Back in my youth I decided that there were things that were worth fighting for when it became necessary. It is a viewpoint that I have never had to change, and it shows in what I do. If you want a society worth living in, then you need to make sure that it either stays that way, or moves towards it. Less memorials and more effort is a better way to remember our dead and maimed.
Apparently the Labour Party is so all powerful and persuasive that roughly 2/3 of the electorate is under its spell. That bodes well for the next election!
Dr Ranginui Walker, leader, academic and writer on Māori issues, has died aged 83.
Christianity doesn’t compromise with other religions or has the World Finally Gone madder?
The French secret service agent who attached the mines which sank the Rainbow Warrior has stated an emotional apology during an interview. While the apology is welcome, it changes nothing.
The report of the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service highlights a shameful chapter in NZ history. What possible reason could there be for the government not to apologise directly to the victims?
Seventy years on…
I saw earlier this month that typically the bombastic one from The Daily Blog Bombast was managing to not mention our site name in a post about hiring a hacker to crack into our site. Of more concern was his lack of local history. Is he too in love with his own voice to learn the lessons of the past?
100 years ago today ANZAC forces landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. They are remembered.
Image from NZ History.
Key’s proposal to change the flag is an expensive and unnecessary circus, and this should be the end of it.
It seems that just as the 30’s offered the chance to turn dreams into reality, Syria is offering that chance up to ‘the left’ today. Suddenly, for me, the recent travel bans and the passport confiscation laws etc make sense since we are potentially looking at an international influx of non-nutters and non- psychopaths as happened during the Spanish Revolution of the 30s.
There’s a fascinating article in the latest New Statesman titled “An Empire that speaks English: the right’s dream of a new world order.” Suddenly UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond’s recent visit here makes sense. So does John Key’s references to sending troops to Iraq on behalf of the “club” or the “family” – he’s at the heart of the Empire.
The social democracy of my youth has radically collapsed into our current culture of individualism, privatisation and personal greed.
A recent report from the Waitangi Tribunal questions the “constitutional” foundation of NZ and challenges the received wisdom of our history.
When Gough Whitlam was PM of Austrialia, it was a time when people were looking forward to a more inclusive, caring, and egalitarian society: a time of hope. His PM-ship ended in controversy.
A must read Hand Mirror post acknowledges the passing of Pat Rossier. She played a significant role in NZ’s 2nd wave Women’s Movement. Misinformation about feminism fails to represent its diversity & socialist underpinnings. A full chronicle of the NZ 2nd wave is needed.
Abortion has a long and dramatic history in NZ, but it’s not a history we talk about, or remember. And remembering that history is vital to our continuing push for reproductive rights today. That’s where Alison McCulloch comes in, with a new, brilliant, history of the struggle so far.
It’s nothing but ardent colonial nonsense to be celebrating a seasonally determined cultural event in the wrong season and about six months off […]
Dear Jack, It’s been almost a century since your major contribution to NZ . Many still see you as an inspiration for a left wing vision. Unfortunately, we are having to fight the same old battles once again, the poor are being demonised, and we need more state housing.
Tomorrow is the centenary of the death of Fred Evans on 13 November 1912, during the Waihi gold miners strike. Out of this struggle of ordinary, but courageous NZ workers, grew the NZ Labour Party. Who now has such courage to lead NZ politics in a new direction? Update: Allison McCulloch’s article on the Waihi strike.
Sugarbags are a symbol of self-help in the 1930s Depression. Foodbanks are a symbol of the failure of consumer capitalism. Should the left reclaim Labour’s original core values? What are those core values, and are they still relevant today?
Revolutions, political movements and protests are fueled by songs. They bring people together in common cause, draw attention to devastating conditions, reassure the oppressed that they are not alone, and inspire people to take political action. What songs have engaged, inspired, or motivated your political conscience and compassion? Update: : The winner is…
Even smart conservatives in my experience generally think far too short term, fail to look at history and in the final analysis view everything from their own narrow interests rather than those of society as whole. They prefer historical mythmaking and moralizing about others rather than thinking. The Economist throws up another telling example by David Brooks.
On this Labour Day it is good to see that the Labour Party is staying true to its roots, and is out there working for a labour policy to lift the wages and conditions of the workers of New Zealand.
Part of a worldwide phenomenon, the Occupation has reached Aotearoa New Zealand. Anyone who thinks that they know where all this will end is fooling themselves.
Today is the day that we remember our old soldiers. But perhaps it should also be a day when we consider our current soldiers, and how they are being used.
Ratana elders are unhappy with Labour over its list rankings, and have called on supporters to abandon the Party. Phil Goff needs to work on the relationship with the Church immediately. For Labour the only silver lining in this cloud, and the focus on its list in general, is the fact that it illustrates what a large and diverse group of people the Party has to represent.
ChrisH submitted this incredibly knowledgeable and well-researched post on the rebuilding of Christchurch a few days ago. The announcement that large parts now lower-lying eastern suburbs will be abandoned lends more strength to his call for a visionary urban plan for the new, more resilient Christchurch. And Phil Goff has the history to present it.
Archiving websites is a bloody good idea because the public debate and emerging history of NZ society is shifting more and more into these electronic media. So I asked NatLib about one of those political blogs that disappeared from the blogosphere – KiwiBlogBlog. It still exists…
It’s diplomacy time in the Asia-Pacific region. While Secretary Clinton came to New Zealand and Australia and President Obama to India and Indonesia, […]
As our msm persist with their increasingly banal fixation on Christchurch’s troubles, I’m reminded of a story that appeared in 2001 not long […]
In Morning Report yesterday there was a clear question and statement on the difference between weather events and climate. This is a question that always seems to confuse our CCD’s (climate change deniers and skeptics). So it is worth examining it a bit in the view of some of the unusual weather that has been happening recently. A increased frequency of such events is going to be the main effect of climate change over time, leading eventually to famines.
For some time now National has been quietly making plans to subsume Archives New Zealand and the National Library within the Department of […]
Been a bit disappointed that there hasn’t been a post up here yet on the news out on Saturday that Steve Chadwick is […]
