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 […]
Wellington BDS campaign launch: Divest from G4S
In 2005, a coalition of more than 170 Palestinian organizations called for international supporters to initiate boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns–to boycott Israeli products and companies, divest from businesses that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and demand government sanctions for Israel’s violations of international law. The goal of the BDS campaign is to […]
Syria: No to Assad, No to US Imperialism
The Syrian civil war has come about as a response to the rule of Bashar al-Assad who succeeded his father in the year 2000, coming into presidency with strong support of the people and with aspirations of democracy and secularism. However, as his presidency unfolded, not much changed for the Syrian people. The economy was […]
Yes to revolution, no to intervention!
We Stand Behind the Syrian People’s Revolution – No to Foreign Intervention Over 150 thousand were killed, hundreds of thousands injured and disabled, millions of people displaced inside and outside Syria. Cities, villages, and neighborhoods were destroyed fully or partially, using all sorts of weapons, including warplanes, scud missiles, bombs, and tanks, all paid for […]
Imperial hypocrisy to justify an assault
EVIDENCE OF a horrific chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime against civilians has revived liberal calls for “humanitarian” intervention by the U.S. military–despite the U.S. armed forces’ own recent record of mass death and destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond. For example, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote that President Barack Obama should “punish […]
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 […]
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 […]
Auckland Palestine Conference a Success: BDS movement gathers momentum
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement took a step towards building a united, nationwide campaign last weekend when Palestine solidarity activists from around the country gathered in Auckland for a “Conference on Palestine”. BDS is a global movement started in 2005 by Palestinian civil society organisations that calls for “international civil society organizations and […]
Istanbul to Brazil: neoliberalism, democracy and resistance
Three weeks ago, police moved in to clear a protest camp out of an inner-city park, to make way for a shopping mall. The protesters were a mixed bunch: leftists, environmentalists, even architects,who felt they had no other option than direct action to stop the destruction of another piece of history, another park, another shared […]
