Posts Tagged ‘Dublin Governments’
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 »Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1
Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1
Part of a Day of Action on June 1 2025, International Day for Children
Assemble Sunday June 1, 12.30pm The Spire, O’Connell Street
Statement, Ivana Bacik TD, Labour Party Leader
“‘Since 2014, it is known that Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric war crime are occurring all over the world, and Russia’s criminal actions have been condemned in the European Parliament and across EU Member States. I commend all activists who are taking part in protests against Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainan children. I have raised this issue in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and have demanded that the Irish government takes appropriate action to express the strongest possible condemnation of Russian war crimes.’”
Statement, John Boyle, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
“ The INTO endorses the campaign to end the forceful transfer & deportation of Ukrainian children & return them all, ending the enforced Russification process & militarisation”
Supporters Include :
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
The Labour Party
Ivana Bacik TD (Leader, Labour Party)
John Lyons Dublin City Councillor (Independent Left)
Lesley Byrne Dublin City Councillor (Social Democrats)
Nóirín Greene (Senior Irish Trade Unionist)
Des Derwin, Vice Chair, SIPTU Dublin District Council
Tadhg Mac Pháidín, Teachers’ Club (Cumann na Múinteoirí)
Gregor Kerr (INTO)
European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU)
Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU)
Statement issued by the general secretary of British TUC Paul Nowak and other information :
International Actions for Ukraine’s Stolen Children, June 1 2025
Resources :
European Parliament Resolution, May 8 2025 : Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia
Very British Scandals in the Northern Ireland State – Demanding the Truth About the Kincora House of Horrors
The journalist Suzanne Breen is a political correspondent of the Belfast Telegraph and a regular contributor to BBC current affairs programmes about the Northern Ireland state.
Link :
Suzanne Breen Wikipedia
This is her latest summary of events in that corner of the world.
Using any rational standard, the content is stunning.
Can NI stumble forward, or is it a failed state heading for a series of serious accidents?
Readers. judge for yourselves.
Russian Baby kidnappers : International Actions Protesting About Ukraine’s Stolen Children – June 1 2025, International Children’s Day
June 1 is International Children’s Day. Since 2014 Russia has forcibly kidnapped nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric crime are occurring all over the world.
Link : International Actions June 1, Ukraine’s Children Stolen by Russian Invaders
These crimes are a reminder of a very dark period in Ireland during most of the 20th century. Child abuse, baby-snatching, illegal adoptions, criminalising of innocent women – Irish “Mother and Baby Homes” and Magdalene Laundries were dungeons of evil where children were tortured.
During that dark period we learned that speaking up and taking public action is essential when crimes like this are drawn to our attention.
Details of Protests to be held in Ireland will be announced here soon.
Supporters of this initiative in Ireland include Ivana Bacik TD, leader of the Labour Party, who has issued the following public statement :
Since 2014, it is known that Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric war crime are occurring all over the world, and Russia’s criminal actions have been condemned in the European Parliament and across EU Member States. I commend all activists who are taking part in protests against Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainan children. I have raised this issue in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and have demanded that the Irish government takes appropriate action to express the strongest possible condemnation of Russian war crimes.
Ivana Bacik TD, Labour Party Leader, Ireland
Crimes of Russia, Kidnapping of Ukrainian Children
The European Network for Solidarity With Ukraine (ENSU) invites all to this Zoom Event on May 30 :
Since 2014 Russia has forcibly transferred almost 20,000 Ukrainian children to areas under its control, assigned them Russian citizenship, forcibly adopted them into Russian families, and created obstacles for their reunification with their parents and homeland. The true scale of the crisis may be far greater.
On the eve of International Children’s Day, which is celebrated on the 1th of June we want to invite you to a meeting where whe can disscuss in more detail about the crimes of Russia towards Ukrainian children.
Our panelists will include:
– Kateryna Rashevska an international law and legal expert at the Regional Centre of Human Rights (https://krymbezpravil.org.ua/), children’s rights activist
– Mykola Komarovskyi, lawyer at NGO “Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group” (https://khpg.org/en/), author of one of the KHRPG submissions to the ICC regarding the forced deportation of Ukrainian children
Meeting in English, French and Ukrainian.
Zoom link (registration required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/register/QPZ2-j70RYGoF9bzvcGgMA
‘I was raped by Mountbatten in Kincora at 11; he wasn’t a lord… to me he was king of the paedophiles’ – Journalist Chris Moore makes sensational new allegations in a new book
Chris Moore from Belfast is no ordinary journalist.
He has worked for decades on the Kincora child abuse scandal. After extensive new research he makes credible allegations about the British royal family’s Lord Mountbatten (killed by an August 1979 IRA bomb in the western Irish county of Sligo) and a wide-ranging British state cover-up.
A new book brings the story up-to-date.
Link :
Readers are recommended to go and see the film “Lost Boys” whenever they get the chance – despite the British State’s efforts to kill the story, aided and abetted by the Irish police force, An Gárda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace).
All of this is grim reading.
Fish and chips? Pesce e pattatine fritte! – Italian Immigration to Ireland in the 19th and 20th Century
Link : Chippers in Ireland – Ralf Sotscheck, Taz
This story originally appeared in a German daily paper published in Berlin, die tageszeitung, on May 10 2025.
Deep-fried fish with chips, vinegar and salt is a favourite dish in Ireland. But it was the Italians who spread the dish there.
Almost all the tables are taken on this Saturday evening in Romano Morelli’s restaurant. The Italian restaurant on Dublin’s Capel Street is narrow but long. Hardly anything reminds you that Morelli’s family sold fish and chips here for over 40 years, when the store was still a chipper.
That’s the name of the snack bars that serve the Irish favourite, fish and chips. A dish that most people would probably not associate with Italy, although Italian immigration to Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries had a significant influence on it.
Morelli’s grandfather was one of the last fish and chip vendors to come to Ireland with the first wave of immigration from Italy. He bought the store in 1948, which at the time was a snack bar with slot machines in the basement, says Romano Morelli. To this day, the chippers look almost identical: They are usually a bare room divided into two halves by display cabinets and deep fryers.
On one side, customers wait for the greasy goods, while the other side frantically prepares them. Italian is often spoken in these stores. Above their entrance doors hang the owners’ nameplates: Macari, Borza, Coffola, Fusco, De Vito, Cassoni, Caprani.
Almost all of these families or their ancestors come from Casalattico, a municipality in the central Italian province of Frosinone. More than 2,400 people whose families originally come from this village live in Ireland. Even today, the 800 or so inhabitants of Casalattico celebrate these ties every year and hold a festival on St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish national holiday, on March 17, with music, dancing, Irish flags and fish and chips (and, of course, vinegar and salt).
The connection between the community and Ireland is said to have started with Giuseppe Cervi in 1885, who accidentally left the ship he was on to the USA in Ireland. He hired himself out as a labourer in Dublin until he had earned enough money to buy a coal stove and a handcart with which he sold fish and chips outside the pubs. The business idea came from the north of England, where the meal was sold outside the factory gates.
Breen Reynolds, a former geography lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, doubts that this part of the story really happened in an interview on Irish television. However, it is confirmed that Cervi soon had enough money to rent a store. He ran it with his wife Palma, who is said to be the origin of the expression “one and one”, which is still used in Dublin today to order food. She always pointed to the menu and asked: “Uno di questo, uno di quello?”, meaning “one of this and one of that”.
The customer just had to nod.
Word of the Cervis’ success soon spread at home and many followed them to Ireland. By 1909, there were 20 fish and chip stores in Dublin run by Italians. However, the wave of immigration ended before the First World War.
Conor McGregor’s St. Patrick’s Day Spectacle – Two Rapists in the White House
Karim Zidan at SportsPolitika writes an excellent report on the appearance of Irish rapist-racist boxing superstar Conor McGregor at Donald Trump’s Washington DC White House on St Patrick’s Day 2025.
Link :
McGregor-Trump Rapist-Racist Summit – SportsPolitika
Zidan correctly observes that Irish government leaders Micheál Martin and Simon Harris distanced themselves from the Trump-McGregor Rapist-Racist summit. The socialist-feminist Dáil Deputy Ruth Coppinger (Solidarity-People Before Profit) points out that Martin voluntarily walked into the Trump-McGregor trap by lickspittling the American President at a March 12 White House event.
‘Two rapists in the White House’: TD tells Dáil McGregor’s visit to Trump was an insult to women
Link :
Two Rapists in the White House
Ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to mark St. Patrick’s Day, former UFC champion Conor McGregor made an appearance at the White House briefing room, where he took questions from the baffled reporters in attendance.
As he stood at the podium alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt, McGregor warned that “Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness” due to a so-called “illegal immigration racket.”
“It’s high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland,” McGregor said, adding “What is going on in Ireland is a travesty.”
McGregor’s appearance comes less than six months after he was deemed liable for sexually assaulting a woman in a Dublin hotel in 2018. McGregor’s appeal against the jury’s findings is expected to come before the court this week.
Shortly following the verdict, McGregor was removed as the spokesperson for Proper No. Twelve, the Irish whiskey brand he helped create in 2018 before selling the brand three years later. Several retailers in the UK and Ireland have also removed Proper from its shelves, including Tesco.
Yet despite being liable for rape, McGregor was welcomed with open arms to the White House, with Leavitt claiming “we couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St Patrick’s Day.” The White House even shared a video of McGregor emerging from the West Wing before saying “Happy Paddy’s Day, America” to the camera.
McGregor’s White House welcome comes as no surprise, given President Donald Trump’s long-standing love for combat sports, particularly the UFC. No other sports organization aligned itself with Trump’s presidency as closely—or worked as hard to support his political rise—as the UFC.
During a meeting with Irish prime minister Micheal Martin last week, Trump said McGregor was his favourite Irish person partly because “he’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen”.
And yet, Trump’s fondness for McGregor extend beyond his taste for the fighter’s tattoos. McGregor has also voiced his support for Trump’s presidency and was in attendance at his inauguration in January. The two men also share a political vision marked by resurgent nationalism, isolationism, and a streak of anti-migrant hysteria.
McGregor’s views on migrants came to a head in November 2023, when he helped stoke anti-migrant sentiments that led to one of the most violent riots in Dublin’s history. The riot started after a man stabbed three young children and a care assistant in Dublin. Far-right activists quickly blamed immigration, stoking public rage after the suspect was identified as being originally from Algeria.
McGregor tweeted that Ireland was “at war” in the lead-up to the riots. In the aftermath of the chaos, he followed up by tweeting “you reap what you sow.” He had previously spent weeks stoking anti-migrant sentiments on social media, including endorsing a “task force” to monitor migrants.
McGregor’s anti-migrant stances quickly made him a symbol for the far right throughout Europe. Kampf der Nibelungen, a German neo-Nazi MMA league, shared several of McGregor’s tweets in their Telegram channel, including one where the fighter called for a “task force” for all entrants coming into Ireland and demanded that the Irish government “correct this or you are all finished.” AI generated illustrations of McGregor holding a shotgun and leading an army of angry gun-wielding men waving Irish flags also spread on platforms such as 4chan, Gab, and Twitter.
McGregor’s views also caught the attention of some of Trump’s inner circle, including Elon Musk, who showed interest in the idea of McGregor running for office in Ireland. The 36-year-old has repeatedly stated his intention to run for president of Ireland, calling himself the “only logical choice” to lead the nation. Ironically, the Irish presidency is predominantly a ceremonial role, serving as representative of the Irish state.
And yet, McGregor’s meeting with Trump speaks to the role that combat sports plays in modern politics, with UFC fighters serving as the conduits of conservative values and right-wing policy. It’s yet another example of how Trump’s MAGA ideology aligns with MMA’s ethos—one where success isn’t won through negotiation or diplomacy, but through sheer strength, power, and dominance.
Nevertheless, while McGregor has managed to secure a coveted meeting with Trump, there are few people in Ireland who believe he is speaking on their behalf. Ireland’s Taoiseach Michael Martin tweeted today that “Conor McGregor’s remarks are wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.” Meanwhile, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence Simon Harris added that “McGregor doesn’t speak for Ireland.”
“He doesn’t speak for the people of Ireland,” Harris said. “He has no mandate to do such, and my views on him are very clear, well established, previously articulated, long standing and on the public record.”
An Irish Times Report (May 21 2025) carries an “inside story” on the Trump-McGregor White House Rapist-Racist Summit. McGregor’s visiting team included a Dublin City Councillor Philip Sutcliffe, who discussed the chance that the racist-rapist boxer may run for the office of Irish President :
“Many believe all of this is a prelude to McGregor formally entering the race for the Irish presidential election which is due to take place after the summer. McGregor has repeatedly indicated he intends to run, although it is not at all clear if he would obtain the required support to get on the ballot paper.
Sutcliffe says he hopes McGregor will run and that he will have Washington’s full support if he does.
“Not only Washington, he’ll have the backing of Putin. He’s another fan of Conor’s,” he added.
Fourth International 2025 World Congress backs Ukraine Against Russian Imperialist Invasion
The 18th World Congress of the Fourth International took place in Belgium from 23 to 28th February. The wide-ranging discussion covered the international situation in all its aspects from the structural polycrisis in its environmental, economic, social and political aspects to the movements of resistance, and the need to build and strengthen our own International. One particular point of debate was how as internationalist revolutionary Marxists we express our opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and our solidarity with the resistance of the Ukrainian people to this invasion, to the neoliberal policies of the Zelensky government and to neoliberal militarization.
We publish here the resolution presented by the majority of the outgoing IC, approved by the congress by 95 votes in favour, 23 against, 3 abstentions and 5 no votes, and the alternative resolution presented by a number of delegations rejected 31 for, 80 against, 9 abstentions.
Link ; Resolution on Ukraine: Fourth International World Congress
Duncan Chapel has complied a table comparing both resolutions, indicating areas of agreement and disagreement.
1. In February 2022, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an attempt to turn the country into a Russian satellite. This attempt has caused hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded already. But the regime in Moscow has long been characterised by expansionist Greater Russian imperialist ideology, which sees superpowers as endowed with the right to extend their zone of influence by all means possible, challenging established norms of international law and legitimising a new era of imperialist redistribution. Thus, for the Kremlin, the daily increasing human cost of this aggression is no reason to cease it, and further intensification is instrumental to terrorise the Ukrainian people into submission.
2. What was supposed to be a “special military operation” to bring down the Kyiv government in a matter of days has turned into a three-year entanglement in full-scale war. This development was unexpected not only for Putin but also for the Western powers—Biden even offered to help Zelensky evacuate. It is precisely the determination and resilience of the Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted Putin’s plans to this day.
3. The invasion of Ukraine was not only an attempt to reassert the role of Russia in the capitalist competition but also a deliberate attempt to tighten control over Russian society and crush all dissent. Anti-war activists have been prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms on trumped charges. Socialist organisations, such as that of our comrades in the Russian Socialist Movement, have been forced to disband, and their members have had to flee. While feminists continue to mobilise, they do it under constant pressure with threats of imprisonment for even uttering the word “war”.
4. As internationalists, we defend Ukraine’s right to self-determination and their right to resist the invasion. People’s movements are an integral part of this resistance, waging a struggle on two fronts: against the occupants and against the Zelensky government. In this unequal fight, we stand together with other progressive forces in the country. We urge all internationalist left to develop political and material solidarity with trade unionists, feminists, and social and democratic activists in Ukraine. Just as the Fourth International has been doing this since the beginning of the aggression within the framework of the “European Network of Solidarity with Ukraine” (ENSU/RESU) and together with the Ukrainian left-wing organisation, Sotsialnyi Rukh.
5. Once again, we underline that we have no illusions about the nature of Ukraine’s regime. Their government is right-wing and neo-liberal, not shying away from mobilising fear to stay in power. It is just as keen to satisfy domestic capitalists as to reassure the Western powers of its ability to adapt to their demands. Its anti-social and anti-democratic policies are counter-productive in terms of defending Ukraine. They oppose the needs of its working classes, provoke their resentment, undermine social trust, and, as a result, the government relies on increasingly authoritarian measures. This makes standing with the Ukrainian wage earners and their organisations all the more important. We cannot abandon them when they desperately need solidarity, especially if our vision of emancipation is that of a struggle from below, where the people rise to fight, independant from the government and the great powers.
How to Handle Dilemmas – Chris Zeller responds to Hanna Perekhoda – European States must guarantee Ukraine can defend itself – but the call for general re-armament is wrong
This is an important discussion because a Trump-Putin alliance threatens Ukraine.
What are the implications in Ireland?
A very simple policy should be supported by the left in Ireland :
We do not have a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Israel and Palestine – we are for Palestine. We must not have a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – we must be for Ukraine. Trump-Putin are promoting genocide in Palestine and Ukraine.
Concretely, the Irish state helps Ukraine to clear mines planted by the Russian genocidal invaders.
The Irish left must support this measure.
Moving things forward :
Expand mine clearing and related non lethal military support.
That has to be the policy of the Irish left – no ifs and buts.
Alongside that, we must oppose any Irish state attempt to to join imperialist military alliances such as NATO – a firm policy of Non-Alignment is required.
John Meehan March 22 2025
Chris Zeller’s note, published on facebook, is addressed to Hanna Perekhoda, whose article is included in this blog post :
How to Finance European Defence and how not to – and how the Irish Left can assist Ukraine by all means necessary (TÓF)
How to handle dilemmas?
I understand your arguments. I share your argument that we need a perspective of solidarity for the whole continent of Europe. This perspective includes massive support for the Ukrainian resistance. However, the fact that the countries of Europe and the USA have so far given too little support to Ukraine is not due to military inferiority vis-à-vis Russia but has political and economic reasons. At least some important sectors of capital have always focused on resuming “reasonable economic relations” with Russia.
Read the rest of this entry »New “Foreceful” Anti-Immigrant Policy Issued by Sinn Féin Migration Spokesperson Matt Carthy TD
One person who read this document wrote “shocking”.
Another observed “Galloway, Wagenknecht and now Sinn Féin. And at least one “Leftie” in Ireland moaning about the famous single unvetted male”.
The good news is that sincere anti-racist voters in Britain, Germany, and Ireland are realising that “Red-Brown” politics stink. In the Dublin Central constituency, where one of the 4 Dáil Deputies is SF leader Mary-Lou McDonald TD, the party’s 1st preference vote went down 12.3 per cent. SF got a warning that it was losing support to its left and right.
Many SF members are anti-racists. They must speak out now, because evidence suggests that the party leadership is doubling down to promote a new suite of racist policies.
Link :
Sinn Féin to challenge asylum centres in poor areas
See also :
Facebook link; Irish republicans opposed to SF anti-immigrant policy
The party is directing its members to take a more forceful approach to blocking accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees in deprived areas.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 