Irish, EU & international politics & economics
By Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan Covid-19 has brought the world to a standstill, claiming thousands of lives and bringing economic hardship to millions. As EU governments now take steps towards reopening, the need to avoid the mistakes of the past and reimagine the European project is greater than ever. […]
By Conor McCabe. This article is the first in a four-part series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. The Irish government’s initial response to the outbreak of COVID-19 was somewhat slow […]
By Niamh Ní Bhriain. Back in February, when murmurs of Coronavirus seemed irrelevant to most of us, people came together in Ennis, Co. Clare, for a hustings event in advance of the general election. The sense of anger was tangible in the crowd. There was a chorus of outrage that […]
By Damien Thomson. The Green Party elected representatives agreed to enter formal talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail for a programme of government. Entering government requires the thumbs-up from two-thirds of the Greens’ party membership. Here’s three of many reasons why the Irish Greens should not go into government […]
By Emma Clancy. After the Eurogroup meeting concluded last night, Eurogroup President and Portuguese Finance Minister Mário Centeno tweeted: “The Eurogroup answered the call from our citizens for a Europe that protects. We agreed to 3 safety nets (for workers, businesses & public finances) adding up to half trillion euro, and […]
By Damien Thomson. Just as always, they think we are not watching. Just as always, their voting record shows where they stand. Today an extremely important vote took place in the European Parliament – an objection to the EU’s publicly funded fossil fuel infrastructure projects – and I needn’t name the […]
By Lisbeth Latham.Since December 5, France has been gripped by ongoing strikes and mobilisations by a coalition of trade unions, high school and university student unions, as well as the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) to defeat the attack by the government of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Charles […]
By Julieta Beristain. The curfew in Chile has been renewed and the repression of the army and carabineros left a record of 15 dead and more than 1,600 arrested. Despite internal efforts to hide the most heinous images of the repression under the command of the Army and the Carabineros, […]
By Denis Rogatyuk. “Se acabó la zanganería”. With this phrase, President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno announced the end of the 40-year long policy of fuel and petrol subsidies that traditionally benefited the working class population. “Zánganos” (or drones) is a slang term traditionally used by the richer parts of society […]
By Dave Lordan. On the same Easter Week of the 1916 rising, a Charlie Chaplin lookalike competition was held in Dublin. Chaplin, well-known to be a socialist as well as the world’s leading entertainer at the time, had a mass following among the Dublin working classes. Truth be told, among […]