by Jen Wilson
At this time we remember and honour long time union leader Helen Kelly, a brave and compassionate person who mourned with and comforted the families of workers killed at work; Forestry workers, the Pike River miners, Charanpreet Dhaliwal, aged only 22, beaten to death on his first night on the job as a security guard. So many dead because their lives and safety were not valued by their employers. Standing beside the grieving families Helen Kelly demanded justice, the prosecution of their employers who put profits above the lives of workers. She shined a light onto failed business practices which made these deaths inevitable and demanded and worked for change. Her death is a great loss. [Read More…]
Recent articles
Medical Cannabis Rally outside Parliament
About 40 medicinal cannabis campaigners rallied at Parliament on Wednesday in support of a petition being handed in, and for Damien O’Connor’s Members Bill to permit medicinal cannabis being prescribed for the terminally ill and sufferers of significant pain. Yes Damien O’Connor, the sometimes illiberal Labour MP for West Coast. If O’Connor can support this […]
Living Wage win in Wellington
By Martin Gregory The Greater Wellington Regional Council, meeting on 28 September, unanimously passed a Living Wage motion proposed by Sue Kedgely. I was one of a group of Living Wage activists present at the meeting.
International Socialism Day School 2016 (Wellington)
This Saturday will see Wellington hosting the International Socialism Day School 2016: This will be a full day of discussion and exploration on the following topics: 10:30am – The Case for Socialism 11:45am – Ideas for Liberation: Marxism against Eurocentrism 2:00pm – Rosa Luxemburg’s “The Mass Strike” 4:00pm – Roz Ward on Safe Schools, […]
No Deportations!
by Josh O’Sullivan On Monday night in quiet leafy suburbs in Lynfield, the silence was broken by calls for justice from a crowd of around 50 people. Justice for the 150 Indian students who have been swindled by immigration agents overseas and tertiary institutions here in New Zealand. The National Party was hosting a public meeting at […]
Easter Sunday: Another Attack on Workers’ Rights
By Martin Gregory On 25 August the government majority in Parliament passed the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Act by a vote of 62 to 59. Peter Dunne, David Seymour (ACT) and Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party) voted with the National Party, who were whipped for this measure. Marama Fox (Maori Party) voted against along with […]
Our ‘work ethic’ is not the problem
By Andrew Tait John Key came out this week and said it: New Zealanders are just too lazy or drug-addled to work, so we have to bring in migrants to “do a fabulous job” harvesting fruit and veges. It’s a meme that has done the rounds on the media, slyly suggested by employers, farmers and politicians but never […]
NZEI and PPTA stand up to government’s attacks on public education.
By Shomi Yoon Unionised teachers in the secondary, primary and early childcare unions, PPTA and NZEI, attended paid union meeting nationwide to discuss a fightback against the government’s attacks on public education this week. Thousands of teachers filled the Auckland and Wellington town halls to voice their anger and concern about the government’s plans. Thousands […]
National’s disarray – the Emperor has no clothes
By Ewan Tavendale This year’s local body elections probably won’t enlighten us as to which direction the public, or more correctly the various social classes, might be heading politically. Certainly, there is nothing so far to suggest that the local elections will herald a Labour Party revival. However, the local elections are not without interest. […]
From the archive
Anzac Day: Against the Carnival of Reaction
On Anzac Day 1967, at the height of New Zealand involvement in the ‘American War’ in Vietnam, with New Zealand troops taking part in the suppression of the Vietnamese struggle for national liberation, members of the Progressive Youth Movement in Christchurch tried to lay a wreath following the dawn service in memory of those killed by imperialism in Vietnam. They were arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour. Feminists a decade later faced down a media-driven public outcry when they laid wreaths to the victims of sexual violence during war.
Lest we forget? It’s more like lest we remember. Anzac Day serves as a carnival of nationalist reaction, a day of public ritual aimed at promoting forgetting: forgetting the real legacy of New Zealand imperialism and militarism in favour of a sentimental nationalism, an anti-political celebration of national unity. [Read More…]
