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Christopher Owens ðŸŽµ with the 42nd in his Predominance series.  

“I'm bitter. I'm twisted/James Joyce is fucking my sister/How can I remember 1690? I was born in 1965.” -Therapy?

Horns up 

New Horizons 

 

Uniform – American Standard


One of the most important bands of the last ten years, NYC’s finest purveyors of post punk/industrial rock return with another punishing and intense listen. The title track is a 21-minute diatribe that builds and builds to a crescendo that invokes black metal intensity and Swans like beauty, while ‘This is Not a Prayer’ demonstrates some staggering drumming and ‘Permanent Embrace’ is a hardcore number done Uniform style. The lads have done it again. One of the albums of the year.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.

Cigarettes After Sex – X’s

Now on their third record, the Texan dream pop/shoegazers continue to tap into Gen Z’s fascination with ethereal, chilled out music on their new record. With lines such as “Saw you on the side of the road / I could see you were walking slow, drinking a Slurpee / In a peach baseball cap, falling in my lap / You were so thirsty”, it’s clear that main man Greg Gonzalez enjoys breaking the stereotype of such music being sexless. One that will be much better appreciated when the autumn rolls in.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.

ShitNoise – I Cocked My Gun and Shot My Best Friend

Described in the press release as a record with “…themes of confronting the harsh realities of society and the lasting psychological impact of traumatic events…” through “…gritty soundscapes and stream-of-consciousness lyrics…” this trio from Monte Carlo (seriously) make noise rock that is unrepentant about its scuzziness, but still manages to throw in riffs that would make late period Sonic Youth fans cream themselves (‘Gum Opera’) and songs that Mudhoney would kick themselves for not writing (‘Pleasant Guff’).

The album can be streamed and purchased here.

Downtime – Guts

Over a year since their well-received debut release, the dynamic duo of Dave Snedden and Mike Vest return for a two track, 40-minute psych rock/garage punk freak out that feels like its on the verge of collapsing at particular moments before the duo lock together and pull some heavy riffage out of the bag. If Sun Dial, The Heads and Skullflower were thrown together in a blender, ‘Guts’ is what would emerge. Invigorating stuff.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.

Golden Oldies


Ministry – The Land of Rape and Honey

Often overlooked in favour of 1989’s ‘The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste’ or 1992’s ‘Psalm 69’, this record was a turning point in Ministry’s sound thanks to the addition of Paul Barker and the combination of direct, hardcore influenced songwriting (Stigmata, The Missing) with trippier, psychedelic soundscapes (Golden Dawn, Hezbollah) that still packs a wallop in 2024.



Danzig – III: How the Gods Kill

Although the first four albums by Danzig are essential, this 1992 release deserves praise for not only having a menacing aura unmatched in the band’s back catalogue, but also having The Doors as an influence both musically and lyrically, with ‘Anything’ and ‘Bodies’ particular examples. The end result is a rich, vibrant and sinister record that has not aged a day.



John Foxx and the Belbury Circle - Empty Avenues

The pairing of hauntology’s two noted champions and a pioneering synth artist is a match made for Ghost Box fans, filled with half remembered dreams about the late 70’s and minimal synth work harking back to the use of the keyboard as an instrument of post-punk experimentation. ‘The Right Path’ is a gorgeous culmination of everything listed above.



Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis

How this LP failed to chart on its initial release will remain one of the biggest mysteries in music, as it is utterly astonishing. Dusty, working with the heavyweights of Memphis soul music, effortlessly delivers sultry numbers like ‘Breakfast in Bed’ and resigned sadness in ‘Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore’ with the musicianship adding an extra layer of sophistication.



⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.

Predominance 42

Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.


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A Lawyer Writes ✏ Written by .Joshua Rozenberg. Recommended by Christy Walsh.

A High Court judge has ruled that doctors may withdraw life support from a 66-year-old man suffering from what is now called a prolonged disorder of consciousness. 

Mr Justice Hayden granted declarations that continued ventilation together with clinically assisted nutrition and hydration were no longer in the patient’s interests.

After a heart attack that would have probably been fatal if he had not already been in hospital, the patient was found to have a significant hypoxic ischemic brain injury. Doctors said he did not demonstrate any features of awareness or volitional purposeful activity.

Hayden said:

This condition has been, historically, categorised as a “persistent vegetative state”. It is a term which has been used in the case papers and in evidence. It excites a great deal of distress in families of patients in this condition. I watched as this family recoiled from the term. It has a dehumanising connotation which is, in my view understandably, perceived as offensive to the dignity of the patient…

These days, the consensus amongst the medical profession is that prolonged disorder of consciousness is a continuum which it is unnecessary artificially to demarcate by labels. 

Continue reading @ A Lawyer Writes.

Judge Says The Term ‘Persistent Vegetative State’ Should No Longer Be Used

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A Morning Thought @ 2223

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Throughout Irelands turbulent and revolutionary history many secretive oath-bound organisations have evolved.


In the 18th century an organisation known as the Defenders were prevalent and active in County Armagh. 

The Defenders a were predominantly Catholic secretive society found initially to defend, as the name suggests, as local defensive organisations opposed to the Protestant Peep o Day Boys. However, by the late 18th century they had become an oath-bound fraternal society made up of lodges. By 1796, the Defenders had allied with the multi-denominational and largely Protestant led United Irishmen and participated in the 1798 rebellion. The Society of United Irishmen were the first organisation to advocate ‘physical force republicanism’ a tradition which survives to this day in many quarters. With the defeat of the United Irishmen the British government imposed the Act of Union 1800, enacted January 1801, bringing Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland governing the land directly from London.

Across Europe in 1848 – the ‘year of revolutions’ – uprisings sprang up throughout  the continent. Ireland, despite suffering terrible hunger also had her secretive organisation; Young Ireland. Young Ireland fought many sporadic battles perhaps the most famous being Ballingarry in County Tipperarry in what became known as ‘the Battle of Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Patch’. 

With their defeat many leaders of young Ireland fled across Europe, one being James Stephens who, while in France, made contact with many revolutionaries and groups learning the art of insurrection by some of the masters of the art. On his return to Ireland Stephens in 1858 formed the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), Saint Patricks Day 1858. This book written by John O’Berne Ranelagh, published by Irish Academic Press 2024, takes an intrusive and revealing look at this secretive organisation and the many contradictions which it contained.

The book begins with an erroneous claim made by many writers and historians including RTE that the Irish Citizen Army was created by James Connolly as a worker’s defence force. Although this subject is only peripheral to the main theme it is important to point out that James Connolly did not form the Irish Citizen Army, though it was formed by others as a worker’s defence force. He was certainly sympathetic to the idea of the ICA, initially called just the Citizen Army, but was not a member when it was formed in November 1913. Neither was he a member of the first Army Council in 1914 when the name was changed to the Irish Citizen Army. 

This leads us to the second questionable analysis, again held by many as well as the author, and that is ‘without the IRB there would have been no Easter Rising and no IRA’. I believe this to be incorrect because when Connolly finally joined the ICA in late 1914, taking the place of Jim Larkin who had gone to the USA, as Commandant he had ideas and plans in motion for a rising of his own using the ICA as the vanguard. Such a rising would have been different to the one which occurred and would have involved organised labour in withdrawal of labour with the aim to seize the means of production, distribution and exchange by the working-class along with expelling the British. 

When the IRB heard of the trade union leader’s plans they approached Connolly and in January 1916 he joined the IRB. This position on the IRB placed Connolly at the head of all Irish forces in Dublin, the Irish Volunteers heavily infiltrated by the IRB, and the Irish Citizen Army. Connolly had plans to use trade union labour to offload the cargo of the Aud at Fenit Harbour consisting of 20,000 rifles and over one million rounds of ammo. He despatched William Partridge of the ITGWU and the ICA to supervise the unloading making sure the Irish Citizen Army received their quota and more. There was to be no repeat of the 1914 Howth gun landings supervised by IRB man, Bulmer Hobson, who stated “none of the weapons must reach the Irish Citizen Army”. 

Connolly intended arming a force four times that of the present ICA to fight the socialist revolution after the British had been expelled. Of course this did not happen, the Aud did not land its cargo and the Easter Rising was not won, the British were not expelled. Before Connolly was co-opted onto the IRB he was going it alone with the ICA and organised labour. On joining the IRB his plans were given an extra impetus with the possibility of arms from the Aud for the ICA. Connolly’s message to the ICA was that the aims of themselves and those of the Volunteers were somewhat different. They were for “economic” aa well as “political” liberation, should we win; “hold on to your rifles”. These plans were between Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army unknown to either the IRB or the Irish Volunteers, therefore the analysis there would have been no rising without the IRB is flawed.

The IRB considered itself the natural inheritors of the ‘physical force republicanism’ espoused by the United Irishmen sixty years previous. The IRB considered itself to be the government of the Irish Republic, something which it maintained after the Treaty of 1922 was ratified by the Dail. It gave special consideration to the political position of the Dail while maintaining itself as the government of the Irish Republic. It viewed the IRA as its own army and in the 1869-73 constitution states: 

That the Military authority shall at all times be and remain subject to the civil government, and shall never be permitted to arrogate to itself the power of legislating, or restraining in any way the constitution, of the Irish Republic, as promulgated by the Supreme Council, and that all or any infraction of said constitution, shall be deemed treason (ibid). 

That civil government was the IRB.

The book moves on and becomes more and more interesting exposing the splits within the IRB and different interpretations of the rules. For example, Bulmer Hobson an IRB man, did not come out for Easter week claiming the people had not voted for such a rebellion as laid down in the rules. Others argue, with equal justification, the ‘Supreme Council’ in accordance with IRB rules had given the command to all IRB men to participate in the rebellion. Such ambiguities would plague the IRB throughout its existence. 

In contrast to Hobson, Cathal Brugha fought in the Easter Rising, leaving the IRB afterwards because, he claimed, many IRB men did not come out. He remained critical of the Brotherhood for the rest of his life. The dislike, even hatred of Michael Collins held by Cathal Brugha is well documented. 

Collins on his release from the Frongoch prison camp in Wales swept through the IRB holding positions of power and influence within. Collins was Minister for Finance in the First Dail while Brugha was Minister for Defence. Despite this Collins often bypassed Brugha in military matters during the ‘War of Independence’ 1919-21. Collins was highly ranked in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and had his own intelligence unit, the Squad often termed the Twelve Apostles, based in Dublin. This caused even more antagonism between the two men with Brugha being the short fused fiery of the two men. The Author highlights the feud between the two men magnificently.

Another point of animosity within the broader movement was that between John Devoy, head of Clan na Gael in the USA. The Clan na Gael were the sister organisation, formerly and initially known as the Fenian Brotherhood, in the United States of the IRB. De Valera was the assumed President of the Irish Republic but not the IRB. Here is another contradiction because the President of the IRB constitutionally was also the President of the Irish Republic. De Valera was not the President of the IRB but claimed to be President of the Irish Republic and leader of the Irish people! Most confusing and the book must be read to appreciate how Ranelagh slowly examines the conundrum. Devoy thought he should be in charge of US affairs within the Brotherhood, universally known as the Fenians, while de Valera believed he should be the man in charge both in Ireland and the USA. So much was Devoy’s bitterness towards de Valera that when, in 1922, an agreement was signed with Britian leading to a Treaty he voted in favour, even though he personally opposed it, simply because de Valera was opposed to the ‘Terms of the Agreement’ becoming a Treaty after ratification.

Another conundrum arises over who was the President of the Irish Republic proclaimed at Easter Week 1916? It has been broadly accepted that Padraig Pearse, the man who read out the Proclamation outside the GPO, was the President. In fact, according to IRB rules and Pearse was an IRB member and military council leader, the President of the IRB which was Thomas Clarke was President of the Irish Republic? It is argued Pearse may have been President of the Provisional Government but not the Irish Republic, very confusing. Both Pearse and Clarke were executed by the British after the military defeat of the rebels.

The four constitutions of the IRB are reproduced in the appendages and I recommend the reader uses them. It will be noted the wordings differ slightly, though not the meanings, over the course of time.

The IRB constitutions and rules were very intricate and convoluted which for many had different interpretations. Perhaps the IRB was too complicated and convoluted to make any real sense so much so that confusion reigned? When the ‘Agreement’ with Britain was signed in 1922 by, among others, Michael Collins of the IRB it was accepted by the leadership but not the rank and file of the organisation! Again, most confusing and reading the book helps dissect these apparent contradictions.

When describing the Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Army the Author uses the term; “Volunteers/IRA” to avoid confusion. After the Volunteers became the IRA some officers and men still referred to the organisation as the Volunteers.

John Ranelagh delves very deep into the darkest crevices of the IRB and it is important to read the Appendages and End Notes to get the true level of research which went into the publication and for clarity on less familiar points. Any student of Irish History should read this latest book on the mechanisms of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Not-withstanding the popular belief about Connolly and the ICA the work is well researched and informative.

John O’Beirne Ranelagh, 2024, The Irish Republican Brotherhood 1914-1924. Irish Academic Press. ISBN-13: 978-1785374944.

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood 1914-1924

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand One Hundred And Forty Six

A Digest of News ✊ from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 15-July-2024.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Unions condemn Russian attack on Ukraine’s mining region, 

⬤ Plus hospital bombing.
⬤ Plus interview with children’s hospital doctor.
⬤ Plus  interview with Palestinian-Ukrainian analyst.
⬤ Plus Investigation into Russian killing Ukrainian POWs. 
⬤ Plus more evidence of Russian torture.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Ukraine initiates war crimes probe over gunning down by Russians of two Ukrainian prisoners of war (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 12th)

Abducted, tortured and sentenced by Russian invaders for joining a Ukrainian organization in Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 10th)

Russian terror in occupied areas of Ukraine: homes confiscated en masse (People & Nature, 9 July)

Interview with Refat Chubarov, head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis: ‘We must condemn communism’ — Refat Chubarov (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 9th)

Russia charges Ukrainian from occupied Melitopol with ‘calls to terrorism’ for old social media post about Putin (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 8th)

Ukrainian-born paediatrician faces long sentence on ‘fake news’ charge based on true words about Russia’s war against Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 8th)

News from the front

A growing crisis: cracks appearing in Ukraine’s defences (Meduza, 12 July)

‘I told the Russians at the checkpoints that I was going to Azovstal’ (Tribunal for Putin, July 9th)

News from Ukraine – general

Interview with a doctor at Okhmatdyt hospital, Kyiv: ‘We can’t stop treatment, even for an hour’ (Meduza, 11 July)

Russia bombs children’s hospital while sentencing Ukrainian POWs to life ‘for killing civilians’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 11th)

Russia boasts of “strike objectives achieved’ as death toll rises from missile strikes on Ukraine’s main children’s hospital, other civilian targets (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 9th)

Wave of Russian missiles strike (UNHCR, July 9th)

Türk deplores wave of strikes killing dozens of civilians, including women and children at hospitals (UNHCR, July 8th)

Trade union statement: Russian missile attacks on children, hospital patients and workers (Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, 8 July)

Statement by the Ukraine 5AM Coalition on the Russian Federation’s missile attack on medical facilities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine (Zmina, July 8th)

War-related news from Russia

Russia’s fascist meltdown: the Cliff Notes version (The Russian Reader, 12 July)

Russia's new 'elite': hired killers, murderers and violent rapists freed to fight against Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 12th)

‘Our guys’: high military death rates in Buryatiya (Meduza, 11 July)

Russia attacks Ukraine’s mining region (Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, 9 July)

Analysis and comment

Analytical note following the public summit “Security Guarantees for Ukrainian Democracy in Times of War” (Opora, July 11th)

Interview: The war in Tigray and the scholar’s role (Commons.com.ua, 10 July)

“There Is Trauma on Both Sides of My Family but Historically They Don’t Meet”. Interview With Palestinian-Ukrainian Analyst Rita Adel (Commons.com.ua, July 9th)

Ukraine at a Turning Point: Imperialism, National Liberation, and Solidarity (Youtube, June 28th)

Resisting authoritarianism in the Caucasus (Tempest, June 5th)

International solidarity

Ukrainian mineworkers’ union delegation at the Durham Miners Gala (Mick Antoniw on twitter, 13 July)

July 15-19 — Ukrainian International Criminal Justice Week. Events Calendar (Centre for Civil Liberties, July 11th)

Fundraising campaign for vacuum wound therapy devices (Solidarity Collectives on twitter, 10 July)


🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.

We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

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To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.

News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 106

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand One Hundred And Forty Five

 

A Morning Thought @ 2222

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh ☭ writing in Socialist Democracy.

Roderic O’Gorman won the leadership race to become head honcho in the Green Party. He had as much to say during his campaign for the leadership as he has had for the last number of years as Minister for Children. All style, no substance and choosing to die on the wrong hill time and again.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman
As a minister he has shown remarkable, indeed outstanding levels of incompetency, even by the standards of the current government. He has also shown himself incapable of leadership on anything other than the most reactionary positions. He has been a key figure in pushing very reactionary legislation on thought crimes, surrogacy, women’s spaces, free speech and the protection of children, the latter being his specific remit as a minister.

In dealing with his critics, O’Gorman has relied on being gay as the card to play to show his progressive values. Being gay is neither a sign of being reactionary or progressive, it is a question of sexual orientation and plays no role in a person’s politics. Though he has been attacked by conservative Catholics and right-wing groups (other than the coalition parties) for being gay and recently played that card again in an article in the Irish Times. He stated that “Some people don’t think a gay man should be Minister for Children”.(1) 

There is of course an element of truth to this, there are those who do hold such reactionary views. However, the article goes on to outline some of the real issues that are dear to his heart, that have earned him the opprobrium of many, amongst them, his support for the war in Ukraine and his support for hate speech legislation. There are other pressing issues as well, not mentioned, such as his government’s refusal to accept an amendment to his reactionary surrogacy bill that would exclude sex offenders from purchasing surrogate children. The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, who alongside O’Gorman is one of three ministers who worked on the bill stated that:

it is envisaged that any issues relating to previous offences against children or women would be discovered through the safety of the child assessment.(2) 

We know all too well how oversight bodies have worked in relation to child abuse in sporting bodies, schools, and even in the foster system. Though it should not surprise us that people who believe that wealthy people in the west should take advantage of poor and destitute women elsewhere to rent out their wombs and purchase their child is a good and even progressive value. If you can cast aside a woman in Ukraine (one of Ireland’s major surrogacy markets) then casting aside the safety of that child is a logical vile step.

The child protection agency TUSLA is a case in point and one for which responsibility lies directly at the door of O’Gorman who has seemed unperturbed by the numbers of children taken into state care who later go missing. As of June 16th 2024, 34 children were reported as missing from state care. One of them has been missing since 2022 and 13 since 2023. There are also reports of children going missing being targeted by sexual predators.(3) 

O’Gorman was asked in the Dáil about the case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from TUSLA and was found a year later locked up in a brothel. O’Gorman did not address the issue directly.(4) He deleted files sent to him by a retired judge in relation to missing children, claiming data protection regulations.(5) It is such blatant disregard for the wellbeing of children that is at the heart of the matter and not his sexuality, which is utterly irrelevant to the issue.

Alongside this O’Gorman was responsible for the ill-fated referenda which sought to remove any reference to women in the Constitution. The proposed wording was ill thought out and perilous in terms of women’s rights. He lied about the advice that he received from the Attorney General, something which came to the light in the run up to the vote and contributed to the absolute thrashing the government received at the hands of the electorate with the largest no votes ever received in a constitutional referendum in the history of the state.(6)

He has also been a prime advocate of thought crimes, or as he prefers to call it Hate Speech legistlation, a figure which has been used around the world not just against feminists, but also increasingly against Palestinian activists. On the issue of Palestine, O’Gorman has shown himself to be equally reactionary. In the midst of an Israeli blockade of food and medicine to Gaza he saw fit to defend an invite to the Israeli Ambassador to attend a famine memorial event, arguing that all ambassadors, with the exception of the Russian one, had been invited. He also rejected any calls for her expulsion.(7)

Not even on the environment does the Green Party shine. It has introduced bicycle lanes and an expensive neoliberal recycling scheme for plastic bottles which is guaranteed to make millions for the companies involved but not necessarily reduce our consumption of plastic. But the recycling companies may make a generous donation at some point. His government is not any different from previous ones in terms of the environment. In fact, it may even be worse. The Greens have always sought to prioritise profits for companies in any supposedly environmental schemes. Its real concern is greenwashing capitalism, rather than saving the environment.

O’Gorman is a thoroughly reactionary figure and incompetent to boot. His party hopes that he will boost their failing electoral fortunes. But he has shown himself, as with other Green leaders around the world, to be an unrepentant neoliberal reprobate, despite his sweet talk of progressive budgetary measures and an extremely misogynistic leader of a party and an opponent of free speech. Though, it has to be said, the Green Party has chosen an ideal leader to represent all the reactionary positions that party currently stands for.

Notes

(1) Irish Times (13/07/2024) Some people don’t think a gay man should be Minister for Children, says Green Party leader. Harry McGee. 

(2) See.

(3) Irish Examiner (16/06/2024) Tusla reports that a total of 34 children in its care are missing. Ann Murphy. 

(4) See.

(5) See. 

(6) Irish Examiner (07/03/2024) Attorney General advised of ‘legal uncertainty’ in wording of Care referendum. Cianan Brennan. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41348297.html the full advice of the Attorney General can be consulted here. 

(7) The Journal (20/05/2024) Israeli ambassador at Irish famine event sparks criticism as govt pledges to maintain ‘pressure’ 

⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.

Roderic O’Gorman 🌳 A Green Leader, Always Leading in the Wrong Direction

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand One Hundred And Forty Four

Kevin Lynch Memorial Flute Band 🪈will be presenting the Kevin Lynch Annual Commemoration Weekend 2024.

INLA volunteer Kevin Lynch died on hunger trike in the H Blocks in 1981.

The weekend of event will take place from 26 July to 28 July.  

 

Kevin Lynch Annual Commemoration Weekend 2024

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