Socialist Democracy

Scandal and cover up lead to strategic crisis for Sinn Féin

17/10/24

As the Dublin coalition moves towards a general election, Sinn Féin are embroiled in a slow-motion car crash around internal investigation and disciplinary procedures.  In the North a former Sinn Féin press officer who was accused (and later convicted of) various sexual offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity received two references from other party staff members that led to his employment by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).   (read more)


Casement Park debacle

14/10/24

The recent announcement by the British government that it would not be providing any additional funding for the redevelopment of the Casement Park GAA stadium in west Belfast is a major blow for the Stormont Executive and for Sinn Fein in particular.   The expectation was that the building of a high-grade multi-sports stadium at Casement Park would allow Belfast to be one of the host cities for the finals of the Euro 2028 soccer tournament.  (read more)

On Adam Hanieh’s Crude Capitalism

04/10/24 (Monthly Review)

Adam Hanieh’s new book, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market (Verso, 2024) could not be timelier. As all eyes turn to Baku for COP29, the capitalist world heads to yet another performance of misdirection. In contrast to that monumental deception, we need to see things as they really stand and take action accordingly. (read more)

Labour and the unions

11/10/24

The TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, has made great claims for the new Workers’ Rights Bill being introduced this week. The deal is linked to a public sector pay deal which was the minimum that would get through a union vote and has not been accepted in many areas, especially in the NHS.  According to Nowak, the Bill will turn the tables on the  Conservatives’ “low rights  low pay economy” and will “make work pay again”.    (read more)


The Excitement of the Stuff

10/10/24  (London Review of Books)

In the later decades​ of the last century, a new wave of ideas broke across the study of literature throughout the world. Known simply as ‘theory’, it ranged from structuralism to feminism, semiotics to hermeneutics, Marxism to deconstruction. All this was formidably abstract stuff, but it managed to be sexy as well.   (read more)

Report on the most recent national Palestine Solidarity demonstration in Dublin

08/10/24

On October 5th, as Israel pounded both Gaza and Lebanon, up to 50,000 people marched through the streets of Dublin to protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the expansion of the war to Lebanon and what may be the beginning of a genocide there.   The march started off from Parnell Square and went to Molesworth St.  There was some sense of routine about the march, despite the swell in numbers due to what is happening in Lebanon.   (read more)

Videos

Gender identity ideology

Presentation by Orla Ni Chomhrai on why socialists should oppose a dogma which undermines women's rights, gay rights, free speech, and science.

18 October 2021