An invitation to the palace to accept a New Year honour…you must be joking. Benjamin Zephaniah won’t be going. Here he explains why. We have reprinted this article from The Guardian, Thursday November 27, 2003. I woke up on the morning of November 13 wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace…
Bono Finally Finds What He’s Been Looking For – a Knighthood
by JM Thorn This article is reproduced from the Socialist Democracy website I have no embarrassment at all. No shame. Bono, 2006 The quotation above was Irish rock star’s Bono attempt at self deprecating humour. However, being devoid of the humility required to make it work as a joke, it stands more as a statement…
Secularism, Socialism and Religion
Bob Goupillot outlines a Marxist approach to religion A Marxist understanding of religion Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is…
Footprints on the Face
by Rod Macgregor On a clear autumn evening I watched the moon rising, It was big, it was bright, in its heavenly place, How clever we are, I thought, we’ve walked on you, And behind us we’ve left footprints on your face. No wind will blow there to ever remove them, No one will build…
The Sinn Fein Ard Fheis and the Collapse of Republicanism
Joe Craig (Socialist Democracy – Belfast) analyses the recent developments in Ireland’s republican movement The vote at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis to support the police force and judicial system of the Northern State is dramatic evidence of the collapse of republican consciousness. Publication the week beforehand of the ombudsman’s report into police collusion with…
Naming Women’s Oppression
As we celebrate 98 years of International Women’s Day, Catriona Grant, the SSP Women and Equality Policy Coordinator, explains what feminism is and how it fits into socialist practice and ideology The suffragette movement was a bourgeois movement I’m a Marxist not a feminist, I stand for the liberation of all workers The socialist movement…
No War On Iran!
No to imperialist war! No to the theocratic regime! A statement issued by Hands Off the People of Iran campaign We recognise that there is an urgent need to establish a principled solidarity campaign with the people of Iran. The contradictions between the interests of the neo-conservatives in power in the USA and the defenders…
Against Imperialist War, for Iran’s Workers
Yassamine Mather reports on the growing working class struggles within Iran Every day the European press and media publishes information about plans for a military attack against Iran. Although many of these articles repeat previous ‘revelations’, there is no doubt that the threat of limited or extensive military action by the US cannot be ruled…
One Year On
by Jim Aitken One year on after the wind subsided and the floods disappeared there was still a scene reminiscent of some battle zone with dilapidated houses piles of debris lying there upturned and rusting cars broken boats moored in-land amid the empty, eerie desolation One year on he said New Orleans will be rebuilt…
Peak Oil, Oil Depletion, & Alternative Energies
Rod Macgregor examines the oil depletion debate, its consequences for the world economy and a socialist response Peak Oil & oil depletion A debate is currently raging among oil professionals, and it splits into two camps. This debate focuses on a day called Peak Oil, the day in the future when oil production reaches an…