Socialist Aotearoa

"The government throwing 25 cents to minimum wage workers is a cheap shot" said Campaign for a Living Wage organiser Joe Carolan. This is barely 2% of nothing, and will be well below real inflation when his government raises GST in the budget." "Low paid workers are sick of being insulted by millionaires like John Key. We'll be initiating for action on the back of this slap on the face, and there'll be a loud and angry protest this afternoon at 5pm at Auckland's Chamber of Commerce on Mayoral Drive". "What workers need is a living wage- we've been pushing for $15 an hour now, and for the minimum wage to be set at 66% of the median wage. Tens of thousands of people have signed our petition for a Citizens Initiated Referendum, but John Key has infuriated the half million workers earning less than 600 bucks with this derisory pittance". CAMPAIGN FOR A LIVING WAGE PROTEST TODAY 5pm AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MAYORAL DRIVE Contact- Joe

Commentary: Omar Hamed, Socialist Aotearoa (Wellington) The typical underpaid New Zealand worker is someone who spends their days cleaning rooms in a hotel, washing patients in a hospital, restocking shelves in a retail store or cooking burgers in a restaurant. They might even do a couple of these jobs to make ends meet. They work hard, pay their taxes and hope that the rich and powerful who run the businesses they work for and the Government give them a fair go. What they don’t expect is that the Government will in the short time it has been in office increase the amount of GST they have to pay, their ACC levies and slash the contribution their employer makes to their Kiwisaver scheme in half. They might even think it is a bit hypocritical that the Government will then go and give the richest 7% of New Zealanders a tax cut from 38% and 33% to 30%. They are probably worried too that they will be the ones paying for the proposed land and capital gains taxes through higher rents. An

HAITI- from Revolution to Occupation Black Jacobins and Shock Doctrines A Socialist Aotearoa forum With Gerald Perreira and Joe Carolan Friday 29 th January 7.30pm Auckland Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road , Grey Lynn. Tens of thousands of people in Haiti are dead and hundreds of thousands more wounded or homeless after the earthquake that tore through the country last Tuesday. People across the world will feel deep sympathy for those who have lost so much, and a great desire to help. Earthquakes are natural events: but the scale of the suffering depends on where they happen and how much assistance the victims receive. The world’s great powers have been criminally slow to respond. They have dragged their feet while huge numbers of people are left without food or clean water and have to sleep in the open. The US can always get a cruise missile to its target anywhere in the world. There is never a lack of money for a military “surge”. But there

Some of the thousands of $15ph supporters who signed the Living Wage petition this weekend “The NZ Herald poll this morning that found that 61% of New Zealanders support raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, underestimates the support we are getting from thousands of people every week at our campaign stalls and workplaces” said Living Wage campaign organizer Joe Carolan, today. “We’re aiming for a referendum on this issue, and if just a fraction of the 61% who support our demand sign our petition by May, we’re confident that we will win it by a landslide- 70 or 80% would probably be closer the mark. For too long, economics in this country have been dominated by the needs of big business and the wealthy. There’s a groundswell of frustration that we’re tapping into- half a million Kiwi workers are struggling to make ends meet on less than $15ph, and the concept of a Living Wage for those who are working hard 40 hours a week is an idea whose time has come”.

Obama and Clinton- ITS NOT OK -to wage war for oil -to kidnap and torture -to support military coups -to occupy other countries -to wreck our planet Protest Hillary Clinton's visit to Aotearoa Host: GPJA- Global Peace and Justice Auckland Date: Saturday, 16 January 2010 Time: 11:30 - 14:30 Location: U.S. Consulate, Citibank Building, 23 Customs Street East IT’S NOT OK TO WAGE WAR AND WRECK THE PLANET! Despite the hope for change the new Obama administration in the US is proving to be a loyal servant of big business and the wars of empire. Since the election President Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have overseen a continuation of the war in Iraq, trebling of military forces in Afghanistan, uncritical support for the Israeli regime, the overthrow of a democratically elected President in Honduras and the scuttling of any serious plan to confront global warming. The economic crisis has seen a further deepening of the grotesque inequalities betw

Commentary: Derwin Smith, Socialist Aotearoa I was one of the eight people arrested for protesting against the Israeli tennis player last week. It must be said that very little of my political activism, or that of the other people arrested, involves protesting tennis players. Most of the things that I am campaigning around are issues like low wages or the destruction of the environment. Just like the other people at the protest that are all involved in many different things like animal rights, Women’s rights, child poverty, and anti-war/anti-imperialism. These are all things I agree with and I believe they are all symptoms of the way our society works, these are all the by products of our political and economic system, i.e. capitalism. Just as the reason the USA gives Israel millions of dollars each week in military aid to protect the right of international corporations to rape the Middle East for its resources, markets, and cheap labour – it is protecting capitalism – our socia

Video of speeches and arrests of Day Four, including explanations of why Palestinian Society has called for an economic, cultural and sporting boycott of Israel.

Videos of yesterday's crackdown on Free Speech in Auckland. Palestinian solidarity activists will again protest today to mark the anniversary of the massacre in Gaza, and exercise our right to free speech. Join Us.

VIDEO OF ARRESTS HERE Activist John Minto and four other protesters were arrested outside the ASB Tennis Centre in Auckland today. An organisation calling themselves Global Peace and Justice Auckland continued their demonstrations during Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer's matches at the WTA tournament for a third straight day. Today was Peer's first match on centre court and the protesters' numbers doubled to 16, again using loud hailers to call for Peer to withdraw from the event because of Israel's occupation on Palestine. Minto and one other protester were using loud hailers while an elderly woman had a microphone and speaker. After police had given three warnings they stepped in to arrest Minto and two other protesters and also confiscated their loud hailers. The demonstration continued without Minto with one man climbing a tree with a loud hailer to continue to blast out the group's message. The police were forced to climb the tree to bring him down while the

Socialist Aotearoa supporter Malcolm France was arrested today protesting Israeli apartheid for holding a megaphone. That he might use agin in the future. That constitutes offensive behaviour. Disorderly contact. A breach of the peace. Here the Commanding Officer justifies his arrest. See if you can follow the logic here. We'll be protesting tomorrow again at the ASB Tennis Centre and at 9am this Friday Morning Jan 8th, at the Auckland District Court, 65-71, Albert Street. Stand up for Palestine and Freedom of Speech.

S.A. supporter Malcolm F set upon by Auckland cops at Freedom for Palestine protest Protest to step up GPJA (Global Peace and Justice Auckland) and the PHRC (Palestine Human Rights Campaign) will step up protests against the presence of Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer in the ASB Womens’ Classic tennis tournament. Protest will resume tomorrow (Thursday) at 11am at the Stanley Street courts where we expect a larger protest as people return from holiday etc. The protest is targeting Peer because there is an international consensus that the best way to challenge Israel ’s brutal oppression of Palestinians is through an international boycott – termed the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) campaign. This is just the second time in recent history when such a consensus has developed – the first being in respect of apartheid South Africa . In that case the international boycott had a powerful and positive impact in bringing pressure for change. The same