The far right in the 2023 general election
Amongst the parties who vied for our votes in Aotearoa’s October 2023 general election, not a single one represented the working class against capitalism. However, this does not in any way mean all of the options were equally bad or that the various potential outcomes of the election were irrelevant. Beyond the obvious battle between […]
The Labour Party loses the election: What is to be done?
This was an election that Labour contrived to lose. The most dramatic shift in party support was the drop in the Labour vote from 50 percent in 2020 to towards half of that this time. Every other party gained. Labour lost votes to the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, which demonstrates that Labour managed to […]
Imperialism, capitalism, colonialism: The Israeli state and occupied Palestine
The following is based on an introduction given to an educational discussion in Te Whanganui-a-Tara branch of the ISO on October 31st 2023. The recorded talk is also available here. Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire, centred on the Mediterranean, reached its zenith. Before the Romans there were many empires in human history based […]
Solidarity to fight Islamophobia, not more spies
“Justice to those affected has not yet been served.” That was Aliya Danzeisen’s response to the Royal Commission’s findings. The Commission was tasked with finding what factors lead to the massacre of 51 Muslims in Christchurch last year. Danzeisen has every right to be outraged and disappointed at the Royal Commission’s woefully inadequate recommendations, and […]
Labour’s Wellington rally
On Sunday 11 October Labour held its Wellington election rally at the Michael Fowler auditorium which can seat 1,800 on two tiers – ambitious. In fact the smaller top tier wasn’t needed and the main tier had some empty seats towards the back, but the audience was easily big enough to create a cheery atmosphere […]
Vote Labour, but Build a Socialist Alternative
As the anti-capitalist socialist movement is unable to stand candidates in the general election with any prospect of success, the ISO advocates electoral support for Labour without for a moment down-playing our fundamental criticisms of the party’s politics. We are not for abstaining. It makes a difference whether National or Labour forms the government. Take, […]
Renters United making its mark
A sharp, clear demonstration by Renters United in Wellington over the weekend injected some much-needed class demands into the election campaign. Renters United focus on the one-sided class war that’s been waged over the last decade or more not in our workplaces, but in our homes: rent out of control; power tipped massively to landlords […]
Review: Feels Good Man
A review of Feels Good Man, a documentary film directed by Arthur Jones. It was while skulking on the internet around 2008 that I first saw the image of Pepe the frog with his “feels good man” speech bubble. I thought to myself, ha, cool, this looks fun – what’s the story behind this? I […]
Black communism in the Great Depression
Angelo Herndon joined the Communist Party in 1930 in the depths of the Depression and Jim Crow segregation. The Black son of a coalminer, he had left home at 13 to work in the coalmines of Kentucky. Four years later, he was a Communist union organiser. After organising a desegregated protest against unemployment, he was […]
From anti-racism to liberation
The Black Lives Matter movement has succeeded, in just over a month, in moving mass consciousness and mass discussions over racism further than years of well-meaning educational programmes. The movement, in its size, youth, anger and multiracial composition, offers an image of hope and the way forward. The leadership of young Black demonstrators has given […]
