Latest news
Wellington action: Don’t dance with Israeli apartheid
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, which has described Batsheva as ‘the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture’. Batsheva’s performance at NZ Festival […]
“The Sin of Cheapness”: Harriet Morison and the Tailoresses’ Union
By Ciaran Doolin, Fightback (Wellington). Early migrants to New Zealand had high hopes. From the slums of the East End to the peasant villages of Guangdong province, they carried with them a shared vision of a fresh society, one where the injustices of the “Old World” would be no more than painful memories. However the […]
The Workplace
“The Sin of Cheapness”: Harriet Morison and the Tailoresses’ Union
By Ciaran Doolin, Fightback (Wellington). Early migrants to New Zealand had high hopes. From the slums of the East End to the peasant villages of Guangdong province, they carried with them a shared vision of a fresh society, one where the injustices of the “Old World” would be no more than painful memories. However the […]
300 hotel workers strike in Fiji
On December 31 close to three hundred workers at Sheraton Fiji, Sheraton Villas, and Westin Denarau Island Resort took industrial action. Workers held a spontaneous protest against the unilateral removal of their staff benefits. The strike was initiated by the land owning committee (LOC) after maternity leave and overtime pay entitlements were taken away. “In fourtee n […]
World’s Wealth for the World’s Workers: A history of New Zealand’s labour movement
Notes from a talk delivered by Ciaran Doolin (Fightback, UC Marxist Society) in Christchurch. 1821 – The first recorded wage dispute in New Zealand was in the Bay of Islands in 1821. Māori timber-workers stopped work because they wanted to be paid ‘for their labour in Money, as was the case in England, or else […]
International
Wellington action: Don’t dance with Israeli apartheid
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, which has described Batsheva as ‘the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture’. Batsheva’s performance at NZ Festival […]
300 hotel workers strike in Fiji
On December 31 close to three hundred workers at Sheraton Fiji, Sheraton Villas, and Westin Denarau Island Resort took industrial action. Workers held a spontaneous protest against the unilateral removal of their staff benefits. The strike was initiated by the land owning committee (LOC) after maternity leave and overtime pay entitlements were taken away. “In fourtee n […]
Environment
Deep sea drilling: The spirit of Mururoa?
By Bronwen Beechey, Fightback (Auckland). In June 1973, the NZ Labour government sent two Navy frigates to the Pacific atoll of Mururoa to formally protest against France’s testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. The Spirit of Peace, the Fri and the Vega, also sailed to Mururoa to observe the tests. Photographs of French sailors […]
The climate crisis
By Wei Sun (Fightback, Christchurch) World production and consumption have been increasing rapidly in recent decades due to global ‘westernization’. While socially this can mean a higher standard of living for many in the developing world, the results are mostly negative on the local, national and global natural environment. For example, global transportation has increased […]
Oppression & Liberation
Eating disorders: Capitalism and patriarchy’s fault
Trigger warning: discussion of eating disorders, suicide, mental illness. By Wei Sun (Fightback, Christchurch) Eating disorders are mental illnesses that occur across all genders, cultural backgrounds, and ages. According to the Eating Disorders Association of NZ, eating disorders have the highest death rate of all mental illnesses. Statistically, 1.7% of all New Zealanders – approximately […]
A young migrant woman’s experience of work in NZ
Wei Sun (Fightback, Christchurch) After the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) in 1840 anyone could immigrate to New Zealand, while most settlers in the nineteenth century came from the UK, substantial numbers of Chinese labours immigrated to work on the goldfields of Otago. These migrants faced discrimination from white migrants […]
Culture
Review: Five Broken Cameras (Palestinian documentary)
Directors: Emad Bernat, Guy Davidi Distributed by: Kino Lorber Release year: 2011 Review: Ian Anderson Screened as part of Aotearoa/NZ’s first national Conference on Palestine, Five Broken Cameras portrays the resistance of a Palestinian village (Bil’in) to the expansion of Israel’s Separation Wall and settlements. Strictly the wall is illegal in international law, and the […]
Review: Marx in Soho
Written by: Howard Zinn Preformed by: Brian Jones Venue: University of Melbourne Student Union Reviewed by: Joel Cosgrove “Don’t you wonder why it is necessary to declare me dead again and again?” asks Brian Jones in his performance as Karl Marx in Marx In Soho, a part of the Marxism Conference at Melbourne University. The […]
Society
The Internet Party: A progressive force?
By Byron Clark, Fightback (Christchurch). The Internet Party is going to fundamentally change this country’s political landscape, apparently. It’s unusual for a party that has not registered with the electoral commission, and who haven’t announced any concrete policy or candidates, to be viewed in such high regard by the media, yet we are seeing comments […]
Education and Capitalism: Behind the Massey-McDonald’s partnership
Morgan Welch Massey University has formed a partnership with McDonalds Restaurants that will allow a number of McDonald’s store managers to cross-credit their prior learning towards an undergraduate business degree. An in-house course run for McDonalds by an external provider, Service HQ, provides managerial staff with the National Diploma in Hospitality, a New Zealand Qualifications […]
Marxism and mental health (audio)
Fightback’s Polly Peek recently spoke on the topic of Marxism and mental health in Christchurch. Capitalism functions in such a way that people impacted by mental illness are often lacking the health services needed, and face discrimination in employment and stigmatisation in wider society. Downloadable MP3 available here
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