Socialist Aotearoa

The Two-State Solution for Palestine has been tried since 1948 and even earlier. The concept of dividing Palestine into two states has been going on since the inception of Israel. Mandated Palestine was originally the division of Palestine into two states, one for Jews one for Arabs. That was in 1920 and basically split the country 50/50. As a result of the 1947-48 war, Israel retained all the Jewish part plus 60% of the Palestinian part. This was the founding of Israel, it was founded on the theft of Palestinian land: the Nakba, or catastrophe. 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their land where they had lived for generations. Many have been living in refugee camps in Lebanon and other countries ever since. Many of them still hold the deeds to their proprties and the key to their front door. Around the same time 700,000 Jews moved to Israel from neighbouring Arab countries. The Palestinians have been fighting for their land ever since. In 2017, it will be 100 years since t

“The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles... [in this] the bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part... [it] has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation... [this revolutionary force] must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.” These words are taken from the opening lines of the Communist Manifesto, written more than 150 years ago.   Yet they perfectly describe the world we live in today; a world rent by economic strife and class struggle driven deep into every tiny crack and crevice of modern society. But the world was not always like this.   Some few human communities still exist as they have done for hundreds of years, in peace and security, where money has little use except in trade. In certain remote and ancient villages in northern Africa or the Middle East, whitewashed homes still stand cool and secure, wh