Irish Referendum, Greek language version: from Ξεκίνημα
Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 2)
Τα παραπάνω, σε συνδυασμό με τη συνολική αντικυβερνητική διάθεση σε σημαντικά στρώματα της κοινωνίας, αλλά και με τη συνειδητή προσπάθεια της ακροδεξιάς και της εκκλησίας να επενδύσουν στα αντανακλαστικά των πιο συντηρητικών στρωμάτων, οδήγησαν το κυβερνητικό σχέδιο σε παταγώδη αποτυχία. Διαβάστε παρακάτω διασκευή του σχετικού άρθρου του Κίραν Μαλχόλαντ.
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On Friday 8th of March, voters delivered the largest defeat in history for a referendum put forward by the Irish government. They voted to reject proposed changes to the “Family” clause in the Constitution by 68% to 32% and the “Care” clause by a record 74% to 26%. Turnout was 44%, a sharp drop from the last referendum in 2018 of 64%.
The scale of the defeat was a humiliation for the government parties-Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, and the Green Party-but also the opposition parties and so-called “civil society” advocacy groups who had united to support a “Yes-Yes” vote.
Right and far right individuals and groups, and conservative Catholics, have sought to claim credit for the outcome. The result has been contrasted to the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum and the 2018 abortion rights referendum which resulted in progressive change and seemed to mark Ireland’s arrival as a modern secular, liberal state. Some on the right are claiming that the referendum marks an end to the onward march of the “woke” agenda with former Fianna Fáil Minister, Willie O’Dea proclaiming it’s time “to stop playing to the woke gallery”,
But the truth is much more complex, as Hugh Linehan, Deputy Editor of the Irish Times (March 16th) argues: “….the result remains hard to read. The amendments were ultimately defeated by a patchwork coalition of wildly disparate parts that are unlikely ever to come together again. Gender-critical feminists stood alongside anti-abortion activists. Rural social conservatives voted the same way as urban Trotskyists”.
Continue readingFirst published in Socialist Voice, paper of the Socialist Party, June 2003
A RECENT opinion poll demonstrates that a significant minority of voters in Northern Ireland are sick of the sectarian parties and are looking for an alternative. Up to seventeen per cent declared their intention to vote for smaller parties outside the sectarian circus.
Many trade union and community activists have been stunned by the anti-working-class policies of the Assembly and the Executive. Many young people reject sectarianism, and because of their experiences of opposing the war in Iraq and globalisation are beginning to question the entire system.
Continue readingThis week, we republish a review of the book The Provisional IRA: from Guns to Government, which was written by ex-IRA prisoner and hunger striker. McKearney is a left critic of Sinn Fein today but continues to hold that the IRA campaign was the only way forward in the early 1970s.
From the Archives: What Lies Behind the Assembly’s Collapse? (October 2002)
First published by Socialist Party 11th October, 2002
AS WE go to press, it seems almost certain that Northern Ireland’s Executive and Assembly will collapse this week. New Labour’s Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid will probably suspend the institutions in the hope that they can one day be resuscitated
Continue readingA general election must be held before January 2025. Most commentators expect this to take place in October or November 2024. There is a widespread acceptance that Keir Starmer, and the Labour Party will form the next government.
As before all elections serious socialists in Northern Ireland are examining the possibility of standing to provide an alternative for working class people. With only months to go, decisions will need to be taken soon as contesting general elections is a major undertaking for small groupings. First past the post elections are not at first sight, viable territory for new parties or movements, but we should not lose sight of the fact that 1/3 of workers and young people do not vote. We also know that many of those who cast a vote for parties outside the mainstream are still in search of a viable cross-community, anti-sectarian, left alternative.
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March 6th, 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the great miners’ strike. The strike lasted almost one year. It ended with the miners marching back to work behind their bands and their banners on March 3rd, 1985.
This heroic struggle will never be forgotten by every socialist activist who lived through it. There were no mines or miners in Northern Ireland, but the effects of the strike were profound.
It has been said that workers in Northern Ireland raised more money per head of the population than any other area and England, Scotland and Wales, outside the mining areas.
Trade unions and trade unionists were involved in fundraising efforts, and collected food and basic essentials to send to the pit communities. The workers movement in Northern Ireland were asked to contribute directly to the Scottish NUM and miners’ representatives from Scotland visited Northern Ireland in the first few weeks in the strike. Eventually, Barri McClatchy a Scottish miner, stayed for the duration of the strike and indeed remained in the North when it was over.
Today we published an article on the 40th anniversary of the strike. The miners’ strike was a high point for the British workers movement and its defeat has left his mark to this day. Nevertheless, we remember their struggle with pride, and we are determined to learn from their courage and determination.
When Workers Stood United: Striking against Sectarianism
The history of Northern Ireland is portrayed as a history of two sectarian blocs in endless conflict. There is another side to this history, however, one which is often hidden and denied. The workers’ movement has a rich and proud record of opposition to sectarianism, taking united action on many occasions in order to prevent sectarian violence from spiralling out of control.
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First published in Socialist Voice May 16, 2013
Good Vibrations (directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa & Glenn Leyburn)
tells the story of Terri Hooley, the record shop and label he founded in Belfast at the height of the Troubles, and the Northern Ireland punk scene. The film starkly portrays the bleakness of life in Belfast in the 1970’s.
Published on Internationalist Standpoint website, November 17, 2023
Alla conferenza internazionalista di Milano dello scorso luglio abbiamo conosciuto Internationalist Standpoint, trovando ampie convergenze con loro sulle analisi e le posizioni che hanno portato in questa occasione. In questi giorni terribili, segnati dal massacro di Gaza e dall’apparente egemonia di prospettive nazionaliste reazionarie contrapposte nella guerra israelo-palestinese, pubblichiamo allora questa lunga analisi e questo indirizzo politico sul conflitto in corso, di Ciaran Mulholland [un compagno nordirlandese], tratto dal sito Internationalist Standpoint, che condividiamo nel suo impianto classista e internazionalista.
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