Tomás Ó Flatharta

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Archive for the ‘John Molyneux’ Category

John Molyneux – “As capitalism’s crises grow worse, his voice will be missed”

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Many tributes are online paying tribute to John Molyneux, who died in Dublin on December 11 2022 aged 74.

Tempest member Phil Gasper discusses the work and politics of the prominent and dedicated British Marxist John Molyneux. This article comes from the USA based magazine tempest
Source ; https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/12/in-memoriam-john-molyneux/

The Marxist writer and activist John Molyneux died in Dublin on December 11 at the age of 74. John was a longstanding member of the International Socialist Tendency, first as a member of the International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain, later as a member of the Socialist Workers Party/Network in Ireland.

A black and white image of British Marxist John Molyneux. He is a large man with a gray beard and wire-rimmed classes and is wearing a button-down Oxford shirt.
Photo by Hossam el-Hamalaway via Flikr.

John was one of the generation of ’68. He joined the International Socialists in Britain in 1968 after being radicalised by the antiwar movement and the global revolutionary upsurge of that year. He soon became one of the group’s leading theorists and most popular speakers.

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Written by tomasoflatharta

Dec 14, 2022 at 1:32 pm

Posted in Anti War Movements, Anti-Capitalist Resistance (Britain), Arts and Culture, Britain, British Empire, Dublin Governments, Ecosocialism, Feminism, Internal Democracy, International Political Analysis, John Molyneux, Left Unity, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, Left Wing Organisations, Mobilising to Oppose Violence Against Women, Socialist Workers' Party (Britain), Violence Against Women, Women

“Don’t exaggerate the influence of Russian propaganda” Ukrainian socialist Taras Bilous serves in the military – and right from there he fights the stereotypes of the Western left about Ukraine (and Russia). We spoke to him

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Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF) http://www.europe-solidaire.org/ has published and translated an exceptionally good interview about Ukraine :

Taras Bilous is a Ukrainian socialist, editor of the left-wing intellectual magazine Spilne and an activist in the Social Movement. Bilous has been serving in Ukraine’s territorial defence forces since early March. And in his spare time, he engages in lively polemics with Western left-wing activists, intellectuals and politicians on Twitter and in the most authoritative left-wing publications about the need for solidarity with Ukraine. “Meduza spoke with Taras Bilous about where foreign stereotypes about Russia and Ukraine come from and what can be done about them.

Source : http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article63762&fbclid=IwAR3aCeR6YPuBIZBTWwUkxBZe9RMegOD1pYePv2CQ_IPm5nt4nVMF_clzobQ

See also : https://commons.com.ua/en/

In Russia there is rather little knowledge about the inner workings of Ukrainian politics, it is usually discussed only in the context of “pro-Russian – pro-Western”. Please explain what place you and Social Movement have in it.

We should start with the fact that in Ukraine, as in Russia, there are systemic and non-systemic politics.

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Written by tomasoflatharta

Aug 29, 2022 at 12:43 pm

Posted in Anti War Movements, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Conor Kostick, Crimea, Crimean Tatars, Die Linke (the Left), Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Network Solidarity with Ukraine and against war Basic consensus, European Union, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Feminism, Germany, History of Ireland, Human Rights, International Political Analysis, Ireland, Irish Left With Ukraine, John Molyneux, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, Migration in Europe, Mobilising to Oppose Violence Against Women, NATO, Neutrality, Razem (Poland), Revolutionary History, Russia, Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement), Ukraine, Ukraine : Women Raped by Russian Invaders, Ukraine Russia War 2022

A Strange Policy is Reviewed – Support Ukraine’s Resistance Against an Imperialist Russian Invasion “Politically” – But Oppose Giving Arms to the Resisters – A Critique of Irish Left Evasionism

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International solidarity between socialists and anarchists in Ukraine and Ireland is growing. We are united in a desire to see Russia defeated, which will be a blow to the right everywhere. We are equally united in our opposition to Western imperialism and the global capitalists circling Ukraine ready to exploit the country after the war.

One of the disappointing developments of the war is that so many socialists in the West have failed to offer such solidarity. The group we are most familiar with is People Before Profit, and analysing the think piece published in August 2022 by John Molyneux explains why. We offer this critique of John’s article in the hope that there are members of People Before Profit who can save it from its current convergence with the ‘campists’. We hope this can happen in time to make a difference to the growth of practical solidarity between Irish and Ukrainian socialists.

 

Molyneux’s essay begins with an attempt to categorise the debates among the left into three positions:

1. the ‘campists’ in favour of a Russian victory, 

2. those who are for a Ukrainian victory without reservations about NATO and western imperialism, and

3. those who are neither for a Russian victory nor for one for Western imperialism (‘neutrality’)

 

This schema has been derived by working backwards from John’s understandable desire to portray People Before Profit as fundamentally different to the campists, while doubling down on their criticisms of the Ukrainian resistance. For a supposed Marxist analysis it has a deep and irreperable flaw: it has sprung from the head of its author and not from the reality of the situation. Frankly, the left doesn’t have time to ignore reality in this way any more.

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Written by tomasoflatharta

Aug 22, 2022 at 5:00 pm

Posted in Anarchism, Anti War Movements, Boycott, Bríd Smith TD, Britain, Conor Kostick, Crimea, Crimean Tatars, Dublin Governments, Eastern Europe, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Network Solidarity with Ukraine and against war Basic consensus, FFFGGG Coalition, Fourth International, History of Ireland, International Political Analysis, Ireland, James Connolly, John Molyneux, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, LeftEast, NATO, Neutrality, People Before Profit, President Michael D Higgins, RISE, Russia, Socialist Workers' Party (Britain), Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement), Ukraine, Ukraine : Women Raped by Russian Invaders, Ukraine Russia War 2022