Did Anarchists "Flick Dick"?

If the Wellington anarchist community is wondering why I'm so "on their case" over their links to the "Urewera 17", here's my answer;

You buggers started it.

Here's an article from the October 1999 issue of the Christchurch based anarchist 'zine Thrall;

Anarchists in Wellington have launched a grassroots campaign to oust ACT leader Richard Prebble from his Wellington Central electorate.

The Flick Dick Coalition has brought together activists with no parliamentary political party links but who are united in their opposition to the New Right policies favoured by ACT.

They plan to use direct action tactics to discredit Prebble and alter the course of the election by ensuring he is not elected. If Prebble fails to retain his seat ACT will have no MPs unless they gain more than 5% of the party vote. National has agreed not to stand a candidate against Prebble to try and ensure he retains his seat.

The coalition believes Prebble is a dangerous henchman of the rich whose job is to push through even more extreme New Right policies designed to give big businesses a lift. He has retained this role since the 1980s, when as a Labour cabinet minister he sold off Telecom and other state assets at bargain basement prices.

You can contact the Flick Dick Coalition at P0 Box 6387, Te Aro, Wellington.

PO Box 6387 Te Aro has been used by the Libertarian Communists/Wildcat Anarchist Collective, Wellington Animal Action, Aotearoa Indymedia, Campaign Against McDonalds, Food Not Bombs, Wellington Animal Rights Network, National Anti Vivisection Campaign and Irrecuperable Press, the publishers of Toby Boraman's new book on anarchism in New Zealand.

Incidentally, Richard Prebble did lose his seat that year, but whether bolshie anarchists or boundary changes or were blame, who can say?

China Builds Influence in Cook Islands

China is using it's wealth to buy influence in our near neighbour, the Cook Islands.

From Cook Islands News

21 December: Government has decided to take China up on its $9.3 million 'soft' loan offer to cover the construction of the indoor sports complex and mini games facilities.

The low interest long term loan was offered by the People's Republic of China last month when a visiting delegation informed government that using grant funds already available would delay the construction of the complex.

Government has been under pressure from sports officials to have the complex built in time for the 2009 Pacific Mini Games.

The ministry of finance has recently had the job of minimising the estimated cost of the complex as well as looking at funding alternatives to the Chinese loan.

Finance treasury operations manager Priscilla Maruariki confirmed that financial secretary Sholan Ivaiti had met with the local banks to discuss loan options.
Maruariki says Ivaiti had relayed the fact that getting favourable interest rates from these banks was very unlikely.

It is understood the interest rates available would not have come close to the 2 percent interest offered by China.

Maruariki says while it is cheaper to borrow from China in terms of interest, there is a risk associated with the loan being in foreign currency. The soft loan will be in United States dollars.

Hat Tip Poneke's Blog

Happy New Year

I'm not a religious man, but this song never fails to move me.

Judy Collins does it beautifully.



The ultimate song of redemption and spiritual renewal to mark the New Year.

Ex Comrade Calls Loudon Out On Bombing Posts

I got an interesting email on Christmas morning.

It concerned a post I wrote on the 1984 Wellington Trades Hall bombing and another I wrote on late Wellington Socialist Unity Party member, Bert Shipp.


The bombing killed the building's caretaker, Ernie Abbott and was immediately and widely blamed on "right wing, anti union elements", though the murderer was never identified.

My theory is that the bombing was likely an "inside job", carried out, or commissioned by the SUP to gain sympathy for the union movement.

This theory was based around claims made during interviews with former SUP members.

I was told that Bert Shipp regularly boasted that he and another party member had been trained in bomb manufacture and sabotage techniques in the Soviet Union.

Secondly, one informant claimed to have attended a secret meeting, held immediately after the bombing.

This meeting was attended by several senior SUP and Labour Party figures-all prominent trade unionists.

The meeting was used to plan how the union movement could use the bombing to propaganda advantage.

My informant strongly suspected that the meeting was pre-arranged.

So, if the information is correct, the SUP had both the motive and the means.

Here's the email

Trevor

Up till now I've treated your blog as a source of amusement. Now I've read this I have to view your writings in a much harsher light.

I knew Bert Shipp well, yes I was in the SUP, and I knew Ernie. So did Bert. To imply that he may have had a part in this without him able to defend himself because he's dead is beneath contempt.

Yes the SUP had a hard nosed pragmatic approach to using current events to their advantage, but to make a wild jump from this meeting to saying they were behind the bombing beggars belief.

If your ex SUP source is who I think it is, then you have been dealing with a deluded individual who unfortunately was given too much creedence for too long because his mentor was a high ranking party official.

The only way you can even attempt to justify this scurrilous accusation is to name the names of both your source and the comrades involved in this meeting.

Anything else is just baseless innuendo and does you no credit.

an ex-comrade.

Firstly, I have no conclusive proof that the SUP were behind the bombing. My contact was called to a meeting already in progress, a very few minutes after the bombing.

There was no discussion of who was behind the attack, only how it could be used to benefit the union movement.

Bert Shipp regularly boasted of his sabotage training in the Soviet Union.

This was confirmed by an ex Party member in a comment on the post's thread. I suspect this comment came from TJ who was in the Lower Hutt branch and used to drink with Bert Shipp at the Panama Hotel.

With no proof whatsoever, the unions blame "rightwingers" for the murder to this day. Ernie Abbott has become a union martyr like Evans of Waihi in 1913.

If Bert Shipp and at least one other SUP member had bomb-making skills it shows the party had the means to carry out such an attack. Whether Bert Shipp was involved I do not know, but it does raise the question of why the SUP was training bombers at all? Certainly the party was not averse to criminal activity in other areas.

There is also doubt as to whether Ernie Abbott was actually the target. Whoever moved the suitcase first was a dead man. Was Ernie Abbott a marked man, or just unlucky-who knows?

I exposed Bert Shipp's claims to bomb-making expertise in a 1989 pamphlet which I circulated all over the country. He was still alive then-and I know the SUP studied my leaflet-but Bert Shipp did nothing.

I have interviewed several former SUP and Communist Party members, as well as some trade unionists, NZ/USSR Society activists etc-always keen to talk to more if you're interested.

As you well know, the SUP were not angels and well deserved attention from the SIS etc.

I have recently released the name of one of my informants in a magazine article published in Australia. I will probably publish parts of it on this blog. I am sure you will know the person and will email me your opinions.

My informant told the story of the meeting to several of my colleagues, who found it credible.

We checked out much else of what this person told us and found it to be kosher.

Perhaps I will publish the names at a later date-who knows?

If the story is bogus, those named have nothing to worry about.

If it is true-let them sweat.

Origins of the Anarchist/Maori Radical Alliance 4

Part 3 here

Around 2002/03, Maori Zapatista supporters from Aotearoa Educators and Wellington anarchists from the Committee to Establish Civilisation, formed the New Zealand branch of People's Global Action (PGA).

While PGA apparently didn't last long, the alliances it cemented eventually led to the arrest, in October 2007, of 17 people for allegedly attending "quasi-military" training camps in the Ureweras.

The "Urewera 17" were an alliance of Maori radicals and anarchist activists, all inspired by the indigenous/anarchist revolutionaries of Latin America-particularly the Mexican Zapatista rebels.

Their supporters come from the same circles, but also extend into the Green Party and to New Zealand's Trotskyist and Maoist organisations.

In September 2003, an alt-WTO conference was held in Wellington.

It was organised by the Alliance Party, but participants included anarchists, Greens, Maoists, Trotskyists and pro-Zapatista Maori radicals.

A key organiser was Alliance Party official and anarchist John Anderson.

This is an edited version of his account of proceedingsfrom Indymedia 9.9.03

alt-WTO: The Great Trade Debate

The "Great Trade Debate" kicked off with comrades Don Franks and Jill Brasell playing "Red Horse Flying"; a song about Mobil's blatant abuses in Aceh and of the Acehnese people.

The debate was chaired by Prue Hyman, who facilitated in the spirit of the left and progressive thought with skill, creativity, and respect...

The speakers were Rod Donald (Green Party), Robert Reid (Alliance), Suse Reynolds (Trade Liberalisation Network), and Alastair MacFarlane (Trade Liberalisation Network).

I can also now say, after seeing the calm, collected and ardent speakers holding the opposing view, that Rod and Robert, and many others in the audience and community, could win a debate with the proponents of "free trade" any time and anywhere.

alt-WTO: WTO and Sovereignty

After a brief break Simon and others began redefining the space that was being used, moving the chairs around to create a more inclusive space and setting up the area for the skit Helen Te Hira, Teanau Tuiono, and Kaye-Maree Dunn had arranged before the section they had prepared on "WTO and Sovereignty".

The session was run by members of the Tino Rangatiratanga movement, and Aotearoa Educators began with Simon helping them start the skit.

As I recall, Simon started by musing and singing Tim Finn's "Song of Parihaka" and thinking how Maori activists might talk to each other, then exited stage right.

Teanau, Kaye, and Helen then strolled on and settled down to korero with each other about sovereignty, the left and progressive movements, the WTO, the foreshore, and more.

alt-WTO: Globalisation, what next?

Sam Buchanan from Committee for the Establishment of Civilisation opened up his sobering salvo on the anti-globalisation movement after a short break....He followed through with the statement, and I hope I don't misquote, "If you don't believe we can win, then fuck off now!" He asserted that while left has massive differences, we need to fully express our future ? because the future we want is "so fucking amazing". Sam also drew on decades of experience as an anarchist, and had much to say about Seattle and the recent anti-war marches.

Nick Henry then moved on to discuss the ideas of People's Global Action, the use of words, and much more. An exciting development that Nick kicked off was to publicly initiate the debate on forming a new workers network.

I want to thank all the people who helped organise, contribute, and participate in alt-WTO: another world is possible. I would like to specifically mention the seemingly indefatigable Valerie Morse, Robert Reid, Dougal McNeil, and my loving
partner Ankh Spice. I would like to also particularly thank those who came from the Tino Rangatiratanga movement.

Here we see strands of the movement that begat the "Urewera 17" coming together.

Teanau Tuiono, Kay Maree Dunn and Helen Te Hira represent the Tino Rangatiratanga/Peoples Global Action strand. The "Simon" who helped them, was very likely "Urewera 17" arrestee Rongomai/Simon Bailey.

Robert Reid, Nick Henry and Helen Te Hira also represent the Maoist strand-Robert Reid is ex Workers Communist League, while Henry and Te Hira are both ex Radical Society and both involved in People's Global Action.

The late Rod Donald represented the Green Party anarchist strand, now represented by Nandor Tanczos, Meteria Turei and Kerry Tankard, which has been so supportive of the "Urewera 17" arrestees.

Don Franks and Dougall McNeill represent the Trotskyist strand was has also been very supportive of the "Urewera 17"

John Anderson, Sam Buchanan, Val Morse and Ankh Spice represent the anarchist/pro Zapatista strand which later contributed several members of the "Urewera 17".

The Committee for the Establishment of Civilisation dissolved not long after this conference with most of its activists moving into the already formed Wildcat Anarchist Collective.

Wildcat has long been based at 128 Abel Smith Street Wellington, which was raided by police on October 15th.

Of the "Urewera 17" arrestees, Emily Bailey, Rongomai/Simon Bailey, Tim/Ira Bailey, Val Morse and Marama Mayrick either had lived at, or were associated with that address-as is Sam Buchanan.

Another former CEC activist, now associated with Wildcat is also believed to have been linked to the Urewera camps.

Auckland "Urewera 17" arrestee, Omar Hamed is also an anarchist, with close ties to several inhabitants of 128 Abel Smith Street.

According to the New York based pro Zapatista blog Zapagringo;

A month ago, under New Zealand's 2002 Terrorism Suppression Act, over 300 police raided houses across the country seeking up to 60 activists in Aotearoa's Tino Rangatiratanga, peace and environmental movements. Among the 17 people arrested in the sweeps were some of these same founding PGA members, along with current Zapatista solidarity activists.

Marama Mayrick and Emily Bailey have both visited the Zapatista's stronghold in Oventic Mexico.

I suspect that Tim/Ira Bailey and Val Morse have also travelled to Mexico in recent times.

It is highly likely that several of the anarchists arrested on October 15th were active in the Committee for the Establishment of Civilisation and/or the local branch of People's Global Action.

Part 5 here

Carol Moseley Braun-Did Clinton Send Us A Socialist? Part 1

Former US ambassador to New Zealand (1999/2001) Carol Moseley-Braun has an interesting background.


Appointed by President Bill Clinton, Moseley-Braun was like her patron, a Democrat,

Like Barack Obama, who inherited her US Senate seat, Moseley-Braun was a veteran of the left side of the Chicago Democratic Party machine.

Born in 1947, Carol Moseley was raised by a medical technician mother a "socialist" father who worked as a guard in the Cook County Jail.

She was bused across Chicago to a segregated school and graduated from high school with honors.

While still in high school Carol Moseley staged a one-person sit-in at a restaurant that refused to serve her, succeeded in integrating an all-white beach and marched with Martin Luther King.

In 1978 Mosely-Braun won election to the state legislature.

Moseley-Braun became Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's legislative floor leader and sponsored bills to reform education, to ban discrimination in housing and private clubs and to bar the State of Illinois from investing funds in Apartheid South Africa.


Harold Washington was a lifelong Communist Party front operative and had been elected as Chicago's mayor in 1983, by a communist/socialist led black/white "liberal"/Latino coalition.

Moseley-Braun was also affiliated to at least one Communist Party front.

In November 1979 she was a co-sponsor of the founding conference of the US Peace Council, a CPUSA front and an affiliate of the Soviet controlled World Peace Council.

Moseley-Braun's Peace Council co-sponsors included US Congressmen John Conyers and Ron Dellums, both lifelong CPUSA front operatives.

In May 17th 1987 Moseley-Braun allegedly helped sponsor, with CPUSA leaders Angela Davis and Herbert Aptheker, a benefit for elderly Communist Party activists Claude Lightfoot and Jack Kling.

Also in 1987 Moseley-Braun joined Harold Washington's multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and gender-balanced "Dream Ticket" to successfully run for the office of recorder of deeds. Washington died in office shortly after the election.


While serving as recorder of deeds Moseley-Braun decided to run for US Senate in the 1992 election.

Like her mentor, Harold Washington, Moseley-Braun was supported by the Communist Party.

I quote CPUSA official Tim Wheeler writing in a 1999 issue of People's Weekly World on Chicago CPUSA chairman and Save Our Jobs (SOJ)committee leader, Frank Lumpkin;


Lumpkin also led SOJ into independent political action. They played an important role in the election of Harold Washington as mayor of Chicago, a historic victory over the most entrenched, reactionary political machine in the U.S. Bea (Lumpkin's wife) writes that "At that time, Washington and Lumpkin had a special relationship ... Washington seemed to draw strength from Lumpkin's participation. At meetings rallies, street encounters, whatever, Washington would call Frank over and say, 'When I see you, I know things are in good hands.'"

Lumpkin was later appointed by Harold Washington to taskforces on hunger and dislocated workers.

Wheeler continues;

SOJ was also an important factor in the election of Charles Hayes, African-American leader of the Meatcutters union, (a covert member of the CPUSA) to take the Congressional seat vacated by Washington, and the election of Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Part 2 here

Socialist Origins of the Pakistan People's Party

Here's a history of the origins of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party from the Labor Party of Pakistan.

The LPP is a Trotskyist organisation, so take into account their bias against the mainstream communists working through the PPP.

According to the LPP;

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was formed on September 1, 1967. Its program was radical socialist and a communist leader, J-A Rahim, had written its basic manifesto. Meantime, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appeared in political arena as a challenge to the Ayub dictatorship. The communists (both Stalinists and Maoists) were supporting the Ayub dictatorship while Bhutto was representing the masses' feelings.

Bhutto, himself a feudal lord from Sindh, had been a foreign minister in the Ayub Cabinet. Being an intelligent bourgeois politician, he raised the slogan of socialism and joined hands with some leftists to form the PPP. When the Ayub dictatorship started targeting Bhutto, he became a symbol of resistance,
strengthening his popularity and his grip on the party. In fact, the PPP's popularity was a sequel to 1968-69 revolutionary movements.

Even prior to the 1970s first ever-general election on adult franchise-basis, the masses had joined this party because of its socialist program. The Labour leaders who became powerful and strong because of the 1968's movement joined this party.

The Pakistani left as usual failed to understand the unfolding events. They found a radical bourgeois in Bhutto and started supporting Bhutto. Instead of organizing and launching class struggle, the left developed working class' illusions in Bhutto and the PPP. They reconciled with feudals and capitalists in the PPP and even presented them as leaders. Hence the PPP became a working-class party with feudals as its leaders who used socialist sloganeering. Instead of organizing the PPP on a radical socialist program, it was organized on bourgeois democratic basis, which led to a right wing turn by the party. It was again their ideology that stopped left organizing the PPP on revolutionary basis. The left, again, was working in Pakistan in line with the foreign policy of Moscow and Beijing.

When the PPP came to power in 1972, many communists joined the government.However, the PPP did not bring about any fundamental change, save some radical reforms. This disillusioned the working class. The proletariat took to the streets during the period of May-Sept 1972. The movement was especially strong in Karachi. The government decided to crush the movement. A demonstration of workers was fired on in Landhi, Karachi leaving dozens dead. This angered the communists who had joined this government. Some of them resigned in protest. Perhaps they had forgotten the fact that capitalist governments, no matter how at times radical they may appear, always repress the proletariat.

Disillusioned by Bhutto and the PPP, the left went looking for other more progressive bourgeois figures, leaving the working class, having illusions in PPP, at the mercy of its feudal and capitalist leaders.

The left failed to offer any alternative during this period. Hence when disillusionment grew, it was right wing religious fanatics and reactionary forces that became an alternative to the PPP. In 1977, a movement began against the government spurred by economic conditions and US intervention. he left did not understand the nature of the movement nor did it analyze the nature of the movement's leadership.

The left termed it a movement for democratic liberties and urged the working class to join it. In a statement from Hyderabad Jail on April 12, 1977 Miraj Mohammad Khan, Sher Mohammad Marri and Ata Ullah Mengal said: "We appeal to the workers, peasants, students, intellectuals and toiling masses to join the ongoing peoples movement which is a movement of democratic liberties. We believe this movement will rid our motherland of the dictatorship."

They hoped to rid 'our motherland' of 'dictatorship' through religious fundamentalists. Labelling the Bhutto regime as a dictatorship was incorrect, both socially and politically. And the hope of democracy from religious fanatics backed by the USA - was irrational.

Their illogical analysis and hopes were soon dashed to ground when in 1977 a real military dictatorship 'rid' the motherland of Bhutto's 'dictatorship'.It was the left that suffered worst of all during this military regime led by General Zia Ul Haq.

Marxist View of Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday in Rawalapindi.


The Pakistan People's Party, lead by Benazir's father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was originally socialist, with a strong communist influence.



In recent years the PPP has been reinfiltrated by Trotskyists from the Struggle organisation, aligned to the British based International Marxist Tendency.

At least three PPP MPs are Struggle members and the faction has considerable influence in the party in several regions.

Here are excerpts from the IMG's take on Benazir Bhutto's murder and its implications for Pakistan's future.

From the website, In Defence of Marxism

Pakistan: The assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Thursday, 27 December 2007

Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide bomb attack.

The leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had just addressed a rally of PPP supporters in the town of Rawalpindi when the attack took place. First reports talked of at least 100 killed in the attack, but more recent news put the figure at 15.

This murderous onslaught on the PPP came in the middle of an election campaign where, after years of military dictatorship, the masses were striving for a change. There was a wave of support for the PPP, which was sure to win National and provincial assembly elections that were due to be held on 8 January 2008.

The campaign was gathering strength, and the PPP Marxist wing was getting enthusiastic support for its revolutionary socialist message in places as far apart as Karachi and the tribal areas of Waziristan in the far north. These elections would have reflected a big shift to the left in Pakistan. This prospect was causing alarm in the ruling clique. That is what was behind today's atrocity.

This was a crime against the workers and peasants of Pakistan, a bloody provocation intended to cancel the elections that the PPP was sure to win and to provide the excuse for a new clampdown and the possible reintroduction of martial law and dictatorship. It is a counterrevolutionary act that must be condemned without reservation.

Who was responsible? The identity of the murderers is not yet known. But when I asked the comrades in Karachi, the reply was immediate: "it was the mullahs". The dark forces of counterrevolution in countries like Pakistan habitually dress up in the garb of Islamic fundamentalism. There are even rumours in circulation that Benazir was shot from a mosque, although the western media insist that the murder was the result of a suicide bomber.

Whatever the technical details of the assassination, and whoever was the direct agent of this criminal act, the threads of the conspiracy undoubtedly reach high up. The so-called Islamic fundamentalists and jihadis are only the puppets and hired assassins of reactionary forces that ere entrenched in the Pakistani ruling class and the state apparatus, lavishly funded by the Pakistan Intelligence Services (ISI), drug barons with connections with the Taliban, and the Saudi regime, always anxious to support and finance any counterrevolutionary activity in the world.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is just another expression of the sheer rottenness, degeneration and corruption that is gnawing at the vitals of Pakistan. The misery of the masses, the poverty, the injustices, cry out for a solution. The landlords and capitalists have no solution to this. The workers and peasants looked to the PPP for a way out.

Some so-called "lefts" will say: But Benazir's programme could not have provided the way out. The Marxists in the PPP are fighting for the programme of socialism - for the original programme of the PPP. But the masses can only learn which programme and policies are correct through their own experience.

The January elections would have give the masses an opportunity to advance at least one step in the right direction, by inflicting a decisive defeat on the forces of reaction and dictatorship. Then they would have had the possibility of learning about programmes and policies, not in theory but in practice.

Now it seems most likely that they will be denied this opportunity. The purpose of this criminal provocation is quite clear: to cancel the elections. I have not yet seen the response of the Pakistan authorities, but it would be unthinkable that the elections could now take place on 8 January. They will be at least postponed for some time.

What effect will this have upon the masses? I have just spoken on the phone to the comrades of The Struggle in Karachi, where they have been battling the reactionary thugs of the MQM in a fierce election campaign. They tell me that there is a general feeling of shock among the masses. "People are weeping and women are wailing in their houses: I can hear them now," the comrade said.

But the shock is already turning into anger: "There is rioting in the streets of Karachi and other cities. People are blocking the roads and burning tires." That is a warning to the ruling class that the patience of the masses is now exhausted. The movement of the masses cannot be halted by the assassination of one leaser - or by a thousand.

The masses always adhere to their traditional mass organizations. The PPP developed in the heat of the revolutionary movement of 1968-9, when the workers and peasants came close to taking power.

The dictator Zia murdered Benazir's father. That did not prevent the resurrection of the PPP in the 1980s. The forces of state terrorism murdered Benazir's brother, Murtazar. Then they exiled Benazir and installed a new dictatorship. That did not prevent the PPP from experiencing a new resurrection when 2-3 million people came onto the streets to welcome her back.

The masses will recover from the momentary shock and grief. These emotions will be replaced in time by anger and the desire for revenge. But what is needed is not individual revenge, but collective revenge. What is needed is to prepare the masses for a new revolutionary offensive that will tackle the problems of Pakistan by the roots.

The masses must protest the murder of the PPP leader through a national protest movement: mass rallies, strikes, protest demonstrations, culminating in a general strike. They must raise the banner of democracy. Against dictatorship! No more martial law! Call new elections immediately!

The PPP leadership must not capitulate to any pressure to delay the elections. Call the national and provisional elections! Let the people's voice be heard! Above all, the PPP must return its original programme and principles.

In the PPP's founding programme is inscribed the aim of the socialist transformation of society. It includes the nationalization of the land, banks and industries under workers control, the replacement of the standing army by a workers and peasants militia. These ideas are as correct and relevant today as when they were first written!

There is nothing easier than to take the life of a man or a woman. We humans are frail creatures and easily killed. But you cannot murder an idea whose time has come!

,

The Growing Anti-Western Alliance

Russia and China already have Iran in their pocket, but seek to draw India and Japan into their anti Western Alliance.

All the while posing as friends of the West, that is.

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said on Thursday that Iran has a special position in Russia's foreign policy.

Speaking to reporters, he said the two sides' leaders especially after the recent visit of Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Iran have called for bolstering of ties between the two countries.

Iran is regarded as Russia's most important and powerful neighbor, he said, adding that Russia gives priority to expansion of cooperation with Asian countries including Iran, China, India and Japan.

Mutual cooperation between Iran and Russia would help restore security to the region, he pointed out.

On international cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, he said the two countries have adopted close stands on international developments and are determined to pursue the same path.

"Urewera 17" Arrestee Supports Lakota "Freedom" Movement

Smush (short for smush capitalism)- is a member of the Aotearoa Indymedia editorial collective.

He is a Swiss national and an anarchist activist. He was arrested in the October 15th anti terror raids and is alleged to have attended "Quasi-military" training camps in the Ureweras. He still faces firearms charges.

Smush has name suppression.

Apparently he supports not just Tuhoe "liberation" but also the Lakota "freedom" movement.

Yesterday smush posted this on Indymedia

Lakota Freedom: Treaty Withdrawal For Elders and Children

Sovereignty Action Sparks World Discussion, Disagreement, Inspiration


Lakota - What began as sparsely attended press conference announcing Lakota sovereignty has grown into an international roar of freedom inspiring people on every continent and sparking excitement and discussion in homes, tribal councils, schools, and on internet blogs and message boards. Across Indian Country in particular, the impact of the sovereign action is creating both inspiration and concern as the reality of freedom sinks in.

Throughout our history and through the enforcement of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress said they would oversee the provisions of 1868 (Fort Laramie Treaty), but they failed to do so. Some minor provisions were kept, but overall the treaty was not honored. Because if the treaty was honored, we would not have this colonial catastrophe of alcoholism, drug abuse and poverty and we wouldn't have the overall high incarceration rate of the male and female in the prison populations. This leads to our children being taking away by Social Services which puts our children out of balance from learning the traditional lifeway.

When the children can reconnect with who they are, they come back to the process of knowing what is Lakota in the true point of view. In this true point of view Lakota is about being free and left alone, so we can govern and save our own with the teachings of the Animal Nations.

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have withdrawn from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at www.lakotafreedom.com.

Apparently smush's time in jail has not dimmed his enthusiasm for indigenous revolution.

Seek the "Truth"

After years in the wilderness, 120 year old "NZ Truth" is making a comeback as a hard-hitting crusading newspaper.


Truth lost its way around 1984 after then editor, the late Russell Gault left the paper.

Now under the able editorship of Jock Anderson, Truth is once again taking up the cudgels. Once again NZ truth is becoming a scourge of the left and political correctness.

The latest issue, hitting the streets today, carries a front page article on Tim Shadbolt's campaign against Labour's electoral Finance Act.

The article quotes Tim, David Farrar from Kiwiblog and John Boscawen.

Even better, Truth devotes the bulk of page 4 to an article on Greenpeace employing alleged Urewera military trainee, Kristin Gillies to lecture high school pupils on climate change.

The article also points out some Green Party/"Urewera 17" linkups through the Save Happy Valley Coalition.

Nandor Tanczos also gets a bit of a serve.

The article uses material from New Zeal and quotes yours truly.

So mosey on down to your local dairy and support the "Truth".

Uncle Trev's 2008 Wish List

David Farrar at Kiwiblog has tagged me to do an 8 point wish list for 2008.

Here it is. Forgive the little bit of cheating to fit it all in.

1 ACT gains enough seats in the 2008 election to have the option of forming a coalition government with National-without the Maori Party or NZ Future.

2 ACT leader Rodney Hide becomes Minister of Finance and presides over huge tax cuts and a dramatic reduction in the powers of the IRD. Housing prices continue to drop but the negative effects are ameliorated by the tax cuts.

3 ACT's Heather Roy gets a well deserved Cabinet post, preferably Health.

4 Stephen Franks gets back into Parliament on the National banner and becomes Minister of.......Education.

5 An ACT/National coalition repeals the anti smacking legislation and the Electoral Finance Act.

6 The Green Party and NZ First both fall below 5% of the vote and are eliminated from Parliament. The Greens go back to organic farming and use Winston as compost.

7 The world wakes up to China's intentions and boycotts the Olympic Games and issues a "touch Taiwan and you're history" ultimatum. The NZ China Free Trade Deal fails.

8 Hillary beats Barack for the US Democratic nomination and is then soundly defeated by a Republican, preferably Ron Paul.

PS The NZ Warriors to finally win the National Rugby League Grand Final.

I tag Not PC, Whaleoil, Clint Heine, Lindsay Mitchell and Stephen Franks.

Christmas Treat From Uncle Trev

One of greatest songs of all time...



From one of the greatest performers of all time.

Clark Embraces Beijing Butchers

From the Communist Party of China website

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark on Saturday exchanged greetings on the 35th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations.

In his message, Wen said that China and New Zealand have been pushing bilateral ties to move on a sound, positive track on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit since the two nations established diplomatic ties 35 years ago.

The good relations have brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, and contributed greatly to peace, stability and development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, Wen said.

He expressed China's readiness to join hands with New Zealand to further enhance the friendly exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and strive for still greater development of bilateral ties.

Clark said in her message that the past 35 years have laid a solid foundation for bilateral ties, with the two nations getting closer than ever in political communication, economic cooperation, and cultural exchanges.

She expressed the hope that New Zealand could form long-term and broad-based cooperation with China on issues that bear on the interests of both countries and their region, and pledged continued efforts to promote the growth of relations between the two countries.

Some Propaganda For Your Chrissie Stocking

Here's some propaganda for your Chrissie stocking.

Eat your goose while listening to people who wanted to cook yours.

From Indymedia


Burn this CD: responses to October 15


CD organisers Maraea Rakuraku and Alice Te Punga Somerville

Saturday marked the launch of a CD set entitled ‘Burn this CD: responses to October 15’. The two CD set includes the voices of poets, writers, activists and people directly affected by the police raids around the country on October 15.

The raids directly attacked the village of Ruatoki in Tuhoe country, invading homes and holding people captive while being interrogated.

The CD was a way for many people to put their feelings and analysis into words. It contains a wide range of voices such as activist and artist Tame Iti, writer Hinemoana Baker, VUW lecturer and writer Maria Bargh, Kanaky activist Susanna Ounei , Pala Molisa and poet Teresia Teaiwa. The two women organisers of the CD, Maraea Rakuraka (Ngati Kahungunu, Tuhoe) and Alice Te Punga Somerville (Te Ati Awa) also perform on the CD.

The kaupapa of the CD is commodity free. It cannot be bought or sold. The idea is to get the ideas and messages out. The launch party was a mix of readings, singing and enjoying good kai.

Merry Christmas

To all my readers




Have great Christmas with your friends and family.

China Caught Spying In Hawaii

One more reason to oppose free trade with China.

From the Washington Times

China's intelligence service gained access to a secret National Security Agency listening post in Hawaii through a Chinese-language translation service, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The spy penetration was discovered several years ago as part of a major counterintelligence probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) that revealed an extensive program by China's spy service to steal codes and other electronic intelligence secrets, and to recruit military and civilian personnel with access to them.

According to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, China's Ministry of State Security, the main civilian spy service, carried out the operations by setting up a Chinese translation service in Hawaii that represented itself as a U.S.-origin company.

The ruse led to classified contracts with the Navy and NSA to translate some of the hundreds of thousands of intercepted communications gathered by NSA's network of listening posts, aircraft and ships.

NCIS agents discovered that the translation service, which officials did not identify by name, had conducted contract work for the National Security Agency facility at Kunia, an underground electronic intelligence post some 15 miles northwest of Honolulu that conducts some of the U.S. intelligence community's most sensitive work.

Naval intelligence officials familiar with the Chinese spy penetration said the access to both "raw" and analyzed intelligence at Kunia caused significant damage by giving China's government details on both the targets and the sources of U.S. spying operations. Such information would permit the Chinese to block the eavesdropping or to provide false and misleading "disinformation" to U.S. intelligence.

Iran and China's "Common Enemy"

From Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here on Sunday stressed that expansion of Tehran-Beijing relations would benefit both nations.

While receiving the credentials of the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Tehran, Xie Xiaoyan, the Iranian president said, "Such relations will also benefit global peace and security."

He urged the two governments "to make use of the existing potentials in both states to help further expand bilateral cooperation".

Referring to bright prospect of Tehran-Beijing ties, he said, "The two great nations enjoy rich culture and history."

"The common enemies of the two nations are against progress and development of both Tehran and Beijing," President Ahmadinejad noted, urging the two nations to be vigilant and seize all the existing opportunities.

The Chinese ambassador, for his part, said, "The two countries share identical views regarding several regional and international issues." Such an approach would pave the way for further expansion of bilateral relations, he added.

Answering Sam Buchanan on Markets and Ideas

Wellington anarchist Sam Buchanan posed an interesting question a few posts ago.

I note your judging the passing on of information you disagree with as 'indoctrination'. From a libertarian perspective, one would expect an acceptance that everyone has a different viewpoint and these should be accepted as part of the grand 'free-market of ideas'. Care to comment?

This is how I see it Sam.

Indoctrination is the aggressive pushing of ideas on someone rendered vulnerable by youth, lack of education, poor intellect, sleep deprivation, drugs, torture, deliberate censoring of other viewpoints, lying or any combination of the above.

Greenpeace for example targets the young, lies as a matter of course and attempts to shut out competing ideas-indoctrination.

The North Korean's use virtually all of the above.

While I believe in a free market of ideas, that does not mean mean all ideas are equal, or that none are beyond criticism.

I'm sure you'd agree with me that the ideas of Ayn Rand (Alice Rosenblum)are not equal in value to those of Rosa Luxemburg, or the ideas of Christ worth the same as the ideas of Kropotkin?

We might disagree on the relative value of those ideas, but I am sure you would agree that all ideas are not equally valid.

One reason I love free markets (economically, socially, philosophically) is that ideas may be freely tested against reality.

All things being equal, good ideas do better in free markets than bad ones. That is because people can try them and observe the unvarnished result.

Truth can best be discovered by testing ideas fairly and squarely in the real world.

If the ideas market is distorted by state intervention of any form, truth becomes harder to discern and lies become more widespread.

That's why so much bullshit comes out of academia. Many academics, particularly in state run universities, are shielded from market realities.

Therefore they can and do promulgate the most stupid ideas with no negative economic or social consequences.

In short I believe in freedom of ideas, but I also believe in freedom to criticise those ideas.

You can't have one without the other.

Maori Seperatists Support Lakota Seperatists

Maori seperatists are very interested in the Lakota declaration of independence.

From Indymedia

Kia ora koutou Lakota Sioux People of the Nation.

May the Spirits of Your ForeFathers Guide the Pathway to the Future

Stand Tall and Proud Lakota Sioux Indian Nation: The Indiginess Cultures of the World will be and will offer their Strenght & Support to your Nation of people in all Sovereign Treaty dishonors set at the hands of the US Government.The Maori People of Aotearoa also support and offer our wairua to the Lakota Sioux Indian Nation now and always.

Patrick's Dunford's New Blog

Another good Christchurch blog.

Patrick Dunford attacks socialism and promotes freedom from a Christian perspective at His Name Is Freedom

Always worth a read.

Russel Means' Maori Connection

Russell Means has a New Zealand Maori Connection.

In the early '90s he visited New Zealand and was much impressed by the Kohanga reo, or total immersion Maori language schools.

So impressed that Means established a similar school for Lakota children on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.


The T.R.E.A.T.Y. Total Immersion School in an innovative solution to a centuries old challenge.
• How to educate our children with joy, respect and wonder.
• How to instill in children self-respect and ignite the spark of life long learning.

It is based on the successes achieved by the Total Immersion School experience of the Maori Peoples in New Zealand. This unique program created a revolutionary approach to teaching by focusing on culturally centered private schools for grades K through 3 for the indigenous population.

Total Immersion into the root cuture's language, art, dance, music, science and oral tradition grounded the children in their identity and rich heritage. The self-esteem engendered through these private schools empowered the Maori children to succeed at the top levels of academia and athletics after they entered public schools.

The successes were so remarkable the government of New Zealand adopted the concept throughout the country and established over 180 Kindergarten through third grade Immersion Schools.

Kohanga Reo are in my view, a form of Apartheid and a nursery for Maori seperatism and revolution.

No wonder Russell Means thinks they are so worth copying.

Lakota Declare independence From US-Will Maori Imitate their Tactics?

For many years New Zealand Maori radicals and North American Indian activists have been building revolutionary ties.


Now the Lakota Sioux, lead by Russell Means of American Indian Movement fame have declared independence from the US.

Already they are soliciting recognition from the embassies of neo-communist Venezuela, Bolivia, South Africa and socialist Chile.

I'm betting that Tuhoe or other Maori tribes will try similar stunts in the coming years.

From Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.

The treaties signed with the United States are merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists say on their website.

The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the reborn freedom movement says.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.

Micronesia Opens Embassy in Beijing

From Xinhua

BEIJING, Dec. 21 -- Micronesia opened its embassy in China Friday, over 18 years after the two countries established their diplomatic relations. Visiting Micronesian President Emanuel Mori attended the opening ceremony in Beijing.

"We hope to improve cooperation with China, especially in the fields of economy and technology," Mori said.

"I believe China will become the global trade center... As a developing country, Micronesia wishes to benefit from China's development," he said.

Mori also reiterated the country's adherence to the one-China policy.

Hat Tip Zionist Anticommunist

Chinese Influence in the Cook Islands

Poneke has posted a very good article about the growing Chinese influence in the Cook Islands.

China is obviously competing with Taiwan for influence in the region. To most New Zealanders this is just diplomatic game-playing.

To Taiwan however it is a matter of national survival.

For new Zealand also it should be a matter of major concern.

From Poneke

I scarcely saw any Chinese people during my recent stay but the growing Chinese influence in the Cook Islands was the subject of considerable debate. As well as the court house and police station, China has offered to fund a new stadium and a major sports event in 2009. Many people were asking why China would bestow such munificence on such a tiny South Pacific island nation so distant from China.

But I am surprised there has been no coverage whatsoever here of the farewell speech given in Rarotonga a few days ago by the departing New Zealand high commissioner John Bryan, which received considerable publicity in the Cooks because of his candid thoughts on the China connection...

As the daily newspaper, the Cook Islands News, put it, career diplomats seldom express their views on important issues in public, so Bryan’s comments were all the more remarkable and worthy of reporting by the New Zealand media.

“People are saying there is no such thing as a free lunch so what do the Chinese want in return for the assistance they are providing?” Bryan said. “There are lots of ideas floating around, including them wanting access to Cook Islands fishing grounds, the establishment of a fishing fleet in the northern group and the facilitation of migrants. May be there is an ounce of truth in that.”

But what John Bryan believes to be China’s main interest is the Taiwan issue. There is great rivalry between China and Taiwan, the province that broke away after Mao’s communists took over the mainland in 1949 and which was recognised by most Western countries as the “official” China until the early 1970s.

Some countries still recognise Taiwan rather than China, including Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. Almost unnoticed by the New Zealand media, China and Taiwan have been quietly competing for influence in the region, in much the same way, though not as nakedly, as Japan has been trying to buy the votes of Pacific nations at the International Whaling Commission. This makes it all the more disappointing that the New Zealand media missed John Bryan’s speech.

Let me report what he said: “I think it comes down to the bitter rivalry that exists between China and Taiwan in securing diplomatic recognition across the Pacific. China advocates, and most members of the United Nations agree, that Taiwan is still a legitimate province of the mainland. Taiwan likes to think they are ‘autonomous’ and can operate accordingly. Several Pacific nations agree with them and they all have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

China would, of course, prefer these countries to respect the one China policy and they continue to try and persuade them to change allegiance. Some argue that this situation is the cause of what is commonly referred to as ‘chequebook diplomacy’ in the Pacific, where the one with the highest financial offering tends to win the battle for diplomatic recognition.

Naturally China is concerned that the Pacific island countries that currently support China, including the Cook Islands, might also be courted by Taiwan and be persuaded to change diplomatic recognition. That is why I think they are enhancing their relationship with the Cook Islands and offering tangible assistance. Also, China sees the Cook Islands as having a very good reputation in the region and that they might have the ability to influence those Pacific countries who currently acknowledge Taiwan to change their diplomatic position towards China.”

Suspicion Enough To Seize Property?

I'm all for fighting crime-but not this way.

From the Dominion Post

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the courts can seize assets amassed through criminal activity. These are then sold and the money goes to the Crown.

In the past 12 years, $14.3 million has been paid to the Crown. In comparison, New South Wales has seized more than $100 million in the past 14 years.

The law has been criticised as too weak, requiring proof that assets were acquired by crime profits.

The Government is introducing new powers to up the stakes, lowering the threshold for proving the assets were obtained through criminal activity.

The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill, now before a select committee, will allow courts to seize property even if a suspect is not convicted. The onus will be on the criminal to prove it was legally obtained.

Hat Tip NZ Conservative

China Moves on Micronesia

The Pacific is rapidly becoming the new Red (Chinese) Sea.

From Xinhua.net

BEIJING, Dec. 20 -- China on Thursday vowed to boost bilateral relations with Micronesia, proposing to cement two-way cooperation in areas such as trade, fisheries, public health, sports and tourism.

"China-Micronesia relations have already entered into an important stage of development," said Chinese President Hu Jintao during his talks with visiting Micronesian President Emanuel Mori at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.

Highlighting the recent growth of the bilateral relations, Hu said the two countries should fortify political mutual trust, economic cooperation and friendship to forge joint efforts with the aim to promote peace, cooperation and development in the world.

He also expressed his appreciation to the importance Micronesia attached to the ties with China and the country's adherence to the one-China policy.

Mori said Micronesia-China relations were founded on the basis of mutual respect. Micronesia would continue its efforts to work closer with China in the areas of transport, clean energy, fisheries and private business.

He also stressed that the one-China policy composed the basis of Micronesia's foreign policy and his country would unswervingly stick to it.

Mori arrived in China on Dec. 16 at the invitation of Hu.

Hat Tip Zionist AntiCommunist

South Africa On The Zimbabwe Road?

The South African Communist Party has scored a double victory.

Their ally Jacob Zuma is new president of the African National Congress and almost certainly the next South African president.

the SACP's National chairman, Gwede Mantashe has secured the powerful post of ANC General Secretary.

The SACP now controls all the major political structures in the "new" South Africa.

From the SACP website

19 December 2007

The SACP congratulates the newly elected national officials of the ANC, led by President Zuma. We also wish to congratulate our National Chairperson, Cde Gwede Mantashe, for his election to the important position of Secretary General of the ANC. In this he follows in the footsteps of other outstanding Communist stalwarts of the past, like comrades Moses Kotane, JB Marks and Dan Tloome, who have served concurrently as officials of both the Party and ANC.

ANC delegates to this historic 52nd National Conference have voted in large numbers for change and renewal within the leading formation of our tripartite alliance. Delegates have affirmed their conviction that the ANC belongs to its membership. We congratulate these thousands of delegates for refusing to be swayed by all manner of blandishments foreign to the culture of our movement.

The SACP believes that the electoral renewal of ANC leadership provides a platform on which to rebuild our alliance around a shared programme of action. For too long, intra-alliance relationships have been marked by recriminations and stand-offs. We warmly welcome the ANC Conference commitment to holding an Alliance Summit within three months.

ANC delegates have sent a clear message, but the electoral outcome of this conference does not mean that the underlying challenges of our society have gone away – poverty, unemployment, deepening inequality. As an alliance leadership, we will be failing the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of ANC branch delegates if we do not use the new reality as a platform to address with an even greater sense of urgency and determination these realities that impact upon millions of South Africans.

The resolutions that the ANC is taking at this conference, following on the June National Policy Conference, are, therefore, as important as the leadership elections. In particular, the SACP warmly welcomes emerging policy perspectives on industrial policy, a strong developmental state, an accelerated land and agrarian reform programme, and measures to address unemployment. What is needed now is much greater determination to drive forward these transformational, progressive policy perspectives, using the state and popular organization, participation and mobilization.

The slow Zimbabweanisation of South Africa is about to accelerate.

Communist Party's Favoured Candidate to Lead South Africa?

Jacob Zuma has just become the new president of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress.


This means that Zuma will almost certainly become South African president when Thabo Mbeki steps down in 2009.

Zuma is a hardline leftist with impeccable revolutionary credentials.

From Wikipedia
He (Zuma)involved himself in politics at an early age and joined the African National Congress in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1962, following the banning of the ANC in 1960.

In 1963, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in the western Transvaal, currently part of the North West Province. Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and other notable ANC leaders who were also imprisoned there.

After his release, he was instrumental in the re-establishment of ANC underground structures in the Natal province.

He left South Africa in 1975, based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique, and dealt with the arrival of thousands of exiles in the wake of the Soweto uprising.

He became a member of the ANC National Executive Committee in 1977. He also served as Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, a post he occupied until the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican and South African governments in 1984. After signing the Accord, he was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC.

Zuma was forced to leave Mozambique in January 1987 after considerable pressure on the Mozambican government by the PW Botha regime. He moved to the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter Chief of the Intelligence Department.

He served on the ANC's political and military council when it was formed in the mid-1980s.

Zuma's main backers in the battle for the ANC presidency were the the ANC Youth League, the Young Communist League, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party.

In effect this means SACP backing as the latter organisation controls the three former.

Left Controlled Mega-Union To Form

Three extreme left controlled unions are to merge into one mega-union.

Very bad news for New Zealand's economic and political future.

From the New Zealand Herald

Three of New Zealand's most aggressive unions have agreed to merge into what will be the country's biggest private sector union.

The Service and Food Workers Union, National Distribution Union and Unite Union will have a total of 54,000 members, about 7000 more than the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).

The EPMU spurned a Service and Food Workers request for a merger early this year, throwing it into the arms of the two smaller unions. The executives of the three merger partners approved the deal in principle last week.

The new union, as yet unnamed, will be Auckland-based and targeted at low-paid workers in fast-growing service sectors such as retailing and hospitality where unions currently represent fewer than 5 per cent of all workers.

Unite general secretary Matt McCarten, who has grown his membership five-fold in the past two years through a media-savvy "Supersize my Pay" campaign, said he wanted the new union to double its numbers within a year to easily surpass the country's biggest union, the 55,000-member Public Service Association.

"It's not just about a union getting bigger. It's about getting the critical mass," he said.

"I think what it will become is the catalyst to organise other unions around it with a campaigning union approach around social justice issues.

"In my view I'd want it doubled within 12 months. The others all think that's ambitious but I think we could do it, easy.

"I think workers don't have a problem with joining a union at all. What we need is the capacity to meet their needs - that's what has held us back."

The new union will start with a combined income of $15 million a year. Mr McCarten has bolstered Unite's income through partnerships with Te Wananga o Aotearoa and the United Credit Union and is looking at new schemes such as a "union card" offering discounts with retail partners.

He said the new union would offer "membership for life" which individuals could carry with them between jobs, and he hoped it would dedicate 15 to 20 per cent of its budget to supporting workers who were not members of any union.

"I think workers will feel quite positive if they know that 20 per cent of their money goes to workers who are not in unions but need support, and after that they will join," he said.

National Distribution Union national secretary Laila Harre said the union would start recruiting in high schools to give young people somewhere to get advice even before they signed their first employment contracts.

"I hope we come up with a category of membership that every mum and dad will want to give their kids for Christmas," she said.

Poneke's Blog

Have added Poneke's Blog to the roll.

Excellent writing with a focus on justice issues.

Definitely worth a read.

Tame Iti's Cousin?

Posted on subversive maori website Aotearoa Cafe.

Trev Lewdon - Welcome back | | 2007-12-18 09:46:07

Hi all, my name is trev and I have a small penis.

Reply

Te Manu | Registered | 2007-12-19 08:07:54

Kia ora Trev, still feel welcome to korero here mate, even with your raho iti..as far as I know there hasnt been a restriction on raho size to korero on the Aotearoa Cafe. : but I could be wrong. Yeah and honesty is a good thing mate, but some things are left better not said.

What's Tame Iti's cousin got to do with the size of my wotsit?

If it was someone from Rangi Kemara's whanau, I could understand the comparison-he being 140Kg an' all.

Nandor Tanczos on Anarchism

Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos has been an anarchist since his teens.


But what does anarchism mean to Nandor?

Here are some quotes from an article "Anarchism and the Real World" Mr Tanczos wrote for the Waikato student newspaper Nexus (17th July 1989 p12,13).

The anarchism I agree with most is anarcho-syndicalism ("syndicalism" meaning revolutionary unionism)....

Anarcho syndicalism, to me, is organised anarchism, libertarian socialism.

Rather than sit back and wait for "The revolution"...anarcho-syndicalism was born when anarchists got their hands dirty in the day-to-day class war-as agitators, educators and organisors.

Real change will never occur on the say-so of smiling judges, top-cops or multinational murderers. A free society will only be built on the ruins of class rule and the laws that protect it....

Anarchism is seen in practice as the most militant and practical section of the working class movement.

Anarchism is not a game. It's a movement based on class struggle, against class society, for the liberation of all humanity...

And I thought Nandor Tanczos was just a peace loving Rasta... No wonder Mr Tanczos is not that keen to talk to police.

GP File 7 Tia Taurere, Tanczos, "Terrorist" Ties

Tia Taurere is a Greenpeace communications officer. She is also linked to a network of radicals, many of whom are connected to the "Urewera 17."


Tia Taurere's Bebo page (now private) lists her friends-many are radicals and some are involved in the "Urewera 17" or its support network.

Key friends listed include "Urewera 17" arrestees Tame Iti and Rangi Kemara.

Others include Taurere's best friends Teanau Tuiono and Kiritapu Allan, both of whom had their homes searched by police in the October 15th swoop.

Also named is Annette Sykes (Tame Iti's lawyer) and her former partner, Maori radical Mike Smith.

Two further activists are listed, both of whom were named in the leaked police affadavit as allegedly being connected to the Urewera "quasi military" training camps.

One is the daughter of well known Taranaki based activist. The other is a former business partner of one of those arrested.

Another "friend" has the same very distinctive Christian name (missing one vowel at the end) as another person named on the police affadavit, but never positively identified.

Interestingly two pakeha anarchists are also listed as "friends".

One is former Green Party worker, Rayna Fahey, who now works closely with Melbourne base "Urewera 17" solidarity activist, Sina Ana Brown-Davis.

The last is none other than Green Party MP, Nandor Tanczos, Rayna Fahey's former boss.


In January 2006, Nandor Tanczos wrote on a Green Party forum;

If we say 'well Pakeha have the power now, so tough' and base our occupation on simple domination, then we have to prepare ourselves for permanent civil unrest and eventually when the demographics change enough, for outright war. I have spoken to people who see this as the future, and it frightens the hell out of me.

When challenged by NZ Truth to tell police what he knew, Tanczos backpedalled, stating it would be a "waste of time".

Further, Mr Tanczos denied knowing any of those arrested in the October anti terror raids except Tame Iti.

This was despite of being photographed on February 14th 2006 holding a Save Happy Valley banner in the grounds of Parliament with Val Morse, one of the country's most well known activists and an "Urewera 17" arresteee.

Mr Tanczos clearly knows Tia Taurere well enough to link back to her Bebo page.

Tanczos also links to Tame Iti's lawyer Annette Sykes and to the wife of an activist named in the police "Urewera 17" affadavit.

Does Mr Tanczos know more than he is letting on, or is this just all unfortunate coincidence?

Tyrants Targeted

The Free Speech Coalition is targeting those politicians who voted for the Electoral Finance Bill, with a billboard campaign.






Help the campaign, donate here.

Shame

From Kiwiblog

The FSC put out this press release this afternoon:

The Free Speech Coalition, set up to campaign against the Electoral Finance Bill, is sad that MPs from Labour, NZ First, and the Greens have ignored the massive public sentiment against the bill.

The Act discourages individuals and groups from participating in the electoral process and spending their own money, while at the same time allows MPs and parliamentary parties to far more easily use taxpayer funds on their election campaigns and not even have it count towards their spending limits. It is the ultimate act in hypocrisy.

The MPs have

• Ignored the Law Society’s advice that the Bill should be scrapped
• Ignored the Human Rights Commission opposition to the regulated period, and their request to allow the public to submit on the amended Bill
• Ignored the NZ Institute of Charted Accountant’s advice that the Bill is unworkable
• Ignored the Electoral Commission’s advice on spending limits
• Failed to provide legislative certainty around the exemptions for MPs
• Protected anonymous donations with massive loopholes which may result in less, not more, disclosure
• Continually misrepresented key clauses of the Bill

“New Zealand has no written constitution. At the end of the day 61 MPs in Parliament can pass any law they like, no matter how repugnant. Previously constitutional conventions have protected Acts like the Electoral Act, but the passage of the Electoral Finance Bill sees the demise of that convention.” said spokesperson David Farrar.

“We hoped the parties supporting this Bill would listen to the near universal opposition from the media, from the legal profession, and from the public and do the right thing. Sadly they have chosen not to.

“We do not believe there should be no consequences for those parties which passed the Electoral Finance Act into law. The NZ Herald correctly labeled it as an “Attack on Democracy” and we believe it is time for Democracy to attack back.

“The Free Speech Coalition will commence an advertising campaign tomorrow against parties and MPs which voted for the Electoral Finance Act. This campaign will continue into 2008. A media advisory with details of the campaign will be released tomorrow.

New Zeal

Thanks to David Farrar, Cameron Slater, John Boscawen and the thousands of others who have worked their guts out to defeat this Bill.

Thanks to National, ACT and the Maori Party who voted against the Bill.

Shame on Labour, the Greens and NZ First for voting for this abomination. May you all be decimated at the polls in 2008.

Utter contempt for Peter Dunne of United Future, who withdrew support for the Bill at the last moment after supporting it for months.

Gutless, unprincipled, snivelling little swine.

GP file 6 Kingi Taurua, Greenpeace and the "Urewera 17"

Yet another activist linked to both Greenpeace and the "Urewera 17" is Ngapuhi elder, Kingi Taurua.

Mr Taurua's home was searched during the October 15th anti-terror raids on the strength of intercepted messages from Tame Iti.

From the Northern Advocate 17.10.2007


Ngapuhi kaumatua Kingi Taurua was shocked when police grilled him over invitations from Tuhoe activist Tame Iti to participate in Urewera bush training camps.

Iti was one of 17 people arrested on Monday as armed police swooped in raids on suspected weapons training camps.

"The police got on to me over a text message from Tame telling me about a meeting at Ruatoki," Mr Taurua told The Northern Advocate yesterday.

He said Iti had contacted him three or four times last year, asking him (Taurua) to use his soldiering skills to teach young people about survival in the bush.

Mr Taurua, who had served "in the jungle" with the NZ Army in Vietnam, was willing to teach bushcraft, but other commitments had prevented him from attending the proposed training sessions.

Mr Taurua said he had been unable to sleep and had butterflies in his stomach after police contacted him.

"I was shocked because I didn't know what it was all about," he said.

"I still don't know if the (alleged terrorist training) claims are true, but I do know Tuhoe kids go into the bush to learn to hunt and care for rifles. I spoke to a Tuhoe guy the other day and he said hunting was their bread and butter."

Mr Taurua's claims of innocence may well be true, after all he is a respected Ngapuhi elder, broadcaster and chairman of the Waitangi Marae.

Mr Taurua is an Amorangi (Spiritual leader) and a spokesperson for the council of elders of Ngapuhi. He has served as a cultural advisor to the New Zealand government on many issues including advisor and supervisor for the making of Maori welfare policy.

However Mr Taurua has also been a militant activist and has supported some interesting causes.

I quote from Challenge, June 14th 2000, newspaper of the US based Revolutionary Communist Progressive Labor Party, commenting on George Speight's recent coup in Fiji.

"In New Zealand...several leaders of the indigenous Maori minority have voiced support for Mr. Speight....One radical Maori leader, Kingi Taurua, said that a Maori-led coup in New Zealand could occur if the government did not act to recognize indigenous rights.

The several leaders referred to were probably Tame Iti and Tauni Sinclair who travelled to Fiji to support Mr Speight.

In the early '00s Mr Taurua was a leader of a Ngapuhi group who protested against the building of a new prison at Ngawha in Northland.

"Urewera 17" IT man, Rangi Kemara was also involved in this protest action.

In April 2004, Mr Taurua and artist Richard Nunns performed in the annual Spring Friendships Arts Festival held in Pyongyang, North Korea. The visit, which also included China was arranged by the Rev. Don Borrie, Chairman of the NZ-DPRK Friendship Society.

“Apart from introducing NZ music, with a distinctly Maori flavour, to Korean audiences, we see this as an excellent way of contributing to people-to-people linkages, breaking down barriers of misunderstanding, and helping build a more peaceful, and prosperous, world” said Rev. Borrie.

In February this year Teanau Tuiono and Kiritapu Allan (both of whose homes were searched by police on October 15th) were refused permission to fly the Maori Tino Rangatiratanga flag off Auckland

From the New Zealand Herald

Maori broadcaster and Ngapuhi kaumatua Kingi Taurua insisted last night that the Maori independence flag would fly from the Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.

"They have made a big mistake," Mr Taurua said of Transit's decision to deny Maori permission to fly the flag from the bridge.

"Let me tell you, we will get that flag up that pole one way or another."

He said the issue had raised the ire of many Maori, with meetings planned today to force the issue.

"We are going to fly that flag on the Harbour Bridge. I don't know how yet but we will fly our flag.

The flag was "flown" a few months later when Greenpeace activist (friend of Tuiono and Allan) and "Urewera 17" support activist, Tia Taurere bungee jumped off the bridge wrapped in the revolutionary flag.

In 2005, Mr Taurua worked closely with Greenpeace in the People Poisoned Daily Speaking Tour.


Note Mr Tairua's face on the right of the above plate

Greenpeace, together with the Sawmill Workers Against Poisons (SWAP), Vietnam Veterans of Aotearoa, Paritutu Dioxin Investigation Action Group and Te Waka Kai Ora (Maori organics group) organised the tour to spread the anti dioxin message across New Zealand.

From the Tour blog

Day Two of the tour we held a meeting at Te Ao Marama Hall beside Lake Rotorua. Lake Rotorua is a sadly contaminated lake as at result of the PCP leachate from the Waipa Sawmill. About 40 people attended the meeting which was addressed by speakers from SWAP (Joe Harawira), Ngati Tuwharetoa (Tomairangi Fpx and Colleeen Skerrit), Greenpeace (Mere Takoko) and Vietnam Vets (Kingi Taurua)

The audience included sawmill workers, Vietnam veterans and their families. Their stories were all powerful and I felt like crying yet again when two men stood up to show us their black and swollen legs poisoned by exposure of dioxin contaminated PCP at the sawmills. The presentation from Ngati Tuwharetoa about their contaminated whenua at Kawerau was news to many people present who learnt about the true cost of many of our paper products..

Interestingly the tour was organised by the husband and wife team of Gordon Jackman and Catherine Delahunty.

Both are were Greenpeace officials and have been involved with the Green Party.

Both are also trustees, with Green Party MP, Sue Bradford of the Marxist oriented Kotare activist training school situated at Wellsford, north of Auckland.

A couple of Kotare's younger officials have close ties to some of the "Urewera 17" arrestees.