Attacks on Pay Equity to Fund Tax Cuts for the Rich – This is Class War
Two days ago, the ruling right-wing coalition government rammed through legislation under urgency to extinguish all ongoing claims for pay equity (the mechanism by which historically undervalued feminised work can be paid equivalent to historically masculine work), and made it more difficult for future claims to be successful. Presumably, the violently undemocratic urgency mechanism was […]
Ōtepoti for Transgender Liberation – Turn the Culture War into Class War
On May 3rd, 2025, LGBT+ activists and allies from around Ōtepoti gathered in the Octagon in a demonstration of solidarity with their trans whānau, who have become an increasing focal point of mainstream media and the global right-wing sphere. The rally represented opposition to New Zealand First’s recently proposed Members’ Bill, which aims to legally […]
Reflections and Questions on the Denniston Plateau Occupation
Over the Easter Weekend a group of activists set out to the Denniston plateau to protest mining company Bathurst Resources’, “Buller Plateaux Continuation Project.” The proposal sets out to “extend the life of the Stockton mine”, by expanding further South in attempts “to mine 20 million tonnes of coking coal for export from the Buller […]
Reject ANZAC Day – Speech at the 2025 Peace Picnic
On 25 April ISO member Jasper Auld gave this speech at the 2025 Peace Picnic – organised by Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition. Kia ora, I’m Jasper from the International Socialists. I’d like to talk about what ANZAC Day currently serves as: A day for our colonial state to hide its atrocities in emotional propaganda and outright […]
‘Sinners’ Review – Just for a few hours, we were free
This review contains spoilers for ‘Sinners’ (2025) Why do oppressed peoples create the greatest art? Because they’re forced into conditions which aim to dehumanise them – and persevering through these conditions necessitates the righteous re-assertion of their humanity in its most raw and potent forms. This raw humanity transcends cultural barriers, and indeed opens portals […]
The Manosphere Goes Mainstream
“I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers” – Rebecca Shaw Recently, I saw people questioning why there was any focus on the “tech-bro” identities of US oligarchs Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. The implication was that […]
The Health Crisis, Privatisation Threat and Resistance
Everyone knows that we are in a health funding crisis. We know it because we experience it. Everyone has their horror stories of waiting, waiting, and waiting: for doctor’s appointments, for specialist referrals, for medical procedures. If it was bad under the last Labour government, it is even worse under Christopher Luxon. A key policy […]
The United States of America – On the Road to Fascism?
The ISO has not yet adopted a position on whether the USA can be labelled fascist. This personal contribution, written on 11 April 2025, sets out an argument that the USA has not crossed that threshold, but that the conditions for its emergence are in place. In recent years, I’ve been skeptical of claims that […]
A Socialist Response to USA Fascism
The ISO has not yet adopted a position on whether the USA can be labelled fascist. This personal contribution sets out an argument that the USA has crossed that threshold. This article was first given as a short introductory talk at ISO Whanganui-a-Tara branch meeting, a recording of which is on our YouTube channel. What’s […]
Tesla Takedown in Pōneke
On the morning of Wednesday 9th April 2025, a modest crowd of around 30 people gathered in an industrial zone on the outskirts of Pōneke Wellington. On a footpath outside a Tesla showroom, the crowd held a ‘Tesla Takedown’ rally, one of many such-named protests happening globally. The rally, called by the Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition […]
