Liam O’Hare (Common Weal writer and Radical Independence campaigner) reports on the movement for Catalan independence In recent times, the winds of change have been sweeping Scotland and Catalonia. Disillusioned with big government, austerity economics and a lack of democracy, mass movements have emerged to demand radical change and self-determination. While the reasons fuelling the…
The Importance of Republicanism
Bernadette McAliskey gave the following talk at the ‘London Says Yes’ rally held on September 6th 2014 Going back in history there was the Great Debate in English democracy between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, which too may people forget. This debate preceded the more radical discussion on the rights of the working class. The…
England – nationalism versus republicanism
In England during the referendum, members of both the Left Unity Party (LUP) and the Republican Socialist Alliance organised meetings in London, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. In the aftermath of the September 18th, Steve Freeman (RSA and LUP/Scottish Republic Yes Tendency) provides his analysis of the campaign and its political consequences. On Thursday 18…
RIC – a Scottish republican movement in the making?
In the aftermath of the referendum, Allan Armstrong examines the potential for the Radical Independence Campaign The campaign for Scottish independence has been the largest movement for popular democracy seen in these islands since the Irish War of Independence. In terms of electoral participation it was unprecedented. Voter registration was 97% and voter turnout was…
Weeks when decades happen
Murdo Ritchie analyses the result of the independence referendum and what it means for Scotland the rest of the UK state. “There are decades in which nothing happens and there are weeks in which decades happen.” Lenin When 1,517,989 voters (44.7%) declared they were prepared to abandon their primary, legal national identity to build a…
Scottish Independence – A Feminist Response
Book Review: Scottish Independence – A Feminist Response, Authors: Cat Boyd & Jenny Morrison Publisher: Word Power Books Even when we lost we felt like we had won something It was an exciting time to be involved in Scottish politics. There was an optimism and vibe in workplaces and on the streets that I can…
An Open Gate
Dreaming, I saw a thistle field, in half light; It teemed with folk. Some, their loyalties elsewhere, took shelter from a threatened gale. They planned new batteries of defensive acts, to keep their rule. At their flank, a cringe of crawling servants let the surplus value of our better lands get stripped. There were some,…
Emancipation & Liberation, Issue 23, Winter 2014
Issue 23 of Emancipation & Liberation is out now. If you would like to buy this issue or subscribe, contact us. Comments are open, so until articles are online, feel free to discuss the articles below. When they are online you can discuss the article in it’s comment section. Front cover image, John Lanigan Weeks…
Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey Director: Leila Doolan
Zofia Walczak reviews the documentary, Notes on a Political Journey, made by the filmmaker, Leila Doolan, about the political life of Bernadette Devlin MacAliskey. In 1972, when the Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maulding stated that the British Army had only fired at Bloody Sunday protesters in self-defence, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey walked across the House of…
Seamus Heaney – A Tribute
Seamus Heaney, the celebrated Irish poet, died earlier this year on August 30th. He was a frequent visitor to Scotland and friend of Sorley Maclean and Norman MacCaig. He wrote the acclaimed translation from the Early Anglo-Saxon of the founding epic poem of England, Beowulf. Heaney was a great Irish internationalist. Mary McGregor has written…