20
Socialism, Feminism and transgender politics -
07/09/20
All COVERAGE
Socialist Democracy Statement on Coronavirus pandemic - 28/03/20
The promise and reality of vaccination -28/03/21
Herd immunity - myth and reality - 30/11/20
Coronavirus pandemic - a deepening health and economic crisis - 28/07/20
Protest, class conflict and Covid 19 - 06/05/20
Unionism’s silent shift on the pandemic
- 16/05/20
Ideology and Science - 05/05/20
Big Pharma in Ireland - 24/04/20
Europe and the pandemic - 09/04/20
All COVERAGE
Rayner O’Connor Lysaght Presente!
Tributes from
International
Viewpoint
Irish
Labour History Society
Socialist
Voice
Sráid
Marx
Emancipation,
Liberation & Self-determination
Workers
Liberty
Irish
Republican Marxist History Project
The
Pensive Quill
Irish
Left Archive
Obituray from the Irish Independent
A selection of writings by Rayner can be found online at:
Socialist Democracy
Arguments for a Workers' Republic
The Encyclopedia of Trotskyism
Red Mole Rising
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