Imperialism – What It Is and How to Fight It
The world is on fire. Bombs are falling, drones are buzzing, and missiles are exploding from Palestine to Iran, from Lebanon to Venezuela, Sudan and Ukraine. So it’s little wonder that discourse on “imperialism” has surged worldwide in 2026. Here’s an indicator: Google searches including the word “imperialism” have been on the rise again.
But while there’s currently a lot of talk about imperialism in the media, there’s not a lot of clarity about what the word means. And without knowing what imperialism is, we can’t know how to fight it.
The Neoliberal University Meets Spies and Big Tech
Universities in New Zealand today are well-known to be structurally underfunded, being handed funding shortfalls (in real terms) by consecutive governments. That puts these institutions in a precarious position: balancing staff, student, and alumni interests, while securing funds in a market-driven world. From neoclassical liberal grounding, to Keynesian economy-funded mass institutions, to the neoliberal university, […]
Against War: Keep Fighting!
The following is a lightly edited transcript of a speech given at a Peace Action Wellington vigil on 2 March 2026, within days of attacks on Iran by Israel and the USA. A video recording of this speech is available here: https://youtu.be/6LMDO3QA–M Ko Serah tōku ingoa. I’m a member of the International Socialist Organisation and […]
No War with Iran!
The International Socialist Organisation of Aotearoa condemns absolutely the disgusting, warmongering, imperialist aggression against Iran by the genocidal US-Israel alliance. This latest assault, led by an increasingly overtly fascist Trump and wanted war criminal Netanyahu, is being touted by ruling classes across the West-aligned empire as “preventive” or “pre-emptive”. This farce is not only transparent, […]
Iran: The Struggle, the Shah’s Son, and the Screaming Economy
Under the veil of an almost complete Internet blackout, the situation on the ground in Iran is impossible to meaningfully engage with at this moment. The mass protests seem to have quietened, though they will surely be sparked again in the near future, as the conditions that triggered them remain. The exact number of the […]
US: Hands Off Venezuela!
The following statement was released on the evening of 3 January 2026, in the moments between Maduro’s abduction and the Trump administration’s declaration of responsibility for the attack. It is published here, with a few updates, for the record. Early reports indicate that the bombing of Venezuela’s capital city, Caracas, is the doing of the […]
Protesting the Ōtautahi Aerospace Conference
To quote from the 2025 Aerospace Summit website, New Zealand is a “global space leader”. Our low population density and open skies make us the perfect arena, in logistical terms, for testing and launching aerospace technology into the world’s shared skies. Rocket Lab, a New Zealand-based company, has been receiving USA military contracts since 2009, […]
The Lost Decade of Revolutions
The following is a lightly edited version of a public talk given to the Tāmaki Makaurau branch in March 2025. If you are attending a meeting of the International Socialist Organisation then we are going to start with the assumption that you want to change the world for the better: that you are at least […]
Global Economics
The following was presented as a talk at the 2025 International Socialist Organisation hui-ā-tau annual conference. A recorded version is available here: https://youtu.be/JQJFCpdEnW8 Global Overview The already meagre projections of recovery announced by major capitalist institutions last year fell even further after the rollouts of USA president Donald Trump’s tariffs regime. Throughout the period of […]
I is for Imperialism
War and profit go hand-in-hand. This relationship goes deeper than direct war profiteering, and deeper even than the scramble for resources like oil. Imperialism grows out of the workings of capitalism itself, and is an integral part of the capitalist system. Imperialism is driven by three key workings of capitalism: competition, monopoly, and the relationship […]
