Irish Left Review http://www.irishleftreview.org Joined up thinking for the Irish Left Fri, 17 May 2013 16:46:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 © irishleftreview@gmail.com () irishleftreview@gmail.com() 1440 Joined up thinking for the Irish Left irishleftreview@gmail.com No no http://www.irishleftreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/a1_a_ilrlogo.jpg Irish Left Review http://www.irishleftreview.org 144 144 Framing “The Gatekeepers” http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/framing-gatekeepers/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/framing-gatekeepers/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 16:46:54 +0000 Raymond Deane http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7878 This was originally published on Raymond Deane's blog, the Deanery on the 16th of May. As everyone knows by now, The Gatekeepers is a 2012 Academy award-nominated documentary film made by the Israeli director Dror Moreh. Moreh succeeded in interviewing the last six heads of Israel’s General Security Services, better known by its Hebrew acronym Shin Bet. These gentlemen display considerable frankness about the nature of their past activities, their belated advocacy of a two-state solution to the Palestine issue and their negative views of successive Israeli governments. It’s not my purpose here to write another review of this much talked-about but surprisingly uncontroversial film. Interesting articles, both of which discuss it in conjunction with the Israeli/Palestinian film 5 Broken Cameras, may be read here and here. Instead, I wish to reflect on some worrisome aspects of the film’s framing and reception in public discourse, and to suggest that its propagandistic effect is dependent on such framing.

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/framing-gatekeepers/feed/ 0 The May Issue of Socialist Voice is Out Now http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/issue-socialist-voice-2/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/issue-socialist-voice-2/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 16:14:16 +0000 Communist Party of Ireland http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7875 The May issue of Socialist Voice is out now. It can also be view online (pdf) or below.

Contents:

  • Irish austerity: Change of words but not of policy [EMC]
  • Medical cards under savage attack [MA]
  • Water and woods to be flogged off [MA]
  • Reform or transform? The confusion of growth economics—Part 1 [NL]
  • Croke Park II rejected [Anne Casey]
  • The capitalist crisis and the demolition of workers’ rights [NC]
  • Can we learn from Cuba?—A response [EON]
  • Venezuela: Electoral challenge a coup attempt [RCN]
  • Colombians call for solidarity [SE]
  • The Progressive Film Club: an inspiration and an education [PD]
  • Ireland’s neutrality demonstrated again

]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/17/issue-socialist-voice-2/feed/ 0 Full-Sized Life http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/16/fullsized-life/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/16/fullsized-life/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 12:32:38 +0000 Susan DuMars http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7870 A story by Susan Millar DuMars

Luke swallowed the bird on a cold, clear December night – trees of bone, the river in a silver-black sulk. He’d waved off a taxi, needing the air after all those back-slapping pints. Crossing the bridge toward the cathedral, he thought how the dome at night was a great green helmet; the windows, unreadable eyes. He remembered funerals, several, in the past year. Muttering responses to prayers, following the coffin out slow and stiff-legged. Luke crossed himself without knowing he did it. As his hand fell it brushed the old stone banister of the bridge and he thought for a moment of the river beneath him, God and Death in front of him. Himself suspended in a comfortable middle age. How lucky. How very lucky. Though even as he plumped and pinked with a sense of good fortune, another voice inside him contradicted. “Earned! Surely, earned.” He lifted his other arm and gazed at what he clutched. The book. His book. Bringer of Light: The Life and Poems of Malachy Flynn. Launched into the world this evening in a modest, yet satisfying, ceremony. The applause had been warm and lasting. Loyola had beamed. Afterward, in the pub, many pints of Erdinger were bought him. Loyola had drunk half an orange juice and had driven herself home to prepare a late supper. He’d promised to be home before the meat turned tough.

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/16/fullsized-life/feed/ 0 Left MEPs to debate austerity and abortion rights in Dublin http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/15/left-meps-debate-austerity-abortion-rights-dublin/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/15/left-meps-debate-austerity-abortion-rights-dublin/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 12:53:05 +0000 Irish Left Review http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7866 GUE/NGL MEPs will take part in two days of debates and talks at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin as part of the Group's study days in Ireland. At 3pm this afternoon GUE/NGL MEP Mikael Gustafsson, Chair of the European Parliament's Women's Rights and Gender Equality committee will moderate a seminar on 'Abortion Rights in Ireland', with guest contributions from Sinéad Redmond (Abortion Rights Campaign), Jacqueline Healy (National Women's Council), and Niall Behan (Irish Family Planning Association). There will also be a political tour of Dublin and a talk and Q&A on the 1913 lockout by historian Donal Fallon, chaired by GUE/NGL MEP Inês Zuber. On Thursday at 9am GUE/NGL MEP Paul Murphy will chair discussions on 'Austerity and the Fightback' with guest speakers Jimmy Kelly (UNITE Regional Secretary), Rita Fagan (Spectacle of Defiance), Peadar Toibín TD (Save Navan Hospital Campaign), Matthew Waine (Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes), and Michael McCabe (Campaign for Independent Living).

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/15/left-meps-debate-austerity-abortion-rights-dublin/feed/ 1 Action on X – Protest May 18th Central Plaza, Dame St, Dublin 2, @ 4pm http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/14/action-protest-18th-central-plaza-dame-st-dublin-2-4pm/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/14/action-protest-18th-central-plaza-dame-st-dublin-2-4pm/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 16:59:21 +0000 Irish Left Review http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7864 Action on X

Protest May 18th Central Plaza,

Dame St, Dublin 2,

4pm

ActionX_large

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/14/action-protest-18th-central-plaza-dame-st-dublin-2-4pm/feed/ 0 Video: Striking Bus workers shut down national bus service http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/13/7860/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/13/7860/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 08:09:22 +0000 Paula Geraghty http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7860

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/13/7860/feed/ 0 Video: May Day 1913-2013- Unfinished Business, DCTU march 1st May 2013 http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/video-day-19132013-unfinished-business-dctu-march-1st-2013/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/video-day-19132013-unfinished-business-dctu-march-1st-2013/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 12:01:09 +0000 Paula Geraghty http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7855

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]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/video-day-19132013-unfinished-business-dctu-march-1st-2013/feed/ 0 Slides from the Belfast & District Trades Union Council Annual May Day Lecture, May 2nd http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/slides-belfast-district-trades-union-council-annual-day-lecture-2nd/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/slides-belfast-district-trades-union-council-annual-day-lecture-2nd/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 08:39:01 +0000 Irish Left Review http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7854 Who Profits from Peace? Slides from the Belfast & District Trades Union Council Annual May Day Lecture, May 2nd by Conor McCabe. ]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/03/slides-belfast-district-trades-union-council-annual-day-lecture-2nd/feed/ 0 Why Ireland’s 2008 Blanket Bank Guarantee Decision Was Taken? Part 4 http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/02/irelands-2008-blanket-bank-guarantee-decision-part-4/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/02/irelands-2008-blanket-bank-guarantee-decision-part-4/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 16:37:17 +0000 Donagh Brennan http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7852 reported to have been applied by the ECB for Ireland to enter the 2010 Troika bailout has coloured their understanding of the original blanket guarantee. The extent of the guarantee and the large sums being poured into our failed banks ensured that a bailout would be required. It was hardly a coincidence that the bailout occurred in the months after the blanket guarantee ran out on the 29th of September 2010. The ECB’s insistence that the promissory note for Anglo Irish Bank and other unsecured unguaranteed bonds should be paid have led people to think that it was ECB pressure that led to the 2008 - 2010 guarantee in the first place. I have tried over the previous posts to unravel this myth and show that it was an Irish decision alone put in place for very local reasons. In fact, the ECB warned the Irish government that under Maastrict (where the cost of borrowing is dependent on maintaining a good credit rating in the financial markets) the guarantee could cause substantial funding problems for the sovereign. Other events disprove it, including the fact that an attempt by the Greek government to also bring in an unlimited guarantee immediately after the Irish made their announcement was rescinded due to pressure from EU Commission. Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner at the time said “A guarantee without limits is not allowed".

Of course, the myth has its own political uses and it’s not surprising that there has been very little examination to date of the guarantee. But even any future Public Accounts Committee examination and its ‘who said what in the room on the night’ scope will not provide much clarity. Looked at from the perspective of class and power, however, examining the guarantee reveals much about how both work in Ireland. Such a focus would not fixate on the technical detail of whether dated subordinated bonds should have been included, or whether Dermot Desmond was there behind the curtain throwing his voice in to the mouth of Brian Cowen. Instead, the focus should be on the decisions made in the context of how the Irish government behaved in the past when other Irish financial institutions went into freefall. We tend to see 2008 as a rupture, but in terms of understanding why certain decisions are made it’s more useful to examine the continuities. After all, this was not the first time that Ireland provided a blank cheque for Irish banks.

]]> http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/02/irelands-2008-blanket-bank-guarantee-decision-part-4/feed/ 0 What’s Left After the ULA? http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/01/whats-left-ula/ http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/05/01/whats-left-ula/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 14:28:16 +0000 Henry Silke http://www.irishleftreview.org/?p=7849 Originally posted on Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal on the 29th of April.

This brief report intends to outline the situation within the Irish left following the slow implosion of the United Left Alliance (ULA).

The ULA was an alliance made up of the Socialist Party (affiliated to the Committee for a Workers’ International, CWI), the Socialist Workers Party (the International Socialist Tendency, IST), the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG, a locally based group with public representation including a member of Ireland’s parliament [TD] and numerous municipal councillors). It also included smaller groups such as the Irish Socialist Network and Socialist Democracy.

The ULA was initially very successful by Irish left standards and won five TDs. Though, it should be understood most, if not all, of these victories did not come only from the unity project itself but from literally decades of work by the various groups.

However, seeing the left under a single banner with a serious electoral challenge did initially attract many activists to its banner.

The ULA unfortunately lasted less than two years and today exists in name only.

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