"National Question" 28 Maori Marxism Moves "Mainstream"

While the SUP's planned disruption of the 1990 Waitangi celebrations, failed to materialise, the Maori radical revolution rolled on.


By the early '1990s socialist concepts under the guise of Maori culture, bi -culturalism, self determination and "Tino Rangitiratanga", permeated virtually every area of New Zealand life.

While in the '70s and '80s a few New Zealanders saw the links between our local Marxist-Leninists and Maori radicalism, by the early '90s this key connection was virtually lost.

The more apparent than real "Collapse of Communism" in the Soviet Union, destroyed nearly all perception of a "communist threat" in New Zealand. Thanks to a gutless government, hamstrung security services and an incompetent media, New Zealanders had virtually no appreciation of Marxist-Leninist power and influence.

While still one of the most potent socio/political forces in the country, most people, after 1990, thought "communism" was nothing but a bad memory.

The public, though acutely aware of Maori radicalism, had little appreciation of it's socialist underpinning.

So while people rejoiced at the "fall" of the Soviet Empire, it's illegitimate offspring, the Maori self-determination movement made steady gains.

The Marxist-Leninist influenced and infiltrated Labour Government of 1984/90 had armed the "radicals" with huge sums of taxpayers money. Now instead of banners and megaphones Maori Marxists had huge slush funds from Maori Access and Labour Department schemes, legal aid to press land claims, subsidised Kohanga Reo "brainwashing" schools, and a whole network of taxpayer funded newspapers and radio stations.

In addition, probably as part of it's deal with the SUP for union support in the 1984 election, Labour allowed many Marxist-Leninists, socialists and Maori radicals to assume policy making positions in government departments, QUANGOS and the like. These people enthusiastically pushed Labour's "bi-cultural" policies so that by the early '90s virtually every arm of the state was implementing "National Question" policies.

When the National Party came to power in 1990 it inherited a socialist bureaucracy, committed to Marxist-Leninist Maori policies and a Maori population greedy for millions in handouts via the Waitangi Tribunal.

Rather than take the hard road and abandon these suicidal programmes, National took the soft option and continued and even extended them. Just as it it did with that other SUP inspired fraud, the "anti-Nuclear Stand", National made a virtue of what it mistakenly saw as necessity and adopted virtually all of the socialist agenda.

By a process of artificial osmosis, a long campaign of infiltration, indoctrination, propaganda, secret deals, bluff and threats, Maori socialism was now "mainstream." Communist Party "National Question" policy from the '30s had become National Party policy of the '90s.

Philippines Communist Leader Charged With Murder

For the last few years leftist political activists in the Philippines have been targetted for assassination. Several hundred have died.

The Communists have blamed the Arroyo government. The government has blamed the Communists.


Now Dutch police have arrested exiled Communist Party of the Philippines leader Jose Maria Sison and charged him with murder.

From the Inquirer

Sison, who has been living in The Netherlands for the past 20 years, was arrested by Dutch police Tuesday for allegedly issuing orders from that country to murder former rebel leaders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in the Philippines.

The CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army, has owned up to killing the two, who were among rebel leaders who led a faction break away from the CPP in the early 1990s.

The murders were allegedly carried out on Sison's orders in 2003.

The Communist Party of the Philippines is not happy.

From Philippines Revolutionary Web Central

Communist Party of the Philippines
August 29, 2007

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the entire revolutionary movement condemn in the strongest terms possible the illegal arrest and detention of Comrade Jose Maria Sison, Senior Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) by Dutch police forces.

The CPP likewise condemns the Gestapo-style raid, the brusque ransacking of the Sison residence, the NDFP International Information Office in Utrecht, The Netherlands as well as the homes of other NDFP officials and staff in Utrecht and Abcoude, and the illegal seizure of computers, peace process documents and personal effects.

The CPP and the revolutionary forces in the Philippines hold the US-Arroyo regime and the Dutch government responsible for this fascist attack against Comrade Sison and other NDFP officials and workers in The Netherlands. The CPP and the revolutionary forces in the Philippines will make these governments fully accountable for any harm and dirty act that may befall Comrade Sison while under Dutch custody, including possible extraordinary rendition to the United States or any other country.

The Arroyo regime wishes that the revolutionary forces to lay down their arms to allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines to carry out more attacks and various acts of violence and suppression against the revolutionary and progressive forces and the entire people.

The charges being levelled against Comrade Sison are preposterous and will not stand in any fair court of justice. Comrade Sison is falsely and maliciously being made to appear responsible for the acts carried out by the New People's Army (NPA) under the authority and expressed direction of the Philippine-based leadership of the CPP, people's army and people's revolutionary government.

The Communist Party of the Philippines calls on all freedom-loving and patriotic Filipinos, the Filipino community and friends in The Netherlands and other countries, the international progressive, anti-imperialist and civil rights movement and other anti-imperialist and democratic forces and people around the world to act now and help safeguard the rights and life of Comrade Jose Maria Sison.

We express complete support and solidarity to the protest actions in the Philippines, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, the US, Australia, Belgium and other countries. We anticipate protest actions to intensify in the coming days in order to denounce the arrest, demand the Dutch government to immediately release Comrade Sison and stop the US, Philippine and Dutch governments from subjecting him to further fascist attacts and harassment.

At the same time, all units of the New People's Army (NPA) are tasked to continue carrying out tactical offensives nationwide in order to intensify the people's war to a new and higher level and contribute to the concerted effort of the Filipino people to put an end to the puppet, rotten and ruthless Arroyo regime.

Well done, the Dutch!

"Maoists" Still after Mike Moore

The spat between former Labour Prime Minister and the Labour Party continues.

From Stuff


Former prime minister Mike Moore is laughing off a Labour letter-writing campaign against him – and rubbishing speculation that he is part of a plot against Helen Clark.


Labour members have been urged in an email to write letters to newspapers and call talkback radio shows responding to Moore's "nasty, malicious" column labelling Clark "Muldoonist".

The email was written by a former Labour MP and office holder.

Moore's column accused Clark of "using the politics of personal destruction" – leading Progressive leader Jim Anderton, a former Labour MP, to accuse him of past muck-raking against Clark, and a smear campaign against MPs, including former National Party leader Jim McLay and former Labour prime minister Bill Rowling.

There is some bitter history beteen Moore, Clark and Anderton.

Mike Moore was very close to the union movement in the late'80s. however I've been told he sealed his fate when he refused to commit to repealing National's Employment Contracts Act.

The union movement, then turned on Moore in favour of the more sympathetic Helen Clark.

In an interview with Robert Mannion of the Sunday Times of October 24th 1993, unionist and leader of the Marxist-Leninist, Socialist Party of Aotearoa, Bill Andersen, outlined his party's priorities and plans. According to Mannion, Andersen supported Jim Anderton's Alliance Party and "would like to have seen Alliance/Labour accommodations in crucial electorates".

Interestingly Andersen added "They had a good meeting with Helen Clark and Alliance parliamentary candidate Laila Harre at the Trade Union Centre recently."

Harre, then Anderton's "right hand girl" went to become a Cabinet Minister in the 1996/99 Labour/Alliance Coalition government and in 2005 succeeded Bill Andersen as leader of the National Distribution Union.

Clark, later deposed Moore as leader of the Labour Party, in a coup later described by Mike Moore as "almost Maoist".

Seems like the "Maoists" are still at it.

Workers Party Contests Dunedin Mayoralty

The Trotskyist/Maoist fusion Workers Party of New Zealand is contesting the mayoralties of Wellington, Christchurch, Waitakere and Dunedin.

The Party hopes to use local body elections as a springboard to gaining the 500 members necessary to contest the 2008 General Elections as a registered party.


Supermarket supervisor and part-time student Tim Bowron (27) will contest the Dunedin mayoralty this year. Mr Bowron, representing the Workers Party and the International Socialist Organisation, is originally from Christchurch and moved to Dunedin to study about 10 years ago.

His campaign would concentrate on issues such as free and frequent public transport, the need for insulation in homes, and fixing the sewerage before building a stadium. He will campaign hard in the student area, where high rents and shabby flats were a longstanding grievance, and in South Dunedin, where working families were struggling , he said. ‘‘We need a council that is run in the interests of the workers, pen sioners and students who make up the majority of this city — not business and the wealthy elite.’’

Bowron was member of the International Socialists, but left around 2002 to join the even tinier Trotskyist outfit, Socialist Alternative.

He has been active in the Dunedin Coalition Against War;

"...a new war with Iraq, if it comes, will represent not just the work of one crazed individual - George W. Bush - but rather the logical outcome of a system that puts the needs of the wealthy few before the lives of millions of ordinary people...

As long as this system remains in place we will never be rid of war, poverty and oppression...we must begin to build a socialist alternative."

By 2004, Bowron was linked to Dunedin's miniscule Workers Party branch.

He played an active role last year, agitating amongst supermarket workers during the protracted Progressive Enterprises lockout/strike.

Local Body Elections Website

ACT Party staff member Andrew Falloon has set up a website listing all candidates standing in the upcoming local body elections.

The site also includes links to many candidate and "ticket" websites.

Check it out here

China No Longer Potential Enemy for Russians

Further evidence of the growing Russia/China anti-US alliance.

From Russia's Kommersant

The Russians view China the most friendly country, while the United States is the key potential enemy for them, signaled the poll of All-Russia’s Center of Public Opinion.

China is absolutely favored by 21 percent of respondents, which makes it the leader of preference list of the Russians. It is followed by Germany and Belarus, each of which with the vote of 12 percent. Of interest is that exactly Belarus was thought most friendly in 2006, while China was deemed the second potential enemy after the United States (16 percent past year vs. 3 percent this year).

As to China, the favorable rating could be attributed to the active economic and political cooperation, especially in Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the analysts speculate, pointing out that Belarus fell on gas clashes with Russia.

Hat Tip Once Upon a Time in the West

US Waking Up to China's Influence in SW Pacific

The US Government has recently issued a 30 page report about growing Chinese influence in this region.

The South West Pacific-US Interests and China's Growing Influence

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become a growing force in the Southwest Pacific as a result, some argue, of a political vacuum created by U.S.neglect.

In order to garner political and economic influence in relation to Taiwan, the United States, and U.S. allies as well as to access raw materials, China has expanded its diplomatic and commercial presence in the region.

By some accounts, the PRC has become the third-largest source of foreign aid to the South Pacific, which itlargely provides without the kinds of conditions or performance criteria — some say heavy-handedness — that have engendered resentment among some Pacific Islandcountries toward their major benefactor, Australia.

Although China’s influence is largely limited to diplomatic and economic “soft power,” some analysts worry about the PRC’s long-term intentions.

So they should. At least it appears the US is slowly waking up to Chinese inroads in this region.

Castro Touts Clinton/Obama Ticket for '08

I have to agree with Fidel Castro on this one.

Castro writing in Granma

Today, talk is about the seemingly invincible ticket that might be created with Hillary for President and Obama for Vice President.

Hillary Clinton, with Edwards, Richarson or some other as as VP candidate might not make it.

Obama has inexperience and (to be blunt) his colour against him. He would do well, but would be unlikely to beat a strong Republican candidate.

Hillary Clinton, backed by Barack Obama would have to be the best chance the Democrats have in 2008.

I wonder if the CPUSA will take Castro's ideas on board?

Martin Hirst's "Comrade's" Ties to Muslim Militants

Auckland University of Technology journalism lecturer Martin Hirst, hasn't apologised for calling me a "neo-nazi", but he has altered the offending text. It now reads;

Well, I've been outed! Some right-wing dribblejaws* has me lined up in his beady little eyes...

Unfortunately he then goes on to say this;

Mr Loudon has attempted to slander me by claiming friends of my friends have links with the Islamic Brotherhood. So he cannot claim to be the only injured party here.

His attacks on me are offensive and defamatory and designed to intimidate.

Dr Hirst's journalistic skills have let him down again.

The organisation I referred to was the Egyptian based, crypto Marxist, Muslim Brotherhood.

According to website Intelligence Resource Program

Although officially banned by the Egyptian government since 1954, the Muslim Brothers captured 17 seats in the Egyptian Parliament running as independents; they also hold important offices in professional organizations in Egypt.

Today, a very complex financial network connects the operations of over seventy branches of the Muslim Brothers worldwide.

During the Muslim Brothers' seventy-plus years of existence, there have been cycles of growth, followed by divisions into factions, including clandestine financial networks, and violent jihad groups, such as al-Jihad and al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya in Egypt, HAMAS in Palestine and mujahideen groups in Afghanistan.

Dr Hirst openly acknowledges that he is a supporter of the radical Marxist grouping, the International Socialist Tendency.

The IST's links with the Muslim Brotherhood are well known and documented.

I quote from British Trotskyist Blog Lenin's Tomb, reporting on a 2006 conference in Cairo attended by John Rees, George Galloway, assorted Muslim militants and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

These conferences are annual events and have been attended for several years by leaders of Dr Hirst's IST.

Note that John Rees is head of the British Socialist Workers Party, which leads the IST. George Galloway is a RESPECT MP in the British Parliament. RESPECT is led by the SWP and several radical British Muslims.

Galloway was brought to NZ recently by Dr Hirst's friends in the local IST affiliate, Socialist Worker to warn us against the dangers of Islamophobia.

The Cairo Conference: a wonderful vibrant and hectic event... Four years ago both John Rees and George Galloway were invited to speak in conferences in Cairo at the same time. They managed to pull the two together (from London!) and the birth of the Cairo Conference - a meeting of activists from the secular and Muslim worlds - took place.

The speakers list was A List, leaders of Islamic movements, trade unions, and political groups, MPs from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt - oh and Britain. And international antiwar activists from UK, Denmark, Korea and Canada.

After an all-too-large helping of Islamic radicalism, the interesting speakers for this blog were, unsurprisingly John Rees and George Galloway.

John Rees issued a call for unity. "We are here because we are all here. The Muslims, the Nasserites, the socialists and the communists and other nationalists and those who fit into none of those categories. This unity allows this conference to happen." He went down a storm.

Galloway was in excellent form. Not pandering to some opf the more 2 deminsional rhetoric of the local speakers. He welcomed he election of Hamas but pointed out
"You can't have a free Palestine without Hamas, but you can't have a free Palestine with only Hamas".

He noted that there are non-corrupt people in the PLO and Fateh, and called for uniting with those and getting a broad and radical front against Israel.

Hamas' Information Minister was uncompromising in his attitude to Israel, stating repeatedly they will not recognise the occupying forces of the state of Israel.

The Iraqi delegation was notable by its absence, unable to obtain documentation from the Egyptian authorities to enter the country. We were handed a letter from the Wahaj El Iraq (Patriotic Forces Rejecting the Occupation) Command: "We received with great pleasure & gratitude your invitation to attend your respectable conference, but we were surprised by a lot of security complications and requirements in order to get the visa... Which represent a kind of disapproval (in a diplomatic way)."

The Cairo conference is now being run in conjunction with the Cairo Social Forum... We've discussed everything from peasant politics and problems to 'Arab Communities Abroad'. 'Art, Power and Resistance', 'The Myths of Zionism' and 'Different Governments, Same Torture' were all on the agenda.

The Myths of Zionism meeting introduced by John Rose was fantastic, with Muslim Brotherhood members discussing with Jewish people the meaning and intent of Zionism

The movement here is growing in strength, number and confidence. Socialists are now selling papers in public after being underground for many years (the second edition of Socialist Worker's sister paper had amazing sales), many present had been imprisoned and some tortured for doing what happens in the UK as a matter of course.

The election of the Muslim Brotherhood MPs last year has opened up space for organising and activity. The Cairo Conference is a place where dissenting voices from Egypt and around the world gather to organise and debate. We are seeing a new era in the resistance in Egypt.


5th Cairo conference March 2007


IST and SWP's John Rees at 2007 conference


SWP's Alex Callanicos at 2007 conference

But surely Dr Hirst, holding the responsible position he does would be at pains to distance himself from such radical views?

In January 2006 Australia's B'nai Brith Anti Defamation Commission published a report by Monash University academic Dr Philip Mendes

"Special Report 31 discusses the phenomenon of an anti-Zionism beyond rational debate. While this is a universal trend, our Report’s author Dr Philip Mendes examines exponents of this viewpoint from the Australian Left."

According to Dr Mendes;

In late 2004, two Queensland journalists, Martin Hirst and Robert Schutze, penned an attack on the conservative foreign editor of the Australian newspaper, Greg Sheridan.

The purpose of the attack was to discredit Sheridan’s views on the Iraq war, and the associated war on terror. In the middle of this hyperbolic critique, the authors offered the following:

- Israel was guilty of “war crimes by assassinating Palestinian religious and political leaders”
- “Sheridan parrots the absurdity that Israel is the only democracy in the region”
- “Where is the democracy in Israel? On the one hand, Iraq was a dictatorship with limited electoral participation under Saddam Hussein. Compare this with Israel which has a limited parliamentary system under the effective dictatorship of Ariel Sharon. People are regularly beaten, tortured and killed to maintain the Zionist regime.

In reading the article quoted, I picked out this gem from Hirst and Schutze;

Despite Sheridan’s protestations that the ‘war on terror’ is not a war against Islam or a clash of civilizations , his columns in recent years have repeatedly cast the world withina frame of good and evil.

On one level, this reflects the pervasiveness of a post-Cold War terrorism news frame in contemporary mainstream media reporting.

In its moral simplicity, this interpretive prism is reminiscent of the old Cold War news frame, which dramatized superpower rivalries and pitted East against West, or capitalism againstcommunism.

With the ‘reds’ somehow purged from under the bed, bomb-wielding Islamic fundamentalists have emerged as the new scourge of the modern world


Further clues to Dr hirst's views come from Australian writer Darlene Taylor's review of Andrew Bolt's "Still Not Sorry" at Online Opinion Australia's eJournal of Social and Political Debate

At a forum at the Woodford Folk Festival last December, Dr Martin Hirst revealed himself to be a strident critic of the Iraq War.

Not content to simply oppose the conflict, Hirst declared himself to be on the side of the insurgents. I was reminded of the gruff revolutionary, who managed to upset a few of the pacifists present, when perusing Andrew Bolt’s still not sorry. After all, the book contains many references to Hirst’s ideological comrades such as John Pilger.

Still Not Sorry is a collection of some of Bolt’s Herald Sun articles from the past seven years or so. The volume is arranged thematically, with topics including the environment, Islam, the “stolen generation”, the grants industry and the unweaned arts community possessing sections of their own.

The premise that this nation is usually united, bar the divide “elites” have constructed between themselves and ordinary people, dominates the book, as does the notion that these “elites” (actors and activists and so on) haven’t learned a thing from “failures” like the Republican referendum and the electoral successes of John Howard.

A radical like Hirst epitomises this reality with his declaration that it’d be sad if our service personnel died in Iraq but … well, it wasn’t hard to deduce the rest. How does anyone think they’re going to win over the general public voicing such opinions?

On the comments section on my recent profile of Dr Hirst, he stated;

I'm also disappointed that Mr Louden failed to uncover my alleged anti-semitism. And no, I'm not an anti-semite, but I am an anti-imperialist and therefore against the state of Israel - I am an anti-Zionist. Zionism is the political expression of Israeli expansionism and military power in the middle east.

Oh and before you go off chasing more rabbits down burrows, I do not support terrorism, particularly state terrorism.

Clearly Dr Hirst's views are similar to those of the IST.

In my opinion those views are extreme to say the least.

Dr Hirst has openly stated that he believes in the overthrow of the state "by force if necessary."

He has openly called into question the virtue of journalistic objectivity.

Dr Hirst's comrades in the IST are openly aligned with some of the most militant and violent extremists on the planet.

Is Dr Hirst the right man to guide, train and presumably pass or fail New Zealand's future journalists?

What do you think?

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 9

In late 1988, senior secret Philippines Communist Party member, Joy Balazo visited New Zealand.


Balazo represented "Delta" the Communist Party of Philippines's International Department.

Ostensibly she was here to drum up support for the Philippines anti-US bases movement, but much of her time was spent laising with local communist organisations.

Parties she talked with included the Workers Communist League, Communist Party of New Zealand, Socialist Unity Party, Prepatory Committee for the Formation of a Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), the Revolutionary Communist League and the Labour Party.

Later Balazo's report to her Party seniors was captured in an Armed Forces Philippines raid on a Communist Party safehouse.

Below is a copy of the section of her report dealing with her meetings with officials of the NZ Labour Party.

Balazo was travelling under the cover of a church organisation, the Ecumenical Partnership for International Concern (EPIC), so the officials she met may have unaware of her Communist Party membership.

The report does highlight however just how close Balazo's sponsors, the Workers Communist League, were to senior Labour figures at the time.

I have added comments for clarification.

Delta Meetings.

1. Labour Party

a. Meeting with President (RD) (Ruth Dyson, New Zeal), Gen Sec [Tony Timms, New Zeal) and one organiser from Wgtn.

1. Questions about delta program, specifically about the DCG, foreign relations, Delta's agenda in NZ.

2. Expressed gratitude for the meeting.
- No inside information about Delta.
- Heard Delta viewpoint.
- Common issues, anti- nuke.

3. Agreements:
- exchange of publications/addresses
- regular update c/0 SS (Workers Communist League) (SS was probably Workers Communist League member Sandy Smith, New Zeal) and PSN (Philippines Solidarity Network, New Zeal) every two months (in the absence of Delta rep in NZ).
- Possible funding for women's center. Increasing number of MOBS (Mail Order brides, New zeal) in NZ, they expressed concern over the problems being faced by the MOBs.
- Solicited our suggestions re possible resolutions about the Phils in the next LP Congress.

b. Meeting with electorate secretary of the Foreign Minister.
- Delta situation/program
- Delta's agenda in NZ
- Close associate of some Workers Communist League members
- Promised to discuss with the Foreign Minister re our meeting.

c. Meeting with FW (Associate Foreign Minister) (Fran Wilde, New Zeal) did not push thru because no other CP member was available to attend the meeting. She was not prepared to meet me as a govt minister. She was a former CORSO worker and an associate of some Workers Communist League members.

Note: Workers Communist League has good relations with some Cabinet Ministers and LP leaders/members.

Unfortunately Balazo did not say which Labour Cabinet Ministers enjoyed "good relations" with the Workers Communist League, though it is not hard to guess who some of them were.

Several Cabinet Ministers at the time and since are known to have had extensive Maoist links in their student days and beyond. Several of them, including some regarded as moderates are still in Cabinet today.

Part 8 Here

Part 10 Here

Communist Cut-Out Conyers, Backs Obama

I have contended for some time that the Communist Party USA has a favoured candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.


While the CPUSA has yet to openly favour any of the top four contenders-Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Richards, all their hints to the Party faithful point in Barack Obama's direction.

Openly far left Democratic contender Dennis Kucinich, will be backed by the CPUSA, as a lightning rod for the left. He will then stands aside, then CPUSA support will shift to one of the top four.

I think that unless Clinton moves too far ahead, that CPUSA controlled unions and pressure groups will shift support to Obama, at Kucinich's urging.


Congressional patriarch, John Conyers is (with Kucinich), the CPUSA's best friend in Congress. He is also the champion of the CPUSA backed universal healthcare bill,H.R. 676.

Read the two following reports and note the pattern. This is how the CPUSA gets what it wants in Congress, without ever having to earn a single vote from the public.

The process is simple. Get your friends in Congress to propose bills the CPUSA wants passed. Also get those friends to support and endorse those candidates you view as sympathetic to your cause.

Conyers and Kucinich, Lee, Rangel and others dominate the Congressional Progressive Caucus and he Congressional Black Caucus (which means well over a third of Congress) and important party lobby groups such as Progressive Democrats of America.

They can therefore weild huge influence on which Bills are supported in Congress and which sympathetic candidates get the support that counts.

From Blackamericaweb.com
Obama's announcement was a pivotal moment in our time, with many blacks saying they never thought they'd live to see a serious candidate of color run for president of the United States.

"I don't believe anyone can doubt his intellectual ability to become president," Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) told BlackAmericaWeb.com Saturday. "I think he can attract people across the color line, and I think he can attract African-Americans, even though polls suggest that he doesn't have the pull in his own ranks as Hillary Clinton does."

Conyers said Obama approached him last month about his interest in the White House, and the veteran congressman from Detroit encouraged him to run.

"He's worked closely with Rainbow PUSH and within our community," Conyers said. "He's worked with low-income people and particularly with young men and women. He has a great depth of experience in these areas."

From The Hill

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who has formally backed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is lobbying the 2008 presidential hopeful to back his universal healthcare bill.

In a recent interview, the House Judiciary Committee chairman told The Hill that Obama “is taking a serious look” at H.R. 676, which has 60 cosponsors, including presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

That's how it works readers. That's how a Marxist-Leninist Party of a few thousand members can influence the direction of the most powerful "capitalist" nation on earth.

Email to Dr Hirst

Text of email, just sent to Dr Martin Hirst.

Dear Dr Hirst

I note that in a recent post on your blog Ethical Martini you referred to me as a “neo-nazi goon”. I find the entire phrase insulting and offensive. The “neo-nazi” tag is highly offensive and completely untrue.

If some pimply youth had written this I would probably ignore it.

However you are an experienced journalist and university lecturer and a well known media commentator.

Therefore your word has more credibility so an untruth written by you is potentially far more damaging.

Consequently I demand that you remove the offending phrase from your blog and replace it with a retraction and apology immediately.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours Faithfully

Trevor Loudon

Dr Hirst's Slur Against Loudon Challenged

When AUT media studies lecturer Martin Hirst labelled me a "neo-nazi goon" I was aghast that a man in his position could be so irresponsible.

Over the weekend I've mulled it over and reached a conclusion.

If I do not challenge this untruth, it will circulate around the blogosphere and may be used against me at some time in the future.

Worse, it could be used to slander other libertarians, anti-communists or ACT Party members.

Therefore I have a responsibility to take Dr Hirst to task over his untrue accusation against me.

Though I have considerable political differences with Dr Hirst, I will treat him as the gentleman he no doubt is.

My profile of Dr Hirst probably came as a bit of a shock, causing him to write in haste, something he may now regret.

As a first step I have therefore decided to email Dr Hirst asking for a retraction of the offending "neo-nazi" phrase, its deletion from his blog and an apology to me posted in its place.

I will then post that apology on my blog, so that the untruth of Dr Hirst's accusation will be apparent to all.

I will keep readers updated as to progress.

China Seeks "Cooperation" With Asian "Media Managers"

From the Communist Party of China website

Senior Chinese leader Li Changchun on Thursday called for more cooperation among Asian media to better deliver the "voice of Asia" throughout the world.

"China hopes to improve the cooperation with Asian media groups and increase the voice of Asia in the international community," said Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, in a meeting with media representatives from ten ASEAN members, and Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK).

China would adhere to its policy of peaceful development, Li said, noting that China appreciates the 10+3 media groups to expand exchanges and cooperation with China to contribute to the establishment of a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious East Asia, Li said.

The 10+3 group comprises the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and the ROK.

The 10+3 media managers were here to attend the first 10+3 Media Cooperation Forum held from Aug. 21 to 23.

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.

Martin Hirst On Trotsky, Orwell, Neo-Nazis, Far-Right Goons and Yours Truly

AUT journalism academic, Martin Hirst has been posting about my posts on him at his blog Ethical Martini;

Check this one out here

A few posts ago I mentioned the Journalism Matters conference recently held in Wellington and the response from the Dominion Post/Press [Christchurch] columnist Karl Du Fresne. My response was published today in The Press. It is this that led Trevor Louden to me and the blog he loaded up earlier today too (linked in an earlier post here).

If Louden's ignorant slather is supposed to shut me up, or intimidate me (which is how these thugs work), he needs to know that I am not afraid. In fact, it's interesting that what I wrote has caused him to froth at the mouth. Du Fresne had a similar reaction during our initial meeting in Wellington.

Why are these conservative types so scared of Marxists like me? Is it because I have a reputation for sneaking into homes and eating children? I don't think so. Rather, it's because they can't address or refute the logic of materialism, and so they have to get down and dirty -- attack rants are easier to digest than formal, considered arguments.

This one here

Well, I've been outed! Some neo-nazi goon has me lined up in his beady little eyes (see picture)


this is him in his own words:

Trevor Loudon
About Me
I'm a libertarian and ACT Party member from Christchurch. I believe in freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. My ideal society is one in which government is slashed to the bone and people are free to reach their potential. To achieve more freedom I believe in working with all those who are moving in broadly the same direction. The views expressed in this Blog are strictly my own


Why do these people insist on using the word "libertarian" to describe their politics. They don't actually believe in liberty at all. The idea that you can "slash government to the bone" and leave people free to "reach their potential" in a global capitalist economy is just fairytale rubbish.

Libertarians are to politics what the flat-earth crowd are to science.

This one here

This is an interesting rant from some far-right goons in GodZone, I feel like I've arrived on fucking Mars! Not really, as my mate Helen pointed out. It's not a bad place at all. Just got the same quota of loony-tunes as any where else really.

If you bother to read the thread I've linked to you'll see that the rampant revisionism of the right regarding Orwell is in full swing. In fact Orwell was basically a Trot. If you read Goldstein's "The Principles of Oligarchical Collectivism" in the centre pages of Nineteen Eighty-four, you'll clearly see that he was elucidating a theory of state capitalism.

Good to see our journalistic standards are in safe hands.

Keep digging Dr Hirst. Remember Paul Buchanan.

Doctor Hirst-Come Pyongyang. Weal Soon-Kimmy

I just had to post this comment from the Martin Hirst thread.

Dear Doctor Hirst:

I inwite you as president of Democwatic People's Wepublic of Korea come Pyongyang for talk about journalist training.

You wight man. We open country up slowly. We want many new newspaper where reporters and clerks jump weal high when Kim Jong say jump. We no want reporters who wite what happen. We want they wite what we all want to be like and twy to change to that.

But you forget Trotsky bull first. Juche only way. You adopt easy. Big socialist. We weal socialist. Trotsky picky. In head picky. Ha ha.

Wing me in Pyongyang. Cowwect call.

Kimmy

Kim Jong II. (You call me Kimmy).

Ask for Pyongyang exchange. Talk English okay.

Fisking Drs Hirst and Harrison

My profile of "Trotskyist" AUT Journalism lecturer Martin Hirst has provoked responses from the good doctor himself and his former colleague and co-author, Dr John Harrison of the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland.

Both raised some interesting points that I would like to comment on.

Dr Hirst


I for one don't think North Korea's socialist, but you guys would have just glazed over that part of my piece in today's Press because it means I don't fit your stupid stereotype of what a communist should be.

As for Orwell, you should read John Newsinger's great book "Orwell's Socialism" and also what he himself wrote about politics until his death.

He was a socialist till the day he died.

The fact that the Stalinists in Spain wanted him dead and that he supported the Marxist POUM organisation while he was there and that he writes in 1984, "if there's any hope at all it lies with the proles" should give even the thickest of you a brief insight.

Stop trying to claim Orwell as an anti-communist and as one of your own, people like you made Orwell sick, in fact he would have despised the lot of you, you can't win that one.

New Zeal Its hard to take you seriously Dr Hirst, when your sentences are peppered with abusive terms.

George Orwell was indeed a socialist, but there is no doubt that in his latter years he was a staunch anti-communist. He has been condemned by many on the left for supplying the British government with the names of those he considered would be security risks in the event of an outbreak of war with the Soviet Union.

Dr Harrison


As a person who knows Martin Hirst well, and who has worked with him in higher education, over a number of years, I find your portrayal of him as a wicked Trot set to bring NZ to its knees, quite incredible. That is, lacking in credibity.

New Zeal When did I say any such thing?

That a Member of Parliament would use their position to make an ad hominem attack on an academic who is held in high esteem, is nothing short of a disgrace.

New Zeal I'm not, nor have been, or claimed to have been an MP. An easily checkable fact I would have thought.

Talk about a gratuitous insult!

Dr Hirst is well known in this country (Australia) for his thoughtful and forthright contributions to the debate about journalism, its ethics, its standards, and its future, and is published by leading publishers such as Oxford University Press. He is also a caring, compassionate and considerate human being, who makes higher education a transformative experience for his students.

New Zeal That's wonderful. It is Dr Hirst's warped political ideas and journalistic philosophy that are at issue, not his teaching ability or personal qualities. Please stay on topic.

I look forward to some genuine debate on the issues, not personal vitriol poured the petrol can of anonymity. Indeed, I would challenge the owner of this blog to only post replies from those with the courage to identify themselves.

And for the record, I'm not a Marxist, Trot, Maoist, or fellow traveller, but a hard nosed Presbyterian Calvinist from rural Queensland.

New Zeal You have also written a history of the extreme left wing Uniting Church of Australia. Care to elaborate on that fact?

A basic inability to check facts and groundless accusations of "ad hominenism" hardly inspire confidence in your abilities as a journalism lecturer, or as a character witness for Dr Hirst, Dr Harrison.

Dr Hirst

Comrades, this has gone on long enough. Most of you are not prepared to identify yourselves - I'm assuming that Mr Louden is in fact the only one infesting this thread and that he's reposting his own comments anonymously to keep the thread alive and improve his "hit" count.

New Zeal Not true, Dr Hirst-a little "ad hominen" don't you think? Would you approve of your students making untrue accusations about those they disagree with?

I am not technically a "Trotksyist", though I'm sure the finer points of socialist theory are lost on most of you blinkered nubbins. I do, however, subscribe to a number of trotskyite positions. For example the concept of permanent revolution (which you should look up in a reputable source before frothing at the mouth).

New Zeal A little disingenuous Dr Harrison. While the tendency you support is no longer completely Trotskyist, it did spring from that tradition. You allegedly claim to have been the only Trotskyist working in the Australian Parliamentary press gallery.

When did you stop being a "technical" Trotskyist and became whatever variety of Marxist you are now?

Permanent Revolution is the idea that revolutionaries should not hesitate to fan insurrection on a global scale. Maoists and Stalinists believe in consolidating socialism in one country before moving onto the next.

Trotskyist want to spread revolution accross the globe as quickly as possible.

Glad to hear you're so moderate Dr Hirst.

I am a supporter of the international socialist tendency (though not a member of any grouping - again this is for the record so you gumnuts don't get in a lather about it).

New Zeal This confirms my thesis that you are aligned with, though not necessarily a member of, the Australian International Socialists, the British Socialist Workers Party and NZ's own Socialist Worker.

Thanks for that.

What does this mean? It means I dont now and never have supported the state capitalist regimes in the former USSR, Hungary, Albania, North Korea, China, Cuba etc. So you can stop right now insulting my intelligence and historical fact by making out that I'm some kind of Stalinist monster.

New Zeal I never said you were Dr Hirst. However, sections of the the IST, particularly NZ Socialist Worker are highly supportive of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution, which in turn is very close to the tyrannies of Cuba, Iran, Belorussia and even Zimbabwe.

Your friends friends are not very savoury Dr Hirst.

I also note that in recent years the British SWP has moved closer to the traditional communist movement-sending delegates to the French Communist Party's L'Humanite festival for example.

I also note that the SWP and other IST comrades have close ties to the Islamo-Marxist Muslim Brotherhood. Again nice friends your friends have, Dr Hirst.

I subscribe to the theory of "socialism from below". That is I do not believe in the imposition of political orthodoxy on anyone - not even foolish drubbers who don't know any better. It also means that, unlike those who claim to be "libertarian" and in favour of "liberty", I actually believe in the ultimate freedom of individuals to pursue a life of happiness, health and liberty.

New Zeal No doubt you do Dr Hirst. Like most socialists you're probably very well meaning.

That, unfortunately doesn't stop your ideas from being highly destructive and dangerous to your fellow human beings, however.

I'm sure other socialists lke Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Castro and Pol Pot were nice blokes before they gained power, too.

the power of the working class, not a small bunch of hardcore "revolutionaries" will ultimately determine the fate of the world. That is if we can stop your heroes, such as George Bush, from destroying it first with their oil wars and nukiller devices.

New Zeal Bit of an assumption about my correspondents love of George Bush there. Would you approve or students making such lazy assumptions?

I believe in freedom of association and freedom of religion, though, yes, I am an aetheist and think that belief in any form of "god" is plainly stupid.

I'm also disappointed that Mr Louden failed to uncover my alleged anti-semitism. And no, I'm not an anti-semite, but I am an anti-imperialist and therefore against the state of Israel - I am an anti-Zionist. Zionism is the political expression of Israeli expansionism and military power in the middle east.

Oh and before you go off chasing more rabbits down burrows, I do not support terrorism, particularly state terrorism.

New Zeal Thanks for that, Dr Hirst

I believe in the overthrow of capitalism through the conscious political organisation of the working class. With armed force if necessary.

This does not mean that I rush off to the Waikato to do small arms training each weekend. Though regular readers of this particular blog may well be "survivalist" anti-government types I want to make it clear WE HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON.
I'll leave you to your dribblings now. I have better things to do.

New Zeal Finally the truth-"with armed force if necessary". With that admission, you would be denied entry to the USA, Dr Hirst.

I wonder how many readers think that that admission should bar you from entry to this country?

To be blunt-I do.

Nothing personal, Dr Hirst, you're probably a nice bloke and a competent teacher-perhaps too competent.

The trouble is that I don't want to pay you to teach New Zealand journalists how to to their job.

I don't want a Marxist who believes in violent revolution and using journalism to effect social change-and who does not believe in the concept of journalistic objectivity-teaching in a New Zealand (or any other) university.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

You believe that it permissible, even desirable to forcibly overthrow the state that pays your salary. I seriously question the ethics of that position.

Drs Hirst and Harrison, If you think I have misrepresented your positions in any way, or would like to clarify or dispute any points you may have the right of reply.

Val Morse-Arrogant, Agressive, Anti-American, Auckland/American, Anarchist Author and Anti Automobile Activist

No peace/anti-war, animal rights/anti GE, anti automobile demo in Wellington would be complete without Valerie Morse.


With her trademark blonde hair and booming American accent, Val Morse seems never to miss a rally or a riot.


She has protested nude in the grounds of Parliament, against the Iraq War, the NZ military, GE, the WTO, the Destiny Church and automobiles.

Many are fooled by her accent into believing her an American. Apparently Valerie Morse was born in Auckland, but did spend many years in the US.

By the early '00s she was back in New Zealand, working at Archives NZ in Wellington.

By 2003, Morse was working with the Green Party and becoming highly visible in the anti-Iraq War movement.

In March that year she spoke at a Victoria University IGM against Iraq war, saying that US, British and Australian interests should be targeted.

The same year she was awarded a government grant of $7,500 towards a Masters thesis on “Nuclear Insecurity:The Future of NZ/USA Relations And The Promotion Of Nuclear-free Policies."

In recent years most of Morse's protest activity has been through Peace Action Wellington, a motley alliance of Socialist Workers, anarchists, Greens and independent leftist activists.

In 2006 participated in a leftist dominated "human rights festival" in Wellington and was described on its website as;

"a Wellington based peace activist, American dissident andanarchist. She is a member of Peace Action Wellington and works to mobilise resistance to the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on wider issues relating to New Zealand's militarisation and weapons production".

Apparently Morse is not very consistent in her anti-violence message.

In November, 2006, after leftist inspired rioters burned central Nuku'alofa to the ground, Peace Action Wellington opposed the deployment of NZ soldiers and police to Tonga to help restore order.

At a 20th November protest outside the New Zealand Defence Headquarters in Stout Street, Wellington, Morse told the assembled crowd;

"These troops are serving the interests of the feudal class in Tonga, while crushing people's desire for change. We stand in solidarity with the people's resistance in Tonga and support them in their struggle for self determination."

On 26 April this year, More addressed an ANZAC Day protest in Wellington.

According to a Peace Action Wellington press release;

ANZAC Day Protest - Lest we forget: already forgotten
Members of Peace Action Wellington (PAW) demonstrated at the Wellington ANZAC Day dawn service this morning, displaying banners that said "Lest We Forget: Already Forgotten – Afghanistan, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste" and "Conscientious Objectors: the real war heroes."

"ANZAC Day has ceased to be a day where we commit to 'never again', and has instead become nothing less than a celebration of the New Zealand military and the glorification of war," said Valerie Morse, Peace Action Wellington member.

"Lest we forget that the New Zealand military is currently engaged in combat in Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. Lest we forget that the New Zealand military is currently deployed in 18 different missions around the world."
"Lest we forget that the military has, and always will, exist for the sole purpose of waging war," said Valerie Morse.

This morning's demonstration also marks the launch of Peace Action Wellington's 'NZ Troops Out Now' campaign. For further information about the campaign, go to www.nztroopsoutnow.org

"Peace Action Wellington demands the immediate withdrawal of all New Zealand troops and the cessation of all military training and joint exercises with other armies," concluded Valerie Morse.

That day Morse was also arrested for trying to burn the NZ flag.

More recently, Valerie Morse ha become a published author.


Published by Rebel Press, Morse's "Against Freedom"-(no not her political autobiography) is an expose of US trickery and deception over the Iraq War.

From a press release from the anarchist outfit, Katipo Books;

In 2001, the United States launched the 'war on terrorism' in purported response to the September 11th attacks. With hasty process, the New Zealand government quickly signed up. But what is this war really about? The agenda of the 'war on terrorism' is very different to the propaganda we are being sold by politicians and the mass media. It is an agenda of domination and control over our lives and the extension of state and corporate power.

Against Freedom, written by Valerie Morse, details the agenda against freedom, from the legislative changes since 9/11 to the suppression of dissent and the media manipulation of public understanding, in order to provide an alternative view of what is happening and what can be done to stop the war.

Well Val, I have to say that I admire your energy and if you ever overcome your arrogance and discover what real freedom is, you might become a great asset to the cause.

S.A.P. 17 Dr Martin Hirst

My latest Socialist Academic Profile looks at Auckland University of Technology School of Communication Studies curriculum leader, Dr Martin Hirst.



According to the AUT website;

Dr Hirst joined the School of Communication Studies at AUT University in January 2007, after a 12 year teaching and research career in Australian journalism education. He has an extensive background in academic research in journalism and communication/media studies and is the co-author of three books: Look both ways: Fairfield, Cabramatta and the media (2001, with Antonio Castillo), Journalism Ethics: Arguments and Cases (2005, with Roger Patching) and Communications and New Media: Broadcast to narrowcast (2007, with John Harrison).

Sounds impressive. A very experienced man for a very influential position. Dr Hirst will be influencing the course content for hundreds of NZ's student journalists. He will be in a position to influence the way they think and most importantly, how they write.

One experienced journalist, the Dominion Post's Karl Du Fresne is not quite so impressed with the good doctor.

Writing in the Dominion Post du fresne discusses a recent journalism seminar he attended;

Cleverly titled Journalism Matters, the seminar in Parliament's Grand Hall had the declared aim of promoting "quality journalism". It mixed a recitation of age-old union gripes - such as claims of understaffing and low pay - with debate over broader philosophical questions about where journalism is heading.

While the roster of speakers reflected an unmistakably left-wing agenda, the seminar attracted a handful of executives from the two big newspaper groups, Fairfax Media and APN, and covered some issues that transcended industrial politics, such as the threat to traditional mainstream news media from competitive pressures unforeseen a few years ago...

The political theme continued throughout the seminar, perhaps reaching its low point when the curriculum leader in journalism at the Auckland University of Technology, self-proclaimed socialist Martin Hirst, declared that journalism was not about reporting the world, but about changing the world.

This highly politicised interpretation of journalism, which sees journalists not as reporters trying impartially to cover matters of public interest but as agents of political change, is now so entrenched in some journalism schools that it barely raised an eyebrow.

That criticism has led to a media spat between Du Fresne and Hirst and some rather incredible statements by the latter.

I quote from today's Christchurch Press;

First Hirst praises leftist journalist John Pilger

John Pilger’s crusading work over many years is another example of what I describe as the journalism of engagement.

Then he attacks the virtue of journalistic objectivity;

Objectivity as a principle of journalism is no longer the holy grail. The fact that some jornalism editors are prepared to say so and put such ideas in front of their students is just a recognition of this idea. In the respected Columbia Journalism Review, Brent Cunningham has written a thoughtful piece called “Rethinking Objectivity”. He makes the point that often it is an excuse for lazy journalism and that it forces reporters to rely on official sources. He also argues that it allows the news agenda to be captured by the “spin doctors”...

Then he discusses his socialist views;

My politics are in the tradition of international socialism...I don't believe for a minute that the charade of democracy practised in the free market west is the be all and end all of human political development.

Well just how "socialist is Dr Hirst.

I can report that Dr Hirst joined a small Trotskyist sect while at university in Sydney in 1975.

I can also report that he remains a Trotskyist to this day.

Dr Hirst is listed as a contributor to the Australian Trotskyist website Marxist Interventions, where he is described thus;

Martin Hirst has been active in socialist politics since 1975 and claims to have been the only Trotskyist to ever work in the federal press gallery as a journalist

The bulk of the sites other contributors are members of the Australian International Socialist Organisation or its recent splinter group, Socialist Alternative.

ISO is part of the International Socialist Tendency, which is led by the British Socialist Workers Party.

ISO is therefore, technically the sister party of NZ's Socialist Worker.

You'd therefore expect that Dr Hirst might have made contact with Socialist Worker since arriving in NZ.

I quote from the comments section of Australian blog Intercontinental Cry;

just a quick line to let you know there was a very militant occupation of the Australian Consulate in Auckland this evening against the invasion of Aboriginal lands and in solidarity with our black brothers and sisters facing John Howard’s racist attacks...

Kia kaha
Joe Carolan
Socialist Worker, Aotearoa

very good speeches from all the groups in support-
Julia and Joe from Socialist Worker, Martin Hirst, Lecturer in Media studies at AUT, Jared from Workers Party, Jim Gladwin from Citizens against Privatisation, and statement read out from Kulin Nations and Aboriginal declaration of sovereignty’ by UNITY editor Daph Lawless in Consulate occupation that broke through police lines.

So there you have it.

Your taxes are paying a lifelong Trotskyist, who does not believe in objective journalism, to design curricula, to teach future Kiwi journalists how to work for "social change".

Am I being fair to Dr Hirst here? Or am I being too "objective"?

You judge, dear reader. Its your world this man wants to change.

Rodney's Christchurch Book Launch-Be There

All ACT supporters are invited to attend the Christchurch launch of Rodney Hide's


My Year of Living Dangerously

at: FAT EDDIES

Unit 10 , SOL Square

179 Tuam Street-entrance off Lichfield, on right just before Manchester St corner.

Monday 27 August, 6.00 - 9:00 pm

rsvp to Priscilla Tate: rodney@epsom.org.nz

Come and hear NZ's most entertaining speaker talk about his self improvement odyssey and his future plans for ACT and New Zealand.

Oh the Irony-Bassett's Books Bankroll Bolshevism!

Auckland historian and commentator, Michael Bassett, is one of the "good guys" to come out of the left of the Labour Party.


Like several of his Labour Cabinet colleagues, Bassett became a supporter of Finance Minister Roger Douglas's economic policies and went on to become a firm advocate of freedom.

Now in an ironic twist, the Trotskyist comrades from Socialist Worker are selling some Marxist literature once owned by Bassett (complete with youthful scribblings) to raise money for their front newspaper, Workers Charter-edited BTW by John Minto.

Here's the story

BASSETT! TROTSKY!

From the personal library of the Hon Michael Bassett, Labour cabinet member and historian, lefty in the swinging sixties when he wrote his PhD thesis on the American Socialist Party and was active in the Auckland University Princess St Branch of the Labour Party, eventually a cabinet minister in the notorious 1984-1990 Lange-Douglas government, and then all the way on his right-wing trajectory into the ACT Party—

the classic three volume Isaac Deutscher Life of Trotsky

(Oxford University Press 1963, hard cover, first edition)

signed and annotated by the young rebel Bassett!

In immaculate condition!

$500!

A historical gem and a fund-raiser for Workers’ Charter!

Help Michael Bassett and Leon Trotsky fund the workers’ paper!

(One for your Uncle Trev, prehaps?!! ; ) )

Contact Workers Charter for details: editor@workerscharter.org.nz

How did SW get these books? Does Michael Bassett know? Would Trotsky approve?

Who the hell is "Uncle Trev"?

Marxist Minto

In the past I've accused Auckland activist and communis....columnist, John Minto of being slightly pink.

Well here's the proof (if any was needed), in his own words, that comrade Minto is actually a rampant, raving red!

From the Socialist Worker Blog

Earlier this year the Ministry of Defence in Britain produced a report looking ahead at future threats to Britain. They talk about the growing divide between rich and poor exacerbated by climate change and the possibility of the resurgence of Marxism. They conclude that one of the main threats that Britain needs to be protected from is in fact majority of the world’s population, the poor – including the majority in Britain itself! (Ponder what that says about democracy)

We are all good at sniping at capitalism – I do so myself frequently – but sniping will change nothing. It helps keep alternative ideas alive but what is needed for change is organisation with an unrestricted view forward.

Part of this is to push marxism and socialism back into the mainstream of public discussion in New Zealand. Marx had a very clear understanding and analysis of the structure of society under capitalism. We have to open up discussion with our fellow New Zealanders about the alternatives to the destructive, unethical and immoral system of capitalism.

Thanks for that, comrade John!

Apprenticeship Issues

Spome commenters on my previous post raised some important questions re NZ's dying apprenticeship system.

Anonymous said...
As we live in a free market system if there was really a massive problem getting skilled employees the employer would just have to raise wages. A private training system could also easily open up or a private apprentice scheme could be started without too much hassle.

That is if the free market is the answer to all our problems.

New Zeal Sadly we do not live in a free market system. We endure a mixed economy with some socialist and some free market elements.

It's true that the price of labour responds to market forces just like the price of tomatoes or houses.

However training skilled labour takes time so there can be a big gap between high labour prices and increased labour supply in a given field.

However, the real problem in NZ is this. We had a very good apprenticeship system for over 100 years. In the early '90s this was almost destroyed in favour of a highly bureaucratic, complicated and expensive "seamless education" system that was based on "unit standards"-just like the trouble ridden NCEA system in high schools.

This virtually destroyed what little was left of the system as tradesmen could no longer be bothered training apprentices.

This led to a 20 year skills gap-there are now very few highly skilled tradesmen under 40. Many older tradesmen have gone into management or left the trade entirely.
Therefore there are too few highly skilled tradesmen left to train even the few apprentices coming through the system.

Good tradesmen are now getting bloody good wages-as they should, but the productive sector is severely retarded because we simply don't have enough of them.

"Unit Standards" must be abolished and the market must be allowed to function before the meagre skills stock we have left is completely lost.

Sam Buchanan said...
While I agree that government bureaucrats seldom do anything right, business also has to take some of the blame.

I started out studyinmg engineering as an NZCE student, whereby I studied at polytech part-time while working in the industry - the certificate required three years of related work in addition to the study. Not long after I finished, the course became full-time only. The rationale being that employers didn't want to give people time off to study, and preferred to hire somebody who had gone off and done the training at their own expense.

Businesses are often quite happy to have the government and individuals - or other businesses - carry the costs of training their staff, believing that they can simply buy the skills as required. Of course, if everyone is doing this, the skills simply won't be there to be bought.

New Zeal Quite right Sam, they won't. This illustrates the dangers of allowing government to become involved in training in the first place. I know that in my own industry, my colleagues were sucked into accepting the "unit standards" system because it was the only way the government would fund training at all. They should have told the government to take a hike and got on with it themselves.

Businessmen can be as shortsighted as anyone else. Let the government take over you responsibilities and they will mess it up. Nothing surer.

I personally think most training should take place on the job, with possibly a small theoretical component contracted out to private training establishments. This should run by the relevant industries-not by the state.

If you are foolishly going to allow the state into industry training, its role should be kept to the absolute minimum.

Anonymous said...
49% of Uni students at Vic uni don't finish their degree in the initial 3-year period.
Gonna whinge about that?

New Zeal Yes I will actually. We now have an apprenticeship system, so bureaucratic that half of trainess never finish their "time".

Meanwhile we have a tertiary education sector, sucking in any semi-literate they can find, to fill seats and guarantee government funding and lecturers jobs.

Who loses? Young people, that's who.

Instead of gaining a meaningful trade that will set them up for life, thousands of young people are wasting their time and accumulating debt, doing near useless university or polytech courses or being scammed by dodgy private "training providers".

In most of Europe, nearly all non university bound youngsters, undertake apprenticeships or similar training.

To be blunt, I would like to see university student numbers halved and apprenticeships and cadetships quintupled.

I would like to see 80% of school leavers in trade training or studying nursing, primary teaching, journalism, accountancy, IT etc etc etc ON THE JOB.

I would rather see 5,000 university lecturers flipping burgers at McDonalds, than hundreds of thousands of youngsters denied the opportunity to acquire something of real value-a trade.

Maybe I'm a bit soft, but it makes me sick to my guts, to see the huge waste of young lives in this country, in order to benefit bludging bureacrats, up themselves academics and mercenary "training providers."

Fuck 'em I say. Put the kids first.

Apprenticeship System Buggered by Bureaucrats

This week I've been working alongside two apprentices. One is the the 5th year of his 3 year apprenticeship, the other is in her 7th.

Our tiny apprenticeship system is in very bad shape. Over-bureaucratised and burdened with the loathsome, inefficient and useless "unit standards" system, employers are simply opting out.

No matter how much money the government pumps into apprenticeships, it will fail, because our once simple and effective system has been buggered by the bureaucrats.

Peter Cresswell at Not PC nails it;

Tradesmen are the workers of the world. Successful tradesmen are the lifeblood of an industrial economy; their intelligent labours make possible the production and infrastructure without which there is no industrial economy.

New Zealand has too few tradesmen, too few apprentices and the number is getting fewer. Traditional apprenticeships were killed off by the so called "seamless education" promoted by Lockwood Smith's NCEA, and Labour's so called "Modern Apprenticeships" have signally failed to fulfil the headline promises of posturing politicians.

Last year it was revealed for example that only 11 percent of the students who passed their National Certificate in Politically Correct Plumbing managed to subsequently pass a genuinely testing examination that was set by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board.

And this morning's Press reveals [hat tip Whale Oil] that even those students who start these "Modern Apprenticeships" are mostly failing to finish.
Figures made public suggest [only] 46 per cent of those enrolled in 2001 and 2002 completed their training in the expected four years.

A calculation that's beyond most NCEA graduates reveals that 54 percent of those starting these apprenticeships failed to finish. That's pathetic. "More than $100 million has been committed to [Labour's "Modern Apprencticeship" scheme] since its launch in 2000," yet "as at December 31, [only] 9466 active modern apprentices were in training," and barely 3000 had completed their training.

That really is pathetic. Unemployment among sixteen- to seventeen-year-olds is at fourteen percent; loads of youngsters are heading off to uni to get degrees in "visual communications design," "contemporary cultural studies," and "critical education theory." Meanwhile, the country's employers are crying out for skilled tradesmen. Has anyone idea where they're going to come from, or how it's possible to interest youngsters in learning about good tradecraft instead of bullshit?

Perhaps it might encourage them if they learned that New Zealand's richest man started out in life as an apprentice panel beater?

See also:

Apprenticeship, the overlooked institution - Trevor Loudon

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 8

The Workers Communist League/ Maoists

Maoist infiltration of the Labour Party began in earnest in the early '70s. Student radicals, associated with the "Progressive Clubs" and "Socialist Societies" active on most campuses, worked with and eventually took over many university Labour Clubs.

In 1972 Peter Franks, a Maoist student leader, later active in the Wellington Marxist-Lennist Organisation and the Workers Communist League presented the Labour Party Youth Conference report, taking the opportunity to mock both Labour Party "conservatives" and his rivals in infiltration, the Socialist Action League; "Most of us at this conference would probably admit to being socialists. We all know, of course, that the Labour Party is as much a socialist party as the Socialist Action League is a revolutionary party; but we still feel that we, at least, are still socialists. And sometimes we sing the Red Flag to prove it."

Maoist fronts like HART and the Committee on Vietnam also attracted many future prominent Labour politicians.

Even the young Maoist radical, Sue Bradford joined Labour for a time in the late '70s.

Wellington student Maoists worked closely with activists such as Pat and Cath Kelly who joined Labour after being expelled from the Communist Party of New Zealand in 1970. Pat Kelly in particular continued to meet secretly with the Wellington Maoists, long after joining Labour.

Influence was also exerted through increasing Maoist influence in Wellington and Auckland trade unions. The Public Service Association , New Zealand's government employees union was a particular target. After the formation of the Workers Communist League in 1980, Maoist influence in and on Labour became more organised.

By the late '80s however Workers Communist League aligned Labourites were becoming increasingly frustrated at Labour's increasingly cosy relationship with their rivals, the Socialist Unity Party and the seemingly unstoppable liberal economic policies of Finance Minister Roger Douglas.

Consequently, the Workers Communist League began attempts to build a left wing electoral alliance independent of the Labour Party.Many informal meetings were held, including in 1986 a series of "Winter Forums". One, held in August in Palmerston North looked at "Alternative Strategies-Political and Economic".

Those attending included members of the Workers Communist League, Socialist Action League, Values Party, Labour Party and some independent left wing activists.

Auckland activist Bruce Jesson (later a key figure in the Alliance and New Labour parties) called for an ecumenical left, reaching into the Labour Party.


Massey University academic and socialist, Steve Maharey (now a senior Labour cabinet minister)allegedly outlined his reasons for working towards socialism inside the Labour Party and told the audience of what he saw as a looming power struggle in the party.

Maharey was probably referring to the struggle against "Rogernomics" and its supporters inside labour which was just getting underway at the time.

According to columnist Chris Trotter, (a former Labour party official, himself close to the WCL in the 1980s in Dunedin) Maharey was. in the late '80s "charged with reconstructing Labours policy base".

Another attempt was made to influence Labour in more desirable direction through a "Broad Left" grouping.


This evolved, in 1987 into the "Economic Policy Network" grouped around former Labour President Jim Anderton and chaired
by Peter Cullen, a Wellington union official and Labour activist long on the fringes of the Maoist left.


In 1989 things finally boiled over and Jim Anderton announced his resignation from the Labour Party and the formation of the "New Labour Party". The Workers Communist League joined the New Labour Party en masse and most sympathetic Labour activists followed suit.

A few highly placed Workers Communist League sympathisers or former Maoists remained in Labour however and their ranks grew as some comrades later joined, or re-joined the party.

Part 7 here

Part 9 here

Kill the Bill

Some photoshop mischief from the inimitable Whaleoil

Workers Party Enters Christchurch Mayoral Race

My old mate Byron is standing for the Christchurch mayoralty.

From Indymedia


The Workers Party is standing retail worker and history student Byron Clark for mayor. "Christchurch is a working class city but the council and mayor don’t represent working class interests. When was the last time one of them was seen on a picket line supporting workers? asks Mr Clark who has been active in helping unionise low-paid workers, in support work for the locked-out distribution workers last year and in campaigning against youth rates.

“I also support low-paid council workers who have had pay rises in recent years that are actually below the rate of inflation and are subjected to restructuring policies which always work against them.” He also wants to address issues of local democracy, citing the closing of Edgeware pool and the recent council decision to build a road through Cashel Mall despite overwhelming opposition.

The Workers Party is currently campaigning to sign up 500 members to contest the party vote in the next general election, and is calling on those who vote for them in this year's local election to become members

At least you know that the Workers Party candidates are communists-unlike those RAM scammers.

Why I'm an ACT Party "League" Fan

Steve Nice Guy from Northland has taken me to task for being a Rugby League fan AND an ACT Party member.

Trev,

Since you're a league fan I'm sorry I'm gonna have to ruin your night with the following:

League was the invention of "industrial union of workers" working class men of Northern England. These men didn't particularly like rugby union. It discriminated against them. It was the pursuit of the poncey, elitist, inbred, toff bastards going right back to Harrow School. "Rugger me Bugger me !"

Who in fairness could blame them for their common sense ?

Canberra Raiders; ever looked at their jerseys ? CFMEU - Construction Forestry Mining & Energy "Union".

Sonny Bill - his granddad an active unionist.

Stacey Jones - Granddad Emery. A wharfie no less. Same.

Bill Andersen, yes, the evil one, president of City-Newton League.

My very own first cuzzie. Amco Cup, Auckland - staunch union family - our granddad a freezing worker and two uncles wharfies in '51. Commie Beasts !

Real men. Not poncey, elitist pricks.

In contrast, NZRU - right up until the 70s - chairman was always a captain of industry - Sullivan (BP Oil), Ces Blazey, that feisty little ("I love South Africa") lace importer, Ron Don. These guys most decidedly weren't commies.

By your definition all these other jokers were - they were serious unionists and therefore they were commies. Where's your profiles on them Trev ?

In conscience I reckon you gotta change codes. If you're gonna stay "true" that is.....

Well Steve my Saturday night WAS ruined. The highly favoured New ZealandWarriors were beaten 24 to 26 by the Aussie union sponsored Canberra Raiders. Now the Warriors will struggle to host a home semi-final.

However Steve, I have to haul you up on a key assumption-that if I support ACT I must be a "Tory" and should support the "establishment" Rugby Union code.

I support League, not because of some socialist idea of class struggle, but because its a faster, harder, more dynamic, more violent and less rule-ridden game than than Union.

I watched my home team Canterbury beat Wellington in NPC Rugby Union last night (while typing away on the computer). It was good, but hardly thrilling.

Then I watched the Warriors go full tit, head to head with the Raiders (and lose) and was on the edge of my seat.

Rugby League, all in all, is a better spectator sport than Rugby Union.


It's "simply the best".

But Steve if you want to mix politics with sport, I've got a good analogy for you.

If Rugby Union is the "establishment" sport-the game of the public schools, the "toffs" and the rich (forgetting the working class origins of most All Blacks for a minute), then League is the game of the "hard working class".

I remeber talking to an Auckland sales rep once, with "Grammar" or "St Kents" written all over him.

He said he was off to play "footie" in the morning-I assumed he meant Union.

No chance. this guy was League player. When I asked him why he said "because League's a rebel game".

That sums it up.

League was born in a Northern working class rebellion against the conservative Southern English Rugby union establishment.

League has struggled against the Union establishment ever since. Sometimes the rivalry has been extremely hostile, sometimes semi-friendly.

League has kept Union on its toes and even forced it to turn professional for fear of losing its senior position to the rebel code.

Steve, doesn't that sound to you like the relationship between the NZ National Party and ACT?

National is the big "establishment" party. Conservative, slow to change, intolerant of fresh ideas-coasting on its momentum.

ACT is the rebel party. ACT doesn't give a stuff for conservatism. ACT is out there making things happen, trying new ideas.

ACT is a rebel, revolutionary party. ACT is smaller than National but it is, member for member, far more energetic, visionary and enthusiastic.

Like League,ACT came from the "working class", especially the "hard working class". ACT was founded by people who despised conservatism, privilege and the "born to rule" mentality. It is still that way.

ACT people are not Tory's, they are Whigs. The are revolutionary liberals who want a fair go for everyone who will get off their arse to make their life better-whether they come from Parnell or Porirua, Avonhead or Aranui.

I'm bloody comfortable being and ACT supporter and League fan Steve.

Perhaps its you who should either change your ideas or your football code?

Russia Resumes Bomber Flights, US Remains in Denial

When is the US going to admit that "Cold War 2" is well underway?

From Novosti


CHEBARKUL (Urals), August 17 President Vladimir Putin said Russia permanently resumed Friday long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft."

The president, speaking on the final day of large-scale military exercises involving Russia, China, and four Central Asian countries in the south Urals, said that on the first day of patrol flights, bomber planes would spend about 20 hours in the air, with midair refueling, and would interact with naval forces.

"Air patrol areas will include zones of commercial shipping and economic activity. As of today, combat patrolling will be on a permanent basis. It has a strategic character," Putin said.

The president said that although the country stopped strategic flights to remote regions in 1992, "Unfortunately, not everyone followed our example." Other states' long-distance strategic patrol flights have created certain problems for national security, he said.

A former Russian Air Force chief said the resumption of patrols would strengthen Russia's defense capability. "It's a good thing that the old geopolitical setup has been revised. It used to be based on the principle, 'No one is going to attack us.' Practice testifies to the contrary," Army Gen. Pyotr Deinekin said.

The general said that the early 1980s, in response to the U.S.'s deployment of cruise missiles in Europe, Soviet strategic aviation started patrolling areas as far afield as the U.S. coast. Patrols were discontinued following the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, and due to severe economic difficulties, including an acute fuel shortage.

"Flights will be conducted on the same basis as they were in the past," Deinekin said.

Following Putin's announcement at Peace Mission 2007, exercises that were viewed by Western media as a display of Beijing and Moscow's renewed military might, Washington played down the significance of Russian strategic bomber flights.

"That's a decision for them to take," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "It's interesting. We certainly are not in the kind of posture we were with what used to be the Soviet Union. It's a different era. If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision."

Putin Lies Yet Again

How do you know when Putin's lying? You can see his lips move.

From Novosti


CHEBARKUL (Urals), August 17 Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as irrelevant allegations that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a military bloc, and highlighted its increasing role in economic cooperation.

The group, comprising Russia, China, and four ex-Soviet Central Asian states concluded Friday a large-scale anti-terrorism exercise in Russia's south Urals. The SCO, seen as a counterweight to U.S. influence in Asia, was recently dubbed the "Anti-NATO" by Russian daily Izvestia.

Putin said after the exercises: "The SCO today is an organization tackling political and economic issues, and the economic aspect is increasingly coming to the foreground." Comparisons with NATO are entirely untrue, he said.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 7

The Socialist Action League

Several waves of Trotskyists have infiltrated the Labour Party over the years. The most significant attempt beginning in the early '70s was carried out by the Socialist Action League.

Formed in 1969, the SAL was affiliated to an international network of Trotskyist parties, the Fourth International and was very pro Castro's Cuba.

In 1972 the SAL launched a Socialists for Labour campaign, "to build support for a Labour Government in 1972 around a socialist programme . . . it expects to attract many young people into a national network of Young Socialists for a Labour Government groups."

Chairman of the Socialists for Labour Campaign was National secretary of the SAL, Keith Locke. More than half of the SAL's approximately 200 members operated quite openly inside the Labour Party.

Some helped the campaigns of "progressive" Labour candidates including two, Matt Robson and Mike Treen who served on future PM Mike Moore's, electorate committee when he was first elected to parliament for the Eden electorate in 1972.

The SAL's infiltration of Labour was exposed in "Truth" and was raised in Parliament by then PM, Rob Muldoon.

Under considerable pressure and wanting to be seen to be taking action, on the 25th of May 1972, the National Executive of the Labour Party announced proscription of the SAL

Labour's executive stated that the "structure and affiliation of the Socialist Action League is such that it offends against the constitution of the NZLP . . . it is not possible to belong to both the NZLP and the Socialist Action League."

Keith Locke replied in a statement "Is it not a publicly-acknowledged fact that the Socialist Action League is an organisation of Labour Party members which explicitly supports the Party and organises socialists for this purpose?"

The proscription was never enforced however, though a half-hearted attempt to expel Keith Locke was made in 1974.

Matt Robson, though holding several Labour Party positions stood as an SAL parliamentary candidate in Grey Lynn in 1975.

In the end not one SAL member was ever expelled from the Labour Party.

Some, like Matt Robson and his wife Petronella Townsend drifted out of the SAL and stayed active in Labour for many years.

Later some, such as Robson, Townsend and Paul Piesse of Christchurch, left Labour to join Jim Anderton's crypto-communist New Labour Party in 1989.

Part 6 here

Part 8 here

The RAM Scam

Socialist Worker front, Residents Action Movement(RAM),is plastering Auckland with their new campaign hoardings.








I wonder how many of the nearly 90,000 voters who supported RAM candidates in 2004, realised they were voting for a Trotskyist front?

Tyrants Build Anti-US Alliance

Why has the mainstream media virtually ignord this highly significant gathering?

Judging by the security measures taken, those involved see this conference as a very important geopolitical event.

When leaders representing over half the world's population meet to build an anti US alliance, you would think it might make the 6 o'clock news.

Clealy the formation of a new and much improved "Warsaw Pact" is no where near as newsworthy as the doings of Paris, Britney and Brangelina.

From Novosti


BISHKEK (Kyrgyzstan), August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president proposed to leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries at a summit in Kyrgyzstan Thursday holding regular counter-terrorism exercises, similar to the drills now underway in Russia.

The six countries' armed forces have been taking part in the Peace Mission 2007 exercises in Russia's south Urals since August 9. Leaders of the SCO member states are expected to attend the final day of drills Friday.

Vladimir Putin told the SCO Council of Heads of State in Bishkek, "As you know, the exercises are being conducted successfully, and are demonstrating the growing technical potential and a good coordination level of units. It is therefore worth considering regularly holding such exercises on the territories of different Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries."

The council's meeting followed closed talks between SCO leaders. The bloc, originally set up for cooperation on security issues, comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and has Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia as observers. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are also attending summit meetings in the ex-Soviet country as guests.

Addressing the leaders of the organization, set up 11 years ago and seen by many as a counterbalance to U.S. influence in the region, the Russian leader said the world needed a multi-polar system for international security, and spoke out against attempts by any one nation to take global security into their own hands.

"Russia, like other SCO states, favors strengthening the multi-polar international system providing equal security and development potential for all countries."

"Any attempts to solve global and regional problems unilaterally have no future," he said.

In advance of the summit in the mountainous Central Asian republic, attended by around 1,500 foreign diplomats and journalists, unprecedented security measures were put in place. From Monday Bishkek's only airport, Manas, was closed to all flights except those of delegations. Planes from the United States military base, located at the airport since 2001, were also banned from flying.

More than 5,000 police were deployed to guard the event, and guard helicopters hovered over the leaders' vehicles as they passed through the city. All private taxis in Bishkek have been temporarily banned, and all alcoholic drinks have been removed from shelves of shops and kiosks in the city's main highways. Residents of other Kyrgyz cities have been refused entry to the capital since August 10.

Iran/China Build Ties

From the Communist Party of China website


Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) shakes hands with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during their meeting in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, August 15, 2007.

The friendly and cooperative ties between China and Iran have seen continuous growth thanks to the efforts made by both sides, Chinese President Hu Jintao said here Wednesday.

Through various forms of communication and contacts, the two countries have enhanced mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation, Hu said while meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The two sides have achieved progress in economic and trade cooperation along with increasing exchanges in the humanities, Hu said.

On the basis of equality, mutual respect and benefit, China is ready to strengthen friendly cooperation with Iran in all fields and at various levels so as to enrich the contents of bilateral cooperation and push the bilateral ties forward, Hu said.

Ahmadinejad, who was here to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an observer, said the Iranian-Chinese relations are built on the basis of mutual respect, and both peoples have deep affections toward each other.

Iran is dedicated to developing long-term friendly and cooperative ties with China, he said.

Iran hopes to enhance contacts with China, make long-term planning for bilateral cooperation, actively carry out cooperation in trade, energy, electricity, culture, sports, science and technology and strengthen communication and consultation in global and regional affairs, he said.

The SCO is a regional organization founded in June of 2001 by China, Russia and central Asia's Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India were granted the status of observers by SCO members.

Communist Party Manipulates US Congress

I have written several posts on the way the Communist Party USA uses Democratic Party sympathisers and/or secret Party members to advance the CPUSA's agenda in the US Congress.

I have specifically named House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich and Barbara Lee as the three congressman most obviously associated with the CPUSA.

The CPUSA makes no bones about supporting the Democrats and ensuring US defeat in Iraq.

The party is also strongly promoting the HR 676 United States National Health Insurance Act.

While campaigning in the recent past to impeach Bush and Cheney, the CPUSA has recently abandoned that as impractical and has switched emphasis to winning legislative victories in congress.

Note how well their lackeys in Congress follow the CPUSA line.

I quote CPUSA political Action Committee Chair Joelle Fishman, writing in Political Affairs April 2006

The 2006 elections are the people’s exit strategy from the far-right Republican disaster. The results of this election will either strengthen or weaken the ability of the Bush administration to hold sway over Congress. If the Republican grip on Congress is broken, it will be much harder for the White House to stay in Iraq and carry out a permanent war program. If the Republican grip on Congress is broken, there will be no barriers left to bring forward the articles of impeachment on Bush and Cheney.

Our Party has much to offer in this great battle. Our leadership and vision is greeted in the crusade to change the course of our country.

There is a shift taking place in our country. There is a great searching, and it is our responsibility to walk through the newly opening doors and expand the Communist Party in the midst of and as part of helping to build the broad all-people’s movement for a mass upsurge to win the elections in November and change Congress.

The message is that voters are looking for candidates with a strong program to meet the crisis. In this context, the growing momentum for action is significant, as is the growing support for HR 676 United States National Health Insurance Act as a comprehensive and realistic solution. Candidates who address the need for universal health care in general in the election can be won to support HR 676 and other progressive legislation in a new Democratic majority Congress.

Our strategic goal is to change the balance of forces in Congress. A Democratic majority can hold the Bush administration accountable. It will strengthen the peace movement. The best path to end the war and bring the troops home, the best path to impeach Bush and Cheney, is to elect a Democratic majority and keep up the mass pressure. There is also a need to search out and elect more advanced fighters for peace and human needs at every level including Congress.

With a Democratic majority in Congress, John Conyers would chair the Judiciary Committee. He would bring forward his bills for impeachment, and reauthorization and expansion of the Voting Rights Act.

We will develop a national campaign, working with labor and community forces, in target races in each state. To date, there are ten targeted Senate races, twenty-six targeted House races and ten Governor races.

Every week counts in the next 35 weeks until Election Day, Tuesday November 7. The number of new voters we register, the number of doors we knock, the number of copies of People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo we bring, the number of calls in phone banks, the unions and organizations we coalesce with, the number of new Clubs that we build and new members that join the Communist Party—all will go a long way to determining our future and the future of democracy in our land.

This article in the latest People's Weekly World, also by Joelle Fishman, I believe adds weight to my thesis.


Rep. John Conyers has probably done more than anyone in Congress to expose the depths of the constitutional crisis in our country and to fight to protect and restore civil rights and liberties. He is a champion of the broad people’s alliance to defeat the ultra-right.

As ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee under the ultra-right Republican majority, Conyers commissioned a complete study of the Bush administration’s activities. The 300-page report, “The Constitution in Crisis: The High Crimes of the Bush Administration and a Blueprint for Impeachment,” was issued in 2006. A second edition was published this year after the newly won Democratic majority named Conyers as Judiciary Committee chair.

The work led by Conyers laid the groundwork for the various congressional hearings investigating abuse of power by the Bush administration. As a result, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may face impeachment.

The dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, representing Detroit, the autoworker city, with a strong union background, Conyers has been a constant champion on every issue of concern to African Americans and all working people. His position as Judiciary chair is critical for immigrant rights. He is the principal author, with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, of HR 676, the universal single-payer health care bill.

Conyers and other progressives in Congress gained new leverage when the unity of labor, African American, Latino, women and youth voters elected a Democratic majority to Congress last fall.

The balance of forces shifted dramatically. But it was not enough to rout the ultra-right’s ability to obstruct.

The continuing war in Iraq and the inability of Congress to override Bush’s veto of a measure that would have cut funds for the war has given rise to frustration and impatience.

Unfortunately, that frustration was turned against Conyers in July. He was charged with “betrayal” by some peace activists during a civil disobedience action in his Capitol office because he did not agree to bring impeachment of Bush to the House floor.

Obviously there has never been an administration more deserving of impeachment than this one. Their criminality is plain to be seen. However, Conyers and his progressive congressional colleagues have determined that the votes are not there for impeachment. They are working to break through the ultra-right’s obstruction by pursuing legislation for people’s needs, emphasizing the importance of the 2008 elections to complete the job.

It is the obstructionist votes of the Republicans in Congress and those Democrats who have continued to vote with the Bush administration that must be changed. That is where the heat must be placed, to get the necessary votes that will increase the leverage of Conyers and the Progressive, Black, Hispanic and Asian-Pacific caucuses.

Whether or not there is agreement on every legislative tactic, distinguished allies such as Conyers are not the enemy. Attacking them weakens the movement to end the war or for other progressive steps. It splinters the labor and people’s alliance and diverts efforts to hold the Bush administration and Republican leadership in Congress accountable.

For several decades the people’s movements have been forced into a holding action, unable to forge ahead. It is up to labor and its allies, left and progressive forces, to develop new tactics for today’s conditions.

Urging activists to reach out more broadly, Rep. Barbara Lee told the recent Take Back America conference, “We are winning.” Six weeks later her bill to prohibit permanent bases in Iraq passed the U.S. House overwhelmingly. The tactic of progressive members of Congress as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is to keep bringing bills forward, even if they are voted down or vetoed, as a way of breaking through. As the right wing cracks under pressure, legislative victories can be won.

The Bush administration and the ultra-right are responsible for the Iraq war, for undermining democracy in our country and for fanning racism and bigotry. They will not give up easily in 2008.

The battle for the future of our country will be won in the precincts, voter by voter. Maximum unity is required. The target must be the ultra-right. The results could open a whole new era of struggle for progressive gains.

SCO Eyes Expansion, Energy Cartel

From Novosti


MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Shanghai security and economic alliance is interested in involving energy-rich Turkmenistan, which is not a member, in its activities, a deputy Russian foreign minister said Wednesday.

Turkmenistan has been invited to a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes six Central and East Asian states and Russia. The summit is scheduled to take place Thursday in Kyrgyzstan.

"The SCO has an objective interest in Turkmenistan as a regional nation," Andrei Denisov said in an interview with the Vremya Novostei popular daily. "In principle, Turkmenistan could apply for core membership in the organization."

The SCO currently has a moratorium on its expansion. The Russian diplomat said this move was designed to consolidate ties within the organization and to decide on ways of cooperation with other interested countries. Denisov said the moratorium was not politically motivated, "The SCO ... remains open to cooperation with all interested countries and international organizations."

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov will attend the meeting in Bishkek, which will gather presidents from Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan, India, Mongolia, and Iran have observer status.

When asked whether the alliance's ties with Iran, which Western countries suspect of pursuing a secret nuclear program, compromised the SCO, Denisov said Iran was an equal and respected member of the international community. He also said the Islamic Republic was present in the region as an energy producer and a vital transportation hub.

One of the issues on the summit's agenda could be establishing an energy club. The SCO, whose members include energy-rich Russia and Kazakhstan, has been mulling the idea since February when representatives of the member-countries and managers of the leading regional energy companies met to discuss a possible structure for it.

Islam Only Way for Salvation of Mankind

Does this sound like peaceful co-existence or religious tolerance to you?

From Iran's Islamic Pepublic News Agency


President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Tuesday that rule of Islam on mankind is the only way for salvation of human beings.

"There is no truth on earth but monotheism and following tenets of Islam and there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind," said Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Afghan Sunni and Shiite ulama at Iranian Embassy in Kabul.

President Ahmadinejad said nations are today distancing themselves from culture of materialism and selfishness and look for a new way for their prosperity, that is the path of Islam.

He said that the world is on verge of a great upheaval and ulama at this juncture shoulder a heavy responsibility that is introducing genuine Islam as it is.

"Nations today have no haven but religion," the Iranian president announced, cautioning Muslim nations against enemies' divisive plots.

He said, "All of us have the duty to resist the enemy by closing our ranks."

The president said Islam belongs to all generations and Muslims should get ready for global mission of Islam.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 6

Middle Class Disillusionment

The third reason for expanding extremist influence in the Labour Party is a widespread middle class disillusionment with main-stream politics.

Like much of the Western World, in the last 30 years New Zealand's politics have grown increasingly unstable and voter confidence in established parties has fallen dramatically.

Ideologically New Zealand was turned on it's head in 1984 when a newly elected Labour Party began to break with economic policies of the past in what became known as "Rogernomics".

The policies championed by Labour Finance Minister Roger Douglas were a shock to many New Zealanders long used to the certainties of the welfare state.

Widespread corporatisation and privatisation of state assets meant a huge shedding of surplus labour and unemployment of more than 100,000 for the first time since the 1930s.

Deregulation of the financial sector led to an upsurge in speculatory activity and improved business growth. This combined with a perception that an attack on bureaucracy was long overdue, gave Labour enough of the middle class and business vote (traditionally National Party property) to convincingly win the 1987 General Election.

Traditional Labour support however was decimated. Whole branches were lost and membership plummeted.

In the early 1970s some estimates gave the Labour Party well over 100,000 members. By the 1990 General Election most estimates gave the party no more than 6,000-10,000 members nationwide.

One Wellington Labour official of the time estimated 8,000 members nationally, with 2,000 concentrated in Richard Prebble's Auckland Central electorate. (Prebble had a strong base among the conservative Pacific Island community and worked diligently on building a high membership base to counter left wing attempts to oust him.)

The same official estimated only 1500 active Labour members nationwide and claimed that most were on the extreme left.

While Marxists had been infiltrating the Labour Party since the 1920s, their effect had always been diluted by moderate opposition to their activities and the sheer size and inertia of the Labour Party.

In the '70s and '80s a new generation of university educated radicals began moving into the Labour Party at exactly the time the "old guard" was dying off or giving up.

After 1987 the left began to re-assert itself in Labour and began a purge of "Rogernomics" supporters.

By 1990 the Labour Party executive, bureaucracy and parliamentary wing was almost totally dominated by activists of the extreme left.

Part 5 Here Part 7 Here

Iran Seeks to Join SCO

Iran is set on joining Russia and China in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-a growing economic, political and military bloc and major threat to the West.

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

Head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi said here Monday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is now among observers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and "We hope grounds for Iran's accession to the treaty will be prepared."

Boroujerdi made the remarks on the threshold of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regional tours which is to begin on Tuesday.

Speaking to IRNA, he referred to admission of China and Russia to SCO and said the importance of the treaty which is among political and security organizations in the region would be doubled in the future.

Upcoming visit of the Iranian president to the summit and defining Iran's stands on regional developments is of prime importance, he said.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 5

The Socialist Unity Party

Formed in 1966, the pro Soviet, Socialist Unity Party was from its inception NZ's most influential Marxist-Leninist party. The Party progressively came to dominate the union movement which it aggressively milked for money and resources. This combined with significant financial support channelled through the Soviet embassy and NZ/USSR Friendship society, gave the Party substantial resources to promote its agenda.


Many SUP members came from the old Communist Party of New Zealand and many later came as converts from the Maoist movement.

Most members however came directly to the Socialist Unity Party via trade unionism.

The SUP tried to project a comparatively moderate image to the public and in so doing earned the scorn of many smaller, less sophisticated Marxist groups.

In its heyday in the late '80s, the SUP controlled the approximately 400,000 strong Council of Trade Unions (a significant force in a country of then just over 3,000,000 people). SUP General Secretary Ken Douglas was President of the CTU and it's executive and major affiliated unions were all dominated by SUP members or sympathisers.

Through the union movement and the SUP's auxiliary organisations such as the New Zealand Council for World Peace, the Party influenced public opinion and government policies in many areas.

It also infiltrated members and sympathisers into many areas of public life, including the media, government departments, state funded bodies and other political parties, especially Labour.

In 1990 long time SUP leader Bill Andersen resigned from the party in a difference over tactics to form a more traditional Marxist-Leninist party, the Socialist Party of Aoteroa . SPA took over the formerly SUP controlled National Distribution Union where it maintains considerable influence to this day.

While the SUP dissolved in the late '90s/early '00s, SPA continues on as NZ's "mainstream" communist party.

Part 4 Here Part 6 Here

Peter Hall-Jones Profiled

Raised in Invercargill, Peter Hall-Jones comes from a prominent leftish Southland family.

Young Peter was involved in radical politics at Otago University in the early '80s.

He was also a bit of a muso, playing for atime with well known punk/conceptual band, "The Axemen".

In the mid '80s Hall-Jones moved to Christchurch where he joined NZ's leading Marxist-Leninist organisation, the pro-Soviet, Socialist Unity Party.

By 1987 he was in Wellington, active in the Wellington Unemployed Workers Union and national treasurer of Sue Bradford's "Te Roopu Rawakore".

Hall-Jones was also serving on the SUP's Wellington regional executive and on the party's Unemployment Commission.

In early 1987 Hall-Jones visited Moscow to help organise the 1989 World Festivals of Youth and Students.

In 1987/88 Hall-Jones spent five months studying in Moscow with Wellington activist Roy Wilkie. The pair shared a room in Moscow, the rent of $5 per week being paid by Soviet government who also generously provided an allowance to pay for basic food stuffs.

In 1988 Hall-Jones moved back to Dunedin for awhile and was active with the local unemployed workers union.

In June that year he attended a World Federation of Democratic Youth meeting in Sydney along with on member of the SUP front NZ Council for World Peace and a member of NZ Labour (Socialist) Youth.

Most of late '88 was spent organising the nationwide unemployed march on Parliament. A joint SUP/Communist Party/Workers Communist league enterprise, the March brought people from Northland to Bluff to the grounds of Parliament in protest at high unemployment rates.

Hall-Jones was a member of the march organising committee. I remember standing in the crowd in the grounds of Parliament, talking to a fanatic from the Permanent Revolution Group, while Peter and Willie Wilson from the Communist Party did their best to whip the 5,000 strong crowd into a frenzy.

By 1989, Hall-Jones was back in Christchurch, studying political science (Japanese Capitalist Imperialism) at Canterbury, under probable Workers Communist League member, the late Rob Steven.

Much of his spare time was spent recruiting delegates for that year's communist youth festival in Pyongyang.

In february 1990, Hall-Jones moved back to Wellington, to work under Jackson Smith at the SUP controlled Wellington Drivers Union.

Later Hall-Jones began work as a communications officer for the Public Service Association.

Hall-Jones was involved with the young computer geeks of the Party's Wellington based "Gordon Watson" branch (named after a prominent NZ communist killed in Italy in WW2). He also became active inthe "progressive" computer network PlaNet, working in its national office for a time.

Sometime in the '90s the Gordon Watson Branch left the SUP and joined Bill Andersen's more militant Socialist Party of Aotearoa.

Hall-Jones seems to have remained in the SUP camp however.

I phoned Hall-Jones at the PSA in 2003 and asked him if he was sill in the SUP.

He replied that he had "been out of party 20, no 10 years" and didn't even know how to contact the SUP-despite working in the same office as several other "ex" party members.

To be fair, the SUP seems to have dissolved around 1999/2000. I believe however that former Party members are still networking in the Labour Party and in the PSA.
Certainly, the PSA's Partnership for Quality scam, seems to be a direct descendant of the SUP's "trade union "Compact" of the late '80s and its "Workplace reform" programme of the early '90s.

In 1998, Hall-Jones wrote a cryptic message on a thread on the BBC's Online Network Talking Point under the heading "is Socialism Dead? "

"Ideology is for idiots! Socialists, many of whom would not call themselves such, have stepped away from low level sloganeering and posturing and have started to negotiate real change at industry level."

This indicates to me that Peter may have been more "plugged in" to the SUP network than he was letting on.


In the last few years, Hall-Jones has worked as a communications officer for Public Service International in London. Coincidentally, PSI's assistant General secretary is another former SUP member and PSA official, Mike Waghorne.

Hall-Jones is a driving force in the New Unionism Network, launched in January this year.

The Network, claims that recent data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows that more unions are growing than shrinking.

"Manufacturing has moved en masse to less developed countries, and these are the very nations with the worst infrastructure for collecting statistics. So we are losing members on one hand, and not counting new ones on the other. What evidence we have found points to very strong union growth in these developing
countries, but almost all of it is off the radar," said Peter Hall-Jones, a spokesman for the network.

It'll be interesting to see just where Peter Hall-Jones pops up next.

"National Question" 27 Pyongyang Plotters Plan Protests

While the pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party tried to alter the power structures of this country through their Maori Economic Plan, they also worked on indoctrinating a new wave of Maori and Pacific Island radicals.

Every 4 to 5 years, the Soviet front World Federation of Democratic Youth organised (and still does) an international communist youth festival.

In 1978 Cuba had hosted the festival and in 1984, Moscow did the honours.

In 1989, Pyongyang, North Korea is the delegated host.

In February 1987, Wellington Socialist Unity Party member, Peter Hall-Jones attends an International prepatory Committee meeting, charged with organising the Pyongyang festival.

Back in NZ, Hall-Jones, an activist with the Wellington Unemployed Workers Union, helps to recruit some of the 20 plus delegates required.

His Party comrade, Harry Nowell iss charged with organising the finance and logistics.

Nowell moves into the HQ of the taxpayer funded ($135,000 pa) National Youth Council and uses their resources and networks to carry out his work.

The NYC has been infiltrated by several SUP linked organisations, including its youth wing (Young Workers Alliance) and the Hawkes Bay CTU Peace Committee. Other organisations involved include Labour Youth, Red Mole, Peace Movement Aotearoa, Outward Bound and the Girl Duides.

Invercargill recruiter is Apoua Fuatavai of the SUP controlled Southland Unemployed Rights Centre. Wellington recruiter is unionist Robert Winters (currently) running a bakery in Scotland). Christchurch recruiter is Peter Hall-Jones, now studying at Canterbury University and working with the Christchurch Unemployed Rights Collective.


Maria McMillan, Peter Hall-Jones, delegates George Mulipola and Steve Tuipola

Hall-Jones recruits a handful of Christchurch youth including Canterbury University Peace Group member, Maria McMillan.

Unfortunately, the delegates are to travel to Pyongyang via Beijing.

When Peoples liberation Army tanks crush unarmed students Tianmen Square, at least one delegate, McMillan, pulls out. This is allegedly because Daddy (senior Christchurch Press journalist Stuart McMillan), forbids her to go.


23 NZers do arrive in Pyongyang however, for the July 1 opening ceremony. They are blown away by the scale of the event.


22,000 delegates from 177 countries are in attendance, united by the slogan “For anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship”

The opening ceremony is held in an 150,000 capacity stadium, with a cast of 70,000, including 20,000 schoolchildren who have been drilling continuously for 5 months (often until 2am).

The children hold coloured cards, changing them on cue to make giant pictures of doves, factories and the great leader Kim Il Sung.

Delegates are told that event has cost the North Korean peasants and workers $100 million.

The entire capital is mobilised for the event. Flag waving children are everywhere and the Festival is played continuously on TV. The North Koreans have even printed special money, to be withdrawn at the end of the festival "so as not to distort the economy".

One Kiwi delegate is "confined to barracks" for 24 hours for venturing out without his special pass.

Delegates must attend forums such as "the anti Imperialist Tribunal", "Peace and Disarmament" and "Education" and "Young Trade Unionist" meetings.

At the Pacific Caucus progress is made on "working towards a nuclear free and independent Pacific, educating pacific youth on environmental issues and getting solidarity for a more meaningful look at the past 150 years of colonialism in New Zealand".

A Pacific wide organisation is formed to unite these three issues-South Pacific United Youth Association (SPUYA).

Several NZers join SPUYA including Hannah Swartz, Robert Winters (former NYC executive member), the late James Nihoniho (Maori Affairs Department and NYC), Gill Plimmer (NYC National Director) and Margaret Bartlett (NYC Pakeha Caucus Coordinator).

Their job is to organise SPUYA's inaugural conference, to be held in 1990 at Waitangi, NZ.

The SPUYA committee meets with indigenous youth to "talk about common issues and focus on NZ 1990"

NZ delegates hold meetings with representatives of the Soviet Union, Gambia, Ghana and and North Korea.

Contacts are also made with people from the notoriously communist infiltrated University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.

On July 8th, there is a massive closing ceremony and the delegates prepare to leave.

Waitangi Day, 1990 is special. it is the 150th anniversary of the signing of NZ's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.

The NZ police warn that several groups are planning to disrupt the February 6th celebrations.

Writing in the SUP's "Tribune" of September 4 1989, Robert Winters lets the cat out of the bag;

"SPUYA's conference will be held in Waitangi for four days prior to Waitangi day 1990. This has been planned to coincide with Waitangi Day, to enable Pacific youth to join in any action being planned for that day."

Did North Korea's little helpers get to riot on Wauitangi Day 1990?

No, SPUYA diappeared into thin air.

Could the fall of the Berlin Wall and "collapse of communism" of 1989/90 have had anything to do with their non appearance?

Hone Harawira-"Beefsteak Radical?"

Maori Party MP, Hone Harawira is often in the news, usually over something to do with race or racial agitation.

We all know that Hone is brown-he constantly reminds us that he is a champion of Maoridom.

But is Hone Harawira really a "beefsteak radical"-brown on the outside, red in the middle?


The son of well known radical, Titewhai Tarawira, young Hone was exposed to the radical left from his teens.

While a sixth former at St Stephens in Auckland in the early '70s, Hone's mum used to take him to meetings of the Maori/Marxist organisation, Nga Tamatoa (Young Warriors).

In 1979, young Hone travelled to the Philippines where he "met revolutionary struggle". This was possibly referring to one of the many "exposure tours" happening at the time, where NZ radicals went into the Philippines countryside to meet the communist New People's Army.[Broadsheet, July '82]

In 1981 Harawira was one of 5 Waitangi Action Committee members jailed, in Whangarei over Waitangi Day protests- the group called themselves Nga Kuri Otu (dogs of war).

In April 1981 Harawira wrote article in HART's "Amandla" on Maori and Polynesian Groups against the Springbok Tour-he signed on behalf of the Maori Peoples Liberation Movement of Aoteoroa.

In June 1982 Harawira wrote an an article for the Trotsyist paper, Socialist Action (then edited by Keith Locke) entitled "Unemployed for the Army ?"

In November 1982, Harawira spoke on "Maori Peoples Struggle in the Pacific" at a hui organised by the Pacific Peoples Anti Nuclear Action Committee. One of the hui's aims was;

"to recognize Pacific people have a common struggle, we have a common threat of white death".

In February 1987 Harawira represented the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre at a Physicians for Social Responsibility International Conference in Moscow. He spoke about the indigenous Pacific view of the nuclear threat;

"In terms of resource monopoly, economic slavery and potential for death, European civilisation is more barbaric, savage and destructive than any other since the beginning of time. . . and at this time I wish to recognise the Soviet people for hosting this conference . . . Our fight for a better world will only be won . . . when the white man comes home."

In January 1990, Harawira was spokesman for protest group Kia Whaka-taara. He stated his goal was a Maori Parliament with control over New Zealand.


At easter 1998 Harawira gave a history of Maori struggle to the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference in Sydney;


The Maori population was about 1 million when the Europeans came. We had a stable society with our own social controls, our own conservation methods, our own rules of behaviour towards one another.

When Pakehas (white people) came, they brought crime and diseases which almost wiped us out. The population dropped to 40,000 between 1800 and 1900. More died from disease than the big wars we had with the Pakehas. The population is now around 500,000-600,000.

Organised by Australia's biggest Marxist-Leninist organisation the Democratic Socialist Party, the conference attracted radicals and communists from all over the world, including the;

Japanese Communist Party; the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; the Sanlakas national democratic federation, the Union for Socialist Ideas and Action (BISIG), the Women's Health organisation, the socialist youth Kamalayan, the Akbayan peoples party, Initiatives for International Dialogue, all from the Philippines; the Thai Assembly for the Poor; the Malaysian People's Party; the Singapore Workers Party; the Singapore Democratic Party; the Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD); the Free Aceh Movement; Fretilin; the All Burma Students Democratic Federation; the All Burma Students Democratic Organisation; Karen and Mon representatives; the Cambodian Documentation Centre; the Cambodian Women's Development Agency; the Pakistani Labour Party; the Sri Lankan New Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India-ML (Liberation); Melanesian Solidarity from Papua New Guinea; the Bougainville Interim Government; the New Zealand Alliance and NewLabour Party; Maori representatives from the New Zealand NGO Corso; the Polynesian Liberation Front from Tahiti; and the Free West Papua Movement.

Also represented were Marxist-Leninist parties from Nepal, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and the USA

After being elected to Parliament on the Maori Party list in 2005, Hone Harawira has shown little sign of tempering his socialist sympathies. He issued this statement in August 2006;

The Maori Party noted the temporary handover of power in Cuba following Fidel Castro's emergency hospitalisation, and expressed concern for the security of the Cuban government during this period of uncertainty.

"Castro has earned a formidable reputation as the world's longest-ruling head of government, ever since the Cuban revolution of 1959," said Hone Harawira, Maori Party Disarmament spokesperson, "and he won and holds his power in the face of continued efforts to unseat him, by the United States of America."

"I have a real fear that the US will try to destabilise Cuba during this time, in the same way they have undermined many other left-wing governments in Central and South America over the years," said Harawira.

"The move to leftist and indigenous governments in Latin America, with the election of people such as Evo Morales in Bolivia, Victor Chavez in Venezuela, and the close run of Lopez Orbrador in Mexico, will not have escaped the attention of the United States," said Mr Harawira.

"This period of uncertainty in Cuba could well be seen by them as an opportunity to claw back lost ground”.

"Furthermore, armed invasions by the USA to impose 'freedom and democracy', in Grenada and in Nicaragua in the 1980s, and the Middle East over the last few years, suggests that such a possibility exists in Cuba right now," said Mr Harawira.

"History tells us how the United States works," said Mr Harawira, "and the Maori Party urges the New Zealand government to send a strong message to the United States of America, that we would not support any illegal invasion of Cuba."

For real?

....Never Intended to Become a Military Bloc

From Novosti


MOSCOW, August 10 - The presidents of Russia and China will meet in the South Urals August 16-17 for talks and a review of troops engaged in a regional antiterrorism exercise, Peace Mission 2007, China's ambassador to Russia said Friday.

"On the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Chinese People's Republic Hu Jintao will visit Russia on August 16-17 to watch the joint antiterrorism exercise conducted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)," Liu Guchang told a news conference.

The diplomat said the leaders would meet twice, and the heads of all SCO states would gather August 17 for a review of the troops in the Chelyabinsk Region, on the final day of the exercises, which started on August 9.

The group, comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is largely viewed as a counterweight to NATO in the region. It has Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia as observer nations.

The SCO never before held a full-scale military exercise involving all its member states, but Russia and China have already held several joint exercises under the auspices of the organization, including Peace Mission 2005. About 5,000 servicemen and 82 Russian and Chinese aircraft are engaged in the current exercises.

Established in 2001 as a non-military alliance, the SCO initially focused on Islamist extremism and other security threats in Central Asia, but has since expanded its scope to include cooperation in disaster relief and trade.

Russia's then Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov said in May that the organization, often referred to as the Shanghai-Six, has never intended to become a military bloc.

New Record-World's Longest Book!

Hat Tip No Minister

Leftist Wreckers Seek to Stifle Free Trade

The radical left wants to ruin any hope of NZ securing a free trade deal with the US.

Here's Auckland activist Omar Hamed sounding off on Indymedia


Between the 9th and the 11th of September, the Auckland War Memorial Museum will host the "United States New Zealand Partnership Forum". The forum brings together representatives of the two countries as well as the people from various powerful US and NZ corporations. The aim of this forum is to tighten the links between the two nations; specifically by pushing for the signing of a neo-liberal free trade agreement. A coalition of groups is mobilising to disrupt the forum and let the planet know that OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE.*

We are everywhere, the resistance to the USNZ Partnership Forum is just another battle in the fight for global justice that rages from Palestine to Tonga, and from the Phillipines to Mexico. Last year activists swamped Te Papa in Wellington and turned the annual weapons industry conference into a battlefield between protestors and police. We won that battle and never again will the weapons industry return to Te Papa. The industry now conducts its annual forum with the utmost secrecy lest they be hunted down by the multitude of peacemongers.

The weekend before the Partnership Forum, thousands of Australians will converge in Sydney to resist the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. Workers in Aotearoa are winning industrial victories through militant picket line action and grassroots solidarity. During the hospital workers lockout just passed I helped turn away scabs outside Waitakere Hospital with locked out cleaners. At 5am in the dark and the rain we showed corporate power that when people are actively resisting in the streets, organising together and building solidarity between ourselves, we are unstoppable.

That's why we need you to come to Auckland in September between the 9th and the 11th. The left in Aotearoa has a well established tradition of anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist direct action resistance. We want to continue this tradtions and build on it. Our ability to disrupt this Partnership Forum and show the government, each other and the world what we are capable of doing, depends on us being irrepressibly large, militant and woven tightly together with solidarity and hope, during the march on Monday September 10 at 12noon from Aotea Square to the Museum.

Chinese Leader Heads to SCO Summit

According to Fidel Castro, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is the basis of a new worldwide anti US alliance.


The organisation encompsses, Russia, China, several former Soviet central Asian states and awards Iran, India, Pakistan and Nepal "observer" status.

While initially set up to "counter terrorism", the organisation is rapidly developing into a political, military and economic bloc.

From the Communist Party of China website

President Hu Jintao will begin a three-nation tour to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia August 14-18, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit (SCO) and observe the SCO joint anti-terrorism military drill in Russia, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The seventh SCO summit will be held in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan on August 16. Heads of states of the six members and four observers are expected to participate in the conference.

Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said the treaty on long-term friendship and cooperation among SCO members - Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - is a key document to be signed during the summit.

Since China has signed similar bilateral treaty with all the member countries, a treaty signed by all the member states will further strengthen the understanding and trust among the six nations, Chen Yurong, an expert with China Institute of International Studies, told China Daily

The fact that China has been actively involved in SCO also reflects one of its most important foreign policies - maintaining friendly relations with neighboring countries, Chen said.

"If you don't have good neighbors, you don't have a secure home. That is why China and other member states insist that SCO's principles should be partnership, equality, non-alliance and openness."

Issues such as facilitating cultural exchanges among the SCO member states will also be discussed at the upcoming summit, the Culture and Information Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sultan Rayev told the KABAR news agency recently.

The discussion "will bring closer together the SCO members through culture and art," Rayev said.

The SCO was founded in 2001 in Shanghai and is guided by the principles of partnership, non-alliance, mutual trust, respect and equality to the diversity of cultures.

China's New "Cultural Revolution"

Remember China in the '60s, the great "Cultural Revolution"? The Communist Party turned the country on its head. Party members were sent to labour the countryside to learn humility and renew their revolutionary fervour.


Well its happening again. This time however, China seems to be planning to train foreign comrades and even to shift training to friendly foreign countries.

What was that about China moving away from communism again?

From the Communist Party of China website.

Wearing bamboo hats and drab grey uniforms with rice bags slung across their shoulders, a group of men and women trudge along a narrow mountain path under the scorching sun, their clothes soaked in sweat.

It looks like a scene from China's wartime past in the first half of last century or a re-enactment for a film.

But it is in fact the Communist Party of China's (CPC) latest team-building and motivational course for senior government officials. It also has the wider purpose of discouraging corruption and arrogance before they start.

The course is run by the China Executive Leadership Academy at Jinggangshan (CELAJ), one of the three high-profile CPC cadre training institutes. The other two are based in Pudong, in Shanghai, and Yan'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Carrying grain along the 4.8-km path where Mao Zedong and Zhu De, founders of Chinese military, once passed from the foot of Mount Jinggang to the top is one of the many missions newcomers are required to fulfil, says Li Xiaosan, CELAJ deputy president.

"It is no easy task to climb the mountain," says trainee Xie Jun, deputy director of the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China.

"I used a tree branch as a walking stick. When I eventually made it to the top, my clothes were soaked with sweat.

"The exercise has expelled our excitement as newcomers, and we now feel a bit more reverence for our revolutionary forerunners," says Xie.

In accordance with guidelines for training cadres, who are also members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the government will be organizing about 110,000 CPC officials, including 500 ministerial cadres, for study camps each year until 2010.

CELAJ deputy president Li Xiaoshan says, "CPC cadres are getting younger and younger, and they mainly comprise people born in 1950s or 1960s and were hired as government employees in 1970s and 1980s.

"These people are intelligent and well-educated, but some lack systematic study of CPC history and fail to fully understand the strong bond between the Party and the broad masses," says Li. "We must organize their study of revolutionary traditions and theories."

The three cadre training institutes were established after the Party's 16th National Congress to improve the standards and skills of leading CPC cadres and conduct international training exchanges.

Officially their aims to educate CPC officials through experience-based courses and motivate them by learning more about the history of China, especially that of the Communist Party of China; to teach them to perform their duties as civil servants and help prevent corruption; to restore humility in the CPC cadres.

Pudong is regarded as a vanguard of China's economic development, while Jinggangshan and Yan'an were both important revolutionary strongholds.

The Pudong-based institute runs courses on international affairs, and helps trainees keep pace with developments and become more open. The other two institutes give officials the opportunity to learn more about revolutionary traditions and about conditions in the country. Training is carried out in the forms of lectures, discussions, and field study.

Since their establishment, the institutes have trained more than 20,000 CPC leading cadres; the CELAJ has trained 9,225 top and middle level CPC cadres.

"Apart from building more than 100 centers for investigative studies on the basis of revered revolutionary sites, swathes of farmland, exemplary households of ordinary citizens, industrial parks and financial organizations, China is planning to base some of its training grounds overseas through improved international cooperation," says Li.

One of the most important fields of study are various theories regarding the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, alongside knowledge of modern economics and management expertise.

Other organizations or sectors have set up centers of their own, or entrusted universities to help train CPC leading cadres at lower levels or even ordinary CPC members.

In the run-up to the Party's 17th National Congress in Beijing in the second half this year, the Party schools and cadre training institutes are preparing new training targets.

Zeng Qinghong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, visited the institutes in May.

Zeng said new programs to train leading CPC cadres would be launched after the Party's 17th National Congress.

Zhao Changmao, deputy head of the organization section at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, insisted innovative achievements in CPC theory would be the core of the new training program.

Brian Nicolle-Tribute to a "Rightwing Leftie"

I never thought I'd see this.


After running election campaigns for politicians ranging from Phil Goff and Richard Prebble, to John Banks and Rodney Hide, Brian Nicolle is going to have a crack himself.

Brian is standing for North Shore Council on the "Shore Can" ticket.

According to the North Shore Times;

While he is no stranger to controversial campaigns, this one is more likely to be 'colourful', says Mr Nicolle.

He has already conducted a residents poll and is planning a pamphlet drop next week.

"It's not going to be secret. People are going to see a lot of me. I'm planning to add a bit of colour to the campaign."

Increased community consultation on rates is the main policy of Mr Nicolle's campaign.

People on fixed or low incomes are suffering from repeated rates rises on the North Shore, he says.

He wants to see the public more involved in what projects the council decides to shell out on.

It is possible ratepayers will be more frugal than councillors, he says.

"This is about getting ratepayers' consent for what the council spends their money on. There's too many politicians who think they know best. I'm giving power back to the people."

Giving "power back to the people" is what Brian Nicolle is all about.

I first met Brian in 1988, when I was driving taxis in Christchurch. Brian was a passenger in my taxi and somehow we got on to politics.

I was militantly anti-Labour at the time. Rogernomics hadn't mollified me at all. I regarded NZ's anti-nuclear stand as rank treason (still do).

Brian was off to see Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer on Labour Party business. We had a long conversation on politics and I found him very well informed and a sincere and decent man. He was the kind of Labour guy I could relate to-a small "l" liberal, with a distrust of power and real empathy for people.

We resolved to keep in touch and I think I sent him some anti-commo or anti-Labour material.

I didn't know it at the time, but Brian was part of the pro-Roger Douglas faction of Labour. He left the party he'd joined in his teens a couple of years later.

We got briefly in touch again in 1993 when Brian was running the Campaign for Better Government-fighting against the introduction of the accursed MMP electoral system.

Our paths didn't cross again until 2003, when I finally joined the ACT Party. Brian saw my name on the list and he and Heather Roy came to visit me, next time they were in Christchurch.

They asked me to stand for the vacant chairmanship of the Christchurch Central electorate, which began my serious involvement with the party.

I've worked closely with Brian since then and have come to respect him tremendously.

His political skills and knowledge are second to none, but that's not what I most admire about him.

Like many ex-Labour ACT people, Brian cares about real "social justice". Brian is hard core-he is a revolutionary. He doesn't want to tinker with a corrupt system, he wants to turn it on its head.

Brian wants the benefits of freedom to touch every decent individual in New Zealand.

He wants every household, whether in Remmers, Otara or Takapuna to prosper. He wants every parent to be able to educate their kids to the highest standard. He wants every working person to be able to retire in dignity and comfort. He wants every Kiwi to enjoy world class health care. He wants every New Zealander to progress as far as their ability and drive take them.

Brian wants a free society so that all individuals may live the best life possible.

Brian Nicolle is a self described "rightwing leftie".

I've got to say, that partially due to his influence-I've become one too.

Thanks Brian.

Good luck in the elections.

Who is Asadollah Asgaroladi?

In my last post Habibollah Asgaroladi was named as the Iranian official involved in a recent Iran/NZ trade symposium held in Auckland.

This was probably a mistake, made by the Iranian news agency quoted.

Habibollah Asgaroladi is one of Iran's richest and most most powerful men. Regarded as an extreme Islamic hardliner, Asgaroladi was secretary-general of the Islamic Coalition Party, an influential conservative political party.

He has been a government minister, an aide to Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei and was this year he appointed to the government's senior advisory body, System's Interests Council the by Khamenei, alongside Mohammadi-Reyshahri.


The Asgaroladi visiting Auckland was almost certainly Habibollah's younger brother, Asadollah Asgaroladi, head of the Iran/Australia Chamber of Commerce.

Also a very powerful man, Asadollah Asgaroladi is concurrently head of the Iran/Russia and Iran/China Chambers of Commerce.

The Asgaroladi family appears to have gotten rich, the same way many New Zealanders did in the pre Rogernomics days-import licencing.

According to award winning US journalist Paul Klebnikov;

Until a few years ago the simplest way to get rich quick was through foreign-currency trades. Easy, if you could get greenbacks at the subsidized import rate of 1,750 rials to the dollar and resell them at the market rate of 8,000 to the dollar. You needed only the right connections for an import license. "I estimate that, over a period of ten years, Iran lost $3 billion to $5 billion annually from this kind of exchange-rate fraud," says Saeed Laylaz, an economist, now with Iran's biggest carmaker. "And the lion's share of that went to about 50 families."

One of the families benefiting from the foreign trade system was the Asgaroladis, an old Jewish clan of bazaar traders, who converted to Islam several generations ago. Asadollah Asgaroladi exports pistachios, cumin, dried fruit, shrimp and caviar, and imports sugar and home appliances; his fortune is estimated by Iranian bankers to be some $400 million.

Asgaroladi had a little help from his older brother, Habibollah, who, as minister of commerce in the 1980s, was in charge of distributing lucrative foreign-trade licenses. (He was also a counterparty to commodities trader and then-fugitive Marc Rich, who helped Iran bypass U.S.-backed sanctions.)

Incidentally, Paul Klebnikov is no longer with us.

According to Wikipedia;

Klebnikov was shot dead on a Moscow street late at night on July 9, 2004 by unknown assailants. The publisher of Forbes' Russian edition has said that the murder is "definitely linked to his professional activity". The United States Senate has asked Russia to accept help in the investigation of Klebnikov's death, but Russia's Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has said that Russia can cope on its own.

The killing was linked to Chechen criminals. Klebnikov was investigating shady Russian "businessmen" at the time.

Interesting that the Iranian's consider New Zealand important enough to grace us with the presence of a man of the calibre of Asadollah Asgaroladi.

Iran/NZ Trade Symposium Held in Auckland

Why wasn't this on the 6 o'clock news?

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

Iran-New zealand one day joint economic symposium was held in Auckland on Monday.

The symposium was attended by more than 80 Iranian and New Zealand directors of industries and businessmen in different sectors.

A 20-person strong delegation from Iran's public and private sectors headed by the Advisor of Chamber of Commerce and Chief of Joint Iran and Australia Chamber of Commerce Habibollah Asgaroladi represented Iran in the symposium.

Iranian Ambassador to New Zealand Morteza Rahmani, speaking in the symposium, pointed to the past bilateral relations and described the presence of Iranian delegation in New Zealand as a sign for Iran's will for development of economic relations with New Zealand.

Rahmani also stressed on the utilization of Iranian capacities for regulating the relations between New Zealand and the regional 300 million strong market.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 4

The Maoists

After splitting with the Communist Party of New Zealand, Rona Bailey's Maoist faction prospered and began recruiting young radicals at Wellington's Victoria University. This group had supporters on most campuses and dominated student politics at local and New Zealand University Student's Association level until the mid '80s.

This "Marxist-Leninist" group controlled the Anti-Apartheid group Halt All Racist Tours (HART), had considerable influence in the Committee on Vietnam and was very active in the Maori Land Rights, Women's and International Solidarity campaigns.

Strong links with China were forged, through the NZ/China Friendship Society, regular visits of student activists to China and participation in the Asian Student's Association.

In 1976 Bailey's group formalised itself as the Wellington Marxist-Leninist Organisation and in 1980 joined the Auckland/Hamilton based Northern Communist Organisation and several university based groups to form the Worker's Communist League. The name probably came from the Canadian Worker's Communist Party with which the Workers Communist League maintained links and acknowledged inspiration.

The Workers Communist League also maintained links with the USA's League for Revolutionary Struggle, the late Steve Biko's Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, several Pacific "progressive" movements and communist parties in Norway, Peru and the Philippines.


The Workers Communist League hit a peak in 1981 when it played a leading role in some of the most violent protest activity ever seen in New Zealand, the opposition to the Springbok Tour. The Workers Communist League had considerable influence in HART and anti Tour coalitions nationwide, particularly in Wellington, where Citizens Opposed to the Springbok Tour was under total Workers Communist League control.

Later the Workers Communist League turned to solidarity with Nicaragua and from the mid '80s became increasingly supportive of the Philippines Communist Party and New People's Army. Much assistance was channelled to both causes through the aid agency CORSO which the Workers Communist League dominated. Considerable amounts of this was taxpayer's money given to CORSO subsidised projects by the Ministry of External Relations and Trade.

In the mid '80s the Workers Communist League abandoned the Maoist line for a more Third World Liberationist orientation. Senior Workers Communist League cadres visited China after the "split" however and a few maintained activity in the NZ/China Society.

In 1990 the Workers Communist League dissolved and re-formed as Left Currents, which soon folded.

former members continue to cooperate to this day in the union movement, the overseas aid movement, education, the law, government departments and "Centre Left" political parties.

Part 3 here Part 5 here

Blair Nails it on Child Abuse

Sick of being held responsible for other people bashing, torturing and killing their children?

So's true liberal, Blair Mulholland.

If I hear the word WE again with regard to the Nia Glassie debacle, I am going to stick some people in a clothes dryer myself.

Take your royal WE and piss off. I have never abused a child. I have never hit a child. I have never stood by and allowed anyone to beat up on the innocent and defenceless. I did not cause you to act like a monster and beat a toddler to death. That would have been, oh, there's a word for it... YOU! To quote Johnny Rotten, there's a problem, but the problem is YOU.

That people think in terms of WE is precisely the problem. The collective mentality where children are raised by villages not parents allows parents to abdicate their responsibilities. Children cease to be taken care of a lot by two parents and are barely given care at all by numerous relatives. Socialism doesn't work in increasing productivity in a workplace - why on earth would it take better care of a child?

Let's be straight up and ask the hard questions: Is Maori culture is the problem here? Is Maori culture inherently deficient in raising children? From what I've seen, the best Maori parents are ones that raise their kids the way European parents raise them. The worst are those that pass them between relatives on a regular basis, an unthinkable concept in European culture. There is no "ownership" of the child. Without that "ownership" kids just become pint sized nuisances that drunk once-were-warriors can utilise as punching bags.

I believe that Maori culture encourages a lack of responsibility with regard to children, and it is up to individual Maori parents to break out of that mentality.

Me take ownership? HELL NO. That's precisely the problem. The buck is being passed to a (justifiably) concerned community, when hand-wringers have no right to do any such thing. Let's pass the buck back to those who should own it: drinking, dole-bludging, neglectful Maori parents. Yeah YOU. YOU take care of it. These are YOUR children. Stop beating them up!

The only responsibility that "we" have, if any, is consistently voting for governments that directly fund this gross dysfunctionality in our society with OUR money. Welfare reform is the only thing that is going to pull people out of the WE mentality and allow them to take pride in themselves and their own children. "We" should be ashamed that "we" have not voted out the clowns that encourage this vile system.

Venezuela to Produce Kalashnikovs

From Novosti


IZHEVSK (URALS), August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will build two factories for production of the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition in Venezuela by 2010, a Russian arms manufacturer said Monday.

The Urals-based Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (IMP) earlier fulfilled a contract to supply 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles to Venezuela, and signed a new contract licensing production of Kalashnikov rifles in the Latin American country.

"We will begin construction of two plants in Venezuela at the end of 2007," Vladimir Gorodetsky, the IMP general director told a news conference dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the famous small arms brand.

"One plant will manufacture AK-103 assault rifles and another plant will produce 7.62-mm ammunition for the rifle," the official said.

He said the contract, whose amount was not disclosed, specified construction of both plants at one site and the transfer of all related technologies and production licenses to Venezuela.

"It is an absolutely legitimate license on the production of small arms in Venezuela legally purchased by the country," Gorodetsky said, adding that the contract also envisioned training of personnel and after sales maintenance.

The IMP official said Russia and Venezuela are discussing details for a new agreement on the supply of other types of small arms, including the Dragunov sniper rifle, to the South American state led by outspoken Socialist leader, Hugo Chavez.

"Out goal is to re-equip the Venezuelan army with modern types of small arms, grenade launchers, and sniper rifles," he said.

Oil-rich Venezuela is a major purchaser of Russian weapons and hardware. In 2005-2006, Venezuela ordered weaponry from Russia worth $3.4 billion, including 24 Su-30MK2V Flanker fighters, Tor-M1 air defense missile systems, Mi-17B multi-role helicopters, Mi-35 Hind E attack helicopters and Mi-26 Halo heavy transport helicopters.

Russia has repeatedly stated that it would actively participate in the modernization of the Venezuelan armed forces until 2013.

Socialist Venezuela to Host Maori Radicals

Like the Soviet Union, China and Cuba before it, Venezuela is becoming a training ground for indigenous revolutionaries.

Now it looks like they will be training a guiding Maori activists.

From the latest Green Left Weekly

Planning is well underway for the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s sixth brigade to Venezuela, to be held from November 23 to December 3, and registrations are open to everyone interested in this unique opportunity to witness firsthand a revolution in the making.

The Venezuelan people, led by George Bush’s arch-enemy, President Hugo Chavez, have this year taken over more workplaces, set up more cooperatives, established hundreds of free public education and health programs, organised their neighbourhoods and taken big steps towards exercising “popular power” at every level of their society. Brigade participants will visit occupied factories and public educational and health institutions, see participatory democracy at work in the communal councils and people’s banks, and speak to government and grassroots organisations about their struggle to create “socialism for the 21st century”.

This brigade will also include a special focus on indigenous issues. Indigenous activists from Australia, Aotearoa (NZ) and possibly North America will be joining the brigade, and the itinerary will include visits to indigenous communities, and meetings with indigenous people’s organisations.

Marxist Mayoral Candidate....Caracas?

From Indymedia



Socialist Organisation the Workers’ Party (formerly the Anti-Capitalist Alliance) will be contesting the Wellington mayoral race in 2007.

Bus Driver and Former President of the Victoria University of Wellington Students Association Nick Kelly will be the Workers’ Party candidate in this years mayoral race.

“The aim of standing in these elections is two fold” says Nick Kelly. “The first is to raise the many issues facing workers, students, beneficiaries and other people struggling to survive in Wellington which are continually ignored by this council. The second is to help build a new workers political movement that fights to end capitalist exploitation and to build a socialist society.”

A major focus of the Workers’ Party is to build solidarity with international movements, an example of this is the call to make the Venezuelan capital Caracas a sister city of Wellington and encourage workers’ exchanges between the two. “The Workers Party want to build strong links between workers here and the socialist project in Venezuela” say Nick.

The Workers’ Party is standing mayoral candidates in several other Cities in New Zealand.

Chinese Tyrants Maintain Hard Line on Taiwan

From the Communist Party of China website


The Chinese army marks its 80th birthday with a high-profile reception in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, July 31, 2007.

The Chinese army marked its 80th birthday with a high-profile reception on Tuesday at which Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan said the army will have zero tolerance of "Taiwan independence."

"We will absolutely not allow Taiwan to secede from China under any pretext or in any manner," Cao said.



The eight top Chinese leaders, Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan attended the reception in the Great Hall of the People.

Question-how does an independent nation "secede"?

ACT's Independence

ACT leader Rodney Hide clears up a few misunderstandings.

There’s been a bit of comment on my blog about ACT propping up Labour—of all things.

ACT is propping up no one. We have not given any party a vote on confidence and supply. That would require a commitment from any party to what ACT stands for and our policies.

We did agree to look at the Therapeutic Goods Bill when the Prime Minister asked us to. We looked at it. We spoke to policy experts. We spoke to industry representatives. We still didn’t like it. We explained how it could be improved to promote competition and choice. WE DIDN"T VOTE FOR IT.

Of course, we talk to other parties and consider their proposals—but we stick to our principles.

That compares to, say, National who said they would vote for Winston’s amendment to the Bill without seeing it, voted for the anti-smacking Bill (after opposing it), and voted with the government to rip private property rights off Telecom investors, and over turn the right to justice for New Zealanders by voting for the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.

Not ACT. We stick to our principles—private property, the right to contract, and the freedom to choose.

Hear, hear.

Castro on the Worldwide Anti-US Alliance

Former KGB officer, Anatoly Golitsyn wrote in his 1984 book, "New Lies For Old" that the world was heading for a major showdown.

Golytsin predicted (based on plans he was partially privy to through his KGB work) that Russia, China, the old communist bloc, the Islamic states and India would form an anti US alliance.

They would work to isolate the US politically and economically until the balance of power swung in their favour.

They would then either strike militarily or issue an ultimatum to the US-join us, or face destruction.

Sounds very melodramatic doesn't it? A little hard to believe in this era of peace, prosperity and post-communism?


Below is a "hot off the press" article by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, reprinted in Political Affairs, the theoretical journal of the Communist Party USA.

This article is worth reading in its entirety-here. Its implications are enormous.

In the article Cuban leader Fidel Castro discusses the isolation and encirclement of the US by Russia, China, India and their communist and Islamist allies.

Castro names the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (Russia, China, ex-Soviet central Asia are members, Iran, India, Nepal and Pakistan are observers, and/or prospective members) as the core of this new anti-US alliance.

He also adds to the mix, the neo-socialist regimes of Latin America.

Does Castro vindicate Golitsyn? You judge.

Emphasis added.

Something's Gotta Give: Will the World Unite Against the US?

A Reflection on Hard and Obvious Realities

In the reflection published on July 31st, I explained what it meant for me to have spent a year gathering information and meditating in depth on the vital problems which today threaten our species as never before.

On July 24th ,the Russian news agency Ria Novosti published the following information:

Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, a defense expert, stated that the main instrument of the US policy is the economic, financial, technological and military dictate.

By implementing this, the US is trying to secure the world’s hegemony for itself. Its national security strategy explicitly indicates the necessity of guaranteeing sustainable access, in other words, controlled access, to the key regions of the planet, strategic communications and global resources. It is a strategy that has been turned into a law, and this brings us to the conclusion that in the future the United States will face even tougher conflicts with Russia, China and India.

Washington insists on building a system capable of neutralizing the nuclear potential of Moscow and Peking, its strategic rivals, in order to achieve military superiority. The United States wants to deploy its anti-missile shield not just in Europe but also in other parts of the world, to see what is going on in Russia and China. Likewise, it is seeking to increase its offensive arsenal at a pace that surpasses even that which was followed during the Cold War.

The United States would do anything in its power to prevent Russia from being an autonomous player. The debates on anti-missile defence, Iran and Kosovo, have not generated any formulas for compromise.

It is important for Russia to consolidate its positions and recover its geopolitical potential. Early on the 1970’s, when Moscow had achieved nuclear parity with Washington, the latter became aware of the fact that it could not beat Moscow militarily and accepted to negotiate on equal terms. Consequently, in 1972, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT) as well as all other subsequent Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties (SALT) were signed. Strength is the only thing that the United States cares about. If it feels to be in a stronger position, it will never make concessions to anyone.

In order to neutralize the plans for world hegemony it is necessary to build an alternative pole, and we already have the foundations to do so: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

In fact, it appears to be rather incorrect to speak about the United States strength. The United States has military power, a vigorous economy and an enormous amount of hard currency which it can mint in unlimited quantities, but the geopolitical level of the country is extremely low. The United States inspires very little political confidence in the rest of the world.

In 1999, China and Russia stated before the UN General Assembly the need to preserve the Anti Missile Defense Treaty of 1972. All nations voted in favor of the proposal except for four: the United States, Israel, Albania and Micronesia. The result bears witness to the United States’ total international isolation.

Without the participation of Russia, it would be impossible to resolve the situation that has taken shape in the Middle East, the Balkans, the Korean Peninsula and other regions of this planet. This also holds true for China, which is able to put up to the pressures exerted by the United States. China enjoys great prestige in the world; it has a powerful economy and a strong currency.

The SCO ought to recruit new allies and combine the potential of those countries which want to and are capable of implementing an autonomous policy. First, it is necessary to officially proclaim the rejection against the United States world hegemony. Second, China and Russia must denounce the deployment of the US anti-missile defense system before the UN Security Council, as an action altering the architecture of global security and threatening the entire international community.

China, India and Russia could form a united front in the face of the United States’ dictates. It is also possible to propose the stabilization of the global financial system as a task. Within the SCO framework, a novel philosophy could be formulated, based on the harmony among civilizations and on the rational use of natural resources. The majority of States will surely support such measures, of that I am convinced. Thus, a new political pole will come into being, the pole of peace. The SCO mission is to create a new model of development for human civilization.

Only an alliance of civilizations could oppose the United States’ empire: the Russian civilization whose orbit includes the Community of Independent States (CIS); the Chinese, the Indian, the Islamic and the Latin American civilizations.

It is an immense space where we could create more equitable markets, our own stable financial system, our collective security mechanisms and our philosophy, giving priority to the intellectual development of man in the face of western modern civilization, which emphasizes material goods, and measures success by the amounts of mansions, yachts and restaurants people have. Our mission is to reorient the world towards justice and intellectual and spiritual growth.

Fidel Castro Ruz
August 3, 2007.

Regulatory Responsibility Bill Gaining Support

Now that ACT leader Rodney Hide's Regulatory Responsibility Bill is going to Select Committee, commentators are beginning to look at the bill's huge positive implications.

Editorial from the Hawkes Bay Today

Finally a bill that could be useful

Finally there is a sense of sensibility in the air. The arrival of the anti-red tape proposed legislation, Acts Regulatory Responsibility Bill, has been welcomed on all sides.

The bill aims to ensure all other pieces of legislation - new and existing - are designed to act efficiently for the least cost to individuals and communities. It proposes that each law and regulation is measured against responsible management practices.

If passed it will ensure all laws and regulations are reassessed every five years so that any rule failing to meet its aim, or that has passed its used-by-date, is identified and removed.

While not directly removing red tape, the bill seeks to allow new and existing rules to be measured against the principles of responsible regulatory management, making it easy for ineffective rules, and those with high compliance costs, to be identified and ditched if necessary.

Compliance costs affect us all, especially small businesses that drive this country, mostly from the smaller centres. Hawke’s Bay should benefit hugely.

Farming operations are in the main one or two-man businesses and rising compliance costs are hurting.

This bill, with support from all angles, looks set to bring some sense to legislation while keeping the legislators themselves honest.

The beauty of it is that before any legislation is enacted, it meets a comprehensive set of criteria.

It even protects the rights of individuals, allows for individual choice and provides an avenue for compensation for landowners if private property is affected by certain rules.

While we cannot limit what future parliaments do, under this bill we can ensure they explain why decisions are made so that Kiwis can make up their minds about whether the right actions are taken.

Ensuring the public knows what rules have failed the test, the bill would put pressure on the politicians to clean up bad laws and regulations from the past and encourage them to pass better ones in the future.

Rodney Hide and his party need to be congratulated on a well considered bill . . . in fact, the bill of all bills.

Hat Tip Rodney Hide

NZ Communists and the Labour Party.

I have a memo in my possession that shows just how openly the Communist Party infiltrated the Labour Party in the '40s.

It is a "Weekly Bulletin to all branches" from the Auckland District Secretariat of the Communist Party, dated 16th August 1943.

The memo deals with Communist Party activity around the 1943 general Election. The report touches on Communist support for Labour and Communist activity within Labour Party branches.

ONEHUNGAis holding cottage metings in the area. Is holding a public meeting next Friday in the "Orphans" Hall on "Why the Communists support the Labour Party". Have offered 14 helpers to the Election Committee.
OTAHUHU AND PAPATOETOE each have one member on the Election Committee.
DEVONPORT has members functioning on a joint committee.
MT ALBERT AND EDEN-ROSKILLhave members on the Election Committee.
PONSONBY as four members on the Election Committee and are organising a public meeting.
NEWMARKET has given the Election Committee a list of helpers, some of whom are attending committee meetings.
PT.CHEVALIER are holding cottage meetings and are assisting at the Election rooms.

WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW IS....WHAT ARE OUR OTHER BRANCHES DOING?

Comradely Greetings

District Secretariat

This kind of activity was occurring all over New Zealand. It shows how a small secretive party may manipulate a larger open party, yet remain unknown to the voting public.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 3

The Communist Party

Formed in 1921, the New Zealand Communist Party was formally affiliated to the Labour Party until its members were expelled in 1925.

The Communists then set about infiltrating Labour for the next 30 years. During the '30s,'40s and early '50s, it was a matter of course for rural Communist Party members to join the local Labour branch. During WW2, the Party infiltrated several key Labour branches in the main centres, sometimes even holding a majority on the committee.

Many Labour members were also active in Communist Party fronts, such as the Friends of the Soviet Union, until Labour finally banned the practice during the Cold War.

Several senior Labour Party figures began their careers in the Communist Party orbit.

Some of the better known include Onehunga MP Frank Rogers, Minister outside of Cabinet Eddie Isbey, Cabinet Minister Warren Freer, Attorney General Martyn Finlay, Minister of Maori Affairs Matt Rata and Ministers of Defence Frank O'Flynn and Bob Tizard.

To be fair though, National's Minister of Labour in the '60s, Tom Shand, was also allegedly a communist in his youth.

In the early '60s the Communist Party split into Soviet and Chinese factions.

The pro Soviet faction formed the Socialist Unity Party and concentrated it's strength in the trade union movement.

A much weakened but more fanatical Communist Party of New Zealand followed the Chinese line and gained strength in the student movement and the more violent factions of the anti Vietnam war campaign. The Communist Party of New Zealand also dominated in it's early stages the Progressive Youth Movement which actively recruited in the universities and was very visible in the Anti War and Anti-Apartheid movements.

In the early '70s the Communist Party of New Zealand lost some of it's senior cadres in Wellington and Auckland to a series of Maoist factions, one of which was led by Rona Bailey. The Communist Party of New Zealand virtually disintegrated after this and by 1980 had aligned with Stalinist Albania.

In 1994/5 the remnants of the Communist Party adopted Trotskyism and morhed into the organisation now known as Socialist Worker.

Part 2 Here Part 4 Here

Russia To Rule the Mediterranean?

When will the US finally dump the "Russia is our strategic partner" rubbish?

From Novosti


SEVASTOPOL, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia must restore its permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean to ensure the protection of its strategic interests in the region, the Navy commander said Friday.

"The Mediterranean is an important theater of operations for the Russian Black Sea Fleet," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said, adding that the fleet's zone of control extended through the Black and Mediterranean seas toward the Atlantic Ocean.

"We must restore a permanent presence of the Russian Navy in this region," the Navy commander said.

He called for closer cooperation with Ukraine, where the bulk of the Black Sea Fleet is currently based, and Turkey, which is an important regional leader.

Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in 1997 stipulating that the Black Sea Fleet's main base in Sevastopol, on the Crimean Peninsula, be leased to Russia for 20 years, with the possibility of extending the term.

The annual rent of about $100 million is deducted from Ukraine's debt for Russian energy supplies. In addition to the main base, the Black Sea Fleet maintains two airfields and a ship re-supply facility on the Crimean Peninsula.

He also said Ukraine should not worry about Russia's plans to reinforce its Black Sea Fleet, but should rather look for ways to expand naval cooperation with Moscow.

"The Russian and Ukrainian Navies could successfully cooperate in combat training, naval exercises and international operations," Masorin said.

Russian Navy Modernises, Expands

As Russia and China are friends now, who is all this hardware aimed at?

From Novosti


MOSCOW. (Nikita Petrov for RIA Novosti) - The Russian Navy will become the world's second largest in 20 years' time, said its commander-in-chief, Admiral Vladimir Masorin, speaking ahead of Navy Day.

He said the navy's core would consist of the newest strategic nuclear-powered submarines and six squadrons of aircraft carriers.

For Russia's navy, this will be its third modernization program, said the admiral. The previous two, although giving it a boost, were never completed. Now, said the admiral, there is such a chance.

Recently approved, a rearmament program until 2015 for the first time in Soviet and Russian history puts the development of the navy on an equal footing with strategic nuclear forces. Out of 4.9 trillion rubles ($192.16 billion) allocated for military rearmament, 25% will go into building new ships.

"We are already building practically as many ships as we did in Soviet times," First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said during a visit to Severodvinsk. "The problem now is not lack of money, but how to optimize production so that the navy can get new ships three, not five, years after laying them down."

Ivanov said Russia has a strategy for shipbuilding until 2030 under which warship production is to increase by 50%. For the first time in 15 years, a series of 40 frigates has been laid down, with no less than ten each for the Northern and Baltic fleets. In February 2006, after a 16-year break, the frigate Admiral Sergei Gorshkov had its keel laid down, a surface ship intended for long-range operations in distant seas. The navy has plans for about 20 such ships.

Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, a former commander of the navy, outlined their concept and the strategy for naval development they are to fit into: "We should abandon the existing multitude of ship and aircraft classes. Compact-sized fighting blocks going to make up ships should increase their fire power and reduce research and development costs."

The idea is to drop the use of specialized ships capable of fighting only submarines or aircraft carriers and to go over to multi-purpose fighting units meant to carry out a wide range of missions away from home. Such ships will be assembled from modular units, and their weapons and equipment will be unified for all types of combat craft. In the future, this will not only facilitate the provision of spare parts and ammunition, but also simplify maintenance, repairs and modernization.

Of special note are plans to build six aircraft carriers, which would make the Russian Navy the world second in terms of combat capability. The government program, however, does not provide for their construction before 2015. Nor is there mention of them in plans for the period until 2030. But during his recent trip to Severodvinsk, Ivanov was shown plans for a new $500 million dock designed to build large-tonnage ships at the Zvyozdochka ship repair yard. Earlier such large ships could only be built in Nikolayev, Ukraine. The dock, the Russian shipbuilding agency said, is needed to build gas carriers - ships to transport Russian liquefied natural gas to Western partners.

The same dock could also build aircraft carriers. At any rate, the project is already on the drawing board. Masorin said the craft would be a nuclear-powered ship not less than 100 meters long and would carry an air wing of 30 combat fighter jets and helicopters. But this is not going to be soon.

But modernization of existing vessels is only part of the rebuilding program. The Sevmash engineering plant at Severodvinsk is currently building a series of new fourth-generation submarines. These are Project 955 Borei boats. It is for them that the new Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile is being developed.

Experts believe the new nuclear submarines and "floating airfields" will mean a quantum leap for the Russian Navy and its combat capabilities.

How Socialist Extremists Took Over the New Zealand Labour Party Part 2

2. Recruitment and Demographics

New Zealand's Marxist-Leninist parties enjoyed their greatest recruitment periods in the era of the mid 60s to the mid 80s. This "Baby Boom" generation was the first generation of New Zealanders to enter the universities in large numbers. They are now the people at senior levels in New Zealand's political parties, trade unions, government departments, the media, churches, business, academia and community groups.


The "baby boomers" matured just as the West entered its most radical period since the '30s. New Zealand student and youth radicals, had a whole range of issues to get excited about.

They included:

1. The Vietnam War-Late '60's to Mid '70's.

2. The proposed, but cancelled 1972 Springbok Tour of New Zealand.

3. Solidarity with China, a series of student tours to China beginning in 1971.

4. The opposition to French Nuclear Testing in the Pacific-Early '70's to mid '90's.

5. Maori Landrights and Treaty of Waitangi issues - mid 70's to today.

6. The Springbok Tour of New Zealand-1981.

7. Solidarity with Nicaragua-Early to Late '80's.

8. New Zealand's Anti Nuclear stand-Early to Late '80's.

9. The Homosexual Law Reform Campaign-1985.

10. The proposed, but cancelled 1985 Springbok Tour of New Zealand.

11. Solidarity with the Philippines Revolution- Early '80's to today.

12. Opposition to US Warships/military presence-Late '60s to present.

All these campaigns were run and exploited by radicals to create a strong Anti-Western outlook among students and young people and served as a major recruiting base. At the heart of these movements were New Zealand's main Marxist-Leninist Parties.

Part 1 Here

Part 3 Here

Venezuelan Marxists Foster Indigenous Revolution

Just like the Soviets, Chinese and Cubans before them, the Marxist government of Venezuela is using indigenous people to spread socialist revolution.

From Mathaba


The First International Meeting of Anti-Imperialist Indigenous Peoples of America will be held in Venezuela from August 7-9, as part of the celebrations of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples

Caracas, July 31st (ABN).- Members of the Native Peoples of the continent will meet in the First International Meeting of Anti-Imperialist Indigenous Peoples of America that will take place in Venezuela on August 7th, 8th and 9th in Anzoátegui and Bolívar states.

The Minister of People’s Power for Indigenous Peoples, Nicia Maldonado, said Monday during a press conference held from Miraflores Presidential Palace that indigenous from 22 nations will attend the Congress.

The Minister explained that the event will be held on August 9th, as part of the celebrations of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, in accordance with the United Nations (UN).

The activities will start on August 7th in the auditorium of the Venezuela-state run company (PDVSA), San Tomé PDVSA, and the closing ceremony will be held in the Indigenous Community Pemón Kumarakapay, in Bolívar state.

Minister Nicia Maldonado stressed that the agenda includes the discussion of several proposals of the Indo-American Socialism as an integrationist alternative of the peoples.

Radicals Plan to Disrupt National Party Conference

This bunch of looneys and radicals plan to to disrupt the National Party conference in Auckland this weekend.

Let's hope some of the blue rinse ladies bring their brollies to beat the Bolsheviks black and blue.

From Whenua, Fenua, Enua, Vanua


ImagineNative Action, in collaboration with Radical Youth, is organising an action this weekend to protest the presence of Alexander Downer at the National Party Conference being held at the Langham Hotel in central Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland). We want to send a clear message to Alexander Downer and the National Party that we do not support the Australian Colonial Government's recent military/police invasion of Aboriginal Lands.

More importantly we wish to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of Occupied Australia as this plays a vital role in lifting the spirits of the Aboriginal People, strengthening their will to resist the colonial invasion and economic exploitation of their lands.

Saturday August 4th

2.30pm Mass demo against Downer and the National Party. Meet corner of Symonds Street and K'rd to march on the Langham Hotel, Symonds Street.

7.00pm: Disrupt Downer's Dinner.
Meet corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street, Auckland.

Bring musical instruments (especially taonga puoro - traditional Maori instruments) and noise makers. Some kai will be provided but donations are always welcome!

Since Don Brash resigned as National Party leader the National Party has put in a lot effort to convince us that they care about Tangata Whenua, the environment, and the poor of Aotearoa. Alexander Downer is a leading representative of a colonial government that has invaded Indigenous lands, supported similar actions in Indonesia and supplied troops to the invasion/occupation of Iraq. His government has publicly advocated using Aboriginal lands for large scale mining and nuclear waste dumping operations.

Downer's presence at the National conference clearly shows that National hasn't changed at all. It is still a party that endorses racism against indigenous people and represents the interests of the rich and powerful, at the expense of ordinary people and our whenua.

As it is likely that National will form the next colonial government of Aotearoa it is essential they know we will not tolerate racist and exploitative policies such as those enacted by Alexander Downer and his government.

Endorsed by:

ImagineNative Action
Radical Youth
Indonesia Human Rights Committee
A Space Inside: Tamaki Makaurau Anarchist Collective
Global Peace and Justice Auckland (GPJA)

Reminder: A planning and banner making session for this action is being held this Wednesday, August 1st from 7pm at 43 Warwick Ave, Westmere (Look for the Tino Rangatiratanga flag). Bring red, black and yellow paint, banner materials.
As always some kai will be provided but koha always welcome!

Mauriora!
na Te Kanikani Tangata Hara (ImagineNative Action) & Nila Yung (Radical Youth)

Chinway?

These people should know better.

From the Chinese Government website

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi met in Beijing Friday with Steve Van Andel, chairman of the Amway Corporation based in the United States.

China and the United States have enjoyed a sound development of economic and trade relations featuring stable two-way investment and broad cooperative areas, Wu said.

"Both Chinese and U.S. companies have made great efforts to establish healthy, stable growth of bilateral economic relations," Wu said, adding that she hoped Amway could continue to make contributions to the Sino-U.S. ties during its legal operations in China.

Echoing Wu's remarks, Van Andel said Amway actively supports the development of China-U.S. friendly cooperative relations and will try its best to be a model in the Chinese direct selling industry.

Graeme Hunt's "Spies and Revolutionaries"

Great news.

Graeme Hunt's book on subversion in New Zealand hit the bookshops yesterday.

This is the first major book on Kiwi communism, written from a critical point of view.

While communist subversion has been extensively exposed by serious writers in Europe the US and Australia, virtually all local books on the subject have been written by sympathisers, self glorifying "ex" communists, or relatives of Party members.

Hunt pulls no punches. He knows a traitor when he sees one.

This book will get the left in a lather. It will demolish the lies and myths communist apologists have been trying to build for 50 years.

It isessential reading for anyone who wants to really understand New Zealand politics in the 20th century.

New Zeal will examine aspects of the book in future posts.


From Scoop

The history of New Zealand's intelligence agencies and those it has spied on have been laid bare in a book by Auckland-based journalist, author, and historian Graeme Hunt.

Spies And Revolutionaries – A History of New Zealand Subversion details how several prominent New Zealanders, all of whom are dead, spied for the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Accusations and suspicions are laid bare before files and information that has never before been made public. This book will clearly recharge debate as to whether Dr Bill Sutch, diplomat Paddy Costello, and public servant Ian Milner were spies acting against New Zealand's national interest.

Hunt is firm in his resolve: "It is high time we called these people the traitors they are… People make light of the corrupting influence of the Soviet Union on New Zealand life, but Russian communism attracted friends in government departments, universities, and the unions with several committed to establishing a communist state here."

Spies and Revolutionaries is the first national history of espionage and revolutionary activity in New Zealand. It starts with the death of the Rev. Carl Volkner at Opotiki in 1865. He was murdered by his Maori congregation who considered him a government spy.

The book covers Russian scares, Fenian riots, politically inspired strikes, the 1981 Springbok rugby tour, and the peace and anti-conscription movements.

There is an account of French agents on New Zealand soil and their role in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985. The behaviour and status of Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui also features prominently.

Hunt says this book gave him the opportunity to research the history and development of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the civilian spy services that existed before it. Much of his research is drawn from recently released SIS files, many of which have not before been made public.

SRP: $29.99 ISBN: 9780790011400 340p, includes index, black and white photos Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd www.reed.co.nz Release: August 6 2007 For more, see… Reed Publishers, Spies And Revolutionaries