The SWP gained some notoriety on the Left when it came out against Opposition to all immigration controls in the pre-split Respect. Now, no longer bound by Galloway’s Left British Unionism, Socialist Worker published the following useful contribution to the debate. Millions of working people across Britain are fearful and angry at the mounting economic…
Brown’s Appeal To British Chauvinism
Mary McGregor highlights the dangers to the working class movement of Brown’s speech to the TUC. I remember hearing the report of Gordon Brown’s speech to the TUC in 2007 and the phrase British jobs for British workers. As someone who has tried to fight the rise of nationalism, chauvinism and fascism all my adult…
Hands Off The People of Iran: Campaign Update
Hands Off the People of Iran (Hopi) is an anti-war, anti-imperialist organisation which organises in solidarity with democratic, secular and socialist working-class forces in Iran. It believes that, while regime change is desirable in Iran (as it is in the western imperialist countries), this must come from the Iranian people and working class itself and…
Isolate ‘Apartheid’ Israel
Nick Clarke analyses the latest stages of Israel’s war on the Palestinians and the role of the solidarity movement As the media spotlight on Israel’s latest re-invasion and brutal bombardment of Gaza begins to dim, the Israeli state’s punishment of the Palestinian people continues. The explicit aims of the new year invasion were to stop…
Deirdre McCartin, 1944 – 2009
The RCN only got to know of Deidre during one of her several phases of political and cultural activity. We met Deidre and her partner, Charlie Rees in the early days of the SSA and SSP, when they moved from Allihies in County Kerry to Dunure in Ayrshire. Here they joined the Ayrshire SSP branch. They were…
Inside Ulster Loyalism
by Ed Walsh – Irish Socialist Network (first published in Resistance no. 8) UVF: The Endgame (Poolbeg, 2008) by Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald Jim Cusack and Henry McDonald are well placed to tell the story of the UVF, having spent decades building up contacts inside the loyalist scene. If you want to know what…
Sinn Fein’s ‘Michael Collins Moment’
John McAnulty of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) assesses the political impact of the return of physical force republicanism, after the killings in Antrim and Craigavon’. There has been a united response by all the Irish and British political parties to the killing of British soldiers in Antrim and the later killing of a policeman in Craigavon.…
Normality? By Whose Standards?
The second, from the eirigi website (eirigi) (19.12.08), contrasts the current role of the armed forces in the Six Counties and in Scotland. However, if there is ever to be a serious move towards the exercise of Scottish self-determination, we too could experience such British ‘normality’. As of January 2009, the British army in the…
Challenging Normalisation On The Streets Of Belfast
A month has now passed since the controversial British military ‘homecoming parade’ in Belfast. While there was considerable media hype in the run-up to the November 2nd military display, there was a noticeable lack of any in-depth analysis as to why the parade was organised in the first place. Instead, the corporate media ran endless…
Dublin mobilisation – Lions led by donkeys
On Sunday, February 21st, 120,000 workers answered the call of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and took to the streets of Dublin. John McAnulty, of Socialist Democracy (Ireland), makes his assessment of both the potential and the political limitations of this massive demonstration. It has become unfashionable to speak of working class power. Asserting…