Socialist Aotearoa

GPJA Special September Forum: 7pm, Friday 2nd September, Unite Office, 6A Western Springs Road, Kingsland Special Guest S’bu Zikode from the South African Shackdwellers organisation is arriving for a two week visit to coincide with events to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Springbok tour protests. The Skackdwellers organisation, Abahlali baseMjondolo, is the largest organisation of the poor in South Africa and fights for the right to housing and basic amenities such as water and electricity. S’bu will speak about South Africa 17 years after the election of the first democratic South African government and will show the award-winning video Dear Mandela. This will be an occasion to welcome him to New Zealand. S’bu will also be speaking at the Auckland anniversary event on Sunday, September 11th (Gather at Eden Park gates Walters Road at 12noon). Abahlali baseMjondolo (Zulu: [aɓaˈɬaːli ɓasɛmdʒɔnˈdɔːlo], Shack Dwellers), also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers

This law set out to amend the Copyright Act of 1994, this is called the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011. It will come into effect today 1st September 2011. The basic idea behind the law is that if a copyright company suspects an IP address of partaking in uploading or downloading copyright material, they ask an isp to link an ip address to an account holder. This person is then held responsible for all alleged illegal file sharing from that IP, not the actual downloader. From here the account holder must prove their innocence, and this in its self is a violation to one of the most basic democratic right, innocent until proven guilty. Once an account holder has been given 2 warnings, they may be fined up to $15,000 and have their internet shut off. This brings me the next point I feel is a huge contradiction. The United Nations have recently released a report in which UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue highlights the fact that the internet has become a very impo

Students from Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Auckland and Massey University Wellington are calling for a Nationwide Day of Student Action on Wednesday 14 September. The government is trying to dictate how students organise on campus, with so-called 'Voluntary Student Membership' set to become law in the next month. Universities are under attack from their own management, with lecturers being sacked and research shut down at Victoria University in Wellington, under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Pat Walsh. Students at Victoria University are calling for Pat to be sacked. Auckland University management, under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon, is attempting to remove key academic freedoms from lecturers, calling into question the whole idea of the university as a community of scholars. University management is already cutting papers that encourage students studying business to think critically, things will only get worse. Stud

Cities are the only way to square the circle between humanity's demand for equality and a decent standard of living in a sustainable planet. The substitute for ever going intensified private or individual consumption is the public luxury of the city. – Mike Davis If Auckland had a dress size it would be 4-10-20. As in, ranked 4 th best city for quality of life; and 10 th and 20 th most liveable city according to the Economist and Monocle respectively. Not bad for that last, loveliest loneliest citadel in the antipodes. If Len Brown and his centre-left council win the future with their Auckland Plan, a kaleidoscopic vision of Auckland in 2041 then the city of a thousand lovers will climb ever higher in those rankings. From the preview the Herald’s element magazine , the vision expressed in the Auckland Plan is to be boldly co-operative, jarringly public, social and sustainable. More light rail, pedestrian boulevards, dockside pools, urban villages, green roofs on com

Hear West Papuan leaders discuss the road to peace and how the Pacific Island Forum Leaders can help. The indigenous Melanesian people of West Papua have been forced to live under Indonesian military rule since the early 1960s, but yearn to be part of the Pacific family again. When: Tuesday 6 September · 7.30pm Where: MacLaurin Chapel, 18 Princes St Auckland (corner of Princes Street and Waterloo Quadrant) | University of Auckland Speakers: Dr John Ondawame: West Papua People’s Representative Office in Vanuatu Rex Rumakiek: Secretary-General West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPCNL) Paula Makabory Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights (IPAHR): Australia and ELSHAM West Papua (One of the 1000 peace women nominated for the Nobel Prize in 2005) The Pacific Islands Forum meets in Auckland 6-9 September at Sky City in Auckland. Forum leaders must not overlook West Papua which is experiencing an unimaginable human rights tragedy: 'slow genocide'

Between 1984 and 1993 New Zealand underwent reconstruction as a powerful coalition of politicians and merchant bankers fought to create a dreamworld of neo-liberalism in the south Pacific. Aotearoa/New Zealand was once thought of as a country of hope and justice and set an example to the world. Samuel Parnell and his band of carpenters in Wellington could look on their new land with pride in 1840 as the home of the eight-hour workday. In 1893 Kate Sheppard could smile at a polling booth clerk on general election day, elated that she and the suffragettes had made world history as New Zealand women went to vote for the first time. Rua Kenana built a new Jerusalem in the high hills of the Ureweras, a community free from the acrid horror of the Great War and the grinding poverty of New Zealand’s colonial cities and towns. Norm Kirk, standing on the wharf at Devonport as a frigate departed in 1973 to Muroroa to protest nuclear testing would say, “We may only be a small nation but we sen

200 people rallied in Aotea Square as part of a day of action against the Copyright Amendment Act. For the first hour people chilled out in black, drinking coffee, listening to pirated music, and heard speakers against the law - John Minto from the Mana Movement, Gareth Hughes from the Greens and a speaker from the Pirate Party. Socialist Aotearoa brought the tunes and dozens of placards reading "Pirates vs. Empires. Same shit. Different century." At 1pm SA led the crowd into the street to chants of "When internet freedom is under attack, stand up fight back", the march moved down Queen Street and took over the intersection between ASB and Civic Square. With Dead Prez blasting over the SA sound system, hundreds engaged in an impromptu sit down occupation. Chants of "Fuck John Key" echoed in the warm late winter air. A tino rangatiratanga flag waved above the mob. As the police cars sirens screamed towards the protest, the black clad you

On the 1st of January 1994, the Zapatista (EZLN) uprising began on the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect. Demanding justice for the indigenous Mayan people who lived in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, it was to become a beacon of hope to a generation that was told history was over. Armed with rifles, they occupied several towns in the province, including the capital San Cristóbal de las Casas, and shouted to the world “Ya Basta!”- Enough! The Zapatistas were an army of the poorest people in North America, “the people of the colour of the earth” who were conquered by Spanish colonialism 500 years previously. Although their province produced half of Mexico’s hydro-electricity, had huge cattle ranches, exported the most coffee and was the second largest produce of oil in Mexico, the indigenous people were pushed off their lands by ranchers. Now NAFTA was to give multinational corporations more control over their resources

Intellectual property; who owns it? There was a time in which we had access to free downloadable music, books, and movies. That time is gone. With the new copyright infringement law coming into affect on the 1st of September, we will no longer have legal access to these. I believe that this is not only a removal of free information but a removal of our rights and a grab at what little money we have by greedy corporations. Corporate interests have increasingly been attempting to completely subvert, as with the U.S internet 2.0 initiative, or control the freedom of expression online. In February Burger King attempted to unjustly fire an employee for posting her personal opinion. Corporations have traditionally controlled information through geography and the medium information is stored on. The internet heralded the arrival of uncensored, free flowing information. The Copyright infringement law is an extension of this corporate action to control not only content but opinion and thought.

On 1 September 2011, the National Government's war on internet piracy will begin in earnest as the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act comes into force. The new law signals a new attack on the rights of people to share and consume culture on the information highway, but the facts of the new law are little known. On Thursday 25 August at Unite Union come hear two speakers discuss the implications of the new law and how we can fight it. Speakers: Alex Manson, internet freedom activist/IT specialist & Nick Merrington, Socialist Aotearoa Read more: Govt could fall victim to Skynet law | 13 reasons to oppose the anti-sharing law | Understand the basics of the 3 strike law | No one's safe from Skynet law -Expert Where: Unite Union office, 6a Western Springs Rd, Kingsland. When: 7pm 25 August 2011 Contact: aksocialistaotearoa@gmail. com Socialist Aotearoa branch meeting and forum. Our fortnightly meeting to discuss political issues and organ

Adidas exploits workers in repressive, third world countries. Socialist Aotearoa's Joe Carolan explains why workers in New Zealand are burning its logo in this video. All Black protest against Adidas at Eden Park tomorrow Media release Socialist Aotearoa 4pm 12/08/11 Over the past weeks public outrage has grown at the $220 price Adidas has set for the sale of All Black shirts and the sweatshop wages being paid in Adidas factories in Asia. Anti-capitalist action group Socialist Aotearoa is calling for Aucklanders to rally outside of Eden Park’s front gate Saturday 13 August at 1pm. The three stripes of the Adidas logo will be burnt in protest against the Adidas corporation. “It is simply unacceptable for Adidas to simultaneously rip off rugby fans, its own workforce and to corrupt the Rugby World Cup with misplaced consumerism,” said Socialist Aotearoa spokesperson Joe Carolan. “We’re calling on Adidas to immediately raise the wages of all its garment w

The Adidas corporation are guilty of (1) exploiting third world labour , (2) charging exorbitant prices and (3) commodifying sport. Three stripes and you're out. Anti-capitalist group Socialist Aotearoa is organising an All Black Block this Saturday at 1pm at the front gate of Eden Park, where we will burn the Adidas corporate logo in protest. The obscenely low pay brings shame on New Zealand and the Black jersey. Join us. more info- txt Joe at 029 44 55 702. NZH: Oxfam says AB jersey workers getting 60cents ph Non-profit organisations such as Oxfam have highlighted the fact that many factories used by Adidas pay their workers poverty wages while making huge profits. Oxfam, Play Fair and China Labor Watch say wages at Adidas factories in Asia are as low as 60c an hour. The Rugby World Cup-branded jerseys are made in Thailand, and the non-tournament All Blacks jerseys are made in China, where Adidas has come under scrutiny for poor wages. Adidas

Read the riot special online here .

'There’s uprisings everywhere - the whole world. Everyone’s fed up’ Eyewitness reports from the frontline of the wave of rage sweeping the streets Riots of the poor and dispossessed spread through Britain this week. The police struggled to crush an uprising against their own racist brutality and poverty. The riots reveal the deep-seated social tensions at the heart of Tory Britain. The streets weren’t the police’s any more—they belonged to the angry, disenfranchised and the poor. A young African-Carribean man pointing to the police told Socialist Worker, “These people are supposed to protect us—when I see them at night I run the other way. How can any of us feel safe when they’re shooting people?” The spark that ignited the flames was the gunning down of Mark Duggan by police in Tottenham on Thursday of last week. A peaceful protest vigil had marched to the police station on Saturday evening. People were furious that the police hadn’t even contacted the parents o