The standard question from the media in the early days
of the current Israeli onslaught was: "do
you condemn Hamas?" If you said
yes, you were accepting that the conflict had begun with their breakout from
Gaza, that it was an out-of-control massacre that did not involve the IDF
killing their own civilians and that there was no need to reference decades of
Israeli oppression or the growth in ethnic cleansing under the Netanyahu
government. If you said no, you were a terrorist who could
be immediately dismissed. (read more)
The working class have an important role in the growth of fascist and racist forces. They can either mobilise to stop the growing movement in its tracks or retreat in disorder. From this perspective the Irish Congress of Trades union demonstration in Dublin was a massive betrayal of the workers movement. In February much lower levels of anti-migrant protest led to 50,000 marching in Dublin with the participation of a number of major unions alongside NGOs
and political parties. (read more)
More than a thousand British and Irish actors, writers, artists, directors, critics, musicians and playwrights have signed a petition demanding that art institutions stop their censorship of pro-Palestinian artists and individuals in the cultural field who seek to defend the Palestinian people from the Israeli genocide. Some of the better-known signatories include Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth in the popular television series, The Crown.(read more)
On Thursday 23rd of November three school kids
and a care worker were stabbed only yards from the city’s main
thoroughfare. The assailant turned out
to be originally from Algeria and gave an excuse to the far right to organise
and descend upon the city in an organised fashion to wreak havoc and threaten
migrants.
They had planned the event prior to the
stabbing. There had been other murders
and serious assaults perpetrated by migrants, so statistically it was only a
matter of time before another incident would happen and they could take
advantage of it. (read more)
In the context of the Zionist genocide in Gaza, a number of personalities and Palestinian solidarity organisations have asked that Netanyahu and others be put on trial by the International Criminal Court. This will not happen, that court has been described in vulgar but accurate terms as a stinker. It is true, its putrid stench is nauseating and the history of international tribunals is full of hypocrisy, even when they judge people who should be tried and punished.
We all know of the Nuremberg Tribunal where the Nazis were put on trial. (read more)
Paul Lynch’s novel Prophet Song has deservedly been short-listed for this year’s Booker Literary Award. The author spins a chillingly realistic tale of an Ireland governed by a fascistic regime in the throes of an armed conflict with its local opponents. The regime’s definition of public order is maintained by a newly created Garda National Services Bureau, assisted by rigorously enforced media censorship. (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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