Wellington Solidarity with Hong Kong Protesters
About 50 people gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy on Glenmore St in Wellington Wednesday to support the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Wearing black clothes and yellow ribbon pins, the group held signs calling for “Democracy”, “Proper Elections” and to “Stop Violence on HK Students”. Many signs included images of umbrellas as this […]
Mass protests grow on the streets of Hong Kong
The mass protests on the streets of Hong Kong over the past few days have been inspiring. The protests started with university students holding class boycotts and then public lectures in central Hong Kong. These led to an occupation of Civic Square, a space – as its name suggests – which is supposed to be […]
Women and the Early Years of Japanese Communism
Shomi Yoon gave this talk as part of Marxism 2014 in Melbourne. Marxism 2015 will take place from April 2 – 5. “What sort of woman are you? Demonstrating when you should be at home looking after your children?” This was the question Sadayo Nakasone faced by the arresting officer for participating in the first […]
Modi: Behind the Mask
Sajeev Kumar, a Socialist Review reader, offers his thoughts on the recent elections in India: Saffron is the colour of hindutva, but for quite some time, it is also the colour of death or shivering fear for the religious minorities of India. For some of them, it is the colour that made their life colourless, it […]
A triumph for the right in India
WITH A substantial victory in India’s national elections, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) and its crown prince, Narendra Modi, are set to form a national government without the need for any coalition partners. Winning a total of 282 seats in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India’s parliament), the BJP soundly […]
Tokyo Elections and the Future of the Anti-Nuclear Movement
What to make of the Tokyo gubernatorial election results? How can we organize a campaign to stop reactivating nuclear power plants that connects the whole country? How effective is the “single-issue” focus? On 9 February, amidst the biggest snowfall in 45 years Tokyo held its gubernatorial election. Only 46.14% of eligible voters turned out, the third lowest turnout on record. […]
Korean Railway Strike – What’s at Stake?
On 31 December, thousands of Korean railway workers returned to work after a three-week strike against government plans to set up a subsidiary company to operate a Korean Train express (KTX) service in competition with the state run Korail. It was the longest railway strike in South Korean history. Korail management and the right wing […]
Okinawa and the US Empire
Following a brutal and horrific battle between Japanese and US forces which claimed the lives of approximately one third of Okinawa’s population, Okinawa has been forced to house American militarism up until this day. Approximately 20 percent of the Okinawan mainland is used to house US military bases. Military crimes are commonplace and many of […]
40,000 march against nuclear power in Tokyo
40 00 people took to the streets to protest against nuclear plants and Prime Minister Abe in Tokyo on October 13. Kenji Kunitomi from the Japan Revolutionary Communist League prepared this report for Socialist Review. Right-wing nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claims radiation from Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor is perfectly under control at his […]
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 […]
