COVID-19: Ardern Government Caves to Business
The Cabinet’s decisions to drop Auckland from Level 4 to Level 3, and then on Monday 4 October to ease Level 3 restrictions, unnecessarily risks the Delta outbreak getting out of control. The proportion of the population vaccinated was far too low to justify these steps. It was still undecided whether under-12s could be safely […]
Rebel Lives: Sylvia Pankhurst
A review of ‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel’ by Rachel Holmes, 2020, Bloomsbury Publishing This biography of Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) is told comprehensively and magnificently by Rachel Holmes. No other British person can match Sylvia Pankhurst’s record stretching over the first half of the twentieth century. Such was the length, intensity and variety of Sylvia […]
For Internationalism
Anyone keeping an eye on Palestine, Myanmar, Western Sahara, or any other state repression, has witnessed two familiar opposing narratives emerge. On one hand, the mass counter-repression response is a reminder that collective action can raise an internationalist solidarity response. On the other, the reactionary voice of nationalism rears its ugly head, from both the […]
An Interview with Mau Whenua member Shamia Makarini
In 2016, a vote among people of Te Atiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga vetoed the sale of jointly held iwi land at Shelly Bay to property developers. The land in question, at Shelly Bay, was held by the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, a body formed by the Crown to be […]
China, Imperialism, and War
What’s the biggest threat in the world today? For Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce it’s not climate change, nor COVID; “more important to the nation than anything else” is the rise of China, and the need for the Australian state to bolster its military credentials and alliances in the face of the relative decline […]
Submission on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill
The piece below is the ISO’s submission in support of banning the torture known as “conversion therapy” To the Select Committee, We support the general intent of this bill, which is to protect queer people from the harms associated with conversion practices. We feel the bill is seriously lacking in the measures it proposes to […]
India at a Crossroads
India has been a nation defined by, and distinguished for, its secular principles. Even during times such as the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, or the Gujarat riots of 2002, the secular ethos of the nation has never been questioned on a global scale. There were two primary reasons for this, the first […]
Rocky Times Ahead
A clutch of recent polls and economic statistics herald a hardening of the political and industrial landscape. Since Labour won the general election in October 2020 with 50.0 percent of the vote, no opinion poll has found the party’s support dipping to under 40 percent until just recently. Two Roy Morgan polls taken in June […]
Queer Endurance/Defiance
Serah A is a member of the ISO in Wellington. This is a speech she gave at the recent rally in support of trans rights You’ve heard from some great speakers tonight. You’ve heard about trans awesomeness. You’ve heard about the TERFs, and where their hate leads. You’ve heard about the BMDRR bill that will […]
A Win for Trans Rights
We are winning. Yesterday’s rally in Wellington for trans rights was a victory, and holds important political lessons. And the numbers matter: on a cold, wet, dark winter’s night thousands came out to answer the call to show solidarity with a basic message: queer endurance, queer defiance, trans visibility, trans dignity. Cisgender and transgender, women, […]
