Resistance – Irish Socialist Network – Out Now. April 21, 2012
Posted by guestposter in Economy, European Politics, Irish Politics, The Left.trackback
Many thanks to DF for the following on behalf of the ISN. The current edition is a great read with a lot of thought provoking material -wbs
The spring 2012 edition of Resistance, the publication of the Irish Socialist Network, is now available. It can be read online at www.irishsocialist.net. Print copies can be found in Connolly Books in Dublin and Solidarity Books in Cork, or if you would like us to post you copies, just mail us at irishsocialistnetwork@dublin.ie
The latest Resistance has articles on Ireland’s trade union movement, winners and losers of the crisis, Scottish independence, the New Anti-Capitalist Party in France and Europe’s radical left. The online edition also includes a long article on the crisis of the UK state by Scottish socialist Allan Armstrong.
Reader of the Cedar Lounge Revolution might be especially interested in the article on France by Colin Falconer, an activist in the New Anti-Capitalist Party. French voters will soon go to the polls to elect a new president—the outcome is far more significant for Ireland than the US presidential race, which has been given wall-to-wall coverage in the media.
Since the end of the Cold War, France has had one of the strongest left-wing movements in Europe, with important struggles like the public-sector strikes of 1995 and the movement against the CPE employment law in 2006, and strong electoral performances by the radical left. It also has not one but two new left parties: the New Anti-Capitalist Party, founded by the Trotskyist LCR and its allies in 2008-9, and the Left Front, whose main components are the French Communist Party and a group of breakaway Socialists led by Jean-Luc Mélanchon, a minister in Lionel Jospin’s ‘plural left’ government in the ‘90s.
Mélanchon is running for the presidency as the Left Front’s candidate, and has been going from strength to strength since the campaign began; recently, he has begun to outpoll Marine Le Pen of the National Front and the centrist politican Francois Bayrou. The NPA’s candidate Philippe Poutou, however, is way out of contention, and will struggle to win even 1% of the vote.
Colin’s article discusses some of the problems the NPA has encountered since its launch:
Sadly, Mélenchon didn’t do as well as some of the polls suggested, and Le Pen did better, so he was nowhere near overtaking the FN. Still, the best performance by a candidate to the left of the PS since the early ’80s. Now we’ll have to see what he does next.
Most likely outcome of the second round is a Hollande presidency – Le Monde Diplomatique have a good editorial in their latest edition discussing what that’s likely to bring:
“We shall soon be forced to consider “European disobedience”, as recommended by Mélenchon and other leftwing forces. Or continue on the present course, without any hope of relief. Apart from their differences — on fair taxation, for example — Sarkozy and Hollande have both supported the same European treaties, from Maastricht to Lisbon. They have both endorsed the targets set for reducing the national deficit (3% of GDP in 2013, 0% in 2016 or 2017). They are both against protectionism. They both think growth will cure all ills. They support the same foreign and defence policies (the French Socialists no longer challenge Sarkozy’s decision to bring France back into Nato’s military command structure). The time has come to break with all these premises. A change of president is an essential condition for this. But the record of past leftwing governments and the current campaign suggest that that will not be enough.”
http://mondediplo.com/2012/04/01frenchelections