Down the hill, take a left and round the houses

My weekly round-up of things mainly left, republican or just off the radar is blow the fold. (a bit late due to having to get on with real life). And as usual if I missed it and you think it should have been linked that will mostly be because you didn’t take the offer to drop me an email.

A discussion at the Peadar O’Donnell Weekend in Dungloe focused on ‘The Future of the Left’ in Ireland. éirígí’s Daithí Mac An Mháistír doesn’t hide his ‘Marxism’ and stated

‘to talk about an Ireland of equals, to talk about social justice fundamentally has to rest on a rejection of capitalism.’

Further contributions came from The Communist Party of Ireland’s Eddie Glackin, People Before Profit Alliance’s Colm Bryce (not wearing his SWP hat), the Labour Party’s Veronica Cawley, and Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

(I’m happy to admit that it was not only space constraints but a closer affinity to éirígí’s politics that meant I embedded Daithi’s part over those of others – though I am not a member of anything these days.)

After my blog on competing anti-BNP protests a discussion on politics.ie on the Trotskyite penchant for front groups has a comment that recalls a piece from Mark Thomas in the New Statesman where as part of a big ‘fuck you very much SWP’ he says:

However, if recruitment to your party is the priority, the size of the demo doesn’t matter. Even if you get only 20,000 people out, they are what market researchers might term a pure market group. They are prime targets for recruitment – and who cares if the peace movement breaks in the process.

Splintered Sunrise up to his usual form gives me a fall off the chair moment with his ‘Jim Gibney was a Stick’ rumour in his review of The Lost Revolution – but of course his blog has so much more -read it.

Garibaldy also had me chuckle, though I’m sure he didn’t intend to, by the linking Greek Stalinism, coca-cola and Sean Garland. Who is producing the most gas in this equation?

I can’t resist a linking a new blog set up following a joint Transnational Insitute and Statewatch report .NeoConOpticon, I so love that name (I’m really only blogging them for having a kinky left name). The report examines the development and implementation of the European Security Research Programme, a seven year, €1.4 billion ”research” initiative of the European Union.

And to finish an issue that doesn’t fit what I’m doing with this weekly entry but can’t go uncommented. Stoneyford Loyalist, Mark Harbinson, who has been mentioned more than once on Slugger seems like he could actually be facing real time behind bars (unless his ‘handlers’ pull a really big rabbit out of the hat this time) not for his attitude to vulnerable Catholic families but claims of paedophilia directed at a child in the flute band he formed. Will be interesting see if this child abuse case is heard in a normal or diplock court. Though most of us Harbinson watchers will fully expect him to walk and get on with getting on…..