John McAnulty analyses what Sinn Fein and the IRA are signing up for Tony Blair managed to avoid saying that the hand of history was on his shoulder, but even without that there was enough overblown bombast from London, Washington and Dublin to reward the Provisional republican leadership for their 28th July announcement effectively disbanding…
Paisley triumphant as UUP implodes
by John McAnulty (Socialist Democracy, Belfast) When the leader of Ulster Unionism, David Trimble, is defeated at the polls by over 5000 votes in favour of a hymn-singing local meat plant owner and subsequently resigns as UUP leader we can be sure that something historic is happening. The swing of 45% effected by Jeffrey Donaldson…
Holy Cross – the hidden story
Holy Cross – the hidden story has one overwhelming strength. Written by a journalist, it is made up of close-grained and exhaustive interviews of many of the leading participants, providing in meticulous detail a blow-by blow account of a truly extraordinary and horrific episode. Yet the book’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Rather…
Behind the great Northern Bank Heist
What does it mean when the chief police officer in a state holds a press conference and implicates the second largest party in a massive bank heist? What does it mean when the chief constable presents no evidence for his claim? His statement is based on a hunch, intelligence, the direction of a number of…
Ireland: The December collapse
Not the death of the Good Friday agreement – the death of its daughter by John McAnulty (Socialist Democracy, Belfast) The chief theory behind the latest slapstick collapse of what is still called the Irish Peace Process, despite being sponsored by Bush and Blair, the butchers of Fallujah, is what is best called the ‘if…
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…
Northern Ireland elections lay bare the contradictions of imperialist rule
John McAnulty (Socialist Democracy, Belfast) analyses the election campaigns run by political parties for the Northern Ireland Assembly and what the results mean for the Good Friday Agreement. The results The outcome of the elections in the North of Ireland, in factual terms, is simple enough. Among nationalists Sinn Fein triumphed over the traditional leadership…
Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement the end and no perhaps
John McAnulty (Socialist Democracy, Belfast) examines the end of the Good Friday Agreement and its effect on the political forces in Ireland The April cancellation of elections to the local Stormont assembly in the North of Ireland marks a significant new stage in the decay of British plans to bring about a settlement of the…
Goodbye to the Good Friday Agreement
Now for the real drive to preserve partition and sectarianism in the North of Ireland John McAnulty (Socialist Democracy, Belfast) details the reasons for the latest crisis of the Good Friday Agreement The history books will undoubtedly list the collapse of the current version of the Good Friday Agreement as stemming from the British raid…
Jubilee: Ireland
John McAnulty remembers the Silver Jubilee celebrations, 25 years ago One of the unfortunate things about being long in the tooth is that you occasionally have to confess to being present at historical events. I have to confess to being a political activist at the time of the last jubilee, 25 years ago. In fact,…