The governing coalition of Fine Gael and Labour suffered a humiliating rejection at the hands of Irish voters in the General Election and the anti-austerity forces advanced. This continued the pattern evident in both the Portuguese and Spanish elections in 2015. It may also set the stage for renewed elections to the Dáil in Dublin later this year as no party looks able to form a stable government.
By Frances Davis and Ian Richardson
The much-anticipated General Election in the southern Irish state, called for 26 February, has brought into sharp focus two clear political alternatives – a continuation of right wing austerity politics or a break with it, in favour of a left wing alternative. The fact that the election is taking place in the centenary year of the 1916 Rising also gives an added significance – and one which is not just based on an historic poignancy. Most of the fundamental tasks of 1916 are yet to be accomplished.
To mark this year’s centenary of the Easter Rising this website will be carrying a series of articles on the Irish liberation struggle, starting with Lenin on the Irish Rebellion of 1916. Lenin was the foremost exponent of Marxism of his generation whose leadership was decisive in the success of the Russian Revolution. This was made possible by the development of a theoretical outlook which informed the anti-imperialist wing of the socialist movement which subsequently became the worldwide communist movement.
British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Teresa Villiers used a recent report to lay a series of unsubstantiated allegations against Sinn Féin. The purpose of the report was to act as a smokescreen providing cover for a Unionist walk-out from the Assembly. But the report itself was actually written by MI5, one of the many arms of the British state that were parties to the military conflict. In one case alone MI5 is itself under official investigation for its involvement in up to 40 murders.
In the article below Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams places the latest report and the most recent allegations in the context of Britain’s long and bloody interference in Ireland. It is republished from Léargas.
`Defending the Agreement – equality not austerity’
7pm Tuesday 3 November
Grimond Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, SW1A OAA
With Paul Maskey MP and Mickey Brady MP
The following article, by Declan Kearney Sinn Féin’s National Chairperson, originally was published by An Phoblacht. It explains the negative intervention Britain’s Conservative government are making into the current Stormont talks, including seeking to renege on Britain’s obligation to disclose its role in the conflict as part of the agreed process of dealing with the past. Sinn Féin’s efforts to defend the Good Friday Agreement and block the imposition of austerity should be supported.
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