éirígí’s Rúnaí Ginearálta, Breandán Mac Cionnaith, has responded to the decision by the Sinn Féin leadership to endorse a meeting with the British queen, Elizabeth Windsor, commander-in-chief of Britain’s armed forces. Mac Cionnaith said, “The decision by Sinn Féin to meet with the British queen is not in the least unsurprising, unanticipated or unexpected. However,…
Why The Independence Referendum Is Being Turned Into One On NATO
Murdo Ritchie looks at what is behind the SNP leadership’s move to drop party policy against NATO. The coming referendum on Scottish independence is rapidly being turned into one on NATO membership too. It is consciously being used to shape the future character of Scotland’s relationship with the principal nuclear weapons powers. Supposedly, only a…
Marian Price Campaign
FROM BELMARSH TO BELFAST Bernadette Devlin McAliskey civil rights activist, witness to Bloody Sunday, leading spokesperson for Smash H-Block campaign in 1980-81 and former MP for mid-Ulster spoke at a Glasgow meeting on 14th June 2012 entitled From Belfast to Belmarsh which called for the end to internment and detention without trial, freedom for Marian…
A Summer Of Radical Culture
Edinburgh Peoples Festival August 6th-12th 1. People’s History of Edinburgh August 6th, 6.30 pm, Outside The Last Drop Public House, Grassmarket Local historian Allan Armstrong leads us on this walk through the Edinburgh that never makes it into the official guide books. This is the people’s history of ‘Auld Reekie’ shaped by those who lived…
The ‘Independence-Lite’ Referendum And A Tale Of Two Campaigns
The SNP‘s ‘Yes, Please’ And The Left Nationalists’ ‘Yes, But…’ Tale No. 1 – the launch of the SNP’s Yes campaign Alex Salmond launched the ‘Yes’ campaign for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum at Cineworld in Edinburgh’s Fountainbridge on the morning of Friday, May 25th. Apart from the delayed start, this media orientated event, attended…
Dave Douglass Reviews Gregor Gall’s ‘Tommy Sheridan, From Hero To Zero?’
Tommy Sheridan, From Hero To Zero? – A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY Welsh Academic Press, 2012, pp384, £25 Tommy and Gail Sheridan: a giant conspiracy? Given the still raw emotions, ongoing political bitterness and entrenched sectarian positions around Tommy Sheridan, this is a remarkably objective and balanced work. It is also extremely well written and presented. The…
The Democrat Party Derails The Struggle In Wisconsin
The Wisconsin left failed to form a powerful opposition to Governor Scott Walker’s regime. That failure was the catalyst for the recall strategy. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin was able to utilize mass protest and street action for its own selfish goals, and hoped to gain power through a bourgeois electoral process which would pit…
Socialist Republicanism And The Diamond Jubilee
The RCN is posting four pieces as a contribution to the debate on a socialist republican the Diamond Jubilee. Socialist Republicans and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Republicanism Socialism and Democracy The Crown Rules Britannia The Queen: Floating in the Stink 1. Socialist Republicans and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee “Maud Gonne joined with James Connolly in…
RCN – What We Stand For
The Republican Communist Network (Scotland) What We Stand For – From Theory to Practice As a network we regularly review our tactics and strategy in view of our principles of emancipation and liberation and our vision of the global commune. We discussed and updated these at our annual weekend away, held this year in Perthshire,…
Price Demonstration Shows Growing Anger At The Return Of Internment
The Belfast demonstration in support of Marian Price on the 27th of May should give pause to the British government and to local politicians. The size of the demonstration; 4000 to 5000, and the number of young people involved shows the growing levels of concern and anger at the internment of Marian and a growing…