Editorial from The Commune, no. 6 The jobs massacre currently taking place under the cover of recession is an attack which particularly endangers casually or precariously employed workers; furthermore, migrants are also being scapegoated for ‘stealing’ hard-to-come-by jobs. Immigrants, many of whom are forced to leave their countries of birth by repressive regimes directly or…
August 1969
Patricia Campbell reviews a crucial event in Irish history which occurred 40 years ago. This article first appeared in Fourthwrite (Summer 2009) August 1969 was the year that transformed the face of the North forever. The civil rights marches of the previous year had launched a movement for change that the Stormont regime found impossible…
Lisbon Treaty passed in second referendum
JM Thorn, Socialist Democracy (Ireland) analyses the defeat of the Irish Left in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum. The Lisbon Treaty was passed on October 2nd, overturning its rejection by the Irish people in June 2008. The margin of victory was emphatic – the ‘Yes’ vote winning by a majority of 67 percent of voters…
Can the SNP deliver independence?
We assess the politics behind the SNP government’s proposed independence referendum and its likelihood of success. Megrahi, behind-the-scenes deals and the ‘liberal’ US onslaught Political developments in Scotland are hotting-up in the aftermath of the decision by Kenny MacAskill, the SNP’s Justice Minister, to release Abdelbaset Ali-Mohamed al-Megrahi, the so-called Libyan bomber, on compassionate grounds.…
Emancipation & Liberation, Issue 18, Autumn 2009
Issue 18 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. Editorial: Can the SNP deliver Independence?,…
Edinburgh People’s Festival: Inspirational and Educational
Colin Fox speaks to Allan Armstrong about the vision and mission of the Edinburgh People’s Festival What made you revive the Edinburgh Peoples Festival after almost 50 years? We didn’t start off with the intention of reviving the Edinburgh Peoples Festival (EPF). At Hamish Henderson’s funeral in 2002, a group of us, including Bill Scott,…
Half truths, mistruths and anything but the truth— a brief history of a century of wartime propaganda
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. —Voltaire The government of the United States had a major problem. It was April 1917, and on the sixth day of that month, eager to get into the First World War, they declared war on Germany. Their big problem was this. Although the…
Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People –What does it stand for?
When the RCN used the image of the bare-breasted Liberty from the iconic Delacroix painting as a front cover for our pamphlet, Republicanism, Socialism and Democracy, this provoked a debate in the SSP. Catriona Grant, leading socialist feminist, and member of SSP Edinburgh no 2 branch contributes to the debate. Why are Liberty’s breasts bared…
Clearances
From Dornoch we moved further north not as north as where she was born but north enough to understand; to understand her returning She sat there beneath the sculpture Of ‘The Emigrants’ at Helmsdale, Moved by the woman looking back To the strath that was once her home. For she too had to leave here…
Letter From A Contract Worker
I wanted to write you a letter my love, a letter that would tell of this desire to see you of this fear of losing you of this more than benevolence that I feel of this indefinable ill that pursues me of this yearning to which I live in total surrender… I wanted to write…