Bob Dylan wrote his legendary song ‘It’s a Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall!’ in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war.
pic: Hurricane Irma By John Molyneux It was a prophetic song in which Dylan evoked in the most powerful poetic metaphors a world during or after a nuclear holocaust. By the skin of our teeth we avoided that fate in 1962 but now 55 years on we have another missile crisis over Korea and Dylan’s […]
It is not easy to write about Grenfell. The sheer horror of it: the burning tower in the night, people jumping to their deaths; the babies thrown from windows in desperation; families on their mobile phones knowing they wont get out.
To write about it you have to think about it and the thinking hurts. The matter is made worse by the fact that as I write, ten days after the fire, we still don’t know how many died. The official figure – and it has been slowly but inexorably rising – is now 79. It […]
One of the key ideas, tenaciously defended by the entire political establishment and ALL the mainstream media is that the law courts, the judges and the police are neutral.
One of the key ideas, tenaciously defended by the entire political establishment and ALL the mainstream media is that the law courts, the judges and the police are neutral. By ‘neutral’ they mean above or independent of politics, above or independent of social classes and above or independent of all interest groups. They simply enforce […]
The magnificent strike by Tesco’s workers forced management to back down, at least temporarily and we hope permanently, on their threat to unilaterally impose changes in working conditions.
Following on from the victories by the LUAS drivers and Dublin Bus drivers this proves that strong industrial action works. The solidarity and commitment of the Tescos workers was outstanding. They are all low paid workers but they took action on a principle in defense of their fellow workers, understanding that an injury to one […]
There is now widespread understanding among ordinary people in Ireland that if you want anything done in this country the way to go is People Power.
John Molyneux If you don’t want to pay unjust water charges no amount of letter writing and debate in the Dáil or on RTE will do the trick. You have to block the installation of meters, put hundreds of thousands on the streets and refuse to pay. If you want something done about homelessness don’t […]
Derry People Before Profit member and student activist, Michael Arthur, looks at the left's experience of coalition governments and why it has failed to advance the cause of left in Ireland.
Derry People Before Profit member and student activist, Michael Arthur, looks at the left’s experience of coalition governments and why it has failed to advance the cause of left in Ireland: The current political situation in Irish politics has changed dramatically and there is now the first real chance of a genuine left-wing breakthrough since […]
In his speech on the Budget Paschal Donoghue said that it was ‘the job of those in the middle ground of Irish politics to show that things won’t just fall apart, the centre can hold.’ In the same vein Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath said how “vital it is that the centre holds”. Apart from the reference […]
In politics there’s always something to be learned from the names you are called by your opponents. A few weeks ago the label of choice for the serious left, primarily the Anti-Austerity Alliance –People Before Profit, was ‘the Trots’ i.e. followers of the Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky. Then it was ‘extremists’ in contrast […]
The surprise election victory of Donald Trump has shocked tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people round the world and rightly so. That a politician who ran such a disgusting campaign full of racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and bigotry and insults of every kind should find himself in the White House […]
The demand for jobs – for the right to work – has always been fundamental for trade unionists, for socialists and for the whole working class movement. The simple fact is that having a job is vital for lifting working people out of dire poverty, giving them a sense of self esteem, linking them to […]