13 October 2010 Socialist Aotearoa www.socialistaotearoa.org The only decent thing Paul Henry has done All decent New Zealanders are celebrating over the news of Paul Henry’s resignation.Henry resigned in the face of growing outrage over his racist comments. TV bosses and the PM originally stood by Henry. This shows their unwillingness to stand up to bigotry.
Socialist Aotearoa was right to lead a protest of anti- racist activists outside the TVNZ studios last week following the racist remarks made by Paul Henry in his interview with Prime Minister John Key on Monday 4 October, and to call for him to be sacked.
Henry asked Key if Sir Anand was “even a New Zealander”. Henry then went on to ask Key about his next choice of Governor General: “Are you going to choose a New Zealander who looks and sounds like a New Zealander this time? Are we going to go for someone who is more like a New Zealander this time?”
This response by TVNZ was wholly inadequate. People have a right to their own opinions, but Henry is a paid employee of a state subsidised TV company. Our taxes should not be used so that this right-wing bigot can pedal his racist filth on national TV.
This is not the first time Henry has used his TV show to abuse other people. Henry gave a half-hearted apology earlier this year for disablist remarks he made about singer Susan Boyle and the Indian Govern- ment have lodged a formal complaint about racist remarks he made to an official of that Government. Each time he uses his position of power to make racist, sexist or disablist comments, he helps to legitimise every playground and workplace bully.
The bosses want to set New Zealanders against each other by creating a false distinction between “real” and “other” New Zealanders. TVNZ CEO Rick Ellis originally said that Henry speaks for most New Zea- landers. This is not the case. In schools and workplaces up and down the country, people of different back- grounds and ethnicities,men and women, straight and gay, disabled and non-disabled people work side by side. By contrast, Henry represented the racist bullying bosses who seek to divide us.
Across the country, workers were appalled and angry at Henry’s remarks. Socialist Aotearoa calls on all unions to continue to be vigilant to keep racism off our screens. Workers will not be divided by racist scum like Henry. United we stand, divided we fall. - Nicola Owen and Paul Brown
For pictures, videos and more commentary on the campaign to sack Henry visit socialistaotearoa.org Workers’ revolt against the crisis Ten million workers on a general strike in Spain. Cop cars burning in Barcelona. The biggest workers action in Spain since the Revolution. And the anger is rising.
The European Parliament barricaded in Brussels, protected by baton wielding robocops from over 100,000 workers representing unions throughout the continent. Banners flying from Greece, Italy, England, Portugal, Scandanivia- one continent, one struggle. The Peoples of Europe are rising up.
There were marches in Poland and in Eastern Europe. The radical left makes connection again with workers unions after two decades of unrestrained neoliberal- ism replaced Stalinist state capitalism. Solidarnosc!
And back in the Ould Sod, ruled by a drunken bum- bling Prime Minister who has given more money to one bank than the whole of the G8 promised to give Sub Saharan Africa, the radical alternative to a spine- Spain: Riots erupt in major cities during a less and pathetic union bureaucracy hits the ground general strike. running by ramming the gates of the Irish parliament on its first day sitting with a Cement Mixer, daubed with the slogans “Toxic Banks”. This mortar attack is the most concrete proposal so far!
The wind is shifting- can you feel it?
All this week I’ve been out in the stores and in the cor- ridors, talking to workers in retail, restaurants and ca- sinos. Kiwi workers are sick of this shit- low pay, high stress, not enough hours, too much work, no security, lay offs, restructuring, unemployment, cuts to services, arrogant gobbledygook speaking HRs who need a good bullet in the head to clear their minds. Ireland: Cement mixer makes a statement about the economic collapse. Yeah, we mightn’t be having General Strikes on the scale of Spain. We mightn’t be driving Cement Mix- ers through the doors of the Beehive. Heads might be down and workers might be scared. But the resent- ment is palpable. GST going up? The Nats are Rats. Bernard Hickey admits the Emperor has no clothes, FFS.
Teachers on strike. Doctors on strike. JB Hi Fi work- ers on strike. Soon to be joined by their brothers and sisters in the casinos, fastfood outlets and hotels.
It’s the calm before the storm here in Aotearoa. Aotearoa: Teachers strike and march for fair - Joe Carolan wages and respect. Workers’ revolt Class war in the
Socialist Aotearoa activists in Auckland have against the crisis SuperCity been leading and supporting workers involved in a range of struggles against bad bosses, bad laws and a mad economic system that puts people before profit.
Joanne stands tall In August Unite Union gathered to protest at BurgerFuel Mission Bay against the firing of Joanne Bartlett, on the 89th day of her 90 day trial period. A week later socialists burst through the doors of the Wellington Burger Fuel during a workers’ rights rally.
As a result of these actions and the threat of a nationwide day of action Burger Fuel agreed to pay out Joanne and remove the 90 day trial period from it’s contracts.
Westin hotel workers on the scrap heap 99 workers at luxury Viaduct hotel Westin were made redundant with no compensa- tion just weeks before Fashion Week began. Noisy pickets and a lobby occupation con- fronted the owners who have been gone into a recievership. Many workers have young families to support, and some workers were pregnant. The job losses and strain on these workers’ families is a direct result of the global economic collapse. As always, workers are the first to feel the pain.
$15hr minimum wage not 15% GST On the day National hiked GST to 15%, Unite’s UTU Squad was joined by striking delegates from JB Hi-Fi stores in New Lynn and Albany. The Wellington JB store also was paralysed by strike. The squad picketed the stores in New Lynn and St Lukes, before bust- ing through the front doors of JB’s Corporate HQ. Rather than talk to the delegates about the crisis of understaffing, low pay, cutbacks in hours and security, management at Head Office retreated from the reception area and hid behind closed doors. This has been their behaviour throughout with a workforce that is finding its own voice. Paul, left, a delegate from New Lynn enjoyed his first day on strike. Disabled people and beneficaries under attack Disabled people and beneficiary groups were out- raged last week at proposals by Treasury to kick tens of thousands of disabled people off sickness and invalids benefits.
The National Government has already begun to undermine New Zealand’s welfare system by push- ing through legislation to force people on DPB and sickness benefit into compulsory work testing. Thinly disguised as a way of helping people out of poverty, it’s clear that these measures are all about making a life on benefit even more uncomfortable.
The latest proposals come as part of the consultation by the Welfare Working Group into the long term fu- ture of benefits. In the same way as other countries, like the UK, a right wing government is using the economic recession to argue that we can no lon- ger afford to allow even a basic standard of living to people who are unable to work. The Welfare Work- ing Group, formed by Paula Bennett to destroy our welfare system, is made up of people with no idea about life on benefits, and led by Paula Rebstock, the former Chair of the New Zealand Commerce Com- the changes has nothing to do with helping people mission. out of poverty. It is all about saving money and forcing people to take whatever job they can get, The focus of the Welfare Working Group is how to no matter how insecure or poorly paid. force people off benefits. They don’t seem to care whether there are jobs available, or the support or We should be clear that this won’t just affect peo- training for people to take those jobs. It is clear that ple on benefits now. It has an impact on the work- they want to make poverty and unemployment an ers across New Zealand. Forcing more people individual problem, blaming beneficiaries for not hav- into the reserve army of labour helps bosses to ing jobs. This is at a time when the government has drive down wages and conditions, making things cut the training incentive allowance, adult community worse for all of us. Taking away basic entitlement education, and access to early childhood education, to benefits can affect each one of us, if we are making it even harder for people to get training or be unlucky enough to lose our jobs. able to take jobs. That’s why this isn’t only an issue for beneficiaries On top of this, the Welfare Working Group is con- - the whole union movement needs to back the sidering insurance-based benefits systems, where campaign to fight for benefits. you only get out what you were able to pay into the system, assuming you ever had the opportunity to We call on the CTU and all of the trades unions to be able to pay anything in. Treasury’s attacks on join the fight to save our benefit system and de- disabled people are another indication that the aim of mand a decent standard of living for all. -Mary Hill Fight to Stop Sale of Endangered Species Continues
Question: what’s contributing to climate change, supporting human rights abuses and threatening species with extinction?
Answer: the sale of Kwila in Aotearoa. But we can stop it.
Kwila is an endangered tree found mainly in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. In New Zealand you’ll find Kwila underneath your feet on hot sunny days, as this threatened species is sold as decking ma- terials and outdoor furniture. Why? Well, there’s currently no government regulation on the sale of illegally logged timber in New Zealand, even though legislation aiming to halt this devastating practice was recently introduced in the United States and European Union.
Rainforest advocate groups like Rainforest Action focus on Kwila because it makes up 80% of illegally- sourced imported wood products. In the past campaigners have successfully convinced stores such as Harvey Norman and BBQ Warehouse to stop selling Kwila timber products. This year, after protests by activists, Trade Me announced it would impose tight restrictions on all listings of new products made from the tropical hardwood kwila.
On the 2nd of October protestors drew attention to sales of Kwila at Bunnings Warehouse in a protest organised by Rainforest Action. Between 25-30 people picketed noisily outside the Tory street store in the Wellington CBD. This protest is the first in Rainforest Action’s Summer 2011 campaign, aiming to raise awareness on issues associated with rainforest destruction.
The decision to continue selling Kwila is a decision to continue aiding and abetting in the destruction of the Papuan rainforest. Kwila is estimated to completely disappear from the planet in 35 years if logging per- sists at current rates. And it’s not just Kwila that’s at risk; habitat loss means vulnerable bird and mammal species are also threatened with extinction. On a global scale, logging contributes to the climate crisis, with tropical deforestation being the single largest human-induced source of carbon emissions.
The importation of Kwila is obviously an eco-disaster, but the negative effects spread and even wider net. A huge amount of New Zealand-bound Kwila is exported from West Papua, an independence-seeking prov- ince of Indonesia suffering through a process of brutal colonization. Logging has meant that indigenous forest-dwelling West Papuans have had lands and resources stolen from them, while human rights organi- zations have recorded the torture and imprisonment of locals opposing the logging.
Back at home, the importation of Kwila is costing Aotearoa. In 2007 the New Zealand government esti- mated that illegal logging creates a $266 million loss in annual forestry sector revenue. Retailers stocking Kwila products are therefore threatening more than the Papuan rainforests and their inhabitants; they are also threatening the income and jobs of New Zealanders. - Liz Willoughby-Martin
Kwila logging is unnecessary, unsustainable and unjust. To get involved with the fight to stop Kwila sales, check out: http://rainforest-action.blogspot.com/ or join Socialist Aotearoa. US right: Strength through Fear A new wave of xenophobia is sweeping across the United States in the wake of a proposed plan to construct a mosque and community center two blocks from the site of the September 11th attacks. Images of burning Korans and angry white protestors holding up signs that denounce Islam pervade the media. What is behind such images of vehement intolerance in the country that pride’s itself on religious freedom and acceptance? The right wing in the US has resorted to utilising fear in an the attempt to build a firmer base amongst its supporters. Harnessing fear is a typical tactic of the right wing to increase support of extreme policies. We have seen it used before to garner support for the proposed fence on the Mexican border to keep out immigrants, or to illegitimise Obama’s presidency by labeling him a Muslim and a foreigner. The “other-isation” of marginalised groups, like undocumented im- migrants from Latin America, is integral to furthering the right’s political agenda. This is essential to under- standing the motivation behind the move to keep the mosque in NYC from being built.
Playing off this fear of Islam, the right claims the building of the mosque/community center is an antagonis- tic move that is insensitive to those who lost loved ones in 9/11. They say this totally ignoring that many of the victims who lost their lives that day were Muslim. On the other hand, supporters of the mosque see it as a progressive way to foster an environment of religious plurality and acceptance, indicated by the style it which it will be built. The center will be modeled after the famous Young Men’s Christian Association, com- plete with a pool, lecture halls, a gym and meeting rooms- all open to public access, with the intent of fight- ing religious extremism by encouraging interaction between New Yorkers of different faiths. The proposed center has even been dubbed “the Cordoba House” in homage to Cordoba, Spain, where Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in harmony for hundreds of years.
The incredible support for the center received from the local community board in Lower Manhattan which recently voted on the issue is a hopeful sign for those who uphold the right of any religion to construct a place of worship. However, the developer of the center still must raise the money to fund the project. The lull between the center’s approval and the actual start of construction gives the right more time to stall the whole process by taking legal action. Whether or not the center will be built in the end will be a testament to how committed the people of the United States are to upholding the basic human right of freedom of reli- gion. - Daniel Hockenberry Wellington stands against BIG BROTHER Around 300 mostly young people took to the streets around Wellington on October 8 to protest against the Search and Surveillance Bill. Fast food workers from Porirua rubbed shoulders with hippies from Karori and Victoria University lecturers stood side by side with unemployed youth from Newtown in an impressive display of unity against the con- struction of a surveillance society. The law provides for new and chilling powers of search extended for a range of government bodies, from the police to WINZ. It takes away people’s rights to silence. It extends police powers around ‘organised crime’ (which can mean an “association of three or more persons”) to force us to cough up documents and com- puter files we have or may have in the future. It will no doubt be used against activists and socialists.
During the march from Cuba Mall to the police station and National Party HQ, a union organiser called for an end to intrusive workplace surveillance, radicals demanded the right to protest in a free society and an aca- demic worried that the state was creating a Panopticon that will stifle dissident thought. - Photo by Nick Tapp Human cost to irish crisis Recently, I went back home to Ireland with my son to lion, even revolution, with the right spark. see my family for the first time in two years. The Irish The politicians are hated. Fianna Fail, the ruling party, people were great, as usual, but what’s happened to the are considered traitors. The Greens, their coalition country has left me shocked, even a month or so later. partners, will be completely wiped out in the next elec- Ireland is now a failed state, and as it totters on the tions. Before they came to power, the Greens were edge of an IMF cliff, I hope it can follow the example of part of the antiwar and antiglobalisation movements. the General Strikes in Spain, Greece and France. They sacrificed every single one of their principles, and have savaged the working class. Here is a warning for You might have seen some of the headlines about Ire- every small so called “radical” party about the dangers land- about the collapse of the “miracle economy “ Celtic of coalition. Tiger, half a million now on the Dole, tens of thousands more emigrating every month, a corrupt Fianna Fail- The left has grown- the ‘afraid to be a pale shade of Green government, and of course, the endless bailouts Pink” Labour party is now polling as the largest party of the Banks- Anglo Irish being the most toxic of them in the State for the first time in its history, but beyond all. But for me, the most shocking thing was seeing the that, the radical Left is also emerging as human cost behind these head- a force, with groups like People Before lines, and how they’ve impacted Profit and the Socialist Party establish- on family and friends. ing strong local bases in the communities ravaged by the collapse. Within national- The local hospital in Dundalk- ist groups like Sinn Fein, an argument stripped bare, all but shut down. raging about the need to turn leftwards My Auntie, a nurse- three pay again, and left wing breakaway groups cuts, and more to come. Two like Eirigi forming. Uncles still with jobs- in the local dole centre, again, three pay cuts, This is the hope- that the radical left can and more to come. One Uncle, a emerge as a pole of attraction, strong trade union militant, furious to the enough to lead a movement from be- point of heart attack at the betray- low. Labour may benefit electorally from als of a bureaucracy, who have the huge swing to the left that’s coming, called off strike after strike, and but its their leaders in the union move- signed the Croke Park “Surrender” ment that are holding back the mood for Deal with the rotten Government. mass strikes and protests. A radical left The brand new shopping mall where my sister used can bring the spirit of France, Greece and Spain to to work in SuperQuinn- an empty shell. No jobs to be Ireland, but they’ll have to win the battle in the union found in two years after its closure. Everyone back on movement against a treacherous Labour party. training schemes. The old shopping centre- empty. To Let signs everywhere. The country has gone down the James Connolly, the great socialist revolutionary who To Let. It’s a ToLetarian state. led the Citizens Army into the 1916 Easter Rising, warned: Empty houses everywhere. Ghost estates. Brand new houses, empty, hundreds and hundreds of them. Half If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist finished building projects, everywhere. And at the same the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set time, hundreds of kids back sleeping on the streets. about the organization of the Socialist Republic your The curse of Heroin pulsing through the veins of Dublin efforts would be in vain. England would still rule you. again. Gangs of unemployed kids, high on alcohol and She would rule you through her capitalists, through drugs, seething with hatred that could lash out randomly. her landlords, through her financiers, through the Muggings. Racist scapegoating. Tension. Aggression. whole array of commercial and individualist institu- tions she has planted in this country and watered with It’s like seeing an old friend again, and when they smile, the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs. seeing that they’ve had all their front teeth kicked out. Anger. Bitterness. Resentment. Fatalism. An ugly Capitalism has failed the Irish working class.The time mood, festering. But one that could also turn to rebel- for a new Irish revolution has come. -Joe Carolan We Need Action! Not Reaction A commentary on race, political correctness and the internet.
Clicktavism; What about Hone? A term coined for Digital era Activists who use digital Wasn’t the email he sent racist? Yes it was, media and social networking as a means of online and he was reprimanded and faced intense protest, recruitment and support of activities, groups scrutiny both by his political party and by Prime and causes they ‘like’. Minister John Key. John Key, wasn’t he sitting next to Paul? The very same John who called ‘Attending’ you clicked, sent your RSVP, before com- for Hone’s head months earlier found it funny menting on the subject matter. Did I see you there? that the Governor General was the topic of an obvious racially charged question and let the TV Zero Tolerance for Racism – Sack Paul Henry presenter off remarkably lightly. A protest organized by Socialist Aotearoa with more than fifty people in attendance, used Facebook, Are we too PC? Dixit or Dikshit? e-mail and txt message as the main form of commu- Pronunciation of people’s or place names isn’t nication to spread the message. However it was the new to Aotearoa, Whanganui anyone! But ‘real people’ who protested sending a clear message surely we should be able to show the same to TVNZ that state-broadcasted racism will not be respect to foreigners as we would expect to be tolerated by the majority of ‘Kiwi’s’ that Paul Henry shown ourselves. Freedom of speech we have was supposed to be speaking for. the right to freedom of expression; we also have a responsibility to use that freedom with respect What’s a real Kiwi? Identity, Racism and Class in and tolerance. Aotearoa There is huge support amongst trade unions, work- Tweet As places, churches, politicians and political groups, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs - are all great forms of students and activists who oppose racism in any communicating with a wider audience but how form in an ever increasing multi-cultural Aotearoa. do we translate that to the streets as a form of What’s a Real Kiwi? According to a supporter of social change? Can a digital revolution take Paul Henry it wasn’t anyone who actually ‘attended’ place? Are people substituting time for trend? the protest or anyone who ‘attended’ a meeting of Can you ‘like’ something and ‘attend’ in solidar- the title mentioned above. In fact these people were ity? Sure but as most activists will attest there openly criticized for not being ‘Kiwi’ enough to attend is no substitution for actually attending a protest these events. for real…. -Oneman Hikoi Who is Socialist Aotearoa? Socialist Aotearoa is an activist organisation of anti-capitalist workers and students. We are involved in the union movement as activists, delegates, and organisers. We have been at the forefront of the radical environmental movement, anti-war campaigns and solidarity struggles with people fighting imperialism and dictatorship from Palestine to Burma. We support Tino Rangatiratanga and oppose all forms of oppression such as racism and sexism. We believe that struggles for justice and liberation should be guided by an anti-capitalist vision of the future. We fight for socialism from below. Get involved. Auckland SA: Joe Carolan on 021-186-1450 or [email protected] Wellington SA: Dougal on 021-027-17161 [email protected] Dunedin ISO: Derwin on 021-189-0000 or [email protected] click: www.socialistaotearoa.org.