UC Workers Party on Campus Events

August 2, 2008

Student rebellion and state repression: the events of 1968 in México

Continuing our series of retrospective talks on the events of 1968, this week’s WP on Campus meeting looks at the explosion of student militancy onto the streets of México City in the months leading up to the Summer Olympics of that year.

Wednesday 6 August, 5pm
International Room, 1st floor UCSA Building

Workers Party on Campus “Introduction to Socialism” study group

The first session of our planned regular series of introductory study groups meets this Wednesday after the conclusion of the México 1968 talk, at 6.30pm in room 1106 (11th floor Central Library). The reading for this week’s session is “How Revolutionaries Choose Their Political Priorities” and can be found here.

Copies of the readings for subsequent sessions will be available for pickup on Wednesday.

NOTE: WP also currently run an advanced study group on Marx’s “Capital” – send us an email if they would like to find out more about participating in this.

Workers Party Election Campaign

Last week saw the official launch of our local election campaign with several public forums as well as the beginning of leafleting and doorknocking in working class areas of Christchurch. Our policies such as abolishing GST, ending the corporatisation of public services and putting all elected MPs on the average workers’ wage have been getting a good reception from workers, students and pensioners and we will be taking our anti-capitalist message out to more local neighborhoods over the coming weeks. If you can help us with any of this work please get in touch!

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Jobs should come before profits

July 24, 2008

- Workers Party Press Release

As the recession bites, workers are again carrying the heaviest burden.

The layoffs just announced at Silver Fern Farms’ Belfast plant are another sign that the current parties have nothing left to offer workers. The Workers Party thinks jobs for all should come before profits for private companies and supports action by workers to keep their jobs, including occupations of workplaces threatened with closure.

As a first step, the Workers Party of New Zealand will abolish GST because it is a regressive tax that hits workers particularly hard.

We are launching our Christchurch Electoral campaign at 7pm on Monday July 28th. The campaign launch will be held in the WEA at 59 Gloucester St.

The Workers Party is standing two candidates in Christchurch electorates: secondary school teacher and former meat worker Paul Hopkinson in Christchurch East and retail worker and student Byron Clark in Christchurch Central. We also have candidates standing in Auckland and Wellington.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Workers Party Wellington events

July 10, 2008

Tonight we are having a social event to talk about Don Franks’ Wellington Central campaign as well as the Workers’ Party’s nationwide campaign.

It should be pretty laid back, and if you’re interested in coming (there is free beer and pizza), we’ll be in the Collins Room 5:30-7ish, Student Union Building, Vic Uni, Kelburn. All welcome.

Our weekly study sessions will be on hold, starting again next week, ploughing through Rosa Luxembourg:

http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm

Starting next Tuesday we’ll be holding weekly communist manifesto studies. The communist manifesto is widely seen as the calling point for socialists in Europe and wider. It has been translated into many languages and still has a remarkable resonance in the 21st Century. We’ve got a wide range of people coming along for this study, so don’t feel afraid if you haven’t read it before, a lot of people haven’t either. It’s a good chance to talk about the ideas and how they work in practice.
Every Tuesday from next week on, 5pm, Collins Room, Student Union Building, Vic Uni, Kelburn.

Look forward to seeing you there!

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Auckland WP forum – Abortion: Whose choice is it?

July 6, 2008

Mon July 7 6pm – Mon
Level 1, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

The anti-choice lobby group “Right To Life” are jubilant over a High Court judge’s review that questions the legality of many abortions. Daphna Whitmore discusses the legal, social and practical realities of abortion in NZ today

(rescheduled from 23 June)

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Abortion – whose choice is it?

June 16, 2008

Workers Party public forum
Monday 23 June 6pm Level 1, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland

The anti-choice lobby group “Right To Life” are jubilant over a High Court judge’s review that questions the legality of many abortions. Daphna Whitmore discusses the legal, social and practical realities of abortion in NZ today.

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Marxism 2008: check out some of the talks

May 25, 2008

Hear John Edmundson at Marxism 2008 on Afghanistan’s long-running resistance

New Zealand has been at war in Afghanistan since the beginning of that war, but people could be excused for not realising this. While the war in Iraq has made the news, Afghanistan is more or less ignored and New Zealand’s involvement is even less reported on.

Yet at the same time, Afghanistan is portrayed as “the good war”, in contrast to “the bad war” in Iraq. Whatever coverage there is is almost exclusively of one type; the good work New Zealand soldiers are doing in Bamian. With the embarrassing exception of the troops sent home recently for drug offenses, the only other story to make the news, and it was huge, was the awarding of the VC to Corporal Apiata.

For New Zealanders, the war in Afghanistan should be big news. Soldiers from this country are over there participating in this brutal occupation. We should be hearing about this and we should be opposing it. Instead, it is completely below the radar. (Saturday 31 May 10am)

The dialectics of nature and nurture – Daphna Whitmore challenges mechanical approaches to genes and the environment

The debate over what influences the development of an organism most – genes or environment – has largely been treated in a mechanical way. The pendulum has swung back and forth as to which plays the bigger role but few scientists take an all-sided view.

Drawing on the work of scientists Lewontin, Levins and Gould, who use the dialectical method, Daphna makes a case that there’s more to development than genes and environment.

It is 55 years since the structure of DNA was revealed and it is time to ask why gene therapy not progressed beyond the trial stage. Daphna argues that DNA doesn’t play quite the determining role that is commonly believed and that genes are irrelevant for some characteristics.

Daphna contends that ‘genomania’ has a social context which is holding back progress.

Likewise, our concept of the environment is shaped by current ideology. “Preserve the environment” is a catchy slogan but nonsense in biology, says Lewontin. Do organisms “adapt” to their environment or is adaptation a misused metaphor? Just how much is science guided by social thinking rather than objective exploration? (Saturday 31 May 4.15pm)

Join the discussions at Marxism 2008 Queens Birthday weekend Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510 Richmond Rd, Grey Lynn Auckland. (See full programme here)

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WP Seminar and Documentary Screening: 1968 – The Year of Revolutions

May 15, 2008

Saturday May 24, Christchurch WEA (59 Gloucester St)

Beginning 1pm with a session on
* The Tet Offensive  – this session will also look at protests within the
US in 1968

Followed by sessions on:
* The May-June worker-student strikes and occupations in France
* The rebellion in Yugoslavia and the ‘Prague Spring’ in Czechoslovakia
* The Mexico Olympics and events in Latin America

There’ll be food around 5.30pm, followed by a documentary on the
cultural side of 1968 at 6pm.

Organised by the Workers Party; all welcome.

No charge, but any donations would be gratefully received.

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Victoria University Workers Party Forum

May 12, 2008

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Marxism 2008 Programme

May 2, 2008

FRIDAY evening 30 May

7pm Bullets and ballots: Babu Maharjan from Nepal gives a first-hand account of the mass movement for change.

8pm Vote socialist 2008: The Workers Party launches its election campaign with a view to being on ballot papers in every home.

SATURDAY 31 May

10am Revolution and Resistance: panel discussion
Dennis Maga (from the radical trade union the KMU) on the mass movement in the Philippines; John Minto (social justice activist) on the betrayal of the liberation movement in South Africa; Don Carson (a long-time campaigner for Palestine) on the relentless struggle for liberation; Mike Treen (unionist and social justice activist) on Cuba surviving encirclement; and John Edmundson (Workers Party) on Afghanistan’s long-running resistance.

11.45am New government, old problems? Anthony Main from the Socialist Party of Australia talks about the current situation

12.30pm Lunch

1.15 -3pm: 1968: The Year that Rocked the World – Mike Kay (Workers Party) on the tumultuous events of forty years ago.

John Moore (Workers Party) speaks with former Polynesian Panther Party member Tigi Ness about radicalism in Polynesian Ponsonby.

Short break

3pm- 4pm Building a Fighting Force -Matt McCarten (Unite Union) and Don Franks (Workers Party) on how to fight redundancies and build mass resistance

Short break

4-15pm – 5pm What is socialism? – Jared Phillips (Workers Party) gives an historical view.

Parallel session: Dialectics of nature vs nurture – Daphna Whitmore (Workers Party) looks at the dichotomy debate.

SUNDAY 1 June

12.30pm Sex and Socialism – Bryce Edwards ((Politics lecturer) brings two of the most interesting words in the English language together in a libertarian-socialist talk where discussion will range from pornography to prostitution, lesbianism to childcare, ‘raunch culture’ to abortion.

1.15pm Debate: That open borders bring freedom – Tim Bowron (Workers Party) argues the affirmative; Brian Van Dam (social justice activist) argues the negative.

2.30pm break

2.45pm The vital role of a revolutionary paper Don Franks (Workers Party, editor of The Spark)

3.30pm Who needs a revolutionary party? Philip Ferguson (Workers Party) argues essential need for a revolutionary organisation.

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Marxism 2008

April 26, 2008

Featured session topics:

Elections and the Revolutionary Movement in Nepal

Resisting Imperialism – speakers on the Philippines, Afghanistan, Cuba and Palestine

1968: The Year of Revolution

The Rise and Fall of the Polynesian Panther Party

Building a Fighting Union Movement

Debate: Should Socialists Support Open Borders?

Plus the official launch of the Workers Party’s 2008 election campaign

For more info email wpnz(at)clear.net.nz or phone Daphna (029) 494-9865

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