Socialist Party

With the rise of the Occupy movement, opposition to the existing political and economic order has gone mainstream. It’s hard to imagine that the bandana-clad woman on the cover of Time magazine – representing “The Protestor,” Time's “Person of the Year” – has many nice things to say about capitalism, and the ubiquity of the Guy Fawkes mask – popularized by “V for Vendetta” – further underscores how widespread the idea of revolution has become.

Is US imperialism and/or Israel preparing a military attack on Iran? How would the Islamist dictatorship in Tehran respond? These questions came into focus again over the holidays following new sanctions announced by the United States and an Iranian navy exercise.

The issue of racism has reared its ugly head as it recently made news headlines. The conviction of Stephen Lawrence’s killers gave us a sinister reminder of the worst consequences of racism. Just as with the brutal murder of Toyosi Shittabey in 2010, we must use these incidents as a wake-up call to stamp out the possibility of such horrific tragedies happening.

Last week thousands of parents, teachers and pupils staged a passionate demonstration at the Department of Education in Dublin. They were from schools benefiting from the programme known as ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’ or DEIS which was designed to counter the many ill effects on children living in areas of high unemployment and poverty.

The Irish Independent reported over Christmas that the government are planning a mass state-wide leaflet drop in early February encouraging people to register for the household tax and threatening them with dire consequences if they fail to do so.

Across the public and private sectors the scandal of employers’ attacks on pensions has become a touchstone issue for workers and unions.

A key phase in the Syrian revolution has opened up with the balance of power finely poised between the forces of the state and the opposition movement. It is a testament to the courage and resilience of the protesters that demonstrations continue to sweep Syria, despite the ongoing state repression which has seen an estimated 5,000 demonstrators killed and 30,000 imprisoned.

A new international treaty is currently being negotiated by the leaders of the EU. This treaty, currently called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union,  is a treaty to effectively institutionalise austerity across the European Union.

Striking oil workers and their supporters in the Mangistau region in the west of Kazakhstan wanted to use the twentieth Anniversary of the country's Independence to highlight the demands of their industrial battle which is now well into its eight months.

“An organised group of people working fo­r a cause”. That is a dictionary definition of the word “party”. James Connolly went further when he described the socialist movement as the “great anti theft movement of the 20th century”.