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POLL VAULT 2008 by Jim Delahunty

The voters of Wellington Central
Have got a simple choice
Support the man of capital
Or heed the workers’ voice.

CHORUS

Which Franks are you on [its Don!]
Which Franks are you on [its Don!]
There’s Labour and there’s National
And there’s New Zealand First
They’re such a bunch of phonies
You can’t tell who’s the worst.

CHORUS

If you’re for exploitation
Then you may shout for Steve
If you’re for liberation
It’s Don you must believe

CHORUS

So at the next election
You’ll see it come to pass
Don’ll have us all down at Bellamys
While Steve’s out on his arse

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Workers Party registered today

The Workers Party today became a registered political party. This means that in the upcoming 2008 general election for the first time a hard-left party will be able to contest the party list vote and be on the ballot paper in every part of the country!

With just a month to go to election day we don’t need to worry about peaking too early : )

Workers should be running the country!

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3 Workers Party members elected to 2009 VUWSA executive

– Workers Party Media Release

Workers’ Party member Jasmine Freemantle was elected President of the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) for 2009 last Wednesday night.

Freemantle was elected by a comfortable majority over her Labour Party rival Sonny Thomas, after a heated campaign that fuelled the highest voter turn out in a VUWSA election since the early 1990s.

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Iran, sanctions and the left

– Tim Bowron

Since 2002 when details of Iran’s nuclear program first came to light there has been much talk on the part of Western politicians and journalists about the need to prevent the regime from developing uranium enrichment and other technology that could potentially be used in military applications.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), under which all nations are guaranteed the right to enrich uranium to a level needed to make fuel for nuclear power, Iran is obliged to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA). However for the first 18 years of existence Iran’s nuclear program remained a secret and no IAEA inspections were carried out, a fact which more than any other has caused the Iranian regime to be viewed as untrustworthy by the West.

What most Western commentators fail to understand is that Iran might have had a very good reason for not openly declaring the existence of its nuclear program, when you consider the fate of the nuclear reactor at Osiraq in neighbouring Iraq which was completely obliterated without warning by the Israeli air-force in 1981 – in accordance with Israel’s policy of preventing any Muslim nation from acquiring nuclear capability, however peaceful. Indeed, as one of Israel’s own leading military historians, Martin van Creveld put it: “Obviously, we don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons and I don’t know if they’re developing them, but if they’re not developing them, they’re crazy.”

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All things bright and beautiful

(Wellington Central WP candidate Don Franks’ opening 5 minute address to Karori community election meeting 24/09/08)

Good evening folks, thanks for inviting me to your election meeting here in the pleasant surroundings of Karori. I was brought up in a similar nice suburb on the other side of Wellington, over in Eastbourne. There, at Sunday school, I used to love singing the children’s hymn “All things bright and beautiful”. I still recall all the words, including the closing verse: The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, He made them high and lowly and ordered their estate. I now realise that the song wasn’t really a cute child’s fancy, but a self-serving reactionary political statement.

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First teacher to face suspension without pay for challenging the Electoral Act

– Workers Party Media Release

Workers Party Christchurch East candidate Paul Hopkinson is the first school teacher to face penalties for challenging the undemocratic provisions of the 1993 Electoral Act.

Under the current law most public servants (including teachers) must take unpaid leave for the three weeks between nomination and polling days.

Hopkinson has refused to take unpaid leave and as a result has been told by his employer that he will be suspended without pay.

“I think that it’s outrageous that just because I’m employed by the state I am not allowed to participate in the democratic process and stand for parliament without being subjected to severe financial penalties,” says the sole breadwinner for a family of three.

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Wellington Central candidate supports bus drivers struggle

– Workers Party Media Release

” Wellington bus drivers have been treated like shit” says Wellington Central Workers Party candidate Don Franks.

“Its a rotten system where hard working folks can be legally locked out for refusing poverty wages.”

“As I said to these drivers at the depot first thing this morning their cause is fully justified and deserves the support of all other workers” Mr Franks said.

“By standing up to the boss and demanding a better income the drivers are taking a stand which will benefit the whole working class.” Mr Franks concluded.

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WP Forum: Should the left support sanctions against Iran?

Much has been made by the corporate media and Western governments over the threat supposedly represented by Iran’s civilian nuclear program (despite the CIA themselves admitting that there is no evidence at all the Iranian government is developing nuclear weapons). Many ostensibly “progressive” people (including our own Labour government) have backed UN sanctions against the Iranian regime, yet remain conspicuously silent on the issue of Israel’s already developed arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Is it simply a case of the left needing to be more consistent in its policy of intervention, or should we instead uphold the right of the Iranian people themselves to overthrow their regime without interference from Western interests?

Come along to this month’s Christchurch Workers Party forum, where we discuss these questions as well as what Iranian leftists themselves are doing to oppose both the threat of US military intervention and their own government as well.

Wednesday September 24, 7pm

Workers Educational Association, 59 Gloucester St


All Welcome!