Category: News & Analysis
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Britain: Burnham’s token sanctions on Israel change nothing
Last week, the UK government announced a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. The government has presented these measures as Britain standing “for fairness against injustice”, but the reality is that these cynical politicians stand for nothing. [Originally published on Marxist.com] On 8 September, new Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, announced that the UK would…
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Spain: Sánchez calls early elections – the streets demand a general strike
The last ten days have turned Spanish politics upside down. The eviction of 87-year-old private renter, Maricarmen, from her flat in Sainz de Baranda street in Madrid on 23 September set off a chain of events which very few expected, but which nevertheless were implicit in the situation. Housing has been a major issue in Spain for…
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‘Let them all burn’: Ireland, crisis and class anger
The thirteenth issue of the Revolutionary Communist is coming out this week! Read the editorial of this issue below, and set up a physical or digital subscription now. Or meet us at one of our regular stalls to buy a copy directly from our comrades. Every subscription and paper bought will help us strengthen the revolutionary press, produce more…
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Bond market troubles reveal impending crisis
The US government is having to pay increasing amounts of interest to borrow money. For the first time since 2007, interest on its 10-year debt has reached five percent. The crisis in the bond markets reflects the pressures arising from the Hormuz crisis, protectionism and the chaotic AI buildout. It is revealing all the contradictions…
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Plugging leaks – Ireland’s crumbling water infrastructure
With long, warm summers set to become the norm for Europe, the crisis of Ireland’s water infrastructure is reaching boiling point. At the end of July, a nationwide hosepipe ban was brought in and has been extended until the end of September across half the state. Uisce Éireann (UÉ) have justified the ban based on…
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The ghosts of Drumcree
On the morning of Sunday 27 September, it seemed the North stood on the brink of the abyss. As the Orange Order was gearing up for a march down the Garvaghy Road, loyalists gathered in Portadown city centre to welcome them. Thousands of residents from the mainly nationalist area, meanwhile, linked arms to blockade the…
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Stop the game! Fight Imperialism and its lackeys!
On 27 September, Ireland will play Israel over 2,500km away from Ireland in Hungary. On 4 October, Ireland’s ‘home’ leg shifted to a ‘neutral’ ground in Serbia. At both matches, no Irish supporter will be let through a turnstile. On the one hand the FAI insists its hands are tied by UEFA. On the other…
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Donald Trump’s contribution to the discussion on a United Ireland summed up
Donald Trump has some choice words on Irish unification when he took a detour from his golf trip last week to visit the Taoiseach. At their meeting he unexpectedly announced: “They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right? I’d love to see it unified,” adding later that it would be “a very cool thing”.…
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Permission granted to cement over mother and baby home
Despite decades of promises and apologies, the church and state are attempting to pave over historic abuse on the site of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork. At least 923 children died at Bessborough between the 1920s and 1990s. Infant mortality in the 1940s reached 82 percent. 859 of these dead children have…
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Donaldson’s fall and the DUP’s crisis
The unprecedented scandal surrounding former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, who has been convicted of 18 counts of sexual abuse against children – including one count of rape – has shaken the DUP to its very core. For the first time in five years, the latest opinion polls have failed to place the DUP as the…