Anti-Māori Attacks on Education: Tracing the History
Papers released earlier this year have revealed the government’s plan to cut words in te Reo Māori from primary school curricula. According to a Ministry of Education report in August, te Reo Māori will now be effectively banned from any new books in the Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series for five-year-olds. This is […]
What’s the deal with “Crisis Pregnancy Centres”?
ISO writer Romany Tasker-Poland talks to ALRANZ co-President Alma de Anda about the misleading anti-abortion organisations springing up around the country. Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand was founded in 1973 to advocate for the decriminalisation of abortion. Since this goal was achieved in 2020, ALRANZ has continued to act as a watch-dog, advocating […]
Protect the Right to Protest
The demonstration is one of the most tried-and-true tools in the collective political toolbox. A well-placed, well-timed protest can do anything from disrupting industry, to undermining a country’s political leader, to shifting entire political landscapes. Even if those political goals aren’t met, the collective demonstration has a more immediate purpose: turning political subjects into political […]
Public Sector Strikes: Fighting Against Privatisation
Primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, nurses, and firefighters are all fighting for livable employment conditions and sufficient resources to do their work effectively. These are all workers employed in the “public sector”, providing services to the general public. This article will consider the value of this “sector” of New Zealand society, put forward an […]
Open Letter to the Working People of Aotearoa
To the patients, students and whānau of those affected by the government’s dismantling of public services, We condemn the suffering that has been inflicted on you by systematic neglect of the public services that you need. From patients dying in waiting rooms, to fire trucks breaking down on the way to emergencies, to children left […]
Gaslighting and Grinding Down: the Government’s Strategy Against Striking Workers
Nurses supporting teachers out on strike. Photo credit: kaitiaki.org.nz The coalition of chaos has, under urgency, passed legislation and prescribed policy that has brutalised the public service. There have been outright lies from government ministers intervening into the negotiations by releasing public statements, and within the negotiations, we have a government that refuses to talk […]
The year of the strike is a year like no other
Image Caption: Trade union, Palestine, and Tino Rangatiratanga flags at parliament, showing the convergence of Māori, pro-Palestine and workers’ struggles. Photo Credit: Public Service Association. “The year of the strike? Perfect pay storm looms over public sector.” This was the headline of an article back in February by a prescient Stuff journalist. This perfect storm […]
Get Involved with Student Politics
Student politics are not limited to campus issues such as course costs. Student politics is about fighting for our future: fighting for the environment, our education, our job security, our health and wellbeing. If you care about having cheap food readily available on campus, not having to couch surf while studying because you’re in-between housing, […]
New Zealand’s Local Elections: What’s At Stake?
Local government “Local government” is the term used for elected officials and non-elected bureaucratic structures that oversee geographic subparts of New Zealand. The Local Government Act 2002 describes the purpose of local government as twofold: to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities; and to promote the social, economic, environmental, […]
Free Palestine! The Protest Movement in Aotearoa
It has been nearly two years since 7 October 2023, and the subsequent genocidal onslaught against Palestinians; two years of mass murder being broadcast around the world. The majority of people can see what’s going on and are outraged, not only by the actions of Israel, but by the inaction of our own “representatives”. Despite […]
