The Stormont
Executive recently unveiled the Programme for Government (PfG), its first
programme for eleven years. The PfG was
agreed in draft form last September before going out for consultation. The finalised version, titled “Our Plan:
Doing What Matters Most”, sets out the Executive’s roadmap for the remaining
two years of its mandate. (read more)
As Donald Trump remarked: “It made great television.” Now that the drama in the Oval Office is over, we can examine the political conflict behind it.This was a shakedown by Trump to gain control of Ukrainian mineral rights. Zelensky was willing to agree but, supported by Macron and Starmer, he opposed the US moves towards a settlement with Russia, making it perfectly clear that he wants to continue the war. (read more)
The views
of the Secretary of State, the Irish News, the Sinn Fein First Minister and Little-Pengelly
of the DUP have something in common and that is an agreement, in public at
least, that Stormont needs to prove that it can make a difference to the economic
situation in the North, going beyond its mere existence for one whole year. The
reasons for the political decay of Stormont up to its collapse and non
existence as a devolved government are not really analysed. It hasn’t gone
away. The problem is the Good Friday Agreement itself. (read more)
Karl Marx frequently warned against confusing
appearance and reality, concentrating on the foam at the top of the beer while
ignoring the chemical reactions occurring beneath the surface. Focusing on the
peculiarities of Donald Trump’s character will not explain the dangers of the
current moment. It is glaringly obvious
that he has been put in place to meet the needs of US imperialism and is
meeting almost no resistance. (read more)
The potential consequences of the second Trump presidency
for the global economy are being calculated by governments across the
world. Nowhere is this more so the case
than in Ireland. Its dependence on US
multinationals for economic growth and tax revenue make it uniquely vulnerable.
Moreover, Trump officials have explicitly referenced the Irish state, in
relation to its tax and trade policies, as an example of what they dislike
about the current international economic framework. (read more)
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)
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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