30/5/12: WHAT’S ON IN AOTEAROA

Thursday, May 31, 7pm, Unite Union, 6a Western Springs Road, Morningside.
FROM MAY 68 TO MONTREAL 12- CAN STUDENT REBELLIONS START A REVOLUTION? 44 years ago, a student rebellion on the streets of Paris saw street barricades thrown up around the Sorbonne. Revolutionary students spread the virus to workplaces, and within weeks, over Ten Million french workers were on a General Strike against the system. For the first time in decades, the possibility of a working class revolution in a Western European country was a reality, and the events of May 68 reshaped the socialist left internationally. Today, we see massive student struggles all over the world, from Santiago in Chile to Montreal in Canada. These struggles are also giving workers the confidence to fight back against their bosses. What are the important lessons to be learned from May 68 for todays generation of workers and students, and can student struggles help detonate the anti capitalist revolution we need? Sponsored by Socialist Aotearoa

Thursday, May 31, 5.30-8pm, Auckland District Law Society, Level 5, Chancery Chambers, 2 Chancery St, Auckland CBD.

Contracting – good for businesses and/or employees? New Zealand Employment Relations Society and the New Zealand Work and Labour Market Institute invite you to hear Professor Erling Rasmussen (AUT University), Helen White (Barrister) and James Ritchie (New Zealand Dairy Workers’ Union) discuss current employment and legal trends of contracting in employment, and the ramifications of those for employees and businesses. Light refreshments will be provided Please RSVP to nzwalmi for catering purposes

Friday, June 1, 3-6pm, outside Auckland University Library
PROTEST LIKE THE GREEKS – BLOCKADE THE BUDGET: The austerity policies introduced in the Government’s Black Budget are an attack on the most vulnerable in society. For students, these include: • Freezing of the parental income threshold (eligibility for allowances are based on this – so less students will qualify for the weekly allowance) • Limit the time you can get the allowance for (so you will have to borrow to live if you want to study longer than 200 weeks – this includes postgraduate degrees, and degrees like medical or law degrees) • Increasing the repayment rate to 12% (further impoverishing those who are already struggling to pay back huge student loans, have mortgages to pay and children to feed) • Further cuts to funding for the Arts and Humanities
Protest like the Greeks leaflet https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18076151/protest%20like%20the%20greeks.pdf
Poster https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18076151/Greek%20Flyer.pdf

Friday June 1 to Monday June 3, Newtown Community and Cultural Centre (corner Rintoul & Columbo streets.)
SOCIALISM 2012: CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Friday:5.30 registration; 6 – 8pm: Class struggle today (Aotearoa/NZ); Mike Kay – Port-workers’ struggle, meat industry lockouts and industrial conditions; Jared Phillips – Neo-liberalism and class composition; Sue Bradford – Unemployed and beneficiary fightback; 1 hour discussion; 10pm, Fundraising gig: Bodega, Kittentank, Big Rick, Man/Woman.
Saturday: 9.30am registration; 10 – 11am Revolutionary organising in current conditions: combat propaganda group Mike Kay 40 minute discussion; 11am – 12pm: Safer spaces on the left Kassie Hartendorp 40 minute discussion; 12-1pm Lunch; 1-2.30 pm: Eco-socialism in Australasia, Grant Brookes, Eco-Socialist Network Aotearoa, Ben Peterson, Socialist Alliance (Australia), Ian Anderson, Workers Party, 30 minute discussion. 2.30- 3:30pm: Socialist electoral work, Anthony Main, Socialist Party of Australia, 40 minute discussion. 3:30-4:30pm: The fight against casualisation, Heleyni Pratley – organising casualised workplaces, 20 minute discussion. 4:30-6pm: Against the capitalist education system, Joel Cosgrove, Workers Party, Jai Bentley-Payne, Auckland student activist, Rowan MacArthur, International Socialist Organisation. 30 minute discussion
Sunday: 9.30am registration; 10-11:30am – The world situation: imperialism, Paul Hopkinson – Imperialism and Palestine, Byron Clark – New Zealand’s imperialist role, 30 minute discussion; 11:30am-12:30pm – The world situation: Europe and the global financial crisis, Mike Treen, 40 minute discussion. 12:30-1:30pm lunch; 1:30-3pm: Tino rangatiratanga Scott Hamilton – Pre-capitalist societies and Marxism, Annette Sykes – The politics of the Brown Table, 30 minutes discussion. 3-4pm: Queer liberation and socialism, James Froch, 40 minute discussion, 4-6pm: Left perspectives, Derwin Smith, International Socialist Organisation, Rebecca Broad, Workers Party, Ben Peterson, Socialist Alliance (Australia), Anthony Main, Socialist Party of Australia, 1 hour discussion; 6pm, Close and thanks.

Friday, June 8, 6.30pm, Lecture Theatre OGGB4, Owen Glen Building, University of Auckland.
KENNEDY GRAHAM’S GLOBAL AFFAIRS TOUR AUCKLAND MEETING: The Global Affairs tour around New Zealand will discuss global themes including climate change, nuclear weapons, disarmament, international law, peacekeeping & sustainable development. This will be an interactive lecture and a great chance to offer ideas on how to make action around these global themes most effective. It is an ideal event to attend if you are interested in foreign affairs, international relations, NZ’s place in relation to the rest of the world, or if you are a member of a peace, sustainability, or human rights group. If you have any queries please contact Jenny Ombler, Executive Assistant to Kennedy Graham MP, jenny.ombler Ph: 04 8178255.

June 8 & 9, Aotea Square, Auckland
AUCKLAND PEACE CITY PUBLIC LAUNCH & NUCLEAR FREE NZ EVENT AOTEA SQUARE. Calling all people who support the ideals of peace, justice and a nuclear free world. ADVANCE NOTIFICATION –put into your diaries NOW, circulate among group networks to include in your calendar of major events, newsletters etc. Auckland Peace City Public Launch ~ Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone and Disarmament Legislation of 1987. 8th June Friday 2:00-3:00pm – Mayor Len Brown’s official Auckland Peace City Declaration launch at Auckland Council Reception Lounge-Town Hall Queen St. . 9th June 12:00-3:00pm Aotea Square, Auckland AUCKLAND CITY for PEACE & NUCLEAR FREE New Zealand Celebration. Auckland City for Peace Declaration Public Launch Event ~ Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone and Disarmament Legislation of 1987. Music, dance, poetry, info/education stalls. Children can make their own ‘Auckland Peace City’ flaglets. Peace Exhibitions inside Concert Chamber. The Peace Parade bearing the carved Maori wooden torch from the 2009 World Peace Run will be returned to New Zealand by NZ Peace and Disarmament International NGO Representative Alyn Ware. This will be followed by runners with flags of the 192 nation states in the United Nations. Release of Peace Doves and ringing of the Peace Bell. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own peace banners and flags, both historical or new celebrating Nuclear Free New Zealand to make a display together for a Nuclear Free World. Wet weather Event plan: Concert Chamber Town Hall – Inside 12:00-3:00pm. The Peace City Public Launch Event Team welcomes volunteers and offers of help. If you want to be involved in any way please contact: laurie-ross Coordinator Laurie Ross on 818 0696

Saturday, June 16, 9am, Albert Park, Princes St, Auckland City
ADVANCE PASIFIKA – MARCH FOR OUR FUTURE! Rationale: Advance Pasifika is a deliberate movement of Pasifika communities in Auckland signifying our collective voice. We know through painful experience that a fair and equal NZ society is never voluntarily granted. It must be demanded. Today we demand equity. Our future is at risk. The education system is failing our young people; our health is deteriorating; our people are being locked out of affordable housing; mothers and fathers are dying alone; our incomes are disproportionately lower; our communities are being fragmented and our ideas ignored. It is time for change. It is time for action. We call on local and national leaders to take heed of our significant contribution to this city and nation in years past, today and in years to come. This too, is our city.
Today we march for: Affordable housing; Better education; Quality healthcare; Fairness in our justice system; Jobs; Our children and our families; Our churches; A better future; Auckland… Aotearoa. We march together, united and in one accord. Empowered by our cultural heritage, we march for all the ages. We march for our future.

Key messages:

• That we are diverse nations of the Pacific region standing together; That we affirm Maori as the indigenous people of Aotearoa
• That we demand full and fair participation in NZ society; That we honour the sacrificial journeys of our parents in coming to Aotearoa That we take our place of leadership in Auckland
• That together we confront the social and economic challenges facing our communities
  For more information contact us: Email – advance.pasifika Text – 021 024 586 74 Check us out on Facebook – user name ‘Advance Pasifika’

Saturday, June 16, 7.30pm, Thirsty Dog Tavern, Corner Howe St & Karangahape Rd, Auckland
BLOOMSDAY! JUNE 16! THIRSTY DOG! Missed May Day? Make up for it in June. June 16 is “Bloomsday”, a sort of literary St Patrick’s Day. It’s a commemoration of the fictional day in 1904 in which James Joyce’s comic masterpiece Ulysses unfolds. All around the world there are Bloomsday celebrations. In Auckland for the past decade a Bloomsday cabaret has unleashed itself in the red-light district of Karangahape Rd. This year it will be at the Thirsty Dog Tavern and feature Outrageous Fortune’s Robyn Malcolm reading from the notoriously explicit 50-page soliloquy of Molly Bloom, and George Henare playing pale young poet Stephen Dedalus, girlishly winsome Gerty McDowell and fierce transvestite dominatrix Bella Cohen. With the addition of klezmer music by The Jews Brothers Band, it’s the only Hiberno-Hebrew Bloomsday in the known world! Cast of thousands: Dublin actor Brian Keegan, mezzo soprano Yuko Takahashi, international busker and former Auckland Equity secretary Farrell Cleary, political tenor Chris “Crubeen” Trotter, Unite union organiser Joe Carolan (and dog) plus a barbershop quartet singing “Danny Boy”. Can’t beat it. Saturday night, June 16, 7.30-10.30pm Thirsty Dog Tavern, Corner Howe St & Karangahape Rd, Auckland

Friday & Saturday, July 6-8, Wellington.
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION ORGANISATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND INC. ANNUAL CONFERENCE 6-8 July 2012. Environmental Responsibility: Leadership, Inclusion and Good Governance. Friday 6 July – Saturday 7 July | Salvation Army Citadel, 8 Jessie Street, Wellington Sunday 8 July | Turnbull House, 11 Bowen St, Wellington. Full draft programme and online registration can be found here: eco

November 9-11. Waihi
REMEMBER WAIHI 9-11 NOV 2012. It will be the 1912 Waihi Gold Miners’ Strike Centenary and Commemoration of the death of Fred Evans. Further details will be coming. Please some of the events for this weekend in this brochure: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18076151/Remember_Waihi.pdfbn