Rundale

In a time of geopolitical fracturing, European militarisation, and ongoing Western-enabled Israeli genocide in Gaza, the question of Irish alignment in the world system has never felt so significant – who do we side with and for what vision of the future?

As we confront a coordinated Government effort to undermine Irish neutrality and deepen dependency on the US and EU, two of this month’s articles offer us some critical purchase. One remembers the active practice of Irish neutrality through international peacekeeping in Lebanon; the second shows how arguments about Ireland’s energy insecurity are just cover for locking the country into US fracked gas, foreclosing alternative energy futures. We also have a review of Kevin Anderson’s timely reaffirmation of Marxism as a ‘fighting philosophy’, and a brilliant piece by Philip Lawton on the tech-utopian, crypto-fascism of Praxis City.

Pádraig Mac Oscair provides us with a useful short history of Ireland’s peacekeeping in Lebanon. Against the media-fuelled narrative that Ireland has somehow shirked its duty to international security, Pádraig shows how Irish troops have been hugely involved in protecting civilians in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. From this perspective, Irish neutrality is best seen as an active set of practices based upon international cooperation, peaceful conflict resolution, disarmament, and peacekeeping.

Scholar activists Emanuela Ferrari and Sinead Sheehan explore the Irish government’s support for the importation of fracked liquified natural gas (LNG) from the US. The fact that Ireland, which banned domestic fracking in 2017, now aims to import fracked gas into its energy mix, speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of Irish energy policy (and it’s vulnerability to geopolitical manoeuvring). When campaigners argue that the LNG terminal will lock us in a fossil fuel future, they lament the erasure of other possibilities, such as the development of an indigenous, sustainable, community-owned, renewable energy industry, capable of supporting meaningful livelihoods.

Ciáran O’Rourke reviews Kevin Anderson’s new study of Karl Marx’s late journals and correspondence, ‘Late Marx’s Revolutionary Roads: Colonialism, Gender and Indigenous Communism’ (Verso, 2025). Anderson’s new book shows how historical patterns of gendered labour, “indigenous communism” and anti-colonial struggle preoccupied the author of Capital in the years before his death. Accenting these aspects of Marx’s mature thought, Anderson posits a resonant understanding of Marxism as such, reaffirming its role as a vital theory of political action: resilient and combative enough to meet the complex challenges we face today – a fighting philosophy.

Last but not least, Phil Lawton excavates the evolving urban imaginaries of Praxis, an unbuilt city project which has descended from initial tech-led New Urbanist ideals into full on techno-fascist meme culture. The article highlights what this non-city as fascist meme helps us to see about the struggle for our collective urban futures.

We are delighted that Phil, along with Lois Kapila, co-founder and editor of The Dublin Inquirer, will be in conversation with Rundale at 7pm on May 1^st in Clarke’s City Arms, Stoneybatter. This is the first in what we hope to make a regular series of public conversations involving contributors to Rundale. Please come along and celebrate May Day with us!