Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society looks into the role of the Olympics in buttressing British ideology. So the Olympics are over and it is time to reflect on the significance of London 2012. While the coverage has been extensive, none of it has come close to a brilliant book published before London 2012…
The Angels’ Share
Ken Loach’s latest film is surely one of his best. The affectionate narrative tells the unlikely yet somehow plausible tale of four working class young Glaswegians who become experts in whiskey and who proceed to mount a heroic scam to make their fortune and their escape from lives of poverty and crime. A deft combination…
In The Aftermath Of Ballymurphy
Led by the families of the massacred, over 1000 relatives, neighbours and supporters defiantly snaked their way through the streets of the Greater Ballymurphy area in west Belfast on the Ballymurphy Massacre March for Truth on Sunday past, August 12. Joined by a strong contingent of éirígí activists, the march took time to pass, and…
James Kelman, The British Council And The 2012 Edinburgh Writers’ Conference
This is the talk James Kelman gave to the Edinburgh Festival Book Fringe held in Word Power bookshop on Friday, August 10th. On a recent Sunday the Herald had a twenty page full colour supplement in association with the Scottish Tourist Board. Stories from the land that inspired Disney Pixar’s Brave. That’s us. The land…
The Political Significance Of The Merger Of Irish Physical Force Republicans
We are posting two articles on the recently agreed merger between three of the physical force Republican groups. The first is by Tommy McKearney, former IRA hunger striker, and now in the Independent Workers Union . The second is by John McAnulty of Socialist Democracy (Ireland). John was a Peoples Democracy councillor on Belfast City…
Reports From Ireland – North And South
Below can be found two very interesting articles from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) forcussing on particular issues in Ireland. The first highlights the continued the sectarian nature of the post-Good Friday state in the North, and the second, the continued lowering of working class consciousness in the South, under the debilitating social partnership of state, big…
For An Independent Scottish Socialist Republic
The Republican Communist Network supports the creation of an independent Scottish Socialist Republic as a significant step towards communism. We look to and would support a Federation of European Socialist States. Our support is for a genuinely independent Republic, not a sham façade that presents a Scottish nationalism that settles for symbols, not substance. A…
Martin McGuinness Shakes Hands With Elizabrit
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…