Under Which Flag?
“Treasury tells us there are 285 000 kids living in poverty, the Ministry of Health tells us that 100 000 of them are going to school hungry every day… and the Prime Minister tells us he wants to change the flag! Eliminating child poverty, homes for all families and jobs for everyone – those are […]
Migrant Workers Abuse Scandal in Christchurch: Immigration Bill Not the Answer
In early January there was a rerun of stories in the media about a new law to “crackdown on migrant exploitation.” When the Immigration Amendment Bill No. 2 was introduced in Parliament in October last year First Union highlighted the case of Filipino workers in Christchurch being told that they must work on Saturdays without […]
Boycott Batsheva at NZ Festival
This year’s NZ Festival includes four performances by the Israeli Batsheva dance company. Batsheva is an integral part of Israel’s Brand Israel public relations campaign. The dance company receives funding from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which has described Batsheva as ‘the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture’. Artists who receive funding […]
Michael Laws: a sexist, eugenicist toad
The exchange revealed by this blog post encapsulates the sheer inhuman malice of the capitalist system. Michael Laws is calling another person ‘monstrous’ for giving kindness and love to a child with Down Syndrome. He talks about abortion law in terms of how great it is that we can weed out what he sees as […]
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 […]
Len Brown, Sex Scandals, Stereotypes, and Anti-Asian Racism
I am not interested in Bevan Chuang or Len Brown’s sex lives. As a socialist I think private conduct between consenting adults should be their concern and no one else’s. The only ‘betrayal’ from Auckland’s mayor that interests me is from last year is when he betrayed the wharfies. But media coverage of the last […]
Why fruit is picked by migrant workers
This article by Richard Seymour out of the UKraises issues of importance for the workers’ movement in Aotearoa, given seasonal labour’s role in fruit and horticulture, and recent debates – within the ruling class and media – on migration, exploitation and seasonal workers from the Pacific. The debate over the decision to scrap a seasonal […]
Free Teina Pora now!
When Pora was 17, in 1994, he was arrested by police in Otara and held in custody and questioned for over four days without a lawyer. The police got him to confess to a brutal rape and murder. He was charged and convicted despite the fact that he could not identify what the victim looked […]
Neoliberalism, resistance and the rise of the Far Right
Andrew Tait gave this talk to a forum on ‘Neoliberalism, Resistance and the Rise of the Far Right’ on behalf of the International Socialists in Christchurch on 3rd August. Ki te whare e tu nei, tena koeKi te marae e takoto nei, tena koeKi te takata whenua, Ngati Wheke, Koukourarata, Onuku, Wairewa, Taumutu, tena koutou, […]
Demand Justice for Trayvon Martin
“Open season […] after a verdict like this”: that’s how Gary Younge describes the situation. “Let it be noted that on this day, Saturday 13 July 2013, it was still deemed legal in the US to chase and then shoot dead an unarmed young black man on his way home from the store because you […]
