Hillside was the heart of working class in the South
This is the transcript of a speech given at the anniversary of the closure of Kiwirail’s Hillside workshop in Dunedin by Andrew Tait on Friday 20th December, 2013. Right now in Korea, the railway workers union is out on strike against privatising rail. The government has met the strike with repression but this is nothing new […]
Family Court Reforms
The war on the poor has extended its reach to the Family Court. In the guise of protecting the vulnerable and improving the experience of those needing assistance to resolve family disputes the Government has reformed the Family Court fundamentally. Although the Minister of Justice consulted with an expert advisory group what became clear when […]
Auckland Taxi Drivers Show Direct Action Works
A group of taxi drivers at Auckland International Airport went on a hunger strike in protest late last year over their working conditions. This dispute started when President Taxis were notified that this company would no longer have a contract with Auckland Airport. About 50 drivers are employed by President taxis which means they will […]
Socialist Summer Reading: the best of 2013
Socialist Review asked some left-wing writers for their picks from 2013. We hope there are suggestions here you can enjoy during your summer reading. Tina Makereti: My discovery of the year was poet / novelist / essayist / short fiction writer Kei Millar. I have only read his most recent novel The Last Warner Woman […]
False advertising in Radio NZ prostitution discussion
Last month, National Radio’s Jim Mora hosted a panel discussion about prostitution in Christchurch. As usual with Mora’s show, this involves a bunch of yuppies pontificating about the issues of the day. For this show though, Mora introduced Debbie Baker from ‘Street Reach’ as an advocate for women working in the sex industry. Oddly enough […]
Nightmare on Wall Street: Capitalism and Horror…
Ghost stories and monster tales might be as old as time but the horror genre itself really only came into being alongside modern capitalism. Beginning with the 18th century gothic novel, and growing to include several distinct sub-genres, horror blends into fantasy, thriller and crime novels at one end and science fiction at the other. […]
Michael Laws: a sexist, eugenicist toad
The exchange revealed by this blog post encapsulates the sheer inhuman malice of the capitalist system. Michael Laws is calling another person ‘monstrous’ for giving kindness and love to a child with Down Syndrome. He talks about abortion law in terms of how great it is that we can weed out what he sees as […]
ISO Hui-a-tau 2013 – Learning together, fighting for socialism
More than 40 members and supporters of the International Socialist Organisation met at Waipapa Marae, in the heart of Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland, last weekend for the revolutionary socialist organisation’s third national conference, and first-ever Auckland conference. A quarter of all children in New Zealand grow up in poverty. Austerity, cutbacks and exploitation remain the ruling-class agenda […]
“Stop the War on the Poor!” Crashing National’s Party
A quarter of children in New Zealand live in poverty, and 10% are in extreme poverty, according to a new study. What will Christmas be like for them? What will the financial stress mean for families and whanau? This is a world away from National Party members’ and supporters’ lifestyles. Last weekend they held a […]
Respect our Community! Stop the Motorway!
Last weekend we in the Tamaki branch of the ISO went to support the handing over of a petition containing 4000 signatories at the Mangere Festival. The Respect our Community! Stop the Motorway! campaign is headed by veteran activist and MANA member Roger Fowler. Local Labour MP Su’a Williams Sio spoke in support of stopping a massive transport […]
