International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

The Republic of Ireland: A socialist Rosetta Stone

John McAnulty — 2021-10-03T08:45:24Z

A new Introduction by longtime comrade John McAnulty to D.R. O'Connor Lysaght's 1970 book The Republic of Ireland made available online following his recent death.

- Reviews section / Ireland, Reviews

The coalition's "Housing for all " strategy

John McAnulty — 2021-09-29T04:18:25Z

“The housing crisis is a metaphor for Irish society as a whole. Every aspect of public life is being auctioned off to the vulture capitalists.”

- IV560 - September 2021 / Ireland

Death, housing and taxes - Upcoming threats to Irish economic strategy

John McAnulty — 2021-06-03T12:20:31Z

Not for the first time the housing crisis in Ireland is coming to the fore. Public anger extends beyond the lack of housing and the extortionate mortgages and rents to protest the role of international vulture funds in the Irish housing market, especially the bulk buying of estates, freezing out locals.

- IV557 - June 2021 / Ireland, Economy

A triumph of ideology: John Hume and the defeat of Irish Republicanism

John McAnulty — 2020-08-09T20:47:33Z

The flurry of commemoration by the great and the good following the death of John Hume can be summarised as follows: Hume was the leader of the Irish Civil Rights Movement, he advocated non violence and peace through negotiation and argued for a shared Ireland that included all political currents. Decades of work saw eventual recognition of his arguments, movement towards peace, the peace process and Good Friday Agreement and eventually the Nobel prize, a celebration choreographed by Bono, and recognition as a world statesman.

- IV547 - August 2020 / Ireland, Obituary, Historical events and figures

The state of Northern Ireland and the democratic deficit. Between sectarianism and neoliberalism

John McAnulty — 2019-03-09T13:26:27Z

The reviewer approached this book with some anticipation. I knew a number of the authors personally, many have a high reputation as anti-imperialist activists and trade unionists and I had worked with some as a member of the Irish Workers Union.

- Reviews section / Ireland, Reviews

Justified and burning anger hobbled by reformism

John McAnulty — 2016-12-08T08:10:39Z

On November 25, thousands of activists demonstrated in Dublin calling for the abolition of the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution – a section that asserts equal rights to life between the mother and foetus (the wording refers to the “unborn” which assumes that that life begins at conception). The demonstration was in part was a celebration of the decision by ICTU, the Irish trade union congress, to support the call to repeal the 8th. In tribute to recent mobilisations by Polish women, many wore black – the main symbol for the Polish demonstrations.

- IV503 - December 2016 / Ireland, Women

What does the success of People before Profit candidates mean?

John McAnulty — 2016-06-02T12:54:23Z

The election of two Socialist Workers Party/People Before Profit candidates to the Stormont Assembly on May 5 at the end of a lacklustre election campaign in the North of Ireland was like a lightning flash, providing excitement and colour.

- IV497 - June 2016 / Ireland

Stability proves illusive in the North of Ireland

John McAnulty — 2016-06-01T13:25:27Z

The elections to the Stormont Assembly in the North of Ireland on May 5 passed in silence, with the main issue persuading people to vote. The reason for the apathy was that voting makes very little difference. There is only one possible administration and the programme for government had been agreed in advance and accepted by both the political parties and civic society. Not only were the main elements of the administration's programme not discussed, they were rarely referred to. This was a cause of great satisfaction for British secretary of state Theresa Villiers, who claimed that the acceptance of the mixture of austerity and sectarianism contained in the Fresh Start accord meant a new era of stability in the statelet.

- IV497 - June 2016 / Ireland

LGBT rights: A beacon of liberation for all

John McAnulty — 2015-05-30T07:56:54Z

The 22nd of May was a truly historic day. The population of the Irish state, long seen as a bastion of Catholic conservatism, vote in an overwhelming majority to amend the constitution to support LBGT marriage.

- IV484 - May 2015 / Ireland, LGBT

The Orange card trumps the Green: Austerity wins the election

John McAnulty — 2015-05-18T11:39:15Z

A local writer once remarked that the new Northern Ireland reminded him of nothing so much as the old Northern Ireland.This truism was confirmed by May's Westminster election, which could easily have been taking place in 1955.

- IV484 - May 2015 / Britain, Ireland