The January ceasefire between HAMAS and the Israeli
forces brought a sense of relief. It
appeared that the resilience shown by the people of Gaza over fifteen months had
finally exhausted the IDF; that Trump would call for a peace settlement; that the
Israelis would accept defeat and that Gaza could be rebuilt. (read more)
We have read with interest your article on Palestine
solidarity and a previous article criticising the operation of the solidarity
movement in Ireland and the absence of a broad enough action against Israel and
the US. You also criticise an absence of policy. We broadly agree with your outline but not
with your conclusions. (read more)
The
concept of multi-polarity has become the major theme of geopolitics in recent
years. Its basic proposition is that the
global political economy is undergoing a fundamental change, moving from
unipolarity (domination of the United States) to multipolarity where a number
of nations and blocs contend for influence.
The decline of the US and the rise of China is seen as the central
dynamic for such a change. (read more)
The
Stormont Brake was part of the Windsor Framework which was an agreement between
the British government and the EU in February 2023 intended by the Tory government
to pacify Unionist resistance to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
This had been
part of the Brexit agreement in which the North would remain subject to some
European Single Market regulations; a big blow to unionism’s long-term
strategy. (read more)
The Children of Gaza
conference, organised by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) in
Dublin on Saturday 18th January, completed one overwhelming service in
allowing the voices of Palestinians, especially the voices of Palestinian
children, to be heard. The tone was set by Francesca Albanese, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, attending
online, who said that childhood had been stolen from the Palestinians. (read more)
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has assembled, on a low vote and
on the back of a previous unpopular government, one of the most right-wing administrations
in modern Irish history. It has promised more of the same – a crisis of housing
and public services in fealty to transnational capital. The administration is only
assembling and the news has come in that the new Trump agenda may well wreck Ireland’s
status as a tax haven. (read more)
Bookshelf
As part of a new publishing project Socialist Democracy is
digitising books, pamphlets and magazines from its back catalogue and putting them online for download. Click on
the link below to view the titles that are currently available.
view titles
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.
Buy Now: £6
(includes P&P UK & ROI)
Socialist Democracy replies to statement by the Red Network
January 2025
The Red Network, a platform of socialist activists within
PBP, has recently published a lengthy statement detailing its perspectives
on the current state of the Irish Left.
This is pitched as an effort to open up discussion and debate on the
formation of a revolutionary left current.
We welcome this initiative and are interested in being part of that
debate. As an initial contribution we have produced the following as a reply. (read more)
Socialist Democracy statement on neutrality
The headline rush by the Irish government into the ranks of
NATO, the clumsy duplicity of the fake consultation process and the evidence of
impunity in asking a conservative pro-NATO academic, a Dame of the British Empire,
to oversee the process has caused outrage across Ireland. (read more)
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)
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
Ireland's Housing Crisis
Discussion on the housing crisis with Brian Leeson of Eirigi and author Conor McCabe.
17 October 2021
Kevin Keating (1949-2020)
Rayner O' Connor Lysaght
(1941-2021 )