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Wednesday, 26 August 2009 6:00 – 7:30 ClubSpace, Floor 3, Student Union Building, Auckland University
Fred Hampton was the leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. “The Murder of Fred Hampton” depicts his brutal murder orchestrated by the Chicago police and the FBI, its subsequent investigation and also documents his activities in organizing the Chapter, his public speeches, and the food and medical programs he founded for children during the last eighteen months of his life.
The Telecom workers’ dispute is heating up. Auckland has seen striking workers marching up Queen St and picketing the Telecom HQ. On 18 August, around 300 headed for Alexandra Park for an unpaid meeting called by their union, the EPMU. The mood was upbeat and defiant. Their direct employer, Visionstream, is intent on forcing workers into a “dependent contractor” employment relationship. Workers would be expected to provide their own vehicle and materials, without any guarantee of work available. The union sought a legal opinion, which found that “each individual could be facing a pay cut from 50-66%.” Continue reading “Telecom dispute heating up”
Joel and Alastair interview Mike Walker for VBC Radio about the solidarity campaign “Resistance is not Terrorism” that the WP is running in support of the PFLP’s struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people.
The file can be streamed or downloaded here.
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)
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”
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
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
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
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 22nd 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”
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”