Resistance in Korea

Public Meeting: Wednesday 19th August 7pm Clubspace, University of Auckland (above the quad)

In 2008 hundreds of thousands of Koreans joined massive candle light vigils protesting the right-wing government of Lee Myung Bak. A wide cross section of people were angered by Lee’s policies of privatisation, attacks on public education and his decision to allow imports of US beef despite fears over Mad Cow Disease. Following the protests the government launched a heavy crack down on democratic freedoms. Riot police brutally attacked demonstrators. Many protest leaders were imprisoned.

Recently the occupation of the Ssangyong auto factory by 600 workers, facing off attacks by police helicopters, tear gas and tasers has received media attention around the World.

Jacob Lee, a member of the Korean socialist group All Together, will give a first hand account of the militant mass movements in Korea.

All welcome! (Organised by Socialist Aotearoa)

August 14, 2009

US Imperialism and the Israeli war machine

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHrifuYAoQ]

The Middle East is of vital strategic importance to the United States and Israel plays an important part in the grand imperialist plan. When discussing U.S foreign policy in relation to Israel and the Middle East people like to speak of the almighty Jewish lobby groups and how they manipulate and control the U.S government. Chomsky writes in his book Fateful Triangle; “Reference to Jewish influence over politics and opinion seriously under estimates the scope of the so-called ‘support for Israel’” “No pressure group will dominate access to public opinion or maintain consistent influence over policy-making unless its aims are close to those of elite elements with real power” “America’s relationship to Israel ‘has been determined primarily by the changing role that Israel occupied in the context of America’s changing conceptions of its political-strategic interests in the Middle East.’”

This same principle applies to the election of a new President in the United States, which if you are to believe the rhetoric and the propaganda, can mean real “change” not only in America but around the world. The very idea that the nature of U.S imperialism and the political-strategic interests that shape foreign policy (and have been built upon over many years of war, bloodshed and clandestine politics) could be altered by the election of one capitalist President over another shows a lack of any real analysis of the true nature of U.S imperialism and its so called democracy. Obama himself provided a fascinating insight into this when recently he stated that “support for Israel in this country goes beyond party”. Continue reading “US Imperialism and the Israeli war machine”

August 11, 2009

Telecom lines engineers begin nationwide strike Tuesday 11 August

Telecom lines engineers will begin a second round of nationwide strike action over their employers’ refusal to offer redundancy protection at a time of uncertainty in the industry.

The nationwide strike action will affect Telecom’s phone, internet and eftpos services from Invercargill to Kerikeri, and will involve 900 workers from Telecom’s Australian-owned contractors Transfield Services and Downer EDI.

The action comes as North Shore lines engineers enter their fifth day of ongoing strike action.

EPMU national industry organiser Joe Gallagher says the lines engineers are striking for redundancy protections in an industry increasingly destabilised by Telecom’s contracting model.

Join the strikers in Tuesday 11 August, at 9am Hopetoun Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland

August 10, 2009

Solidarity with Pyongtaek workers

On August the 6th, Korean workers concluded their occupation of a car plant in Pyongtaek. For 77 days, these workers resisted attacks by scabs and police officers, demanding their right to jobs. Now as the state takes them on in court, they’re asking for continued solidarity from international workers.

The Workers Party is organising a picket outside the Korean embassy:
WELLINGTON
ASB Tower, 2 Hunter St
Thursday 13th August, noon

August 10, 2009

Stop the SAS return to Afghanistan

Picket outside of the Court of Appeal, corner of Molesworth and Aitken St WELLINGTON 8AM – 9.30 AM

The picket coincides with the Court of Appeal hearing for an anti-war protester convicted of burning the NZ flag at anti-war protest in 2007. It also coincides with the government’s announcement of the return of the SAS to combat in Afghanistan. All welcome…and please pass it on…

Organised by Peace Action Wellington

August 5, 2009

Pyeongtaek Factory Occupation, South Korea

By Spark correspondents

Over one thousand South Korean factory workers are currently occupying the only Ssangyong Motor Company car manufacturing plant in the city of Pyeongtaek, near Seoul. The workers have been occupying the plant since May 22^nd this year in response to the company announcing it would lay off over two thousand workers. Ssangyong filed for bankruptcy in February this year because of falling car sales which saw it abandoned by its Chinese parent company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. Continue reading “Pyeongtaek Factory Occupation, South Korea”

August 5, 2009

National’s McJob Creation Scheme

The Spark August 2009
Byron Clark

The government has made a deal with fast food giant McDonald’s in which young people receiving the unemployment benefit will be sent to jobs in McDonald’s restaurants, and have their ‘training’ subsidised by the state. Every beneficiary McDonald’s hires will get the company up to $16,000 which is the equivalent of about 8 months wages for a McDonalds worker. Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett is citing the relationship with the golden arches as an example of “the Government’s commitment to getting beneficiaries into jobs,” but while the growing number of unemployed certainly need jobs, McDonald’s needs workers a whole lot more, and this is what the scheme is really about.

Fast food is a growth industry during this recession, as people who would have previously eaten at more up-market restaurants lower their budgets. McDonald’s in New Zealand is continuing to build on its profits, enough to open a number of new outlets. They need to employ an estimated 6,000 workers over the next few years. The reason? Those workers are where their profit comes from. The company can provide an investment to build a new store with all the cooking and food preparing equipment that requires, but it can’t see a return on that investment until labour (ie, workers) is added. A McDonald’s worker doing an eight hour shift for minimum wage will be paid $100, but by turning raw materials (buns, meat patties, frozen Happy Meals, that worker could produce $200 for the company. Without the worker, McDonald’s couldn’t realise a profit. Continue reading “National’s McJob Creation Scheme”

August 5, 2009

Australia builds military capacity

The Spark August 2009
Joel Cosgrove

Continuing a precedent followed over most of the last decade, the Australian government has increased the military budget well above inflation, with a 56% increase in the last seven years and 9% in the last year, to $25.66 billion dollars, with expectations that it will rise to $29.47 billion in 2010, a rise of 12.9%.

This is an important development in the attempts by the Australian ruling establishment in their move away from the traditional Australian defence position of border control and response to one of regional projection and incursion to maintain and develop Australia’s interests. Continue reading “Australia builds military capacity”

July 30, 2009

Recession scenarios

Philip Ferguson

In the past couple few weeks the Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard, prime minister John Key, and other commentators have been talking about the recession, or at least the worst of it, being over.

Bollard is a fairly level-headed and reasonably sophisticated bourgeois economist and Key is a fairly level-headed, reasonably sophisticated capitalist political manoeuvrer. So their view of the current state of the recession is worth some consideration and can’t just be dismissed as capitalist propaganda.

The evidence, such as it is, that has been presented to suggest NZ is coming out of recession is pretty flimsy, however. A news item that featured what they were saying on the subject showed a case of one house that had been sold in five days, whereas last year the same house hadn’t sold in months. That is hardly evidence for much at all.

Harcourts’ real estate blue book in early July contained an ‘informational’ sheet in which Harcourts declared the recession, or at least the recession in house prices, over. Their evidence was improved house sales for the past two months. This verdict on their part seemed rather unconvincing – especially since it came in a blue book that was at least 1/3 smaller than the size of the blue books last year. If the housing market was really jumping back up, then the Realtor and the Harcourts blue book wouldn’t be the slimmed down volumes that they are at present.

More importantly, a real recovery couldn’t be judged from house prices. No new value is created in the sale of houses – all that is involved is prices going up and down. If they go up, above the actual value of houses, these boosted prices simply draw money from elsewhere in the economy – and, usually, also involve the extension of more credit. Continue reading “Recession scenarios”

July 19, 2009

European election results – an overview

Mike Kay
The Spark July 2009

The March edition of The Spark carried a report of some inspiring class struggles by workers across Europe. Regrettably, that resistance has found very little political expression in the recent elections for the European Parliament. Support for far-right parties has surged, against a backdrop of the lowest ever turnout for a Euro-election, with just 43% bothering to vote.

Continue reading “European election results – an overview”