The new National government is set to attack beneficiaries with a complete overhaul of how the social welfare system operates in New Zealand. While most beneficiaries will be worse off under the new rules, two types of benefit are likely to be hit especially hard – those on what is currently known as the Sickness Benefit, and those on the Domestic Purposes Benefit.

Under the changes, the Sickness Benefit will be eliminated, and all those who currently receive it will be put instead on the new Jobseeker Support benefit. Under this, some beneficiaries may be able to get short-term ‘exemption certificates’ from the requirement to be actively looking for a job, but many will not. Those who are unable to prove that they are actively looking for a job will face sanctions, including cuts to their weekly income.

Under the current system, sickness beneficiaries are required to obtain a medical certificate (at their own cost) to show that they are unable to work. If you have one of these, WINZ will approve your application for the Sickness Benefit. In the new system, people will be forced to hand over their medical records to WINZ, and it is WINZ staff who will make the decision on whether or not you are capable of full or part time work. Beneficiaries will then be forced to make active attempts to find whatever level of work WINZ has decided you should be doing.

A similar system already exists in the UK. Mental health advocate group Mind produced a faux-tabloid called The Daily Stigma which examined the impacts of these policies. It included the following disturbing story:

“We deal with many people who have been told they are ‘fit for work’ under the new system despite experiencing serious mental health problems. The other day I was speaking to a man who has schizophrenia. He has it quite well under control, but still struggles with paranoia and can’t cope with much pressure.

He’s been found ‘fit for work’ so no has to look for work, but the anxiety caused by the assessment process and now the prospect of job hunting is really destabilising him. I’m very worried it’s going to push him back into severe illness, and last time that happened he ended up in hospital for two months. But what can we do? (benefits adviser)”

For people suffering from a mental illness, the added pressure to seek jobs (which often don’t exist, given our high unemployment) is likely to push many into worse health, potentially including hospitalisation and suicide. Many sufferers of depression, bipolar and other mental illnesses are especially vulnerable to changes in routine, added stress and time-constrained pressure. While they may be coping while on a benefit, the added stress relating to being forced into extra WINZ appointments, job applications and potentially job interviews could easily be enough to push them over the edge.

Beneficiaries are an easy target for governments looking for a scapegoat. They have little power in our society, and are frequently the first stop for a government looking to push hardline, conservative politics. We all need to support beneficiaries in the fight against this overhaul of the welfare system, to let them know that they aren’t alone. The fight against beneficiary bashing is a huge part of the overall fight against the austerity regime, which also includes public sector cuts, attacks on unions and cuts to services.

For more information, see:

Paula’s Benefits – http://bit.ly/tcyJWQ

The Daily Stigma – http://bit.ly/qqfIaF

Government factsheet on welfare reforms – http://bit.ly/vTtZ4h

After starting in Zucotti Park near Wall St in New York on September 17, the Occupy movement has made its way around the world to over 2500 centres, including a number in New Zealand. Locally, 4 major occupations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin have been joined by others in smaller centres such as Invercargill and Pomare.

Defining the Occupy movement is a hard thing to do – the politics are different in each one, ranging from radical anti-capitalism to reformist demands for regulations on the banking sector. In New Zealand, one thing they all have in common is that they have brought in a wide range of people relatively new to political activism, from many different walks of life.

In creating physical spaces in central locations such as Aotea Square (Auckland) or The Octagon (Dunedin), the occupations have enabled many people to be involved on a level that suits them and their lives. Some are able to camp for extended periods and hang out on site during the day, others simply come for a few hours after work in the evenings or on weekends. This is a very positive factor, as it has enabled people to feel involved who might have otherwise (due to constraints of work, family, health or other reasons) never felt able to engage in political movements.

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The Mutiny Zine, based in Sydney, recently did an interview with AWSM about our newssheet Solidarity.

Mutiny: Why did you decide to start the publication? What are your political objectives?

AWSM: When we formed the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) back in October 2008, we decided that one of the things we wanted to do was a free monthly newssheet. We were definitely inspired by some of the other similar projects done by anarchist-communist groups in other countries, like Resistance (published by the UK Anarchist Federation) and Workers Solidarity (by the Irish Workers Solidarity Movement).

As AWSM is a group spread across the length of New Zealand, Solidarity was seen as a good national project, one to help us all get used to working together, while simultaneously spreading our ideas and publicising struggles that would otherwise be ignored.

Politically, AWSM is an anarchist-communist organisation, so Solidarity is one way in which we can help promote anarchist-communist analysis of current events and society as a whole. It also gives us the chance to reach an audience who wouldn’t necessarily search for our website, but might pick up a copy of the newssheet at a library, community centre or cafe.

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The text of a talk given at Occupy Wellington, New Zealand, on October 27 2011. Around 55 people attended the talk, organised to try to counter the prevalence of conspiracy theories amongst the local wing of the Occupy movement.

Kia ora kotou, thanks everyone for coming. Firstly, a brief run-down of how this workshop will work: first, I’m going to give a brief talk, followed by an open discussion which anyone can contribute to. I also want to make it clear that I’m not here today to debunk or debate any specific conspiracy theory. I’ve got no interest in doing that, I don’t think its particularly productive. What I want to be doing is talking about the title of the workshop is – why our activism must be based in reality. So we’ll be talking about the whole conspiracy world-view, we’ll be talking about what I think is a much better alternative to that, but I’m not going to sit here and argue with you over whether the Government is secretly poisoning us from the skies, or whether shape-shifting reptilian lizards are controlling our lives, or whether or not you can cure cancer with baking soda.

First up, who am I? For those of you who don’t know me my name is Asher, I’m born and bred in Wellington, though I have also spent a few years recently living in Christchurch. I’ve been involved in activism and radical politics for around about 7 years, in a variety of different campaigns and struggles.

If we’re going to talk about conspiracy theories, the first important question is obvious: what is a conspiracy theory?

Now, if you go by a dictionary definition, a conspiracy is just a group of people who get together to plan something, and don’t tell others about it. If I’m organising a surprise birthday party for my friend, then I am conspiring with others. But that’s not a particularly useful definition for the purposes of a discussion like this.

So, for this discussion, the way I’m defining a conspiracy theory is thus: a conspiracy theory is a theory based in supposition, one that flies in the face of evidence or science, often one that claims its correctness can be shown by the paucity of evidence in favour of it, in the sense that ‘this conspiracy goes so far that they’ve even buried all the evidence that proves it!’ Conspiracy theories often encourages an ‘us few enlightened folk versus everyone else’ world view. This creates an atmosphere where conspiracy theorists look down on people, or sheeple as they are often called, and ignores the fact that people, by and large, are actually pretty intelligent. In and of itself this world-view is hugely problematic for as I will discuss later, mass social change requires the participation of the masses and therefore, we have to have faith in the ability of people to decide things for themselves, to come to correct conclusions and ultimately to change the world.

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Download issue in .pdf format (0.5MB)

The 17th issue of Solidarity, free newssheet of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement. Download the .pdf above, or click below to read the contents online.

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To subscribe, email: libcomaotearoa-subscribe [ at ] lists.riseup.net

At the moment, there is no real national communication between anarchists and others sympathetic to libertarian socialism, syndicalism and anti-state communism in New Zealand. This is a real need for a national list so that people can post news and analysis from their area (including relevant material from overseas), post about upcoming events and protest action (including industrial action), and discuss matters. People often are isolated and don’t know what is going on.

There is also a range of invaluable and often innovative material from overseas that is not widely known in New Zealand, such as debates over the capitalist crisis we are in, ‘common-ism’ and precarious labour. This list will hopefully discuss these attempts to update libertarian communist analysis for the society we live in now, and not stick to spouting tired old irrelevant dogmas.

So we are proposing to set up such a national news, events and discussion list. The list is open to all people who are interested in anarchism or socialism who are
- for grassroots self-organisation (people collectively organising themselves from the bottom up and not top down)
- anti-capitalist (opposed to all forms of capital, whether big or small, and are for the socialisation of all property )
- anti-statist
- anti-sexist
- anti-racist
- opposed to any other form of oppression not listed above
- think that classes exist (including the much maligned working-class) and are actually antagonistic to each other and class is quite important for revolutionary politics
- are pro-revolutionary and are opposed to reformism and all political parties.

A fairly broad spectrum of anarchists, communists and socialists are welcome - but not individualist anarchists, ‘anarcho-capitalists’, Leninists or social democrats.

It will be a no-flaming (no personal abuse or insults) list. Please debate the issue and not the person. If you break this rule, or consistently post material that is not within the guides listed above, you will be warned. If warned three times, you will be removed from the list.

Although the list is being set up by an individual in AWSM (Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement) it is not aligned with that group, or run by it. There is a need for a list which is not aligned with any one group, though members of groups are welcome on the list, as are their groups’ material and opinions.

So if you want to join, please send an email to: libcomaotearoa-subscribe [ at ] lists.riseup.net