People Before Profit members leave party over stance on coalition with Sinn Féin
In a 3,000-word statement, the group calling itself the Red Network, which includes Clondalkin councillor Madeleine Johansson, says People Before Profit should not go into government with the main opposition party.
The group says it 'has always and will always push for united front social movements — like the water charges movement — to take on the government', but that 'practical unity on particular issues must be accompanied by free and open debate about political strategy and tactics'.
The group added: 'Political differences should be discussed openly in front of the working class. We feel that the Red Network has a special voice on the socialist left, a working-class voice, and we think it needs to be heard.'
While the group praises the likes of Richard Boyd Barrett, Gino Kenny, and councillor Conor Reddy, it says 'the nature of People Before Profit as an organisation means the fruits of all that work are often wasted'.
'32-county worker's republic'
The group says it will continue to work alongside many of the same activists, but 'the lines of political demarcation will be clearer'.
It says a Sinn Féin government would 'coalesce with the establishment and leave untouched the real government, the permanent government — the state bureaucracy, army chiefs, and head guards'.
The Red Network says it wants 'a 32-county worker's republic where assemblies of workers in workplaces and communities elect delegates, who are recallable, to a worker's national assembly'.
The statement says the current left is 'divided into those who talk about revolution but sit on the margins of the working class, or those who stand in elections and do work in communities but play down their socialist politics'.
The group says that People Before Profit has 'argued ... that we needed to drop anger and appear more respectable — in order to chase white-collar votes'.
'Those of us who went on to form the Red Network argued that failing to articulate the deep anger people felt in the estates would leave an opening for the far right to misdirect that anger."
The group says it believes 'student moralism has overtaken People Before Profit as the class basis of the party has changed'.
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3 hours ago
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Irish Independent
6 hours ago
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RTÉ News
6 hours ago
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Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to seize Gaza City and neighbouring camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory. The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition. UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in. Israeli attacks have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable. The current stage of the war was triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Protests in Israel call for Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal Meanwhile, demonstrators have taken to the streets across Israel calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, as the military prepares a new offensive. The protests come more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military said are dead. A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostage Square, which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war. Demonstrators also blocked several roads in the city, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where demonstrators set tires on fire and caused traffic jams, according to local media footage. Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike today. "I think it's time to end the war. It's time to release all of the hostages. And it's time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East," said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem. However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried "a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas". He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively "buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future". Footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.
