The European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group invited Ógra Shinn Féin to attend the first meeting of their study days in Paris last week. The theme of the forum was young people and ‘my expectations of the EU.’ International Officer, Orlagh McCauley represented Ógra. Other young groups in attendance included the Young French Communist Party, Swedish Left, Die Linke from Germany, the Portugese Communist Party and the Young Communist in Italy.
The main issues raised by the invited guests were the ability of the EU to advance social progress, its capacity to deal with the current international financial crisis, the implications of the crisis within European countries, the alternatives to the Neoliberal system, the impact of EU university reforms, how progressive forces in the EU can promote greater solidarity among its peoples and the precarious situation faced by young workers today.
Speaking after the forum Orlagh said “the meeting was very productive and a great opportunity to exchange views with other young organisations. It’s surprising how similar the social and economic problems we face in Ireland are to the majority of other European states. I found the MEPs really interested in young people’s views and assured us of their commitment to voicing these in the European Parliament. While the European Union has a lot of negative dimension we should not forget the positives and use the EU Parliament to bring about real social, political and economic change.
11 comments:
Why are we connected to communists?
Whilst we mightn't agree 100% with all their politics, they are a valuable ally in a united left wing front against the capitalist status quo.
You say connected as if they are our sister organisation joined at the hip in some form. That is not the case.
Sinn Féin stand in solidarity with groups throughout the world whos veiws we might not entirely share, the benefit of a mutual bond between left wing progressives cannot be overlooked if we truely are anti-imperialist/anti-capitalist.
Seán G.
We will remain on the margins Sean, if we are affiliated with parties like the Communists.
Capitalist status quo? We supported the bank bail out ffs.
Our party policy is that we are Socialists and therefore of course we would support Communists and Marxists. Where do you think Socialism comes from? You should read the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx.
try and explain that to the people of Ireland, we will only scare them and hand our enemies more ammo.
Correction - Socialism does not have its origins in the works of Karl Marx. There were socialist thinkers and organisation long before Karl Mark and Frederich Engels developed their wreckless concept of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" - a concept which is totalitarian. Centralism and vertical organisational structures also to not serve any movement for change well.
There are many different variations of communism as we have seen during the course of world history. Euro-communism was much different in analysis from it Soviet counterparts. Thats all a debate for another day.
In terms of our socialism, as young Shinners we should be taking a look at developing a clear green-left perspective. We need to be looking at the examples of left parties in the nordic countries.
We need to be communicating clearly to our electorate what we mean by our equality agenda.
Its unfair to characterise Marx as wreckless and its is a misrepresentation of "dictatorship of the proletariat" to say that was apolicy of centralisation. Marx did very little work on what socialism would be, he simply outline a philosophy and based most of his time on the critique of Capitalism.
If you dont agree put all his other writings on top of each other and see how they compare to the unfinished Capital
Your confusing modern democratic centralism which defines many marxist movements with what marx actually put forward.
Although you are correct socialist were around long befiore marx but I think it is impossible to be a socialist today and not influenced by his expert critique of the capitalist system.
Oisin, mo chara
Good to hear from you. I agree with your contention that Marx's critique of capitalism was the largest chunk of his work and that his critique has a relevance for all socialists today in shaping their politics. However I do hold firm to my opinion that his and Engel's concept of "dictatorship of the proletariat" is wreckless and totalitarian.
Quite rightly you point to the debate on "democratic centralism". We should get a thread going on this, and look at our method of organisation as a party. I don't believe the vertical organisation form to be empowering for activists as at best it stops good and effective communication and debate. We need to be looking to Mexico and the socal movements there.
I'm newbie here, I hope to get friends at this forum
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