AUKUS, USA imperialism, China, and the new Cold War

The following was delivered as a speech at the International Socialist Organisation Aotearoa Public Political Education Day on the 3rd of June 2023. A recorded version of the speech is also available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NphmmejJCpg While considering the strands of events in the greater Pacific region, this material will not be engaging in […]

Stop the far-right ‘Freedom and Rights Coalition’

Freedom Rights Coalition Brian Tamaki

The Freedoms and Rights Coalition, a creation of Brian and Hannah Tamaki, is associated with the Christian-fundamentalist Destiny Church. It came to notice last October when, in contravention with the health emergency restrictions, it organised an anti-lockdown protest on Auckland Domain. The FRC continued to organise or participate in anti-lockdown, anti-vaxx and anti-mandate demonstrations. It […]

A Survey of Recent Elections

honduras election

A number of elections held from September to November have seen mixed results for the Left, broadly defined. This brief survey is far from comprehensive, and no conclusions about the state of international Left are offered. Honduras Hondurans went to the polls on 28 November for presidential and legislative elections. At the time of writing […]

India at a Crossroads

India has been a nation defined by, and distinguished for, its secular principles. Even during times such as the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, or the Gujarat riots of 2002, the secular ethos of the nation has never been questioned on a global scale. There were two primary reasons for this, the first […]

The Housing Crisis: Build State Homes!

Sky-high property prices and sky-high rents put those who do not own their home on the horns of a dilemma. Do you carry on handing over a ridiculous portion of your wages to your landlord? Or do you bite the bullet, take out an enormous mortgage, buy a home and hand over a ridiculous portion […]

Detainees set fire to the Christmas Island Detention Centre

The following article was published on the Australian website Red Flag on 6 January. Among the detainees there are New Zealanders, including Māori and Pacific Islanders. A riot has broken out in the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, much of which, as of early Wednesday morning, was in flames. The rioters are men who want […]

Welfare and the deserving poor

On May 25 Labour’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced the government’s Income Relief Payments, a scheme whereby workers who found themselves newly unemployed due to COVID-19 would receive payments to alleviate their hardship, set at $490 a week for full-time workers and $250 a week for part-time workers. To anyone familiar with New Zealand’s welfare […]