Socialist Aotearoa

Roger Douglas Emperor Palpatine Commentary: Joe Carolan Old Roger Douglas reminds me of the evil Emperor Palpatine, drunk with power in an Imperial Senate, a figure of hate who rallies a Rebel Alliance which finally overthrows his reign of destruction. Now, this 70 year old crusader is pushing a bill in said Imperial Senate in Wellington to cut the wages of workers under the age of 18, a disgusting piece of ageist discrimination from this Sith septuageneraian that just wouldn't be accepted if these workers were female or brown. Well, by most non-ACT voting, decent working people anyway. I'd like to thank Roger Douglas for this. Before he shuffles off this mortal coil, he will act as one of the greatest recruiting sergeants for the union movement we will ever have in Aotearoa. Already tonight, dozens of our delegates in the Unite Union, veterans of the SupersizeMyPay.Com war four years ago that smashed Youth Rates in the McDs, KFCs and Starbucks, have contacted Unite HQ

NEW: Watch the footage of the exchange from TV3 News HERE Commentary : Joe Carolan Living Wage campaigners debated John Key when they were collecting signatures at the Big Gay Out last weekend. When I asked him to sign the petition for $15ph min wage, Key replied "If I did that, 9000 workers would lose their jobs" he lied. "What, on top of the 168,000 who've lost them already on your watch?" We then asked the Prime Minister what he would say to a young worker, trying to survive on $420 a week, and could he personally survive on it? "Not easily. No- that's your answer!" he laughed, before ambling away. LET THEM EAT CAKE? This answer is not good enough, and adds insult to injury after last week’s pathetic 25 cents on the minimum wage. If John thinks he couldn’t personally survive on a low income, why should it be a laughing matter for half a million of his fellow citizens? Happily, thousands of people at the BGO disagreed

Nationwide protests and pickets will target National MPs offices this Saturday, as anger spreads across the country at GST increases and a low minimum wage. The wave of action has been called by the Campaign for a Living Wage, which has gathered nearly 100,000 signatures supporting a Citizens Inititaed Referendum to raise the minimum wage now to $15 per hour, a move supported by over 61% of Kiwis, according to polls. "The working poor are not stupid, and if the Government continue to attack us, National Mps shouldn't be surprised they'll be targetted for public shaming and ridicule in their local communities" said Campaign Organiser Joe Carolan. "First the government threw 25 cents at those struggling to get by on the minimum wage, and now, a week later, they've hiked GST up another 2.5%. This will mean that the half a million workers earning less than $15 per hour now will be worse off, not to count the 150,000 dependent on benifits". &qu

Despite selling out every night it screens at the cinema on Courtney Place and becoming the highest grossing film of all time, few have picked up on Avatar’s blatant allusions to the historical drama of Bougainville that happened on New Zealand’s doorstep thirteen years ago. The films names, plot and characters are almost direct references to the 1997 Bougainville crisis yet no one seems to have drawn the dots between science fiction and south Pacific fact. Until now. Many people will be familiar with the story of Avatar. The story opens one hundred and fifty years in the future. A human mining corporation, RDA, has come five light years from Earth to the ecologically pristine jungle wilderness of the planet Pandora to mine the mineral unobtanium. The richest deposits of unobtanium lie buried deep within the ground of Pandora and directly below the home of an alien race known as the Na’vi. Jake Sully, an ex-United States marine turned mercenary, is sent out to spy on the aliens by

with thanks to Vincent AKA Mr News from Guerrilla Media, the unedited video of Socialist Aotearoa's January 2010 meeting on Haiti- from Revolution to Occupation with Joe C and Gerald Perreira and a vast cast of other fine speakers from Auckland's left in the audience!

Shaky Islands - A meeting on Haiti and the US occupation Haiti 'Colonialism at its worst' , Why the Latin America Committee still exists - Short introduction by Paul Bruce (Latin America Committee) History of Haiti from Revolution to Coup - Sam Buchanan (Wildcat Anarchist Collective) Shock Doctrine in the Caribbean: the US occupation in Haiti - Omar Hamed (Socialist Aotearoa) 128 Abel Smith Street Wellington Monday, 15th of February 2010 Starts at 7pm