The Socialist March 2023

TheSocialist H om es f or all! not racism

Ireland’s Far Right: Grifters & neo-Nazis defending ‘freedom’

FA R - R I G H T groups and individuals have reared their ugly heads in recent months and years, emboldened by their ability to spread mis-information and hate, first online and now in cer tain communities. The context of serious crises created by disastrous government policies, par ticularly in housing and health, has been a boon to them as they attempt to exploit widespread dissatisfaction and alienation

however, a close look at these forces shows that despite the real threat that they pose, they are also almost comical in their lack of original ideas, their copy and paste approach from uS / uK / european counterpar ts, their belief in strange and conflicting conspirac y theories, and lastly how, fundamentally, they all want a return to a profoundly backward ireland

S o - c alled “citizen journalists”

During covid we saw a significant growth in socalled ‘citizen journalists’ i t was just a coincidence that they all happened to be connected to far-right groups or activities one such ‘citizen journalist ’ is Stephen Kerr of ‘ the irish inquir y ’ Stephen is supposedly a "concerned citizen" who just wants the

" truth" a scan through his videos could paint him as an unfor tunate individual constantly having his rights trampled on in reality, he is a professional harasser, who attempts to provoke people and then produces edited videos of such incidents he door steps people at their places of work, and has made threatening comments to actual journalists: "you won' t be able to walk the streets anymore", " We will see yous again" he pushes bizarre conspiracies and racist incitements, while also spouting backward bile about women and lGBtQ people another ‘citizen journalist ’ is Philip Dw yer, who turns up at ever y action tinged with racism with his live stream this is a man with a

The Nationalist Par ty & the Irish Freedom Par ty

By Mark Johnson

record so vile he was k icked out of the National Par ty (after a par ticularly deplorable stunt at the grave of ashling Murphy) he’s also k nown for physically assaulting a dog and abusing migrant taxi drivers

n the children's show Scooby Doo the villain at the end is always someone we met at the star t of the episode, often appropriately, old, wealthy, white men the farright ghouls emerging today are nothing new either, and in fact if you look at the leaders of these groups they are the same people who have fought against all progress in ireland for decades take Justin Barrett, creepy leader of the National Party as a leader of youth Defence and other extreme catholic groups, he campaigned against marriage equality, abortion rights, divorce and even contraception.

he has links to far-right groups throughout the uS and europe, including known Nazis or take Herman Kelly, leader of the irish freedom Par ty, who like Barrett above is a deeply conser vative catholic zealot. this charming figure once slammed redress for victims of institutional abuse in ireland as "a State -sponsored atM machine" he’s well k nown for his friends, too, including Britain’s most famous far-right politician Nigel farage, who Kelly worked for as a press officer.

Smash them before they smash anyone else

Pathetic as they are in so many ways, these groups and individuals should not be underestimated. there’s no low they won’t stoop to they are well funded and well connected, with a sophisticated online network We saw this put into effect for example in the aftermath of the police illing of George Nkencho, when viious lies about George were spread all over social media within hours their vision for the future of ireand is ak in to something from the handmaid’s tale – of a return to Magdalene laundries, lGBtQ repression, the break ing of trade unions, and the outlawing of interacial relationships, among other horrifying policies these forces and heir ideas need to be unmasked and forcefully combated

after 18 Feb demo: Where now for the fight against the far right?

By conor Payne

ON 18 Febr uar y, tens of thousands g athered in D ublin for the #Irelandforall demonstration org anised by L e C heile, to protest against racism and the far r ight T his was an impor tant step for ward For se veral weeks, far r ight and fascist g roups have org anised near dail y protests aimed at intimidating refugees and mig rants and whipping up fear and racist division T his protest demonstrated c lear ly that the far r ight represent a small minor it y and there are many more who want to stand up against them

But it was only a step in the right direction; a star t to the fightbac k we need It now has to be built-on in communities and workplaces across Ireland

A real threat in our communities

S ince the beginning of the year, the racists and fascists have had real momentum They have shown an important c apacit y to mobilise, albeit still with small numbers, by using extremely pernicious racist tropes while also tapping into the huge anger and discontent that exists in society driven by the housing emergency, ongoing social crisis and the neglect of working-c lass communities

While opinion polling shows the ma-

jority strongly opposed to these far right protests, which have gathered outside refugee accommodation in blatant displays of intimidation, it also shows a majority believing that too many refugees have come into the countr y in the last year This is no surprise; the political establishment has for years pushed the idea that there is a scarcity of resources to house ever yone in this countr y, or to provide decent public ser vices – the reality is that there is more than enough wealth and resources for all but they are concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority at the top But in the absence of an alternative, there is a real danger that the far right can continue to find an opening for their rotten agenda

Mass mobilisations

W hat ’ s needed is a mass anti-racist movement which is based on mobilising working-class people, young people, migrants and people of colour in the biggest numbers possible against racism and the far right This has been shown to be the most effective way to bring out the anti-racist mood in society

This movement needs to be organising in working-c lass communities to directl y take on the lies and my ths being spread by the racists Fear mongering about ‘’unvetted males’’, disgusting attempts to link refugees with gender-based violence and other lies

are being used to spread fear, alarm and stir up racism

Most migrants in Ireland are workers, inc luding many who are trade union members If the trade unions were to seriously fight to mobilise their hundreds of thousands of members in opposition to racism they could constitute the single most powerful force in society challenging the far right

Government parties to blame

The fight against the far right must be

independent of and in opposition to this government and the establishment parties who've been in power over decades This government is implicated in state racism and has already announced its intentions to escalate deportations, partly in response to the anti-refugee protests

Its disastrous approach to housing has caused miser y for both people living here and those who are now arriving in search of safety and has opened the door for the politics of division which the racists are now pushing

In order to cut off the ability of the far right to gain a hearing, it is urgent that there be a real mass fightback on the housing emergency, demanding homes for all and taking on the speculation, rack renting and land hoarding, which is the real cause of the crisis It is vital that an alternative is built which can point to the real sources of the crisis and chart a way for ward based on a united struggle of all working-class people to demand the fundamental change we all need

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Dublin to say No to the racist poison of the far right

Kerr

Dwyer

Barrett

Kel y

Government’s dog whistle racism

By Jonathan Diebold

Far right promote violence & hate women

By caitríona Mí cathain

“

WH EN I T comes to mig ration, we need to be fair, fir m and hard.” Such were Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ’ s words to the press not two day s af ter his patronising war ning that people shouldn’t “make excuses ” for the far r ight by pointing out how go ver nment polic y has aided the g rowth of racism in Ireland, nor lend any credence to their arguments about mig rants.

He gave the former quote at an EU Council meeting on migration, where far-right leaders such as Italy ’ s Meloni and Hungar y ’ s Orbán had signalled in advance that they would be calling for a doubling-down on the EU ’ s fortress Europe policy, and for EU funds to be spent on border walls Knowing this, the Taoiseach still chose to lend credence to these ideas

These proposals were suppor ted “ unanimously,” Varadkar later told the Dáil – the first time EU money has e ver been spent constr ucting border walls, designed to pre vent refugees from seeking asy lum “ For my par t, I supported the conc lusions on behalf of the Irish Government ” he said

Increasing deportations

He is not the only establishment figure to dog whistle to the far-right in recent weeks Justice Minister S imon Harris spoke approvingly to RTÉ of how the government is working to accelerate depor tations and boasted about how the government had depor ted 130 in Januar y alone

Increasingly, the rhetoric of the es-

tablishment has turned to “genuine ” refugees, as in L eo Varadkar ’ s comments at a press conference last month

F ine Gael and F ianna Fáil have long upheld the racist direct provision system (now overseen by a Green Par t y minister), have long supported Fortress Europe policies which have led to tens of thousands of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, and previously implemented a referendum which removed the rights of those born here to citizenship

Pressure from the far right has enabled them to go fur ther in adopting racist policies and rhetor ic This is a trend not seen in Ireland alone but throughout Europe

Homes for all, not racism

The government has allowed crises in areas such as housing to exist by refus-

ing to invest in the building of public homes and allow their de veloper friends to profit from this crisis This has opened the door to the far-r ight, and by y ielding to their pressure, the government is bec koning them in Howe ver, the far r ight offer no solutions to these issues Many leading figures are former members of F ine Gael and the like, and their positions on housing and so on are not dissimilar The resources exist in societ y to house e ver yone W hat is needed is a mass, united working-c lass c ampaign which rejects attempts to divide us on the basis of nationalit y and ethnicit y, and instead demands that the wealth be used to invest in ser vices which are urgently needed, inc luding health, in an emergency public house building programme, and in the necessar y ser vices for working-c lass communities

A N AT I O N A L Par ty leaflet alleges that “Women are not safe in multicultural Ireland”; the president of the Irish Freedom Par ty, speak ing at an anti-refugee protest in Cavan, lists cases pending in the cour ts for sexual assaults; a group of men, whipped into a frenzy over allegations of sexual assault of a local woman, ambushes a homeless migrant encampment in Dublin with batons and dogs.

these are just some recent expressions of the far right ’s violent racism mixed with a phoney concern for women’s safety aside from the outright racism embedded in these lies, the crass hypocrisy of this stance will be duly noted by campaigners on women’s rights who find themselves harassed by right-wing trolls online ever y day the same could be said for organisers and attendees of vigils for murdered women, such as that of aisling Murphy, who found their vigils disrupted by the same people who now seem to care about women’s safety when it suits their anti-immigrant agenda

Reality of gender-based violence

i t is crucial to state too that the baseless claims regarding any link bet ween sexual violence and immigration fly in the face of the facts and figures that repeat themselves year af ter year according to last month’s repor t published by the central Statistics o ffice, 83% of repor ted suspec ts of sexual offences are k nown to the vic tim this closely reflec ts r ape crisis Net work i reland ’s statistic that 90% of perpetrators are k nown to the sur vivor What ’s more, according to the rcNi, the most common locations of sexual violence for female sur vivors was in their own homes, with the most common perpetrator being a male par tner or an ex-par tner

So not only are the far right spreading complete lies, but they are also perpetuating one of the most common rape myths: that the attacker must be a stranger to the victim this

is utterly false, and its perpetuation can ac tually create a barrier to survivors of sexual violence coming forward, fearing that they won’t be believed if their experience doesn’t ‘fit ’ this myth

A violent record

But the hypocrisy of the far right with regard to women’s safety is taken to another level when we look at the brutal violence and misogyny of some of its most prominent agitators consider the barbaric attack on wellknown lGBtQ+ activist izz y Kamikaze by a member of the National Par ty in 2020 in that same year, alan Sweeney (far right agitator connec ted to the National Par ty) was caught on camera spitting on a defenceless woman who had fallen to the ground last year, far-right troll, eamonn Deegan was jailed for online threats and harassment of a female autism campaigner and mother of five and the list goes on at a time when we are seeing countless men, women and children fleeing war, famine and climate breakdown, seek ing safer lives elsewhere, the far right are utilising fears around sexual violence to fur ther their own racist agenda however, the evidence is clear: sexual violence and gender-based violence are produc ts of patriarchy, not of immigration

By James touhey

THE HOUSING crisis continues to deter iorate with fur ther dark clouds on the horizon As of Januar y 2023 there were a record 11,754 people accessing emergency accommodation T his is in realit y only a small reflection of a wider, systemic cr isis facing working-class people, immigrants and refugees whose lives and suffering can go unseen in official figures.

As many as 290,000 are c lassified as the ‘ hidden homeless’ according to a sur vey by the S imon Communit y, which showed how one in four people knows someone shar ing rooms with family or friends, having no alternative housing options

Another report in Februar y revealed that one in ten children in Ireland was living in damp, cold and overcrowded accommodation affecting their mental health and cognitive development

The cr isis is of the government ’ s making, and now the far r ight have

tr ied to sc apegoat migrants and refugees for the housing crisis But the government par ties too have form when it comes to sc apegoating migrants for their failures As far back as 2017, Socialist Party activists in Limer ic k led a protest against F ine Gael councillor Stephen Kear y who said at the time, “ The influx of non-nationals into the countr y is a major drain on the S tate People have come here from Eastern Europe for the handouts” Sound familiar?

This is the same vile r acism being spe wed by far r ight groups today who, like the establishment par ties, seek to direct people ’ s anger away from cr imi n a l , p ro c a p i t a l i s t p o l i c i e s a n d t u r n t h e m a g a i n s t o t h e r v i c t i m s o f t h e sy stem I n f ac t , ac c o rd i n g t o D o r a s , a m ig r a n t r i g h t s ad vo c ac y g ro u p, f o re i g n nationals not only propor tionately live i n o ve rc rowd e d ac c om m o d a t i on , b u t make up a higher propor tion of those accessing emergenc y accommodation

housing crisis: created by governments and profiteers, exploited by racists

LGBTQ rights ac tivist I zz y K amik aze was physically attacked by far-right thugs at a protest in 2020

Recent rhetoric from government politicians has legitimised far-right talk ing points

Pogroms & massacres: israeli State ratchets up the oppression of Palestinians

O N 26 Februar y, an estimated 400 Israeli colonial settlers launched a brutal raid on the town of Huwara, in the Occupied West Bank. Armed with guns, clubs, iron chains and fuel containers, they mounted an attempted pogrom on its Palestinian residents with cars and homes being torched in a bid to terrorise the populace at best the israeli “Defence” force (iDf) turned a blind eye to this action in the aftermath of the attack, chair of the National Security commission Zvi fogel went on iDf radio praising this pogrom saying he was “pleased with [this] deterrence”. fogel is a member of the far-right Jewish Power and a key coalition par tner of Benjamin Netanyahu, israel’s Prime Minister

Record death toll the israeli army and settlers have killed 61 Palestinians so far this year in the week running up to the attack the iDf launched a raid on the Palestinian town of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank murdering 11 Palestinians, including three elderly people and a minor this is the second such attack in 2023, the first being the massacre in the Jenin refugee camp this attack was met with a general strike in the occupied West Bank , along with mass protests this resulted in the shutting down of shops, transpor t, the communication sec tor, schools, universities, banks and exchange offices the teachers’ union called on workers to join the strike and called for “marches and rage on ever y street and in ever y neighbourhood to protest the death of the mar tyrs ”

this same union had been on strike in the preceding three weeks demanding union recognition and higher wages from the Palestinian authority (Pa) the Pa is a corrupt and collaborationist regime installed by the israeli State to do its dir ty work of keeping down Palestinian resistance to the occupation and expanding settlements

A new generation the recent strikes and protests, along with those that took place in May 2021 (when the israeli State launched another murderous assault on G aza), show that a new generation of Palestinians is willing to engage in mass resistance to israeli rule S ocialist Struggle M ovement (SSM, our sister organisation in Palestine -israel) advo-

cates that such a struggle should be organised through democratic councils of struggle from below i t should also be based on democratically organised and armed self- defence to resist the terror of the iDf and settlers the recent round of bloodletting by the Netanyahu government happened against the backdrop of an unprecedented protest movement within israel itself, against plans to centralise power in the hands of his government at the expense of the israeli’s State Supreme cour t this cour t has never defended the interests of the Palestinian people, or ordinar y israelis for that matter however, the new government, made up of various ultra- or thodox and ultra-nationalist par ties, sees it as

a barrier to pushing through its policies such as attack ing lGBtQ rights, and those of refugees and the fur ther annexation of Palestinian land the judicial “reform” is seen as an attack on democratic rights

Mass protests hundreds of thousands have par ticipated in the protests and have faced repression from israel's police force Different sec tions of workers have taken initiatives, including medical personnel, social workers, teachers, and others, and in doing so have bypassed their union leaderships Pride flags and feminist placards appeared on the protests expressing revulsion at the far right a minority of Palestinians par ticipated, including left activists speakers

in haifa in the solidarity protests following huwara, a fresh sec tion from the movement attended the protests are currently led by the leaders of israel ’s capitalist (supposedly liberal) opposition, who themselves are complicit in the oppression of Palestinians and fur thering settlements and the occupation SSM has argued that this movement needs to be independent of the capitalist forces and must take up demands opposing the occupation and for the rights of Palestinians generally th e w i d e s p re a d w av i n g o f i s ra e l i f l a g s, i n te n d e d a s a re p l y to N et a ny a h u’s a t te m p t s to d e l e gi t i m i s e the movement, not only represents a mistaken form of national unit y with t ycoons but also to an ex tent a denial o f Pa l e s t i n i a n s ' n a t i o n a l r i g h t s th e wo r k i n g c l a s s a n d o p p re s s e d w i t h i n i s ra e l i s o c i e t y, h owe ve r, h ave n o vested interest in maintaining Palestinians’ oppression and should break with the israeli ruling classes’ Zionist chauvinism this could be the basis to over throw the rule of the israeli capitalist regime, and their underlings in the Pa a mass revolutionar y struggle for Palestinian national liberation and socialism could win over the israeli work ing class to this struggle, and a democratic and just solution could be achieved where the rights of both nationalities could be upheld on this basis an independent socialist Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital, alongside a democratic socialist israel, with free and open borders and the rights of minorities guaranteed, could come into existence

By finghín Kelly

L AST MON T H, saw revelations that successive go ver nments since at least 2009 have prepared agg ressive legal strateg ies to deny some of the most vulnerable people in society their legal entitlements to nursing home care

Documents re veal that successive senior ministers from F ine Gael, F ianna Fáil and Labour were briefed and aware that the state was potentially liable to compensate some elderly people who needed nursing home c are but were pushed into the private sector due to a shortage in public places

A rotten swindle

These elder ly people had ver y few financial resources, they were on medical c ards, and therefore had ver y low incomes and little savings Many faced the stark choice of going without essential care or relying on family members to pay large sums, some e ven having to sell or remor tgage their homes to meet the bills

Revelation after revelation in the last week has exposed how successive senior ministers were well aware of this practice Var ious former health ministers such as Michael Martin, L eo Varadkar and L abour ’ s Brendan Howlin have stated that their memories were fuzz y about this practice, pointing to piles of memos and documents that pass over their desks – essentially tr ying to avoid responsibilit y and put sole blame on senior civil ser vants

Cynicism of the state

T h e re ve l a t i on s s h ow t h a t t h e re w a s a n ac k n ow l e d ge m e n t t h a t t h e S t a t e was likel y to lose any legal c ase In a c y nic al mo ve, the y de vised str ategies t o s t o p t h e f u l l f ac t s f rom e m e r g i n g This invol ved pay ing last minute out of cour t settlements in order to keep the facts from the wider public This m e a n t t h a t on l y t h o s e w i t h t h e res o u rc e s t o t a k e t h e S t a t e t o c o u r t could get some form of compensation, while thousands were kept in the dark T h e y c y n i c a l l y e x p l o i t e d t h e i n b u i l t i n e q u a l i t y i n t h e l e g a l s y s t e m t o e x -

c lude the most vulner able from payments they were due Varadkar and Martin in the Dáil this week, as well as c laiming ignorance, also fundamentally defended the practice of deny ing people pay ment for

nursing homes They stated that they need to defend the ‘taxpayer ’ and the ‘public finances’, and that the legislation does not give a r ight to pr ivate nursing home care This is a rotten defence Essentially, they are saying that

providing people with the nursing home c are that they need will cost money, and that they are unwilling to pay for it

Low tax regime for the rich De facto it is a defence of a tax regime that leaves the super wealthy taxed minimally while the vital public ser vices that vulnerable people rely on are denied to them They also fall back on the defence that the 1970 legislation does not give a legal r ight to c are so their hands are tied Of course, forgetting that their par ties have been in power for 53 years since this Act was passed, and could have easily changed that at any point!

Socialists stand for a complete break with this approach and the system that produces it High-qualit y health c are and public ser vices should be seen as a basic r ight and be provided for all A single-tier public health system would be well funded and provided free at the point of use ‘from the crad le to the grave ’ Profiteer ing from ill health would be a thing of the past

R ampaging Israeli settlers burn Palestinian homes, cars in Nablus

nurses homes fees scandal: case study in how the irish state treats the most vulnerable

omagh attack: no going back!

Working class can unite to defeat paramilitary violence

NEWS B RO KE on Wednesday, 22 Febr uar y 2023, of the attempted killing of a police officer in Omagh. He was shot multiple times by masked gunmen after a youth football coaching session Ear l y repor ts suggest this was likely an attack carr ied out by the dissident republic an “ Ne w I RA” S uch attac ks are a scourge on working-c lass people's lives and a blatant attempt to inflame sectar ian tensions.

Community in shock

The brutal nature of this attack; carried out in front of children, young people and parents at a spor ts complex, has undoubted ly sent shockwaves through Omagh, a town that has suffered many atrocities and is still impacted by the Omagh bomb in 1998 It is a chilling reminder of the potential for a resurgence of sectar ian violence on the streets of Northern Ireland

The callous nature of this attack put at risk the lives of young people in the vicinity, some of whom could easily have been killed Additionally, the trauma from witnessing such an attack can have lifelong consequences, not just on those directly affected but on entire communities To have public spaces such as leisure or sports centres, meant to be safe places for young people and others, threatened in this way is despicable

In our schools, colleges, workplaces and communities, we must now respond to this esc alation In recent weeks, working-c lass people have united on picket and joined protests in towns and cities across the North, calling for fair pay and standing in defence of public ser vices We have stood against transphobia, homophobia and misog yny in our thousands at protests and vigils in Lurgan, Belfast and Derr y – most recentl y following the br utal murders of Natalie McNally and Brianna Ghey Young people from both communities are to the fore of these struggles Now we must unite against sectarianism and say : "No going back!"

Omagh Trade Union Council called a protest on Saturday 25 Februar y, where over 1,000 people turned out to express their anger at the atatck and make a statement that such violence has nothing but comtempt from ordinar y working-class people The message was c lear that they will stand against all those who seek to drag us back

No going back

Attac ks such as this are exactl y that: attempts by paramilitar y organisations to drag our societ y bac k to sectar ian conflict Working-c lass people were forced to endure gross state repression and sectarian attacks and violence during the Troubles Dissident republicans aim to provoke a bac klash from the state and the loyalist paramilitar ies, hoping that a re-ignition of open sec-

“In recent weeks, workingclass people have united on picket and joined protests in towns and cities across the North, calling for fair pay and standing in defence of public services We have stood against transphobia, homophobia and misogyny in our thousands at protests and vigils in Lurgan, Belfast and Derry – most recently following the brutal murders of Natalie McNally and Brianna Ghey. Young people from both communities are to the fore of these struggles Now we must unite against sectarianism and say: ‘No going back!’”

tarian conflict and increased repression in Catholic communities will create an environment in which they c an grow and prosper S ome loyalist paramilitar ies seek the same outcome The withdrawal of suppor t for the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) by the loyalist paramilitaries over the Brexit protocol crisis, and the warnings that already a younger generation of loyalists have been recr uited and are barel y being held back from a return to sectarian violence, illustrates the real dangers in this situation

As we approach the 25th anniversar y of the GFA the limitations of the " peace process " are becoming more apparent: communities remain deeply divided, the promised peace dividend has not been delivered, paramilitaries continue to operate on both sides and the politic al establishment relies on the continuation of sectarian division In-

stead of bringing the communities together and overcoming the conflict of national identity, the GFA has ser ved to institutionalise sectarianism There are more ‘ peace walls’ now than during the Troubles

In the Catholic community a sense of alienation is increasing from the NI state and Britain and feel a continuation of a denial of their r ights, made worse by Brexit Likewise the Protestant community fear there is a drif t towards a united Ireland, where they fear they would be discr iminated against and that the Protocol is the breaking of the link with Britain

Now, given the deep economic, social and politic al cr ises here and internationally the conflict of national aspirations is becoming more acute This under lines why there is an urgent need to build united movements that c an fundamentall y transform our societ y, eradic ating the basis for division, exploitation and oppression

Stormont is culpable

The politicians in Stormont have condemned the attack They even released a joint statement But such words are empty while they bear responsibility for ensuring the maintenance of the economic and social conditions required for the growth of these organisations

It is not a coincidence that the dissident republicans are able to grow in the most hard-pressed working-c lass Catholic areas These are working-class areas that have been lef t behind by the peace process Derr y City and Strabane Council repor ted the lowest employment rate (61 6%) and the highest inactivity rate (34 1%) in NI

This is mirrored in Protestant working-c lass areas, which also rank high in terms of unemployment and depriva-

tion, and it is in areas like this that the loyalist paramilitar ies have attracted younger people to their ranks This is not accidental but a product of the Executive's capitalist, pro-austerit y politics The reliance of the S tormont par ties on sectar ian division is c lear

They have refused to fund integrated education and openly beat the sectarian drum when required These conditions provide fer tile ground for paramilitarism to grow

Only working class can challenge sectarianism

Only working-c lass and young people, united across the sectarian divide, have the power to challenge these organisations The dissident groups have little support Their desire to bring a return to sectar ian violence means that they are treated with disdain by most working-c lass people

In the af termath of the killing of Lyra McKee – a young journalist – in 2019, many thousands of young people took to the streets to demonstrate their disgust V igils organised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) attracted signific ant crowds of working-class and young people, bringing an immense pressure to bear on Saoradh (the political wing of the New I RA), which temporar il y drove them back They called off their Easter Monday parade in Derr y and other dissident republic an groups e ven openl y cr iticised the New IRA and called on it to end its armed campaign

In the 1990s, a series of strikes and large demonstrations against sectarian killings and bombings played a key role in forcing the paramilitar ies on both sides to declare ceasefires W hen postal worker Danny McColgan was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 2001,

it was the mass action by postal workers and the wider working class which succeeded in forcing loyalist and republic an paramilitar ies to lif t the threats against workers O ver 100,000 workers demonstrated on Januar y 18th 2001 in one of the biggest ever protests seen in Northern Ireland

At a time when thousands of workers in Northern Ireland are striking for better pay, we stand united on the pic ket line S uch unit y must be expanded to show our opposition to sectar ian attac ks S o far the response of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has been meek They have condemned the shooting and correctl y point to the power of workers on recent picket lines

They should now organise seriously to mobilise the power of their 250,000 members, Protestant, Catholic and other, to isolate and undercut sectarian forces Working-c lass people and the trade unions are the most power ful force in societ y and have the capacit y to push back the forces of sectarianism

We must do so on the streets but also, crucially, politically

The politicians in Stormont bear responsibility for the sectarian division in our societ y We must begin to build a mass working-c lass political party that challenges them A united politic al voice for all working people, with a programme to end poverty and to provide decent jobs Such a party would be capable of overcoming the sectarian division which blights the lives of working-c lass people through a united struggle for a socialist future, and once and for all consigning the past to the past

Now is the time to get invol ved –talk to us about how you can be part of building an active movement against sectarianism n

1,000 protested in Omagh to say No G oing Back ’ to a c ycle of sec tarian violence

FeaTure

T H E F E M I C I D E of 23 year- old teacher Ashling Murphy on 12 Januar y 2022, cutting a young life callously and brutally shor t, provoked a mass response, writes L AU R A F I T ZG E R A L D. In a moment replete with profound sadness, anger and solidarity: anger at the social ill of men’s violence against women in all its forms; sadness for Ashling’s family, for the children in Ashling’s class who lost their teacher; tens of thousands, probably upwards of 100,000, congregated in countless vigils in ever y nook and cranny of the island in cities, towns, housing estates, a myriad of spor ting clubs etc.

TH E GOVERNMEN T felt under pressure and pledged “ a z ero tolerance policy to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence”. Nothing concrete has yet been delivered, however

At the time, S ocialist Par t y activists working as par t of ROSA – S ocialist Feminist Movement, tr ied to channel that moment when the spotlight was shone on gender-based violence in all its forms, into building a new active and organised mass campaign and movement Ruth Coppinger and ROSA sponsored an online conference inviting a wide range of speakers with a view to tr ying to help foment such a process None of the events and actions we were able to organise was enough to bring this into fruition

Fur thermore, at the S tand O ut that ROSA organised in Smithfield, D ublin 7 at the time, when a representative of the Socialist Party and ROSA addressing the crowd said that “the movement

that we must build has no room for racism and no room for transphobia Racism and transphobia are inextricable from sexism and we stand against all of them together and united ” , she was met with resolute applause

Lies and hypocrisy on gender violence

Events just one year later illustrate the prescience of these stances and initiatives Januar y 2023 was characterised by a series of escalating mobilisations, organised by far-right groups and fascists, against refugees W hile mostl y small, sporadic, and opposed by the vast majorit y of ordinar y people (70% in a Ir ish

T imes/Ipsos MRBI poll stated that protests “should not be allowed in front of Direct Provision centres”), these despic able actions were able to tap into a minor it y of demoralised and alienated sections of some of the most depr ived working-c lass communities

The situation worsened in F inglas in

late Januar y when a harro ing incident of on-street sexu young woman was right agitators to w refugee protests of was linked to an u tack by racist thug bat on a small enca migrant men in ne

Tapping into rac and brown men, th petrator was a non of colour went vir alienation, anger o from housing to g and the prevalence fertile ground for s gators The develo ous that it prov release a statemen they were in fact s Irish male suspect tack

The contrast is s bilisations tr igger men ’ s violence agai 2022 and Januar y reactionar y respect

A movement to violence

This begs the que of str uggle needs and to end gender a str uggle of co squarely against su that have chron refuges, public hou health ser vices, ma even more difficu more road blocks f psychological tort abusive relationshi

It ’ s necessarily a misogynistic state t again and again; in tim-blaming and character references in rape trials; an ingrained bias that demonises single parents and upholds the patriarchal family structure; and a continued entanglement with the Catholic Church that Dr Peter Boylan, former Master of the National Maternity Hospital, has deemed to be deepening: “ a new church-S tate nexus has emerged This link is based on an alignment of the interests of government economic polic y with the Church’s ownership of land and valuable health and education assets ” Fundamentally, it ’ s a struggle against the ver y system itself The right wing are engaged in a concerted backlash against the feminist and LGBTQ wave that emerged globall y in the past dec ade This is to tr y to cr ush these str uggles and the hope that they bring, but also it ’ s because the gender-binar y and backward gender roles are needed by the capitalist sy stem – inc luding via the patr iarchal family structure because of its role in reproducing the labour force for capitalism

Such a struggle and movement should set about forcing the government to deliver on immediate trebling of refuge places, free counselling for sur vivors who want it, massive investment in public housing and more; and also should be consistently advocating for and seeking to organise as wide as possible workingc lass struggle against the whole system

A movement to fight misogyny & the far right

S imultaneousl y, it ’ s essential that the movement is also proactivel y raising consciousness and understanding in ever y way of the reality of men ’ s violence against women and queer people, of

tHe sam

unite again racism a International

awareness of abuse dynamics etc This is empower ing for sur vivors and any potential victims Part of this of course will involve challenging ever yone to consider their own behaviour and approach towards other human beings, inc luding in their own personal relationships, particularly but not exclusively encouraging an examination of how the patriarchal nature of capitalist culture in which men dominating women and non-binar y people is widespread, affects us all In turning outward to campaign and

struggle for deep-rooted social change, inc luding demanding public housing, secular and public health and education etc, and simultaneousl y raising awareness about the reality of gender violence, a bul wark c an be built against the far r ight and their abilit y to disgustingl y manipulate the issue Crucially, this involves spreading the fact that most victims of gender-based violence know the perpetrator – usually a partner or ex-partner, or family member Gender-based violence has nothing

ROSA placard

ROSA demo in Smithfield in wake of Ashling Murphy murder in Jan 2022

me struggle nst genDer violence, anD tHe far-rigHt

in & the radical roots of nal Women’s Day

Women’s Day 2023

, known Nazis

Straight out of the Ku Klux Klan playbook

In fact, we have to spread the word that the far-right have decades-long form in seeking to weaponise violence against women to push their racist and misog ynistic bile

Socialist feminists have always taken a stand against this In 1932, a year before her death at age 75, Clara Zetkin, German Mar xist-feminist pioneer and founder of International Women’s Day as an exercise in global working-class feminist struggle against oppression, imperialism and capitalism, took a stand in support of the Scottsboro Boys She excoriated “the most despicable race hatred of white against Black, this lowest expression of arrogance and low human and cultural values” that these young Black boys were experiencing as they faced the possibility of a death penalty, on account of a totally fabricated accusation of rape of two white women (one of whom later recanted and joined the Communist Party ’ s campaign to free the Scottsboro Boys)

g p p

Zetkin’s appeal for the working c lass and poor masses in the US and around the wor ld to organise in defence of the S cottsboro Boy s was infused with her understanding of the needs of the capitalist system to propagate racism: “ The accusation is a conscious lie which was designed for sinister pur poses by landowners and manufacturers These forces want to terror ise the Blac k masses which are rising up against their exploitation and are beginning to form a common front with their white brothers and sisters against hunger, imper ialist wars and bloody white terror ”

We won’t be dragged backwards

A new wave of feminist and LGBTQIA struggle emerged in the 2010s that mobilised millions and won many victories, inc luding abortion rights in Ireland and starting a massive societal discussion on gender violence in all its forms

By S rodriguez

ara Zetkin, so-

o-founder of ’s Day, issued d working join their the fight ving to be cahan endless king women, all ers, regardless of ed: remember nions in misery! emands fight confront ofits and capidemands ” ng- class, poor d gender none categorically s struggle – rism that continr exploitation the uprising ran to the mass demonstrations in the aftermath of the repeal of roe, women and lGBtQ+ people have risen up in the hundreds, thousands and millions, not just for their own rights, but for liberation from a system which places their subjugation at its ver y core

around, russian society was convulsed by a maelstrom of crises Working- class women were bearing the brunt of food shor tages, inflation and intensified exploitation, with many drawing the conclusion that these were products of a senseless war waged for power, profit and prestige in which their par tners and sons were mere cannon fodder ten thousand strik ing workers marched on international Women’s Day in Petrograd in 1917, demanding “Bread and peace” Within hours, 100,000 workers had joined them once unleashed, their demands echoed loudly and could not be silenced in just 17 days, the tsarist regime was brought to its k nees, planting the seeds for the october revolution

An appeal a centur y in the making

to do with nationalit y, racial or ethnic background, or migration status Connected with proximit y and with sexist and other power differentials, it has ever ything to do with the misog yny and transphobia that is in fact embedded in far-right ideolog y

Far-right individuals and groups campaign to ban abortion, marriage equality and divorce, and would happil y chain women in domestic ser vitude – just look at Justin Barrett, leader of the National Party with his histor y inside Youth De-

The exonerated Central Park F ive were Black and Latino boys wrongfully convicted of raping and assaulting a white woman in 1989 The youngest was just 14 years of age W ho used his obscene wealth to pay for full page advertisements in four New York newspapers at the time to call for them to face the death penalty? Predator-in-Chief, Donald Trump of course!

From the KKK, to Donald Trump, to Pegida in Germany in 2016, those whose ver y ideolog y aligns with the most patri-

From the my thologising of misog ynistic abusers like Depp and Tate; to the overturning of Roe; to the rapid escalation of transphobia; to the far-r ight threat in many countries; to the miser y of the war-mongering, c limate catastrophe and hunger that c apitalism today heralds for working-c lass, poor and racialised women of the wor ld – the need for socialist feminist struggle internationally could not be more urgent

The sy stem’s attempt to cr ush our str uggles will not win – we won’t be dragged bac kwards – and we will take our movement for ward in struggle on 8 March, International Women’s Day 2023 and beyond with anti-capitalism, anti-racism, solidar it y of the exploited and oppressed, and socialist feminism n

The radical roots of International Women’s Day in 1908, 15,000 garment workers marched through the streets of New york to protest their working conditions, demand an eight-hour work day, a pay rise, an immediate end to child labour and the right to vote the next year, the Socialist Par ty of america declared the first “National Women’s Day ” in recognition of their struggle German socialist, clara Zetkin, inspired by the New york garment workers, proposed the adoption of an international women’s day, a proposal which sought to link the universal struggle for women’s political and social rights to the fight for an end to exploitation of all workers; and conversely, to link the fight to end the exploitation of workers to the struggle for women’s political and social rights the proposal was passed unanimously by over 100 women attending the Second congress of Working Women, representing unions, socialist parties and working women’s clubs in 17 countries the following year, more than one million women took part in marches and meetings to mark the first international Women’s Day under the demand of universal suffrage

Within just six years, international Women’s Day was to spark a revolution When 8 March 1917 came

When clara Zetkin issued her appeal to working women on international Women’s Day six years later in 1923, she describes an eerily familiar reality as for working-class people today She writes, “the international characteristic features of our time are: depreciation of currency, usurious prices for the necessities of life, robber y by means of taxes and levies, unemployment, longer working hours, increased production despite devitalising living conditions, growing uncer tainty of earnings and of means of living and this – in all countries where capitalism is still an uncontrolled master in its own house, not only in industr y, but in the state, despite “democracy ” , or rather, precisely with the aid and blessing of “democracy ” a centur y later and in remark ably similar conditions, women and people of all genders are responding to Zetk in’s call, and tak ing their place in the vanguard of the fight back against exploitation and oppression of all forms

International Women’s Day 2023

the histor y of international Women’s Day is the histor y of the Nyc garment workers declaring ‘enough is enough’ and of the women of 1917 Petrograd demanding “Bread and Peace”, but it is also a living histor y of solidarity and struggle as the people of iran fight for “ Woman, life and freedom” and woman and trans people proclaim “My body, my choice” the sheer force of these movements indicates the tremendous impact women have had on the struggles against exploitation and oppression – power, that when wielded as par t of a united struggle of the work ing class, poor and oppressed, has the potential to transform society and liberate us all

Turkey, syria & Kurdistan: Thousands killed by earthquake & construction companies

profiteering

By rober t ruane

LA S T M O N T H , o ver 50,000 people were kil led in the ear thquakes that rocked Turkey, Syria, and Kurdistan, whic h also lef t mil lions homeless Turkey ’ s dictatorial president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, would like the wor ld to believe that this was an unavoidable natural disaster He commented: "Such things have always happened It's part of destiny's plan " W hile it is true that ear thquakes have al way s happened, suc h a death tol l and fal lout should ne ver have happened, and Erdoğan knows it W hy did his regime not erect buildings that could have withstood a violent earthquake? The simple answer is that it was not profitable Erdogan’s corruption

W hen a similar magnitude earthquake shook Turke y in 1999, the pre vious go ver nment was exposed f or its corr uption by al lowing the profiteers of the constr uction industr y to lower building saf et y standards This was done by using c heap mater ials and pr actices, whic h pro ved to be disastrous once the ear thquake occurred Erdoğan promised to tr ansf or m the constr uction industr y to pre vent another disaster like this from taking place again

So, what changes did Erdoğan make once he came to power? More corruption! Again, profit was put before the needs of the people O lder buildings were not modernised, and the big con-

struction moguls made billions because they erected cheap and unsafe buildings that have now led to tens of thousands of deaths

To add more insult to injur y, an ear thquake tax was introduced af ter the disaster in ‘99 to strengthen emergenc y ser vices and measures to avoid another c atastrophe W here that mone y has gone is largel y unknown

Despite knowing the likelihood of another suc h disaster taking place, Erdoğan’s regime failed to prepare and had insufficient resources in place Their emergenc y response was slow, and bec ause the first f e w hours are cr itic al in saving lives, the death r ate grew dramatically

Profiteering from disaster

Meanwhile, the cement companies are waiting to cash-in on the devastation and profit from people’s miser y This is the cold nature of capitalism The people’s anger is now being directed at the Erdoğan government, and rather than make the best effort as possible to help them, the regime is spending time and resources silencing those who speak out against it

If the miser y exper ienced by the earthquakes was not enough, the Turkish militar y, instead of directing all resources to help those in need, decided to bomb Kurdish areas in Nor ther n S y r ia S imilar l y, the S y r ian ar med forces were busy bombing oppositional areas in the preceding hours of the

Chinese “spy balloon” over US: Rhetoric al hot air reflec ts new cold war conflic t

By Michael o’Brien

T H E R E C E N T shooting down by

the US militar y of a balloon that originated in China and entered US airspace is emblematic of a turning up of the temperature in the new ‘Cold War ’ i t is highly unlikely that there was any true espionage intent behind it, after all it was visible to any member of Joe public with a pair of binoculars! there is nothing any equipment attached to it could detect that cannot already be obser ved by satellite

The $50 balloon

ear thquake Conditions in S yria were already aby smal due to over a dec ade of war involving Assad ’ s regime, rebels, extremists and the geopolitic al interests of the US, Britain, France, S audi Arabia and Russia

Western powers sent aid to Turkey but gave the S y r ian people the cold shoulder because of their tension with Assad O rdinar y people must suff er because of the game of chess played by the ruling c lasses

All of these horrors point to the need for the working c lass, poor and oppressed of this region to unite in a struggle to overthrow the rule of its rotten and corrupt capitalist regime and fight for a socialist alternative to end war, division and capitalist disasters

Millions strike & protest: French workers resist Macron’s attack on pensions

By Myriam Poizat

JA N UA RY M A RKED the star t of an ongoing str ike wave in France.

Millions of workers and young people have been taking to the streets in a strong opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s pension refor m that ’ s looking at increasing the pension age from 62 to 64

Under the pressure of the movement, his initial proposal to increase the pension age to 65 was brought down to 64

But his insulting attempt at cutting across working-c lass people ’ s anger while continuing to lower taxes on record-breaking cor porate profits was too little too late

Struggle from below

On 11 and 16 Februar y mass demonstrations, respectively counting 2 5 million and 1 3 million, took to the streets

Those numbers are as impressive as these extremel y cr ucial de velopments that the movement should continue to build on:

1 Working-c lass power and control

over pr ivate production was demonstrated by workers undertaking ‘Robin Hood ’ actions that placed hospitals, public spor ts centers, librar ies, high schools, nurser ies, and low income

households on ‘free electricity or gas ’

2 The strength of the movement increased its public support by 6% (61% in Januar y to 67% in Februar y)

3 Its power forced conser vative

union leadership to take more radical actions with an inter-union strateg y bringing together France’s eight largest trade unions in a front that recentl y called to make 7 March a day to ‘shut down France’ – with some unions even calling for a general strike that could be renewed upon votes by workers’ assemblies

Macron can be defeated

A 54-year-old unionised rail way worker correctly stated: "These demonstrations will not be enough to slow down the government" We need, " a subversive mass movement" with "three or four days of total blockade, and not onl y of rail way workers, teachers and refiners ” (Le Monde)

Working-class people in France have a chance to esc alate pressure from below, to push the unions and organisations that are still dragging their feet to finally support and act on the idea of rene wable str ike actions By doing so they can put an end to Macron's auster it y policies and this undemocratic regime itself

a positive spree of shooting down more flying objects in Nor th american airspace ensued, including what transpired to be hobbyist weather balloons that retail for $50 Never theless, the incident was seized upon by all wings of the uS political establishment as an opportunity to be seen to take a hard position on china a scheduled visit by uS Secretar y of State anthony Blinken to Beijing was abruptly cancelled this was not good enough for the republican Par ty right who insisted that waiting several days until the balloon was off the South carolina coast before shooting it down projected uS ‘weakness’ the episode, absurd on its own terms, only makes sense in the context of the overall geo-political situation between the uS and china Both of its capitalist establishments want to whip up a frenzied, jingoistic mood in their respective societies

Regimes in crisis in the case of china, it is happening in the context of its emergence from a deeply unpopular ‘Zero covid’ polic y that was reinforced by massively repressive means this polic y exacerbated the tendenc y towards the ‘decoupling’ of the chinese and Western economies and deepened problems in the chinese economy itself which have been extensively covered by the chinaWorker info website the uS is dead set against permitting a fur ther relative decline in its standing in the world compared to china. i t has seized upon the war in uk raine as an oppor tunity to reestablish, post-trump, its leadership role in the West But it has done so more with china in mind and the potential of a future conflict over taiwan the work ing class in the uS, china and the world over has interests distinct and apar t from the contending capitalist elites in this conflict, which has the potential to heat up We need a united struggle to end their rotten rule and oppose their wars and conflict, linked to the fight for a socialist world based on peace and cooperation

French workers are rising against Macron, the President of the rich

Rescue operations in wake of the unimaginable destruc tion of the ear thquake in Turkey

unite’s Murphy 4 fight union busting

By David Vallely

F O UR UNI T E members working for Murphy engineering and constr uction contractors in the Aughinish Aluminium plant in Limer ic k have been singled out for dismissal in an action their union descr ibed as “tantamount to union busting ”

One of the targeted workers, known collectivel y as the Mur phy 4, was a shop steward in Aughinish Unite belie ves that these workers were victimised for their union activism

Government silence

The Aughinish plant is owned by R usal International, whose major it y shareholder is the R ussian billionaire and P utin suppor ter O leg Der ipaska

W hile the Irish government was ver y vocal when Deripaska faced sanctions due to P utin’s war on U kraine, its silence has been deafening regarding workers’ rights

Unite has correctl y announced a campaign of protests designed to pressur ise Mur phy ’ s by le veraging the union’s industrial weight across the UK and Ireland on companies that the

Murphy group relies on for income

Unite ’ s general secretar y S haron Graham was elected on a pledge to put workplace organising to the fore, and consequentl y to defend workers who vindictive employers target S he has

Mechanic al workers vote for strike ac tion

championed a tactic descr ibed as “ leverage” as a way to bring to bear the collective strength of the union in a situation in which the bosses might other wise have the advantage if it were left isolated to one workplace

Solidarity actions

An example of this tactic is the Coventr y bin workers' strike, which saw trade unionists protesting at the offices of companies that had contracts with the

company the council used to hire scab labour to tr y and break the str ike

These solidar it y actions succeeded in forcing those companies to cut ties with the scab firm

The targeting of the Murphy 4 is a shot across the bows of all workers in the Mur phy group: “don’t step out of line or else!” The workers have pushed back, with over 40 protests and pickets in recent weeks at sites across the UK and Ireland demanding the reinstatement of the Murphy 4

This campaign is an important step in the right direction by a high-profile trade union like Unite and should be encouraged It is especiall y welcome and essential in Ireland, where union activity on shop floors has been undermined by dec ades of so-c alled “social partnership”

A wave of str ikes has broken out across the UK as working people struggle to arrest the dec line in their living standards caused by the cost of living cr isis and hoarding of wealth by the capitalist c lass The reforging and defence of workplace organising will be an important step in the development of a similar movement in Ireland

inMo votes for industrial action

By Marie -claire Jennequin

AC RO S S T H E countr y, unsafe working conditions have become the nor m for healthc are workers

By Matt Waine

M E C H A N I C A L W O R K E R S in the construc tion sec tor have voted over whelmingly in favour of strike ac tion in search of a cost- of-living wage increase amounting to 12.8%. Members of Unite, employed by two of the largest mechanical contractors in the country, will take strike action on 10 March seeking the return of the first hour of Travel Time

Workers’ rights undermined

M embers in Jones engineering and leo lynch’s voted by 94% and 92% respec tively for industrial ac tion and will be followed by ballots in at least four other companies the first day of ac tion could see pickets placed on the massively profitable i ntel site in leixlip and the equally prestigious Pfizer site in Grange castle, West Dublin, with other large construction projec ts in the pipeline, like the National children's hospital up until 2011, plumbers, fitters and welders employed by the main mechanical contrac ting companies received payments to compensate for time and costs associated with travel-

ling to multiple sites for work under the guise of the recession, the bosses were able to force the removal of the first hour of travel

Crucial dispute

Despite over a decade of growth, construction workers have not seen their income return to pre - crisis levels the cost of living crisis has fur ther eroded workers’ wages and has fueled growing anger in the sec tor and among workers generally While workers struggle to make ends meet, massive profits have returned to the construction sector this is the most significant industrial dispute in the mechanical sector in a generation and represents the first serious trade union response to the cost of living crisis this dispute is potentially a watershed moment a victor y for mechanical workers would be a victor y for all workers it is a warning to the employers about what lies ahead if they do not compensate for spiralling inflation But equally, it throws down the gauntlet to other unions, who, to date, generally seem to accept the status quo, rather than organising workers to strike back , demanding pay progression

Workers are faced with low wages, dangerous staffing levels and even assaults on a dail y basis. T his staffing cr isis in our health ser vice is unsustainable and unacceptable for both patients and workers Many hospital wards and emergenc y rooms are r unning on staffing le vels that are well below the requirements for basic patient safety.

There are currentl y insufficient numbers of student nurses to replace nurse retirees next year Added to the vast numbers of healthc are workers leaving our shores for better conditions, we are faced with a crisis that cannot be ignored

Privatisation of healthcare

Private hospitals across Ireland massively profited during the Covid-19 pandemic Meanwhile, healthcare workers are continuing to suffer through the rising cost of living and precarious working conditions The pro-privatisation policies of successive governments have commodified our healthcare system In addition to this, the deficits in the governance of hospitals have resulted in the inability to cope with surges in demand for ser vices

Last month, the main nurses union, the INMO, announced its decision to take industrial action following a series of consultation meetings with its members

Balloting for action

Currently, the ballots for industrial action will be on a location-by-location basis, focusing on areas most acutel y

bearing the brunt of this crisis It is unc lear yet what form this industrial action will take W hile a work-to-r ule would be an important step for ward, it is unlikely to exert the pressure that will be necessar y to win real change

T h e I N M O w i l l m e e t w i t h t h e management of acute hospitals to seek assurances regarding the safet y of the working environment and to demand a workforce plan for the coming year If these demands are not addressed, a national ballot for action will be considered

Public healthcare system

Any potential campaign of action must fight for decent conditions, staffing and wages as well as, crucially, a one-tier public health ser vice that is free at point

of use

It should also seek to link up with regional, non-union movements such as the Mid-West Hospital Campaign which has highlighted the catastrophic conditions at Universit y Hospital Limerick as well as campaigning for the reopening of the emergency rooms in Ennis and Nenagh

All health unions, inc luding the INMO, have a pivotal role to play in addressing the chronic crisis in our health ser vice Their collective mobilisation has the potential to win real victories for workers and the wider public who use and need the health ser vice It ’ s c lear that healthcare workers have the support of the public but it is also crucial that workers can have faith in the leadership of unions to fight industrially and fully represent their interests

All workers must stand in solidarit y against union busting

Health unions have key role to play in fighting against crisis in health ser vice

review: women Talking directed

by Sarah Polley

Socialism 101 series #11

are there any socialist countries? have there ever been?

By eddie Mccabe

reviewed by Steph lacey

WOMEN TALKIN G is a 2022

Oscar-nominated Amer ican film, wr itten and directed by Sarah Polley It is based on the 2018 novel of the same name wr itten by Mir iam Toews and inspired by real events that occurred at a Manitoba Colony, a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia

The men in the colony have been using cow tranquiliz er to subdue the women and girls, and raping them This results in physical injur y and pregnancy, which the elders either say was an act of God, or that the girls were making it up for attention

One night, two young girls catch one of the men assaulting a woman, making the women realise that this is what was happening all along The woman then attacks her abuser which results in the police arresting the man “for his own protection ” Almost all the men of the colony go into the city to post bail for him, and the other attackers he named

W hile the men are gone, the women are given two days to forgive the attackers before they return They are told that if they do not forgive them they

would be ordered to leave the colony and denied entr y into heaven

The movie begins at this point and takes place over the two days Do nothing; stay and fight; or leave These are three options the women take a vote on W hen the voting results in a draw, the women discuss the pros and cons of each option in order to come to a conclusion before the men return

The running time of the movie is 104 minutes, and it ’ s mainly the group of women talking and debating, but the quick script and great performances make this movie enjoyable despite the extremely uncomfortable and heavy subject matter

The film has one of the year ’ s finest acting ensembles, inc luding Rooney Mara who plays Ona, a gentle optimist; Claire Foy plays her sister Salome, who is angr y and wants revenge; and Jessie Buckley as Mariche, a head-strong, tough woman who is of ten brutally abused by her husband As well as these young female actors the film also stars theatre veterans Judith Ivey and Sheila McCarthy

The film appears to be almost blackand-white, but not quite Director Sarah Polley explained the colour grading of

Mar xist journal of the Socialist Par ty :

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l Global inflation Spiral: a capitalist crisis

l Socialists and a Sinn féin Government

l Mar x, the ‘Metabolic rift ’ and capitalism’s assault on Nature

l inter view : Strike Wave in Britain and Nor thern ireland

l revolutionar y uprising in iran: a Programme to Win

l china: Xi Jinping Purges ccP ’s top ranks

l how Mussolini triumphed

l reviews of Athena, Nothing Compares, The Janes and Russia: Revolution & Civil War

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the film, saying they played with saturation levels to create a feeling of “ a world that had faded in the past ” Hildur Guonadottir ’ s score is perfect, and evokes suspense and uneasiness, particularly in the flashbacks scenes that we get glimpses of throughout the movie Women Talking tells a stor y of oppression, trauma and sexual assault in an extremely religious, patriarchal society

and of restistance to it against huge odds Although the movie doesn’t show sexual violence, it does show the aftermath of violence, so viewers should be conscious of that before watching

I was disappointed to see Brad Pitt ’ s name down as an executive producer of this movie, a movie that deals with the abuse of women Women Talking is one of two movies about sexual assault this year, the other being She Said based on the crimes of Har vey Weinstein, of which Pitt is also an executive producer I don’t think that ’ s a coincidence A man with ver y credible allegations of intimate partner violence against him has no business being attached to such movies

But besides that, this movie that is written, directed, and starring all women, is definitely worth a watch

S C CIAALLIST

A common question asked by those learning about socialism is whether there are any actual examples of socialism in practice, either somewhere in the world today, or in history. Clearly, it would make it easier to argue for socialism as a real alternative to capitalism if such examples could be provided to sceptics

Unfor tunately, we have to disappoint There are no such ready made examples of socialism, but understanding this is an impor tant par t of understanding what socialism actually is At its most basic, socialism is a society in which the wealth and resources, including the means to produce wealth, are owned in common by society as a whole –and the decisions about how to use them are made democratically, with the principle aim of providing for needs of society as a whole (not competing individuals, businesses or states). In that sense, socialism means a society of real equality and democracy, without pover ty or injustice It hardly needs to be said that no countr y in the world today looks anything like this Still, for different reasons many people do cite examples of ‘actually existing socialism’ Whether it’s people like Bernie Sanders in the US speaking of a ‘Scandinavian socialism’, as if countries like Sweden with many universal public ser vices such as free education and heavily-subsidised healthcare and childcare – valuable reforms won through struggle by a power ful organised workers’ movement –amount to socialism.

This would be mistaken even if such services weren’t being continually eroded, as they are in Sweden – where inequality has risen at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world since the 1990s

The fact is Sweden’s economy has always been market-based and dominated capitalists, who of course are intent on overturning all the reforms won in the past.

Others point to the example of the former Soviet Union, and the regimes modelled on it such as those born out of the Chinese and Cuban revolutions, whose economies were based on state ownership and planning. This marked a real progression from the

anarchy of capitalism and its rapacious drive for profit, and resulted in significant increases in living standards, literacy levels and life expectancy through the provision of free health, education and housing.

However, these societies were ruled by authoritarian regimes run by self-ser ving bureaucracies – and therefore were always anathema to genuine socialism, which necessitates both political and economic democracy (economic planning can’t work without the active input of the producers and consumers) The isolation of these regimes in a hostile capitalist world, along with mismanagement, resulted in capitalism being restored in the former Soviet Union and China, and the relentless encroachment on Cuba today

In shor t, there are currently no socialist countries, and that’s not surprising as a ‘socialist countr y ’ couldn’t exist for ver y long as an island in a capitalist ocean Sooner or later it would be engulfed Capitalism is a global system and has to be over turned on a global level. Socialism too, therefore, has to be international

But socialism is the product of a revolution that has to star t somewhere. It is the culmination of the struggle of the working- class majority against its exploitation and oppression by a capitalist minority Its seeds are sown in all mass movements of the working class, which in the right conditions – with the addition of the requisite organisation and leadership – can flower into a revolutionar y transformation of society

Capitalism means class war, and even though the capitalists have had the upper hand in the fight for a long time the potential for socialism exists ever ywhere the class war does. This was glimpsed in all the revolutionar y movements of the past 150 years – since the Paris Commune first put the rule of the working class into practice in that city for 72 days. Only the workers and peasants in Russia went fur ther with the heroic but tragically betrayed and strangled revolution that began in 1917. Countless other attempts since then didn’t get as far, but they all give inspiration and confidence that socialism is possible, even if it doesn’t exist – yet.

ireland’s for-profit forestry is a scandal

By Ben Samson

US I N G T WO satellites named Tom and Jer r y to measure the mass of Europe ’ s shr inking g roundwater reser ves, researchers from Austr ia’s Graz Universit y of Technolog y have repor ted that the continent is on the verge of a c atastrophic drought

T his is in the context of Europe experiencing its worst drought in 500 years in the summer of 2022.

Vast afforestation essential

Forests in Europe have always acted as enormous stores of carbon But as humans settled and established feudal and e ventuall y c apitalist societies, forest cover shrunk significantly At the turn of the 19th centur y, Ireland ’ s forest cover had dec lined from 80% to 1% of its total land area

From the 20th centur y onward, CO2 emissions began to skyrocket with intensified c apitalist de velopment, but the environment had become less capable of recapturing it It is obvious to all that any serious strateg y for staving off c limate breakdown should involve the mass-regeneration of forest ecosystems as a means of recapturing and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere

If they are serious, states should respond by mobilising resources on a wartime footing towards widespread afforestation, especially in Ireland, which is Europe’s least-forested countr y

On the sur face, the government ’ s ne w €1 3 billion forestr y programme would seem to be such a response The programme will assist the government ’ s target of increasing Ireland ’ s total tree cover from 11 6% to 18% by 2046 This will require an increase in planting from 2,000 to 8,000 hectares per year Howe ver, as warned by the Ir ish

W ild life Trust (IW T ), throwing more money at a forestr y system as dysfunctional as Ireland ’ s will not cut it

More money into a flawed system

Ireland has one of the highest rates of commercial forestr y in the EU, and almost half of its forests are monoculture plantations of mainl y S itka spr uce S trands of this non-native, nor th Amer ic an impor t are becoming increasingl y plastered across the landsc ape, and it will be the main species planted under the ne w forestr y programme

This is despite the fact that S itka forests, which are relatively sensitive to drought, are effectively ecological dead zones, supporting extremely low levels of biodiversity They are usually planted

on so-c alled “marginal” farmland, which is of ten land which is ecologic all y r ich in wildflowers, insects and ground-nesting birds, but unsuited to industrial agriculture

Although Sitka spruce captures carbon fast because it grows fast, they are onl y planted for 30-year c yc les, af ter which they are felled for timber Ireland ’ s forest estate transitioned from a sink to a source dur ing the 2012 to 2017 per iod bec ause soil distur bance, draining and felling

This is made worse as over half of Ireland ’ s forest estates are loc ated on peat, which is a major source of greenhouse gases as it decays when disturbed during felling Peatlands, which are massive, speciesrich carbon sinks, cover one-sixth of

Ireland ’ s land area The EU stipulates that planting on such sites should be avoided Unsurprisingly, this is a guideline which Ireland tends to ignore

Profits over best practice

The expansion of Sitka plantations will mainly fall under the remit of Coillte, which is Ireland ’ s state-owned commercial forestr y business Coillte is the largest forest estate owner in the countr y, controlling over 440,000 hectares which it mainly acquired when it took over from DAFM in 1988 Coillte acts independently of the government, and has recently co-established a new Irishregistered company c alled the Ir ish Strategic Forestr y Fund with a British asset investment company called Gresham House

The fund is set to raise €200 million from pr ivate investors and pension funds This market approach is a consequence of Coillte being for bidden from buying new land for forests for 20 years under EU rules on state aid funding, meaning that most new forests will be run privately for profit

Invar iabl y, investors will want land that is cheap and will want it planted with the most profitable species Instead of planting native species for the pur pose of indefinite afforestation to combat c limate change and a biodiversity emergency, Sitka spruce will be the more attractive option, as native species have no commercial value af ter 15 years

Given the indignation towards the fund from across the political opposition, it is certainly a serious indictment of the Green Party, which undoubtedly would have had to oppose it on its scientific flaws alone if it was in opposition

Forests should be publicly owned

Although the privatisation of forestr y is shocking, it should come as no surpr ise given the extent to which other essential ser vices such as healthc are, public transport and especially housing have been disastrously handed over to the private sector to be profited from This is ultimately the nature of capitalism, under which capital itself can only expand to tr y to stave off economic crisis

Clear ly what needs to happen is for Coillte to be taken bac k over by DAFM and given the necessar y authorit y and resources to rapid l y plant and manage afforestation in an ecologically sustainable way, informed by scientific exper tise and not c apital investment directors

thousands cry ‘never again’ on vigils for murdered trans teen Brianna Ghey

By Morgan Shanless

ON SATURDAY, 12 February, Brianna

Ghey, a 16 year-old transgender girl, was brutally murdered by two 15 year-olds in a park in Warrington, England In the weeks and months leading up to her death, Brianna was cruelly bullied over her trans identity, with close friends recounting the horrors she was put through on a daily basis for simply daring to be herself.

Despite the police knowing that Brianna was a victim of transphobic bullying, they are still refusing to ack nowledge what is so clear to us in the queer community: that this is a hate crime Brianna wasn’t even afforded peace in her death, with the notoriously right-wing and anti-trans Daily Mail ringing her dentist to access her medical records, with the sole intention of publishing her deadname additionally, because england lacks a Gender recognition act, Brianna will be misgendered on her death certificate

A clear hate crime

the outpouring of grief and solidarity

from the queer communit y in both Britain and ireland has been immense trans communities came together to organise countless vigils, with hundreds attending vigils in Dublin, cork and Belfast. this was a horrific tragedy, and it must be understood as par t of the disgustingly transphobic climate that exists in Britain today, perpetuated by the right-wing political and media establishments Bet ween the tories in government, so - called “debates” over our existence in the media, refusals of the police to ack nowledge the obvious fac t that this was a hate crime, trans people have been failed by ever y arm of the establishment only a few weeks ago, the tories utilised Section 35 for the first time ever to override Scottish democrac y and prevent the passing of ver y moderate reforms to the Gender recognition Bill the right-wing are engaged in a concer ted back lash against the feminist and lGBtQ wave that emerged globally in the past decade this is to tr y to crush our struggles and the hope that they bring, but also it ’s because the gender binar y and back-

ward gender roles are needed by the capitalist system – including via the patriarchal family structure and its role in reproducing the labour force for capitalism

End transphobia!

Workers today are facing a cost of living crisis, a housing crisis, skyrocketing energy and food bills, real decreases in wages and many more as strikes continue across Britain, it is only natural for the ruling class to scapegoat vulnerable minorities, whether that ’s immigrants, trans people or any other minority, in order to sow divisions between work ing- class people the only way to effectively stamp out transphobia and all oppression is with mass struggle from below, for socialist change We need to unite as a working class and fight the real enemy : those who profit from our exploitation a united, multi- ethnic, multi-gendered working class has the power to change society by taking the power out of the hands of the 1% only under a system that prioritises human needs over private profits can queer, trans and women’s liberation be achieved

We need oppose privatisation of Coillte and transform the state’s approach to afforestation and reforestation

Brianna Ghey ’s murder was the by-produc t of transphobia in societ y

TheSocialist International Women's Day 2023 resis t tHe rigHt w ing BacKlas H with Socialist Feminism

what the Socialist P f

“ 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

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-based 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