In the aftermath of the Eleventh Night bonfires last year, Belfast City Council passed a Sinn Féin motion authorising the forced clearing of bonfire sites. When this policy was implemented against an anti-internment bonfire in the Divis area of west Belfast, it led to small-scale rioting. If there is an attempt to do the same this year in Protestant areas ...

The following article was first published in Socialism 2000, the precursor of Socialist Alternative, in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that was signed 20 years ago today.  By Peter Hadden Around the world the Good Friday Agreement may have been trumpeted as an “historic compromise”, an “exercise in reconciliation” and a “step to a final ...

Article written by Peter Hadden in 2008  Death on the rock of Gibraltar – 20 years since SAS killing of three IRA volunteers It is twenty years since the execution style killing by the SAS of three IRA members in Gibraltar. In Northern Ireland these deaths sparked a brief but particularly bloody upsurge in violence. Over the next thirteen days ...

By Kevin Henry The current political impasse in the North continues in the wake of two election campaigns which have been described as the “mother of all sectarian headcounts.” Both Sinn Féinand DUP have consolidated their positions as the largest political force in their respective communities.  The current stalemate in terms of talks is a reflection of increased sectarian polarisation ...

Nationalise Bombardier! A brewing international trade dispute is threatening thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland. One thousand workers at Canadian aerospace company Bombardier’s Belfast plant are engaged in building wings for its new C-series passenger jet. Last year, Bombardier secured a major order for the planes from US airline Delta but that has now been put in jeopardy by a ...

By Stephen Boyd In the wake of last year’s “Brexit” vote and the demand of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for a second independence referendum in Scotland, Sinn Féin first and now the SDLP also, have raised the call for the holding of a border poll. Stephen Boyd outlines the socialist case for opposing a border poll and what’s needed ...

The failure of the economic recovery in Ireland to deliver for the needs of working-class people is becoming increasingly clear, if anything living standards are worsening.

The stunning electoral upset delivered by Jeremy Corbyn on the basis of a radical, left platform has had an electrifying impact and is potentially a historic turning point. He has engaged a new generation of youth in politics and smashed the lie that socialist policies are unpopular. In contrast, predictions that the snap general election in Northern Ireland would be ...

Theresa May’s failed election gamble is a nightmare for the capitalist class in Britain. Seven weeks ago most of Britain’s elite were hopeful that May would succeed in dramatically increasing the number of Tory MPs, thereby buttressing her government to be able to weather the storms of economic crisis, to carry out vicious austerity against the majority in society and to implement ...

By Eóin Dawson In the final days of the last Assembly Executive, before it collapsed under the weight the RHI scandal, the issue of Irish language rights re-emerged. The DUP’s Paul Givan announced a cut to the Líofa bursary scheme, which provides financial assistance to young people to attend Irish language courses in gaeltacht areas. With the sectarian line drawn, ...