Tsunami: an act of nature and the laws of capitalism

Nick Clarke looks at the global reaction to the tsunami and how capitalism is responsible for the human consequences. The devastating tsunami that smashed through the coastal areas of countries that ring the Indian Ocean on December 26th exposed the contradictions and contrasts that exist across the globe in the 21st Century. This ‘act of…

Upholding socialist principles

Scottish Socialist Party members cannot have failed to be affected and concerned by the events surrounding Tommy Sheridan’s resignation as the party’s convenor, the subsequent speculation and ‘analysis’ in the media and the handling of the events by the SSP Executive Committee. During the internal discussions the question of what socialist principles should be guiding…

Suffering is no substitute for programme

D. Rayner O’Connor Lysaght, (Socialist Democracy, Dublin) argues that although the Jacobite Rising drew on social discontents it was incapable of resolving them postively. Reading Dave Douglass’ passionate defence of the Jacobite Rising of ‘45, it became clear how much more relevant it is today than he seems to realise. In the Middle East, hundreds…

‘Unionism’, Progress and the Socialist Tradition in Scottish History

Neil Davidson, author of Discovering the Scottish Revolution, replies to some of the discussion and debate his book has provoked. I have been invited by the editors of Emancipation And Liberation to participate in the discussion about Discovering The Scottish Revolution here and in the pages of Scottish Socialist Voice and Frontline[1]Joe Hartney, Scots Far…

Emancipatory Science

Despite its misuse and abuse by capitalism, Iain Robertson illustrates how science and scientists have a progressive role to play. As debates continue about GM crops, global warming and environmental degradation, scientists can easily become regarded as a faceless group in the pay of the industrial/military machine that increasingly blights our lives across the globe.…

The Politics of Disability

Why is disability a question for socialists and what issues does it raise for us as socialists? Well, you only need to look at the Disability Rights Section of the SSP manifesto to answer these questions: There are about 800,000 disabled people in Scotland. 68 % of households with a disabled person have an Income…

Loyalist reaction the dominant theme at the Social Democratic and Labour Party deathbed

Andrew Johnson and John McAnulty examine the Euro election results in the North of Ireland. (Reprinted from Socialist Democracy website) Anyone seeking to understand the outcome of the European elections in the North of Ireland must first of all understand the extent to which the mix of colonialism, partition and sectarianism dominate local politics and…

Welsh election results

Mike Davies gives his views on the council and Euro-elections in Wales Ten candidates for the Welsh Euro-election seats left the two left parties squeezed badly. Forward Wales, whose lead candidate Ron Davies surprisingly failed to gather much in the way of media attention, polled 17,000 votes (1.9%) fairly evenly across the country. Respect polled…

European Anti Capitalist Left Manifesto

Anti Capitalist Manifesto for a Different Europe: social and democratic, feminist and ecologist, peaceful and in solidarity. (The EACL manifesto for the June 10 Euro elections.) February 15, 2003, was a historic date: tens of millions of people, all around the world, demonstrated to stop the war. Moreover, these unprecedented mobilisations show a strong political…