“In Ireland, one cannot have socialism without republicanism. The socialist-republican cause is both the cause of labour and the cause of country. The liberation of the working people of this Island can only be achieved through anti-imperialism and active class struggle. But first we must analyse what is to be done, understand the flaws in non-republican socialism and pseudo-republicanism.”
“Although Orange is the New Black is gripping, for a while, it paints a grim picture using humorous sub plots, stories, and characters of a prison system entirely unfit for purpose… Anybody who views the series should take the funny sections of the series with a pinch of salt, because what it really shows is an unrelenting anti-working-class industry that thrives from the locking up, starving and punishing of millions of non-violent offenders in a vicious cycle of violence and re-incarceration.”
As Socialist Republicans the CYM strives for queer liberation through national liberation. We fight for a 32-county socialist republic in which queer people are not excluded from jobs and housing, where our experiences aren’t turned into diagnoses, where our identities aren’t porn categories and where we get the healthcare we deserve.
“Capitalism has had a transformative effect on our society’s approach to health. To say that health is an unchanging aspect of all cultures or historical epochs is simply not true. For example, there is a lot to be said about how capitalism fosters and promotes physical health. Under capitalism, it is usually done for purely individualistic aesthetic purposes. In the hands of companies, these become powerful ideological forces which grant advertisers a worrying degree of influence over us, as they can essentially control the images we think we should have of ourselves. Health becomes almost domineering and transforms into its opposite, a sickness. Women are still generally promoted as sex objects for consumption and men are also presented by companies in the same narrow manner.”
“Have you ever heard of the “Warm Bath Theory”? It was an idea published by Talcott Parsons, a sociologist who created this idea that the nuclear family prevents its adult members from behaving in dysfunctional ways and encourages them to conform to social norms. The warm bath theory suggests that a man could come home from a stressful day at work and relax into his family/wife, like a warm bath, relieving his stress.
However, as communists, we know that this theory is outdated and quite frankly, full of shit. Fran Ansley, a Marxist-Feminist rephrased it as women being “takers of shit”, in other words when men come home and try to relieve their stress from working in a capitalist system, they do so by taking their frustrations out on their wives.”
Porn is not feminist, and no reforms or measures are ever going to change that. Not porn made by women, not porn that’s paid for, nothing. This is because nothing will ever change who is hurt by porn, and who benefits. Overwhelmingly women are the ones hurt by porn, either directly by starring in it, or indirectly by experiencing abuse that men have learned from excessive porn consumption and men benefit (sexually and financially). Content made to satisfy men at the expense of all women is not feminist, even if the women are smiling in the thumbnail.
A sports club can serve multiple purposes. It actively provides a better way of life for young people stuck for options and promotes a healthier way of life. This is not just on a physical level, but also on an emotional and psychological one. Sports often teach mutual respect and break down barriers and stereotypes. They are community pillars that serve all of us in many ways – this interview and call out for continued donations is one small way the Connolly Youth Movement extends its support for this community pillar.
“Anakbayan (Children of the People) is the comprehensive national-democratic mass organisation of the Filipino youth, organising from all different sectors of the youth, from the communities, students, workers, women, LGBTQ+, national minorities and all other concentrations of youth in the Philippines. It is one of the most steadfast organisations in waging forward the national democratic struggle of the Filipino people against US imperialism and domestic feudalism… Its role in the national-democratic struggle is an important one because without a comprehensive youth organisation, the struggle would die out as there would be no new blood there to carry out its tasks towards its victory.”
Rather than being something unique and otherwordly, something beyond our comprehension due to its age and complexity, the Palestinian struggle is not exceptional. It is one of a broad tapestry of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggles. By insisting on their exceptional nature, they are condemned to a suspended animation: endlessly admired and supported for their resistance, but lacking the ability to draw on the successful struggles of others to inform their own. They are however, not alone, but are supported by a pantheon of peoples that understand their struggle and show solidarity out of experience.
In this piece Donald Trump’s Presidency and its relationship to the deep-state will be elaborated on further as many of his supporters still cling to the idea that the deep-state is a structure that is almost exclusively anti-Trump. This conception is too narrow, and like other attempts at dissecting the history of the deep-state it cannot explain where it came from. By focusing their arguments around a figure like Trump the right reduces what are broader political discussions into simplistic word salads that lack the required historical perspective.