The anointing of Simon Harris as the new Taoiseach was a decision taken by a deeply
unpopular party and was not the result of the balance of forces resulting from
a general election. The south of Ireland
has a parliamentary system, which means that it is parliament and not the
people who chose the leader, though the only eligible candidates are those who
have been elected to this parliament by the people. None of this formal democracy actually comes
across as democratic. (read more)
A recently finalised agreement on public sector pay in January had ICTU
spokespeople describing the talks as "difficult". In bureaucratic terms this means a bad deal. In a telling phrase the officials said that: "the new agreement, valued at 10.25% over 2.5 years, represented
the “absolute maximum achievable” through negotiations at this time." The idea that there might be some mode of advance
other than negotiations no longer occurs to the union bureaucracy. (read more)
One chapter of Judith Butler’s new book, Who’s Afraid of
Gender?, is called “TERFs and British matters of sex.” (“TERF” is an acronym
for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.) The book has not landed well on TERF
Island. “Butler flatters herself if she thinks there’s anything to be afraid of
in her work,” writes Sarah Ditum in the Times. Jane O’Grady’s review in the
Telegraph is titled “Is this the most incoherent book about gender yet?” (One
star out of five.) (read more)
The fall of Jeffrey
Donaldson hit Irish society like a bombshell, and was followed by instant
silence. The seriousness of the case of sexual abuse is illustrated by the fact
that the police decided on arrest despite Donaldson's position, rather than a
referral to the department of public prosecutions. Part of the shock came from
his much publicised Christianity,
although right wing religious movements are often infected by claims of sexual
abuse and Ireland provides an encyclopaedia of such cases. (read more)
On Good Friday the Palestinian Community in Belfast
issued a statement published by the Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Essentially it was a call for unity. However,
these remarks have to be put in context. At the previous week's march to the US
consulate there were furious scenes at the appearance of a Sinn Féin speaker on
the platform following the party’s decision to attend the Biden White House. (read more)
Beyoncé was back in the news once
again for a spot of cultural appropriation.
It was not her first brush with cultural Neanderthals, she has been here
before for apparently “stealing” Egyptian culture by dressing as
Nefertiti. Added into the mix was a
lesser-known black artist, Kaitlyn Sardin, who
excels at Irish dancing and dared produce some fusion dance routines. Beyoncé’s faux pas
was apparently to record a country & western album titled Cowboy Carter. (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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