Socialist Aotearoa

TUNNEL OR NOTHING It’s time to stand up for your community, and against the destruction of your homes, your parks and your environment. Join the Tunnel or Nothing march along the proposed SH20 surface motorway route on Saturday June 6. The march will start at 11.30 am at Waterview Park (between Cowley and Herdman St's), travelling along Great North, Blockhouse Bay and New North Roads and finishing at Alan Wood Park on Hendon Avenue. People are welcome to join the march anywhere along the route that follows the proposed tunnel. Even if you can’t make the march, be sure to gather at the entrance to the No. 1 field, Alan Wood Park, at 2.30 pm for a rally with speakers and entertainment. This march and rally both start and finish in community parksthat will be lost by the SH20 extension through to SH16 Visit www.tunnelornothing.org.nz or email tunnelornothing@gmail.com for more information

Report by Cameron Walker On May 25th at least 10,000 people took to the streets of Auckland to protest against the National-ACT Party plan to incorporate all of Auckland’s local authorities into one ‘Super City’, without any Maori seats. The date of the march marked 31 years to the day that police violently evicted Ngati Whatua from the occupation from their Iwi’s land at Bastion Point in 1978. The crowd at the hikoi included a wide range of people, Maori, Pakeha, Asians and members of Auckland’s very large Pasifika community. Many came to oppose the Crown refusing to include Maori seats in the proposed Super City, others came because they are angry that a Super City structure will leave Auckland’s water services, port and other public assets open to privatisation. Socialist Aotearoa was there because we are concerned about both of these issues and the destruction of the ability of local communities in Auckland to democratically decide their future. We marched with our banner decla

Thousands turned up to the Hikoi today. Here's some pics just in from SA members

Thanks to Hannah S for the awesome pics Thousands of Aucklanders defied Transit and Police barriers and took direct action to cross Auckland's Harbour Bridge. Socialist Aotearoa talked to one of them, environmentalist campaigner Tane Feary. Tane, what were today's protests about? Action was taken for cycle and pedestrian access to be made available on the bridge to have access to the North Shore. Other people also had signs protesting the SH20 Motorway, and it was a huge symbolic protest of the transport policies of the current National-Act Government. How did the direct action begin? The cycle group had talked with the police beforehand to take care of safety concerns, and they were negotiating with the head of the NZ Transport Agency, who was refusing to listen to what the public wanted- access across the bridge. The Agency had made a fence to block public access across the bridge, and once it was apparent that negotiations were going nowhere, people voted with their feet

Demand the right of Tangata Whenua to elect Maori seats We stand shoulder to shoulder with Tangata Whenua in demanding directly elected Maori seats on any new governance for Auckland City. It is a disgrace that the National and ACT government have dropped this part of the Royal Commission's proposal. Socialist Aotearoa calls on all Aucklanders to oppose any future governance for our city that does not acknowledge the partnership between the Crown and Maori that is laid out in te Tiriti o Waitangi. Demand local democracy The National and ACT government's plans for our city trample on the rights of Maori to elect their own representatives, and remove the democratic rights of people all across Auckland. Throughout the region people have been attending public meetings to raise their anger over the destruction of local councils, and the reduction in locally elected representatives on the new council. Community boards with no fundraising powers will be powerless to represent the

We, the Justice for Tamils Students Association (JTSA), are a group formed with the purpose of campaigning for the rights of the Tamil peoples of Sri Lanka. The urgency of their plight due to the recent escalation of the Sri Lankan government military campaign compelled us to begin ongoing demonstrations: a 24hour vigil at the University of Auckland on 18 May 2009, and as of midnight 17 May 2009, the JTSA President, Stu Colquhoun began a hunger strike in protest against the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. We write to respectfully ask for your expression of solidarity with JTSA for this cause. JTSA stand first and foremost for justice for the Tamil peoples. While we acknowledge that both parties to the internal conflict in Sri Lanka have acted in contravention to International Law, we support the following statement of Walter Kalin, UN Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, issued on 15 May 2009: “Even if one party to the conflict is deliberately using c

Battle Plan for a Global Day of Action on Climate Change. a response to Chris Trotter's critique of the Climate Camp gathering in Parihaka. Joe Carolan The latest photographs of accelerated melting of glaciers in Greenland, the increased feedback loops in Methane emanating from melting permafrost in Siberia and the opening of the Northwest passage through Arctic waters north of Canada, point to the frightening fact that Global Warming events predicted to be 30 or 50 years away, are now occurring. Many climate activists now insist that we have 100 months left to save the planet before mass species extinctions and millions of human lives are at stake. In this context, an increased urgency to create the beginnings of a mass movement to change our economic and industrial systems is required before an irreversible tipping point is crossed. The need to expand the climate movement beyond the eco-ghetto is a key requirement of any successful GDA. STAGE ONE- BUILDING THE MO

Socialist Aotearoa comrades living in Mount Albert will be supporting local residents in a campaign of direct action against the controversial SH20 Motorway. The project will destroy hundreds of homes, and shows the National Party's contempt for working Aucklanders who were promised their houses would be safe and that a tuneel would be built underneath them. Socialist Aotearoa argues that the billions of dollars spent on this motorway would be better spent on free and frequent public transport- the problem with gridlock is people using cars- build more motorways and they become instantly congested, merely getting you to the traffic jam quicker. Direct action and civil disobedience can stop this Raupatu. Parties seeking votes in the local by election such as Labour and the Greens should be asked to physically support future blockades and actions.

It took five years for Mussolini to crush the Italian working class and get away with incarcerating its leaders. At Gramsci's show trial in 1926, the fascist judge sentenced him to 20 years gaol. In a reference to the tremendous impact Gramsci had had on the engineering workers while editing L'Ordine Nuovo and his subsequent leadership of the Communist Party in the 1920s, the judge declared: "we must stop this brain working for 20 years". Gramsci spent the last 11 years of his life in Mussolini's gaol. The Revolutionary Ideas of Antonio Gramsci one of a series of meetings about Marxist revolutionaries Host: Socialist Aotearoa Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009 Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm Location: Room (short name): 105-029 Room (long name): ClockT029 Street: Clock Tower Building off Princes Street City/Town: Auckland, New Zealand View Map Google MapQuest Microsoft Yahoo Phone: 0211861450 Email: solidarityjoe@yahoo.com Description Marxists, such a

Today marks the beginning of Unite's Campaign for a Living Wage to get an immediate raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The first part of the campaign is to collect over 300,000 signatures within 12 months on our Citizen's Initiated Referendum Petition. After the petition has been presented to Parliament every voter in New Zealand will get the chance to vote in a referendum. Unite's Supersizemypay campaign successfully saw the elimination of youth rates and substantial rises in the minimum wage. We can do it again! The referendum question is: "Should the adult minimum wage be raised in steps over the next three years, starting with an immediate rise to $15 per hour, until it reaches 66% of the average total hourly earnings as defined in the Quarterly Employment Survey?" The current adult minimum wage is $12.50 an hour - $500 a week. We believe that an adult in a full time job should have a reasonable standard of living without getting into debt or relying

Solidarity Picket for October 15th defendants May 15th 8:30am - 9:30am outside Auckland High Court The October 15th defendants will be appearing in the High court on May 15th where they will once again have to plead guilty or not guilty. The court case has been moved to the high court as the police are charging several of the defendants with "participating in an organised criminal group". The police are doing this in an attempt to salvage some credibility after the original terrorism charges were not allowed to go forward. This will also be exactly one and half years since the state's 'terror' raids and invasion of the defendant's homes and the community of Ruatoki in 2007. The October 15th Solidarity Group in Tamaki-Makaurau are calling for a morning solidarity picket. This is will the only time (as far as we know) when all the defendants will be up in Auckland this year. Remember the state terrorism and support Tino Tangatiratanga and Te Mana Motuhake o Tuho

The latest downward spiral for the occupation cannot be solved by sending in more troops or spreading the war to Pakistan, writes Simon Assaf The Hydra in Greek mythology was a beast with nine heads. When one was cut off another two would grow in its place. This is an apt description of the West’s dilemma in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some eight years after the battle for “hearts and minds” in Afghanistan was supposedly won, the occupation is spinning into a deep crisis. The Pakistani Taliban, insurgents who are allied to the resistance in Afghanistan, triggered global panic last month when they took control of Buner, a region some 60 miles north of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. An offensive by the Pakistani army was able to them drive out, but not before Hillary Clinton, the new US secretary of state, warned of an “existential threat to Pakistan.” The deepening malaise of the war is laid bare here. A key battle for Afghanistan is now being waged on the edges of Islamabad. Clinton

EPMU members at Air New Zealand subsidiary Zeal 320 Ltd are currently taking industrial action over a disparity of pay that sees flight attendants at Zeal paid tens of thousands of dollars a year less than those employed directly by the Air New Zealand. The 240 flight attendants at Zeal crew Air New Zealand's A320 fleet, which services part of the airline's Trans-Tasman and Pacific routes as well as a small number of domestic flights. These workers do the same work on the same routes, wearing the same uniforms as staff directly employed by Air New Zealand. The only difference is that Air New Zealand employs them under a wholly-owned subsidiary on lower terms and conditions. The union has been in negotiations with Air New Zealand for seven months to try and resolve the issue but has been unable to persuade the company to start addressing the disparity. As a result, Zeal staff began low-level industrial action on March 28 involving a breach of uniform policy and refusal to fill o

BBC videos HERE Auckland's Mayday march up Queen Street led by the Wharfies from MUNZ. Staunch trade unionists joined socialists, anarchists, and representatives of oppressed nationalities, but the big unions had a pathetic turnout. No sign of the more prominent union leaders in Auckland. Socialist unity for a change- WP and SA comrades had joint placards welcoming Migrant Workers and refugees to Aotearoa. Here, comrade J takes it one stage further ;) The Anti Capitalist Red and Black Blocs were boisterous and noisy. SA also invited along our comrades from the Tamil community, who spread word about the oppression of the Sri Lankan government and made vital union contacts. Internationalism was the theme of the Anti Capitalists, in response to the shameless scapegoating of migrant workers from the Labour Party's president, Andrew Little, who also heads up the largest Kiwi union, the EPMU. Labour Party speakers got a deserved heckling, Tamil speakers got a righteous reception.

The Camp for Climate action Aotearoa Gathering brought together activists from across Aotearoa and beyond to Parihaka for an inspiring three days of workshops and collective strategising. Afterwards many people accepted an invite to support a local iwi [Maori community] in their occupation of sacred land designated for destruction by a gas pipe line. In keeping with the project's aim to build 'A Peoples Movement Addressing the Root Causes of Climate Change' a diverse collection of individuals converged to bring together trade unionists, socialists, permaculturists, direct action focused ecologists, quakers, anti mining campaigners, indigenous pacifica focused activists and Tino Rangatiratanga activists seeking self determination for the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa. This is what a peoples movement should look like and no better place to get one started than at Parihaka, a Maori settlement with an incredible history of resistance to colonialism stretching back to 1840. W