New Zealand Imperialism in the Pacific
Sixty years ago, on the 17th of August 1953, Hector Larsen, the resident commissioner of Niue, was murdered. Larsen’s rule over the people of Niue – he had been commissioner for a decade at his death – was “by most accounts,” as a Radio New Zealand documentary from 2009 puts it, “not just paternalistic but […]
Neoliberalism, resistance and the rise of the Far Right
Andrew Tait gave this talk to a forum on ‘Neoliberalism, Resistance and the Rise of the Far Right’ on behalf of the International Socialists in Christchurch on 3rd August. Ki te whare e tu nei, tena koeKi te marae e takoto nei, tena koeKi te takata whenua, Ngati Wheke, Koukourarata, Onuku, Wairewa, Taumutu, tena koutou, […]
They’re stealing Bradley Manning’s life
Nicole Colson reports on the conviction of military whistle-blower Bradley Manning–and the chilling message it sends about political dissent in the “war on terror” era. MILITARY JUDGE Col. Denise Lind found Pfc. Bradley Manning guilty of almost every charge leveled against him for his role as a military whistle-blower–but not guilty of the most serious […]
Protesting the GCSB
Thousands of people in 11 different centres turned out to protest the extension of the power of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). That the protests drew such good numbers even though the demonstrations were called at short notice and were, in many centres, virtually unadvertised, is a sign of the depth of opposition. In […]
Statement from Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists: Not in our name!
The Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown to deepen the revolution, not to support the regime. Whatever crimes the Brotherhood has committed against the people and against the Copts in defence of its power in the name of religion, we do not give army chief Al-Sisi our authority. We will not go into the streets on Friday offering […]
Women, Politics and Class: a Socialist Analysis for Aotearoa
Women face a contradiction. While equal pay for women and men working for the government became the law in 1960, it wasn’t until the Equal Pay Act passed in 1972 that equal pay between the sexes across the board became legal. The Domestic Purposes Benefit, providing state support to single parents, was introduced in 1973. […]
Egypt: the Next Phase in the Revolution
“WHAT HAPPENED on June 30 was, without the slightest doubt, the historic beginning of a new wave of the Egyptian revolution, the largest since January 2011. The number of people who demonstrated on that legendary day is estimated to exceed 17 million citizens, something unprecedented in history. The significance of this surpasses any participation by […]
Georg Lukács: the Actuality of the Revolution
“Historical materialism is the theory of the proletarian revolution.” This is how Georg Lukács opens his short book Lenin: a Study in the Unity of his Thought. Lukács was writing just as the peak of European revolutionary ferment had passed – his book was published in 1924 – and his message is clear. He restores […]
Demand Justice for Trayvon Martin
“Open season […] after a verdict like this”: that’s how Gary Younge describes the situation. “Let it be noted that on this day, Saturday 13 July 2013, it was still deemed legal in the US to chase and then shoot dead an unarmed young black man on his way home from the store because you […]
Egyptian Revolution: Freedom is in the hands of the people
A confrontation between Egyptian soldiers and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood calling for ousted President Mohamed Morsi to be returned to power left more than 50 demonstrators dead in the early morning hours of July 8, according to news reports. The killings come after a week of upheaval that started with perhaps the largest demonstration […]
