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Theory & History

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Commemorating the 95th anniversary of the death of Rosa Luxemburg

"She was always ready to take up the cause of the suffering and the oppressed; she felt doubly every blow that fell on others. The deepest sympathy with all those who were humiliated or wronged was the mainspring of her active life and was vibrant in her every word, even her loftiest theoretical abstractions." - Paul Froelich, Luxemburg's colleague and biographer.
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The Euro – exit stage Left?

It hasn’t gone away, you know. Although much of the media and political commentary would suggest otherwise, the eurozone crisis is very far from resolved. The economies on the periphery of Europe all face deep economic crisis, the burden for which has been heaped upon working class and poor people, with the devastating social consequences seen at their most extreme in Greece.

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Seanad Éireann – its origins and conservative role

A referendum on the abolition of Seanad Éireann is taking place on the 4th October. It is   a referendum that is cynically being put forward by the Fine Gael/Labour government to   try to portray themselves as reformers and progressives by calling for the scrapping of a   blatantly elitist institution. Enda Kenny even attacked the 'political insiders' who have        never reformed the Seanad for decades. Kenny, however, fails to see that he and the    rest of his Fine Gael party are at the heart of the political establishment and are true    'political insiders', central to how the state is run.

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Review: The World Until Yesterday

Jared Diamond is a materialist. For him, historical and cultural development is rooted in environment, geography and technology. Technological and environmental transformations give rise to differing social organisation and changing values and culture.

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The politics of hacktivism

The world of computer hacking, once the domain of science fiction novels, has become an increasingly prominent force in society. WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning have become household names. Thanks to the hacktivist group Anonymous, the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta has become a symbol of struggle seen in protests around the world. The recent scandal surrounding NSA surveillance and the attacks on whistleblower Edward Snowden have brought the subject of hacking further into the public eye.

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The socialist alternative to G8 tyranny

Not since its 2001 meeting in Genoa, which saw 200,000 protesters take to the streets has the G8 dared to meet in an area accessible to protesters. However remote a place they choose, they are met by protesters opposed to austerity, war and environmental destruction, but what is clear is that protesting is not enough. We need to build an alternative that is in the interest of the 99% not the dictatorial rule of the 1% – a socialist alternative.