Today people protested outside the newly opened Israeli embassy in Wellington. The demonstration was organised by NIEW (No Israeli Embassy in Wellington)
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Members of the Workers Party carried a PFLP banner, and called for the release of Ah’mad Sa’adat the Palestinian resistance leader who has a jail sentence of 30 years.
Whanau Ora and Maori today
Phil Ferguson
The Spark May 2010
On April 21, the report of the government-commissioned Whanau Ora taskforce was made public. The key idea of Whanau Ora (“Well-being”) is the establishment of a one-stop- shop approach to the problems of 
individuals and families in relation to problems of health, education and the justice system. Funds are to be diverted from existing stage agencies into a new Whanau Ora Trust which would contract out work to service providers to deal with the problems on a whanau basis. In other words, where an individual family member had health, education or justice system problems, the individual would be viewed as part of their whanau and the whole whanau would be engaged in finding solutions. This is seen as “empowering” both whanau and individual Maori.
Although Whanau Ora was originally conceived by its Maori Party architects as a programme for Maori, there is now agreement that all “families in need” will have access to the services provided through the programme. Continue reading “Whanau Ora and Maori today”
DVD Review: Looking For Eric (Dir: Ken Loach, 2009)
Mike Kay
“It all began with a beautiful pass from Eric Cantona.” So begi
ns the latest film from socialist film maker Ken Loach.
From the movie’s outset, it is clear that Eric the postie is languishing in life’s relegation zone: estranged from his wife, unable to handle his teenage tearaway stepsons and contemplating suicide. In desperation, he raids his stepson’s marijuana stash, and after a couple of crafty tokes, he is astonished to discover that footballing legend Eric Cantona has appeared in his Manchester United-adorned bedroom. Cantona then proceeds to dispense considerate advice along with soupçons of his Gallic philosophy. Continue reading “DVD Review: Looking For Eric (Dir: Ken Loach, 2009)”
Kiwis first or workers first?
Below are extracts from two arguments taken from the discussion section of this website:
Phil Toms says:
I find your inability to empathise with your own tribe, those who share your culture, society, economy, welfare, accent, genes, a little breathtaking. Our economy, like that of Iceland or Greece, is vulnerable to sovereign bankruptcy. Germany has suggested Greece should sell some of its islands, which would lead to Greece actually being smaller.
This, I suppose is of no concern to you, capitalists selling to capitalists, but in the world we have to live in, if our economy shrinks we get poorer. It makes little difference whether it is an American capitalist corporation or a Chinese capitalist corporation, and perhaps it is you who imagine a difference. A company registered in the Cayman Islands does so to avoid paying tax where it actually does business, depriving that country of income, which translates into public money. Continue reading “Kiwis first or workers first?”
Wgtn: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepali revolution
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-5_JB0mQ9U]
Protest against India's state terror
One of Ind
ia’s leading Maoists Kobad Ghandy is facing charges under India’s repressive laws which have been denounced by human rights activists.
Kobad is a campaigner for liberation against Indian state terror.
Join the demo to free Kobad Ghandy and protest against Operation Green Hunt, India’s war on the poor.
12 midday Thursday 29 April
High Commission of India, 180 Molesworth Street, Wellington
Search & Surveillance Bill – public meetings
Wellington Public Meeting: April 8th:
What’s all the fuss about the Search & Surveillance Bill? Public meeting 8 April 2010 at 7pm Old Government Building Lecture Theatre 2 (VUW Law School)
Chief justices, the privacy commissioner, Amnesty International, the Council for Trade Unions and the Human Rights Commissioner have all come out in opposition to the Search and Surveillance Bill saying it is a major threat to human rights and a major attack on fundamental freedoms. This bill is now before parliament and will be reported back on 1 May. Find out what is going on.
Speakers include: Warren Young, deputy president of the NZ Law Commission and Michael Bott, Chairman of the Wellington Council for Civil Liberties.
The moderator for the programme will be Dr. Sandra Grey, Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University. http://stopthebillnow.blogspot.com StopTheBillNow@gmail.com
Auckland Organising Meeting
Saturday April 24th is going to be a national day of protest action to oppose the Search and Surveillance Bill.
We will be having a meeting to plan an Auckland protest for the national day of action on:
7pm Thursday the 8th of April, Meeting room one in AUSA house, University of Auckland,Alfred Street.(That is the big old wooden house on Alfred Street, across the road from the University General Library).
No Israeli Embassy in Wellington [NIEW] Mission Statement
Alastair Reith
http://noembassy.wordpress.com/
On 26 March 26th 2010, Palestine activists from around Wellington met to plan a campaign of resistance to the re-opening of an Israeli embassy in our city. The decision was made to form a coalition involving all interested groups and individuals.
We are calling on all groups opposed to the Israeli occupation and specifically to the opening of an Israeli embassy in our capital to sign on and declare support for this mission statement, and to contribute in whatever ways they can to this campaign. Continue reading “No Israeli Embassy in Wellington [NIEW] Mission Statement”
New WP pamphlet on Afghanistan
New Zealand’s involvement in the occupation of Afghanistan has been commonly perceived as a humanitarian role. John Edmundson demolishes that myth and looks at what the occupation is really about.
The Situation so far
On 10 August 2009, Prime Minister John Key announced that the SAS (Special Air Service) would return to Afghanistan. This announcement had been predicted for some time so came as no surprise. The troops are being deployed in three rotations over 18 months and the full deployment involves 70 soldiers over that time period. At the same time, over that 18 months the NZ Army’s Provincial Reconstruction Team – NZ’s major commitment to the war – are being gradually reduced and eventually withdrawn, their work to be replaced by civilian work on agriculture, health and education. But the SAS deployment may in fact last much longer. The war in Afghanistan is going badly for the US -led coalition and few military people or civilian analysts are prepared to go public with an estimate of how much longer it could go on. A time frame as short as 18 months seems unlikely and if the war continues for years, there will be further requests for extensions to the troop commitment. With the Obama administration massively expanding the war effort, not just through increased troop numbers in Afghanistan, but an increasing involvement in Pakistan also, the war could well drag on for years. read more