Glastonbury to be banned after Kneecap insulted Keir Starmer on stage
Many thanks to Simon Pearson for alerting us to this wonderful news.
Link :
https://bsky.app/profile/anticapitalistmusings.com
We are betting that most readers know all about the Belfast rap band Kneecap – but have never heard of Bob Vylan.
You have heard of Bob now ;
It was someone called Bob Vylan who caused horror and disgust when he displayed the words: “Free Palestine. United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a conflict.”
Bob knows how to rub salt on Keir Starmer’s wounds :
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bob Vylan started chanting: “Death, death, to the IDF!”
How was this allowed to happen?
Source :
Jun 28, 2025
It’s fair to say this year’s Glastonbury has been an enormous headache for supporters of genocide, particularly the prime minister.
Read the rest of this entry »European Law might overrule bigoted British Supreme Court Anti-Transgender ruling in 6 County bit of Ireland – since Brexit, the north is different from Great Britain
Voters in the 6 County bit of Ireland rejected Brexit in the 2016 British State referendum by a large margin : 55 to 45 per cent. This was a unique political event – opposition to Brexit broke down the normal sectarian divide on an important constitutional development in the north of Ireland : Almost all nationalists voted against Brexit, and they were joined by a significant number of Unionist (perhaps ex-Unionist) voters.
Afterwards a decision was needed : would a new European Union (EU) – Britain border divide the 6 and 26 county bits of Ireland – or would a new border emerge, dividing the island of Great Britain from all of Ireland?
Everybody knew a new Brexit border could not be imposed on Ireland. The British government needed window-dressing for its Unionist allies : the “Windsor Framework” was unveiled with a walk-on part for the reluctant British monarch King Charles.
This rickety constitutional construction kicked a sleeping dog. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement. copperfastened an imperialist crime – the 1922 partition of Ireland. A promise that partition could be ended through an internal 6 county referendum is part of the GFA – but this was never meant to happen. The architects of the GFA reasoned, correctly in 1998, that an anti-partition majority in the north of Ireland was extremely unlikely. The Unionist Veto was safe. After Brexit, not any more.
The former Fine Gael leader and taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is saying out loud what many people know is true but do not want to hear :
A Nigel Farage-led UK goverment could herald a united Ireland – Varadkar
Read the rest of this entry »1. Six-County Cops – Softly, Softly Against Racists 2. Twenty Six County Cops – target non-whites crossing Ireland’s “open(ish)” border
The two reports below tell us that policies operated by police forces operation in the two partitioned bits of Ireland – the Gardaí Síochána (Guardians of the Peace) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) [a child of the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)] are racist-friendly.
The news reports are related :
Claire Mullaly, a spokesperson for End Deportations Now Belfast told The Irish News that gardaí boarded the bus and began asking passengers for identification.
She said they specifically removed non-white passengers who could not produce documents while allowing white passengers in the same predicament to remain on board. She branded the incident as “disgraceful” in light of the anti-immigrant violence that took place in Northern Ireland in recent days.
Both reports come from the Belfast Irish News.
PSNI officers told not to intervene during race riots unless life at risk
Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, June 17th, 2025
DETAILS OF INSTRUCTION SENT IN EMAIL
PSNI officers were told not to interfere with violent mobs during last week’s race riots unless life was at risk.
Read the rest of this entry »Stalinists, former IRA Volunteers and former Sinn Féin Members in Irish Libel Courts – Past and Present – Proinsias De Rossa’s 1997 Victory Against the Sunday Independent – Gerry Adams Defeats the BBC in a 2025 Dublin Court Case – Next on the List : Eoghan Harris Versus many female journalists
In the 1990’s Proinsias De Rossa TD (ex Workers’ Party President) took a libel action against a right wing Irish newspaper, the Sunday Independent and a star columnist, Éamon Dunphy. Dunphy needed evidence to back up an opinion piece. A colleague, Liam Collins, went to the Moscow Archives in November 1996, searching for an original document. The newspaper’s barrister, Patrick McEntee, told his clients that reports, gossip, and beliefs were not enough : hard evidence was needed.
Claims were made that De Rossa and his then colleague Seán Garland had written a secret 1986 letter to the Russian Communist Party, rulers of the Soviet Union, seeking much-need funds.
The final score? De Rossa won the court case.
The right wing newspaper produced the alleged secret letter – one expert said it was signed by De Rossa and Garland, another expert disagreed. One expert’s word against another.
De Rossa said the letter discovered in the Moscow archives was bogus.
The only person who might have convincingly tested De Rossa’s credibility was his former close comrade – transformed into bitter enemy – Seán Garland. Garland and De Rossa were on opposite sides when the Workers’ Party split in two after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The USSR system collapsed in the early 1990’s. Garland did not take the witness stand in this case.
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams took a libel action against the BBC. Adams, like De Rossa, secured a victory against the media organisation because it could not prove its damaging claims.
Zohran Mamdani stuns Democratic establishment in New York mayor race
Early results point to upset win for the leftwing candidate over former governor Andrew Cuomo
From the Financial Times :
Zohran Mamdani, the leftwing Democrat feared by Wall Street, is on course to win the party’s mayoral primary for New York City, sending shockwaves across US politics. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has called for higher taxes on the rich and assailed US support for Israel in Gaza, stunned Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York state, in the Democratic primary race on Tuesday. His success will reverberate across Wall Street and among the billionaire donors, including hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who backed his rival. It will also intensify the debate among Democrats as they seek a convincing political strategy to take on Donald Trump.
“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani told hundreds of jubilant supporters in Queens on Tuesday night. “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City. “When we no longer believe in our democracy, it only becomes easier for people like Donald Trump to convince us of his worth, for billionaires to convince us that they must always lead,” he said. New York leans towards Democrats, and Mamdani’s victory gives the 33-year-old a major advantage in the election this year to replace Eric Adams as the city’s mayor — one of the most powerful positions in US domestic politics. Cuomo conceded defeat late on Tuesday in a contest that was widely seen as a referendum on the future of the party. “Tonight was not our night, tonight. It was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night,” Cuomo told supporters at a post-election party, adding that he had called Mamdani to congratulate him. Unofficial results on Tuesday night showed Mamdani with a seven-point lead over Cuomo, with more than 90 per cent of the vote counted.
The final result will depend on the tally in the city’s ranked-choice system, which allows people to pick up to five candidates in order of preference. The winner will be officially declared on July 1, at the earliest, after all other candidates’ votes have been reallocated.
Following Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election, the Democrats have been riven between a progressive wing exemplified by New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and moderates such as Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who has praised Trump. Mamdani ran his campaign on a pledge to make life more affordable for New Yorkers, whose cost of living has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic. If elected, he says he will raise taxes on the rich to fund free buses and childcare, as well as city-owned grocery stores. The progressive candidate tapped into a groundswell of support among younger voters — an electoral strategy that will be studied by Democrats nationally as they try to win back youthful voters who backed Trump in November. “In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done,” Mamdani said on X following the result. Ocasio-Cortez, who has tapped into a similar voter base, congratulated Mamdani on Tuesday night, saying in a social media post, “billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won.”
Link :
Zohran Mamdani likely to be 2025 New York mayor
Left-wing activists in the USA respond :
Sherry J Wolf :
Zohran’s win is a rebuke to the Democratic Party’s disastrous and reactionary playbook since Clinton ‘92: in the face of the Right, move to the center which disgusts everyone and has led to further rightward drift. My comrades who’ve worked tirelessly to get Zohran elected are wary of the Dems, but believe—wrongly, in my opinion—that the Dem ballot line can be used by the Left to burrow from within. The NYC left is not yet prepared for how viciously and relentlessly the wealthy and powerful of that party will go after Zohran to co-opt and undermine him—whatever works. The left in NYC is not yet building the movement infrastructure to hold any left candidate accountable to resist pulls to the right and cooptation, as we’ve seen with AOC locally and Bernie nationally. We have a lot to learn from Chicago’s experience where the left also elected its mayor with a stronger labor left but similar movement and political deficits.
I’m happy Zohran won because of what it says about the possibility for building support for a progressive vision, but we’re surrounded by land mines without a map out or broad acknowledgement that there won’t be heroes to save us, that without organizing and mass movements and democratic structures of dissent to create pressure and accountability, the electoral wins will be elusive.
Ashley Smith :
In the face of an all out attack by the NYC ruling class and the worst Zionist slanders, racism, and anti communism, a Muslim pro-Palestine socialist just won the Democratic Primary and is now frontrunner for Mayor of New York. Whatever happens next, this is a sign of the profound radicalization to the left among the multiracial working class of this country on every single issue, including and especially Palestine. Our task now is to build the mass class and social struggles to push back against the rulers of the system that will pull out every trick in the book to block, neutralize, and co-opt Mamdani. We also must hold him accountable to the movements that made his victory possible. Celebrate, understand the powerful forces arrayed against us, and prepare to organize, demonstrate, and strike to overcome those obstacles and make Mamdani’s promises a reality.
Tania Vyhovsky, State Senator, Vermont :
Zohran ran a brilliant campaign and truly acknowledged the suffering of the many. His win is not only a referendum on the elitist dem establishment but a testament that a better world is possible and when you give people something to vote for they will vote. Turnout was huge in this election by US standards. People are sick and tired of being shamed and fear mongered into voting for the lesser of two evils. Mamdani gave New Yorkers something to believe in and he gave them and all of us hope for a better future. The democratic establishment will likely learn nothing from this but like Bernie in 2016 this may galvanize a whole wave of people who again believe in the power of a movement for a better tomorrow. This is governing from the ground up, governing for the people and it has to be the future if the United States is going to defeat fascism.
Fundraiser : Free online English lessons for Ukrainian refugees – Black Sheep Pub 61 Capel Street, June 29 2025, 3pm-6pm – Organised by Free Russians Ireland
Free Russians Ireland strongly supports solidarity with Ukraine, and is part of the fight against Putin’s genocidal régime.
On June 29th 15.00-18.00 The Black Sheep (61 Capel Street, Rotunda) we will hold the first ever Free Russians Ireland charity event.
Link :
Free Russians Ireland – Assist Ukrainian Refugees to Speak English
The purpose of the meeting is to raise money for the work of the Samantha Smith Group charity project. The project deals with a very important job: organizes free online English lessons for Ukrainian refugees.
Learn more about the life of the project here.
How does charity work?
We get together at the pub and enjoy hanging out, playing board games or just hanging out. At the entrance we pay for a ticket for 10 euros (or buy tickets in advance in the header of Samantha’s profile). All proceeds will go to support the project.
Even if we get 10 people, the project will be able to pay for its site for a whole year, so even a very small contribution can be significant!
This is a low risk event, we will not be photographing participants.
So come on out and bring your friends!
See you on June 29 at 15.00. At Black Sheep Pub!
P.S. If you have cool tables at home – bring them, we will definitely try
Irish Left With Ukraine co-operates with Free Russians Ireland.
Keir Starmer’s crazy comment about pro Palestine Kneecap playing at Glastonbury – ex taoiseach Leo Varadkar raps British PM’s loony statement
Irish Rap performers Kneecap are booked to play at a huge music festival in Glastonbury, but British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thinks that’s not “appropriate”. Starmer’s crazy comment is so off-the-wall that ex Irish taoiseach (prime minister) the ultra-conservative Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), thought it was a gag.
Irish Times news report :
“Kneecap’s official Instagram page shared a screenshot of the article containing Mr Starmer’s comments, stating that “arming a fu*king genocide” was what’s “not appropriate”.
In a comment underneath the post, Mr Varadkar said he had thought the comment from Mr Starmer was a “gag”.
“[I] no longer hold office nor have any mandate so my views don’t count for so much anymore. I get that. But I really thought this was some sort of gag. It’s the role of artists to be avant garde, inappropriate, challenging, disruptive – from James Joyce to Sex Pistols and Playboy,” he said.”
See also at this link :
Starmer claims Kneecap Glastonbury set “not appropriate”
The Issue is Genocide in Palestine
Read the rest of this entry »Racism: The socialism of Fools; Racist Cancer Spreading from Ballymena in Ireland
Introduction :
The writer Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh offers very valuable insights into the June 2025 pogroms spreading from Ballymena in North Antrim to other towns in the 6 County bit of Ireland, notably Larne and Portadown. These vile events are related to similar sewer eruptions in the 26 county bit of Ireland and fit into a global rise of genocidal-racist powers such as Putin’s Russia, Netanyahu’s Israel, and their protectors such as Donald Trump’s USA. The latter is still a capitalist bourgeois democracy – but credible analysts now ask – for how long?
Below Fearghal’ s timely article – which contains very useful warnings from history : relevant references are made to the Marxist scholars and activists August Bebel, Victor Serge and Ernest Mandel :
We add :
A chilling report of an interview with the DUP Westminster MP for the Upper Bann constituency, Carla Lockhart.
A stark report from the 6 County bit of Ireland headlined “Week of Violence in North “Akin to 1930s Germany”
Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh
Link :
Ballymena; Racism the Socialism of Fools; Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh
I recently discussed three interconnected issues on Raidió na Gaeltachta: reform to the South’s rent caps benefiting landlords and international funds, Trump’s authoritarian militarization of US protests, and the racist attacks in Ballymena/Larne.
Read the rest of this entry »Ballymena Riots – Democratic Unionist party Stormont-Racist Minister Gordon Lyons posted location of people sheltering from riots – He Must Resign Immediately
“Christian” charity has disappeared from North Antrim.
Link :
Gordon Lyons Has to Go – by Eamonn McCann
The scenes we’re witnessing in Ballymena, Larne and elsewhere are vile and indefensible attempted pogroms. They should be utterly condemned by all.
These attacks haven’t occurred out of thin air, however.
In a context of community frustration at deprivation, waiting lists and crumbling public services, far right agitators are spreading racist lies on social media to blame migrants, and Unionist politicians have deliberately fanned the flames of their hate.
Last night, the DUP Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons posted the location of people sheltering from riots:
“It has been brought to my attention that a number of individuals were temporarily moved to Larne Leisure Centre in the early hours of the morning following the disturbances in Ballymena.”
The leisure centre was attacked later that evening – motivated by sheer racism. Gordon Lyons should resign immediately.
Other Unionist politicians have been whipping up anti-immigrant rhetoric.
On Monday Paul Frew, also DUP, went on the attack about immigration in a session on violence against women, and also referenced the case of sexual assault which sparked the racist riots in Ballymena. Frew also railed about immigration in Ballymena in a debate on the 20th May.
The TUV’s Timothy Gaston beat the anti-immigration drum on that same day: “Migration puts pressure on hospitals, schools and housing: that is a fact.”
This is the racist playbook on display. It blames migrants and minorities for the problems in our society. Migrants didn’t underfund the health service, minorities don’t hike up rents, asylum seekers don’t keep wages down. These problems are caused by the super rich, by landlords, and by politicians who protect them
Unionist politicians bear serious responsibility for the hateful scenes of recent days. They dog-whistled and whipped up racist sentiments. Loyalist paramilitaries and far right agitators took the next logical step, attacking ordinary people and making them fear for their lives.
Don’t be taken in by the DUP, the TUV and the far right. Stand up for humanity in a time of fear and chaos.
USA : Immigration Cops (ICE) arrest prominent California trade union leader David Huerta – Tidal Wave of Solidarity Spreads – The workers’ movement across the globe should act
The arrest of California union leader David Huerta is galvanizing a new element—solidarity:
David Huerta Arrest – SEIU Update
SEIU California :
UPDATE: David Huerta has been released from the hospital but remains in custody.
His words: “We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice.”
Free David Huerta. Free them ALL.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 