Comrade Roger Fox RIP

For anyone who may want to attend, Roger’s family advise that his funeral will be held at the Davis Funeral Home in Henderson at 11am on Tuesday 19 Feb.

The address is 150 Central Park Drive, Henderson.

The parking situation is apparently not great, so if you are going to attend car pooling would be a good idea.

This is very sad news. Roger was a good friend and comrade. I used to run into him lots at university and demos. He was involved in so many struggles over the years, such as the Springbok Tour, workers' struggles, the unemployed movement, anti-war activism, East Timorese independence, and recently supporting those arrested in the Terror Raids and fighting to retain open entry at the University of Auckland. Talking to him would be like having a living history lesson. I always learnt a lot.

In 1978 he was arrested at an East Timor solidarity demo at Auckland Airport, during the visit of the Foreign Minister from Indonesia’s Suharto dictatorship. He recounted this story and his time in East Timor solidarity campaigns in quite a bit of detail to me when I was organising a demo against the visit of ex-Indonesian Foreign Minister, (and apologist for the mass murder in East Timor)Ali Alatas, to the University of Auckland last year. Roger used to say that on his first day of school, when he was 5 years old, the teacher told the class that they “should never drop litter and the Policeman is your friend”. He then would say “Today I never drop litter”.

The last conversation I had with him was at the demo to retain open entry at the University of Auckland just before Christmas. We talked about possibly organising a solidarity action with US political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is currently before the courts again.

Condolences to all Roger’s family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

Cam

but predictable. even in death, indymedia trolls can't resist sticking the boot in. sensitive types.

It's typical that the anonymous troll dopesn't make a single political criticism of Roger. That was always the way with Roger's critics. Roger was a tireless critic of Stalinism and of authoritarian tendencies in the labour movement and on the left. He was kicked out of the Communist Party in the 80s because he questioned its attachment to Stalin and Albania. He was attacked by union bureucrats beause he refused to worship 'big men' like Ken Douglas, Bill Andersen, and Matt McCarten as Gods. He always insisted on the open mike at demos. He believed in the ability of people at the grassroots to organise themselves and act for themselves. The cowardly and childish way that he was attacked by his enemies just shows that he was on the side of the angels.

I met Roger Fox when I was a student at the university of Auckland. We had our differences, but his integrity, his tireless work and his refusal to compromise on the basic issue of the dignity of Palestine was something that put myself and the other muslim students to shame.
He will be missed.

Roger and I came from different ideological, social and political backgrounds. This often resulted in us having heated debates over the state of the Middle East/ broader Muslim world, and potential solutions to its problems. What amazed me about this man was how receptive he was to the opinion of others, which he valued a great deal. It was what made him such a great person to discuss issues with because he showed respect but also had no qualms in disagreeing with you when the situation called for it.

But it was his firm belief in putting aside differences and showing solidarity with all victims of oppressive forces- however it manifested itself-which truly made him a remarkable man. Someone of his calibre is a loss to all movements of social justice.

My condolences to his family and friends.

-Sahar.

economic justice is what he stood for,
but most didn't want to hear,
the truth that when I win someone loses,
was to much to bear,

an advocate,
for the most basic of rights,
roger fought the apathy,
that subsumes our lives,

we will miss you roger,
you were a true friend to the end,
of ordinary workers,
you didn't need to pretend,

last week we lost you brother,
along with the passion you gave,
but brother - our cause carries on,
to free the economic slave,

It is a testimony to Roger that he could have such a close friendship with someone such as myself that could not have believed more differently.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist Reformer, and have known Roger since he came to live in Mulgan St, and his wonderful daughter knows that she has an open door at our house as one of the family anytime, because my daughter, who has always counted her as one of her closest friends, and I, told her so,a couple of years ago, when she and Roger came to stay with us.

To the anonymous person who is of the opinion that we all are just exaggerating the good things about Roger and what we felt about him, because of the pressures of convention, or something like that, I have this to say:"Although it is reasonable to assume that such things generally happen in cases of bereavement, know this, that I am prepared to stand up and be named (John Bayne) and to be counted by having it go on record, that with Roger and I, especially when our backs were against the wall, our lowest common denominator that we had between us, was in fact,"What you see is what you get!' therefore, even if it could be said that there has been cases of people overstating the good about Roger and what they felt about him, it is a personal testimony that I bear for him on this matter that in my humble opinion, an opinion sufficiently humble as to have always needed to rely on facts, and sound judgment, to give it weight, "There will cerainly be much much less of that sought of (perhaps unavoidable) thing, going on in Roger's case."

Speaking from the void, that I can testify to, that Roger has left behind with his passing, my deepest sympathies and that of our whole family go out to Roger's family and friends, some of whom I had the pleasure to know, but knowing Roger, many more that I did not have the privilege to meet.

Kindest regards

John Bayne and family

Roger Fox

Communist Left wishes to give our condolences in relation to the passing of comrade Roger Fox. Roger committed most of his life to the liberation of proletarian and working class people not just in New Zealand but throughout the world. Roger was a man who believed in theory. Roger cared about oppressed people both politically and personally. He was a man who stood up for principle. He was at virtually every demonstration concerning a progressive and working class issue. He frequently went out of his way to show support and solidarity. Many of his actions and stands were exemplary. He also showed support in little but important ways. For example he drove those without transport to meetings. His loss will be immense. This is true for the CWG, for Waitemata Branch of Unite and for the Auckland left and workers movement in general. He will be missed both sides of the Tasman. CLA is confident that his efforts will contribute to the movement which will liberate us from this oppressive system of capitalism. He will be sorely missed.

Bill K

Good to see you here as well Jason, because you go back further than most, I would think, and I know Roger thought of you highly and often.

I am delighted to see both the quality as well as the quanitity in the excepitonal and genuine heartfelt expressions of gratitute to having had the privilege of knowing Roger, and that the ratio of such positive comments to negative is remarkably low considering that with Roger,as with myself (why we both gelled in spite of extreme differences of beliefs),"That what
you see is what you get",plus the fact that you can't please all of the people all of the time.
I often teased Roger that there would come a day when he would have to perhaps execute me, our beliefs were so different,and that I would rather he keep his integrity, if that is what he really believed and go ahead and kill me, while I too would be immeasurably better offto die rather than sell out my beliefs and that in spite of this sad fact, it is better to have an honourable enemy than a false friend, and on this basis we were able to sustain what I consider one of my best personal relationships, which understandably will be missed, where the best that I can do for Roger is be there for his friends and family, and experss my genuine opinion that it was not Roger's fault that he did not change as much as he would like to have becausw he played his part by being bothered and the best comment that I can think of making about the his personal ability was, " If Roger was to choose to be a Christian he would have made both a far better Christian and missionary than myself, but since he chose to remain a communist in spite of my considerable barrages over about 19 years, I can say from a Christian point of view, that it is just as well that he did not have the support of half a dozen like himself or he would soon have got the revolution that he was so keen to see come about. I would of course tease him by comments such as "What a revolting idea."
John Bayne.

John, I go back 15 years with Roger, so looks like you beat me there. Thanks for that...Roger and I were very close friends, though sadly we fell out for a while some years ago. We reconciled luckily though I didn't see enough of him before he died.

I know for a fact that Roger thought very highly of you indeed John, and always spoke of you with real warmth. He admired you because you stuck to your principles, and genuinely cared for people.

Yes, if people can be measured by the amount of happiness they give people then Roger easily can be considered one of the givers. He touched a lot of people's hearts, as we can see here by people's comments.

If you want to change the world, as Roger did, then you're always going to tread on some people's toes. But Roger had a purpose, and even though I didn't fully agree with all his politics (though a lot of it I did; I am a socialist), I know that his intentions were good ones. He had compassion, he wasn't just out for himself.

Jason

Yes, Warren was contacted. I dont think Roger felt particularly abandoned on that occasion you refer to. In fact he spoke to me about what a marvelous support he received during that regretable incident. I spoke to him about it and he was insistent that it not be made a big deal of. Always looking out for the greater good was Roger.
I miss him.

Yes, amongst all his other attributes Roger was also an animal lover, he gladly fed our pets & walked our dog, when the family & I went away for a few days at the end of last year.
Roger would offen phone me & ask if he could join me in taking the dog for a walk, turning what for me was a chore, into something enjoyable.
Every time I drive past his street it just seem's so sad that he is no longer there.
RIP
Colin

Hi John,

I'm not sure if you're still checking this thread, but I've found a new home for Mannheim, on a nice little farm, with a woman who recently lost her own cat - I've taken some photos of the cat and his new owner which I'll post on my blog in a day or two, so that Roger's family and friends can see Mannheim is OK.
Scott
readingthemaps.blogspot.com