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Launch of PFLP solidarity campaign

The Workers Party NZ is launching a national solidarity campaign to support the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Resistance to the Zionist state of Israel as a political, military and economic entity which is inherently racist and through its policies and actions denies Palestinians their land, their freedom and their rights; is not terrorism.

The PFLP has been one of the leading left secular progressive forces in the Palestinian struggle for justice and emancipation since its inception in 1969. They were the second biggest political force within the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), next to Fatah when it was lead by Yasser Arafat. When the PLO entered into the “Peace Process” the PFLP vigorously opposed this path and while remaining a member withdrew its support for the PLO while it continues to pursue this action.

Instead the PFLP sees the path to liberation as a single secular state in all of Palestine, with the right of return for Palestinian refugees and where all people regardless of race or religion have equal rights.

The PFLP continues to struggle both militarily and politically for the single secular state and fights alongside all Palestinian forces that oppose the Zionist state of Israel.

We believe that it is the responsibility of the progressive left in the west to show solidarity with the progressive left in Palestine. The Workers Party sees the PFLP as the most consistent and progressive left force in Palestine and we believe that it is the duty of progressive people in New Zealand to support their struggle.

One of the important points of the Solidarity Campaign is to support the right of Palestinians to all forms of resistance including armed resistance. In many western nations the PFLP has been branded as a terrorist organisation, we believe it is the right of any people facing a military occupation to resist.

We call for:

1. The removal of the PFLP from terrorist designations and

2.       The immediate release of Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the PFLP who is being held in solitary confinement in an Israeli jail

The campaign is being launched at 11:30 a.m. Saturday the 30th of May at the Wellington Central Library on the Mezzanine floor. All those who wish to support Palestinian Resistance can purchase a T-shirt at the launch, give donations or order on-line from www.workersparty.org.nz   or contact the Workers Party directly in your area.

All profits from the T-Shirts and Donations received will be given to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

END.

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Victoria University kicks out students for anti-war protest

PRESS RELEASE

Victoria University has disenrolled three students for an anti-war protest around Anzac day, and issued a warning to another student. Deborah Willis, Dean of the Humanities faculty, has disenrolled Joel Cosgrove and Alastair Reith, claiming a flag burning protest they held was serious misconduct. Ian Anderson who filmed the protest outside the Mount Street bar on campus has also been disenrolled, and Marika Pratley who was present, was issued a warning. The university has also banned all four from the Mount Street bar. The protest on 6 May was to highlight New Zealand involvement in wars of aggression from the Boer War, the World Wars, Vietnam to Afghanistan.

All four students are members of the Workers Party.

“The 20 second flag burning, which took place outside, in the rain, posed no danger to anyone” said Workers Party secretary Daphna Whitmore. “Universities are supposed to be the critical conscience of society. The actions of the University are political harassment and an attack on political freedom of expression on campus” she said.

The students are rejecting the university’s draconian actions against them and say they will continue to attend classes. They are calling on staff and other students to support their right to freedom of expression. END

Contact Daphna Whitmore 029 4949865   Joel Cosgrove 027 6009282

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Statement on Jasmine Freemantle’s expulsion

On the 12th of May, the Workers Party expelled current VUWSA president Jasmine Freemantle for flagrant violations of core working class, socialist and party principles. Since then her response has been to attempt to cover up the fact that she was expelled for consistently attempting to ride roughshod over VUWSA employees and for refusing to argue for basic socialist and Workers Party principles in VUWSA.

In particular, Freemantle undermined the Workers Party on campus and made restrictions on the right to strike. The unrestricted right to strike is in our policy platform, which was democratically ratified while she was a member. We, however, have no interest in wasting our time responding to every piece of Freemantle’s lurid fiction, personal attacks and self-justifying antics.

People who know the Workers Party will have little difficulty in recognising that subsequent comments by her bear little connection to reality.

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Video: Venezuelan Factory Occupations

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3120055233630014320&ei=-Iv5SaecMI-wwgPy7fy0CA&q=%22freteco%22&hl=en&client=safari]

Produced by Vive TV in Venezuela, this new documentary on FRETECO explores the movement of occupied factories and workers’ control in Venezuela. From the Mitsubishi auto plant to the Inveval valve plant; from the Gotcha T-Shirt factory to the INAF hardware factory, workers young and old, male and female, tell their stories and explain why they came to the realization that demanding nationalization under workers’ control is the only way forward. With examples explaining how factory and workers’ councils function, the role of the communal councils, and the movement for “trade unionism of a new type,” this video provides a living, breathing look at a crucial aspect of the Venezuelan Revolutionary process.

Subtitles courtesy of Hands Off Venezuela.

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Christchurch WP forum: Solidarity with the Palestinians!

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The brutal Israeli invasion and occupation of Gaza has led growing numbers of people around the world to question whether Israel can ever act in any way other than what we’ve seen in Gaza in recent weeks. Come along to this month’s Workers Forum and hear about how the state of Israel was set up through the dispossession of the Palestinians and about their continuing struggle for liberation.

Speakers: Paul Hopkinson and Mike Walker

Wednesday 28 January, 7pm
Workers Educational Association, 59 Gloucester St (opposite City Art Gallery)