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Friday, August 24, 2007

Hutt Trotskyist Stands for Council

The Hutt Valley's Valley Action Network is standing three candidates in the upcoming local body elections.


Lead candidate is Moera resident Grant Brookes, who is standing in the Harbour Ward.

According to his campaign blurb;

"VAN is a positive alternative to tired, old, business-as-usual policies. We stand for social justice, the environment and grassroots democracy.

We aren't politicians, just ordinary people who want change. I'm a nurse. My workmates at Wellington Hospital have elected me as their union delegate. As a socialist, I support all grassroots people who stand up for their rights. I've also been appointed to a District Health Board committee planning the future of mental health services, because of my proven ability to work cooperatively with others while representing workers' interests.

As a parent, I know first hand the pressures on working families today.


Brookes is also a central committee member of NZ's leading Trotskyist organisation, Socialist Worker.

In the early '90s, Brookes was a member of Brian Roper's International Socialists and a comrade of now prominent legal academic Andrew Geddis at Otago University.

ISO briefly merged with former Communist party members in 1994/95 to form the Socialist Workers Organisation.

When the two groups divorced after a brief marriage, Brookes was one of the few ISO members to stay with Socialist Worker.

In the late '90s Brookes was a leading SW activist at Auckland University.

By 2001 he was in London and active in the Trotskyist led, Socialist Alliance.

By the next year, Brookes was living in Wellington, working in the health sector.

By 2003, Brookes was one of several SW members working alongside Valerie Morse in Peace Action Wellington.

"Every 4th of July, the USA celebrates the anniversary of its independence from British colonial rule while denying freedom to people around the world.
This year, Peace Action Wellington (PAW) is calling on people to join us in protesting at the US ambassador's Independence Day function.

"US military forces are occupying Afghanistan and Iraq while its corporations exploit those countries for private profit", said PAW spokesperson Grant Brookes."

That year Brookes was also editor of Socialist Worker Monthly Review.

In recent years he has been very active in health sector unionism.

Brookes is being supported by husband and wife candidates Paul Kennett and Michelle Ducat.

1 Comments:

Blogger Cactus Kate said...

Trev

Is that a triangle of pubes on his chin?

10:53 PM  

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