Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Irish General Election November 29 2024 – Mick Wallace, Clare Daly and Sinn Féin Dog-Whistle to the Racists – Vote Left, Transfer Left, Vote Anti-Racist; No Coalition with FFFGGG
Ireland is not full. The kids in St. Aidan’s School Tallaght show political leadership much needed in Ireland today:
Ireland’s November 29 2024 General Election – Racist Warning Signs – TÓF
Adults who claim to be on the left are spreading racist porkies.
This is an RTÉ Radio 1 discussion involving 3 independent candidates : Mick Wallace (Wexford candidate), Kate O’Connell (ex Fine Gael TD Dublin Bay South), Marian Harkin TD (Sligo)
Mick Wallace, “Nowhere to Put Them” and the Ukrainians “Pull Factor”
Harkin and Wallace play the “Ireland is Full” race card. To her credit, Kate O’Connell promotes an anti-racist message. Mick Wallace is an “Independents for Change” candidate in the November 29 Irish General Election, along with another ex Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Clare Daly.
The Wallace statement provoked a storm of protest from many left wing sources. One example :
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 »9000 Days of Putin’s Régime in the Russian Federation, 1000 Days of War – Protest, The Spire, O’Connell Street, Dublin 1, Sunday November 17 3-5pm
Free Russians Ireland has organised a protest in Dublin :
Link :
Free Russians Ireland – 9000 Days of Putin’s Régime in Russia
Sunday November 17, 15:00 – 17:00
1,000 Days of War, 9,000 Days of Putin’s Regime
Location: The Spire, O’Connell Street, Dublin
Hello everyone!
You’ve probably seen the call to join the big rally in Berlin on November 17.
November 20 will mark 1,000 days since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, cities have been bombed, and over a million civilians have been killed or injured, according to “The Wall Street Journal”.
Our message in Dublin is the same as in London and other cities around the world holding actions: stop the war in Ukraine, withdraw the troops, provide reparations, and free political prisoners!
There are currently around 5,000 political prisoners in Russia, according to OVD-Info, including minors, people with health issues, and those facing ethnic and religious persecution. In the past year alone, over five people have reportedly been killed in prison.
We are taking to the streets this November for an important reason — cold weather is setting in for Ukraine, and its infrastructure has been severely damaged. Together with the London-based Russian Democracy Society, we are raising funds for generators and informing the Irish public about what is happening in Ukraine and Russia and why we demand an end to the war.
Read the rest of this entry »1000 Days since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine – Protest at Embassy of Russia in Ireland, Tuesday November 19 2024, 3 – 4pm, 186 Orwell Road, Dublin 14
Tuesday November 19 2024 marks the 1000th day since the start of the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Putin and his military forces.
To mark the day an event is being held outside the Russian embassy commencing at 3.30pm..
A poster advertising the event is below.
Feel free to circulate it to friends, acquaintances and contacts.
Housing Crisis, Ireland, November 12 2024 : Left-wing election candidates respond to RTÉ Upfront True Stories
Councillor John Lyons, Candidate, Dublin Bay North
Good to see opposition politicians cutting through the bleedin’ heart nonsense from FF & FG regarding the housing crisis on
: if they really cared, we wouldn’t have 3,388 homeless children in Dublin tonight. #HousingCrisis
https://x.com/CllrJohnLyons/status/1856112498291753276
Councillor Ruth Coppinger, Candidate, Dublin West
A young woman in the audience just punctured the guff on
@RTEUpfront. In a homeless hub with a child with a life limiting condition. What shame for a government that has had a record budget surplus. Cheek of minister saying ‘I have a family too’ on his salary.
Read the rest of this entry »
Deport an Immigrant? The view of Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane (the party’s Integration Spokesperson)
A highly-respected human rights campaigner Wendy Lyon draws our attention to a public statement issued by the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Integration Claire Kerrane TD (Ropscommon-Galway). Kerrane’s home town is Ballaghaderreen, which has recently been the target of sinister anti-immigrant racist mobilisations.
Wendy Lyon posted this comment on the X/Twitter platform :
“A party representative who doesn’t think immigrants accused of crime should be entitled to legal aid is not fit to be integration spokesperson.”
Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald TD led a pile-on against critics, featuring a legion of self-declared SF supporters [note of caution : many of them may not be real individuals]
Wendy Lyon has a much better policy :
Anyway, “criminals should be deported instead of imprisoned” is Little Irelander nationalism. If someone is really a danger to others then (until there’s a better alternative) prison is exactly where they should be, not free to be a danger to people in their country of origin.
Claire Kerrane TD, in her own words :
“Sinn Féin’s integration spokesperson has stood over a deleted Facebook post saying deportation should be considered for any immigrant who commits a crime.
But Claire Kerrane said it’s a personal view and she’s “not pushing for it” to become party policy.”
An anti-racist correspondent, EamonVIDF has done an excellent job providing context for this dispute :
This kind of lets the ‘optics’ cat out of the bag
The full information thread is here :
https://x.com/EamonnVIDF/status/1853423563346153484
Who is Wendy Lyon?
Wendy Lyon holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law (Griffith College Dublin), for which she wrote her dissertation on sex workers’ right to health. She has been involved in feminist activism on both sides of the Atlantic for longer than she cares to admit. By day, she works as a solicitor, practising mainly in the areas of immigration and sexual/reproductive/maternity rights. She tweets about human rights law, politics, and her cats at @wendylyon. Wendy contributes to the Feminist Ire blog :
Feminist Ire :
John Meehan November 10 2024
Taoiseach Simon Harris Announces Irish General Election on November 29 – Heading to Phoenix Park HQ of President Michael D Higgins to dissolve current Dáil – Support Credible Radical Left Candidates
https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/1108/1479774-end-33-dail-general-election/
Simon Harris confirmed that he’ll travel to Áras an Uachtaráin shortly to ask President Higgins to dissolve the Dáil.
The election is set for Friday 29 November 2024.
A number of radical left candidates against any coalition deal with FFFFGGG have a realistic chance of winning a Dáil seat. [FFFGGG = Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Greens, Gombeens].
One of them is Councillor John Lyons in Dublin Bay North.
Rejecting any coalition deals with FFFGGG and a policy that All refugees Are Welcome should be top priorities for radical left candidates in this general election.
People Before Profit (PBP) candidates also endorse the above policy.
Link :
No Coalition with FF or FG – PBP Conor Reddy
John Meehan, November 7 2024
Santry resident Olga Popova fled Russia before the war against Ukraine – Free Russians Ireland Organise Against Putin’s Régime
Garrett Mullan, an activist in Irish left With Ukraine, interviews Olga Popova (Free Russians Ireland).
This is the latest episode on Garrett’s M1 Podcast.
Santry resident Olga Popova Fled Russia Before the War Against Ukraine
Free Russians Ireland
Open Mind Wind is Olga’s marketing business –Success Stories
Free Russians Ireland- Facebook
Free Russians Ireland Instagram
On the M1 Podcast, Garrett does stories of interest to those who live up and down the M1. Santry resident Olga Popova who fled Russia in 2021. To her 50,000 tiktok followerers, she is an outspoken critic of the war against Ukraine https://m1.radio.ie
Episode 24- Santry resident fled Russia before the war against Ukraine
Olga Popova and her husband moved to Ireland in 2021 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They settled in Santry on the northside of Dublin. Her husband was involved in activities protesting against the Russian government and they were prompted to flee after he spent a night in police custody. ‘I was at home with our child, because in Russia, if you go protests you need to be able to run fast’.
Read the rest of this entry »Resolution: The War and the Future of Ukraine and the Left Movement – Author : Social Movement (Sotsialnyi Rukh) [Ukraine]
The resolution below was recently adopted by a left-wing organisation in Ukraine : Social Movement (Sotsialnyi Rukh).
Here is one of many important statements very relevant to the left in Ireland and elsewhere :
The growing contradictions between the centers of capital accumulation in the world capitalist system will not stop even after the complete destruction of Russian imperialist power. The left in Europe and around the world turned out to be helpless and disoriented when the Russian aggression in Ukraine occurred. Unless the international socialist movement realizes mistakes it has made and builds a new, truly internationalist cooperation and coordination, we simply have no chance of preventing the growth of inter-imperialist struggle in the future.
Resolution: The War and the Future of Ukraine and the Left Movement
Категорія: ПОЗИЦІЯ
The people of Ukraine have been facing hard challenges, yet they have proven their ability to fight for the right to decide on their own fate, and their determination to defend the country and to end the war as soon as possible. The authorities and representatives of market-fundamentalist ideology, together with big business, keep pushing through an economic model focused on benefiting a minority at the expense of the welfare of the absolute majority
The people of Ukraine have been facing hard challenges, yet they have proven their ability to fight for the right to decide on their own fate, and their determination to defend the country and to end the war as soon as possible. The authorities and representatives of market-fundamentalist ideology, together with big business, keep pushing through an economic model focused on benefiting a minority at the expense of the welfare of the absolute majority. In this model, workers are completely subservient to the will of their employers, while social and regulatory functions of the state are abolished for the sake of “business needs”, “competition” and “free market”.
Read the rest of this entry »How Much Proof Is Needed? The Case of Vladimir Putin’s Spy Pavel Rubtsov / Pablo Gonzalez
Speculating about the identity of spies is a largely useless activity unless the secret operator has been unmasked. For example in Ireland, examining the profiles of a few high-profile unmaksed British spies – Freddie Scappaticci, Seán O’Callaghan and Denis Donaldson – the vast majority of the people who came across these informers never guessed anything was wrong until the unmasking.
Pavel Rubtsov/Pablo Gonzalez is an unmasked Russian spy. We do not yet know how much damage he did, how many lives he betrayed, how many people lost their lives, how many lives were ruined, because of the services he offered to Putin’s far-right racist régime.
An important sub-plot in this story concerns members of the international anti-Ukrainian left – including the former Irish members of the European Parliament Clare Daly and Mick Wallace – who associated themselves with campaigns for the release of Rubtsov/Gonzalez after he was detained by Polish state security forces who believed (correctly, it transpires) that their prisoner was a Putin spy.
After Rubtsov returned to Russia as part of a prisoner-exchange he was personally greeted by President Vladimir Putin. The case against the Russian spy had become overwhelming, but ex Irish MEP Clare Daly still peddled a false cover-story :
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Tomás Ó Flatharta 