Palestine is in political turmoil. Emboldened by Donald Trump’s recent decision to change long standing policy and “recognise” Jerusalem as the Israeli capital one of the most right wing Israeli governments in history has gone on the offensive.
Pic: Ahed Tamimi resisting arrest of her brother Dave O’Farrell The move has been met by widespread protest, both within Palestine and internationally. In fact despite the Zionist state’s apparent ability to act with impunity it is coming under ever more pressure. In Palestine the focus has shifted from peace talks to struggle with calls for, […]
When Micheál Martin announced, on 18 January, that he knew that the 8th amendment had done great harm to women, that it had forced women to carry all pregnancies to term, that it had prevented Irish society from dealing humanely with women in traumatic situations, and that he would be supporting its repeal, something very significant was happening.
Pic: Brid Smith TD and People Before Profit Councillors marching for Repeal Brid Smith , People Before Profit TD I don’t think that the whole thing was a revelation to him. In 2002, the failed Twenty-Fifth Amendment, which attempted to exclude the risk of suicide as a grounds for abortion, was led by Micheál Martin […]
What has the question of the rights of transgender people, trans women and trans men, got to do with socialism?
Actually it relates to two very fundamental socialist principles. The first is opposition to all forms of oppression in society. Our goal is a society of real equality in which all oppression of human beings by other human beings is ended. We believe that it is the struggle of the working class that is the […]
Käthe Kollwitz, one of the 20th century’s greatest socialist artists, has an exhibition of 40 prints and drawings at the National Gallery until 10 December.
6 September – 10 December 2017, National Gallery of Ireland |, Free admission By John Molyneux It is a wonderful show but be prepared to be moved almost to the point of hurt. Kollwitz was born in Koningsberg in Prussia in 1867 into a Social Democratic family. In 1891 she married Karl Kollwitz, a doctor […]
Dublin City People Before Profit Cllr Tina MacVeigh has twice recently visisted Catalonia. Here she inteviews Aina Tela, a activist with the left wing anti-capitalist party, CUP on the the situation in Catalonia.
Pic: CUP activist, Anna Gabriel, speaking in Catalan parliament. Q. On October 1st, the day of the Independence Referendum in Catalonia, we witnessed terrible scenes as the Spanish police attacked unarmed citizens who had come out peacefully to vote. The Spanish state justified this by saying that the referendum was illegal, that Catalans wanted all the […]
Sean Egan interviews repeal activist Aislinn Shanahan Daly
1.How did you get involved with pro-choice activism? The first social movement I ever engaged with was the abortion rights movement. I attended the march for choice in 2014, and it played a huge role in my politicization. I felt like those affected by a lack of access to abortion deserved justice, and as a […]
North and South of the border there is a growing movement for a woman’s right to choose. Abortion reform is back in the mainstream media because tens of thousands of people have rallied across Ireland within the past year to demand changes in the law.
By Becca Bor and Adrienne Wallace In the South, the movement for abortion rights is organising to repeal the 8th amendment in the upcoming referendum; and in the North, the discussion around liberalisation of the anti-abortion laws has coincided with political volatility and impasse in the North. Ireland, on both sides of the border, remains […]
Donal McKendry looks at the parallels. The Jobstown case has once again shone light on the corruption in the Irish state and among powerful elements within the Gardaí. We are told that there was no conspiracy in this case. Instead, the prosecutor’s independence was robust enough to withstand any potential pressure that may […]
Hardly a month goes by that we are not reminded of the barbaric obstacles put in the way of women in Ireland exercising choice over their lives.
At the end of June, the UN ruled that failing to provide an abortion for 40-year-old Siobhán Whelan, who was carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality, amounted to a violation of human rights. In the same month figures showed that among the thousands of women travelling to Britain for an abortion, 15 were under […]
In Ireland up to 12 women a day either leave the country for an abortion or access illegal abortion pills. The only legal abortion in Ireland can be procured under The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 (PLDPA).
This Act allows abortion if a woman’s life is in danger, including risk of suicide. Once it is determined that a woman’s life is at risk due to suicide, a doctor and two psychiatrists have to unanimously agree that termination of a pregnancy is the solution. And this system is failing. It is barbaric, perpetuates […]
