Posts Tagged ‘A Call for Discussion’
“Businessman behind smears against Jim Gavin previously spread false claims about rival” – Irish Times report on Kieran Kelly, far-right targeter of Irish presidential candidate
Far-right activist Maria Steen, who failed to secure a nomination for the 2025 Irish presidential election, agrees she spoke with Kieran Kelly.
The 2025 Irish presidential election is toxic and dirty, and that is going to continue, TrumpSteen or no TrumpSteen.
“When contacted by The Irish Times on Monday, (Kieran Kelly) declined to share any evidence for the claims, saying it would be made available at a later date.
Mr Kelly said online that he had a call this month with Maria Steen, the conservative campaigner trying to enter the presidential election.
Ms Steen confirmed the call during a press conference on Tuesday.
She said: “As you can imagine, I’ve been getting calls from lots of different people who I have never met before and have never spoken to before.
“I had a call with Kieran Kelly. He mentioned nothing about Jim Gavin or any other candidate to me. He talked about, I think, that there’s an organisation called the Wild Geese, of Irish people abroad, who are taking an interest in Irish politics.
“That was the sum total of the phone call. I listened to what he had to say, and that was it.”
- Cormac McQuinn and Pat Leahy Irish Times, September 23 2025
The left-wing candidate Catherine Connolly needs to promote a positive anti-racist message.
The absence of Steen from the presidential ballot paper is tempting government coalition partners Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to play the racist card in support of their candidates Jim Gavin and Heather Humphreys.
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 »Kincora House and Lord Mountbatten (grand uncle of King Charles) – Chris Moore and Suzanne Breen Say “It is long past the time that the full truth was told about what happened in the house of horrors” – they are 100 per cent right
We wish to again congratulate the dogged investigative reporter Chris Moore for putting so much dedicated hard work into a shocking story which will not go away.
This smoking volcano has become more active recently. The criminal scandal will not go away, and further political action is vital. We are duty bound to keep up the pressure and, above all, support the victims of horrendous British state crimes.
For decades the Belfast Kincora child abuse scandal has attracted false and unverified accusations. In my own case I refused to believe many rumours about the involvement of Lord Mountbatten in a child abuse ring because no credible evidence was placed in the public arena.
At the Dublin Irish Film Institute (IFI) launch of the stunning documentary “Lost Boys of Belfast” in 2023 I made this observation to one of the documentary makers, Chris Moore.
I had noticed there was no reference to Mountbatten in the sensational documentary. Chris confirmed that the documentary makers made no mention of the Mountbatten allegations because they possessed no credible proof.
Read the rest of this entry »Support Ukrainian Resistance – Not Monstrous Rearmament Plans – Simon Pirani, People and Nature
An important left-wing conference in solidarity with Ukraine took place in Brussels on March 26 and 27 2025. We will present a number of reports from this conference in the next few days. Here is the first item – written by Simon Pirani who publishes a People and Nature blog.
Support Ukrainian Resistance – Not Monstrous Rearmament Plans – Simon Pirani, People and Nature
By Simon Pirani. Based on a talk given at a panel, “What peace?”, at the Solidarity with Ukraine event this week in Brussels
“What peace?” is a wide question. To narrow it down, we can ask: what sort of peace is being discussed among Ukrainians?
In an interview about the Trump-Putin talks, and the prospects for any agreement, our comrade Denis Pilash, a member of Sotsialnyi Rukh, said that “Ukrainians have two things in mind when thinking about any deal: the fate of people in the occupied territories, and how to prevent Russia from restarting the war.”
These points could frame areas for agreements, he argued. He pointed to the Ukrainian government’s position that it will not recognise illegal annexations, but would accept a ceasefire followed by negotiations.
Read the rest of this entry »“Progressing by Grassroot Networks” – Supporting Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), Palestine and Ukraine; Recent Developments in France
This is a very stimulating interview with Catherine Samary on solidarity with Palestine and Ukraine – and also about the unstable political scene in France, where President Macron was electorally defeated by the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) – and then made an unstable parliamentary deal with the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Two sources :
International Viewpoint :
Palestine, Ukraine – Progressing By Grassroot Networks
Posle :
Palestine, Ukraine – Progressing By Grassroot Networks – Posle
— Before we turn to the discussion of the war in Ukraine and prospects for left internationalism, let’s talk about the recent developments in your home country. How do you analyse the current political situation in France and the role that left-wing politics might play in it?
— Michel Barnier’s new government combines two core elements: racism and attacks on social rights. The latter is evident in the ongoing parliamentary debates over the 2025 budget and social security funding. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (Rassemblement National) has played a key role in these discussions, not least due to the fact that no single party has managed to achieve a stable majority in the French parliament. Even though the result of the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) in the recent legislative election, which followed the dissolution of the Assembly last June, was unexpectedly high — and most welcome — it is still only a minor and relative victory.
This situation is unlikely to change unless the various forces within the New Popular Front come together, consolidate their victory, and start a large-scale mobilization. This could be achieved through the creation of local political alliances across the entire country that would be focused on concrete struggles. We should not forget that mass mobilizations against attacks on the social system are still possible — and so is the collapse of the government itself.
Read the rest of this entry »Elections (USA): Making Sense of Trump’s Victory & the Necessary Resistance – Frieda Afary
Frieda Afary has written an excellent analysis (see below). She shows that the Democratic party candidate Kamala Harris lost 10 million votes compared with Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Trump’s vote totals in 2020 and 2024 were almost identical.
Source :
Elections (USA): Making Sense of Trump’s Victory & the Necessary Resistance (ESSF)
This article analyzes the vote breakdown, the pundits’ views, argues that Trump is a fascist and offers perspectives for the needed anti-fascist resistance.
Donald Trump’s election as president, and the Republican victories nationwide are a catastrophe for progressive forces in the U.S. and around the world. What the November 5, 2024 election showed was that while this country is still divided, there has been a rightward shift nationwide and across all demographic and geographic groups. (Levitt, 2024)
Vote Breakdown:
Let’s take a closer look at the demographic breakdown of the votes. Approximately 72 million voted for Harris and 75 million voted for Trump. Approximately 700,000 voted for Jill Stein and 700,000 voted for Robert Kennedy. This means that Democrats received 10 million fewer votes than in 2020 when Biden received 81 million. Trump received approximately the same number of votes he received in 2020. (U.S. Election Results, 2024)
Read the rest of this entry »Ireland’s November 29 2024 General Election : Racist Warning Signs
Irish General Election to 34th Dáil; Racist Danger
The June 2024 Euro/ Local results in Ireland produced some alarming results – the racist far-right came from the margins and increased its electoral support. This could be a predictor of the coming General Election result.
Warning signs to anti-racists exist in various opinion surveys. See, for example, these numbers from a recent RedC General Election Opinion Survey) :
Aontú, a right-wing split from Sinn Féin set up by an anti-choice TD from Meath, Peadar Tóibín, is beginning to hoover up right-wing racist votes which were scattered among various mini-Hitlers in the June 2024 European and Local Elections. We can say the same for the Irish Independence party (II). When we note that a majority of independent candidates are part of the racist far-right, a disturbing picture emerges. The numbers are worse in other parts of the Irish state.
Here is the data from an Irish Times Opinion Poll :
| Irish General Election November 29 2024 Irish Times Survey Results 15/11/24 | ||||
| First preference voting intentions | ||||
| Dublin | Rest of Leinster | Munster | Connacht/Ulster | |
| Fianna Fáil | 16.00% | 19.00% | 27.00% | 13.00% |
| Fine Gael | 22.00% | 29.00% | 22.00% | 29.00% |
| Labour | 9.00% | 3.00% | 2.00% | 3.00% |
| Green Party | 6.00% | 2.00% | 1.00% | 2.00% |
| Sinn Fein | 21.00% | 16.00% | 19.00% | 21.00% |
| People Before Profit/Solidarity | 4.00% | 1.00% | 2.00% | 1.00% |
| Social Democrats | 5.00% | 5.00% | 2.00% | 2.00% |
| Aontú | 2.00% | 4.00% | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| Independent candidate | 15.00% | 21.00% | 21.00% | 25.00% |
Temptation exists : bending to “understandable” fears. For example an election canvasser from a party with one foot in the left put it to me that some voters are “uncomfortable” because their neighbours come from outside Ireland.
Let’s be clear, harsh, and unambiguous : messages like this pander to the racist view that immigrants are criminals and rapists. There is no evidence backing up claims that people born outside Ireland are any worse than Irish natives. It gives oxygen to the far right shite being whispered around communities.
Read the rest of this entry »The Media Bogeyman – by Brendan Ogle
Source :
The Media ‘Bogeyman’
Engaging with hostile media goes with the territory
Firstly I am qualified to write on this topic. I did my first national media interview in 1996, a full 28 years ago. Since then there is barely a national or local media outlet that I haven’t engaged with. Most of those engagements over all of those years have been hostile. I was generally pushing an industrial or campaigning issue to a media which has a single opposing ideological focus and a narrow ownership that dictates control and editorial output and attitude. As a result I have been pilloried, defamed, targeted and abused. I’ve been ‘Public Enemy Number One’, ‘Mister Misery’, I’ve had national newspapers’ doctor photographs of me to make me look as evil as possible and I’ve had so many agendas laid at my door that I’d need to build a lengthy driveway to accommodate them all.
Yet in that 28 years I have never hidden from my responsibility to engage on behalf of whatever cause I was advocating at the time. It goes with the territory. So I understand more than most how the Irish media treat those who refuse to bend a knee to it. I’m ‘qualified’ to write this from years of raw and difficult experience in the field.
Legitimate claims or agenda-driven hyperbole?
So when, last Saturday, the media were yet again held up as the big bad bogeyman doing down the decent people I can assess the legitimacy of those claims or whether it is simply agenda driven hyperbole. The claims on that day were entirely unconnected on fact but very connected in attitude and intent. The first claimant that particular day (and it’s just one day of these constant claims) was from the Father of Cathal Crotty blaming the media for his Son’s troubles. The second was by a left wing blog blaming the media bogeyman for Clare Daly losing her European Parliament seat. These claims are so ridiculously baseless that they would be funny, and in ways they are, if they were not seeking to perpetuate dangerous agenda’s, one of misogyny and gender violence, the other of political pandering to dangerous populism. Whether the abuse is justifying a thug using his military training to beat a defenceless young woman or excusing a woman Politician not being able to defend her awful voting record on behalf of her electors the agenda is clear – blame the ‘media bogeyman’ as a deflection from basic undeniable reality. In other words create fake news and alternate facts to obscure reality.
Read the rest of this entry »The Irish Left Must Unite to break the old stranglehold – Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit, Dublin South-West), Irish Times, July 4 2024
Paul Murphy’s opinion piece in the July 4 2024 edition of the Irish Times makes a strong case :
“Another five years of FF/FG rule would be disastrous for the country. Left parties and Independents must come together to stop it happening”
There is a bottom line :
No coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
Time for a new united left alliance to topple Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
Another five years of FF/FG rule would be disastrous for the country. Left parties and Independents must come together and stop this happening
A general election is looming. If the local election results are repeated, it will mean a return of this Government but with the Greens replaced as the third wheel by right-wing Independents. The 100-year rule of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will continue.
This would be a disaster.
Another five years of their rule would mean a deepening of the crises in housing and health, with more children growing up in emergency accommodation, more adults trapped in their childhood bedroom unable to move out, as well as growing hospital waiting lists. It would mean continued inaction on the climate and biodiversity crises and large numbers of workers in low-paid, precarious employment without the right to collectively bargain.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 