At the start of the war in Ukraine various leftists in the
West said that we should listen to the voices of Ukrainian socialists, which
might have made some sense were these people socialist. Except they are
not. Two recent statements by them
confirm their reactionary character and have value only to illuminate their
political bankruptcy and, by extension, those in the West who follow them and
have called for others to do so. (read more)
On November 10th Stormont’s
First Minister Michelle O’Neill participated in a Remembrance Sunday ceremony
at Belfast City Hall – the first time a senior Sinn Féin figure has taken part
in such an event. More than 100 relatives of republicans killed in the Troubles
attacked her ‘shameful’ decision to honour those they blame for the violence in
the Troubles. (read more)
A standard cry from Sinn Féin
supporters in the North has always been: “wait until Labour comes to power!” After all, the programme of the British Labour Party over generations has, at
least formally, been in support of an Irish democracy. Surely the close ollaboration with Unionism would
come to an end?
Sir
Kier Starmer did not wait for the British general election to upend these
fancies. He said he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain part of the
UK if such a referendum was held in his lifetime. (read more)
The Starmer - Reeves Labour budget has been lambasted as a traditional tax, spend and borrow budget in the tradition
of old Labour. That’s not true. Old Labour budgets were based on Keynesian ideas of high levels of government
spending to stimulate the economy and on the high levels of profit drawn into Britain through imperialist exploitation. (read more)
The opening of Belfast’s brand-new traffic hub designed
to be at the heart of the North’s new transport policy was hailed as a triumph
of the devolved administration. Yet getting from A to B in Belfast in the past
few weeks has been problematic. As widely reported, the reason is the troubled
opening of the same “travel hub”. Demolition of the nearby Boyne Bridge and the
closure of nearby streets, for perhaps a year, has caused chaos. (read more)
Last month an enormous demonstration in Dublin, linked to ongoing protests around the world, showed the mass
sympathy here for the Palestinian cause. Today’s march will demonstrate that sympathy yet again. Yet the genocide, carried out by Israel with the support of the US, proceeds apace. A mass siege of northern Gaza involves the outright slaughter of civilians, starvation and destruction of the remaining medical facilities. (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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