Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Author Archive

Do Most British Far-Left Groups Understand Proportional Voting Systems?

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The answer appears to be a resounding NO!

In Ireland – both sides of the border – we are used to the Proportional Representation (PR) Voting System – it is used for all state elections in the part of Ireland ruled from Dublin – the other bit, ruled from Belfast, uses PR for assembly and local elections, but is lumbered with the First Past the Post method in Westminster polls.

The system is not perfect by any means – but it does mean seats are won more or less in proportion to votes cast – it would be even more proportional if constituencies were larger than the current five seat limit which applies in 26 County Dáil elections, or if we used a list system, as is used in the German State. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Apr 26, 2011 at 1:59 pm

Bernadette McAliskey Says Vote for People Before Profit in the May 5 Stormont Assembly Election

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Well Done Bernadette! :

http://www.eamonnmccann.com/1/post/2011/04/bernadette-mcaliskey-voting-for-people-before-profit.html

The former Mid-Ulster MP is also supporting Patricia Campbell And other independent left candidates :

http://www.facebook.com/people/Vote-Patricia-Campbell/100002194692882

A left unity strategy is happening in the six counties, as well as the twenty-six (let us hope the United Left Alliance continues to develop in a positive way after the February 25 result, when  five ULA TD’s won seats in the current Dáil).

Written by tomasoflatharta

Apr 25, 2011 at 10:22 pm

Gene Kerrigan – A Pearl Among Sunday Independent Swine

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We continue from last week, with our one gripe against the Cedar Lounge Comrades – and still recommend readers to avoid the Sunday Independent, with one exception.

Once again Gene Kerrigan is well worth reading, this time on the subject of corporate donations :


http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 27, 2011 at 2:22 pm

Posted in Ireland

Enda wants a nicer cabin on the Titanic – Gene Kerrigan gets it right

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I can understand right-wing people reading the Sunday Independent, but cannot relate to lefties who insist on referring us all to a poorly researched, written and edited rag.

The Cedar Lounge site  is a great resource,

http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/

but one regular column which should always be avoided is the “Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week”.

On the other hand Gene Kerrigan continues to write excellent articles every Sunday – surrounded by a media dung-heap :

and I strongly recommend this :

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/gene-kerrigan-enda-wants-a-nicer-cabin-on-the-titanic-2586302.html

Let’s hope ULA TD’s follow this up!

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 20, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Posted in Ireland

Labour Voters – How Cool Are They About Coalition With the Right?

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John Meehan has put together a statistical analysis of Labour Party lower preferences, where no other Labour candidate is in the contest (these are known as terminal transfers), and candidates from both the left and right are still in the race.

The table is at the end of this article.

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Healthy debate is developing on this blog and other Irish sites on the composition of the Labour Party’s electoral base.  The February 2011 General Election broke new ground in many ways, and we can learn a lot from detailed study of the numbers.

An interesting question is : how keen are Labour voters on coalition with the right?  How sympathetic are they to the arguments of left rivals that helping to elect Enda Kenny as taoiseach is a very bad idea? Read the rest of this entry »

Report : United Left Alliance Post-Election Rally in the Gresham Hotel, March 11 2011

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Tomás Ó Flatharta reports on this event, adding some impressions – other readers and attenders might like to add some words.

United Left Alliance post-election Rally: Why We Need A New Left Alternative

http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/unite-left-alliance-post-election-rally-why-we-need-a-new-left-alternative/#comment-94327

Four of the five United Left Alliance TD’s spoke (Séamus Healy of South Tipperary was the only absentee).

Eddie Conlon (People Before Profit/Campaign for an Independent Left) chaired.

The room was packed – I estimate an attendance of more than 300.

The chairperson warned speakers to keep within 10 minutes, and to avoid repetition.  That way, more time would be available to contributors in the audience. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 12, 2011 at 1:33 pm

Posted in Ireland

Peter King – Irish-American CongressPerson – Fomenting “Campaign of Hate Against American Muslims”

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Peter King – a United States CongressPerson with Irish connections is going to hold Hearings which “will go ahead amid fears that they could whip up a McCarthyite-style hysteria against American Muslims”

See more here :

http://thebrokenelbow.com/2011/03/09/peter-king/

All civilised people in Ireland should denounce this nasty  Emerald Isle-American racism.

We prepare for St Patrick’s Day.

Deputy Enda Kenny the taoiseach will be in the White House with the US President to drown the shamrock on March 17.

Mr King, according to Ed Moloney, is fomenting ” a campaign of hate against American Muslims every bit as toxic and harmful as that which engulfed the Irish in Britain some thirty years ago.”

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 10, 2011 at 9:58 pm

Posted in Ireland

The February 25 General Election changed something in Ireland

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The article below  – by John Meehan –

has been  published in the British Magazine Socialist Resistance :

http://socialistresistance.org/1775/70-votes-for-socialism

 

Writing in the North American online magazine Counterpunch Harry Browne zoned in on two key features on the Irish February 25 2011 General Election Result

 

 

Same Old at the Top – but Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

Same Old, Same Old at the Top, But – Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

The same old :

A Fine Gael / Labour coalition takes over the government after 14 years of Fianna Fáil rule. Since 1932, Fianna Fáil have been the governing party for 61 out of 79 years.  They have won 19 out of 25 General Elections. On the rare occasions Fine Gael dominated coalitions have come to power the smaller right-wing party never held on longer than one term in office.

That said, the scale of the 2011 Fianna Fáil defeat is without precedent Read the rest of this entry »

Should Irish Times ex-Trot Journalists Throw Stones in their Glass-House?

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This is a fascinating article about the far-left history of many new TD’s.

Left Lineages

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0304/1224291281717.html

where the talented author Patrick Smyth observes “Today the majority of them, now firmly in the bosom of Labour, have rejected revolution, embrace wholeheartedly its centrist social democratic values, and are politically indistinguishable from their Old Labour colleagues.”

Absolutely right.

Ex-comrade Patrick Smyth advises his current fellow-thinkers not to get too alarmed by the growth of the real fighting left “Although the ULA should work as an informal marriage of convenience, attempts to create a party out of its constituent elements may prove more difficult. Ideological purity on the hard left comes easier than the much-desired oxymoron that is “left unity”. Read the rest of this entry »

General Election Dust Settles – Some Interesting Reactions

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The editors are still gathering thoughts at this site, and found articles that are worth reading (we also had to plough through some awful rubbish).

Let us begin with a surprisingly positive piece from the right-wing Dublin tabloid, the Evening Herald :

History in the making as poster boy Boyd Barrett and hard left triumphs –

NEW FACES: ‘We won’t be doing any deals’

http://www.herald.ie/opinion/cormac-murphy-history-in-the-making-as-poster-boy-boyd-barrett-and-hard-left-triumphs-2559394.html

Harry Browne in the American radical magazine Counterpunch suggests :

Same Old, Same Old at the Top, But …

Irish Election Makes Room for the Left Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 2, 2011 at 3:55 pm

Posted in Ireland