Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Shomi Yoon gave this talk to the Wellington branch of the International Socialists on the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. Seventy years ago this month the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb, a “destroyer of worlds” burnt hotter than the sun. The largely civilian victims were instantly vaporised, and […]
Migrant workers’ victory in Korea
Over the past 50 years, few countries have experienced such a dramatic economic rise as South Korea. A country once known for sweatshops and cheap manufactured goods; now produces some of the world’s most advanced ships, cars and electronics. An important part of this process was the state-led export of Korean labour. From 1975-85 over […]
TPPA? No Way!
Thousands of people marched against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) nationwide over the weekend. There was palpable anger towards the government and their secret negotiating away of healthcare, and workers rights in favour of corporate interests. The secret trade negotiations stalled in Hawaii last weekend as the 12 countries bickered over what could and […]
Our struggles – in the courtrooms and out
In March this year Service and Food Workers Union National Secretary, John Ryall stated that unions would be taking more and more employment cases to Court following the latest in a string of successful cases for low-paid employees. He went on to say that litigation was now preferable to collective bargaining, which he described as […]
Marketing Poverty: the Question of Fair Trade
Capitalism is a system based explicitly on the exploitation of the many by the few. Throughout its few short centuries of existence, it has extended massive inequality to every corner of the globe. The supposed “free market” has pushed that process to the extreme, especially between the exploited countries of the global “south” and the […]
Equal Pay for Women: the Long Struggle
Kristine Bartlett is a hero. Her case put the question of equal pay back at the centre of politics. Bartlett has been employed for twenty years doing socially vital work as a carer for the elderly, and yet she was paid an insulting $14.46 an hour. This, Bartlett and the SFWU argued, breached the Equal Pay […]
The Housing Question in Dunedin
In early 2014 Finance Minister Bill English boasted that the government’s new housing policy would see “the biggest changes in state housing since it was invented”. He was not talking about the vastly increased dividend that the government demands from HNZ ($215 million net in the 4 years up to 2013), or changes to the […]
The Anzac Spectacle: Gallipoli, Peter Jackson and the politics of forgetting
This year New Zealand and Australia commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. One hundred years ago thousands of Allied troops invaded what was then the Ottoman Empire on April 25th 1915. The ensuing eight month battle was a grim and bloody affair fought within a tiny section of the Mediterranean coastline. Casualties were […]
The Poison of Nationalism
“What we need is an outright ban on foreigners owning land or houses in New Zealand.” “This 3rd great [Chinese] colonisation could finally be a bridge building event between Pakeha and Maori.” You’d be forgiven if you thought these quotes are from a National Front website. Building a bridge for a coming race war? Foreigners […]
Celebrating Unite’s struggle against Zero Hour Contracts
In a campaign reminiscent of Unite Union’s SuperSizeMyPay.com getting workers on to collective contracts from a decade ago, once again Unite has burst onto the industrial scene to take on the fast food giants and against all odds, win. The campaign brought out courageous stories of workers speaking out against their exploitation and zero-hours contracts, […]
