A Forgotten Chapter of Irish History
Category: The North Published Date Written by James Connolly (1913)
This article by Connolly written in 1913 addresses the attitude of the socialist movement towards the protestant working class in the North, Connolly uses the example of the "Antrim leases of 1772" to underpin a class analysis of the issues and help frame a political programme. With thanks to the Connolly internet Archive.
A writer in Forward recently expressed the desire that someone would prepare literature that would be suitable for the conversion to Socialism of Orangemen. It is a desire with which I most heartily sympathise. I cannot resist the feeling that the Socialist movement of these countries has a legitimate grievance against the Socialists in the North of Ireland for never having seriously essayed this task, before. Unfortunately the Socialists of this district seem to have been possessed with the idea that it was good tactics to talk about every place under the sun except about the North of Ireland, to read every history except Irish history, and to profess unlimited faith in the democracy of every country except Ireland.Last Updated on Thursday, 07 July 2011 07:14
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Tensions rise again in the North; a society at an impasse
Category: The North Published Date Written by Séamus Loughlin
PSNI sources are saying that there was no “paramilitary” involvement in last night’s rioting in Belfast's Castlereagh Street and Albertbridge Road, but it’s clear also that events a couple of weeks ago in the Short Strand have contributed to what looks like an explosive situation moving into the marching season, no matter whether the loyalists were there or not. If the PSNI are accurate in their assessment of the situation that there was no UVF involvement in this incident and after all, “even a stopped clock is right twice a day”, it’s likely that the tensions in East Belfast are going to escalate further.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 21:29
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2011 Assembly elections: No solution for Catholic or Protestant workers
Category: The North Published Date Written by Fightback
Last Thursday’s elections in the North saw a further swing towards the DUP and towards Sinn Féin. This reflects a drawn out process that has gradually eroded the support for the Ulster Unionist party and the SDLP since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Stormont Assembly is a political dead end, which reflects a deeper economic and political impasse. Things were bad enough before the onset of the economic crisis but now the Assembly will be presiding over the imposition of massive cuts, which NIC ICTU have estimated will result in the loss of some 48,000 jobs.
Last Updated on Monday, 09 May 2011 22:26
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Belfast: Short Strand – part of the world crisis
Category: The North Published Date Written by Séamus Loughlin
The UVF attacks on the Short Strand area of Belfast over the last days and the clashes between Catholic and Protestant youth demonstrate that despite the claims of the various ministers at Stormont, the underlying tensions and conflicts in the North have neither been resolved nor overcome.
The Short Strand area has often been the site of conflict passing periodically from a state of psychological siege to a physical and sometimes bloody siege, not just recently but going back to the 1920’s. Reports on the recent events indicate that shots were fired from both sides.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 21:28
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Ulster in Transition (Part 2)
Category: The North Published Date Written by Bob Armstrong From Workers’ International News, Vol.5 No.9, July-August 1945, p.14-20.
The second part of Bob Armstrong's article from 1945 deals with the political perspectives for that period in the aftermath of the end of World War two. It looks at the politics of the Stalinist, the Labour Party on either side of the border and the role of the IRA. for part one click here