There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
ALL OUT- FEB 28 2009
John Key's Honeymoon is over.
We won't pay for his Crisis!
Faced with a barrage of attacks from the new National led government, in particular the 90 Day Fire at Will Law (which now comes into effect on March 1st, thanks to pressure from ACT), socialists, unionists and left Greens have got their act together and began planning the fightback.
Socialist Aotearoa organised an inspiring meeting on Thursday 11th December, where Unite union's John Minto and the Green's new MP, Catherine Delahunty, joined SA's Frank Doleman in outlining the need for a united front to resist the effects of the international crisis in capitalism and the new government's attacks on workers and the poor. Leading activists from the Workers Party, Greens on Campus, the National Distribution Union, the Residents Action Movement, the CWG and the CL also spoke from the floor. All agreed that we could work together round the slogan "We won't pay for their Crisis".
The next day saw this new unity in action, where activists from Socialist Aotearoa, the Workers Party, Greens on Campus and Unite joined a vocal picket of John Key's Auckland mansion, as his government rammed through the 90 Days Fire at Will Law.
Thursday December 18th saw the United Front convene again in Unite Union's Morningside HQ, where Mike Treen gave a powerful lead off that critiqued the inadequacy of the response from the so called Opposition Labour Party, and the need for a fighting left alternative. That alternative will now-
(a) Call a National Day of Action against this government and its attacks on workers rights, in particular the 90 Days Fire at Will law, on Saturday Febuary 28th 2009.
(b) Build this day of action through all our union, community, college and political networks, and organise mass postering, leafleting, stickers and badges to oppose the Fire at Will law. Activist stalls will take the word out to major markets, workplaces and city streets.
(c) the stalls will also collect pledges of resistance from those who want to do more than just sign a petition, who will then help staff a Rat Patrol which can picket, protest or occupy any workplace where a worker has been unjustly sacked using this law. This warning goes out to employers immediately.
(d) organise a major weekend conference on the Global Economic Crisis in mid or late March, with respected international critics of capitalism and a wide range of speakers from Aotearoa's fighting left, to help educate and cohere the movement we bring out onto the streets on Feb28.
The stakes are very high for our class. Already, redundancies are mounting, and the employers are preparing to flex their muscles in the workplaces as they begin stripping us of our work rights. And sorry, Chris Trotter! The Labour Party leaders have failed us- the answer to the worst economic crisis since the 1930s is not Phil Goff…
The answer is building a powerful coalition of our community, political and union organisations to resist them on the streets and in every workplace facing their attacks. We need to learn the lessons from workers in other countries who are already resisting the Crisis. Factory occupations in Chicago got the goods against redundancies imposed by the banks- a tactic that we should educate NZ workers facing the sack about. Irish teachers, pensioners and students have had mass street protests and fought back against cutbacks in public services- which is what we now face in Tory controlled Auckland City and with increases in the ACC levy. And the economic crisis has seen scenes in the cities of Greece not glimpsed since the heady days of Paris, May 68, as a generation of students and young people are joined by the organised working class in what 62% of Greeks refer to as a national uprising.
FEB 28 2009
John Key's Honeymoon is over.
We won't pay for his Crisis!
If you want posters, stickers and badges for the protest, or need assistance building it in your town, please contact Joe at 021 1861450, email solidarityjoe@yahoo.com
Related
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-spirit-in-fighting-left-of-auckland.html
Comments
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Two quick comments:
a) why not call the day of action during the week? That way workers would gain a sense of their power by causing a major economic hold-up...
b) why stop with the 90 day bill? Obviously it's a start, but why not include more radical demands also, so workers have an understanding of workplace self-management and changing the entire system that's causing the crisis and 90 day bills...
All in all, I wish you the best from chch, but why not push this thing along?
Jared D
A response to Jared
Hi Jared, good points you bring up.
(a) CTU affilaited unions will probably use their ERL time to try and fill Aotea square on a week day stoppage, from some of their more organised sites. Whilst this will provide the required photo op, it will be mostly passive and Labour party led, marching the troops to the top of the hill and back again, with no strategy to fight on afterwards.
We fight the unjust sackings from the start with the Rat Patrol, and with stalls gathering pledges of resistance, build the potential of the Rat Patrol to go from noisy pickets to effective blockades.
It was felt at United Front meetings so far that we need to get out of the ghettoes by building this as a mass protest. A saturday protest on Feb 28 will be the first of many for this Movement, that won't alienate non unionised workers that can't take time off work yet etc. Yes, the only General we follow is called Strike, but if we want to make that slogan a reality, we need to reach out to the majority of non unionised workers now. Just my thoughts on it, others can come in.
(b) Other demands will be to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, workers right to strike, no repossessions on workers homes, nationalisation of companies that go bust etc. The UNited Front has just come together and trashed out this course of action so far- the next meeting is in mid January and we can get to work on a better programme then. The conference in mid March can then democratically ratify a list of demands etc.
Hope that answers some questions and provokes some others.
Solidarity
Joe C
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
This is so funny. You people think you are going to bring the government down do you?
Jared do you have a clue how hopeless trade unionism in this country? This call is a joke. A call from your Aunty Mabel would have more affect mate. And jared...are you an anarchist?? Can't see it in any of your words.
1st thing to do is to organise AND educate workers. Yes I said educate. Most unions in this country are yellow unions who soak up members to keep themselves afloat. The paid staff are more interested in keeping members numbers up and fees coming in so their jobs remain safe rather than educating workers.
The real problem we have in this country is the working class not knowing they are working class.
The education of the working class can not be done without being on the streets with them day to day. This is a time to build and educate. We dont need leaders we need community.
And the stuff from Joe C ...is that person joking? Sounds like they just arrived in Aotearoa.
"The stakes are very high for our class"
Joe I dont know about your class but Mike Treen is not working class. Once again asking the middle class to lead actions on behalf of the working class. Not a good way to start. Actions should start from the work places and the streets, not some comfortable office paid for by workers.
Have a look at your history pleaseeeee. I agree 100% this government, like the labour government you supported, needs to be dealt to but these tactics wont work. Could the unions all please tell me why you supported the labour party for so many years? And no doubt still do. Aren't they union fees you are giving to them? Isnt that true Mr Treen?
Re: Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Hi anon,
Of course I know how hopeless the unions in NZ are currently. That doesn't mean we should ignore those already in unions. Why? Simply because the working class creates all wealth under capitalism, and if we as workers refused to obey and used our position as producers to destroy the class system and other forms of opression, we could create a free, stateless, classless society based on direct democracy, self management and distribution according to need.
Trade unions are one of the most important mass movements of the working class, as they are organisations founded on specific class interests, no matter how reformist or bureacratic they currently are. Because of this feature, it forms an organisational stronghold of a specific class-consciousness that to some extent cuts across race, gender, religion etc. They help workers realise that there are definite differences between employer and employee, that ‘the working class and the employer class have nothing in common.’ They are also based at the point of production — allowing workers to injure the bosses and halt production by their withdrawal of labour where it hurts most.
I agree that education and organisation lead up to emancipation. If my comments about the action somehow makes me not an anarchist then what workers will we support? Education includes action, hence my question on why action couldn't be taken during the week. Through agitation and direct action the workers here would then start to gain class consciousness. Sure, it's been called by 'Slowcialists', so why can't we, as anarchists support and encourage the rank and file to take these actions further than reformist demands? Is that not education? Obviously its not industrial networks or working class constructive community action, but we can't just ignore this action either.
Revolutionary conditions are not just something that ‘happens’ to workers. They are a result of the actions of the workers themselves, and in turn these actions are influenced by the strength of revolutionary ideology and the the level of self activity that wokers engage in. If this is true, then workers and workplace struggle can directly contribute to the creation of revolutionary conditions. We, as anarchists, should be there with the rank and file and try to educate and push any action called by reformists towards its most liberatory and direct conclusion.
Cheers
Jared D
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
uncle mike and unite union doesn't give money to the labour party.
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
isnt feb 28 a bit late to get started !? its practically the 3rd month of the year ,surely you can organise before then .....
Feb 28- just enough time to build
Is Feb 28 too late?
Christmas just about writes off most of Dec and January- the UNited front meets again in mid January, leaving us six weeks to build the movement on the streets and in the workplaces. To build a protest that reaches out beyond the ghetto, that would be about the minimum time you would need to poster citywide, staff weekend stalls, leaflet workplaces and get the word out far and wide.
The Rat Patrol, however, starts immediately, and all those who want to be involved in direct action against unjust sackings should sign up ASAP.
To anon, yes I've just arrived off the boat to Aotearoa, I've only been here since the Battle of Seattle ;).
I don't give a damn about the class origins of any fighter- there are plenty of working class people who are racist, and there are plenty of middle class people who joined the fight for socialism and betrayed their class- the (Red Countess Constance Markievitz is a personal heroine of mine).
The Unite union has stepped up to the mark to resist this 90 Days Fire at Will Law, and offered its resources to the movement. Other unionists within the NDU are pushing for that union to back the Feb 28 day of action, and support the Rat Patrol direct actions.
And when it comes to "reading our histories", you should take a good hard look at the people who organised the Supersize My Pay campaign, the protests for Jackie lang and Folole Muliaga, the civil roghts movement to defend the Urewewa 20, etc etc, before you insult us by saying we supported "our" Labour government.
There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland article is
Here something amusing about the trolls that hang out here.
www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Internet_troll_personality_disorder
The treatment is very funny!
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Just on the whole question of whether a person's class origin means they can't be a revoltuionary ("zomfg Mike Treen is liek middul clarse!!1!!1!!"), Zhou Enlai provided the definitive answer to this back in the days of revolutionary China, during an argument with Krushchev.
* Khrushchev: "The difference between the Soviet Union and China is that I rose to power from the peasant class, whereas you came from the privileged Mandarin class."
Zhou: "True. But there is this similarity. Each of us is a traitor to his class."
Alastair Reith.
Re: Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
You miss the point. Surely the important question is not one's class origins, but one's class sympathies as demonstrated by one's actions. Union bureaucrat = middle class.
Now leaving the platform
if the socialists are slow, does that mean the superfast spontaneist anarcho-leninists are Vanarchists? :)
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Sadly i agree that the February date is a bit late, but then i cant help but think that the delay is necessary to allow for people to get prepared and get over the holiday season. Despite that this cause of delay almost certainly why John Key is ramming through the law over Christmas (which sadly was a politically smart move).
Regarding the the prospect of an 'alliance' with the likes of the CTU and the labourites I dont see any harm in actually taking part in what they are doing. I cant believe i just said that but it does seem like a logical way of getting a voice out to working class people who are already semi-class conscious but not active. The bill is the sort of thing which, because of its immediate and obvious effect on the working class, is more likely to gather more interest than a purely theoretical debate or an abstract, distant protest. This is something which people can relate to and by at least making an appearance (although by no means being absorbed by the CTU or Labour party) people in the unions who do not go on regular protests etc will at least see that there is another option and that it is fighting hard for them.
Sadly I'm not going to be Auckland in February but i should be well settled into Wellington, so do you know of any mirror protests etc occurring in the capital after January?
thanks
Josh
Re: Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Thanks for almost everyone's comments
On the date, the biggest mobilization against the UK poll tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_tax_demonstrations) happened on the day before the tax came into being. The National/ACT government has rushed this act before we could (again) mobilise against it. All in all 90 days after the Nats get elected and the day before their sack at will bill comes into force seems like a good date for a serious socialist manifestation.
As for strikes, yes that would be perfect, totally the best way forward. Working on how we deliver that sort of thing is vital.
As I said at the Thursday meeting in Auckland, It's about time the NZ left became less defensive.
As Greece burns and Wall Street lies prostate, this is the time for us to show the strength of our ideas.
The key idea behind the 28th Feb Demo is to provide a focus for ideas and action, everyone will be welcome to contribute their ideas and carry them out.
Let a thousand flowers bloom, let a thousand schools of thought contend. lets make F28 the start of that process.
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
I would not agree with Mike Treen on everything, but I recognise that he consistently does his political work in the streets and on worksites and it benefits the cause of the working class.
More so than the empty abstract mouthings of some anonymous hidden keyboard tapper.
Don Franks
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
"Union bureaucrat = middle class."
There is a grain of truth in this ridiculously broad generalization - there are certainly some union staff who manage their members on behalf of the CTU and the Labour Party. However there are others, even in the Labour-affiliated unions, who see their role as managing the CTU and Labour on behalf of their members. Then there are staff in non-affiliated unions who see their role as serving the members. There are also activists who attempt to build small fighting unions like the AWU and the IWW branch in Ōtepoti, and Solidarity in Tamaki Makaurau, who are technically ' union bureaucrats'.
I think it's sad when people use class as a stick for beating people other people, rather than an analysis of why we have different relationships with different people, depending on a variety of indicators of social status. This function of managing people on behalf of ruling elites is a more meaningful critera for being 'middle class' than 'someone who works in an office'. The Clerical Workers Union would have been surprised to learn that their entire membership was middle class.
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Do we really have to go through this working class middle class argument....again?
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
"I would not agree with Mike Treen on everything, but I recognise that he consistently does his political work in the streets and on worksites and it benefits the cause of the working class.
More so than the empty abstract mouthings of some anonymous hidden keyboard tapper."
I agree with the above comments, Mr Treen has spent several years working as an assembly line worker at Ford, before he was spuriously dismissed for his militant involvement with the Union.
Most activists of today, are generally University graduates/ students seeking a lifestyle choice.
None of whom would of done the hard yards, yet have the gall to think they can represent workers.
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
the problem is not what will happen on F28, that is quite predictable: people will march, speeches will be made, chants will echo, and then people will head to the boozer or off home.
the problem is, what can be done after F28.
around the 90daylaw-this is fairly simple, get people signing pledges of resistance to join the rat patrol, a sort of "flying picket", to target employers who sack workers top a) get reinstatement or b) compensation.
however around the issue of the minimum wage which the National Party won't move there needs to be some discussion as to the direction of the movement after F28. a meeting of movement heads in march is good- but what will people bring to the table?
our options include
-occupations/blockades of NP offices, chambers of commerce and the like (problematic)
-blockades (risky)
-more mass rallies (yawn)
-propaganda campaign
-support for collective bargainning campaigns (most probable)
-student/youth actions (unlikely)
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
"Wall Street lies prostate"
Haha - nice Freudian slip. Wall Street is full of rich old farts with prostatic hypertrophy, but I don't think that's what you meant.
Re: There's a new spirit in the fighting Left of Auckland.
Hey I think this sounds promising.
It seems like Mike Treen is doing some good work and the fact that this is so-broad-based is exciting. It does put me off that certain folks like him and John Minto are always speaking (and therefore setting the agenda) - and there is work to be done to make this 'new spirit' more egalitarian. But the same could be said for anarchist-style campaigns - no?