In June of 1795 several Irish Protestants gathered on top of Cave Hill, overlooking Belfast. They swore " never to desist in our efforts until we had subverted the authority of England over our country and asserted our independence". Three years later 100,000 rose against Britain in the first Irish republican insurrection. Andrew Flood examines what they were fighting for and how they influenced modern Irish nationalism. [In Spanish]
The Irish 'Famine': Why 1,000,000
The Irish Famine was not just a result of British Government incompetence or the greed of a few landlords. But of what happens when you have a system that puts profits for the few above all else.
1916: What are you
THIS YEAR marks the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising. There will be all sorts of commemorations throughout the country, organised by forces ranging from Fianna Fáil to Sinn Féin. We will hear a lot of talk about the "spirit of 1916", what does it mean today?
Red Flag flew in Munster
FARM LABOURERS STRIKES, occupations of creameries, red flags flying and 'soviets' being declared. Not usually the sort of thing associated with the years 1919-1923, the years of the War of Independence and the Civil War. This article covers the events of these years they 'forgot' to tell you about in school.
When the Falls & the Shankill
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Outdoor Relief strike in Belfast, which saw unemployed Catholics and Protestants fighting alongside each other.
When British army chiefs refused to
The Ulster Workers Council (UWC) strike of May 1974 was just one of the incidents that showed, far from being "impartial", the RUC and the British army did their best to prop up loyalism.
A complete chronological list of articles on the IRA cease-fire and the 'Peace Process'
The IRA and its armed struggle : A
Bloody Long War (1992)
Gerry Adams is no longer an MP. The politicians and media pundits are over the moon with joy. In the immediate aftermath we were subjected to a barrage of questions and comments. Will there be an escalation of the armed struggle? Will there be a ceasefire?
The Downing street declaration and
the republicans (1994)
The peace negotiations represented the culmination of two trends. Firstly there is increasing war weariness and disillusionment among nationalists. On the British side a second factor has come into play. The massive bill for the devastation of several parts of the business heart of London prompted the British government to begin talking
Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace
The peace talks represent the ditching of Sinn Féin's left gloss and a return to good old nationalist politics, pure and simple.
7/9/94 Statement on the IRA cease-fire
Workers Action is the
The killing of the seven building workers in January marks the most bloody episode in an IRA campaign against those who work for the 'security forces', a campaign which has been going on since 1985. There has been a massive wave of condemnation from bishops, politicians and media figures..
Dump the politicians off your
The problem for the unionist politicians is that, unlike the period of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, when over a hundred thousand could be mobilised in demonstrations, now they are unable to organise any significant opposition.
Neither Orange nor
Sinn Féin's politics offer little more to Northern workers, as a class, than the politics of the fringe loyalist groups. Both aspire to getting a better deal for the poor and oppressed in their communities but neither are capable of delivering, as they are limited to rhetorical appeals to the workers of the other side to "see sense"
It was always time to
go..Troops out now!
25 years ago, on Thursday, August the 15th, 1969, 400 soldiers from the Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment took up positions around Derry city.
Warrington: A new Peace Movement?
Peace 1993 has started with the analysis we are offered again and again by our rulers and the media. Paramilitaries, especially republican ones, are portrayed as gangsters and psychopaths used and manipulated by cynical "godfather's of crime".
The real difference is not between
Catholic & Protestant but between rich and poor
Some republicans seem to be genuinely surprised that the 'peace process' collapsed. How can anything be expected from the British state which was responsible for Bloody Sunday, for smashing the miners strike, for running down the NHS
Anarchists are for the defeat of British imperialism. But we want more, we stand for the creation of a new society in the interests of the working class and against the bosses, both orange and green.
Irish nationalism is not for
Anarchists are for the defeat of British imperialism. But we want more, we stand for the creation of a new society in the interests of the working class. This is very different from the politics of nationalism, of Sinn Fein
another (Irish) life?
British army officers let the cat out of the bag.
Northern workers paid less
Workers in northern Ireland are paid less then workers in Britain or the rest of Ireland.
Northern Ireland tops list of scrooge bosses
Unionist MP supports anti-Catholic threats
The Irish Nazi, the Unionist MPs
and the British Tories
An Irish fascist has turned up as editor of Right Now!, an ultra-right magazine within the British Conservative Party. Among the MPs who have spoken at its meetings are Deputy DUP leader Peter Robinson and Orange Grand Master Martin Smyth
Bigots and ballot boxes
Two short illustrations of the sectarian nature of the state in northern Ireland
Sectarianism in the north and the
fight against it
This talk is about sectarianism in the North. Sectarianism is something that has existed to a greater or lesser extent in Ireland since the plantations and must be overcome if socialism can be introduced
myths: King Billy revisited
The Orange Parades on and around the twelfth of July have long been a bone of serious contention and indeed a source of sectarian conflict in the Six Counties. Members of the Orange Order demand their unalienable right to march the Queen's highway, in commemoration of the victory of King William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne - a victory (as the Orangemen see it) for religious and civil liberty.
While the prospect of an end to political violence would doubtless be welcomed by the vast majority of people living on this island and especially by the population of the 6-Counties, it is important for all of us to realise where the so-called "peace process" is leading
The Limerick soviet of
The first problem facing the strikers was how to feed Limericks 38,000 inhabitants. The committee sat in secession all of monday organising food distrubution. The committee was sivided into two sections, one to recieve food and one to deliver it. Hundreds of special permits were issued allowing shops to open
Church power in the
The Catholic church in Ireland has always been massively supported by the State and allowed a huge say in the running of the country. This article will attempt to cover the facts of church power in Ireland and the long history of State support beginning hundreds of years be fore the establishment of the 26 county state