Tuesday 15 April 2014

Socialist Party (Ireland) “disowns” anti-abortion candidate



The largest of the Trotskyist sects in the UK, the Socialist Party is currently running a campaign to (laughably) try and replace the Labour Party with its so-called Trade Union & Socialist Coalition (TUSC). Good luck with that “comrades”, according to the local polls in London at least the Labour Party is now in the lead for all possible elections as ordinary people tire of the nonsense of the Coalition Government under Cameron and Clegg.

The TUSC is err.. still not even registering.

Not to be put off the TUSC is putting up what must be close to its entire active membership in the local elections. They report

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has approved a further thirty candidates to stand under the TUSC umbrella in the local council elections taking place on May 22nd.

This brings the total figure up to 506 - with the number of councils with TUSC candidates also increasing, from 80 last week to 85 now. Most importantly, with more applications arriving even since the latest approvals broke the 500 barrier, TUSC is now less than a hundred candidates short of reaching the BBC's threshold for 'fair media coverage' in the official election period.

I’ll be taking a closer look at their antics in due course, but in the mean time their Irish equivalent has got themselves in a wee bit of bother whilst trying to run a similar campaign called the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) in their elections.

One of the AAA candidates is one who seems to think the initials of the campaign stand for Anti-Abortion Alliance. Now in the UK it is normally taken as read that most people on the left are in favour of a woman’s right to choose (though I have come across the odd exception to the rule), and as an issue abortion is not as high profile as it used to be. But in Ireland?

The Irish state is probably the closest thing to a theocracy outside the Vatican and abortion is a really big issue. There even appears to be a group called Pro-Life Socialists. So well done Kevin Higgins who exposed Thomas Carty. His attitude towards women in general seems somewhat backwards as his Face Book Page indicates he would like to be a boob checker. 


Words fail me.

Now of course thanks to the exposure of Carty as a wee bit of a sexist, anti-abortion candidate the AAA have taken action to “disown”, though why they failed to make basic checks in the first place is a mystery. They write:

“He is not a candidate for the AAA. When his sexism and vocal anti-choice positions became known, the national AAA meeting did not ratify his application to be a candidate.”
Laura Fitzgerald of The Socialist Party 

TUSC - Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Of course our own native Socialist Party is going “hammer and tong” to stand as many candidates as possible so having a good look at their candidates might be worthwhile. I noticed that Steve Hedley (who resigned from the Socialist Party to save them from “embarrassment”) and who remains Assistant General Secretary of the RMT is one of their candidates in London. Now this is a man (regardless of other issues that may have arisen) is someone who thinks the down fall of “comrade delta” was part of a “Zionist “ plot and has been pulled up himself for his somewhat “combative” attitude towards female critics on Face Book in the past.

Not a very nice chap it would seem by all accounts. Many members of the Socialist Party seemed relieved by his departure from their organisation. I’ve heard he may be one of the candidates vying to replace Bob Crow . My advice to RMT members; choose someone else, anybody else.

Meanwhile it may be interesting to follow the fall out over the Irish affair. 

Keep an eye on Kevin Higgins blog: http://www.mentioningthewar.blogspot.ie/

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