Archive for the ‘Irish General Election February 8 2020’ Category
Socialists and Coalition with Sinn Féin – Colm Breathnach, Independent Left
Colm Breatnach makes an important contribution here
SOCIALISTS AND COALITION WITH SINN FÉIN
Is a Sinn Féin controlled left government in the 26 County bit of Ireland possible or likely? Right now, a general election electing the next Dáil can be delayed until February 2025. The current FFFGGG coalition (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Greens and Gombeens) has a comfortable majority and will not voluntarily cut and run – unless it is forced to change course. Reliable opinion surveys show that, if a general election was held soon Sinn Féin is likely to increase its number of Dáil seats – but the current government would retain a majority. There is more detail on this important “technicality” in a note at the end of this article. John Meehan May 11 2022
SOCIALISTS AND COALITION WITH SINN FÉIN
As the likelihood of a Sinn Féin led government grows, the prospect that the government might include radical left parties as coalition partners looms. But should socialists take up roles in government in coalition with Sinn Féin? Are there circumstances where this might prove to be necessary? Obligatory even? Now is the time to debate this issue, rather than being rushed into hastily made post-election decisions that could have a disastrous effect for the left in Ireland.
Read the rest of this entry »Fighting for Self-Determination – Yuliya Yurchenko explains “For Ukrainians it’s an existential fight. Our country’s identity, territorial boundaries, and our very existence is under attack right now”
Introduction
Ukraine is fighting a war of liberation against a Russian Ethnic Cleanser state led by a violent far-right imperialist Vladimir Putin. All related issues are discussed in the interview below.
Spectre‘s Ashley Smith talked to Yuliya Yurchenko, author of Ukraine and the Empire of Capital: From Marketization to Armed Conflict (Pluto, 2018). She is a Lecturer in International Business and Researcher at the Public Services International Research Unit, the Centre for Business Network Analysis, and the Political Research Centre at the University of Greenwich.
Material like this is urgently required reading for anti-war activists in Ireland and elsewhere who are in love with the word BUT. “Ukrainians have the right to wage armed struggle” BUT “Oppose Sending NATO Arms to the Ukrainian Resistance – and its right-wing government”. History Lessons are easily unlearned – leading up to the Irish Easter 1916 Rising James Connolly’s left-wing Irish Citizens’ Army proudly promoted a banner : “We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland”. Many of the guns used in the 1916 Rising were supplied by German Imperialism.
The Butistas talk as much as possible about right-wing characteristics of the Zelensky Government, throwing in wild exaggerations – and say next to nothing about the far more powerful far-right government of Vladimir Putin : promoter of sinister politicians like French Presidential contender Marine Le Pen.
In Dáil Éireann recently Sinn Féin and Labour Leaders Mary-Lou McDonald and Ivana Bacik called for the expulsion from Ireland of Russian Ambassador Yuri Filatov. The right-wing NATO friendly Dublin government vigorously opposed this call. Radical socialist TD’s made no public comment on this proposal, which is gaining some left wing trade union support. John Meehan April 22 2022
What are conditions like for people in Ukraine now amidst this war? What is the state of the military and civilian resistance to Russia’s invasion?
Read the rest of this entry »With apartheid an irrefutable reality, Israel’s democracy has always rested on blind faith – Amnesty International “Accuses Israel of Subjecting Palestinians to Apartheid”
Amnesty International became the latest human rights group to label Israel an apartheid state. In a damning report titled “Israel’s Apartheid against…
With apartheid an irrefutable reality, Israel’s democracy has always rested on blind faith
We are reblogging an important Middle East Monitor Analysis of Amnesty International’s Report stating that Israel is subjecting Palestinians to Apartheid. (See Above). Betty Purcell elaborates in an Irish Times letter, published February 2 2022.
Amnesty report on Israel
Read the rest of this entry »Sir, – I was not surprised but am deeply grateful to the esteemed human rights organisation Amnesty International for their devastating report “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity” (“Amnesty accuses Israel of subjecting Palestinians to ‘apartheid’”, World, February 1st).
Rupture magazine: Issue 6, Winter 2022
Special feature: Home sweet home Green gaffs for all, by Nicole McCarthy & Des Hennelly Mica & the fight for 100% redress, by Kiran Emrich The …
Rupture magazine: Issue 6, Winter 2022
Special feature: Home sweet home
- Green gaffs for all, by Nicole McCarthy & Des Hennelly
- Mica & the fight for 100% redress, by Kiran Emrich
- The North’s housing crisis, by Amy Merron
- Expropriate the big landlords, by Nelli Tügel
Features:
- Fascism & the algorithm, by Méabh French
- “Learn from each others’ struggles: Interview with Laurence Cox, by Brian O’Cathail
- Tax haven Ireland – the inside story, by Brian O’Boyle
- Feeding an insatiable monster: Data centres in Ireland, by Diarmuid Flood
What is to be done?
- The feminist challenge to traditional political organising, by Penny Duggan
- Keep it in the ground, by Sarah Frazer
- Permanent revolution: Myths, reality & relevance, by Sami El-Sayed
- Lighting the way: Transitional demands & the struggle for socialism, by August Thalheimer
Rupture Regulars
- The Tipping Point by Jess Spear
- Lesser-spotted comrades: Walter Rodney, by Emma Finnamore
- Gaslighters, Ghouls, and Gobshites, by Des Hennelly
RUPTURE is produced by RISE, a network within People Before Profit. Paul Murphy TD, Dublin South-West is a member. https://rupture.ie/. See also : https://www.letusrise.ie/
Ireland’s Culture and History Wars – Che Guevara and the nation’s “stamp of the year” – Michael D Higgins Rejects Men of God Partition Pray-In at Armagh Cathedral
Dateline October 9 2017.
Fine Gael politician Neale Richmond launched an ill-judged ambush on the Irish Post Office’s Ché Guevara stamp. Richmond’s sniping helped make this stamp one of the most successful products ever sold by An Post.
Four years on, Neale Richmond has moved up the ladder from the Seanad to Dáil Éireann – he is now a TD in Dublin-Rathdown. This Fine Gael bulldog may be set loose on President Michael D Higgins – currently much more popular than the FFFGGG coalition after rejecting Ireland’s “Carnival of Reaction” – partition.
Michael D Higgins 6 Partition 0 – Two Opinion Polls Show Landslide Support for the President’s Anti-Partition Actions – Irish Times Dampens Impact
Casual Irish Times readers may not have noticed an important story. A news item is presented in a tiny corner on the front of the October 8 2021 edition of the newspaper :
Poll: A majority approves of the decision by the President to refuse to attend a religious event in Armagh : page 2
Turning to page 2 alert readers might notice a headline on the bottom of the page :
Poll reveals support for Higgins’s decision to decline invitation to partition event
The stubborn facts :
A large majority of voters approves of the decision by President Michael D Higgins to refuse the invitation to attend a religious event in Armagh to mark the centenary of partition and creation of Northern Ireland, today’s latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll finds.
More than two-thirds of respondents (68 per cent) agreed that the President was “right to decline the invitation”.
This is a statistical landslide, proving that mass sentiment is against the political establishment on this issue
Support for the President’s decision is highest among older age groups, with 74 per cent of those over 50 agreeing with him, against just 54 per cent of those aged 18-24.
A higher proportion of Fianna Fáil voters (74 per cent) than Sinn Féin voters (72 per cent) backed the President’s position, though supporters of the Green Party (81 per cent) were most likely to say he was right to decline the p
Supporters of Fine Gael (19 per cent) and Labour (20 per cent) were most likely to say he should have attended the event.
A different media outlet, the Irish News, published details of another opinion poll with very similar numbers, and decided this headline worked
“Huge backing for President Michael D Higgins” – Irish News Headline
Practical Conclusions?
Boycott the October 21 Armagh Cathedral Celebration of Partition
The men of God have no right to summon the President of Ireland to anything – certainly not a Partitionist Pray-in.
John Meehan October 8 2021
President Michael D Higgins Rejects Religious Invitation Issued by Men of God in Armagh – The Right Decision – The 1921 Partition of Ireland Created a Carnival of Reaction
Eejit is a great word living within the English language spoken in Ireland. Author Mike Finn reveals the meaning in a sentence of nine words : “Those advocating Brexit are an awful shower of eejits”. Likewise, those who advocate “marking” the partition of Ireland are an awful shower of eejits. President Michael D Higgins is no eejit.
Michael D has become a spokesperson for the vast majority of people living in Ireland who hate partition. He will not attend a religious event in Armagh commemorating the 1921 creation of the Northern Ireland Orange State. An opinion poll on the issue shocked numerous pro-Unionist forelock-tuggers in Ireland – 81 per cent of people in the 26 County bit of Ireland agree with the President’s decision.
“Huge backing for President Michael D Higgins” – Irish News Headline
Read the rest of this entry »Very bad news for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – Sinn Féin secure a 10 point lead in a new Irish Times Opinion Poll
A new Irish Times opinion poll gives bad news to the Irish government parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Note, however, that if these results occur at the next Irish general election, the present FFFGGG coalition (FF + FG + Greens + Gombeens) coalition will remain the government.
The numbers in this opinion poll are very similar to the February 2020 General result with one exception – the increased support gained by Sinn Féin :
http://irelandelection.com/elections.php?detail=yes&tab=summary&elecid=238&electype=1
“A sharp fall in support for Fine Gael has opened up a 10-point lead for Sinn Féin over its nearest rival as the party strengthens its position as the most popular party among voters.
The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll shows that Sinn Féin has the support of almost a third of voters at 32 per cent, far ahead of Fine Gael (22 per cent) and Fianna Fáil (20 per cent).
The poll also shows a drop in the satisfaction rating of the Government from 53 per cent in June to 46 per cent on Wednesday. Both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar also see their personal approval ratings fall, Mr Martin by eight points to 41 per cent and Mr Varadkar by a substantial 13 points, to 43 per cent.
The state of the parties, when undecided voters and those unlikely to vote are excluded, is as follows: Sinn Féin, 32 per cent (up one); Fine Gael, 22 per cent (down five); Fianna Fáil, 20 per cent (no change); Green Party, 7 per cent (up one); Labour, 4 per cent (up one); and Independents/others, 16 per cent (up three). All of the above figures are rounded which accounts for the total of 101%.
Among the Independents and smaller parties, the results are as follows: Social Democrats, 3 per cent (up one); Solidarity-People Before Profit, 2 per cent (no change); Aontú, 1 per cent (no change); and Independents, 10 per cent (up two). (Rounding of figures gives a total of 101 per cent.)”
Tomás Ó Flatharta 