GPJA#379: Thursday cabaret “ALL-UNION BLOOMSDAY”

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 379, June 15, 2011

Thursday, June 16, 7.30pm, Thirsty Dog, K’Rd, Auckland City

ALL-UNION BLOOMSDAY: The annual cabaret celebration of anarcho-syndicalist James Joyce’s comic masterpiece ULYSSES will take place this Thursday June 16 at the Thirsty Dog pub on K’ Rd, corner of Howe St, 7.30pm. The three-hour (including drinking-time) show will take you judiciously and sensationally through ULYSSES, a novel set in Dublin in 1904 and comically echoing the ancient Greek ODYSSEY of Homer and regularly and rightly voted the greatest prose work of the Twentieth Century, and feature Linn Lorkin and the Jews Brothers Band, Robyn Malcolm, "Irish Joe" Carolan, Chris Trotter, Farrell Cleary, Yuko Takahashi, Bruce Hopkins, "Irish Brian" Keegan, and the Danny Bhoy Barbershop Quartet. "Unbelievable" – Matt McCarten.

WHAT’S ON

Saturday, June 18, 6pm, Mt Vic Crossways Community Center, Level 1/6 Roxburgh Street, Mount Victoria 6011, Wellington

Invitation to Celebrate Ernesto”Che” Guevara Anniversary. Snacks and drinks will be served. Sponsored by: Cuban Embassy to New Zealand, Che Vive Committee, Oye Latino and Cuba Friendship Society Aotearoa – New Zealand.

Sunday, June 19, 10.30am-3.30pm, Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre | 251 Massey Road

World Refugee Day 2011: Learn more about New Zealand’s refugee resettlement programme and refugee communities in New Zealand. Join us at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre to mark World Refugee Day and the 60th anniversary of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The event will feature cultural performances, displays and exhibitions on refugee history and resettlement, ethnic food and much more. or more information contact us on: 09 259 0152 or www.facebook.com/ImmigrationNewZealand

Monday, June 20, 2-5pm, St John’s Centre, Willis/Dixon Street cnr., Wellington

THE $8.95 WELFARE FORUM ALTERNATIVE WELFARE WORKING GROUP – Mike O’Brien, Paul Dalziel, Sue Bradford, Wendi Wicks, Māmari Stephens, Kay Brereton. Concerned about the government Welfare Working Group recommendations? Can’t afford $895 (discount rate) to attend the Welfare and Social Sector Policy and Reform Conference? Mike O’Brien, Paul Dalziel and Kay Brereton are speaking at the Amora Hotel conference, and will be arriving at 3.30 to share with us what they have presented and heard at the main conference. Wendi Wicks, Māmari Stephens and Sue Bradford will speak at 2.00pm. People are welcome for some or all of the afternoon. Hope you may be able to spare some time to join us.

Saturday, june 25, 2.30pm, Friends Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Road, Auckland

On the Global Day of Action for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, Saturday, 25 June 2011. You are invited to the launch of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) Aotearoa New Zealand followed by afternoon tea and a screening of ‘Beating the Bomb’. ‘Beating the Bomb’ is an award winning documentary produced and directed by Meera Patel and Wolfgang Matt. It is about the biggest weapons of mass destruction ever created, the people who use them and, more importantly, the people who oppose them. ‘Beating the Bomb’ charts the history of the British peace movement against the backdrop of the atomic age. The film frames nuclear weapons within the wider context of global justice, and the narrative follows the so called ‘nuclear deterrent’, starting at the dawn of the nuclear age in WWII to present. Plus the opportunity to have your say about the abolition of nuclear weapons on ICAN-ANZ’s first video! Hosted by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand (ICAN-ANZ). For more information contact ICAN-ANZ, tel 04 382 8129, email icanz or go to icanz if you would like your organisation added to the list of supporting groups.

Friday, July 1, 7pm, Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510 Richmond Road, Auckland

Book Launch: The 2011 Election: a critical guide. The book features interviews with academics and activists from across the country: Dr Bryce Edwards (Otago University) The Main Political Parties & MMP; Dr Sean Phelan (Massey University) The Media; Professor Klaus Bosselmann (Auckland University) The Environment; David Do (New Zealand University Students’ Association) Student Loans; Professor Jim Flynn (Otago University) Privatisation; Professor Paul Roth (Otago University) Employment Law; Mike Treen (UNITE union) Unionism; Dr Brian Roper (Otago University) Taxation; Ali Nissenbaum (Wellington Activists) Anarchism; Andrew Tait (Dunedin Activist) Marxism; Sue Bradford (Auckland Activist & former Green MP) Feminism & Unemployment. Visit our website www.aptitute.co.nz to read a sample chapter

Tuesday, June 28, 6pm, St. John’s Conference Centre, cnr. Dixon & Willis Streets, Wellington

SELLING ACC: WORSENING WORKPLACE SAFETY – Speakers include: Hazel Armstrong (Spokesperson for the ACC Coalition), and Chris Hipkins [Labour spokesperson on ACC]. Organised by Unions Wellington [Local arm of the NZCTU] and supported by the Labour Regional Council. And on this subject, see the Listener editorial this week – " A bad time to change ACC " – http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/editorial/acc-versus-private-insurance-worth-the-change/

Wednesday, July 6, 6pm, Wellington Public Library – mezzanine meeting room, Wellington

“Release the Text” – public meeting. The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is being negotiated in secret by the United States with several Asian countries including New Zealand. Based on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the USA will seek to extract long term binding agreement to limit the New Zealand government’s sovereign right to make laws and adopt policies. Pharmac’s ability to provide medicines, or our government’s ability to limit promotion of tobacco products are already under threat. All for the benefit of global corporations.

The text of the agreement must be released so its provisions can be openly debated. Speakers: Jane Kelsey Univ of Auckland. Convenor of the ‘Release the Text’ campaign. Author of No Ordinary Deal- Unmasking the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement; Des O’Day Univ. of Otago Wellington Medical School; Thomas Beagle -Tech Liberty. Student of intellectual property issues. For further information contact Mary Ellen O’Connor 04 9707147 0274810770

Thursday, July 28, 7pm, WT1004 (AUT Tower Building, 2 Rutland St, 10th floor seminar room, next door to the new Pacific Media Centre office)

Papua New Guinea’s Tok Pisin language newspaper Wantok, founded in 1969, is one of the publishing icons of the South Pacific. Drawing on interviews with Fr Francis Mihalic and Bishop Leo Arkfeld made in the early 1990s, a manuscript history of the early days of the Wantok, written by Mihalic, and material drawn from the archives in the Society of the Divine Word’s mother house in Mt Hagen, Dr Philip Cass seeks to present a picture of a man who was at once a priest, a publisher, a propagandist, a linguist, a lecturer and often a cause of bewilderment to the very bishops whose work he was supposed to be doing. Dr Cass is head of postgraduate studies in the School of Communication Studies at Unitec. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

A CRY FROM THE HEART. A PLEA FROM PALESTINE.

Speakers: New Zealanders Martin & Lois Griffiths are recently returned from Israel and the Occupied West Bank. There they saw many examples of oppression, even ethnic cleansing of whole neighbourhoods and Bedouin villages. And things keep getting worse, they were informed by both Palestinian and Israeli human rights activists, who want the outside world to know the truth. Don’t miss the eyewitness testimony of Lois & Martin.

Why attend?: Lois & Martin’s presentation on the West Bank runs with the tide of history. Palestinians everywhere are feeling energised by the wave of Arab democracy revolutions, the recent unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the second Freedom Flotilla sailing to Gaza soon and the overwhelming United Nations support for creating a Palestinian state. These positive changes will gain weight by your attendance at Lois & Martin’s presentation, while you will gain an eyewitness update about on-the-ground realities in occupied Palestine.

And you can stay in daily touch with occupied Palestine, the Arab world and related issues through kiaoragaza.net, the website of New Zealand’s Gaza support movement Kia OraGaza. Email contact: office

AUCKLAND: 12 noon Sunday 26 June. St-Matthew-in-the-City, cnr Wellesley & Hobson Sts, central city. Free parking at Tournament Car Park on Hobson St. Hosted by St-Matthew-in-the-City with support from Kia Ora Gaza. Contact Clay: (09) 281 4894. clay@stmatthews.org.nz

HAMILTON: 7.30pm Tuesday 28 June. Wintec A Block, Room A1.04, Enter Gate 5 of Wintec on Tristram St. Follow the signs. Parking inside. Hosted by Kia Ora Gaza. Contact Janice: 021 259 5283, janiceaboganis@yahoo.com

ROTORUA: 4pm Wednesday 29 June: 13 Tii St (orange roof front, next to Dimonds). Hosted by Kia Ora Gaza. Contact Bernie: (07) 345 9853, bernieh

TAURANGA: 7.30pm Friday 1 July. Wesley Church, 100 13th Avenue. Hosted by Kia Ora Gaza. Contact Tony: (07) 5441859, tonysnell@clear.net.nz

WHANGAREI: 7.30pm Saturday 2 July. Eymard House, cnr Park Av and Kamo Rd (beside Catholic Church). Hosted by Kia Ora Gaza. Contact Vaughan 021 0415 082,svpl

QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit". — Thucydides

"Totalitarianism is patriotism institutionalized." – Steve Allen

BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND
Destroying families to promote casual jobs GPJA http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00144/destroying-families-to-promote-casual-jobs-gpja.htm

Integrity Mixup: Concerned Citizens Reply to Chris Trotter http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00170/integrity-mixup-concerned-citizens-reply-to-chris-trotter.htm

‘Patience has expired’ – Agitated Christchurch residents are warning of street protests if the Government does not reveal which quake-hit suburbs will be abandoned. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/5131475/Patience-has-expired

Welfare proposals fighting imaginary enemy http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/163564/welfare-proposals-fighting-imaginary-enemy

Angela Beswick (TV3): Bradford: Unemployment figures hide true story

Amanda Fisher (Dom Post): ‘Hidden shame’ of child poverty

The Standard: Mining II: The Empire Strikes back

Lobbyist explains his swipe card into Parliament http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/lobbyist-explains-his-swipe-card-parliament-ck-95247#comment-141621

Read the June issue of The Spark here http://workersparty.org.nz/2011/06/14/read-the-june-issue-of-the-spark-here/

SkyCity shows need to clamp down on lobbyists http://thestandard.org.nz/skycity-shows-need-to-clamp-down-on-lobbyists/

Action for Christchurch East http://actionforchristchurcheast.blogspot.com/2011/06/blindingly-obvious.html

Open Letter to McCully: Palestine Human Rights Campaign – The key to peace in the Middle East is an end to discrimination open questions to Murray McCully http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00132/open-letter-to-mccully.htm

MANA PARTY

Voters back Harawira http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10731842

TVNZ: Tai Tokerau candidates go head to head
NZ WORK RIGHTS

Nats planning to drive down our wages further http://thestandard.org.nz/nats-planning-to-drive-down-our-wages-further/

Debate continues over minimum wage by Bill Rosenberg http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/5139746/Debate-continues-over-minimum-wage

Factory-line blues http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10731793

Chart o’ the day: fire at will http://thestandard.org.nz/chart-o-the-day-fire-at-will/

TVNZ: Labour law changes ‘bleak for workers’

Claire Trevett (NZH): Labour law changes a campaign plank, says Key

Angela Bewswick (TV3): KiwiRail job losses ‘could have been avoided’

KiwiRail job losses could have been avoided union http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00109/kiwirail-job-losses-could-have-been-avoided-union.htm

Rising food costs a kick in the guts for struggling working families http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00168/rising-food-costs-a-kick-in-the-guts-for-families.htm

Time to recognise those who support teaching and learning http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1106/S00061/time-to-recognise-those-who-support-teaching-and-learning.htm

NZ ECONOMY

Where are the jobs? Youth unemployment crisis in the north http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10731518&ref=mobile

Where are the jobs? Desperate times, but hope on the way http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10731527

Pharmac trade row heralds wider threat http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/77269/pharmac-trade-row-heralds-wider-threat

Bernard Hickey (NZH): Doing nothing while we get poorer

Gordon Campbell (Wellingtonian): Time for ‘Mum and Dad investors’

Brian Fallow (NZH): English talks dirty on foreign ownership

Contact: a model of lost Kiwi ownership http://thestandard.org.nz/contact-a-model-of-lost-kiwi-ownership/
CULTURAL DISSENT

Tariq Ali: Andropov was right http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n12/tariq-ali/andropov-was-right The American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights by Robin Blackburn – A landmark history of the rise, abolition, and legacy of slavery in the New World. http://www.versobooks.com/books/126-the-american-crucible

Obituary: Gil Scott-Heron: The sunshine of his accomplishment – Akunna Eneh, Khury Petersen-Smith and Alan Maass pay tribute to a great artist whose politically charged poetry and music gave voice to our movement. http://socialistworker.org/2011/06/02/sunshine-of-his-accomplishment

FEATURES

West seeks to undermine Arab struggle http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47887

Arab Revolutions Mask Economic Status Quo By Mark LeVine – Despite talk of a "new social contract", financial powers seek to maintain their grip on the poor of the Middle East. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28291.htm

How Many Nuclear Weapons Still Threaten Humanity? http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/db_article.php?article_id=252

Radical Democracy & Popular Power: Thinking About New Socialisms for the 21st Century http://vimeo.com/24952896

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIROMENT

Green illusions and the carbon tax By Tim Anderson http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47707

Coal seam gas – dirtier than coal, worse than shale By Renfrey Clarke http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47808

The World Bank’s role in fueling catastrophic climate change http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4689

Carbon pricing: A smokescreen for inaction on climate change http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4674

Bolivian ambassador speaks out against water privatization http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4671

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

Disaster Not Averted – The latest jobs numbers and the very real chance of another Great Depression. http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/89460/jobs-may-umemployment-second-great-depression

Is the capitalist economic crisis over? http://links.org.au/node/2352

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN FACT AND FICTION: PAUL MATTICK with John Clegg and Aaron Benanav http://www.brooklynrail.org/2011/06/express/the-economic-crisis-in-fact-and-fictionpaul-mattick-with-john-clegg-and-aaron-benanav

AUSTRALIA

Refugees: Labor, Liberal race to the bottom http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47874

BAHRAIN

10,000 return to streets of Bahrain: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/105772

Bahrain police tear gas unarmed protesters: http://tgr.ph/lgw2vJ

US arms sales to Bahrain surged in 2010: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/06/2011611144528164171.html

BOSNIA

Memories of a better future in the aftermath of the Srebrenica genocide http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2798

CANADA

Behind those resignations from the Parti Québécois http://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2011/06/behind-those-resignations-from-parti.html

CUBA

Notes on socialist democracy, by Dario Machado Rodriguez http://links.org.au/node/2356

EGYPT

Pity the Nation. A documentary film by journalist and activist Philip Rizk, on the effect of neo-liberal policies on farmers and the food price crisis in Egypt, produced by the newspaper Masry al-youm. http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4660

GREECE

Greece pays a heavy price as eurozone strives to protect its reckless banks:

Further austerity by the Athens government will only serve to hide the catastrophic consequences of irresponsible lending http://bit.ly/iE7FUb

HAITI

Second blockbuster round of Wikileaks Haiti releases–on minumum wage, and exclusion elections http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/content/second-blockbuster-round-wikileaks-haiti-releases-minimum-wage-battle-exclusion-elections

Rainy Season Exposes Precariousness of Haiti’s Homeless Camps http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/content/rainy-season-exposes-precariousness-haitis-homeless-camps

HONG KONG

Vitasoy Australia Workers Support Fight for Union Rights in Hong Kong http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/950

INDIA

Vandana Shiva: The great land grab, India’s war on farmers http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4649

IRAQ

Iraq Debacle Gets Worse: $6.6 Billion Has Vanished, "Largest Theft of Funds in Nat’l History" http://tinyurl.com/5syal6n

U.S. Needs to Completely Withdraw from Iraq By Adil E. Shamoo and Bonnie Bricker – Neither Iraqis nor Americans signed up for this kind of a deal: the permanent occupation of Iraq. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28328.htm

PALESTINE

A call from Gaza in support of Freedom Flotilla 2 http://www.tahrir.ca/content/call-gaza-support-freedom-flotilla-ii-besiegd-gaza-occupied-palestine

Eyewitness: Israel’s ‘blood harvest’ in occupied Golan http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47888

The making of Israel’s apartheid: Phil Gasper recounts the history of how Israel was founded on the basis of the expulsion of the Arab population of Palestine. http://socialistworker.org/print/2009/01/06/making-of-israeli-apartheid

Gaza’s hospital stock running on near empty: Hospitals in Gaza are forced to cancel operations due to lack of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/20116126552679412.html

PERU

With Ollanta Humala’s Win, Peru Joins Latin America’s Left Turn by http://www.thenation.com/blog/161180/ollanta-humalas-win-peru-joins-latin-americas-left-turn

Hope in the Andes: What Ollanta Humala’s Victory Means for Peru http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/americas/2419-hope-in-the-andes-what-ollanta-humalas-victory-means-for-peru-

SPAIN

Mass mobilisations planned as camps vote to close http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47886

UK

Reforms ‘will leave thousands of families worse off’ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reforms-will-leave-thousands-of-families-worse-off-2296706.html

Afghanistan and the War on Terror: 10 Years On Video – George Galloway, Tony Benn and David Swanson address "Stop The War Coalition" meeting.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28329.htm

USA

The Jobs Disaster in the United States by Fred Magdoff http://monthlyreview.org/2011/06/01/the-jobs-disaster-in-the-united-states

American Banks ‘High’ On Drug Money: By Clarence Walker – A fraud investigator helped expose the shocking world of multi-billion dollar drug laundering by American banks and the surprising lack of oversight by the Feds. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28314.htm

US activists prepare to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza http://electronicintifada.net/content/us-activists-prepare-break-israels-blockade-gaza/10070

YEMEN

US extends covert drone strikes in Yemen http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-extends-covert-drone-strikes-in-yemen-20110609-1fuul.html

Yet Another Illegal War — Now in Yemen By Glenn Greenwald – contrary to false denials, the U.S., under the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been bombing Yemen for the last two years, including one attack using cluster bombs that killed dozens of civilians. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28332.htm

OLDER ANNOUNCEMENTS

OPERATION 8 SHOWING

The documentary ‘Operation 8: Deep in the Forest’ is now screening in movie theatres across the country.In October 2007, citing the Terrorism Suppression Act, police arrested 18 people in nationwide raids linked to alleged training camps in the Urewera mountain ranges, near the township of Ruatoki in eastern Bay of Plenty. The documentary Operation 8, by independent filmmakers Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones, premiered last month as part of the World Cinema Showcase and is now opening in cinemas around the country throughout May and June. It investigates how and why the raids took place, featuring interviews with academics and professionals versed in the case. Operation 8 was shot over three years and includes first-hand accounts from some of those arrested."The single most important New Zealand film in decades" – Crop Magazine. "Impassioned, balanced, entertaining and hugely important" Graeme Tuckett, Radio NZ, The Dominion Post. "Compelling, humane, intelligent… A film that every NZer ought to see" – David Larsen, The Listener.
Now Showing at:
Auckland, Rialto Newmarket – Sessiontimes and details here
Auckland, Academy Cinemas – Session times and details here
Waiheke Cinema – Session times and details here
Whakatane, Cinema 5 – Session times and details here
Rotorua, Basement Cinema – Session times and details here
Palmerston North, Te Manawa Gallery – Session times and details here
New Plymouth, The Arthouse Cinema – Session times and details here
Wellington, Paramount Theatre – Session times and details here
Petone, Lighthouse Cinema- Session times and details here
Motueka, The Gecko – Session times and details here
Dundein, Rialto Cinemas – Session times and details here
(links regularly updated with new session times, if the link is not found the session times are just updating). More screenings coming soon, check our website for details: www.cutcutcut.com Like us on Facebook!

SEEKING SUPPORT FOR “FREEDOM FLOTILLA TWO” VOLUNTEER

Dear Friends,

In May 2010, nine aid workers were killed by Israeli commandos when a humanitarian flotilla destined for Gaza was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli Navy. Israel’s naval forces continue to enforce an illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip. This coming June, Freedom Flotilla Two (FF2), a coalition of vessels from Canada, France, USA, UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey and other countries, is to set sail in the hope of breaking the blockade. Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand (PHRC) is raising money to enable a New Zealander, Harmeet Sooden, to join the upcoming flotilla. Harmeet has been offered a place on the boat Tahrir (Liberation in Arabic) alongside delegates from Australia, Belgium and Denmark.

In 2004, Harmeet travelled to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to undertake human rights assignments with the International Solidarity Movement. The following year, Harmeet and three colleagues were kidnapped in Iraq while participating in an international Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation and held for four months. One member of the group, Tom Fox, was murdered. In 2008, while attempting to enter the OPT via Israel for the second time, he was denied entry, detained, assaulted and removed by Israeli authorities on the pretext of being a ‘threat to the security of the State of Israel’.

The Free Gaza Movement is one of the coordinators of FF2. Free Gaza was formed to raise public awareness and challenge the IsraeliEgyptian blockade directly, by sailing ships carrying human rights defenders and humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since August 2008, Free Gaza has made eight solo voyages; most recently, it took part in the fateful May 2010 flotilla as a member of a sixpartner coalition. Free Gaza has several endorsers, including notable individuals such as Desmond Tutu and Noam Chomsky, and groups with which PHRC has had an association such as Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (www.pchrgaza.org), and the Palestine Medical Relief Society (www.pmrs.ps).

The Palestine Human Rights Campaign aims to raise $10,000 ($5,000 for airfare and basic living expenses, and a further $5,000 to contribute towards the cost of purchasing the boat and cargo).

Thank you for your support. Janfrie Wakim on behalf of PHRC. Please make donations by direct deposit to PHRC 06 0145 0045138 00 or by sending a cheque to PHRC, Box 56150, Mt Eden, Auckland. All donations will be receipted (advice on internet deposits must be emailed to jwakim@xtra.co.nz so that receipts can be provided). If you have any questions, please contact Janfrie Wakim at jwakim. For further information, please refer to: Canada Boat to Gaza www.tahrir.ca Free Gaza www.freegaza.org

THE 2011 ELECTION: A CRITICAL GUIDE
The 2011 Election: a critical guide is currently being printed. If you click on the link below, you will see the book on our publisher’s website. Also, there is a link to a sample interview, with Professor Jim Flynn on privatisation. We tried to cover a wide range of topics, and here is a summary of who was interviewed: Dr Bryce Edwards (Otago University) The Main Political Parties & MMP; Dr Sean Phelan (Massey University) The Media; Professor Klaus Bosselmann (Auckland University) The Environment; David Do (New Zealand University Students’ Association) Student Loans; Professor Jim Flynn (Otago University) Privatisation; Professor Paul Roth (Otago University) Employment Law; Mike Treen (UNITE union) Unionism; Dr Brian Roper (Otago University) Taxation; Ali Nissenbaum (Wellington Activists) Anarchism; Andrew Tait (Dunedin Activist) Marxism; Sue Bradford (Auckland Activist & former Green MP) Feminism & Unemployment. While it is important to keep in mind that the interviewees have different opinions from each other, three themes emerged: 1) A critique of neo-liberalism; 2) De-politicisation (nearly a quarter of the population did not vote in the 2008 Election); 3) Internationalism (nearly half of the interviewees are originally from overseas: Germany, Ireland, Israel, South Africa and the United States). Please also keep in mind that we are not endorsing any political party. The interviewees disagree with each other on many points. We believe that the interviewees voted in at least five different ways in 2008. We are planning to send all interviewees a free copy of the book, to show our appreciation.

Thank you for your help, R Wright http://aptitute.co.nz/site/products http://aptitute.co.nz/The_2011_Election-a_critical_guide_sample_chapter.pdf

AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS SOCIAL CHANGE TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 3

The event, which is sponsored by the Office of Environmental Programs at Melbourne University and organised by Green Left Weekly and the Socialist Alliance, will run from Friday, September 30 to Monday, October 3 at Melbourne University. The discussions at this conference will be enriched by the participation of one of the world’s foremost radical ecologists, John Bellamy Foster. A well-known economist from the United States, Foster is also an editor of Monthly Review and the author of The Ecological Rift (with Brett Clark and Richard York) The Ecological Revolution, The Great Financial Crisis (with Fred Magdoff) and Marx’s Ecology. Also leading the conference discussions will be Canadian ecosocialist writer and activist Ian Angus. Angus co-founded the Ecosocialist International Network and is the editor of Climateandcapitalism.com. He is the author of the forthcoming book Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis (with Simon Butler) and has also authored Food Crisis: World Hunger, Agribusiness and the Food Sovereignty Alternative and edited The Global Fight for Climate Justice. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47144