Where Have All the Political Footballers Gone?
“Football gives meaning to life, yes. But life also gives meaning to football.”
197 Articles by: Daniel Finn
Daniel Finn is the features editor at Jacobin. He is the author of One Man’s Terrorist: A Political History of the IRA.
John Hume (1937–2020)
A historic leader of moderate nationalism, John Hume is widely eulogized for helping end the war in Northern Ireland. But praise for his rejection of violence shouldn’t be combined with amnesia about the deep injustices that fueled the conflict in the Six Counties.
Ireland’s National Conflict Is About Imperialism as Well as Sectarianism
Journalism on national conflicts from Belfast to the Balkans often speaks of ancient hatreds and ancestral sectarianism. But a closer look at the Irish conflict shows that questions of nationhood and identity are very modern phenomena — and have to be integrated into any serious analysis of class.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Opponents Burned the House Down to Stop Him — Now Keir Starmer Is King of the Ashes
By sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey on a trumped-up pretext, Keir Starmer has set the seal on a drastic shift to the right for the British Labour Party. That shift comes just as the key arguments by Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents to justify a break with his left leadership have been falling apart in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Rubber Bullets Are Anything but “Nonlethal.” They Should Be Banned.
US police have used rubber bullets against civilian protesters on a massive scale the past week. These projectiles actually originated in Northern Ireland — and their history is anything but “nonlethal.” There can be no justification for police use of rubber bullets.
The Black Death Helped Bring About the Modern World
The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe’s population in just a few years. But the peasants and laborers who survived wielded newfound power over their masters.
An Open Letter from SDS Veterans Haranguing Young Socialists to Back Biden Was a Bad Idea
We don’t need melodramatic hyperbole from New Leftists telling us to campaign for Joe Biden. We need to build a democratic-socialist movement that is the only real hope for the planet’s future.
Another Europe is Possible – But Not Another European Union
Europe’s radical left has been bitterly divided over the question of European integration. But wishful thinking aside, the structures of the European Union can’t be used to achieve socialist goals. Sooner or later, any left government will have to confront and defy its economic straitjacket.
Jeremy Corbyn Showed the Way. But We Must Learn the Right Lessons.
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party ends this weekend. We need to defend his legacy and carry on his noble democratic-socialist program, while being honest about where and why he fell short.
The Deep State Strikes Back
If socialists want to take power through the ballot box, we have to be ready for when capitalists stop playing by the rules.
Ireland’s Left Turn
Last Saturday, Ireland bucked the European trend as its voters turned sharply left. Sinn Féin was the main beneficiary, but the party has some big choices to make in the months ahead if it’s going to capitalize on this breakthrough.
Last Man Standing
Gerry Adams has called time on a political career that began in the age of Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, as his party stands on the brink of a historic breakthrough. The arguments about his place in Irish history are just beginning.
The Obsessive Remainers Have Scored a Massive Own Goal
For the last three years, second-referendum campaigners heaped blame on Jeremy Corbyn for his alleged role in “facilitating” Brexit. Yet their determined efforts to torpedo his leadership destroyed any chance of a compromise solution — and made the hardest of hard Brexits inevitable.
The Tories Are the Proud Party of Racism
In Britain, the choice is clear: the Tories are led by people who have done grave material harm to ethnic minorities. Labour is led by people with a record of determined opposition to racism.
The Junior Partner of Tory Austerity
The Lib Dems want the UK election to be solely about Brexit, because they don’t want you to remember that their record in government was one of deadly austerity and heightened inequality.
The Lib Dems Couldn’t Be More Cynical
Just like Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party, Jo Swinson and the Lib Dems don’t want to solve the Brexit crisis. They want an endless cycle of grievance and polarization to try to stay relevant.
Trust Labour, Not the Lib Dems, on Brexit
Since 2016, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has consistently defended workers’ interests amid Brexit chaos. All the while, the Lib Dems have just blamed them and exploited the crisis for political gain.
Lenín Moreno Has Betrayed Ecuador. Now the Country Is in Revolt.
Ecuador’s Lenín Moreno promised a less “divisive” approach than his left-wing predecessor Rafael Correa. But Ecuadorians are seeing through his con and resisting austerity and neoliberal reforms.
Love Remain, Hate Jeremy Corbyn
Britain’s liberal establishment have long damned Jeremy Corbyn for failing to fight hard enough against Brexit. Their hatred for the Labour leader knows no bounds — and they’ll block him becoming prime minister even if it makes Britain crashing out of Europe inevitable.
Labour and the Fight for a United Ireland
The border controversy is just the latest episode in the epic of Britain’s political establishment and their willful ignorance of Ireland.