Analysis

A New Politics

August 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

We live on an island blighted by politics based on myths rather than realities. In the republic, two parties vie for power claiming to represent different visions when they really serve the same powerful interests. People in Northern Ireland are offered little choice in economic and social policy by parties that at election time happily attract voters into polling booths with the low beat of tribal drums. The economic crisis has exposed, once again, the shared class interests of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. For decades, these parties have fostered a link between speculation and the provision of... [Read the full story]

Latest

Tory-LibDem Budget “Worst Single Attack on Workers Since Thatcher”

June 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The British ruling ConDem coalition’s emergency Budget has been denounced as “the worst single attack on the working class since the days of Margaret Thatcher” by the Workers’ Party. “Although the ConDems pretend it’s a ‘fair and balanced budget’, it is in fact a massive onslaught on the already poor and disadvantaged”, WP spokesman Paddy Lynn said. According to the ConDem plans, outlined by multimillionaire Chancellor George Osborne, over the next four years public sector spending will fall by 25 per cent in real terms, with the exception of the NHS and the international aid... [Read the full story]

Left Debate

Ending Business As Usual

July 12, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Conservatism feeds off public cynicism towards politics. Fingal Labour party councillor Patrick Nulty led opposition to yet another junket trip by his fellow public representatives. Here he outlines why. At a recent meeting of Fingal County Council I raised a formal objection to councillors attending a housing conference in Brazil scheduled for November 2010. The convention at council meetings had been that such events would be simply nodded through without any debate or discussion. Councillors voted by thirteen votes to eight to sanction the trip. Those who were in favour of allowing councillors... [Read the full story]

History

Fine Gael’s Fascist Roots

August 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

“They are simply, if you like, being anti-democratic; it’s almost fascist,” is how MEP Jim Higgins scolded his Fine Gael colleagues when they attempted a June putsch against party leader Enda Kenny. It was a dangerous charge to level at members of an organisation that once admired European fascism, as historian Brian Hanley outlines. The most serious fascist movement to emerge in Ireland were the Blueshirts during the 1930s. At their height, the Blueshirts had as many as 48,000 members, organised across the Free State and were led by a man who Michael Collins had identified as his successor. Although... [Read the full story]

Guest writers

Maynooth Students: Mobilising for Progress

July 14, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Free Education for Everyone (FEE) activist Donal Fallon reports on the success of NUI Maynooth students in organizing to oppose Fianna Fáil corruption and support the unions. The ‘Student Movement’ in Ireland is a funny one. It tends to find itself in a stagnant state and with its banners well and truly under the stairs for three to four years at a time. Then, as if like clockwork, a wise Minister of Education will come forward with the idea of third level fees and once more students will be loaded onto mini buses to parade from the Garden of Remembrance to the front of Dáil Éireann. The... [Read the full story]

World

The US Imperial Adventure in Iraq Continues

August 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The last US combat brigade has left Iraq, but 50,000 US troops and thousands more foreign mercenaries remain in the country to preserve US strategic and economic interests, reports Ultán Gillen. In the early hours of Thursday 19th August, the last US combat brigade crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait. As the soldiers of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division prepared to leave, their commanding officer informed them “Operation Iraqi Freedom ends on your watch”. For the second time, the US has declared that the war in Iraq is over. The reality, however, is not so simple. The US... [Read the full story]

News

The US Imperial Adventure in Iraq Continues

Sectarianism and Racism Must be Defeated

The establishment of the Tomás MacGiolla Centre for Citizenship and Reconciliation will help the direct confrontation of the related problems of sectarianism and racism, writes Seán Garland. Sectarianism and its near relations racism and xenophobic nationalism, are menaces principally because they poison relations between members of different... Read more of this article

Defence Forces Being Drawn into EU Army

The full incorporation of the Defence Forces into foreign military alliances has come a step closer with the announcement that Irish troops are to participate in “warfare training” as part of the EU Nordic Battlegroup set-up. Troops based at Collins Barracks in Cork are to travel to Sweden next October to take part in the military exercises. Cork... Read more of this article

‘Get Out and Stay Out’ British Voters Tell BNP

Internal plots and a wipe-out at the polls has left the British National Party in tatters, Ultán Gillen reports. Despite their grand claims before the vote, the BNP never came close to winning any seats in the recent British General Election. In their number one target constituency, Barking in London, wannabe-furher Nick Griffin was crushed by sitting... Read more of this article

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