H is for Home
The ABCs of Socialism is a series of short articles on key socialist concepts. Women are grossly exploited under capitalism. Central to this is the burden of the double shift – the shift at work in which women are paid their wages, and the unpaid domestic work and childcare that women and other marginalised groups […]
The Manosphere Goes Mainstream
“I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers” – Rebecca Shaw Recently, I saw people questioning why there was any focus on the “tech-bro” identities of US oligarchs Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. The implication was that […]
No rollback on reproductive rights!
Protestors marched earlier this month, on the second of December, in defence of abortion and reproductive rights in Wellington. The march, organised by Poneke Anti-Fascist Coalition, was intended to counter the anti-abortion “March for Life” which is held each year by the organisation Right to Life. The numbers on both sides were smaller than they […]
Abortion Rights Under Attack
The defeat of Roe. v Wade in the US has had widespread ramifications. One of these has been the energising of the anti-abortion movement globally, and New Zealand is no exception. There was at least one small rally of anti-abortion activists in Wellington in March 2023, who gathered on Parliament Lawn to voice their opposition […]
Iran’s Feminist Revolution – A conversation with local Iranian organisers
Masha Amini (or Jina Amini, her Kurdish name) was 22 years old when she was arrested in Tehran on 13 September 2022 by the Guidance Patrol (or “morality police”) of Iran for not wearing her hijab “correctly”. Three days later, she died in hospital. Leaked medical scans suggest this was a result of beatings by […]
International Women’s Day: Marxism, Gender Oppression, and Liberation
The tone of International Women’s Day on 8 March is generally celebratory. Many organisations from educational institutions, to trade unions to business circles now mark IWD to celebrate and acknowledge the work and leadership that women offer, whether that be in the home or outside. The first IWD was not simply about celebrating. Of even […]
Rosa Luxemburg at 150: a revolutionary legacy
Rosa Luxemburg, one of the great leaders in the history of the socialist movement, was born in Poland (then a province of the Russian empire) 150 years ago this month, on 5 March 1871. Luxemburg cut her teeth in the Polish revolutionary underground, but as an immensely talented political leader, she was drawn to the […]
Our Bodies! Our Choice!
This rainy Tuesday, 250 people marched from Midland Park to Parliament to demand abortion be decriminalised. Around the country hundreds more rallied. Andrew Little’s Abortion Legislation Bill is approaching its second reading, and the pressure is on to get it passed. The bill removes abortion from the crimes act, and scraps the requirement for approval […]
State ‘care’ and stolen generations
“Oranga Tamariki told me I had five minutes to say goodbye to my baby and then they were going to take it… I hung onto my baby but I was worried they were going to hurt me and the baby.” These are the words of a young mother who in May resisted multiple attempts by […]
Battling for Abortion Rights
Anti-abortion politics have taken centre stage in the media following the passing of “fetal-heartbeat” laws this year in several US states: Ohio, Mississippi, Georgia and Kentucky. The new laws ban abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant. Alabama has passed an even more restrictive law that bans abortion at […]
