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Why I joined the Socialist Party
My whole life, there a few things I have always believed without any doubt and one of these is the indisputable right for a woman to decide what to do with her own body. It is the first and basic step toward the achievement of a real and complete women's emancipation.
Solidarity with hospital doctors – Support the strike!
Socialist Party Public representatives support Hospital Doctors' action for humane and safe working hour.
Scottish independence referendum – one year to go
The Scottish independence referendum is taking place on 18 September 2014. An average of this year’s opinion polls indicates that currently one third of people would vote Yes for independence and around one half would vote No. While there are differences depending on which organisation conducts the poll, the trend over the last nine months has been relatively static.
US – A graphic picture of decline
New book charts economic, social and political decay of America
“No one can say when the unwinding began – when the coil that held Americans together in its secure and sometimes stifling grip first gave way. Like any great change, the unwinding began at countless times, in countless ways – and at some moment the country, always the same country, crossed a line of history and became irretrievably different”.
So begins George Packer in this tremendous book, The Unwinding, which paints a devastating picture of US capitalism in decline. Similar to Packer, Karl Marx described the collapse of the Spanish Empire as a “slow and inglorious decay”. The difference is that Spain’s decline took place over centuries, whereas the astonishing collapse of the US – still, nevertheless, the strongest capitalist power on the planet – has been compressed into 50 or 60 years!
Young people in Ireland, like cattle, are being brought up for export
Today sees the publication of a report by the UCC Émigré project which graphically shows the devastation caused by emigration.
Repeal the 8th amendment
This Saturday will see the second annual March for Choice. Mass mobilisation is crucial to ensure the government’s attempt to wash its hands of the abortion issue, following the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, will not be tolerated and, in particular, that the betrayal of the Labour Party in its support of a bill that criminalises women and ignored the issues of foetal abnormalities, rape, incest and inevitable miscarriages will not be overlooked.
Can the Seanad be reformed?
This government has been at war against working people since it came to power. It is clear that we need to oppose this government and its austerity policies. However, the majority of trade union leaders have utterly failed to do this.
Prostitutes facing state harassment in Limerick
The last months have seen a disgusting campaign of stigmatisation and vilification of prostitutes in Limerick. Local business owners, such as rugby star Jerry Flannery, have taken to local and social media attacking prostitutes in the most vile of language, whilst the Gardai have begun a new policy of taking those selling sex to court to get civil orders banning them from parts of the city associated with on-street prostitution.
Scrap the Seanad – fight elitism & austerity
In a cynical political stunt, the government has proposed a referendum on the abolition of the Seanad. The Socialist Party is calling for a Yes vote. Not because we agree with the government’s hypocrisy or general attacks on democratic rights, but because the Seanad is an undemocratic, elitist, conservative body that should be scrapped.
Review: Elysium
Elysium is a dystopian sci-fi action film released in August 2013, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. Set in the year 2154, it follows the story of Max da Costa, a factory worker living in the ruins of a future Los Angeles. In this future, the rich and powerful have fled the poverty, disease, and environmental destruction they’ve wrought on the world, and moved to a space station called Elysium. There they live in an idyllic society, far removed from the struggle of ordinary people on earth.
