Protesting National’s Budget 2014
Students, workers, beneficiaries and activists gathered outside the Skycity Convention Centre to protest against the National government’s budget and its continuing war on the poor. Over 150 people turned out to voice their anger at National’s rule for the rich and the damage already done by the government. Chants such as ‘stop the war on […]
Victory! Patricia Grace Stops the Government Taking Maori Land
The government has been defeated by the author Patricia Grace in the Environment Court and, seeing the writing on the wall, the government will not appeal. Patricia Grace owns part of a block of Maori Freehold Land in Waikanae that was once in a Maori village and is full of significance. The government tried to […]
Peace, Power & Politics at Dunedin’s Readers’ and Writers’ Festival
Maire Leadbeater, peace activist and historian, spoke about her recently published book Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand became nuclear free (OUP 2013). Although the talk was one of just two politically oriented events of the festival, it was well attended and inspired a thoughtful series of questions and comments. Maire Leadbeater is an […]
Synthetic Highs – is a ban the solution?
Drug use harms communities and destroys the lives of people who become addicted to them. Drug addiction is a waste of human potential. So it’s understandable that many people – including Mana Party activists – have been campaigning hard to ban synthetics. They can see the damage cannabis abuse does already, and they see the […]
Anzac Day: Against the Carnival of Reaction
On Anzac Day 1967, at the height of New Zealand involvement in the ‘American War’ in Vietnam, with New Zealand troops taking part in the suppression of the Vietnamese struggle for national liberation, members of the Progressive Youth Movement in Christchurch tried to lay a wreath following the dawn service in memory of those killed […]
The Charter Schools Debacle
Three years on, Christchurch people are still struggling with the aftereffects of the 2011 earthquakes – insurance, lives disrupted, homes damaged. Workers and the poor, struggling to get by with less and in an insecure, uncertain city, feel all of this particularly keenly. Schools – the centres of community – should be places that give […]
Web Round-Up: March
A round-up of interesting links and articles from March. National Party Scumbags – Fancy Dinner Edition Auckland Action Against Poverty held a protest outside the Young Nats’ ball early in April – see our report here. Judith Collins’ web of lies and deceit around her dinner with Oravida in China this month have finally started […]
Protesting National’s War on Beneficiaries
The class divide in Aotearoa was open for all to see on Saturday night as anti-poverty protesters heckled and jeered attendees at the Young Nats’ ball. The protest, organised by Auckland Action Against Poverty and supported by other groups including the International Socialists, Unite Union and the Mana Party, aimed to draw attention to the increasing […]
Bludgers on a Binge
It’s a case for the Taxpayers’ Union: Two bludgers on a binge. He’s just come out of a couple of years running with a violent mob called the ‘RAF’ and is now scrounging off the public purse; she’s one of these women who thinks having babies on welfare is a career plan. Paula Bennett is passionate […]
Marching Against the TPPA
TPPA, No Way! We’re going to fight it all the way! Chants like this were booming nationwide against the government’s commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement – a secret agreement between 12 countries that will be so “beneficial” that the government has not disclosed a single iota of what will negotiated. Today organizations and groups like […]
