Culture & Sports

Boycott Puma; Boycott Israeli Apartheid

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“We encourage fans of local clubs to support the BDS call and boycott any of the clubs merchandise which is sponsored or supplied by Puma to put pressure on their local clubs to cut ties with the Israeli apartheid. It is the least we can do while the Israeli occupation and slaughter continues in Palestine, even when it is not reported by the news.”

Reviewing Orange is the New Black

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“Although Orange is the New Black is gripping, for a while, it paints a grim picture using humorous sub plots, stories, and characters of a prison system entirely unfit for purpose… Anybody who views the series should take the funny sections of the series with a pinch of salt, because what it really shows is an unrelenting anti-working-class industry that thrives from the locking up, starving and punishing of millions of non-violent offenders in a vicious cycle of violence and re-incarceration.”

Porn and Power: A Feminist Analysis of Porn and its Effect on Women

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Porn is not feminist, and no reforms or measures are ever going to change that. Not porn made by women, not porn that’s paid for, nothing. This is because nothing will ever change who is hurt by porn, and who benefits. Overwhelmingly women are the ones hurt by porn, either directly by starring in it, or indirectly by experiencing abuse that men have learned from excessive porn consumption and men benefit (sexually and financially). Content made to satisfy men at the expense of all women is not feminist, even if the women are smiling in the thumbnail.

Fighting Deprivation: An Interview With Amanda Spencer

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A sports club can serve multiple purposes. It actively provides a better way of life for young people stuck for options and promotes a healthier way of life. This is not just on a physical level, but also on an emotional and psychological one. Sports often teach mutual respect and break down barriers and stereotypes. They are community pillars that serve all of us in many ways – this interview and call out for continued donations is one small way the Connolly Youth Movement extends its support for this community pillar.

Adventurism v. Class Engagement: Lessons from the Final Fantasy VII Remake

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Why discuss a fictional group from a Japanese video game? Very simply because as the extraction of mako threatens the world of our characters, so too does the extraction and burning of fossil fuels threaten the death of our own. We see a similar trend among ecological movements here too. Groups such as Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and Earth First!, though correct in their analysis that climate change is a matter that will have catastrophic effects on us all, have disconnected the ecological movement from the broader class struggle, missing the forest for the trees, if you’ll indulge me.

Conspiracies vs Class Consciousness

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Americanisation has taken root and Ireland requires an intellectual revolution, rooted in Gaelic culture, Republicanism, and anti-imperialism. So that, someday, some people of Ireland will not stage protests outside the GPO against the Bill Gates-George Soros conspiracy, but instead engage with the concrete political and economic issues we face.

How the Soviets dominated the world of chess – The Queen’s Gambit

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With the considerable amount of leisure time resulting from a universal eight-hour day (an anomaly for the era), a passion for mass activity, excellent facilities available at no cost, public transport and free access to services, in 6 of the 8 Summer Olympics they competed in, the Soviet Union was at the top of the medal count.