Category: Uncategorized

Iraq and Afghanistan

It is now five years since the US-led invasion of Iraq and over seven years since the invasion of Afghanistan, which included NZ troops. Iraq has been virtually destroyed thanks to the invasion and occupation, while Western forces in Afghanistan are under increasing pressure.

Come along to this month’s Workers Forum, hosted by the Workers Party, and hear what’s really happening in both these countries and why workers in NZ should oppose Western intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

7pm, Monday, March 31, WEA, 59 Gloucester St

Documentary Screening; Chávez, Venezuela and the New Latin America

This documentary by Aleida Guevara (daughter of the revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara) explores Venezuela’s explosive revolutionary terrain post-April 2002 – when Hugo Chávez survived a coup attempt instigated by the United States.

Featuring interviews with Hugo Chávez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Jorge García Carneiro, newly appointed head of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, along with many others, this film affords a rare opportunity to glimpse through the blockade of information imposed by the United States and into a country rich with hope, dreams – and oil.

(2004, in Spanish with English subtitles)

5pm, Wednesday April 2 in the International Room, 1st floor UCSA Building, University of Canterbury

Fortnightly Tuesdays 6pm @ Auckland Trades Hall 147 Great
North Road:


April 1 The global economy – how deep is the slump?

April 15: US elections: choosing the best face for
imperialism


1968 + 40 series


April 29 1968 – the year that rocked the world

May 13 The French general strike

May 27 What is Situationism?


Download leaflet in pdf format here

Nelson Davila, Venezuelan charge d’affaires for Australasia, will be speaking at two public forums in Christchurch next week:

Sunday March 16
2pm, Workers Educational Association,
59 Gloucester St

Monday March 17
12 noon, University of Canterbury Students Association,
International Room

Organised by Venezuela Aotearoa Solidarity Team (VAST) and Socialist Worker

Supported by the Workers Party

For more info contact David: colyer(at)pl.net | 021 0462011

UC Workers Party on Campus Public Forum

Wednesday 12 March 5pm

International Room, 1st floor UCSA building

University of Canterbury


Israel and Palestine are never far from the news and 2008 is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. With the recent visit of George W. Bush to the region, a renewal of peace talks at Annapolis, the lock-down of the Gaza Strip and, most recently, the dramatic breaching of the border between Gaza and Egypt, what does the future hold for the people of the region and what approach is most likely to bring a lasting peace?

Auckland Workers Party forum

Tuesday 4 March 6pm

VENUE Upstairs meeting room, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd Auckland

This year is the 100th anniversary of International Working Women’s Day. Daphna Whitmore examines the origins of women’s oppression and looks at the current status of women in New Zealand as well as the present state of the women’s liberation movement.

This month’s Christchurch Workers Forum is on the Electoral Finance Act and the 2008 elections. Come along and hear and discuss:
● why the EFA is not in the interests of workers and open political debate
● the similarities between the policies of National and Labour
● what we can do to build an alternative for workers

Speakers: Tim Bowron and John Edmundson

7pm, Monday, February 25,
WEA (Workers Educational Association)
59 Gloucester St

Marxism 2008: May 30-June 1, Auckland City, New Zealand
(Schedule and venue to be announced)

From May 30 to June 1, the Workers Party of New Zealand will be holding its 6th annual educational conference, Marxism 2008, in Auckland.

The conference will be particularly important this year because, for the first time, the Workers Party will be registering as a political party to stand in the national general election on the party list. This is the first time in New Zealand history that a revolutionary socialist option will be on the ballot paper in every part of the country.

The Workers Party invites militant activists and intellectuals, particularly international guests, to participate in the conference and we hope that there will be talks by international guests. We encourage those who wish to deliver presentations to contact us before April 1 2008 for consideration.

Please contact Phil Ferguson by emailing
philip.ferguson(at)canterbury.ac.nz

Continue reading “Marxism 2008: Call for Papers”

A Symphony of Errors

A film about the recent land struggle of Ngati Rohoto Hapu

Tuesday 19th February 6pm
upstairs @ Auckland Trades Hall, 147 Great Nth Road

This film documents the militant land occupation and struggle of the Ngati Rohoto Hapu against the development of a gated community on top of a historic urupa (burial site) on the shores of Lake Taupo. The land occupation became a class struggle within Tuwharetoa for democratic control of the land. Through this struggle, legislation that removed collective land ownership from the Hapu and passed it to select individual trustees was challenged, and the first demonstration through Taupo town was organised. Leaders of the occupation faced violent attacks by racists and large group arrests by police.

All welcome!

The far-off land of Nepal has been much in the news lately, through its connections to the late Sir Edmund Hillary. Overwhelmingly, New Zealand mainstream media depicted Nepalese people as passive recipients of Hillary’s humanitarian aid. It came as rather a surprise when it was reported that the Nepalese government had not flown the flag at half-mast. Departing from the script our news compilers had written for them.In fact, far from being a land of passive victims, modern day Nepal seethes with intense political struggle. Previous issues of The Spark have run several eye-witness accounts of Nepal’s Maoist-led mass uprisings. In this issue we examine the latest contradictions of this revolutionary movement. As you’ll see when you read the article, there are many difficult questions and no easy answers.

The Spark doesn’t shy away from grappling with difficult questions, because they’re an inescapable part of the international struggle for working people’s liberation. This issue of The Spark also takes up the local issue of the Electoral Finance Act, a piece of political chicanery neglected by most of the New Zealand left and fudged by our top trade union leaders.

If you want to get beyond soft soundbites to the real nitty-gritty, then The Spark is your paper.