SVSocialist Voice Communist Party of Ireland

Páirtí Cumannach na hÉireann Partisan Patriotic InternationalistNumber 139 September 2016 €1.50

IN THIS ISSUECPI Political statement Page 3Letter from Cuba Page 3Stormont Page 4Frank Conroy Page 4Capitalism and migration Page 6Ana Belén Montes Page 8Water justice Page 11Shakespeare’s tragedies Page 12

The privatisation of shelterEugene McCartan

THERE IS hardly a city or town in the countrythat is not suffering from homelessness,rapid increases in rents, and growing

numbers of those looking for public housing.Hardly a month passes when the growth in thenumbers of homeless does not show an increase.The Dublin Region Homeless Executive has

published figures that show there were 993families, including 2,020 children, in emergencyaccommodation in the Dublin region. In July lastyear the number of homeless families in theregion was 556.Dublin City Council and the DRHE confirmed

that the cost of hotel accommodation forhomeless families for the first six months of thisyear was more than €16 million—the highest half-yearly figure ever; earlier this year the ministerfor housing, Simon Coveney, said the annualexpenditure on hotel accommodation was €46million. Many of those given access to hotelrooms have no facilities for cooking or cleaning,just a bed to share.

The chief executive of NAMA told the Housingand Homelessness Committee of the Oireachtasthat since the beginning of 2014 the agencysold land that could provide up to 20,000housing units; a twentieth of that has so farbeen supplied. While there are a number ofoutstanding issues concerning planning and thedensity of housing, he believes that owners anddevelopers are waiting for a better return. Healso claimed that developers were hoarding land,waiting for a better return—i.e. bigger profits.In addition to the growth in the numbers of

homeless people, one of the factors contributingto the crisis is the growth in rents. While notconfined to the Dublin area, it is certainly mostpronounced there. The average rent nationallyhas risen by over a third since bottoming out in2011 and has now surpassed its 2008 (“CelticTiger”) peak. Monthly rents are now almost 10per cent higher than they were a year ago.

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At the same time there are 20 percent fewer homes available to rent. Torent a single room in Dublin costs onaverage €588 per month—anincrease of 16 per cent; in Cork asimilar room to rent costs on average€344—an increase of 11 per cent.The national average monthly rent isnow at its highest ever, at €1,037.The “Placefinders Service”

established by the Dublin RegionHomeless Executive to secureaccommodation from private landlordshas delivered little, despite the hype.It has also emerged that homelesspeople who avail of the housingassistance payment lose their priorityposition for social housing.The crisis of getting shelter is part

of the general crisis of capitalism.As a result of the global crisis of

over-production and the over-accumulation of capital, with fewavenues for investment other than inbubbles, one of the areas for intensespeculation throughout the capitalistworld is property. We are now seeinga new bubble emerging, which maywell be greater than the one thatburst in 2008.According to a new study by the

Central Bank of Ireland on propertysales between 2000 and 2014, therehas been a surge in the number ofcash buyers since the boom.The volume of properties changing

hands is now even greater thanduring the height of the so-calledCeltic Tiger period. The Central Bank’sfigures show that at the height of theboom in 2008 there were about150,000 transactions, with cashbuyers accounting for a quarter ofthese. (A cash buyer is defined assomeone who makes a cash-only

purchase of a residential property,without taking out a mortgage.) Afterthe housing bubble burst, the volumeof transactions fell to a low point of21,000 in 2010. It is estimated thatabout 45,000 properties changedhands during 2014.However, the proportion of cash

buyers has risen sharply. In 2010they accounted for 25 per cent ofproperty transactions; this increasedto more than 60 per cent during early2013, and the figures suggest thatmore than half the propertiespurchased during the last threemonths of 2014 were paid for withcash.While some of this can be

accounted for by people “downsizing,”there is clear evidence of activity byinstitutional investors, such as theReal Estate Investment Trust, andinternational investors.The Central Bank report also refers

to the opportunities presented by thewave of repossessions, stating thatthese vulture funds are responding to“the opportunities available for low-cost acquisitions (including purchasesof property assets from receivers or byway of auctions).”Cash sales as a proportion of the

total have risen steadily in recentyears, with a growing number ofacquisitions by speculativeinternational asset managementgroups using “special-purposevehicles” (SPVs) and off-the-shelfcompanies. Recent research hasshown that of fourteen SPVsexamined, seven had submittedaccounts to the CompaniesRegistration Office in Dublin. Theseseven companies managed betweenthem €4.13 billion in assets and had€278 billion in income in the lastyear.

The combined tax bill for theseseven companies was €3,250. Evena low-paid worker pays more tax thanthese capitalists. Repayments tolinked offshore companies—i.e. in taxhavens—amounted to €149 millionfor the same period.The high number of cash buyers

has contributed to the surge in houseprices, with wealthy investors andfunds and their increased purchasingpower increasingly pricing ordinarybuyers out of the market.So long as shelter is treated as a

commodity, and available only if youcan purchase it—if you have thecapacity to sustain personal debt forthirty or forty years, or to payextortionate rent—then you will standin line.The state, while paying lip service

to its responsibility to providehousing, is in fact aiding and abettingin the commodification of shelter. Thiswithdrawal by the state is part of itsproject of privatising all the publicservices it was forced to develop, toallow new avenues for capitalinvestment and speculation, to enrichspeculators, whether national orinternational, and to help sustain thesystem itself.When this state was in a much

weaker position in the 1930s, 40s,and 50s, tens of thousands ofpublicly owned houses and flats werebuilt. Today this state is richer thanever before. The political pressureneeds to be built for the building ofpublic housing that cannot be soldon.There is simply only one

solution to the housing crisis,and that is to remove theprovision of shelter from themarket.

politics

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Seán Joseph Clancy

I’M WRITING just a short fewhours after the definitivepeace deal between the

Colombian government andFARC-EP rebels was signed here,bringing an end to decades ofwar that have left more than aquarter of a million dead andmillions more hurt, harmed, anddisplaced.Over the course of the four years of

the Havana talks, FARC-EP have beenin transition from a formidable rebelguerrilla force to a pragmatic andrelevant social movement to engagethe enemy in a battle of ideas.Many disfranchised Colombians have

only ever interacted with their statethrough its repressive and land-grabbing military and paramilitary terrorapparatus.FARC-EP have their work cut out.

Colombia is a very real example of themisery, horror and desperation thatunbridled neo-liberalism and collusionwith North American imperialismunapologetically and inevitablyprovokes.For an Irishman with some interest in

politics generally, the only thing I canthink of to say about Éamon Gilmorebeing the EU’s special envoy to theprocess is that his presence at thesigning struck me as both ironic and abit bizarre. He seems obviously now thestuff of the Colombian government’sside, both in the Havana talks and intheir broader politics, something thatmight have seemed sacrilegious tosuggest once upon a time.It brought to mind also the sad,

offensive and confounding news filteringout about Sinn Féin’s dalliance withyouth-wing fascist thugs fromNetanyahu’s Zionist apartheid party—an equally long trip from the principledgrass roots as that of the special envoybut, for this republican at least, onebeing taken down more disturbing anddistressing paths.There is no peace-process jargon or

trendy New Age Blair-speak to justifywhat would have been akin toentertaining known associates (andmembers) of the Shankill Butchersbefore their victims had been laid torest.Courageous risk-taking to promote

peace and dialogue is generally a goodthing; courting a vicious enemy is not.The “forward-thinking” hybrid of NGO

and think tank that “facilitated” thetrip—supposedly, and possibly,promoted by the Palestinian Authority—would be difficult to differentiate fromsimilar USAID clones that serve the veryestablishments whose murder, tortureand abuse supposedly brought SinnFéin’s leadership into politics.Now, having gone from Havana to

the Shankill via Jerusalem, I better atleast try to finish with somethingvaguely Cuban, and closer to what I’msupposed to contribute!Cuba finished in 18th place on the

final Rio Olympics medals table, aheadof many richer, larger and better-resourced countries, such as Canada,with 5 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze.Three gold and a total of five medalswere taken by the ten-member boxingteam, ensuring that boxing remainsCuba’s sports flagship.Although it’s less than the sports

authorities and the public here werehoping for, this tally is quite anachievement for a small, blockadedThird World country, where participationin sport in a basic human right.Fidel stepped out to celebrate his

ninetieth birthday at the iconic KarlMarx Theatre in Havana, where acultural gala was held in his honour. Helooks all of his ninety years and isobviously feeble physically, but his mindis still sharp and strong. He wrote anarticle for the press on the occasion.Fidel’s brother Raúl, only five years

his junior, really is remarkable for hisage, and there is very little about hisappearance, demeanour, work rate orperformance to suggest that his yearsare an issue in his steering of thecountry.History was truly kind to Cuba by

ensuring that the moment when Fidelhad to exit the political stage the long-awaited void and expected upheavalthat its enemies had craved neverhappened. Raúl was calmly andconstitutionally elected as the fourthCuban president (not the second, asmany believe) since the Revolutiontriumphed in 1959.When his time comes to retire there

is nothing to suggest that the nexttransition will not be both as wise andas orderly as the last.

Letter from Trinidad de Cuba Political statementCommunist Party of IrelandAt a meeting of the National Executive Committee of theCommunist Party of Ireland in late August the politicalsituation was discussed and evaluated.The fall-out from the vote of the people within the British

state to leave the European Union continues to sowconfusion and division within the EU itself, and withinBritain, as well as among the Irish establishment.British finance capital, centred on the City of London,

has not given up the possibility of reversing the democraticdecision of the majority of people within that state to leavethe EU. It will continue in its attempts to undermine thepeople’s wishes in order to secure its own interests and itsposition within EU and global finance capital.The Irish establishment is clearly worried about the

possible consequences of the British state leaving the EUand the effect this might have on the movement of bothgoods and people between Britain and Ireland. Britain hasalways been the principal market for Irish agriculturalproducts and also for the dispersing of the surpluspopulation for whom the Irish ruling class were and areunable to provide jobs, homes, services or educationalopportunities since its foundation. The fall-out has alsoexposed the establishment’s subservient relationship to theinterests and needs of the EU and global monopolycapitalism.The debate preceding the Brexit vote exposed the very

real subservience of sections of the Irish labour movement,north and south, to the European Union. Decades offunding dependence have blurred their understanding ofthe real nature of the EU. A similar blurred understandinghas also been exposed among many other socialorganisations that have come to rely on EU funds. The realmarginalising of the people in the north-east of our countryand their removal from having any real or meaningfulcontrol over their lives and the decisions that affect theirlives has been further exposed. Fiscal powers for theAssembly would constitute an advance in this direction andmake it possible to hold the Assembly parties to accountfor their decisions.All the weight of the Irish trade union movement needs

to be brought to bear upon the Northern Executive todemand that the Irish and British states make up for anypossible loss of funding that may ensue if and when theBritish state withdraws from the EU.A debate about whether the Irish state should remain

within the euro zone is now an urgent necessity. It is in thepeople’s interests to break out of this fiscal and politicalstraitjacket.The workers’ movement here in Ireland and throughout

the European Union needs to use the limited window ofopportunity now presented with the Brexit vote and thedivisions that have opened up to press its own demands,which are of vital interest to workers throughout the EU.The workers’ movement needs to step up the demand for

greater national control over economic and fiscal policies,ensuring that national democracy and sovereignty are notmere slogans but are essential tools for bringing about thereal economic, social and political changes that arerequired to meet the people’s political and economicdemands.

Once we were afflicted with anuncompromising Unionist regime thatgoverned the Six Counties with scantregard for democracy, creating miseryfor many. In its place we now have anadministration that appears intentinstead on making itself a byword forbanality and ridicule.The Lords Craig and Brookeborough

must be turning in their marble tombswith the state they created now home

to what might charitably be describedas a political circus. For pure farce itwould be difficult to outdo the mostrecent brouhaha following revelationsthat a Sinn Féin MLA had coached ayoung flag-waving loyalist, JamieBryson, before he gave evidence at acommittee hearing investigating theNAMA scandal.The only redeeming feature of the

affair was the MLA’s immediate andexemplary resignation when he wasfound to have transgressed—an act ofintegrity almost unprecedented inNorthern political life, where a mule-headed refusal to accept blame for anymisconduct is more often the norm.As well as the titillation provided by

the Namagate coaching scandal,Stormont’s second coming contributesdaily to the surrealism that surroundsAssembly business, indicating that it is

more about optics than substance.Deprived of overall or full authority, inlarge part because of the absence offiscal control, the Assembly—or theExecutive at any rate—is now strivingto maintain its existence at all costs,often paying less attention to livingconditions for its electorate than to itsown fortunes.One result of this is that the two

main parties have agreed on a curiousmodus vivendi that provides for adistinctly Northern version ofbicameralism. But instead of havingtwo chambers, Stormont has in effecttwo arenas: one for designated areasof public disagreement and the otherproviding an underlying consensus oneconomic policy.Readers of this paper hardly need

reminding of the often-reported areasof disagreement in the North. Lessobvious, perhaps, is the extent towhich a neo-liberal consensusunderpinning the political institutionshas led to a virtual policy convergenceon economic matters.Just how close the two main parties

are in these matters was shownrecently in a joint letter from the firstminster, Arlene Foster, and deputy firstminister, Martin McGuinness, to theBritish prime minister, Theresa May.¹ Inspite of angry denials, the first minsterhad apparently performed a dramaticU-turn in relation to the EuropeanUnion. Notwithstanding herenthusiastic support (and that of herparty) for the Brexit campaign to leavethe EU, Foster has, in the letter toDowning Street, shifted her position onthe EU to one that appears not unlike

Tommy McKearney

HOW OFTEN have we heard the phrase fromMarx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of LouisBonaparte, that history repeats itself, “first

as tragedy, then as farce”? That the axiom isoverused is hardly surprising, as it has beenproved accurate so often, and rarely more sothan when applied to the present administrationin Stormont.

History repeating itself

A communistairbrushedfrom historyMichael Healy

NOT ONLY has FrankConroy slipped throughthe cracks of history and

memory but he left nothingbehind: no letters or diaries; henamed no next of kin. What’smore, Ireland was a cold housefor left-wing republicans in the1930s and 40s, withcommunists interned withouttrial in the Curragh Camp duringthe Second World War.The families of volunteers who

fought in the InternationalBrigades had to keep their headsdown and were anxious not to

draw attention to themselves.The stories of Frank Conroy andsimilar young communists fadedfrom family memory and wereconveniently airbrushed fromhistory by the establishment.In the winter of 2014 the

Kildare historian James Durneywrote that he had foundConroy’s birthplace. “He wasborn on 25 February 1914, inKilcullen, Co. Kildare, andbaptised on 1 March 1914. Hisparents were Michael Conroy(born in Co. Laois) and CatherineFarrell (born in Co. Dublin). Theymarried in Dublin South in1908. Michael Conroy was abaker by trade and in the 1911Census he was living with hiswife and two children, John (2)and Mary, an infant, in theGuinness Trust Buildings, inPatrick Street, Dublin. MichaelConroy moved his family to Co.Kildare shortly after, probablys Frank Conroy, killed in Spain on 28 December 1936

page 5 Socialist Voice

that of Sinn Féin. The extent of herabout-turn is evidenced by no less thanfour references in the letter to thebenefits supposedly accruing toNorthern Ireland from membership ofthe EU.While the first minister was being

ridiculed by her political opponents andsome of the media for her remarkablepolitical somersault, the deputy firstminister’s party managed to perform ano less dexterous manoeuvre, albeitone that drew much less publicattention. As well as reversing its long-standing opposition to the free-marketEuropean Union, Sinn Féin in the letterto Theresa May appears to indicatethat it has adopted a pro-businessposition vis-à-vis workers and wages.The jointly agreed and signed

communiqué contains a request forpolicies that should be “sufficientlyflexible to allow access to unskilled aswell as highly skilled labour.”Elaborating on this point, the lettersays that this was necessary becauseemployers in the private and publicsectors are heavily dependent on EUand other migrant labour.Whether Sinn Féin care to admit it or

not, there is nothing transformative orprogressive about this stance. There islittle doubt that this will not play out asan enlightened appeal to welcomeworkers from abroad. In NorthernIreland’s depressed economy this is astrategy for lowering wages that arealready among the lowest in the UnitedKingdom.Both parties in the Stormont

Executive would probably claim, withsome little justification, that they are

restricted by the terms of the NorthernIreland Act (1998)—i.e. devolvedpowers—and by the amount in theirannual block grant from London.²Nevertheless, this is to ignore the

fact that there are several areas, suchas health, housing, and economicdevelopment, over which the localAssembly has authority. Significantimprovements could be made in allthese areas were it not for thisunspoken but undisguised neo-liberalconsensus.Take just one area, that of the

National Health Service in the SixCounties. Even allowing for financialrestrictions imposed by the finite blockgrant, there is no good reason whyStormont doesn’t act to removeprivatisation from this service.Nor is this a purely ideologically

inspired suggestion. Late last year theBBC in Belfast reported that careservices for the elderly in their homeenvironment were at breaking point.³The report makes for grim reading, withone care worker reporting that all toooften they can only spend a barefifteen minutes per day with theirelderly and often weak patients.Disturbingly, the report also states

that there are more than threehundred private domiciliary contractorsin Northern Ireland, while care workersexperience the lowest average hourlyrate paid for domiciliary care in theUnited Kingdom.This surely raises the question, What

need is served by having three privatemiddlemen (or any middlemen), and atwhat cost to patients and careworkers?

Supporters of the Executive will claimthat this is the price to be paid formaintaining the political institutions inthe North, implying by extension thatthis is a necessary part of maintainingpeace. However well intentioned, thisis a mistaken argument, as the statusquo in Stormont is, above all else,preserving sectarianised institutionsserving a failing state.Ultimately the solution to this

problem rests in replacing the flawedand failed institutions on both sides ofthe border with the establishment of aworkers’ republic. This should not beinterpreted to mean that we have topostpone challenging the NorthernExecutive’s neo-liberal programme inthe here and now. Building a workers’state is not something that comesabout spontaneously or withoutstruggle. Highlighting the flaws withincapitalism and campaigning toovercome even some of them areimportant aspects of that struggle.The Northern state’s political

institutions may indeed have becomesomething of a farce, but the realtragedy would be if we fail to exposethem, or hesitate to organiseresistance to these injustices.

1 Letter to Prime Minister from FirstMinister and Deputy FirstMinister, 10 August 2016, athttp://bit.ly/2b2LFPL.2 Devolution Settlement: NorthernIreland, at http://bit.ly/2cdLZ1F.3 Marie-Louise Connolly, “Elderly homecare services in NI ‘atbreaking point’,” BBC News, 29October 2015.

for employment reasons, asthere was a large bakery,O’Connell’s, operating inKilcullen.”Frank Conroy, like many of his

generation, was born intopoverty on the eve of thetwentieth century. Initiallyjoining the IRA in the 1930s, helater converted to Marxism andbecame involved in theRepublican Congress. He wasactive in street battles againstthe fascist Blueshirts, and aboutthis time he volunteered to jointhe International Brigade,determined to defend theSpanish Republic againstFranco’s rebellion.This former IRA volunteer,

now a member of theCommunist Party, set sail onthe Holyhead ferry on 13December 1936, alongsideother Irish volunteers of theInternational Brigade, including

Frank Ryan and Frank Edwards.(Frank was the father of SeánEdwards, lifelong CPI member.)Frank Conroy crossed the

border into Spain with FrankRyan on 14 December, withstopovers in Barcelona andValencia. He arrived in Albacete,the main base of theInternational Brigade, in themorning of 17 December 1936.At Lopera in Córdoba the

Irish in the new 15thInternational Brigade went intoaction in the FrenchInternational Battalion, sentsouth on Christmas Eve, 1936. On 28 December they

advanced uphill to a town wherethey were bombed by enemyplanes and heavily machine-gunned. The fighting here wasfierce. Even an experienced

commissar like Ralph Fox waskilled, as well as the poet John

Cornford, as were Frank Conroy,Johnny Meehan, Henry Boner,Jim Foley, Tony Fox, Leo Green,Michael Nolan, Michael May,and Tommy Woods. Frank Ryanwrote of Frank Conroy that he“fought like a hero the sameday.”On 16 December 2012 the

Frank Conroy Committee heldits first commemoration. Themain speaker was the SpanishCivil War historian Harry Owens,who said: “Why did these Irishrepublicans and leftists, such asFrank Conroy, go to fight inSpain? Frank Ryan was asked this by

the Gestapo when he wascaptured in March 1937.‘Because it’s the same fight inboth places,’ Ryan replied.”Frank Conroy’s body, and

those of his comrades, liessomewhere in the hills aroundLopera today.

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Jimmy Doran

THERE HAS been a lot oftalk lately aboutimmigration, arising mainly

from the Brexit vote and therefugee crisis. What is not beingsaid is that immigration hasalways been used as a means ofexploiting the most needy peopleof the world. Immigrants providea large pool of labour, ready tobe exploited by the unscrupulousbusiness class and to drive downthe wages of the existing localwork force.There is totally unrestricted

movement of capital from the richcountries of the global north to thepoor and underdeveloped countries of

the global south and back again,swollen massively by the profits madethrough the super-exploitation of locallabour. On the other hand, theworkers who created these massiveprofits that are transferred daily fromthe south to the north face hugerestrictions if they want to make thesame journey: the numbers of peopleallowed in is restricted to the needs ofcapital.At the beginning of the twentieth

century, 70 million Europeans went toAmerica, Canada, Argentina, Brazil anda host of other countries around theglobe without restrictions. Thisamounted to 17 per cent of theEuropean population leaving, or one insix of every man, woman, and child. Ifan equivalent percentage were to leave

the global south today and head norththis would amount to 800 millionpeople. The actual amount is 0.8 percent, which flatly contradicts thegrossly exaggerated numbers beingbandied about by xenophobicpoliticians and the mass media in theimperialist world.Those who do succeed in getting

past the restrictions invariably end upin low-paid precarious employment,with all the problems associated withthis, such as slum housing, poverty,poor diet, and low life expectancy, withthe added disadvantage of being in aforeign place.Exploitation is the foundation

stone of the capitalist system,and it will stop at nothing to reapits benefits.

Eoghan M. Ó Néill

NEW YORK’S Statue ofLiberty bears aninscription from the Emma

Lazarus poem “New Colossus.”It reads: “Give me your tired,your poor, your huddled massesyearning to breathe free.”Whatever the case a century ago,

today this is a lie.A century ago, Europe was on the

move. Seventy million Europeansmigrated, totalling 17 per cent of theEuropean population. If immigrationfrom the global south were to equalthat rate of movement more than 800million people would have migratednorth since the end of the SecondWorld War, resulting in a populationbump in the imperialist centre of 70per cent. In reality there has only beena pitiful movement of people from theglobal south of about 0.8 per cent.Hardly an invasion of hordes!It is necessary to understand the

driving force behind forced economicmigrations, and who really benefits.The level of forced economic migrationwe are now facing is not a historicalquirk: it is the response to realeconomic pressures.Nor is the resolving of forced

economic immigration simply a matterof social justice. It is necessary tounderstand what are the economicforces that are at play, and torecognise that we do not have animmigration crisis but a crisis of

capitalism. To correctly frameimmigration as a crisis of capitalismgives us a starting-point from which toanalysis the issue.Forced economic immigration did not

arise from nowhere. To understand itwe need to trace the recentdevelopment of capitalist economics.In an effort to stimulate economicgrowth and secure greater profits,capitalism transferred huge swathes ofindustrial production in the 1970s fromthe imperialist centre of North America,western Europe and Japan to thedeveloping economies of the globalsouth—to the extent that at present73 per cent of industrial production isnow based in the global south, and 84per cent of the world’s industrialwealth-producing workers live there.This has had a massive impact on

both regions. In the global north, highlyskilled, well-paid and unionised labourwas devastated by huge job losses.Skilled industrial workers were replacedwith low-skill, low-wage and poorlyunionised service workers.Transferring production to the global

south allowed for the reorganisation ofproduction processes so that industrialdevelopment could be controlled bymonopolistic transnationalcorporations. The fragmentation ofcomponent production among differentfactories, in different countries, withseparate assembly sites and monopolycontrol of design, distribution networksand retail outlets ensured thatindustrial development in the global

south could not threaten the northernoligopolies and their domination overthe global market.The control of industrial production

brought with it access to cheap rawmaterials and cheap labour andresulted in massive internal migrationto the slums of mega-cities, such asMumbai and Kinshasa, swelling theranks of the global reserve army oflabour, which now stands at 65 percent of the work force in the globalsouth.By means of the weapons of global

labour arbitrage and promotingaggressive competition between localcapitalists, monopolistic transnationalcorporations have used this reservearmy of labour of 3.1 billion people todepress wages in both the global southand the global north. In 2015 morethan half the world’s population wassurviving on $2 per day, and a quarterwere barely surviving on less than this.In his article “The plunder of the

poor” in the July issue of SocialistVoice, Jimmy Doran describes theeconomic rape of workers in the globalsouth: “From these sweatshops in theglobal south half a trillion euros isrepatriated to the global north everyyear . . . in wealth transferred from thepoorest countries on the planet to therichest, created by the slave wagespaid to local workers.”Transnational corporations, aided

and abetted by imperialist states andtheir comprador agents, are extractingsuper-profits from the workers in the

Capitalism and migration

Socialist Voice page 7

There is another group of immigrantswho are most welcome in the richnorth, at a catastrophic cost to theirhome countries. These are the young,well-educated people: the doctors,engineers, and anyone else whoseeducation can be taken advantage of.These people have been educated at

enormous social cost to their homecountries as an investment in its futuredevelopment. Once they are suitablyqualified, the greedy north wants thebenefit of their education, free ofcharge. Today more and more highlyeducated people working in the globalnorth have had their education paid forby some of the poorest countries in theworld, with devastating effects. Thisleads to a massive brain drain from thesouth to the north, their youngest andbrightest abandoning their countries ofbirth; and the only ones benefiting fromthis are the exploiters.The number of graduates leaving the

global south for OECD countries ismind-boggling. A few examples:Jamaica 46 per cent, Zimbabwe 43 percent, Guyana a staggering 90 per cent.The brain drain of medical

professionals in particular is most feltand most damaging, resulting in large-scale health problems and deaths forthe countries they leave. This exodus ofmedical people is largely forced on thepoor nations of the global south as partof “structural adjustment programmes”imposed by our old friends the IMF andthe World Bank in the form of austerityand bail-out deals on their debt, whichinevitably include huge cuts to nationalhealth services and a completeembargo on recruitment, as we’ve seenhere over the last number of years. Thishas led to an exodus of healthprofessionals, who are welcomed withopen arms to the greedy north. Notravel restrictions here!To illustrate the devastation and

deaths these policies have caused,here are a few statistics:There are more doctors from Malawi

working in the city of Manchester thanthere are in the whole of Malawi itself.From 1995 to 2004 Tanzania lost 78

per cent of its doctors to OECDcountries, reducing the number of itsphysicians from 4 per 100,000 peopleto 0.7 per 100,000.

In the United States there are 250physicians per 100,000 people (whichis actually lower than Ireland’s ratio of267 per 100,000—and people knowhow inadequate this is); it isheartbreaking to imagine what a ratioof 0.7 can manage to achieve. The factthat this was inflicted by a “structuraladjustment programme” imposed bythe World Bank, from an already lowfigure, must be bordering on a crimeagainst humanity.The number of physicians per

100,000 of population in most OECDcountries is about 250; the formersocialist states are higher, averagingabout 350.There is one exception to all this: it

is, of course, Cuba. Despite its verylimited resources, Cuba is able to have647 doctors per 100,000 citizens. Itgoes to show what can be done whenthe wealth of the country is invested inthe interests of the whole of thepopulation rather than a handful of fatcats, and what is achievable undersocialism.Another world is needed. Together we

can make it possible.

global south. Marxist economists, suchas Samir Amin and John Smith, havedescribed the exploitative imperialistrent and the super-exploitation ofworkers. In his book Imperialism in the21st Century, Smith demonstrates thatthe imperialist states themselves havetheir snout in the trough of super-exploitation, taking an imperialist rentby means of VAT on products producedcheaply in the global south and sold atsuper-profits in the global north.It is strategies employed by

monopoly capitalism, in pursuit ofexpanding imperialist hegemony, super-profits and control of the global marketthat are driving the movement ofpeople fleeing dire poverty to seek adecent living. But it is not an open-door policy based on the freemovement of people: rather it is acontrolled manipulation designed tocater to the needs of the imperialistcentre’s internal labour market, to filllabour gaps and to depress wages, toallow imperialist economies to cherry-pick from the pool of skilled labourand, where necessary, to allowrestricted access for low-skilled labour.To speak of open-door policies and

the free movement of labour is toignore the building of an Israeli-typewall along the Rio Grande and the anti-immigrant fences being erected all overFortress Europe, and fails to addressthe cynical global manipulation ofpeople in pursuit of profit.The imperialist economies now have

an internal reserve army of labour of

26 per cent of their available workforce. With the exception of the needsof individual states, they generally donot require low-skilled workers—indeedthe internal environment of austerity isdriving the precariousness of labourwithin these economies, adding to thedomestic reserve army of labour.The imperialist centre is more

interested in cherry-picking skilledlabour from the global south to putdownward pressure on the wages andworking conditions of their own skilledwork force.In the article “The left and

immigration,” also in July’s SocialistVoice, Nicola Lawlor poses thequestion of what the left’s response toimmigration ought to be. While Idisagree with some of her pointsregarding the free movement of labour,I do agree with the statement thatcapitalism is an inhumane and barbaricsystem that seeks to “create division,sows hatred and fear . . .” and thatthere is an obligation on the left torespond.Lawlor’s article seeks to provoke a

necessary discussion on the left andimmigration. Facing into this question,it ought to be noted that the vastmajority of migrants are driven byeconomic necessity. Therein lies theclue to challenging this phenomenon ofcapitalist exploitation: it should be toeconomics that we turn to seek asolution.However, there is a caveat. The only

viable solution is the overthrow of

capitalist economics. This requiresworkers in the global north and theglobal south to work together, asneither can do it alone. Samir Aminmakes this point when he states:“There will be no exit from capitalismsolely by way of the struggle of thepeople of the North, or solely by thedominated people of the South. Therewill only be an exit from capitalism ifand when these two dimensions of thechallenge combine with one another.”So we in the north need to work out

our strategies for contributing to theliberation of ourselves and of ourcomrades in the global south.Fighting for the socialisation of all

economic activity is one strand of ourstrategy; deepening democracy withina clear socialist perspective is another,attacking the EU imperialist entity andstopping the exploitative tradeagreements such as CETA, TTIP, TTP,and TISA, which will hurt workers in thenorth but will devastate our comradesin the global south, unmasking thereality of monopoly capitalism andworking to raise the consciousness ofour class through education andaction.The last two lines of Emma Lazarus’s

poem read:“Send these, the homeless,

tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden

door.”The lamp has long gone out, and the

golden door is guarded by the militarymight of the imperial guard.

Socialist Voice page 8

Miriam Montes Mock

ANA BELÉN MONTES madea decision to obey herconscience rather than

obey the law. And actingaccording to her conscienceresulted in a 25-year sentenceto a high-security Americanprison.From outside, the buildings look like

a concrete tomb-coloured compound.Their perimeter is surrounded by a stripof vibrant green grass, seemingly intenton highlighting sensations stimulatedby the desolate spaces behind.From within, there is no way to

interact with the world without. Thereare almost no windows to look outfrom and momentarily escape thestench of urine and excrement within.The dull, white, monotonous walls of

the Carswell Federal Medical Centerhold a prisoner unique among those ofthe general population. Women herescream, scratch, bite, kick, destroyand go increasingly insane until theysurrender to crave a release thantcanonly ever be realised in death. Bycontrast, this prisoner has foundrefuge in a protective cocoon, withinwhich she does not need to die andfrom which everything can be seen,heard, and felt . . .Ana Belén Montes has somehow

managed to preserve the soul thatalways defined her—or at least thatessential part of it that shuddered inthe face of injustice and opted to showsolidarity with its victims. She still hasher vibrant eyes and her open heart.For more than fourteen years Ana

has had to survive this hell calledCarswell. She awakens to face a newday replicating exactly every one thatwent before, bereft of any contact withnature, any loving family or friendlyembrace, any meaningful dialogue, orthe slightest trace of anything thatmight make life seem worth while.Thankfully, her conscience breathes

serenity, assured that it could not bestill had she decided not to defend thepeople of Cuba, a nation she knewwas being grossly abused by another, anation all-powerful and dominant,provoked by Cuba—the other—forhaving decided to construct its ownsystem of government.Back in 1985, Ana Belén Montes

had a job with the Defense IntelligenceAgency. Having completed a master’sdegree in international relations atJohns Hopkins University, she herselfhad applied for the job there.Ana had been an outstanding

scholar. A few short years previouslyshe had been awarded her bachelor’sdegree in foreign relations by theUniversity of Virginia.

Her intelligence, capacity foranalytical thought and strong sense ofresponsibility ensured promotions toever more important posts. She wasassigned to Bolling Air Force Base inWashington, where she worked as anintelligence research specialist. By1992 Ana was working at thePentagon as an analyst, and at thetime of her arrest in 2001 she was ahigh-ranking expert Cuba analyst.Ana Belén Montes understood what

drives the ideological motor of themost powerful state on earth. Sheknew the lengths it goes to to imposeits interests on foreign shores. USinterventions in Latin Americancountries go back as far as the stateitself does. Nicaragua, Guatemala, El

Salvador, Mexico, Chile, the DominicanRepublic, Puerto Rico and others havesuffered the illicit interference of NorthAmerican governments.Ana kept all this history filed in the

archives of her mind as she workeddeep within what José Martí describedas the entrails of a monster, at a timewhen the United States had beeninflicting punishments on the Cubanpeople for more than thirty years.Today, Cuba has endured more thanfifty years of that same aggression andhostility.Ana could have decided to take a

longer view of things. After all, she wasnot even Cuban. She could haveremained as indifferent as others had;she might have stayed silent and kept

Ana Belén Montes: prisoner of conscience

A presentationon Ana BelénMontesto the 8thContinentalGathering inSolidarity with Cuba

Translated bySeán JosephClancy

page 9 Socialist Voice

to just doing her job. She might havedecided not to involve herself withsomething seemingly impossible tochange. But her gut tightened everytime she became aware of the crimesher state was perpetrating againstCuba. One criminal act on top ofanother.Ana valiantly chose to take the road

less travelled. She knowingly took aterrible risk and gambled with herliberty and with her life. She wasmoved by that same craving forrighteous justice that had movedMartin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi,Simón Bolívar, Nelson Mandela, andcountless other heroic men andwomen throughout history.Ana Belén Montes knowingly chose

the unique path she took and gave ofherself with the same unbreakablemoral commitment in the face ofwrong that they had done. Deepwithin, they were motivated by thesame humanitarian desires that obligedthem to raise their voice and clenchtheir fists. Principles that define us ashuman and neighbourly resonated intheir hearts.These also evoked a profound sense

of dignity in defence of the right toself-determination, in resistance tooverwhelming political odds, and inundoing injustices committed by thehand of an oppressor.Ana was perhaps unaware then that

she had become part of a tradition ofregional liberation struggle, dating backmore than a century from the times ofRamón Emeterio Betances. TheAntillian Confederation was thenendeavouring to bring Europeancolonialism in the region to an end byuniting the Greater Antilles in a bodythat would preserve the sovereignty ofCuba, Puerto Rico, and the DominicanRepublic.Among the ranks of patriots who had

embraced the same ideals of solidarityas Betances were Eugenio María deHostos, José Martí, Gregorio Luperón,Juan Rius Rivera, Pedro AlbizuCampos, Juan Antonio CorretjerMontes, Juan Mari Brás, and RubénBerríos. Their struggle continues.On 16 July 1867 the Revolutionary

Committee of Puerto Rico issued thefollowing proclamation: “Cubans andPuerto Ricans, let us unite our forcesand work together, we are brothersjoined by a common misfortune. Weare also one in Revolution for theindependence of Cuba and PuertoRico! From this the Confederation ofthe Antilles will be formed tomorrow.”Ana Belén Montes was born in

Germany to Puerto Rican parents andwas brought up in the United States. Itmay have been the revolutionary DNAof her forebears that inspired her to

risk her life in defence of Cuba’sinalienable right to self-determination,in the face of threats imposed by NorthAmerican imperialism.Ana found that she encountered an

opportunity in her very own hands. TheUS establishment was planning furtheroutrages against Cuba, and Ana had todecide between taking action andholding her tongue. She could be partof this planned aggression, or shecould act to impede such criminal acts.She was frightened, and was fully

aware of the consequences of whatshe was going to do. If discovered, sheknew she faced a life sentence—andquite possibly a death sentence. AndAna would not get any material rewardin return for taking such a risk. Nomoney, no privileges, no favours, andno recognition, only the loneliness thatis an essential element of clandestineduties, which demand the utmostdiscretion and the fear of being caught.In the end it was the voice of Ana’s

own conscience that was the mostcompelling, and she found the courageto act accordingly. She did whatevershe could to protect Cuba from stateterrorism organised and financed bythe United States. This was her crime.Ana Belén Montes was arrested at

her place of work on 21 September2001. Security agents had brought awheelchair with them in case it wouldbe needed. Stoic and silent, Anawalked erect and held her head high.She was brought before an American

court one year later, on 16 October2002. Having entered a guilty plea oncharges of spying for Cuba’sIntelligence Directorate, she wassentenced to twenty-five years in amaximum-security prison.In her own dignified manner she

read into the court record theprinciples and values that had obligedher to protect the Cuban people fromhostile US policy. “Your honour, Iengaged in the activities for which Ihave been brought before you todaybecause I obeyed my consciencebefore I obeyed the law. I consider ourgovernment’s policy on Cuba to beunjust, cruel, and profoundly unfriendly.I felt morally obliged to help the Islanddefend itself against efforts to imposeour values and political system on it.”Ana Belén is a cousin of mine; and

even though we lived in differentcountries—she in the United Statesand I in Puerto Rico—we have alwayskept in touch and often spentsummertimes together.I have admired Ana ever since I was

a little girl. I remember her as studious,as having a reflective attitude, and forbeing discreet. She was affectionate toher parents, her siblings, hergrandmother, and her aunts. Her

kindness and sensitivity always touchedme, as did her thoughtfulness and herconsideration for her family.My respect for my cousin grew with

time. I could perceive her sense ofethics, her ability to show solidaritywith those less fortunate, and aninnate favourable disposition towardsothers.One summer, when Ana must only

have been sixteen or seventeen, shewas inspired while staying at our hometo give some of her own money to ayoung engaged couple who were notwell off. She didn’t know them, andshe hadn’t been invited to thewedding, but she was nonethelessmoved by kind-heartedness toanonymously ease their financialburden as best she could.I could see that such acts reflected

an attitude to life very different fromthose promoted by consumeristsocieties, which concentrate on theephemeral, on the importance of selfand on hedonism.During another summer that Ana

had come to stay I noticed one daythat she was dressed all in black.When I asked why, Ana answered thather best friend’s father had died andthat she “wanted to be with her.”Through anonymous gestures like

these, Ana showed solidarity with thosewho suffered.When Ana came to Puerto Rico, the

beach was a compulsory destination.She loved swimming, sunbathing,eating fresh pineapple, and drinkingcoconut water. She loved the companyof her cousins, especially the mostlight-hearted and funny of them. Shemade sure to call on her aunts, hergrandmother, and her grandaunts. Shebrought them presents, and she wasalways affectionate.Since her imprisonment, more than

fourteen years ago, we write to eachother as often as we can. We have, Iconfess, become even closer to eachother than we previously were. Ourletters are embraces from afar, writtenwords that become a luxurious way toshare the ups and downs of life witheach other, Ana from the confines ofan oppressive physical underworld andI from a vast and unlocked openness.But the human spirit cannot be

confined by walls, and the words thatwe exchange are understood. Mydreams and hers find each other andconnect, as do Ana’s thoughts andloves—loves that have been trulytested under fire.Her ability to listen attentively, to give

life and feeling to words, to respond tothe pain of others and to become partof the solution have enriched my life.

continued overleaf

Ana BelénMontesunderstoodwhat drivesthe ideologicalmotor of themost powerfulstate on earth.

continued from page 9

But Ana has given me somethingeven greater still. Her conduct hasbeen an example of courage andhumility. She has bestowed upon methe true privilege of being hercompanion, of also “dressing in blackto be with her,” behind the bars of hercell.Ana Belén will overcome. She lives

by those same principles that havedefined her life. So when, on 17December 2014, President BarackObama said that “these past fifty yearshave shown us that isolation does notwork and that now it is time for a newstrategy,” Ana’s heart leapt.She is by no means naïve and knows

that the United States will try to realiseits same old objectives but for now withsprinkles of honey rather than ofvinegar.She nonetheless considers Obama’s

moves to be the first towards a possiblereconciliation between two neighbouringstates. This for Ana is nothing morethan a sign that her vision of friendshipbetween two the countries may haverecently begun to come true.It is loyalty to her own ideals that

helps Ana resist. This is something thatcannot be denied. I believe that Ana’sconscience offers her solace in herisolation. I am certain that, despite theinfernal world surrounding her, it fills herwith an infinite sense of serenity.The words that Ana read help her to

resist. She is an avid reader of whatothers write. She learns, analyses, andforms and expresses opinions. Shereads history, politics, spirituality anduniversal truths in words written forchildren. She has recently beencharmed by both the former Uruguayanpresident José Mujica and PopeFrancis, whose depth, simplicity andidentification with the most unfortunatehave moved her.Ana resists through contemplation

and an appreciation of the naturalbeauty in the documentaries she cansee in prison. Such things remind herthat a harmonious world exists beyondthe walls of her prison, and she findsspace in her soul for this wonderfulworld. She knows that, despite theinjustices she has borne witness to,human kindness is also a reality.And she has suddenly become aware

that she is loved by a growingcommunity of brothers and sisters inCuba, Puerto Rico, France, Brazil, Italy,Ireland, the United States, Canada, theDominican Republic, Chile, Argentinaand other countries who support andidentify with the principles shedefended. It is with certainty I can say

that this has lifted her spirits.Ana can be emotional, and she

sheds tears when she feels the forcesbehind such emotional embraces. Sheis moved by the knowledge that hercause is that of a much broader andtranscendental ideal than that of herown liberation.Ana’s cause is that of a reconciliation

process between two nations, twopeoples, and all citizens of the world,even in the face of their diverse ways oflife. As she, inspired by an old Italianproverb, said, “The world is just onecountry.”Ana loves Cuba but loves just causes

above all else. She protected Cubabecause it happened to be the countrybeing harassed by the more powerfuland hostile one. If things had been theother way around, if Cuba or PuertoRico had been the powerful andabusive countries, Ana would have thendefended the United States.Ana does not want fame or notoriety.

She is uncomfortable being hailed as aheroine or being branded asexceptional. In her own mind she actedas she was personally obliged to do,and could not have done otherwise.She did as Cuban doctors did when, inspite of the risks, they felt obliged tooffer their services to Ebola sufferers inwest Africa. They did not seek to beremembered by history as heroes. Inassuming such risks they simply obeyedtheir conscience. The nature of theircommitment, like that which inspiredAna, is not and never can becomenegotiable.This is how Ana still feels and why

she does not wish nor wait for praise. Itis what gets her through her unendingnightmare. It is what inspired her tostruggle and what sustains her in herprison hell.In her eyes, support for her cause is

support for the cause of Cubansovereignty in the face of US hostility—or, better said, the right that everynation on earth should enjoy to decideits own destiny.Ana still supports this universal

principle and, I feel sure, would offerher life again so that Cuba would nothave to abandon this ideal of liberation.This is who Ana Belén Montes is: an

internationalist with an unbreakablesense of solidarity and respect for allhumanity, having an affinity with thenoble principles of peace and justice,as defended by heroes and heroinesthroughout the ages, and with thesame modesty that is typical of thosewho have historically upheld such highideals.Free Ana Belén Montes!

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Socialist Voice page 10

Water companies

OndeoVeolia (formerlyVivendi)ThamesSAURAnglianCascalIWLSuezNestlé

Water sales

€10,088 million€13,640 million

€2,746 million€2,494 million€936 million€181 million€100 million€42,359 million€625 million

Worldwideconsumers115 million110 million

37 million36 million5 million6.7 million10 million115 million

Eoghan M. Ó Néill

TIME IS running out. The ComprehensiveEconomic Trade Agreement (CETA) betweenthe EU and Canada has been agreed; it only

awaits its ratification by EU member-states tobecome law. Once that happens, the privatisationof our water is almost inevitable.CETA brings with it all the draconian conditions of TTIP

and will open the floodgates to the privatisation of publicservices, including water.The Government could have acted to protect public

services from the ravages of CETA but chose instead tocower to the demands of transnational corporations and toopen all our services to privatisation.During the negotiations on CETA, EU states had the

opportunity to list services they wished to protect fromprivatisation. The Irish Government failed to act in theinterests of its people by purposely refusing to list suchservices as water, education, and the health service.To compound their treachery, it is the intention of the

Government to ratify CETA without consulting the people. InDáil Éireann on 26 November 2015, Richard Bruton statedthat the ratification of CETA “in Ireland’s case will mean adecision of the houses of the Oireachtas.” Furthermore, it isthe intention of this Government to ratify CETA before theend of the year. In other words, the people will be denied achoice in the matter.If they get away with this there will not be a referendum

on Irish Water, no referendum on CETA or TTIP, and ourwater, along with many of our public services, will beopened to the rapacious profit-mongers of global monopolycapitalism.The vultures are already circling. Nestlé now controls

more than 54 per cent of water in the United States andCanada. It is also making inroads in Europe (26 per cent),Africa and Asia (16 per cent), and Latin America (5 percent). Britain, France Spain and many more EU states arebeing opened up by Nestlé and other transnationalcorporations.Nestlé is sucking water out of drought-stricken areas of

North America, such as California and Ontario, and selling itback to thirsty consumers at massive profits. It was a CEOof Nestlé who infamously declared that “access to watershould not be a public right.”

GLOBAL SALES FROM PRIVATISED WATER

Source: Guardian (London) special supplement, August2003.For Suez: www.psiru.org/reports/2002-08-W-MNCs.doc

THE INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR WATER

The Irish people are not alone in their struggle to securewater as a human right. The fight to protect water is aglobal fight and is being fought globally. Throughout theworld, working-class people are leading the struggle againstthe privatisation of water and, where it has already beenprivatised, to restore it to public ownership.In Latin America, Africa, Asia and even in parts of Europe

the struggle to protect water as a right, or to reverse itsprivatisation, continues.

While the Troika insisted on the privatisation of Irishwater, cities in Germany and France, such as Berlin,Hamburg, and Paris, have been reversing privatisation andbringing water back into public ownership.Why? Because privatisation proved to be too costly and

ineffective.But despite the evidence against the privatisation of

water, our government still seeks to prepare the ground forprivatisation—to support private profit over the needs of itsown people.We must demand a referendum to place water under

constitutional protection. We need a referendum to stopCETA and TTIP, which will pave the way for privatisation.And we must stand in solidarity with our comrades aroundthe globe who seek to protect their water.

Country

BelizeTrinidad andTobagoColombiaGuyanaBolivia

BrazilChileUruguayArgentina

GambiaGuineaCameroonKenyaTanzaniaMozambiqueZimbabweSouth Africa

MalaysiaBangladeshPhilippinesIndonesiaAlbaniaBulgariaArmenia

Fighting againstprivatisation

Cartagenanationally

nationally

Santa Fé

five cities

Dolphin Coast,Nelspruit

Manila East ZoneJakartafour citiesSofiaYerevan

Has endedprivatisation

nationallynationally

Cochabamba, LaPaz, and El AltoParaná

nationallyBuenos Aires,TucumánnationallyConakry

Dar es Salaam

Nkokobde

Kelantan

Manila West Zone

Privatisationcancelled beforeit had begun

nationallynationally

Harare, Gweru

Dhaka

Thirsting for justice

page 11 Socialist Voice

Socialist Voice

culture

page 12

Thomas Metscher

AIMED AT all who would liketo fully appreciateShakespeare, this lucid and

highly readable book is a freshand illuminating analysis ofShakespeare’s four greattragedies: Hamlet, Othello, KingLear, and Macbeth.More than a mere introduction,

Jenny Farrell’s Fear Not Shakespeare’sTragedies courageously andintelligently bucks fashionable trendswith a determination to provide acomprehensive guide for all who wishto understand Shakespeare forpleasure, study, cinema, theatre, evenopera.Central to the interpretation of each

text is a close reading, setting theplays in their historical context. Thefirst chapter explains this context: theearly modern period as a time ofmomentous change, the beginnings ofbourgeois society, the Renaissanceand Tudor absolutism as the epochfrom which Shakespearean theatreoriginates.This brief outline leads to

Shakespeare’s life, about which muchhas been written but little is reallyknown.At the heart of this book are the

readings of the four plays. The authorfollows a simple but clear pattern:plot, characters, themes, dramaticdevices, the ending, and the questionof tragic content. This method makesfor more than an introduction. FearNot Shakespeare’s Tragedies doeswhat few books now do: by readingthe play closely she deduces themeaning from the text itself.

The strength of this approach is thatit unlocks the crucial contentunderlying these tragedies, that whichgives rise to their conflicts, from thetexts themselves—the very thing thatis missed by most mainstreamacademic research.Jenny Farrell does not, as is often

the case, approach the text with apreconceived thesis to be illustratedbut is guided by the conflictsdeveloped in the tragedies. These are,according to her convincinginterpretation, the expression of afundamental collision of conflictinghistorical and ethical forces thatemerged after the collapse of themediaeval world and the rise of theearly bourgeoisie.On the one hand there arises a self-

liberating humanity whose values arepeace, justice, the welfare of all,ultimately the idea of human equality.On the other, the instinct fordomination and submission appears,leading in the final analysis to theplundering of our planet. Farrelldescribes these conflicting forces—taking the terms from Shakespeare’stime—as humanism andMachiavellianism. “Humanism” is usedin the sense of Erasmus and ThomasMore, “Machiavellianism” after NiccolòMachiavelli, author of The Prince, afamous breviary on the gaining andretaining of power.The third force involved in the basic

constellation is the representatives ofthe old order, the mediaeval-feudalworld.The fourth player in this overall

constellation is the plebeian element,the working people, who are given avoice for the first time in Hamlet’sgravediggers. Humanists,Machiavellians and at times the oldfeudal nobility come into conflict in theplots of the four tragedies. Thetragedies bear out the clash of theseforces in a variety and diversity that ispeerless in world drama.In a short and highly concentrated

conclusion, an overall interpretation isoffered, highlighting the utmostrelevance of Shakespeare’s tragediesin our own time.This book is available from Connolly

Books as well as from amazon.co.ukas either a paperback or an e-book.■ A fuller version of this review,“Entschieden gegen den Strom,” waspublished in Unsere Zeit (Essen), 1July 2016.

16 August 2016

Richard Bryant

39 years,Elvis is still dead,There are real tears,The British army,still in Ireland,Britain full of fears,Afraid to allow,The dream of Pearse,And the Irish volunteers,To the united land,We lift a pint of beer,To the departed king,And hurdles yet to clear

Fear not Shakespeare’s tragedies

Jenny FarrellFear NotShakespeare’sTragedies: AComprehensiveIntroduction,Nuascéalta(2016).

Socialist Voice 43 East Essex Street Dublin D02 XH96 (01) 6708707