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political alternatives

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It’s a Side-show, “Bob”.

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, June 28th, 2016 - 279 comments

From the circus that never leaves town.

Remembering our personal political power

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, June 27th, 2016 - 23 comments

Even in times of upheaval there are things we can do. Here are 11 post-Brexit ways to act right now.

Robert Reich’s letter to Bernie Sanders

Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, June 9th, 2016 - 47 comments

The text of an open letter written by Ribert Reich to his friend Bernie Sanders.

Indigenous Perspectives

Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, May 29th, 2016 - 30 comments

“It is possible to live in a society with a world view that does not include empire”

– Winona LaDuke

Climate Change Change Pt 1: What are we waiting for?

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, May 3rd, 2016 - 48 comments

Before government spending cuts there was The Riot for Austerity, a grass roots Climate Change movement that showed how it was possible for ordinary people to change and significantly reduce their carbon emissions without someone forcing them to.

Simplicity

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, April 9th, 2016 - 62 comments

Good shit happening in France.

Oliver Stone backs Sanders; attacks pro-war Clinton

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 pm, April 1st, 2016 - 84 comments

Oliver Stone says that the fascism and corruption of big money has poisoned US politics. And Hilary Clinton has embraced it.

Easter Monday Round Up

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, March 28th, 2016 - 101 comments

Three news items stand out from the long weekend. Actor Robert De Niro being inoculated against anti-vaxxers, ISIS being driven out of Palmyra and the free part of Ireland celebrating the centenary of the Easter Rising. All are milestones of sorts, markers of positive change.

House Tales.

Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, March 22nd, 2016 - 32 comments

If ‘home is where the heart is’ then what’s the story when everything’s heartless?

Can We Trust Winston Peters?

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, March 20th, 2016 - 139 comments

Recent polling makes it clear that neither National or Labour can win power without the support of NZ First. So should the left be worried that Winston Peters will take his party back over to the blue team?

Corporate Saviours

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, February 12th, 2016 - 66 comments

oh, hallelujah…

Building a mass movement

Written By: - Date published: 3:13 pm, January 19th, 2016 - 61 comments

Republished by request, and permission from Stephanie Rodgers at Boots Theory

[Content note: mentions of transphobia, sexual violence and violence against people of colour]

Hard Numbers to Remember.

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, December 8th, 2015 - 32 comments

This post is essentially a distillation of two presentations given by Kevin Anderson at the Earth 101 gathering in Iceland earlier this year. You can view them here and here I highly recommend that you do as they are packed with high quality, no nonsense information. For those who don’t know, Kevin Anderson was the director of the Tyndall Centre, the UK’s leading academic climate change research organization and is a professor of energy and climate change in the School of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester.

ABP Branch of Labour goes into recess; all Branch Officers to resign

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 pm, November 22nd, 2015 - 427 comments

Dunedin’s most active and most innovative Labour Party branch is going into recess.

Chris Trotter is on fire

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, November 19th, 2015 - 160 comments

“What differentiates the Left from the Right is the former’s fundamental rejection of the strongest human-beings’ proclivity to dominate, coerce and exploit the weakest. Without this proclivity, none of the economic and social systems elaborated by armed minorities throughout history could have endured.”

Indeed.

There is Hope.

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, November 10th, 2015 - 65 comments

Anarchism, past and present.

Portugal

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, October 27th, 2015 - 38 comments

This is going to end well…

From out of the Shadows

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, September 28th, 2015 - 20 comments

Goff has attempted to throw a fire-cracker into the notion of the National Party leadership and caucus being one big happy family. Is this the Labour Party’s way of sowing seeds of discontent without tainting the image of their leader? It is NOT Dirty Politics by any normal understanding of that term as captured in the book of the same name. Is this Goff’s role now? To box from the shadows?

Earth overshoot day

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, August 17th, 2015 - 22 comments

August 13th was Earth Overshoot Day. We have already consumed what the Earth can sustainably produce in a year, for the rest of this year we are consuming “ecological capital”. This can’t go on. But it is a problem that our current political and economic systems cannot solve.

Amazing Grace

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, June 27th, 2015 - 99 comments

Barack Obama sings the spiritual Amazing Grace during the eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, one of those killed by a racist gunman in Charleston. Not completely in tune, but he hits the right note. As his Presidency winds down, Obama has one last opportunity to move the American mindset. The rule of the gun must end.

An open letter to Andrew Little

Written By: - Date published: 6:08 pm, June 26th, 2015 - 433 comments

A respectful open letter to Andrew Little with suggestions for how to win the next election!

The Best of British; The NHS, the Welfare State and David Bowie

Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, June 21st, 2015 - 24 comments

Massive anti-austerity marches have just ended all over Britain. Tens of thousands of protesters have turned out to let the Tory government know that the fight against the right has not ended with the general election. Welsh singer Charlotte Church told the crowd in London that she is proudly British, but for all the right reasons.

 

Dear NZ Labour. Listen up.

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 12th, 2015 - 48 comments

For the sake of reference – Nye Bevan was a Labour mp and the architect of the British NHS. Michael Sheen’s  speech was a defense of that institution, but the underpinning message is, well…

Heroes and Villains

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, March 15th, 2015 - 9 comments

Thinking authorities in the west have yet discover the difference between their arse and their elbow…

The Second Climate Change Problem

Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, March 12th, 2015 - 23 comments

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence

A Bright Spark Burning…

Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, March 11th, 2015 - 40 comments

A further piece on the peoples’ revolution within Northern Syria.

Stand by Your Man

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, February 19th, 2015 - 107 comments

Sometime in the next few days, Winston Peters will announce whether or not he will stand in the Northland by-election. He should run unchallenged by the left and Labour and the Greens should endorse him for the greater good.

Revolutionary Spain, Revolutionary Syria, and the Bastards We Vote For.

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, February 11th, 2015 - 63 comments

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.

The Enduring Legacy of Neo-Liberalism – Sir Edmund Thomas

Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 6 comments

Sir Edmund Thomas will discuss this topic in Wellington at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace,  tomorrow Wednesday 11th at 5:30pm. All welcome – see synopsis – if you would like to come please register here.

Where have all the houses gone?

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, January 20th, 2015 - 131 comments

Yesterday it was announced that Auckland is the ninth least affordable city in the world requiring 8.3 times their average wage to buy a home. Reducing regulation hasn’t worked, otherwise more than 20 homes would have been built under the 2013 fast track accord. The problem is a shortage of affordable housing.

Gough 1916-2014

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, October 21st, 2014 - 46 comments

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.