January/February 2022

TheSocialist

no to far-right racism, housing profiteering & Govt inaction DemanD public homes for all!

By Peter McGregor

2022 in numbers – another year of capitalist chaos

$97 billion

this is the total profits of the world’s largest coal mining companies in spite of the worsening existential climate crisis, for which these companies are majorly responsible, they managed to triple their profits in 2022 Some did even better: Glencore earned $13 2 billion in the 12 months ending on 30 June, compared with $1 2 billion the year before, china Shenhua made $12.2 billion, compared with $288 million, and bhP brought in $9 5 billion

this is the amount of days women in the eu worked for free due to the persistent gender pay gap tuesday, 15 november 2022 was the eu unequal Pay Day ; from that date to December 31 women worked for free because of the structural discrimination women face across all sectors and countries the pay gap was slightly less than the previous year, but this was not because of women’s pay rising, but because of unemployment affecting maledominated sectors more

9.2%

ireland's inflation rate from

october 2021 to october 2022, a 38-year high. 2022 saw workingclass people thrown into a cost of living crisis – prices of food, fuel, heating and many other essentials soared with minimal action taken by the government in its budget it even set aside €2 billion for a ‘rainy day fund’, but for working-class people, it is raining cats and dogs!

$270 billion

this is the estimated cost of the damage caused by extreme weather events in 2022 the costliest natural disaster in 2022 was hurricane ian in the uS, which caused losses of around $100 billion the 2022 total was less

than the 2021 estimate of $320 billion, but it ’s clear these incredible costs will be a feature ever y year ahead

11,542

the number of people accommodated by homeless ser vices in ireland in november, up 26 2% in a year this is just the tip of the iceberg of the overall crisis, as there are tens of thousands on housing waiting lists and thousands more without secure accommodation Successive governments have failed to deal with the housing crisis, but it isn’t a question of a lack of resources or funds – the housing and

homelessness crisis isn’t being dealt with due to government policy of reliance on the private market

6,023

the amount of children killed or njured in the united States by gunfire in 2022, the most ever ecorded in the 90-year histor y of a nonprofit that tracks shooting ncidents it was also the second worst year ever recorded for mass shootings (four or more people shot), of which there were 617 ncidents through november 2022

1,739

the number of people killed in

floods that covered one -third of Pakistan the floods were described as the worst in Pakistan’s histor y and was caused by an intense Monsoon season coupled with water from melting glaciersboth of which are serious consequences of climate change the floods were disastrous, causing $10 billion of damage and affecting 30 million people.

1 million

the number of working days lost to strike action in the uK in 2022, the most since 2011 in the context of the cost of living crisis, rising inflation, and a fumbling tor y government, workers in britain across many different sectors took strike action

From ashling to Bruna: action needed to stop rise of violent misogyny

by emma Quinn

TH E KI LLI NG

of 28-year-old Br una Fonseca on New Year ’ s Day 2023 was a painful and poignant c lose to what was a hor r ific year for femicide and gender violence, and sends a stark warning for 2023 Bruna was the first victim of men ’ s violence against women in 2023 Her murder took place just days before the first anniversar y of Ashling Murphy ’ s murder, the first woman killed in 2022.

Between the killings of Ashling and Bruna, 11 other women were murdered by men in this state O ver Christmas two pregnant women were murdered: Natalie Mc Nally in Northern Ireland and a young D ublin mother, Ailish Walsh, who was killed in L ondon

A pandemic of violence

Women’s Aid has said statistics confirm that 2022 was “ a terrible year for violence against women, both in Ireland and globally ” In Spain, 11 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in the month of December alone In this state in the first half of 2022, reported rapes increased by 23%, and at the beginning of December there had been 49,257 domestic abuse reports received by Gardaí – an increase of 9% over the same period in 2021 This is just the tip of the iceberg, as most go unreported

Worsened by the Covid pandemic and its wide-ranging impact on women, the “pandemic of gender violence” is still raging and emergency action is overdue In the af termath of the killing of Ashling Mur phy and the enormous public outcr y that followed, the government published “ a zero tolerance policy to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence ” A welcome de velopment but also too little, too late and still much too slow

Misogyny consciously injected

The capitalist system has always relied on and profited from the sy stematic oppression of women; using backward, stereot y pic al gender roles, laws, the state, as well as promoting the patriarchal family structure, to ensure women provide essential c are work, are low paid, are exploited and objectified for profit by the beauty and sex industries

But in recent times, lowlife “ influencers ” like Andre w Tate and figures like Jordan Peterson are part of a conscious ratcheting up of bac kward, misog ynistic ideas We are in the middle of an organised backlash against the global feminist wave and active movements against oppression that began in the 2010s, from Ni Una Menos to #MeToo and BLM, to the struggles for abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and the many gains that were won globally

That bac klash inc ludes millions of boys and young men being targeted online via “the manosphere”: an enormous collection of websites, blogs, and forums promoting toxic masculinity, male entitlement, and opposition to gender equalit y These anti-feminist figures, and the social media companies they use to effectivel y promote themsel ves (benefiting from algorithms that promote controversy, targeting select demographics), are making huge profits

by grooming boy s and men to hate women on a massive scale, and the impact of this is immeasurable

Socialist feminist movements

Misog yny, gender violence, racism are rampant but they are not natural or inevitable Capitalism has a vested interest in amplifying all divisions, including by promoting toxic masculinit y and rigid gender roles

Evidence shows that the most impor-

tant drivers of social change are strong and active social movements Building campaigns will literally save lives, push back the alt-right misogynists and challenge backward attitudes generally, and is the most effective way of pressuring the government to act now

Now more than ever we have to actively build working-c lass and socialist movements of solidar it y that proactively take on backward ideas and the system that fosters them

Tens of thousands protested to demand ac tion af ter the murder of Ashling Murphy in Januar y 2022, but much remains to be done

Record number on hospital trollies: legacy of underfunding and austerity Oxfam’s ‘Survival of the Richest’ report

by Donal Devlin

2023 opened with an all-too-familiar stor y of overcrowding in public hospitals across the state – only, this time, it ’ s worse. A record 931 and 838 people were lying on trollies, waiting on a hospital bed, on 3 and 4 of Januar y respectivel y W hile these record numbers may ease in the coming weeks they are indic ative of a wider cr isis in our health ser vice

Record figures

The government has tr ied to avoid blame for this crisis, suggesting it is the by-product of the “perfect storm” of rising flu, RSV and Covid cases However, this problem is ultimately the result of decades of underfunding and austerity that has had a de vastating impact on the health ser vice

In the past ten years, successive governments – including both Labour and the Greens, along with F ine Gael and F ianna Fáil – have c losed eight A&E units On top of this, the number of beds in the state has fallen by over a third since 2008 - then, the number of beds stood at 21,789; today, it stands at 14,412 This is despite the fact that the population of the state has r isen by 200,000 in the same period The number of hospital beds is signific antl y below the EU average – the latter figure is 387 beds per 100,000 people; in Ireland, this figure stands at 269 beds per 100,000

Staff retention

Another factor driving the crisis in our health ser vice is the question of staff re-

tention Working in an underfunded ser vice on poor pay and conditions is undoubtedly a difficult and demoralising experience A recent sur vey carried out by the INMO found that two-thirds of nurses are considering emigrating and one-third are considering leaving the major cities because of the cost-of-living crisis A similar situation is being faced by other public sector workers such as teachers, thus putting further pressure on vital ser vices

We need emergency measures to tackle this crisis The decision of the INMO to ballot its members to take industrial action on this issue is an important and necessar y one They mobilise

the power of their members and link in with working-c lass communities that are being hit by perennial crises

We need:

l Permanently nationalise private hospitals with no compensation, ending the obscene existence of a two-tier health ser vice

l Tax big business and the super-rich's wealth – from 2021 to 2022, Ireland ’ s nine richest billionaires increased their wealth by €10 8 billion

l Notwithstanding the Irish state’s low tax regime, an additional €7 3 billion came in revenue from corporation tax last year, meaning huge profits are

being made in the Irish economy l Recruit more healthcare staff on decent wages and conditions, so we can retain them Build public houses so they have a place to live!

l Invest in a one-tier, top-quality, national public health ser vice that is free at the point of use and funded through progressive taxation

This whole crisis graphically exposes where the priorities of capitalism in our society lie, and it is certainly not with the interests of ordinar y, working-c lass people We need to break with this system and use the wealth and resources of society for the needs and benefit of all

Varadkar’s hollow commitments won’t end child poverty

by conor burke

U P O N CO M M EN C I N G his second spel l as Taoiseac h, L eo Var adkar highlighted the issue of child pover t y as a cr isis that his gover nment would supposed l y make a pr ior it y to deal with over the remainder of its ter m in office T his pseudocommitment should be treated with the der ision that it deser ves.

This is a government that is presiding over a devastating housing crisis that is seeing a record number of children living in emergency accommodation At the time of writing, there are over 3,000 children in emergency accommodation They not only grow up in a “home” that is overcrowded, with a poor diet and often lack the necessar y educational facilities given that they are often forced to change where they live

Who is being hit?

In 2022 there were an estimated 1,201,618 c hildren living in Ireland, accounting for 23 6% of the total population Of these, just under 200,000 were living in a household experiencing povert y These figures were calculated before the worst impacts of the cost-of-living cr isis, therefore we c an

assume that the numbers today are even higher For children living in one parent families, the majorit y of whom are women, the rate of depr ivation is much worse

Households living below the poverty line are hardest hit by inflation as the cost of basic food staples, raising energ y costs, and rising rents are compounded by stagnant or reduced wages and social welfare payments (due to inflation)

Not sur pr isingl y, children living in povert y are much more likely to live in depr ivation as adults It is a vicious c yc le caused by the policies of this and successive governments They have refused to invest the necessar y sums in public homes, and public ser vices such as education

Capitalism is the root cause of this unending cyc le of impoverishment It ’ s outrageous that we live in a wor ld in whic h c hildren are condemned from birth to live in povert y Child povert y should not be an issue today – in a wor ld of so muc h wealth – and we should not accept it We need to organise, and build a new working-c lass movement to eradicate it – along with the rule of Varadkar ’ s government and the capitalist system they so worship

by laura fitzgerald

T h e r i c h e s T 1% of irish society now owns more than a quar ter of the countr y's wealth or €232 billion, according to a new Oxfam repor t Shock ingly, it found that the two richest people here – with €15 billion between them – have 50% more wealth than the poorest half of the population!

in total, there are now eight irish billionaires, but 1,435 people in ireland have more than €47 million each, while 20,575 have more than €4 7 million each Since 2012, the numbers in both those categories have more than doubled the repor t makes the point that for ever y €93 of wealth created in ireland over the past decade, €31 has gone to the richest 1% and less than 50 cent to the bottom 50%!

in other words, the richest 1% has gained 70 times more wealth than the bottom 50% in the last ten years

the richest 10% now owns nearly two-thirds of the wealth – a staggering €547 billion combined at the same time, the poorest 50% of the population owns only 1% of wealth

No more billionaires

Globally, in the last two years the richest 1% of the world's population has gained nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of humanity put together

billionaire for tunes are increasing by $2 7 billion a day Meanwhile, over 800 million people go to bed hungr y ever y night oxfam argues for the halving of the wealth and number of billionaires between now and 2030 i t calculates that in ireland a wealth tax with graduated rates of 2%, 3% and 5% above a high threshold of €4 7 million would raise €8 2 billion a year these are welcome proposals, but we need to go much fur ther billionaires can only exist because billions of workers and poor people are exploited and impoverished to make their billions in wealth

in other words, billionaires are not billionaires despite of the obscene inequality in the world, which is bad enough, but because of the obscene inequality in the world therefore, we need to fight for a world without billionaires altogether; a socialist world

Nurses should be suppor ted in tak ing industrial ac tion to improve conditions in hospitals

Far-right protests – how can we defeat racist division?

by conor Payne

PROT ES T S H AV E been organised in many different par ts of the countr y outside buildings being used to accommodate refugees; inc luding in East Wall, Ball y mun, and Dr imnagh in D ublin, Fer moy in Cork and in Killar ney in Ker r y In some cases, these protests have attracted crowds of hundreds of people.

The refugees in these centres are fleeing the war in U kraine or other wars, persecution, and de vastation L arge crowds gathered outside these facilities, shouting slogans like ‘Get them out ’ , is obviousl y intimidation and must cause real fear and distress to those being targeted

The protests are being driven by an emboldened far right, who want to use the refugee cr isis to push their own noxious agenda of racist division, and turning bac k the c loc k on women ’ s r ights, LGBTQ r ights, and church control

Stirring up racism

At the same time, the protests have drawn in others who are not part of the far r ight There are racist attitudes in society and these are being consciously played upon with pernicious arguments about ‘ unvetted males’ arr iving in the countr y Howe ver, there is also a real concern in many communities that it isn’t possible to accommodate the number of refugees who are coming to Ireland or about the impact of a sudden increase in populations in areas that are already suffering from a lack of housing and ser vices

The government bears responsibility for giving the far right opportunity to take advantage of this situation There is a crippling housing crisis, with record numbers in emergency accommodation, many living in substandard conditions, rents at an all-time high Many public ser vices are at breaking point, including GP and health ser vices Meanwhile, they have failed completely to plan proper ly for the increased numbers of refugees since the war on Ukraine began, resulting in many who arrive here being housed in completely unsuitable and inhumane conditions

Refugees not to blame

The different crises in our society are not caused by refugees, and have existed long before the current war in Ukraine began They are caused by the under-

funding of public ser vices, the refusal over years to build public housing, a system which places the private vested interests of land lords and developers above the needs of working-class people There are more than enough resources in this countr y to ensure homes, ser vices and decent living standards for all There are 166,000 vac ant and derelict homes in the state and the wealth of Ireland ’ s billionaires went up by €16 billion dur ing the pandemic alone Multinational corporations here are making record profits and the government had a €5 billion sur plus last year But this government ’ s neglect creates a situation in which ordinar y working-c lass people feel forced to compete with each other for access to housing and other necessities Protesting refugees will not improve

any thing in working-c lass communities W hat ’ s needed is a united movement of working-c lass people of all bac kgrounds to take on the government and their system; and to demand public homes for all, a real public health ser vice and major investment in longneglected communities The far r ight forces are completely opposed to this, and by deflecting attention to refugees are in fact protecting the status quo and those in power

Far right can be pushed back But they c an be pushed bac k We shouldn’t believe for a second that there is widespread support for these protests in the communities where they are taking place In Fermoy, protests against U krainian refugees were signific antl y outnumbered by an anti-racist commu-

nity protest which was joined by hundreds We need a fightback against the threat of the far right

But in order to be effective and to win as many as possible away from the orbit of the right, this fightback has to be c lear ly opposed to the government and capitalist establishment It has to put for ward a real alternative, based on uniting all working-c lass people in a struggle for a decent life for all

We should demand:

l Build public housing on a massive sc ale Cut and freez e rents, make the eviction ban permanent Seize all land and property that is being hoarded for profit and use it for public housing

l Invest in a ne w national public health ser vice, free at the point of use End the two tier health ser vice

l End Direct Provision, defend the r ight to asy lum All refugees should have the equal right to study and work No to deportations

l O rganise to take on the far r ight, and divide and r ule politics Get organised in communities to c hal lenge the myths about refugees and migrants and put f or ward an alter native based on uniting working-c lass people W ith o ver 500,000 members, the tr ade unions could play a key role in mobilising working people against racist division

l Build a struggle against capitalism, which has always promoted racism and division among the working c lass F ight for a democratic socialist society that uses the wealth and resources to fulfil the needs of all, for a wor ld without inequality and oppression

new taoiseach, same disastrous right-wing policies

by Mick barr y tD

L e w i s c a r r O L L' s Through The Looking- Glass, published in 1871, featured the charac ters Tweedledum and Tweedledee. according to wik ipedia, The Tweedle brothers “agree to have a battle, but never have one r ather, they complement each other's words, which led John Tenniel to por tray them as twins in his illustrations for the book "

fianna fáil and fine Gael are today the tweedledum and tweedledee of i rish politics as if to prove the point they swapped around the t wo top jobs in irish politics in December, and the polic y of the Government will stay more or less exactly the same

Protecting the wealthy formed in the Summer of 2020, the fianna fáil / fine G ael / Green Par t y coalition has consistently and vigorously prioritised the interests of big business, the wealthy and big landlords over the interests of work ing people and the poor

the corporate media has tended to praise them for their handling of the crisis that immediately confronted them af ter tak ing office – the covid pandemic but the reality is that thousands died unnecessarily as a result of the premature lifting of a lockdown in the summer of 2020 and again with the premature lifting of another before christmas 2020 in both instances the Government bowed to pressure from business interests and recklessly gambled with the health of the population

Similarly, the Government has not been anywhere near sufficiently bold with cost of living countermeasures and has stood idly by while capitalist profiteering has gone on left, right and centre

abysmal record on housing nowhere has this Government's failure (or its ties to monied interests) been seen more clearly than in relation to the housing crisis i t has failed to halt the relentless rise in rents, which are up 82% in a decade compared to an eu average of 18% a record 11,300 plus people includ-

ing 3,000 plus children spent christmas in emergenc y accommodation, some of them for the second, third or even four th time Varadk ar and coveney are pushing for tax breaks for developers as the way to deal with the crisis i t is typical that this Government considers such a market- driven "solution" to tack le a problem caused by the failures of the self-same capitalist market

Bigger problems to come commentar y about the Government now reaching " the half-way stage" belies the fact that this Dáil is closer now to the 60% mark a General elec tion must take place by M arch 2025 and local and european elections are due in May 2024 the Government may decide to hang together rather than hang separately and tr y to keep going to the bitter end alternatively, jockeying for position bet ween fianna fáil and fine G ael could cause instability as could jockeying for position within fianna fáil after M ar tin's step down from the taoiseach's position and as the Gen-

eral election draws nearer irrespective of whether harmony is disrupted in the tweedledum / tweedledee camp, it is a sure thing that the pair of them will be casting a ner vous eye on a discontented public their

capitalist system faces major crises both here in ireland and globally, the necessity of building a socialist alternative to the par ties who dutifully ser ve this order has never been greater

FF and FG: political and ideological k indred spirits

Hundreds protested in Fermoy, Co Cork , to oppose the racist fear-mongering of the far right

Tories go on the offensive against working-class people escalate the action to a 24-hour general strike!

by Sean burns

Co-ordinate the strikes

2023

LO OKS set to be marked by a renewed upswing in industr ial action as more str ike ballots are being retur ned successfull y T he National Educ ation Union (NEU) in Br itain, as well as Scottish teachers are joining the str ike action Likewise the ongoing str ug gles in Royal Mail, health, and universities are set to continue. T his is no sur pr ise as the ongoing pressure on workers’ pockets continues to mount

The fact that inflation looks set to halve by the end of the year will provide little comfor t to workers when wages have not met r ising inflation Energ y costs increased by 70% last year, while food costs rose by 11 6% The Tor ies’ response has been wholl y inadequate cost of living payments, while welcome, barel y scratch the sur face given the depth of the crisis

They have refused to seriously tackle the rampant profiteering by the likes of big energ y companies pulling in over £16 billion in profits last year Instead, the Tor ies have laid bare their intentions of going on an offensive against workers, including with legislation that would make strike action ineffective –by introducing minimum ser vice levels and allowing the use of agency staff to break pickets

It is in this context that the TUC has announced a day of “events” to “protect the right to strike” on 1 Februar y It is positive that there is some resistance to the Tor ies’ attempt to introduce this legislation – beyond a lacklustre legal challenge – but what is notably absent is a call to coordinate the strike action 125,000 Royal Mail and Post Office workers, 50,000 rail workers, 100,000 civil ser vice workers, 30,000 ambulance workers, 100,000 nurses, 70,000 university workers and 60,000 Scottish teachers will have active strike ballots on that day At the ver y least the call for those workers to time their action to be on the same day would drastically increase the impact of the action against the Tories, but also crucially assist the individual disputes in securing victor ies We are stronger when we strike together

Attempts to justify this mis-leadership from the TUC have amounted to, i n e f f e c t , a n a p p e a l t o t h e e s t a b l i s hm e n t t o b e re a s on a b l e T h e To r i e s have made c lear that they are not reasonable nor wil ling to concede a fair deal to workers

In a similar vein, the TUC General S ecretar y has downplayed c alls for a general strike The Financial Times reported him stating, “ it would make lit-

tle sense to groups as disparate as teachers and physiotherapists who were worried about pay, but hard ly inc lined to militancy ” Such a view is the opposite of reality!

Workers across the board, in e ver y sector are facing the same issues: pay

not matching inflation, intransigent employers refusing to give an inch, and a hostile Tor y government Moreover, they are more of ten on str ike at the same time The coming together of these disputes, and others that may arise, in a 24-hour general strike would

be an immensely powerful stand by and for working people The Tories recognise this fact even if the TUC leadership does not

The way forward

The alter native str ateg y of the T UC General S ecretar y would appear to be a l on g t h e l i n e s o f ‘ w a i t f o r L a b o u r ’ The Ir ish Congress of Trade Unions’ str ateg y is little diff erent in 'wait f or S tormont return '

Trade union activists must come together to discuss how to coordinate str ike action and maximise the effectiveness of their actions This should inc lude pressur ing the leaderships of individual unions to co-operate in and across sectors

Crucially, we must push for a strateg y that seriously confronts the Tories and raises demands that will deliver a lasting change for workers, inc luding inflation-linked pay rises and the repeal of anti-union laws

Ad j ac e n t t o a s e r i o u s i n d u s t r i a l str ateg y, a politic al str ateg y needs to be de veloped that forges a ne w par t y for working-c lass people that is based on t h e s t r u g g l e s o f wo rk e r s , a n d acc o u n t a b l e t o t h e m , a n d c r u c i a l l y, armed with anti-sectarian and socialist politics that c an challenge the cr isisr i d d e n c a p i t a l i s t s y s t e m a n d i t s representatives

125,000 Royal Mail and Post O ffice workers will ballot on 1 Februar y

Collins Dic tionar y has decided that the word of the year for 2022 is ‘permacrisis,’ because it “sums up just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people.” This word is a paradox. A crisis usually means a painful but brief moment of tension. But in the age of permacrisis, writes M A N U S L E N I H A N, we get all the pain and tension with no progress, no recover y, no resolution.

WE FACE a range of over lapping cr ises, each one feeding bac k into the others, such as the cost of living, c limate change, war, and pandemics.

Part of the meaning of ‘permacrisis’ is that the problems are so deep-rooted we can’t even understand them, let alone tr y to solve them This part is not true O bviously, we ’ re not going to get anywhere without the knowledge of healthc are workers or c limate scientists, for example In that sense, the problems are indeed complic ated But the biggest obstacles to fixing ‘permacrisis’ are political, not technical They are due to the system, due to things we can change, but onl y if we are willing to challenge the rule of the powerful and wealthy S o let ’ s star t the year by breaking down permacrisis into its main aspects, the better to understand and the better to fight back

1. Climate

There are various ways to tr y and deal with ‘permacrisis’ in 2023 For example, it is tempting just to ignore politics and look af ter your own interests as best you can The biggest problem with that attitude is that we can’t ignore the environ-

ment, because we live in it At least, we still do at the time of writing

S ummer 2022 was one of wild heat waves and fires China saw widespread de vastation but e ven in less hard-hit countr ies like England, firefighters reported they had never seen anything like it Then winter saw large parts of the US unexpected ly freeze over, and just a few weeks later hundreds of weather stations across Europe announced that it was the warmest Januar y on record (19 degrees in Poland!) Meanwhile in India temperatures have plummeted

This is the worst example of permacr isis In a sane wor ld, it would have been pre vented dec ades ago But the CEOs, billionaires, and wor ld leaders kept on burning those fossil fuels, and they continued to design cities around the car and the plane, all because it was more profitable than making the transition to c leaner energ y and public transpor t There were signific ant changes af ter millions of school students walked out on c limate strikes in 2018 and 2019 If it were up to workers and consumers, massive progress could have been made But it ’ s not up to us The real power is in the hands of businesses and the wealthy It is cheaper to look af ter their own PR through greenwashing than to actually change things

W ill big banks, industries, and agribusinesses make a transition to sustainable energ y in 2023? Unfortunately, not a hope W ill establishment politicians force them to? The most ambitious thing you c an expect from the Ir ish Green Party is that they will find some ne w way to penalise r ural people for driving But we need truly ambitious and pro-worker measures such as free and expanded public transpor t, or public ownership of the energ y industr y

2. Economics

Another way to tr y and cope with the stress of ‘permacrisis’ is to fixate on some narcissistic rich guy and have faith that he will solve all our problems with some clever invention But it ’ s not easy to keep up that blind faith af ter 2022 Twitter, Tesla, and Meta suffered disasters NF Ts and cr yptocurrencies – digital fool’s gold – collapsed

2022 was the year inflation spiralled out of control, dr iven by war, suppl y chain issues, falling productivit y, and profiteer ing As we paid double at the fuel pump, Shell’s net income rose from $12 8 billion in 2021 to $30 1 billion in 2022 S imilar l y BP, ExxonMobil, Che vron, Total, etc Not content with destroying the planet, they are squeezing the last cents out of us

It ’ s broad ly accepted that we will see a global recession this year In fact, the ruling c lass in the United States is flirting with recession so as to dr ive down wages Various public figures have said that “there ’ s going to need to be increases in unemployment to contain inflation”, and descr ibed the r ise in unemploy ment as “reall y terr ific ” , “the right direction of travel re jobs”, and “the best reason for hope”

W hy are they taking ghoulish delight in the miser y of millions? Bec ause the Covid profits surge has run out of steam, and there is a need for some new source of profit So now big business owners are using inflation as an excuse to dr ive down wages

W hat might a recession in 2023 mean for us? W henever a recession comes, our jobs, pay, ser vices and benefits are all sacr ificed to ‘restore profitabilit y, ’ i e to maintain the r ich in the manner to which they are accustomed That ’ s what happened in Ireland af ter 2007-8, and what have we got to show for it today? Mass homelessness – 11,542 are now in emergenc y accommodation – and another recession around the corner

To sum up, permacr isis in the economic sphere is not all that complicated The messiahs of the tech sector mostly turned out to be frauds and idiots Instead of saving the wor ld with c lever inventions, the rich are drinking toasts to unemployment and turning housing into a cash cow, which is why kids have to live in hotel rooms It ’ s the simplest way to maintain profits

3. War

Another way some people tr y to cope with permacrisis is by saying ‘ we need to look af ter our own first ’ But to do that you need to exc lude and attack most of the human race, inc luding people who are in the same boat as you (or worse) when it comes to jobs, housing, ser vices, etc And the super-r ich members of ‘ your own ’ remain in charge, and they only ‘ look after’ themselves So all we can ever achieve through ‘ looking af ter our

capitali of ‘pe

own ’ is to help r ich people to stay r ich through divide and rule

Capitalism was supposed to deliver peace and democracy How many times did we hear that line? But we live in a wor ld that ’ s growing more divided, violent, and authoritarian 2022 ended with a bizarre far-right coup plot in Germany and 2023 began with supporters of the far-r ight Bolsonaro tr y ing to stage a coup in Brazil

The war in Ukraine, like Covid, came as a shoc k to most But it makes a twisted kind of sense in the logic of the ne w Cold War between the US and China The United S tates, the onl y

countr y with hundreds of militar y bases all across the wor ld, is locked in struggle with Chinese imperialism for control of the world ’ s markets and resources Likewise, Russian imperialism, which maintains an uneasy but real alliance with China, has sought to aggressively boost its influence and prestige with the brutal invasion of Ukraine This new Cold War, of course, is a key factor in the economic problems US politicians c laim they are fighting for freedom and democracy ; tell that to the Afghans and Iraqis Russian politicians claim they are fighting for security and the national idea; tell that to the Chechens That ’ s their job, as Martin

The Covid pandemic is still with us, with China now par ticularly badly affec ted following a chan

ism & the aGe ermacrisis’

Is revolution possible in the 2020s?

Luther King said: to trick young people into being scarred or killed on ‘dark and bloody battlefields,’ all for cor porate profits and imperial prestige

W ill the U kraine war end in 2023? Probably not

W ho will win? That one is easier to answer: Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, L ockheed Martin

The fight against imperial aggression is not a con That is why Ukrainian soldiers have fought better than was widely expected: they are not simpl y fighting for the corporate interests that rule their countr y like ever y other countr y, nor the geopolitic al goals of western imper ial-

ism They are defending their national independence, their homes, and their dignity Imperialism can be defeated not by bending the knee to some other brand of imper ialism, but through the resistance of working people, and through cross-border and cross-community solidarity

4. Pandemics

Af ter war, we turn to another biblic al horseman: plague

W hile Covid thankfully recedes from the head lines in the ‘ higher-income ’ countries, only one in five are vaccinated in the ‘ lower-income’ neo-colonial countries The failure to vaccinate the people of China will result in disaster now with the collapse of the unsustainable Z ero Covid strateg y

Here in Ireland, the hospitals have been over whelmed by flu and respirator y infections, along with Covid, to the point where the fire ser vice is dec laring certain Emergency Departments unsafe

As we pointed out this time last year, the pandemic was caused by three major factors (and the next pandemic will be caused by the same factors because they haven’t been fixed): (1) the for-profit healthcare industr y, which spent billions on marketing instead of research into viruses; (2) the massive encroachment of big business into remote wilderness, shaking loose ne w pathogens; and (3) the underfunding of health ser vices over decades due to privatisation and austerity

As long as healthcare is run for profit, and nature is rec klessl y exploited for profit, and public health sy stems are neglected, we will see more epidemics

and pandemics in the future Even before Covid we lived in a wor ld in which diseases that pre vious generations had near ly wiped out were making a comeback

Conclusion

The word ‘permacrisis’ invites pessimism

We want to live without fear of war or disease, and to hand down a better world to the next generation This isn’t much to ask, with all the wealth and technolog y and know-how that exists And yet with ever y passing year, it ’ s more obvious that the powers-that-be can’t deliver on any of it, bec ause all that wealth, tech, and expertise are chasing profits instead of human welfare

All the aspects of permacr isis feed into each other The necessit y to end each, and all, has to be seen as part of the str uggle to get r id of c apitalism – the sy stem responsible for all the major crises in the wor ld Working-c lass people are the major it y in societ y, and if united and organised we are a powerful force that can both end this system, and pre vent a future of e ver instensify ing permacr isis That means a str uggle for fundamental, socialist change: change that will see the resources of societ y taken bac k from the big cor porations, banks and the billionaires, and placed into democratic, collective ownership –from which we can plan the economy to meet the needs of all people and the planet

The deep malaise facing the sy stem points to the urgenc y of waging this struggle and winning this change T inkering simply won’t suffice If you agree, join us today

by Keishia taylor

re c e N T ye a r s have been marked by a proliferation of what’s been called "doomerism" the belief that humanity is inevitably destined for miser y, destruc tion, and ultimately extinction. after a cursory examination of the headlines, it is easy to see why. The intractable and all-consuming crises of capitalism are breeding war, pestilence, famine and environmental disasters of biblical proportions, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that fundamental, all- encompassing change is needed if we are to sur vive. But is this type of change possible? and can it happen before it is too late?

who can lead the way? the ruling classes, the business and political establishment, reveal time and again that they are incapable of solving the crises facing working-class people, indeed humanity (including, ultimately, themselves!) the logic of their capitalist system, of competition and expansion, is blocking the global cooperation and planning needed to take on the existential threat of climate change So who can take on this threat, and all the other crises we face? thankfully, there is such a social force: the working class – the multiracial, multigendered, and multinational majority in the world this is the class that makes society run – producing the produc ts, providing the services, maintaining the infrastructure Without its physical and mental labour the economy grinds to a halt this gives it incredible potential power but it ’s also the force that has brought about all the major political progress of the last 150 years or so and don’t just take our word for it, even the Washington Post, a right-wing establishment newspaper, repor ted on a study of 100 years of protests in 150 countries which found that “protest movements dominated by industrial workers outper form all other protest campaigns in bringing about democracy.” it remains the decisive force for progress today, and likewise the only force capable of aver ting catastrophe in the years ahead

but there is a real problem of the work ing class being less organised today, both politically and industrially, and therefore also more atomised So, can the working class be relied on to act, when it is needed more than ever? these are impor tant questions, which we can’t fully explore in the short article, but the simple answer is: yes!

Uprisings from ‘out of nowhere’ a big reason why the power of the working class is not always obvious to many is that all of the capitalist ideology throughout society tries to hide it,

the pressure mounting on workingclass people in this world of crisis has led to countless explosions of mass movements in recent years, most notably and power fully in places like iran, Sri lank a, Sudan, Myanmar, ecuador, india, Sudan, hong Kong, and now in mainland china, to name a few but virtually ever y countr y is seeing new sections of work ing- class and young people getting organised and active in some way. even if only beginning, these can take off quickly in the right circumstances

Many of the examples above took the ruling classes by complete surprise, as they underestimated the desperation and resentment boiling beneath a seemingly subdued sur face for example, in india, in response to the far right Modi government ’s punishing 2020 “farm bills,” tens of millions of farmers, transpor t workers and others marched on Delhi, held a 24-hour strike – one of the biggest in histor y – and protested for a year against the new agricultural laws, labour laws, and privatisation resulting in a repeal of the farm bills.

in neighbouring Sri lank a last May, provoked by devastating shortages and price hikes – while the corrupt ruling rajapaksa family enjoyed a lavish life –a ‘har tal’ general strike involving over 2,000 unions brought the countr y to a halt this quickly escalated to a revolutionar y situation in which the masses stormed and occupied the Presidential palace and state buildings, and forced the President and Prime Minister to flee

The only hope these uprisings may seem distant to some, but ireland is cer tainly not immune from the effec ts of capitalist crises, nor the political awakenings experienced by many as a result indeed, global movements have been reflected here, in the blM protests or climate strikes in recent years Just as movements in ireland, from lGbtQ and abortion rights, to the victor y against water charges – in which work ing- class and young people led the way – had a small but notable impact abroad these examples prove the point about the essential role of the working class as the only force for progress today, as well as the only force with the power to challenge the ruling capitalist class, which is leading us to extinction fur ther, they show that when necessar y the working class can and will use its power this alone is not the solution to our problems, it ’s just the star t, but it shows that it ’s vir tually inevitable – as crises intensify – that we will see the proliferation of mass struggles of the working class and youth in the 2020s, and even revolutions

and present it as, at best, a thing of the past but unfor tunately for them, reality keeps challenging these myths

Protesters storm capital in Sri Lank a, 2022

israel / palestine: New hard-right government escalates politics of hate

by James Mccabe

IN 2021, the Ne w York-based Human Rights Watch released a repor t titled T hreshold Crossed: Israeli Author ities and the Cr imes of Apar theid and Persecution Histor ic all y, US-based NGOs have steered wide of exposing the full extent of the day-to-day violence and discr imination meted out against Palestinians by the state of Israel Long deemed a key ally of US imper ialism in the Midd le East, the Israeli state receives $3 8 billion in militar y funding from the US gover nment each year So, the unambiguous condemnation of Israel in the Human Rights Watch repor t represented a cer tain watershed

Ne ver theless, Joe Biden released a statement expressing enthusiasm for working with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s (a “fr iend for dec ades”) new government This is just the latest example of the hypocrisy of US imperialism’s supposed defence of “democratic values” Netanyahu’s ne w government has been described as the most right-wing, ultra-nationalist and outright racist government in the histor y of the state of Israel

A cabinet of racist thugs

Many of the new government ministers from far-right parties are nothing more than bigoted thugs The ne w finance minister once called for segregating Is-

raeli maternity wards between Jews and Palestinians bec ause he said that he didn’t want his wife “to be forced to give birth next to an enemy ”

The new minister for national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank In 2007, he was convicted of incitement to racism and of supporting a terrorist organisation Although only convicted once, he was indicted over 50 times For years, Ben-Gvir hung a photo in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli-American who in 1994 killed 29 Palestinians at a mosque in Hebron This is the man who is now responsible

for border police in the West Bank at a time when violence and the killing of Palestinians have already been surging In 2022, one of the deadliest years on record, 220 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, including 48 children, according to a report by Middle East Eye

Rise in violent repression

Netanyahu has agreed to advance annexation of the West Bank as part of his coalition deal with ultra-nationalist parties As it stands, there are almost 630,000 Israeli settlers living in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem The settlers have the

right to vote, access to clean water; the right to carr y guns; and to travel into Israel on the motor way whenever they want All these rights are denied to their Palestinian neighbours, who are increasingly having their homes bulldozed to make way for Israeli settlements

The inevitably brutal actions of this government could spark a ne w mass movement of resistance by Palestinians In May 2021, unprecedented protests er upted in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel which forced the Israeli government into a ceasefire after it launched an attack on Gaza These protests inc luded a str ike of 65,000 Palestinian construction workers The provocations of the far-right could well spark an organised backlash that they aren’t expecting Such a movement could be organised democratically from below based on revolutionar y committees of struggle, in the occupied territories and within Israel itself It could make an appeal to the Israeli Jewish working class – 100,000 of whom protested against the new government ’ s threat to democratic rights on 14 Januar y – to join it in a struggle to end the disastrous rule of capitalism, and the toxic, racist ideolog y of its ruling c lass It could be the beginning of a struggle to end the rule of this oppressive capitalist system throughout the region and open the way for a revolutionar y socialist transformation of society

Brazil: serious threat as Bolsonaro mob attempt coup

by Mark Johnson

JUST EIGH T days into the term of President Lula, far-r ight suppor ters of former president Jair Bolsonaro went on a rampage against the "democratic" institutions of Brazil.

In a shocking aping of the infamous ‘ J a n u a r y 6 t h’ e ve n t s i n Wa s h i n g t on D C, when Tr ump suppor ters stormed t h e C a p i t o l B u i l d i n g, t h e B o l s on a ro s u p p o r t e r s s t o r m e d t h e p a r l i a m e n t , the S upreme Court, and the President i a l Pa l ac e c a u s i n g m i l l i on s i n d a mages

Funded and supported by powerful and wealthy

The r ight-wing mob was funded by millionaire backers and supported and aided by sections of the Brazilian state (like in Washington DC, police fraternised and took selfies with the protesters) The plot was well organised with over 100 free busses br inging thousands of Bolsonaro supporters from all across the county Hotels were paid for, and meals were provided, along with other free supplies such as c amping equipment etc

Bolsonaro and his sons were convenientl y in the USA during the attack but even if not directly involved (which they were), they prepared the ground and advoc ated for such actions, and need to be held accountable The work-

ers ’ movement needs to c all for the purging of all reactionar y elections from the state and full prosecution of all involved

An attac k such as this was widel y predicted In fact, in August 2022 during the election, a W hatsApp group of Brazilian tycoons was exposed for discussing how a coup would be better for them if Bolsonaro lost, and how they would fund / organise it

Working class must organise to resist the right

Despite L ula’s strong rhetor ic and (limited) actions in the wake of the coup attempt, the working c lass and oppressed of Brazil can have no faith that his government, which inc ludes three far-right evangelicals, will wage an effective struggle, and must mobilise their own forces to defeat the right Much of the left, including sections

in the leadership of PSOL (a significant left party), have unfortunately uncritically fallen behind Lula's government W hile it is correct to mobilise and defeat the right, Lula's government is one of coalition with the traditional rightwing forces who will not be able / willing to deliver in the face of the growing social crisis and thus can create more opportunities for the far right, and coup attempts in future

Drought in Somalia brings devastation

by finn McKenna

s O m a L i a i s currently experiencing its worst drought in four decades according to Nasa, the horn of africa is suffering its worst drought ever. somalia has a population of 17 million and just under half are suffering food shor tages, with 1 5 million children acutely malnourished. internal displacement is an ever-growing feature of the disaster, affec ting over 1 million people.

climate change effec ts in 2011, 260,000 Somalis perished due to a drought a similar hellscape is facing the Somali people today unless essential produc ts such as medicine and food are acquired from outside of Somalia, where the ear th is scorched and with it livestock and crops turn to dust

the global c02 output, which the african continent contributes to the least, is resulting in fundamental shif ts in wind and rain patterns off the coast of eastern africa the people there are paying a devastating price for the actions of the major industrial and imperialist states, and their pursuit of profit the rain season has failed to come to Somalia for four consecutive years

civil war civil war in the past three decades has seen the almost complete disintegration of the S omali state the militar y junta under Siad barre, which was uSSr-aligned in the 1980s before turning towards uS imperialism, was ousted by various clan-based rebel militias in the early 1990s. these militias soon thereaf ter turned the guns on each other ever since, a protrac ted civil war has ensued

the contending war-lords (some backed by Western imperialists, others are islamic ex tremists), are attempting to dominate and control aid as par t of their power struggle

world must respond

M ilitar y inter vention by surrounding states or anyone else can bring no solutions to the conflagration experienced by Somalia’s people nor can any capitalist forces resolve the crisis

the workers’ and trade union movement internationally must respond to this catastrophe and find ways to transpor t essential food and medical supplies to the horn of africa and also, crucially, to suppor t a movement of working- class and poor people that breaks with the rule of capitalism and imperialism as the only way out of this horror

B olsonaro suppor ters stormed government building in the capital, Brasilia

B enjamin Netanyahu once again leads a dangerous coalition government in Israel

Victory for migrant fishers’ struggle against exploitative visa

by Michael o’brien

TH E A N N O U N C EM EN T at the beg inning of Januar y by the Depar tment of Justice that all NonEuropean mig rant fishers enrolled in the now abolished At y pic al Work Per mit S cheme has been g ranted a stamp 4 g iving them full labour market access is the culmination of a str ug gle waged by hundreds of predominantl y Eg y ptian, F ilipino, Ghanaian and Indonesian fishers and the International Transpor t Workers’ Federation (ITF). T hey have brought to an end a state-sponsored system of racist super-exploitation in the Ir ish fishing fleet.

An abusive scheme

The ‘Atypical Work Permit Scheme for Non-EEA F ishers’ turned out to be the most disadvantageous work permit scheme for any Non-European workers employed in Ireland Most Non-European workers in Ireland come under the Cr itic al S kills Permit or General Workers Permit W hile socialists have no tr uc k with permit schemes which are discriminator y these two schemes come with superior conditions relative

to what the fishers have had to endure It inc ludes the minimum salar y of €30,000 and the right af ter a fixed period to progress from an exc lusive employ ment relationship with the employer who brings you to Ireland to a visa stamp 4

Minimum wage paltry increase against the cost of living backdrop

by enda Kelly

T h e i r i s h establishment has patted itself on the back for some minimal increases to the minimum wage Up 7 6% to €11 30, as our now Taoiseach remarked in June: ‘to ensure people have a decent standard of living’ he wanted to ensure that such an increase is ‘viable’ for businesses, which shows where this government's focus is –concern for business interests over workers.

a key issue

i nflation for this year, according to erSi, will remain on a similar path with an increase of 7 1%, meaning the increase implemented amounts to just a paltr y 0 5% increase according to the cSo, enforced deprivation has increased from 13 8% to 17 1% in 2022 due to the cost- of-living crisis this small increase will not put a dent in this number nearly 10% of workers in ireland are on minimum wage, so this is a key issue that needs to be addressed according to the low-pay commission in a report commissioned by Varadkar, a living wage to live in ireland is €13 85, which is actually too low as it focuses on providing a minimum standard of living rather than a comfor table one the government ’s plan to gradually

move towards a living wage in 2026 is way too little, too late; workers are suffering and need a drastic improvement in their living standards

€17 now!

Workers need a minimum wage of €17 an hour to have any sor t of decent standard of living and deal with the repercussions of the capitalist cost of living crisis, i e to be able to not worr y about rising bills due to corporate greed this will require organised action in work places, including preparing for strike ac tion to allow workers to live and thrive

Super-exploitation

In the case of the Atypical Scheme the minimum salar y by the time of its recent abolition was €21,000 based on a notional average 39-hour week Furthermore, the visa had to be renewed

annually and there was no progress as of r ight to a visa stamp 4 was entertained, totall y t y ing the fisher to the vessel owner indefinitely

Many vessel owners took full advantage of this and used their double power over the fisher, in terms of both their employment and the legal status, to force a work regime of 20-hour days in the fishing grounds This meant that the migrant fisher was on half the minimum wage

A string of successful cases taken by the I T F on behalf of fishers at the WRC to recover unpaid wages and the admission by the Garda of 18 fishers who were enrolled into the at y pic al scheme into their referral mechanism for human trafficking over the last six years gave only a partial indication of what was happening in the industr y

Most fishers have felt coerced to put up with this exploitation because it was a simple matter for the vessel owner to communic ate to the Depar tment of Justice that the employment relationship had ended to render the fisher undocumented

Lifting the lid

The ITF, whose fisheries campaign in

Ireland was taken over by long-time S ocialist Par t y member Michael O’Br ien commissioned research conducted by the May nooth Universit y Department of Law on the experiences of non-EEA migrant workers in the Irish fishing industr y in October 2021 It was based on in-depth inter vie ws with fishers about their working conditions and it obtained widespread coverage

This was instrumental in triggering a government re vie w of the scheme But also instrumental was an increasing number of migrant fishers stic king their necks out individually and collectivel y to demand change inc luding holding a protest outside the Dáil last May

Victories can be won

This experience has shown that a combination of a fighting campaigning approach e ven by the most exploited workers, coupled with a tenacious approach by a trade union organisation results in victor ies that c an be replicated by tens of thousands of migrant workers concentrated in other sectors such as meat processing, agr icultural work and elder care

Dublin 15 parents and teachers organise to tackle teacher shortage

by K ate relihan

TH E EXOD US of teachers from the profession and the cur rent chronic shor tage, especiall y in D ublin, has created a per fect stor m that all teachers saw coming

This tinderbox bubbling under the surface affects ever y school in urban areas, particularly D ublin Sixty-two per cent of unfilled posts on the S upply Panel for primar y and a recent TUI survey found that 91% of second level have experienced difficulties hiring qualified teachers in the last six months

It is near impossible to source substitute teachers, autism c lassrooms lie empt y, and failure to fill maternit y posts leaves students lucky to be supervised, let alone taught On top of this subjects are being shelved left, right and centre, along with the quality of education, as students end up being taught by “out of field ” teachers

Getting organised

This was the bac kdrop to the formation of Coolmine Community School Parents Action Group No longer could parents of first/second-year pupils withstand the impact of so many free periods in their children’s second-level education as the school struggled to recr uit a Woodwork, Metal work, or Graphics teacher Following a discussion with former S ocialist Par t y T D, ASTI member and teacher, Ruth Cop-

pinger the wheels were set in motion

Two extremely well-attended online meetings were held in November and December 2022 with a keen media interest The campaign was cited on the Tonight Show and was carried by The Irish Times, RTÉ and all local newspapers In attendance were all local government Ministers, councillors, General S ecretar ies of AST I & T UI unions, educ ation stakeholders and

parents who aired their frustration and deep concern

There is a real need for teachers, unions and parents to get organised to demand an end to this crisis It means demanding decent pay and conditions for younger teachers to tackle the cost of living crisis It means urgent investment in measures to tackle the housing crisis – slashing rents to affordable levels and building public homes

S econdar y schools are hugely under resourced, par ticularly in Dublin

Years of struggle by hundreds of migrant fishers in the ITF wins vic tor y

Review: aftersun directed by charlotte wells

(Spoiler

reviewed by harper cleves

warning)

F T ERSUN, WRIT TEN and directed by Charlotte Wells, follows a late 90s summer holiday of a Scottish father-daughter duo Sophie and Callum, played by Franki Corio and Paul Mescal. T he film has been lauded by critics, and for good reason. Wells’ feature director ial debut is a quiet master piece that explores childhood, ageing, loss and renewal with an aching poig nanc y that ever y viewer will find an echo of in their own human relationships

The clear perspective and careful yet unobtrusive cinematography recounts the mundanit y of a summer holiday, while packing each moment with emotion and meaning The film begins through the lens of a camcorder, and from the first flickering image on screen, a tone is set

Sophie has the chaotic cinematic eye of a newly minted 11-year old She zooms in and out She makes fun of her father’s dancing, likens him to a centenarian despite his being only 30 years old She turns the camera back to herself to make a silly face She asks Callum about how he imagined his adult life when he was 11 He pauses And then, before he can answer, the tape rewinds, a shadow of who we presume to be the adult Sophie sitting on a couch briefly visible in the reflection of the screen; a momentar y union of past and present before the scene dissolves into pixelated images of a summer in reverse

These first two minutes initiate a narrative that is suffused with bittersweet nostalgia We as an audience will now not experience the holiday alongside 11 year-old Sophie and 30-year old Callum Instead, we sit alongside adult S ophie on that couch; barely visible, yearning for a childhood long gone; a version of a relationship that exists on camcorder tapes and our memor y and nowhere else The camcorder footage features throughout the film, alongside

interspersed scenes of Callum dancing under flashing flights, seemingly disconnected from narrative Past, present, and dream seem to overlap; her memories are saturated with both hindsight and invention S uch is the brilliant union between narrative viewpoint and cinematography

The intimac y of this film is also of course achieved through the undeniable performances of Paul Mescal and Franki Corio Mescal’s portrayal of an affectionate young father plagued with sadness is quiet Anyone who has been on a holiday with a loving single father will recognise the sadness that exists even in the fun; the attempt to forge a genuine connection with a child he loves but doesn’t see as much as he would like He sometimes misses the mark, but his tr ying means something Corio for her part flawlessly portrays an intelligent and obser vant child; but one that still feels her age She is gangly and makes faces and gets colourful hair wraps on her holiday Lying on cheap plastic lounge chairs next to the hotel pool she says to Callum “sometimes at playtime, I look up at the sky I think about the fact that we can both see the sun, so even though we aren’t actually in the same place we kind of are in a way, you know?”

Both actors in concert begin to hint at a more fundamental sadness In one scene Sophie describes sometimes feeling heavy and low, even after a good day She looks to see if her father can relate It ’ s clear through a clenched jaw and an unmet eye that he can He changes the subject instead

The holiday and the film end shortly after Callum’s 31st birthday It ’ s implied that he takes his own life shortly thereaf ter Adult S ophie, newly 31 herself, has a new child In the end this is a stor y of the love of an ordinar y father, who did his ver y best, and got a lot wrong And a daughter who has to figure out how to move for ward with the legacy of his pain in her own life Isn’t this the stor y we are all figuring out –how to grapple with the best and worst we inherited from those we love as we navigate our own lives?

As Mar xists, it is these stories in the lives of ordinar y people that are at the beating heart of our struggle for a better existence A potential future exists in which the Callums of this world meet their grandchildren; in which the Sophies make countless memories with their fathers That's a wor ld worth fighting for; one in which our talents, and joys can find their fullest expression – and our love also

Socialism 101 series #10

by eddie Mccabe

we all know of dictatorial regimes in certain parts of the world, or in history, which rule primarily through repression – the combination of violence and the ever-present threat of violence

This is the most brutal, but most basic way of ensuring the authority of those in power is obeyed, and the inequality in those societies is maintained. as a result, few question the political role of the state, the courts, and the police in these societies.

Of course, this is not the optimal way of ruling for a ruling class, as it requires significant resources and is inherently unstable – existing in constant fear of those millions of working people being repressed. Far preferable is to rule with the consent of the population, which is usually achieved by the control the ruling class has over the dominant ideas in society, which it maintains through its influence on the mass media, education, politics, religion, and culture Ideology, not violence, is its most power ful weapon

Yet, for so-called ‘capitalist democracies’ both are essential A critical par t of capitalist ideology is ideas about crime and punishment, law and order, civic duties and transgressions All of which take as read that the state is a neutral body that represents and ser ves the interests of society as a whole The legal system that the state enshrines is supposedly ‘above politics’, and the police and judges who preside over it operate without political bias.

The falsity of this notion becomes apparent as soon as you think about the way society is divided, particularly the class divide between the exploiting minority of owners, and the exploited majority of workers. Clearly, these classes have different, totally conflicting interests, which can’t both be represented and served by the same state

So which of these classes does the state actually serve? Well, the most fundamental role of the state throughout history, and in capitalist society today, has been to protect the private property of a privileged minority, i.e. its ownership of

society’s key wealth and resources

And make no mistake: it is protecting this private property from the rest of society – the majority that produces that wealth but doesn’t get to keep it

Indeed for tens of thousands of years, early human societies existed without anything resembling a state, because classes didn’t exist, and therefore neither did the need for an institution to protect the privileges of one class from another.

But why doesn’t this majority simply take back its fair share? It’s because of the power of the ideology that convinces them that things are the way they are for a reason, and also that there’s nothing they can do about it.

Power ful as this ideological hold is, however, it’s not all-power ful, and at times of extreme crises and struggle, it can break down. It’s times like these that the reality of the state as, in Engels’ words, “special bodies of armed men” in defence of the ruling class becomes especially evident.

The truth is that the state, the courts, and the police are inherently political We see this every time the police are used to break up a picket of striking workers, to evict tenants from their homes, or to ‘kettle’ peaceful protesters Far from neutral, they are firmly on the side of the bosses, landlords, and governments They are not ‘party political’, and merely implement the laws of the land regardless of which party is in power But that’s the point: the problem and the politics are deeper, embodied in the laws themselves, which are ultimately laws to protect the rich from the poor.

Most people, most of the time, accept or abide by the laws of the state, and to do otherwise is considered ‘civil disobedience’ But as the historian Howard Zinn wrote: “ That is not our problem Our problem is civil obedience. ” If we remember that most of the wars, oppression, and environmental destruction in our world is all per fectly legal, we should also remember that the fight for equality, democracy, and justice is also a fight against unjust laws and the states that uphold them

aren’t the state, the courts and the police politically neutral?

housing crisis & the hateful lies of the far right

by Steph lacey

T h e m O d U s operandi of the far right is to jump on any kind of problem or issue in society and exploit it to push its nefarious agenda. Far right groups tried to utilise the fear and confusion of the covid-19 pandemic to influence people while they were vulnerable. They held antilockdown protests, and while most people who attended these protests weren’t far right and attended them to express, in a misguided way, their frustration at the Government’s failure to get a grip on the pandemic or to protec t the living standards of working- class people, the speeches given by far right figures at these protests exposed their real agenda. These speeches star ted off talk ing about lockdowns and vaccines, but quick ly developed into vile racism and homophobia.

unfor tunately, this tactic had an effect in increasing their influence but as the countr y star ted to open up again, this issue was no longer available to them and they moved onto the nex t big issue in society, the housing crisis

cynically exploiting the crisis the far right in ireland has never done anything to actually fight for affordable housing for ordinar y people. and while they are tr ying to pretend that they now care about housing homeless irish people, their ac tions, and the deliberate spreading of misinformation and lies direc ted at refugees and immigrants tell a different stor y and expose their real agenda

the housing crisis is devastating the lives across the countr y, par ticularly the younger generation to fight back against it, it is vital to k now the reality around the cause of it, and who is to blame there are huge resources in this societ y and no justifiable reason why

anybody, whether i rish or migrant, should be left without a home the culprits are the landlords, proper ty developers and the government which backs them up at ever y turn they and their system of profiteering have created the crisis in housing, which gives rise to the false idea that work ing- class people must compete against each other for scarce resources

blaming migrants or refugees seeking asylum for the housing crisis deflects blame from the real culprits and so only acts to fur ther prolong the crisis What is needed is a united struggle of all work ing- class people, and ever yone affected, to fight for homes for all So it is impor tant to k now what lies are being spread and the reason they ’re being spread

Far-right lies vs. the truth:

n “house the irish, not the world ” this slogan, which the national Par t y has plastered around some areas with stickers and posters, is one example of its racist nonsense the implication of the slogan is that the gover nment is cur rently housing non-i r ish people, but not irish people if this was true it would mean that the government has a polic y that ’s work ing to house some people there’s no truth to this the government ’s housing polic y is a disaster for ever yone i t ’s caused by its reliance on profiteers to solve it, and non-i r ish people are generally worse affec ted

n “it’s only men coming over.” this bizarre rumour has been spread widely in recent weeks in fact, 81% of the uk rainian refugees seek ing asylum in i reland are women and children 35% of asylum seekers who come to i reland are women and 25% are children refugee centres are communal living spaces, with some being segre -

gated for gender privac y or to accommodate families with children So, seeing a “bus full of men” going into one is to be expected, for this reason

n “ They ’re taking houses from people on the housing list for years ” Migrants receive no preferential treatment from the state in housing allocation, if anything it ’s the opposite refugees are provided with emergency accommodation, which may be in a Direct Provision centre, a hostel, a hotel, or a conver ted warehouse or office building, or – as highlighted recently –tents! i n 2022, three of Dublin’s four

councils failed to build any social homes – with a similar pic ture across the countr y this is the real reason people are left waiting years and years on the housing lists

n “ They aren’t being vetted ” What this is supposed to mean exactly is anyone’s guess – nearly all of us are ‘’unvetted’’ When people seek refuge in ireland, they have to notify the international Protec tion o ffice their fingerprints and photos are taken and compared with an eu database. only af ter this process are they finally offered temporar y accommodation

n “we don’t have enough houses ” it’s true that tens of thousands of social and affordable homes must be built by the state to end the housing crisis, which the government refuses to do it’s also true that there are currently 166,000 vacant houses in ireland With 11,397 people in emergency accommodation, for ever y one of them there are 15 vacant homes the problem isn’t immigrants, the problem is the government’s policy of putting profit for vulture funds and construction companies over the needs of people

n “why don’t other countries take them?”

o ther countries are tak ing in far more refugees than ireland, including much poorer countries than i reland 62% of all international Protection applications were made to just three countries: france, Spain, and Germany 84% of the world’s refugees are in poorer countries in the Global South

Fight for housing, against racism by blaming refugees and migrants, the far right is diver ting from the real problem, which is government polic y, and the capitalist market system it is based on by k nowing the facts, it is clear that immigration isn’t to blame. the far right k now this as well but are tr ying to fool people to suppor t their racism

Protesting outside emergenc y accommodation centres will not help anybody to be housed, or change the government ’s polic y on housing, it will only make the people inside live in fear the scapegoating of migrants is a distrac tion from and cuts across the only thing which can force real change on housing: a united movement on the streets, in communities and workplaces by work ing- class people of all backgrounds to take on the government, the developers and the landlord class

by Jonathan Diebold

O N 10 Januar y, the tr ial of S ean Binder, of Ker r y, beg an on the island of L esbos, Greece T he charges: people smuggling, membership of a cr iminal organisation, espionage, and money launder ing T he cr ime? Saving peoples’ lives Onl y these people happened to be refugees S ean, a cer tified rescue diver, along with 24 other rescue workers, had spent near ly a year working with the Greek authorities to provide emergency medical assistance at sea and on the shoreline to asy lum seekers crossing the Mediterranean, before abr uptl y being arrested As Sean wrote: “Imagine you arrive at the scene of a car accident You see someone lying on the roadside; they c lear l y need your help W hat would you chec k first, their pulse or their passpor t? If, like me, you first chec k their pulse, you have committed the same crime I supposed ly have ”

Chill factor

For this, he spent 106 day s in pr ison alongside another rescuer, Sarah Mar-

dini, without e ven having been convicted of any crime “L et me tell you, I wouldn’t recommend it It ’ s not great,” he recentl y told a press conference about his stay

S e a n w a s re l e a s e d , b u t , w h i l e t h e charges weren’t dropped, no tr ial was for thcoming The arrest was made in 2 0 1 8 , s o w hy h a s t h e t r i a l on l y j u s t c om m e n c e d ? “ I t ’ s t h e c h i l l f ac t o r i ts e l f, ” S e a n s a i d , “An d t h e l i m b o d i ss u ad e s o t h e r s f rom p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n necessar y and legal l y required searc h and rescue ”

T h e t r i a l h a s b e e n m a r re d by n umerous basic procedural errors by the prosecution, such as failing to translate i n d i c t m e n t s i n t o E n g l i s h , w h i c h h a s kept the expensive and stress-inducing process on for year af ter year Between that, and the incredible charges, they seek to create an example out of him L esbos, once home of the ancient Greek poet Sappho, now stands on the edge of the graveyard of Europe: the Mediterranean sea This is one of the wor ld ’ s dead liest migration routes –40,000 have been recorded dying since the 1990s, with over 3,000 in 2021

This is rooted in the for tress Europe polic y of the EU as a whole W hile those who reach Europe are allowed to

with EU forces such as EU border agency FRONTEX using illegal tactics to push refugees, inc luding children, away

Racist ideology

The same racist ideolog y of European capitalist society which has killed tens of thousands on the EU ’ s borders tells us to blame refugees for all our ills Meanwhile, the rich are getting richer and wealth dispar it y is at an all time high It is not refugees which have caused a housing crisis in Ireland or in Europe, one of the wealthiest societies in the wor ld It is the fact that this wealth is hoarded by massive companies and the super rich, and things that people need to sur vive, such as housing, are used as commodities to extract even more wealth from people

Now more than e ver we need to stand in solidar it y with refugees and recognise that we have more in common with each other than with the c apitalist c lass, and fight together to demand an end to direct provision, for housing for all, and for a socialist alternative

request asylum, there are no safe, legal routes to do so, forcing people to undertake extremely hazardous journeys,

TheSocialist Not oNe More!

Build socialist feminist struggle to end femicide & gender violence

what the socialist party stands for:

“ The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go.”

James Connolly was right The immense social, political and economic crises that dominate life in the 21st centur y all testify to this truth, but the climate emergenc y gives added urgenc y to its meaning That’s why the Socialist Par ty stands for revolutionar y socialist change, and why we are organising to bring it about. We suppor t ever y right and reform that can improve life for working- class people, while fighting for what’s needed We say: if capitalism can’t afford to provide for our needs then we can’t afford capitalism.

Workplace

• All workers need double -digit wage rises

For a €17 an hour minimum wage

• End precarity and bogus self-employment For guaranteed hours with permanent contracts for all workers

• A four-day work week with no loss of pay

Reduce the pension age to 60 A guaranteed decent pension for all

No layoffs Open up the books and take large job shedding companies into public ownership under democratic workers’ control and management, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need

• Repeal the Industrial Relations Act For the

right to organise and effective action

For a fighting trade union movement that organises the unorganised and mobilises the power of its membership All officials should be elected, subject to recall and live on the wages of the workers they represent

Housing

Reduce and freeze rents at affordable levels Ban evictions

For a major programme to build public homes Take the big construction companies into public ownership Seize vacant proper ties and unused land being hoarded for profit

• Provide culturally appropriate accommodation for Travellers

Nationalise the banks and repudiate the odious debt Reduce mor tgage payments to affordable levels

Public services

• End church control of schools and hospitals – full separation of church and state

For a major public works programme to build public schools, hospitals and childcare facilities

• For a one -tier, national health ser vice free at the point of use Bring all private hospitals, nursing homes and pharmaceutical companies into public ownership

• Free publicly-run childcare scheme for

join The socialisT parTy

ever y community Extend fully-paid parental leave to two years and provide high quality early-years education

For 24-hour free counselling ser vices and education programmes to begin to tackle the mental health crisis

• Free education and training for all Abolish the Leaving Cer t system and provide a Third-level place for all who want one, with a living grant for all students Build affordable, accessible student accommodation

Environment

• For substantial investment in an expanded, reliable and free public transpor t system

• End the reliance on fossil fuels keep them in the ground For extensive state investment in renewable energy, retrofitting homes and public buildings, and green jobs

For a just transition to a zero carbon economy, with no job losses or regressive carbon taxes

Take the fossil fuel companies, big agribusinesses and corporations into democratic public ownership to stop the destruction of our planet for profit

Equal rights for all

• Oppose all forms of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia

• For LGBTQ-inclusive, consent-based sex education in schools Fully fund trans healthcare

Reduce the voting age to 16

• Defend the right to asylum End Direct

Provision Abolish all racist immigration laws

• Black lives matter! Oppose far-right division

• Fight to end gender violence, abuse and harassment in all its forms

• For a socialist feminist movement that unites the whole working class in the struggle against oppression

For workers’ unity in Ireland

• For the unity of the working class, Protestant and Catholic, Nor th and South, in opposition to all forms of sectarianism, paramilitarism and state repression

• For a socialist Ireland, with no coercion and the rights of minorities guaranteed, as par t of a free, equal and voluntar y socialist federation of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, as par t of a socialist Europe

End the rule of the billionaires

• Take the wealth off the 1% For real progressive taxation on incomes assets and profits to fund public ser vices

• Stop tax avoidance and evasion by the wealthy

• Double corporation tax End corporate welfare policies

• No to all forms of privatisation in health, education transpor t housing energy sanitation, water and broadband provision

For socialist change

• Capitalism produces inequality, environmental destruction and war We need an international struggle against this system Solidarity with the struggles of workers and oppressed peoples internationally

Oppose all imperialist powers, wars and occupations No to NATO and EU militarisation US militar y out of Shannon

• No to corporate “free trade” agreements No to the bosses’ EU and “For tress Europe” Build a new mass par ty that organises workers and young people in struggle against all injustices and for a socialist alternative For a working-class movement to bring about a left, socialist government that breaks with capitalism

• Take the key sectors of the economy the monopolies in banking, industr y, ser vices, agriculture and big tech into public ownership under the democratic control of the working class

Replace the capitalist market with a democratic socialist plan of the economy based on the interests of the over whelming majority of people and the environment