Socialist Aotearoa

Socialist Aotearoa member and arrestee Omar Hamed speaks Strike leader and SkyCity union delegate Lianne Henry with the Unions for Tino banner Comrade Cam from Indy tells it like it is Tuhoe flags fly proud in Auckland's Queen Street On a cold and miserable day, the cries of "No More Police State!" echoed through Central Auckland's Queen Street as over 200 Maori, trade unionists and left wingers joined a rally to defend the Urewewa 20, and remember the State Terror Raids of October 15th last year. The movement has previously been successful in forcing the State to drop the charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act, and now begins the campaign to drop all charges against the accused. The vocal launch of the campaign today brought many cheers and claps of support from Saturday shoppers on CBD streets, and signals the fact that the upcoming trials will be fought with a strident political campaign on the streets, and will unite people from many of Aotearoa's caus

AUCKLAND RALLY POSTER: http://indymedia.org.nz/usermedia/application/10/aug30.pdf End the criminalisation of dissent; End the colonisation of Ngai Tuhoe; End the global wars of Terror 12 NOON, SAT, AUGUST 30TH - PROTEST LAST YEAR’S STATE TERROR RAIDS. RALLY IN AOTEA SQUARE This protest is part of an international day of action focusing on the raids which resulted in 17 activists arrested in a dramatic exercise of state power. Two days later the activists will appear in court for a depositions hearing on the charges. The outcome threatens the right to dissent and the civil liberties of all New Zealanders. The police failed in their attempt to lay terror charges against the activists but they are continuing to press arms charges. The nature of the police evidence is such that if their evidence holds up then any breaches would be technical and would normally have resulted in a warning without prosecution. GPJA has called for all the charges to be dropped. http://www.october15thsolidarity.

Commentary: Alex Callinicos Now that the dust is beginning to settle, what are the long term consequences of the war between Russia and Georgia? The Russian army has systematically dismantled the military infrastructure that Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili had built up with the support of George Bush. Now the Russians are withdrawing – but to positions that will let it dominate Georgia. Saakashvili is the loser in the Caucasus – but on a global scale, it is the US. Behind the headlines, the Bush administration is getting an enormous amount of flak from expert opinion for policy towards Russia that it inherited from its predecessor under Bill Clinton. This aimed to exploit Russia's weakness after the end of the Cold War by seeking to extend Nato right up to Russia's borders. Last week the New York Times quoted James Collins, former US ambassador to Moscow, as saying, "We have probably failed to understand that the Russians are really quite serious when they

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Luke and Gabriella with Ratzilla! Central Auckland lies in ruins today after a fifty foot high, flesh eating mutant rat representing SkyCity Casino management devoured a picket line of striking workers, before scaling the tower and going on a Cloverfield style rampage throughout the CBD. Or maybe not ;) Heather and the Scarlet Banner Support from SoRa, Korean student ON the Picket Line! STAND STRONG! Looking up as the gigantic Rat scales Skytower ;) Skycity Unite union has a strong Maori leadership On Strike!

Unions, Strikes and Socialism Socialist Aotearoa Workshop Huge price increases in food and petrol. Dark clouds of recession on the horizon. High tax and low wages. Corporate greed and useless political parties. Come meet union organisers, delegates and ordinary workers who are sick of this state of affairs. There's been a flurry of strikes in recent weeks in all sorts of places that have got organised and decided to do something about it. There's also many new kinds of job being organised who need your support. INvite your friends and workmates to this workshop organised by Socialist Aotearoa. Txt Joe at 021 186 1450 if you need directions or more info! Email solidarityjoe@yahoo.com TIME FOR A PAY REVOLT! Unions, Strikes and Socialism with speakers from recent strikes and union drives in Casinos, Cinemas, Call Centres, Banks and Language Schools Algie Lecture Theatre (Rm 801-209), Faculty of Law UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND Thursday Aug 28 2008 7:30-9.00pm For a Rank and File net

National Bank picketed in Newmarket Solidarity from Unite Delegate and Socialist Aotearoa editor, Joe C FINSEC delegate and Socialist Aotearoa activist Danielle with comrade! On the Picket Line, Queen Street Bankers shut down by workers action People before Profit! Today ANZ and National Bank staff picketed at 3 major sites across Auckland. This is after stop work meetings where the majority of members voted to reject the 4% pay rise offer and hold a strike. After weeks of negotiations between Finsec and ANZ National the workers had decided enough is enough and nothing less than a 5% pay rise is a fair deal. Customer services representative and union delegate Danielle was present at the stop work meeting and two of today's pickets. *Why was a strike necessary today? Negotiations between Finsec and the bank have broken down. ANZ National are unwilling to come to the table and offer a fair deal in good faith. We are fed up with the way ANZ National are treating workers

Finsec union members across ANZ National bank will be holding strike meetings tomorrow, Friday August 22, to determine the next steps in their campaign for wage justice and fairer sales targets. “Despite making over a billion dollars profit the bank has reneged on its pledge to offer above inflation wage increases and is burying its head in the sand over targets. Staff and customers don’t want unethical sales targets and the banks refusal to even look into this matter is a slap in the face to both groups,” said ANZ National worker representative Cathie Lendrum. “Union members say it is time ANZ National behaved like any decent business and showed appropriate respect for its staff and customers. I think New Zealanders expect more from our largest corporate citizens,” said Lendrum. “These strike meetings are an opportunity for union members to determine what it will take to achieve a fair deal from the bank given that it is refusing to budge at all from its offe

"Australia and NZ remained unrepentant for their brutal suppression of indigenous independence movements in the Pacific. They rationalized such behavior as enhancing the welfare of the Islands and the human development of their people – just as they justified similar behavior towards indigenous peoples in their own countries"- more HERE Sina Brown-Davis, Melbourne-based Maori, Tongan & Samoan anti-globalisation and solidarity activist will be giving a public talk on revolutionary struggle and activism in Australia and the Pacific. Sina works closely with Aboriginal Australians in a number of anti-racist and anti-colonial projects and campaigns. She runs uriohau.blogspot.com a news service for activists and revolutionaries throughout the Pacific. Sina was one of two-dozen activists arrested in the wake of riots at the G20 neo-liberal economic summit held in Melbourne in 2006. Sina will be discussing her experiences in and perspectives on anti-capitalist and anti-colonial

Global Day of Action 30 August Demonstrations and protests are being planned around the world for the global day of action to ‘Drop the Charges’ against the 20 people arrested in the nationwide State Terror Raids of 15 October 2007. Why have a day of action? The day of action is a chance to educate and inform people about what is happening with the case. Many people believe that since the Terrorism charges were not successfully laid by Police, that everything is fine. We need to let people know that the case is on-going. It also is an opportunity to re-ignite involvement in the issues of Tino Rangatiratanga, Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe and repealing of the Terrorism Suppression Act. People can come along to express their rage, anger and sadness at the raids, and their on-going commitment to the solidarity work. What is happening? There are demonstrations and actions being planned around the globe. In Wellington, there will be an action starting at 12 noon at 128 Abel Smith Street.

Emissions Trading, Carbon capture and storage, Clean Coal, green certification schemes, carbon positive investments, compliant carbon markets, and voluntary carbon offsetting... what the hell is all this!?, who's planning it and what has this got to do with me? Well, if you turned up to the 4th Australia-New Zealand Climate & Business conference today without a NZ$990 ticket to get inside you would have been none the wiser as to what New Zealand and Australia's biggest Climate polluters are planning on doing in response to the most alarming social crisis the world has ever faced. However, despite our lack of funding; a few of us from 'Climaction' [an Auckland based group of climate activists] decided to go along to the conference anyway and one individual managed to sneak inside when security weren't watching as the rest of us gave out flyers warning passers that they were entering a deadly greenwash contaminated zone. Our friend inside had the pleasure of liste

Three years ago Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga began with a vision: to bring together more than 5,000 indigenous groups around the world into a dialogue that would support the growth of first nations in the academy. Alter Native: An International Journal of Indigenous Scholarship was founded. This Friday, at the Fale Pasifika, we celebrate the release of the fifth issue by returning our focus to the Pacific, profiling our rich heritage through the use of podcasting technology. The fifth issue centres on the issue of what it means to be 'Pacific'. 'Critiquing Pacific Education' brings together a range of prominent Pacific scholars who debate the issues surrounding being grouped together under a geographic banner and the benefits of further incorporating indigenous world-views in contemporary education. The launch also platforms the release of a series of podcasts that aim to increase the participation of indigenous peoples in shaping the direction of research into their

This weekend, Socialist Aotearoa activists in the Unite Union joined organisers and comrades walking the floor of Auckland's Skycity Casino, calling out random gambling tables on strike in a guerrilla campaign of chaos. Over one thousand Skycity workers are members of Unite, and a further 300 are with the SFWU. The casino at Auckland's heart makes millions of dollars profits every year, and for every winner, generates hundreds of losers, creating misery and poverty for thousands of working class gambling addicts. Its ruthless management cares little about this, and even less for its staff, who it offers the minimum wage. The chips are down The hypnotic lights and chimes of the main gambling floor were punctured by the bellow of Unite President, Matt McCarten, who called out random tables on strike, and gave management only minutes to close the table and secure their chips. The guerrilla strikes ensure maximum disruption to management schedules and planning- they never know

Interview Stalin Peres Borges On June 11, President Chavez, accompanied by several of his principal ministers, met in the hotel ALBA in Caracas with the 500 most important employers in Venezuela. Among them were those who manage the Polar and Mendoza groups and the country’s big bankers. During this meeting, entitled “Re-launch production” (“Reimpulso Productivo”), president Chavez announced a series of measures which favour the financial sector and the big employers who are linked to the multinationals. He called there for “national unity”, an “alliance with the national productive sectors” and tried to convince the entrepreneurs that socialism would do them no harm. The socialist journal Marea Socialista asked Stalin Perez Borges to evaluate this meeting in the present Venezuelan context. How do you evaluate the meeting of President Chavez with the employers? Stalin Pérez Borges: Scarcely a few months ago, the president reaffirmed

A sustainable future requires a radical break with capitalism, argues Martin Empson There is no doubt that capitalism is bad for the planet. Multinationals exploit natural resources in the interest of profit, pumping their waste into our rivers, oceans and atmosphere. Vast regions of the world are stripped bare in the search for coal and other minerals. Entire ecosystems are destroyed in the hunt for profits. And the problem of climate change threatens the planet as a whole. Capitalism isn’t the first economic system to exploit the natural resources of the planet. However it is the first to do so on an industrial scale, using advanced technologies to maximise profits. This relentless drive to make money out of the world’s resources means there is no chance for the planet’s ecosystems to recover naturally. In the past natural mechanisms would break down greenhouse gases before they would even approach a level that could trigger climate change. But ever since we started systematically bu

by Lindsey German, convenor of the British Stop The War Coalition (pc) The outbreak of war in the Caucasus over the past week has stunned the world. More fighting, more bombing, thousands dead and tens of thousands of refugees are the daily scenes on our television screens. This is not just a “little local difficulty” between Russia and Georgia. It is part of a drive to war across the globe that has characterised the eight years of George Bush’s US presidency. And it is intricately connected to the US-led “war on terror” which is raging in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia – and which now threatens Iran. The hypocrisy involved in statements from George Bush and Dick Cheney beggars belief. “Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people,” says Bush. “Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.” Yet Bush and Cheney are the architects of a series of disastrous wars being waged around the world today. The US ignored t

The conflict in Georgia is spiralling out of control. The Western media is portraying the conflict as an invasion by Russian forces, yet the Georgian Army has been killing the people of South Ossetia with impunity, and there is no right to self determination for regions that do not want to belong to Georgia. South Ossetia’s capital Tshkinvali lies in ruins, while over 2,000 civilians have lost their lives. Russian forces are using the same overwhelming firepower that they have used for over a decade in Chechnya. If South Ossetia has a right to cede from Georgia, then Chechnya has a right to its independence from Russia. The current conflict has been exacerbated by the USA, in its bid to extend NATO into former republics of the old USSR. They have been arming, equipping and training Georgian forces for many years along with 1,000 Israeli military advisers provided by Israeli security companies. Georgia sent 2,500 troops to Iraq, the single biggest contingent in the occupying forces