The Criminal Injustice System: from Aotearoa to the USA

April 23, 2013 By

the-new-jim-crowMichelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow (2011) has caused a huge storm of discussion, debate and controversy in the United States. It may well be a book that sparks a new social movement. Alexander documents the rise of mass incarceration in the USA, and link this to entrenched racism, poverty and injustice. The privatising and ‘outsourcing’ of prison as business, and the ‘law and order’ turn are part of neoliberal politics the world over.

This has obvious relevance in Aotearoa. The prison system disproportionately affects Maori and Pasifika people. The powers of the state – to harass, humiliate, detain and lock-up – are felt every day in brown people’s lives. The history of white settler colonial rule has relied on locking up and disenfranchising Maori people. A new phase in capitalism, and the symptoms of poverty in recession, looks to imprisonment again. [Read more...]

Filed Under: (In)justice System, Racism, Revolution not Reformism, Tino Rangatiratanga, Tino Rangatiratanga

Anti-Chinese rants won’t stop asset sales

February 14, 2013 By

There was an evening rally against asset sales in Wellington on February 13. As a gathering of the committed the attendance was quite good. Estimates vary, but 400 would be about right I think. The unions – which could potentially turnout thousands of members against privatization – are not able to do so in their present state of passivity. Indeed, the unions were barely visible. There was not one union speaker, and no Labour Party speaker either, for that matter. The character of the rally did not represent the organized labour movement – that means unionised workers and members of parties based on the working class. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Racism, Tino Rangatiratanga, Tino Rangatiratanga, Topic: Racism, Uncategorized

Treaty hides racist rip-off

February 12, 2013 By
Sovereignty... Protesters at Waitangi fly the flag of the Confederated Tribes of Aotearoa, which declared independence in 1835. (Photo: Derwin Smith)

Sovereignty… Protesters at Waitangi fly the flag of the Confederated Tribes of Aotearoa, which declared independence in 1835. (Photo: Derwin Smith)

For many New Zealanders, Waitangi Day is a time to celebrate the founding of New Zealand, a nation which we are taught to believe is born of a union of two peoples, Maori and Pakeha – “He iwi tahi tatou”. This national myth serves to obscure the true character of the treaty and the colonial state that it established. Far from being an idealistic union of two people, the founding of modern New Zealand was born of the bloody theft of land and resources; modern New Zealand and its wealth is built on the ruins of a pre-existing Maori society that had to be torn apart before space could be created for capitalism to supersede it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Protests, Racism, Tino Rangatiratanga

Winston Peters and Anti-Asian Racism

August 16, 2012 By

Winston Peters is reviving his old anti-Asian bogeyman. This time he’s blaming elderly Asian migrants “cashing” in on New Zealand’s superannuation scheme. Peters’ racist tactics are groundless and he cannot provide a shred of evidence to support his claims. The truth is, far from “cashing” in on New Zealand, relatively youthful Asian immigrants make a massive contribution to New Zealand’s economy in taxes when they enter the country and when they buy the necessary items to start a new life in a new country. They need housing, clothing, food, education and work. All of this is something that the National Party knows and is keen for so long as migrants continue to contribute to the bottom dollar. So there is a contradiction in ruling class attitudes to anti-Asian racism at the moment. It is a tried and true tactic of ‘divide and rule’, but big sections of the ruling class also recognize the need for immigration, and for trade with Asia.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Racism, Topic: Racism

What’s abhorrent? John Key, whaling, and racism

July 6, 2012 By

John Key is engaging in a bout of populist moralising, describing killing whales as ‘abhorrent’ in response to South Korea’s indication that they may resume whaling. The hypocrisy is staggering – this same week National has announced further concessions to New Zealand’s dirty and polluting farming industry. If the concept of killing whales is ‘abhorrent’, what about farming practices that contribute to the loss of ecosystems that threaten endangered species in New Zealand? Since it is largely Pakeha capitalists in New Zealand that reap the profits farming they do not criticise.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Enviroment, More Topics, Racism, Topic: Racism

Crafar Farm Sale: whose land is it anyway?

March 5, 2012 By

John Key’s phrase “tenants in our own land” has become a political cliche, picked up by almost all parties commenting on the Crafar farms sale. Echoing Key, on January 27th the Dominion Post quoted David Shearer describing the sale of the farms to Chinese business interests as ”open[ing] the way for more New Zealanders to become tenants in their own land”. Shearer, who has had nothing supportive to say about the Maritime Union’s campaign at Ports of Auckland, has been vocal in his opposition to the sale. The Greens pitched in too, describing the sale as “short-sighted”, while for Winston Peters, predictably, it is “treasonous.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Racism, Tino Rangatiratanga, Topic: Racism

Racism and ‘Real New Zealanders’

October 16, 2011 By

In 2011 broadcaster Paul Henry resigned from his job as host of TVNZ’s “Breakfast” after his appallingly racist comments regarding Anand Satyanand.

The comment was compared with statements made by Maori Party MP Hone Harawira, including from his 2009 email: “White motherfuckers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries, and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bullshit.” The right wing tried to compare these two attitudes.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Issues in depth, Racism, Theory and History, Topic: Racism
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