Sam Webb-Shaping Your World

Communist Party USA leader, Sam Webb, is one of the least known, but influential figures in US politics. His party's influence in the union movement, the peace movement, the Democratic Party and the US Congress gives Webb trememdous political leverage.

He can rightly take a lot of credit for recently helping to elect the most socialist US Congress since the 1930s. The political direction of the US dermines the direction of the planet. Webb and his party have a huge influence on the political fate of the US and by extension, of us all.


From a recent Webb report on the CPUSA website

For the past 25 years, the building of a labor-led people’s coalition against right-wing domination of our nation’s political structures has been our strategic objective. It has given political coherence to our policies and practical work and allowed our Party to stand head and shoulders above many organizations on the left.

Take, for example, the recent elections, in which the main political task was to take control of Congress out of Republican hands. No other struggle had the same potential to reconfigure the politics of our country and strike a blow for peace and social progress.

We understood this, and thus we were where a communist party should be: fully engaged in that struggle which if won changes the dynamics of every other struggle...

The task of the labor-led people’s coalition – and of our Party – therefore is to translate the November 7th victory into meaningful political, economic, and social reforms.

Broad coalitions that reach into Bush’s mass constituency can easily be imagined in the months ahead. Labor, the nationally and racially oppressed, women, and other social forces are already pressing their issues.

The Iraq war is on everybody’s agenda. The Democrats are pushing the issue in the Senate and House, with some support from their Republican counterparts. While they haven’t outlined their position in detail, opposition to Bush’s escalation, support for an exit strategy, and cuts in funds to prosecute the war are its main elements.

Other issues that will figure prominently are a minimum wage hike, health care, union organizing rights, and immigration, to name a few.

Each of these has great organizing potential. They are made for broad coalitions and grassroots actions. The very same forces that organized on the ground in the lead up to the election will be in the center of these struggles,

Skillful tactics that combine the united front from above with the united front from below are what is needed.

The Democratic Party leadership has embraced many of these issues. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, notably the first woman to occupy that position, is charging ahead.

We should welcome this and, actually, not be surprised. After all, Democratic Party leaders are sensitive to two incontrovertible facts. First, the American people expect them to enact legislation, to govern in a bipartisan way, and to return some civility and integrity to the Congress. Second, Democratic leaders know full well that what they do this year will have a decisive bearing on their prospects for retaining control of Congress and winning the presidency in 2008.

So there is real pressure on the Democrats to “produce.” This gives the labor-led people’s movement leverage to press its legislative agenda, some of which corresponds to the legislative agenda of the Democrats.

At the same time, other legislative initiatives will come into play that the Democratic leadership is not ready to move on at this moment anyway. One is the Conyers’ health care bill. And there are others. But that should not be a reason for the people’s movement to sit on its hands.

While we should keep an eye on what is going on in the Democratic Party and influence the political dynamics in a progressive direction where we can, let’s not get preoccupied by every twist and turn.

What happens inside Washington and in the Democratic Party is important, to be sure. But the main way that we are going to influence the legislative process is in the midst of the labor-led all-people’s coalition.

Given the sea change in US politics, what is our role? How should we work? Should we change our strategic policy?

Although the Republican right took it on the chin, it still constitutes the main obstacle to social progress and peace. So a change of strategic policy is premature. At the same time, we have to make some adjustments in our tactics and political agenda.

The most pressing task is to reengage with the same movement with which we worked during the elections. As before, its core forces are labor, the nationally and racially oppressed, women and youth.

For the foreseeable future this movement will activate its own constituencies and advance its own agenda while working closely with the Democratic Party and especially its progressive and liberal groupings in Congress to combat the right-wing danger and win legislative victories.

While reengaging with this labor-led movement, communists (and the non-sectarian left) should also reach out to new forces; bring opposition to the war into every movement and struggle; combine vigorous opposition to racism with equally vigorous advocacy of broad unity; employ broad and flexible tactics much like we did in the elections, perfect the art of combining partial with more advanced demands, and give full support to independent political forms at the local level. (After all, in the longer term a key strategic goal is to establish an independent political party on the national level that is capable of challenging both parties for mass influence and political power.)

We should also be mindful of the fact that what happens this year will have a major bearing on the outcome of the 2008 elections – elections that offer the opportunity to deliver a decisive defeat to the right.

"National Question" 20 Project Waitangi

The Workers Communist League, through its several fronts, placed huge emphasis on Treaty of Waitangi propaganda. If Maori nationalism was to be exploited for its revolutionary potential, non-Maori NZers would have to be "conditioned" to accept radical demands. NZ's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi would have to be turned into a propaganda tool.

In the early '80s the WCL front "People Opposed to Waitangi", played a major role in the Waitangi day demonstrations of that era.

POW claimed that the Treaty of Waitangi had been used to defraud Maoris of their land and heritage and consequently promoted the slogan "The Treaty is a Fraud", .

After a while however the WCL twigged that there was more mileage to be gained in calling on the Government to "Honour the Treaty"- to restore to Maoridom the alleged sovereignty "enjoyed" by the tribes before 1840.


Consequently the slogan was changed and "Honour the Treaty", became the new rallying cry. That slogan is still in use today and is mindlessly repeated at virtually every Maori demo, march, rally, "hikoi" or sit-in in the country.

In 1985 several WCL influenced organisations, including NZUSA, YWCA, National Youth Council and the Clerical Workers Union, joined forces with socialist church groups and other Marxists to form a new organisation, "Project Waitangi".

Taxpayer funded and sponsored by then Governor General, Paul Reeves, Project Waitangi (now Network Waitangi) ran extensive "education" programmes in schools and businesses all over the country .

A "Unity" article of March 30 1987 on Project Waitangi revealed the WCL's emphasis on the importance of the "Treaty" to the revolution;

"Honour the Treaty. Increasingly this call has become a focal point of the growing movement for Maori self-determination. It is no vague slogan, but is the underlying theme behind a series of specific demands being raised in struggles concerning land, fishing rights, language, the media, social welfare services, education, church institutions, unions, local government and so on. In short, it touches almost every area of life in Aoteoroa.

Organisations such as the WCL, which are active in many spheres of struggle and which are committed to developing a genuine revolutionary process, have a responsibility to defend and promote the struggle for Maori self-determination. This must include taking up the battle for the Treaty of Waitangi to be honoured, and challenging racism where-ever it appears."

Several WCL aligned individuals worked for Project Waitangi, including Rona Bailey, who worked in the organisation's head office, for several years in the late '80s and '90s.

During the 1984/90 Labour government, state agencies were required to adopt a "bi-cultural approach" and require staff to undergo "training" in Treaty related issues.

Project Waitangi and several of its offshoots made (and still are making)good money lecturing educational, business, governmental and charitable organisations on bi-culturalism, Maori "cultural sensitivity" and similar forms of "education".

Ironic-Marxist racial propaganda, force fed to hundreds of thousands of NZers, enabling leftist radicals to make capitalist incomes at the expense of the taxpayer.

Iran and South Africa Build Ties

South Africa is building strong ties to Russia, China and now Iran.

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani wrapped up a two-day visit to South Africa and returned home Tuesday.

During his visit, Larijani held talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki. The two sides stressed the importance of continued negotiation as the most logical step to resolve the dispute over Iran's peaceful nuclear program which is in accordance with its rights under international treaties.

Larijani and Mbeki also discussed bilateral relations, Iran's peaceful nuclear activities as well as latest developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Both called for strengthening of cooperation between Tehran and Pretoria in various political, economic and energy fields.

South Africa is to take over the presidency of the UN Security Council from Slovakia in March.

Pretoria voiced its firm decision to build a second nuclear power plant and said it intends to study various projects on uranium enrichment to produce fuel needed by its power plants.

It currently imports its needed nuclear fuel from France.

The deputy head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for international affairs, Mohammad Saeedi, accompanied Larijani in his South African tour.

Chinese Premier Commits to Socialism

From the Peoples Daily Online


Premier says promoting fairness and social justice is a major task

While developing productive forces and immensely increasing material wealth, China needs to gradually secure fairness and social justice, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in an article released on Monday.

He called them "two interrelated and mutually beneficial tasks" that will run through various stages of socialism for a long period.

In the article, which is about historical tasks in the primary stage of socialism and China's foreign policy, Wen said without sustained rapid growth of productive forces, it's impossible to finally secure fairness and social justice that lies within the essence of socialism.

Without gradually promoting fairness and social justice in step with development of productive forces, it's impossible to bring the initiative and creativity of the whole society into full play and thus impossible to secure sustained rapid development of productive forces.

The essence of socialism is to "emancipate and develop productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization and eventually realize common prosperity", Wen quoted the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as saying.

Wen said that "China is and will remain to be in the primary stage of socialism for a long time". The primary stage is an "underdeveloped" stage characterized by underdeveloped productive forces and a socialist system that is still not perfect and mature enough.

He said China's socialist market economic system is till not perfect enough. The democratic and legal system is still not perfect enough and there still exist social injustice and corruption. The socialist system is still not mature enough.

He said today, China is still far from walking out of the primary stage of socialism and remains a developing country.

Wen said that China must encourage reform and innovation in it drive to become more open and modernized.

Wen said that China shall develop the democracy in its own way. The socialist system is not contradictive to democracy, and a highly developed democracy and a complete legal system are inherent requirements of the socialist system and an important benchmark of a mature socialist system.

The country has the full capacity to establish a nation of democracy governed by laws within the framework of socialist system, Wen said.

Who's Reviewing Your Rates? The News Ain't Good

Last year ACT leader Rodney Hide's Rates Capping Bill was killed, when NZ First voted with Labour. As a face saver, NZ First extracted the promise of a Local Government rates inquiry from Labour.

The committee charged with the investigation was announced on November 1st 2006 by local government minister Mark Burton.

"The government has worked closely with New Zealand First in developing the terms of reference for the inquiry to ensure an independent and robust process.

"We also consulted with other political parties who showed a genuine interest in this issue, particularly the Greens, and considered the views of a range of organisations and key stakeholders such as Local Government New Zealand,"

A three-member inquiry panel was chosen. They were David Shand (chair), Graeme Horsley and Dr Christine Cheyne.

Panel members were selected on the basis of their combined experience relevant to local government and the raft of skills and expertise in rating systems, taxation and financial management, governance and community participation and well-being.

The Terms of Reference set out the inquiry's objective, which is:'to consider issues relating to current local government rating, and to other revenue raising mechanisms, and provide recommendations to the Government for enhancing rating and other funding mechanisms for local authorities.'

Whaleoil researched the backgrounds of the three panelists and found some reasons for concern (if you're a ratepayer that is).

I also searched my records;

Graeme Horsely comes from an accountancy background. He was in 2004 appointed to the deputy chairmanship of the Bay of Plenty District health Board, by the Labour government.

Panel chair, David Shand has an interesting background.


Burton's press release describes Shand thus;

Mr Shand has extensive international financial experience, most recently for over eight years as a public financial management specialist at both the World Bank and the IMF, International Monetary Fund. He has also worked with the OECD. He has held a number of senior positions in state and federal government in Australia, including Deputy Secretary of the Victorian Treasury and Queensland Public Service Commissioner. In the early 1970s Mr Shand was a city councillor with the Wellington City Council. Mr Shand is also a Director of Meridian Energy Ltd. He is a former University lecturer in public sector accounting and budgeting and has published numerous articles on public management, in areas of public financial management.

All true, but here are some more details about Mr Shand.

In 1964, David Shand founded the Te Rangatahi group at Victoria University to promote the UN Charter. Other key members were Helen Sutch (daughter of suspected Soviet spy, WB Sutch and ex-communist, Shirley Smith), Geoff Bertram (later to attend a pro North Vietnamese "peace conference" in Paris)and Kevin Clements (later a leading peace activist and sociologist).

In 1969, Shand was International Vice President of NZUSA. He travelled to Kuala Lumpur, with NZUSA president, Peter Rosier, to help found the Asian Student's Association-a pan Asian grouping of leftist student's organisations.

In 1969/70 Shand chaired and attended meetings at 34 Kelburn Parade, Wellington of the "Committee for the University of the South Pacific", a support group for the newly founded instituton in Suva, Fiji. Several members of this committee were later identified as Maoist leaning radicals, including Dave Cuthbert, Hilary Watson, Don Borrie and Roger Clarke.

In 1972, Shand was Labour's candidate for Wellington Central. He was one 6 candidates who protested the expulsion from Labour of members of the Trotskyist Socialist Action League.

In June 1973 Shand addressed an SAL run "Socialist Forum" at Victoria on "The Record of the Labour Government"

In June 1976, as a Labour Wellington City Councillor, Shand signed a petition initiated by the SAL calling for a public enquiry into the activities of the CIA and SIS in NZ.

In August 1976, Shand addressed a Hiroshima Day march, in Wellington, organised by the Maoist leaning group, CANWAR.

While David Shand's provable radicalism is decades old, Christine Cheyne's is much more recent.


Burton's press release described Cheyne as;

...a senior lecturer at Massey University. She has studied and written on local government in New Zealand. She is an environmental sustainability representative on the Horizons Regional Council Regional Land Transport Committee, and is a member of the Taranaki/Whanganui Conservation Board. She has previously worked in planning and research for the Palmerston North City Council. Dr Cheyne has specialist knowledge in the community welfare aspect of local government, including community planning, representation, participation and well-being which has been the focus of her research and work. In addition she has contributed to publications on local government leadership, decision-making and governance.

Christine Cheyne is one of NZ's leading academic Marxists. In 1989, she was controversially commissioned by the ultra left Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to write $30,000 study on sexism in the Catholic Church.

During the late '80s and '90s, Christine Cheyne was heavily involved with "Sites" a "A Journal for Radical Perspectives on Culture" largely run by Massey University academics.

In issue 23, Spring 1991 Cheyne contributed the article, "Post-Marxism and Retro-Marxism: Theorising the Impasse of the Left"

In August 1999 Cheyne spoke at the launch of an NZ Council Trade Union book on Business Round Table influence on NZ government policy, held at Palmerston North Labour Party rooms.

Cheyne has been working on local government for years, much of it from the point of view of extending cooperation between central and local government and local government/community "partnerships". She is very close to Prime Minister Helen Clark and the labour government.

Christine joined the staff at Massey in 1990 after working in policy and research positions in central and local government. In her various positions, she has sought to build strong linkages between researchers, policy makers and policy stakeholders especially at the interface between local and central government and communities. In 2001-02 she worked in the Office of the Prime Minister.

In December 2004 an important symposium was held in Auckland;

'After Neoliberalism? New Forms of Governance in Aotearoa New Zealand'

This extremely successful event brought together scholars exploring diverse aspects of the new political and governmental environment. Professor Jamie Peck, Geography and Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, delivered an excellent keynote on Neoliberlization which was followed by presentations by David Craig, Brian Easton, Christine Cheyne, Geoff Fougere, Bruce Curtis, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Nigel Haworth, Nick Lewis, Jacqui True, Graham Smith and Rosemary Du Plessis.

Most participants were known socialists. The conference explored the new forms that local government could or should take. There was no call for getting government out of our lives, only for making local government even more encompassing.

New Zealander's clearly want rates relief. Is this enquiry, presided over by a panel, closely linked to the Labour Party likely to deliver what we want?

Or is it yet another cruel Labour Party hoax-using a Bill designed cut rates as a pretext for an enquiry which will almost certainly recommend the expansion of local government power?

Are Californians Smarter Than Kiwis?

From Fox News 23.2.07

A Democratic lawmaker has abandoned her heavily ridiculed campaign to make spanking a crime, acknowledging that the idea would get whacked even in California's sometimes whimsical Legislature.

Instead, San Francisco Bay area Assemblywoman Sally Lieber introduced a more narrow bill on Thursday she said would help district attorneys more easily prosecute parents who cross the line from punishment into physical abuse.

Lieber is seeking to classify a laundry list of physical acts against young children, including hitting with a belt, switch or stick, as unjustifiable and grounds for prosecution, probation or a parental time-out — a class on nonviolent parenting.

Spanking a child on the buttocks — even to the point of injury — will remain legal in California, Lieber said.

"Clearly, I take exception with that part of the law, but the votes are simply not there" to change it, Lieber said, facing a bank of eight television cameras and the largest media spotlight the soft-spoken Democrat has ever encountered.

Some conservatives criticized Lieber's amended bill as no better than the idea she floated weeks ago.

Assemblyman Chuck Devore, an Irvine Republican, said the wording might be too specific, including objects such as belts but not others that could be used to strike children. He said the bill also could lead to parents being improperly prosecuted.

"Are we in danger of unintended consequences where loving parents might have their children taken away from them and we cause more harm than good?" he said.

Devore said input from police officers and prosecutors will be crucial.

Until last month, Lieber was perhaps best known for authoring the state's minimum-wage increase.

Lieber, who has no children, attracted nationwide attention after she pledged to introduce an anti-spanking bill to protect children from violence. Her idea was even the subject of a "Saturday Night Live" parody.

Conservative and family values groups lashed out at her proposal, charging that criminalizing spanking epitomized overbearing "nanny" government.

If passed, it would classify most physical harm to children as unjustified. That would reverse the current principle under which judges and juries are asked to decide whether physical abuse that begins as discipline is justified.

Farrar on Anti-Smacking Bill

David Farrar at Kiwi Blog nails it with this post on Sue Bradford's Anti-Smacking Bill.

Reflecting on the anti-smacking bill, supporters of it have claimed that the Police won't prosecute parents just for lightly smacking their kids if they misbehave. Now this might be true, but what there hasn't been much focus on is how CYFS will use the new law.

There has been a great deal of evidence that already CYFS has a very heavy handed approach to parents, even a bullying approach where they threaten to remove custody if you challenge their wishes,

Now imagine the situation once this bill is passed. CYFS could use this provision to act against any parent or family who smacks a child, no matter how minor or justified. Imagine how it might be used in custody disputes - one could use it against the other parent, even if you had both agreed to it.

So yes if the law is changed, you won't see a lot of parents going to jail for smacking their children, but you might see a lot of them get done over by CYFS, who no doubt next year will announce theyneed a huge budget increase to cope with the extra workload.

Add to the mix, nasty neighbours, jilted lovers, disgruntled business partners, jealous rellies, political or business rivals etc etc....

How many small business people have been "dobbed in" to IRD over the years, by former wives or girlfriends? I have read that it is one of the most common catalysts for IRD investigation.

Not everyone has a small business or diddles their taxes.

However most people do have kids. The possibility of losing your children, would terrify almost every parent.

Yet, if Sue Bradford's Bill passes, it could be only an anonymous phone call away.

Of course it would never happen would it? I mean, nobody could be that malicious, could they?

Why I Profile Socialists

Commenting on my post on George Rosenberg, Steve Nice Guy Northland challenged me.

Oh Trev,

What a duffer you are !

Your extremely pregnant mention of 70's Wellingtonians George Rosenberg, Shirley Smith, Sutch (I'm surprised you didn't drag in Bungay who defended the man), Amanda Russell, the Rogers Cruickshank and Steele - all of them known to me though Prof Barton of VUW Law School only formally - what a wonderful stroll down memory lane you occasioned for me !

And if I'm meant to get a hint of commie conspiracy from your picture, 'fraid I can't. To a person those you mention were honest, caring, sensitive, good people - highly intelligent, witty, articulate, principled, and importantly, unafraid (in stark contrast to some of the tin-soldier chickenhawks who post on this blog).

So George has gone corporate has he ? Well good on him. Making millions is he ? Again, good on him. Good on him too for giving the ultimate rebuttal to all your commie nonsense.

I guess it's sort of exciting to postulate darkly as you do that George is a high-flying international construction law legal man while remaining a commie sleeper. Well OK, but mightn't it just be proof that all your prognostications are just a bit juvenile and flighty ? I reckon 98% would see it that way.

Sorry Trev, you're always gonna get caught out when you trot out your commie conspiracy nonsense to people who have personal experience of the people you accuse.

You do need to rid yourself of this sometimes dishonestly manifested obssessiveness about commies Trev. It causes you to advance a rather questionable gloss on simple little old things.

My Reply

Thanks Steve.

I profile people to illustrate covert influence and to demonstrate patterns of political behaviour.

I'm sure George, Amanda, the Roger's etc were just as lovely as you say.

That's not the point.

These people tried to abolish our Official Secrets Act and discredit and destroy the Security Intelligence Service.

Had they succeeded, this country would be less free and certainly less secure than it is today.

I take my freedom and my family's security very seriously and have no qualms about "calling" anybody who threatens that-no matter how "nice" or idealistic they may be.

They also defended an obvious traitor to this country-a man who thought it acceptable to pass information on his friends and colleagues to the KGB.

I'm sure William Ball Sutch was lovely man too, but what he did was beneath contempt.

I believe, that those who defended such an obviously guilty traitor, should be held accountable for their actions.

I place these profiles on record, so that readers have more information to judge those who attempt to change our society.

To give a real example. In a series of 1 2 3 4 5 posts I exposed Green MP, Sue Bradford's lifelong and ongoing commitment to revolutionary socialism.

Bradford, with her anti-Smacking Bill stands to do huge damage to family life in this country. Her proposed legislation, if passed, will over time, seriously lower the quality of life for all New Zealanders-especially children.

As a father of two adopted children, I think that is very serious stuff.

Many give Bradford the benefit of the doubt, because she comes across as 'nice" and caring person-and no doubt she is.

When you learn however that she is a hard core Marxist, who wants to turn New Zealand into a socialist country, things look a little differently.

I don't expose socialists to make friends or be popular-anti-communism in 2007 NZ is hardly going to get me on the New years Honours list.

I do it, because, through circumstance and choice, I possess a little knowledge that others might benefit by.

People may read it or not, but at least they now have the option.

The day the MSM does the job, is the day that I will pursue something else.

Don't hold your breath Steve.

Wolf Cub 1 George Rosenberg

The late Wolf Rosenberg, sired two male cubs-George and Bill. I'll profile No 1 cub, George, first.


George Rosenberg was educated at Christchurch's decidedly non-proletarian Christ's College. He spent a year at Canterbury University before heading, in the late '60s, to Wellington's Victoria University to study law, .

In 1969/70, George Rosenberg was active in the Victoria University Socialist Club and was managing editor of its journal, "Red Spark".

The VUSC was the crucible of the Trotskyist Socialist Action League, but also seemed to contain some Maoist elements. Certainly, young George, was far more aligned to the Maoist camp.

In 1969, he was a founding member of the Wellington Progressive Youth Movement. Though it contained also contained Trotskyist and anarchist elements, the Wellington PYM was predominantly Maoist in orientation. Like other branches, it was loosely aligned to the Communist Party.

A prime movers of the Wellington PYM, was Sally Lake, daughter of "security risk", former diplomat Doug Lake. The three Lake sisters, had all allegedly been in the Chinese "Red Guards" in the mid'60s, while their father was in Beijing, writing propaganda for the Chinese government.

The Lake's family friend, Tom Poata, was assigned to keep an eye on the PYM for the Communist Party. Of the three main branches of the PYM, (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch), Wellington was the shortest lived. The entire Wellington branch of the Communist Party was expelled in 1970 over a doctrinal dispute. The local PYM collapsed soon after.

In August 1970, George Rosenberg was on the convening committee of the 2nd Radical Activists Congress. Held in Wellington and sponsored by the Vic Socialist Club, this was a nationwide gathering of Maoists, Communists, Trots, Anarchists, peaceniks and hippies. Among the fascinating debates, was "Maoism or Trotskyism, which way for the Revolution in New Zealand?" arguing for Trotskyism was Keith Locke of the Socialist Action League-for Maoism, Ray Nunes from the Communist Party..

In 1971, Maoist elements around the NZ University Student's Association, organised the first of several student delegations to the People's Republic of China. Most if not all, of the 20 delegates were Maoist sympathisers.

Delegates included David Caygill (deputy leader, future Labour deputy Prime Minister), Piri Sciascia (now pro vice-chancellor, Victoria University) Cora Davis (Nga Tamatoa), Tim Groser (now a National MP) Ah Fo Wong (Maoist), Mike Law (Maoist, now at Waikato University), Graeme Clarke (Maoist, later leader of the Workers Communist League) and George Rosenberg.

By 1972, Rosenberg was flatting in Wellington with his anarchist, ex PYM flatmate Roger Cruickshank (lately a "time and motion" man for a Sydney bank!!!). Rosenberg was heavily involved in the Tenant's Protection Association and the Wellington Resistance Bookshop, a Maoist/Anarchist venture.

After qualifying as a lawyer in 1973, Rosenberg became a law clerk for Shirley Smith, the wife of Wolfgang Rosenberg's old friend, WB Sutch.

When, in 1974, Sutch was put on trial for passing information to the Soviet Union, Rosenberg became heavily involved in his defence. Together with Amanda Russell (a Maoist and Rosenberg's future wife), Don Borrie, Roger Steele (a Maoist), Roger Cruickshank and others, Rosenberg set up the Sutch Defence Fund.

After Sutch's aquittal, this morphed into the Campaign Opposed to the Security Service (COSS) and then into OASIS-Organisation Against the Security Intelligence Service. OASIS was mainly a Maoist organisation.

During the mid '70s, Rosenberg worked for the Consumer's Institute and was very active in the Council for Civil Liberties.

In the late '70s, he became interested in immigration issues and worked with
Amnesty Aroha, an organisation set up to protect Samoan "overstayers".

During 1981, Rosenberg was a leading activist with Wellington's Citizen's Opposed to the Springbok Tour, an organisation completely dominated by Maoists and/or Workers Communist League members.

In 1982, George Rosenberg and George Barton successfully took a case to London's privy Council that gave thousands of Samoans, full NZ citizenship.

By the late '80s, Rosenberg was a lawyer for the Hong Kong government, working on Vietnamese immigration issues and the new Airport project.

In recent years he has been working around Europe for a large law firm, specialising in construction and engineering disputes.

Has George Rosenberg "sold out"? If he is his father's son, I very much doubt it.

"National Question" 19 The "Weasels"

The 1980s were a time for NZ Marxist-Leninists to build on the successes of Bastion Point and the upsurge of racial agitation in the '70s.

The wave of radicals recruited from the protest movements of the '60s and '70s were now reaching political maturity and many had reached key positions in the unions, education, social movements, churches, media, Labour Party and Parliament.

Maoist and pro-Soviet socialists were at their peak in terms of influence and were not slow to use it.

The upsurge in Maori activism in the '70s had been a breakthrough in "National Question" politics. NZ's leading Marxist-Leninist parties, the Workers Communist League (WCL) and the Socialist Unity Party (SUP) worked tirelessly to exploit the opportunities it offered.

The Weasels

In 1980, several student based Maoist groups, and a handful of ex Communist Party members joined forces to form the WCL. Derisively known as the "Weasels" (both for their initials and their tactics), the WCL made race issues a major focus of their work and were very active in the anti-Springbok Tour riots of 1981.


The WCL revived HART and also controlled Wellington's ultra militant, Citizens Opposed to the Springbok Tour (COST), (whose committee initially included veteran agitator, Tom Poata and ex Nga Tamatoa member, Ted Nia).

After the "Tour" the WCL shifted it's emphasis to "domestic racism."

In late 1981, a special COST meeting in Wellington adopted the resolution;

"That this conference establish a new Wellington regional-based organisation to fight racism in New Zealand.. And that this conference appoint a steering committee to facilitate the bringing together of all interested groups and individuals in the Wellington area on Waitangi Day 1982, to further develop the organisation...".

This led to the establishment of several groups such as the Anti Racism Organisation-Wellington, and People Opposed to Waitangi .

According to longtime Weasel, the late Ron Smith;

"On Maori questions there was also tremendous activity...From 1981 to 1984 there were vigorous annual protests at Waitangi and when the government shifted the Waitangi Day venue to Parliament. WCL members organised a protest rally there. The WCL led the way in many respects, for example to have separate Maori runanga in unions."

In the mid '80s the WCL dropped it's openly pro-Beijing orientation and turned to strong support of the Nicaraguan and Philippines revolutions. It adopted a "Race, Gender, Class" form of Marxism. No longer was the class struggle supreme, but of equal importance to the struggles for women's liberation and Maori "self determination".

According to the WCL's, "Unity" of the 28th of September 1987;

"Support for Maori self-determination is one of the fundamental principles underlying the work and outlook of the WCL... the struggle for Maori self-determination is a crucial part of the process of bringing about a revolutionary transformation of society."

In some ways the WCL saw the Maori struggle as even more important than that of women or the working class. In Unity of the 10th of February 1989, Canterbury University Political Scientist, Marxist-Leninist and probable WCL member, the late Rob Steven wrote;

"Maori Nationalism is the most potent and explosive progressive force in the country, the only one with the potential to press the question of exploitation through to the point of revolutionary change".

The WCL also worked with other parties and indulged in some high level behind the scenes co-ordination.

One former SUP member I interviewed spoke of sitting in on a meeting at an Auckland motel in the early '80s.

The main protagonists were two WCL linked activists, (both of European extraction, ex Anti-Apartheid activists, and veterans of student delegations to China) and a leading Maori member of the SUP's Commission on the National Question.

These three were meeting to organise and coordinate "National Question" activity, Maori radicalism, etc on a nationwide basis.

How much of NZ's racial politics of the '80s was planned by those three comrades?

Heather Roy on Anti-Smacking Bill

MP Heather Roy on why ACT does not support Sue Bradford's proposed anti-smacking legislation.

Criminalising Acts Of Parenting

I know my own children are too old for smacking, as soon I will be the shortest in our household. Even when they were small I seldom used physical chastisement. My husband was even more restrained than I was, but if the Anti-smacking Bill had been enacted 18 years ago we would both have been on the wrong side of the law.

There would, however, have been little chance of prosecution, because we would have been in the same situation as hundreds of thousands of other parents. The police couldn't possibly deal with them all and would only act when there was a complaint. The Bill to outlaw smacking currently before Parliament - which repeals Section 59 of the Crimes Act - fails at the most basic test. Laws must be enforceable and routinely enforced - otherwise they are meaningless.

I don't doubt for a moment Sue Bradford's good intentions in sponsoring the anti-smacking bill. Like many of us, she has long campaigned for initiatives to end the violence done to vulnerable youngsters. But good intentions are not enough. This debate - which has been going on for some time now - has relied on emotion rather than reason, and focused on rules rather than results.

There is not one MP in Parliament who condones abuse of children. Each of us wants every Kiwi child to grow up in a loving environment, safe from the abhorrent treatment meted out to the Kahui twins, Lillybing, James Whakaruru - and the list goes on. But there will be more cases, and our natural inclination is to take action.

As legislators we are in a powerful situation - we can try to make a difference by changing laws to reflect the sort of society we want for our children. But the laws we make need to be enforceable and regularly enforced. This Bill fails on both these counts, and sadly, it will not save the life of even one child, or stop the abuse of children who are subject to such mistreatment that it's difficult to even read their life stories, because they are just too distressing.

The easy option, taken by many MPs, was to vote in favour of this Bill to show that violence against children is being taken seriously - in the hope that it would change those who victimise our defenceless children, and to clear their consciences. But all we will achieve by repealing Section 59 is to turn loving parents into criminals. In the course of doing so, we will make no difference to the real problems.

Caring for those who cannot defend themselves is one of the finest things about our civilisation. But the unintended result of the smacking ban will be to criminalise thousands, hundreds of thousands, of good parents.

The original version of the Bill outlawed any form of physical punishment or restraint. It made even the lightest uninvited but deliberate touch punishable by law. Holding your child still while dressing them would have made parents into criminals. The current version, still before Parliament, does little better.

I don't need to be persuaded that it is essential to reduce our level of family violence. Violence is a plague that haunts our New Zealand communities and I agree that violence begets violence. But this Bill is not the answer to stopping child abuse. Our existing law against child abuse is already strong. Section 194 of the Crimes Act - Assaulting a child under 14 - attracts a maximum sentence double that of common assault. Section 195 - Cruelty to a child - brings a 5 year maximum sentence, and abandoning a child under 6 means a 7-year prison term, under Section 154.

Enforcement of the law is the key. Enforcement involves doing three things properly - reporting the behaviour, trial, and conviction followed by sentencing. If any one of these three elements fails, criminals will go free.

The police are struggling to cope already. CYF are struggling to cope. Most abuse is not reported to authorities until severe damage has been done to young lives. Around 70 per cent of serious abuse occurs to children not already known to CYF.

Much of this debate rests on the difference between 'smacking' and violence. Proponents of the Bill believe these are the same, but as a parent, I believe they are not. Reasonable people know when discipline ends and abuse begins. The rest - an abusive minority - will not notice, or care, that a law change has been made.

The threat that this Bill is intended to be will get ignored by the very people who should heed the warning. Those parents who care for their children already and take their responsibilities seriously will be the only ones who suffer.

The greatest good can be done by helping vulnerable families directly. There are already many successful initiatives operating around the country. Mentoring, going into homes and providing advice and assistance with parenting, health, education and welfare issues, will do much more to keep children safe. Plunket is perhaps the best example of mentoring already in action, but they are constrained by funding.

ACT will continue to oppose this Bill, but not because we don't care for children. We simply want caring parents to be able to make the best decisions for their children - decisions that we as legislators cannot anticipate or control from our comfortable parliamentary chairs. Acts of abuse are already illegal - unfortunately enforcement of the law is frequently totally inadequate. This Bill will not change any of that, but it will succeed in criminalising acts of parenting.

Red Over Green 5 Ciaron Marron

One of Irish republicanism's most active propagandists in NZ during the '80s and '90s was Ciaran Marron.


Raised in Catholic West Belfast, in 1971, at the age of 15, Marron witnessed intense gun battles between the "Provos" and the British Army.

Marron moved to NZ in his teens but maintained a strong interest in Irish republicanism. The Workers Communist League's "Unity" of 14/10/1981 named Marron as a member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.

According to Wikipedia;

The Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) describes itself as a republican socialist party and claims to be both Marxist and republican.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party was founded on 8 December 1974 by former members of the Official Republican Movement, independent socialists, and trade unionists headed by Seamus Costello. A paramilitary wing, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), was founded the same day, although its existence was intended to be kept hidden until such a time that the INLA could operate effectively.

Together, the IRSP and the INLA refer to themselves as the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM).

Marron was active in the Hamilton Branch of the republican solidarity group, H/Block Armagh in the early '80s. He was H/Bock spokesman for the 1982 demonstrations outside UK consulates in Auckland and Wellington.

Marron was constantly lecturing various organisations, ranging from the Maoist leaning, Waikato University Progressives Club, to Auckland high school groups.

In an interview Marron gave to the Dominion Sunday Times of September 11th 1988, he explained that Information on Ireland (H Block's new name) had "moved from being an agitating group to one which concentrates more on information in NZ".

No pacifist, Marron told the DST that "when British soldiers are killed in Ireland, it's a victory for the struggle".

He went on to add "we will maintain our militancy against the symbols of British imperialism in this country and if that necessitates violence, so be it."

Marron returned to Ireland in 1989, but was one of of two IOI reps to an "Ireland-the Way forward" conference in the Europa Hotel Belfast. It was a radical affair, with 400 delegates ranging from Basques and Latin Americans to Swedes and people from "26 countries from the south".

In 1995 Marron was back in NZ on a university speaking tour for IOI.

Not sure what Marron's doing these days, but I note he signed a 2004 Irish internet petition circulated by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Nepal to Fall?

With a Communist/Maoist dominated parliament, Nepal is about to join the new socialist bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

From the Communist party of Australia's The Guardian

Nepal is working towards acquiring membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), from which the country could benefit by getting oil and energy support, said a local newspaper The Kathmandu Post last week.

"Once we become a member of the SCO, it would help Nepal where there is an oil crisis in Nepal", said the Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs adviser Mr Chalise.

Senior government officials said SCO membership would end "Nepal’s 100 percent dependency on India" for oil.

"Nepal should acquire its membership and we should be trying to import oil from these countries", said Chalise. "The prime minister has already been convinced to acquire membership. It’s only a matter of time."

The SCO was founded in Shanghai in June 2001 and aims to promote regional security and fight against terrorism. It comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with India, Pakistan, Mongolia and Iran having observer status.

Soviet Union Coming Back?

From Novosti 20th January 2007


MOSCOW- Russian Communists urged Saturday the Communist parties of ex-Soviet states to join their efforts to restore the former Soviet Union.

Communist leaders from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics gathered Saturday in the Russian capital to discuss the strengthening of future cooperation and the development of a common strategy to re-unite the former members of the now-defunct Soviet Union.

"We believe that the restoration of a broken union [between ex-Soviet republics] is our key goal, and we will continue our efforts to accomplish this [the restoration] task," Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said during a plenary meeting of the Council of the Union of Communist Parties of ex-Soviet states.

The participants of the meeting issued a statement calling upon all parties on the territory of the former Soviet Union that adhere to Communist ideology to join the fight for the "socialist development of brotherly nations and their unification into a Union State."

"Without a union between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other brotherly republics that used to be members of the Soviet Union, we do not have a future," Zyuganov said.

Hat Tip Once Upon a Time in the West

Wolfgang Rosenberg-Nine Decades of Delusion

Once influential NZ economist Wolfgang Rosenberg recently died, he was 92.


Brian Easton centre, Wolfgang Rosenberg right

Born in 1915 in Berlin, Wolfgang Rosenberg was the son of a lawyer and prominent Social Democrat.

During the early '30s, young Wolfgang was active in the anti-Nazi movement through his membership of Socialist Youth, the Social Democrat's youth group.

Rosenberg came to NZ in 1937, but according to Victoria University's "Salient" No 4, 1968, had previously spent two years in the Soviet Union.

Rosenberg studied accounting part time at Victoria University and mixed with the communist and radical set.

Victoria student politics, at the time was dominated by the Socialist Club-the student wing of the Communist Party.

Roenberg served on the student exec from 41/43 alongside well known Socialist Club and or Communist Party members as Jim Winchester and Maurice Boyd. Anne Eichelbaum also served on the exec that year. The couple married in 1945.

Anne Eichelbaum is believed to have been a Communist Party member. Certainly her sister Cath was a "card carrier". Cath married unionist Pat Kelly and the pair stayed in the party until they were expelled in 1970.

Wolfgang Rosenberg was also active in the group that ran the Wellington Co-op Book Society and he served as accountant to the Wellington Progressive Publishing Society in 1943.

In this environment, he mixed with Party members such as Bart Fortune, Jim Winchester, Ron Meek, Les Verry (later prominent in the parliamentary press gallery)and Jack Lewin.

Other notables in this set, included, WB Sutch, Ian Milner, future Labour MP, Martyn Finlay, future diplomat Ray Perry, businessman Fred Turnovsky and professor Fred Wood of Victoria University.

Rosenberg spent 1944/45 in the Airforce.

In 1946, Rosenberg joined the Economics Department at Canterbury University, where he remained until his retirement in 1980.

In the late '40s Rosenberg was a regular contributor to the leftist glossy magazine "Here and Now". While not strictly a Party publication, many prominent communists wrote for the magazine or served on its board; They included Sid Scott, Shirley Smith (wife of WB Sutch), Bob Lowry, Willis Airey and Jack Lewin.

David Ballantyne (a probable Party member, married to a Communist), also contributed. Ballantyne also wrote for the Communist Party's "People's Voice" under the pen name "Tom Joad".

Wolfgang Rosenberg allegedly regularly contributed anonymous articles on economic topics to "Peoples Voice" during this period.

In 1952, Rosenberg attended the Soviet front, World Peace Council's "World Peace Congress" in Vienna as an observer. He was in Austria working a stint at the Bank of International Settlements at the time.

While not overseas, Rosenberg was, in the early '50s, vice president of the Canterbury University Socialist Club. Again, this was the student wing of the local Communist Party.

Several communist aligned student Socialist or Labour Clubs were joined in the "Student Labour Federation".

A 1955 SLF document I saw states that, (AH) Scotney, (Wolfgang)Rosenberg, (WB)Sutch and (Warren) Freer (later a Labour cabinet minister) were asked to contribute articles to SLF publications.

The Canterbury Socialist Club fizzled out in the late '50s, so Rosenberg set up its replacement, the "New Left Club".

The NLC was influential at Canterbury in the early '60s and many well known NZers passed through its ranks.

Some, like businessman Alan Gibbs and the NBR's Nevil Gibson, saw the light.

Others like Paul Piesse (now leading the Alliance Party), Keith Locke, the late Bruce Jesson, Trotskyist Owen Gager, "economist" Brian Easton and Michael Cullen, did not.

Rosenberg also supervised the MA thesis, of a young Don Brash, who was a committed socialist at the time

Through the '60s, Rosenberg was Honorary Secretary of the leftist magazine, NZ Monthly Review society.

In 1963 Rosenberg worked for the UN's Economic Commission for Europe. He visited the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, the GDR, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

For many years NZ Monthly Review carried regular articles extolling the virtues of the central economic planning observed during Rosenberg's several trips to Eastern Europe, China and North Korea.

In 1972 he wrote a book (with a foreword by WB Sutch),"Import Controls and Full Employment . . . Or Else!", published by the NZMR Society. The same year Rosenberg took 6 months sabbatical to visit China, North Korea and Albania.

Rosenberg was active in every leftist cause going, from anti-Apartheid, anti-Vietnam war protests, Council on Civil Liberties, CND etc etc etc.

However increasingly he became focused on promoting his idea of heaven on earth-North Korea.

In 1974, with Don Borrie and several Maoist students from Wellington, Rosenberg founded the NZ/Democratic People's Republic of Korea Friendship Society.

Rosenberg visited heaven on several occasions and also hosted delegations of "angels" to this country.

Rosenberg's philosophy, which he held in common with economists like Sutch and to a degree, with Brian Easton and his comrades from the "Campaign Against the Foreign Control of Aotearoa" , was one of "socialism in one country".

This doctrine was developed by Stalin, improved by Mao and refined to near perfection in North Korea's "Juche" or "self reliance" philosophy.

Trotsky believed in free trade and a constantly moving, world wide revolution.

Stalin and his heirs, Mao Kim Il Sung and Wolfgang Rosenberg, believed in central planning, near complete self reliance, the "fortress economy" and insularism. Paradise must be built, country by country, one step at a time. Revolution could only be exported from a rock-solid foundation.

Free trade and the open economy was anathema to Wolfgang Rosenberg. The free market reforms of the 1980's pained him grievously.

In July 1987, Rosenberg visited East Berlin during trip to Europe. On his return he wrote;

"The Wall contributes to peace in Europe and to successful economic and social development in the GDR."

Such was the man, our Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, describes as

"one of our unsung heroes".

Maybe a Kim Il Sung hero?

Anderton Lauds Late Socialist Icon, "Woofy"

Most people don't think of Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton as a hard core socialist.

Check out his press release on the death of Anderton idol, one time leading socialist economist and life long communist fellow-traveller, Wolfgang Rosenberg.

Economist Wolfgang Rosenberg leaves huge legacy

“I mark with considerable regret and a great sense of loss, news of the passing of the Christchurch economic thinker and academic Wolfgang Rosenberg,” said MP for Wigram and Progressive leader, Jim Anderton said today.

“‘Woofy’, as he was affectionately known to family and close friends was one of our unsung heroes. He was probably best known to generations of Canterbury University students as an inspirational and stimulating teacher of economics, not a subject that often inspires that sort of enthusiasm. In that role he was not afraid to go against the orthodox or the powerful and publicly crossed swords with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon on more than one occasion.

"During the nineteen eighties and nineties in particular, when many of his professional colleagues were enthusiastic for, or muted their criticism of the prevailing belief in the market as the cure all of New Zealand's problems, he was not afraid to speak and publish against the prevailing current.

"Wolfgang Rosenberg maintained that economic policies with policy goals of full employment, an expansionary fiscal stance and a high level of government intervention were more in New Zealand's broader interests than the new right agenda pursued by Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson in their respective parties and governments. And he had the satisfaction in my view, of being proved right.

"It is an indication of his intellectual integrity and level of understanding that his major books have stood the test of time and continue to be relevant, when the writings of his then opponents have gone into oblivion.

"Wolfgang's books The Magic Square (1986) and New Zealand Can be Different and Better (1993) were crucial books when I formed the NewLabour Party with key commitments to a full employment economy, regional and industry development and a partnership approach between government and our key sectors.

New Zeal Mr Anderton is as delusional as the troupe of trained socialist seals who made a pilgrimage to North Korea last month.

Hardly surprising as "Woofy", was with Don Borrie, a co-founder and long term stalwart of the NZ/North Korea Friendship Society.

Just Good Friends?

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Tuesday that completion of Bushehr power plant would be effective in developing Iran-Russia cooperation in future.

In a meeting with Russian upper house of parliament Commission on International Affairs Mikhail Margelov, Haddad Adel said that Iran is willing to develop bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation with Russia and the proposal put forward by the Supreme Leader on setting up OPEC-style gas organization is in line with the same goal.

Haddad Adel said that the gas producers' organization will be more significant than OPEC in future.

"An independent and powerful Iran in the region is in the interest of Russia. Moscow is expected to show an understanding of an independent Iran in the regional and international equations and coordinate its policy in that direction," the Majlis speaker said.

Margelov said, for his part, that Moscow is keen on developing multi-lateral cooperation with Tehran adding that Russia appreciates Iranian special status in the region and the entire world and is willing to boost friendly relations with Iran.

Juche! Juche! Juche!

Is there no limit to human self delusion and twisted thinking?

"Juche" is the self reliance form of Marxism-Leninism followed by North Korea.

Check out this statement from the;

Asian Regional Juche Seminar on “Economic Development, Social Justice and Democracy”

New Delhi Declaration April 8, 2006

The Juche philosophy is universal. It is relevant to every nation and every man irrespective of caste, creed or race; the reason being that it is man-centred. It treats man as the centre of everything. It clearly says that man is not a straw being carried away in any direction by the strength of current, on the other hand with his will and determination he can even change the direction of the current or else adjust it to serve his own purpose. President Kim Il Sung, the founder of this thought, also states this fact when he says:



“The Juche idea is a world outlook that centers on man and places man in the center of all thinking and makes everything serve him. It is a revolutionary theory designed to achieve the Independence of the working masses”.
　
The strength of the Juche philosophy can be fully comprehended if we cast a look at the following remark made by a statesman of Panama. He says:
　
“Archimedes, a physicist of ancient Greece, said that he would lift the earth if he had been given only a lever and a fulcrum. Today President Kim Il Sung has given us the lever and the fulcrum. The Juche idea is the lever and the masses of the people are the fulcrum”.
　
The Juche philosophy in short, is an instrument to empower the masses or the common people or the common man. It grants him independence, awareness, equality, dignity, self-reliance and fellow feeling--all the ingredients of a true democrat. Believing in the impeccable and lofty ideals of such an ennobling and sublime philosophy in a spirit of dedication the delegates decided unanimously to propagate, disseminate, and spread it.

The participants/delegates also could see clearly through the nefarious designs of imperialists, who in the name of democracy and globalization are trying to spread their dangerous tentacles to throttle the peace-loving independent countries that refuse to fall in line with them.

The slogan of world peace is a ruse and a cover to enslave or exploit other countries. Another great cunning slogan is ‘Democracy’. The truth of the matter is, that in the name of democracy they not only deny equality and freedom to their own people – (because in their own land the rich, the powerful and the haves exploit openly and unabashedly the poor) but invade other countries.

It is the case of “Devil preaching the scripture”. There is a perceptible hiatus between what they say and what they do. Understandably, they cannot tolerate the people, the nation where the true “Democracy” prevails where the dignity of individual is honoured, where the man is at the center of everything, where the man is charged to shape his own destiny.

Globalization is the other cunning ploy to economically enslave other nations. In the name of free trade every attempt is made to capture foreign markets and suck away their wealth. Be it said to the sagacity, wisdom and farsightedness of the DPRK that they have not fallen a prey to these designs of the USA.
　
The DPRK fully realizing that this resistance would invite the wrath of the imperialist powers took to Songun Politics initiated by General Secretary Kim Jong Il who has further strengthened and enriched the Juche Idea. Knowing fully well that ‘force can only be met by force’, General Secretary Kim Jong Il, through this army-centred-Politics or policy gave extra edge to the army.

Army-centred-Politics means Army is given priority, but we should fully understand the subtle difference between this army and the armies of other imperialist nations. It is peoples’ army and therefore it is also man-centred. “The people are army” and “army are the people”.

And this all is done to maintain peace because the aggressor however powerful he might be would not dare attack an equally and well prepared opponent. It may also be mentioned that when we talk of negotiations or talks of peace-treaties, the common diplomatic sense tells us that, if it is done on equal footing, then along the purpose is served. In that case we give some ‘room’ and in return also have some ‘room’.

But on the other hand if it is held between two unequal powers, then the more powerful will only ‘take’ and not ‘give’. He will only dictate. And therefore to maintain this balance Songun Politics has played and is playing a signification role.
　
It is accepted by thinkers and seers that the 21st Century belongs to Asia and rightly too. But to achieve this, and to thwart the nefarious designs of the imperialist powers the crying need for Asian countries is to unite. It is time to co-operate with one another and have a united front. We declare that we will work in this direction.


We the Juche Study Groups, Societies associated with the Asian Regional Institute of the Juche Idea (ARIJI) working in Asian countries also declare that we will study it still in greater depth and do research work so as to understand this philosophy and make use of it according to the circumstances prevailing in each country.
　
We also appreciate with one voice the excellent efforts made by the ARIJI in holding this seminar and thus providing an open platform to delegates of different Asian countries to contribute to discussions and proceedings and to partake of the wisdom and seminal information which flowed from the podium.
　
In the end we reaffirm our full faith in the Juche Philosophy and Songun Politics and express our solidarity with General Secretary Kim Jong Il and other Korean people and believe that the reunification of Korea will soon be a reality.

New Zeal Note the paragraph on "Songun Politics". Keep in mind the constant threats used by North Korea to extract concessions from the US and other Western powers.

Red Over Green 4 Bob van Ruyssevelt

Not a name you'd see much in the Belfast or Dublin phone books, but Bob Van Ruyssevelt has long been one of NZ's leading Irish republican activists.

Van Russeyvelt has been an agitator from way back.


In 1968, at Auckland University, he played a leading role in the radical Vietnam Peace Society. He was elected to the executive of the Student's Association and was a friend and flatmate of arch stirrer, Tim Shadbolt.

In 1969, Van Ruyssevelt had to resign from AUSA after he and two comrades were fined $75 each for a capping stunt in which they stole landrovers from Waiouru Army Base.

The same year he was sentenced to 3 months periodic detention for involvement, with Bill Bone and John Bower in blowing up the Waitangi Flagpole.

The anti-Vietnam War protests were getting into full swing at the time. There were 13 bombings in a few months. Most targeted miltary recruitment centres, army storehouses and the like. There was some property damage, but nobody was hurt.

Several young men, mainly students, were arrested in connection with the campaign.
Kevin Bower was sentenced to 4 years borstal, John Bower was given 5 years in Paremoremo and Robert Van Ruyssevelt got 4 years at Paparua.

After his release, Van Russeyvelt disappeared off the NZ scene for a while and spent some time as convenor of a UK organisation campaigning for the withdrawal of British troops in Ireland.

In the early '80s he was a founder member of the H Block/Armagh Committees /Information on Ireland and was a stalwart of the Auckland branch for many years.

In August 1989, Van Ruyssevelt wrote to the Socialist Unity Party's "Tribune" criticising the Communist Party of Ireland for wanting to postpone armed struggle.

Van Russeyvelt made it clear he believed that violence was an essential part of the campaign to unite Ireland;

"The arduous political work that is carried on would be as futile without a corresponding armed struggle as it would have been in Vietnam, Zimbabwe or Nicaragua".

True to his socialist ideals, Van Ruyssevelt was an early member of Jim Anderton's crypto-communist New Labour Party.

He has stood for the NLP and later the Alliance Party several times, most recently in Te Atatu in 2005.

Russia, China and India Promote International Harmony and Understanding

Russia, China and India together with Iran and their allies want world peace and international harmony. Ain't that a relief?

From People's Daily Online

Russian, Chinese and Indian foreign ministers on Wednesday stressed their countries' commitment to multilateral diplomacy, support for dialogue among civilizations and religions, and condemnation on terrorism.

In a joint communique issued at the end of their trilateral meeting here, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Indian and Russian counterparts Pranab Mukherjee and Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed that "trilateral cooperation is not directed against the interests of any other country," but "to promote international harmony and understanding and find common ground amid divergent interests."


From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau on Saturday welcomed the government initiatives on the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Iran and talks on the Iran-India gas pipeline among others.

Among the initiatives welcomed by the Polit Bureau on the foreign policy front also includes the recent meeting of the foreign ministers of India, China and Russia in the capital.

Red India?

The fate of India, will to some degree, determine the fate of the West. While the sub-continent is undergoing a de-regulation fuelled economic boom, its future capitalist alignment is far from assured.

India is being wooed, lured and subverted, slowly but surely into the Russian/Chinese axis. The two future super-powers are aiming to build a pan-Asian power bloc, incorporating Iran, the old Soviet Islamic republics, India and even possibly Indonesia.

The framework for this bloc is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, of which Iran and India are currently observers. Should this come together as planned, the grouping will dominate Asia and overshadow Europe. Coupled with a red Latin America and Africa, the bulk of which is now Russian and or Chinese aligned, the balance of power may well swing Russia and China's way.


Once Upon a Time in the West puts the case well. He begins by quoting senior KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn. Well known for his thesis that Russia and China will one day unite to confront the West, Golitsyn predicted the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the stage managed "collapse of communism".

Before long, the communist strategists might be persuaded that the balance had swung irreversibly in their favor. In that event they might well decide on a Sino-Soviet "reconciliation." The scissors strategy would give way to the strategy of "one clenched fist." At that point the shift in the political and military balance would be plain for all to see. Convergence [between East and West] would not be between two equal parties, but would be on terms dictated by the communist bloc.

Anatoliy Golitsyn, KGB defector, New Lies for Old (1984), pages 345-346

In the long term, they [Russia, China, and India] feel that the whole structure of international relations has to shift in their direction.

Vinod C. Khanna, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi; February 15, 2007

In the Western Hemisphere neo-communism is consolidating its power. Further afield, in Asia the Moscow-Beijing Axis is seeking to woo other states, some suspecting, others not, into its orbit.

The Moscow-Beijing/Trans-Asian/Eurasian Axis is embodied in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a new communist bloc whose senior partners are Russia and China. India holds observer status in the SCO, communists hold the balance of power in the country's parliament, and Maoist insurgents hold one third of India's territory.

India's "Naxalite" rebels network through the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia with Nepal's communist rebels, who were admitted last November into the government after the monarchy, weary of 10 years of civil war, capitulated to their demands.

In short, international communism is ready to pluck India like a ripe fruit. By securing India's full participation in the SCO, the Moscow-Beijing-New Delhi Axis will control, 40% of the world's population, 20% of the world's economy, and 50% of the world's nuclear warheads.

Geopolitical analysts frequently refer to the these three countries and neo-communist Brazil as the "BRIC" group. This term was coined in a 2003 report published by the Goldman Sachs investment bank to refer to the rapid economic development of these countries. Goldman Sachs predicted in 2006: "Over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China--the BRICs economies-- could become a much larger force in the world economy. We map out GDP growth, income per capita and currency movements in the BRICs economies until 2050."

While more than likely oblivious to Moscow's long-range strategic deception, this bastion of Western capitalism unwittingly created a term that aptly encompasses a key, latter-day component of the Communist Bloc. International communism's "one clenched fist" of which Golitsyn warned in his first book New Lies for Old (1984) is almost ready to strike the West.

This is not the first time that the foreign ministers of Russia, China, and India have held trilateral discussions. A 2002 article in The Hindu concluded: "It would appear that Russia, China and India, by cooperating with each other, are sending a subtle message to the world's only superpower — that they, too, count for something in international affairs".

Financial Forecast

I asked a specialist finance academic, now resident overseas, what he saw happening to the NZ dollar in the near future. This is his reply;

It is impossible to predict the timing of major financial events. Having said that, it will take some event to cause the NZ dollar to fall rapidly. But I would think that the upcoming tax that Dr. Cullen has imposed on overseas assets beginning April 1, 2007 is a starter.

The debt level in NZ is a grave worry, but especially that NZ has borrowed this money from overseas and 50% of it in a foreign currency.

If I was a betting man, and I am, if and when Dr. Bollard raised rates next time, this will cause a very short term up lift in the NZ dollar. I would definitely not want to hold $NZ for which I had no direct need. The $AU at an exchange rate of 0.90 is better place to park money. Most eperts know that the Japanese Yen is undervalued. However, it could stay undervalued a long time.

If you need $US going forward like for a trip to US, I would exchange them after Dr. Bollard raises rates next time. But once again, forecasting the timing of foreign currency moves is difficult.

My point is that there is HIGH risk in holding NZ dollars after Dr. Bollard raises rates. And if the LABOUR wins the next election, then I would run for the hills.

It will be interesting to see if these pssibilities pan out. I'm no financial expert but I find it hard to see our economy expanding indefinitely based on over-valued home equity.

Scum

I like most lefties. In general they're well-meaning, if deluded people. However its hard to regard the people listed below as anything but scum. This list does serve to illustrate that even the most evil regime on the planet has a network of admirers.

From a North Korean news site

Thanks to Liberty Scott

Foreign Guests Arrive

Pyongyang, February 14 Foreign guests flew into Pyongyang Tuesday to join the visitors to the secret camp in Mt. Paektu on the occasion of the birthday of Kim Jong Il.


They included;

General Secretary of the Bangladesh Peace Council Kamal Hyder who is vice-president of the World Peace Council
Abdel Azim El Maghraby, asst. secretary general of the Arab Lawyers Union
Don Borrie, chairman of the New Zealand-DPRK Society who is co-chairman of the Oceanic Committee for Solidarity with the Peaceful Reunification of Korea
K. S. Rao, chairman of the Indian Committee for Supporting Korea's Reunification
a Chinese delegation headed by Chen Jun, executive deputy secretary-general of the China Association for International Friendly Contact
Norma G. Binas, vice-president of the Philippines Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification in the Korean Peninsula
Ristiyanto, secretary general of the Indonesia-Korea Association for Friendship and Cultural Exchange
Hector Figueroa, major of Catamayo, Loja in Ecuador
Daniel Alvarez Celi, chairman of the Ecuadorian Committee for Supporting Korea's Independent and Peaceful Reunification
Tania Alvarado Chavez, president of the Ecuador-Guayaquil Institute for Friendship with the Korean People
Trotsky Serano, president of the Canar Provincial Institute for the Friendship and Solidarity with the DPRK of Ecuador
Francis F. Lyimo, vice-chairman of the Tanzania-DPRK Friendship Association
Anders Kristensen, secretary general of the Nordic Cooperation Committee for Friendship and Solidarity with the Korean People and chairman of the Denmark-DPRK Friendship Association
Martin Lotscher, president of the Swiss Committee for Supporting the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea
a delegation of the "Jongilbong" Russia-Korea Friendship Association of Ulyanovsk Region led by Aleksandr Kruzlikov, first secretary of the Ulyanovsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Meinolf Mario Wulf, representative of the Association for Friendship with the Korean People headquartered in Spain.

Arriving on the same day by train were;

D. Tsakhilgaan, president of the Union for Peace and Friendship of Mongolia, and his party
a delegation of the Nepal Journalist Association led by its Chairman Manju Ratna Sakya
a delegation of the Mongolia-Korea Friendship Society led by its Executive Chairman B. Baigalmaa

Arriving here earlier were;

Ludmila Levkova, chief of the Russia-Korea Children's Friendship Association Named after Kim Jong Il of 11th Middle School in Khabarovsk City, Russia, and her party
a delegation of the Australia-DPRK Association for Friendship and Cultural Exchange led by its National Secretary Raymond Ferguson
Noboru Kameda, representative of the Japan-DPRK Cultural Society
Takashi Nata, representative of the Ehime Institute for Modern Korea Studies of Japan
Zhang Qi, grandson of Zhang Weihua, anti-Japanese revolutionary martyr
Song Shukuan, general manager of the Zaoyuan Fish Breeding Company of China.

Farrar Sums Up the Greens

From David Farrar's Kiwiblog

The Greens are debating not committing to only Labour prior to the next election, and negotiating with both National and Labour if they hold the balance of power.

But don't anyone think there is any real chance of a National-Green coalition. Most Greens are either communist background (Locke, Bradford, Norman) or hard-left. You possibly could do a deal just on environmental policy but you could never ever agree on economic policy, trade policy, defence policy etc etc,

As an example in the interview Sue Bradford demands National renounce and apologise for their previous actions. Yeah sure, right after Bradford apologises for the atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party.

So it is a smart move for the Greens, if they take it. But anyone who seriously thinks the Greens would vote in favour of a National Government is very mistaken.

"National Question" 18 Bastion Point-Version 2

In my first article on the 1978 occupation of Bastion Point, near Auckland, I wrote of the extensive communist backing behind the Maori protesters.

I showed some of the influence of the Socialist Unity Party, the Socialist Action League and the Communist Party.

The Communist Party was then a tiny, pro-Albanian splinter group. I've always regarded them as minor players and the SUP as the major player in the 506 day occupation.

The Communist party eventually morphed into a Trotskyist organisation-Socialist Worker. In the June 2006 issue of SW's "Unity", Len Parker, a veteran of the Communist Party and Socialist Worker, gives his very different version of events at Bastion Point. According to Parker, the Communist Party, particularly comrade Jimmy O'Dea, was the main driver of the occupation.


I'm going to tell the largely untold story of the significant contribution to the struggle made by the organised working class.

...Auckland leaders of the Communist party met with the Orakei Maori Action Committee for authorisation to approach workers to win support for the land occupation and the Green Ban.

Jimmy O'Dea and Trent Richards led the Communist's practical work in this campaign, which involved some 40 party members at its height. The Orakei Maori Action Committee elected Jimmy O'Dea and Willy Pirama to call meetings with industrial workers all around Auckland.

A priority was talking to staff at Wilson Rothery, contracted to build roads through the Bastion point sub-division. With backing from their Maori job delegate, Bill Abraham, Wilson Rothery workers voted to support the green ban and refuse to open up the land. They also offered financial support to the occupiers. Without road builders, little else could be done at bastion Point.

Another early meeting was arranged with NZ Breweries workers through their walking delegate Tom McClintock(an SUP member). Occupation delegates visited the brewery along with trades council officials. Workers pledged financial support to the occupation, levying themselves $2 each per week.

This practical alliance between workers and Maori delivered the occupation's Meeting House. Jimmy O'Dea asked his friend, Irish activist, Alfie Byrne (an H Block/Armagh supporter), to approach Irish contractors, Green&McCahill with a $100 tender to remove a large wooden warehouse in Wiri.

The leftwing Bower brothers who operated a small trucking firm, loaned their vehicles to transport the demolished warehouse to Bastion point.

Whichever version is most accurate, it is clear that Marxism-Leninism was right there behind the Maori struggle. As it always has been.

Labour's Refugees

The sad thing about the 600 odd Kiwis we're losing per week is that they tend to be our best and brightest.

I did a mass email to my local ACT supporters mailing list yesterday, advertising our South Island conference on March 17th. These replies were in my inbox this morning.

From a long term resident academic

The new tax regime of Dr. Cullen is a disaster. My wife and I were planning on staying in NZ at least through November 2007 as we both teach (finance) at..... But a few months ago on a visit to ......, we were both offered good jobs...

We have accepted the positions--and we have left New Zealand. Felt like we were forced to leave.

We had a good 7 years in New Zealand and met many fine and outstanding people. But we would be working for minimum wage if we had to pay tax on our overseas superfunds held in the US.

It is my conjecture that a major currency and economic crises is on on the horizon for New Zealand. If Dr. Bollard raises rates once more, this is my signal to short the NZ dollar against the Aus. $ or Japanese yen.

It was a pleasure to experience the Kiwi life style over the past 7 years. I also had the experience of having some of the best and most motivated students in my 20+ university teaching career.

Good luck in the next election.

From a born here Kiwi battler

Mate

We wish you well, but B... and I have voted with our feet and left “Helen’s Ville”. We now live in Sydney Australia, where life is not perfect but reality is less flawed – our taxes, though higher than in NZ, go to pay for the defense of NZ, since NZ will no longer do it for itself.

Proud New Zealanders in Australia are embarrassed at every utterance of our foolish Prime Minister.

The dimmest Australian State Premier comes across as a Statesman by comparison - it’s really sad.

We won’t be back till this government is gone.

Helen Clark and Labour won't miss good people like these, because they don't vote for her regime. However our side of the political divide can't afford to lose good supporters and NZ can't afford to lose our real producers.

All the more reason to elect a pro-freedom government at the next election, so that more NZ's finest are inspired to return home.

Red Over Green File 3 Ana Meihana

Ana Meihana (aka Aine Mason, Anna Mason) was, in her activist days, one of the most committed Irish republicans in the country. Part Irish, part Maori, she was a great example of the interlinking of the Irish and Maori "struggles".


Aine Mason, left Onehunga in the late '70s for Northern Ireland, to;

"find out first hand what lay behind all the news headlines concerning the Troubles".

I quote extensively from her story which was printed in the Sinn Fein newspaper An Phoblacht, of 4th September 1997.

While I was sympathetic with the republican people's struggle for self-determination, I was nevertheless a very naive product of `middle' New Zealand.
I was a young girl, barely out of my teens. What I saw and experienced in Belfast in 1977 and 1978 was to change my life totally.

I stayed first with a nationalist family in Ballymurphy. This family welcomed me in warmly and willingly shared what little they had.

On my second day in West Belfast I woke up to the sound of a `heli' skimming the rooftops. Suddenly my room was full of armed soldiers. Somebody had me by the shoulder, shouting `Effin' well get up, you Provie whore!'

The family I was with were being held at gunpoint in their lounge. I joined them as soldiers ransacked their home. The soldiers bullied, abuse and threatened us.

On finding a Relatives Action Committee (a prisoners' support group) pamphlet in the house, the soldiers lifted the eldest son. I will never forget the sight of his mother afterwards, weeping with worry and anger.

Having to pass British patrols on a daily basis was nerve-wracking. I felt as if I'd gone back in time to Nazi-occupied Europe, seeing tanks on the streets, having to dodge gunfire and witnessing the harassment of ordinary people going about their lives.

I was stopped in the streets frequently. Every time the soldiers abused me, threatened me and assaulted me.

Once I was shoved up against a wall and a rifle with the safety catch off was waved in my face.

I was also lifted on several occasions. During these, I was interrogated, sworn at, threatened, subjected to sexual innuendo and, on one occasion, shown graphic photographs of bomb victims. Threats were also made against the family I was staying with, in particular their adolescent daughter.

I moved on, I stayed with a young mother and her chid in Andersonstown. Her husband was a POW in Long Kesh and she, too, had very little.

I accompanied the families on marches in support of the POWs and was amazed at the strong sense of community I witnessed. People turned out on the streets in their thousands and, day to day, helped each other in every way.

I then found a job with a Protestant family on the Malone Road. I was to be their nanny. Living standards there were in sharp contrast to the deprivations of West Belfast.

During my time working on the Malone Road I visited West Belfast on a regular basis, attended marches and rallies and called into the Sinn Féin rooms on the Falls Road as much as possible.

On one of these visits I briefly encountered Gerry Adams, whom I'd previously been introduced to. I remembered the day - I was roughed up by passing soldiers as I came out of the building.

I had a camera and decided to start using it. I took snaps of police and army brutality at a rally in the city. I intended sending them back to New Zealand for processing, and from there to the news media.

I went out to post my film. I turned into the Grosvenor Road and was watching soldiers taking tea and chatting to housewives on the pavement. I couldn't believe how polite they were after what I had witnessed in nationalist West Belfast.
There was a heavy army presence. Suddenly a Saracen armoured personnel carrier swung to a stop in front of me.

At the same time I heard running footsteps.

A voice shouted, ``Stop or I fire!''

A hand came down on my shoulder. I turned to find a rifle being waved in my face by the police.

I was hustled into a Saracen and driven to Castlereagh interrogation centre.
I was terrified. I'd read accounts of the torture at the centre. I was put into a white-walled room with a light that never turned off, day or night. A low humming noise came from somewhere. It never stopped.

In the distance I could hear shouting, screaming.

By the time I was taken for interrogation, I was completely disoriented. I hadn't eaten, slept or been allowed to wash for three days.

I was told that my mother in Auckland had been told of my arrest and, as a result, was now in Intensive Care in Auckland Hospital. I was told - with relish - that my troubled teenager sister would end up `getting the broom' in a girls' home. I fainted.


By the time I was transferred to Armagh Women's Prison I was a wreck. No one had done anything to find out how my mum was. I was conscious of my dishevelled appearance and the fact that I smelt.

I was so relieved when a young woman named Mary Doyle came into my cell and asked what I'd been charged with. I told her I'd been charged with communicating information to terrorists and nearly cried with relief with she said, ``You're one of us''.

She took me to meet Maureen McCullen, with whom I was to share a cell. After that, a group of us gathered in the cell of another POW, Clare Delaney, for a cuppa. Everyone was so pleasant and friendly, listening with interest to my story and sharing what they'd been through in Castlereagh. I heard horrifying stories of sexual abuse.

Throughout my six months in Armagh, these women POWs maintained the same high standards of discipline, morale and community spirit I'd witnessed in the nationalist community outside.

In mid-1978 things deteriorated. We had staged a protest over the shockingly bad quality of prison food.

Armed male warders in full riot gear stormed A Wing, batoning us down, brutally throwing one of us down a full flight of stairs.

I was introduced to IRA Volunteer Dolores Price and other sentenced POWs. I also met the late Volunteer Mairead Farrell (shot by the SAS at Gibraltar). In a singular, five minute encounter she made a deep and lasting impression upon me. After her murder ten years later, my estimations of her were confirmed in full by the moving testimonies of family, friends and fellow ex-prisoners.

My eldest daughter, now aged six, is named in her honour.

Eventually international pressure and high profile media attention back in New Zealand saw me released, by way of a deportation order issued in late 1978.

I found that among the telegrams that had been sent to me was one from Nga Tamatoa. It never reached me - a deliberate ploy, I believe, to make me feel that the Maori community had totally ignored my plight.

Back home, family and friends were willing to listen to my account of life in the Six Counties, but the general public were not. Nobody would employ me. Mainstream society treated me like some sort of traitor.

When I registered for work at the Labour Department, I was subjected to a severe political interrogation. Thanks to Jimmy O'Dea, his son Pat and some other new friends, this Labour Department interrogator was reprimanded.

Jimmy O'Dea was at the time, a member of the Communist Party and an Irish republican activist.

Being so well known made me lose confidence in enrolling at university to study law. I tried hard to keep in touch with my friends in Ireland, but every letter came back covered with SIS and Special Branch stamps.

Mum's phone was tapped and my movements monitored for a long time afterwards.

While in Armagh prison, not just Nga Tamatoa, but much of the NZ left kept a close eye on Ana Meihana.

The SUP's Tribune of May 8th 1978 reported that Anna Mason was arrested in Belfast for taking photos of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The Socialist Action League's newspaper of June 30th published Mason's letter from Armagh prison thanking the SAL for their support.

Almost immediately after arriving in NZ in September 1978, Meihana joined the radical Maori group, Waitangi Action Committee. She was then arrested at the Bastion Point occupation, spending 5 days in jail.

In 1981 Meihana participated in anti-Springbok tour protests. Soon after, she joined the Maoists of the Workers Communist League at Sue Bradford's Auckland Unemployed Rights Centre.

By the mid '80s, Meihana was the Auckland based Maori co-ordinator for Te Roopu Rawakore-the nationwide federation of unemployed workers unions.

Though Te Roopu Rawakore was dominated by the Workers Communist League, some constituent unions were influenced or controlled by the pro-Soviet, Socialist Unity Party.

By 1988, Meihana was a member of the Wellington branch of the SUP. She was no ordinary rank and filer. She was on the SUP's "Unemployment Commission", the Party body charged with running the unemployed workers movement.

At the time, Meihana was a volunteer with the SUP/WCL run Wellington Unemployed Workers Union. She also played a major role in organising the nationwide "March Against Unemployment" in October that year.

Meihana also served that year on the SUP's Commission for the "National Question", with Joe TePania, Jackson Smith and Brendan Tuohy. This body was charged with co-ordinating the SUP's Maori activism and worked with many of NZ's Maori radical community.

Not content with that, Meihana was also active in the Wellington branch of Information on Ireland, NZ's leading Irish republican support group.

Meihana was one of several IOI members interviewed in the Dominion Sunday Times of 11th February 1988. She told the DST ;

"The Irish cause is the Maori cause. The Maori fight in New Zealand is basically the same, only it is yet to reach a military stage like Ireland."

Ana Meihana left the SUP around 1990 and is no longer visible in the activist scene.