The Spark November 2007
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Terror tactics from Labour and police As The Spark goes to press the police are applying to lay charges under terrorism laws against a range of political activists. Labour - wanting to appear at arms-length - is delegating responsibility from the attorney-general, Michael Cullen, to the solicitor-general.
Hands off Iran, freedom for the Kurds On October 25, the Bush regime implemented new sanctions on Iran. The measures, the harshest imposed on Iran since 1979, affect 20 major Iranian companies and involve seizing assets held in the US and banning Americans from doing business with the companies, including three Iranian state-owned banks.
Pacific Forum 2007: imperialism, hypocrisy and lies On 16 and 17 October 2007, the leaders of 21 Pacific nations met in Tonga for the thirty-eighth annual Pacific Forum. Proceedings were dominated by the question of Fiji and its military regime, with Prime Minister Helen Clark launching a series of attacks on Commodore Bainimarama and his government, calling for the restoration of parliamentary democracy and for "free and open elections" to be held "by the end of 2009".
Workers Party mayoral campaign reviewed The decision of the Auckland branch to only stand in Waitakere City was opposed by some people within the Workers Party who argued that the Auckland City mayoral race would have got more media publicity. However the decision of the branch to concentrate on Waitakere bore considerable results. Rebecca Broad's 2101 vote count was by far the most impressive number of votes a Workers' Party candidate has received in an election. The campaign has also had other positive results, such as Rebecca being offered a regular column in the local paper. Generally this campaign helped put forward socialist politics and drew a number of people, including organised workers, closer to the Workers' Party.
Book review: No Left Turn by Chris Trotter A class-centred historical analysis is a rare thing in New Zealand today. The clash of classes that dominated much of this young nation’s 20th-century political landscape seems to have been discarded by most contemporary political commentators and academics to the dustbin of history. Chris Trotter is therefore to be commended for trying to do justice to the history of the working class movement in this country with his tome, No Left Turn. But he is also to be challenged for his defence of the new “distorters of history”.
Events that shook the world “Besides the organised and peaceful demonstrations there were many of a different kind — tumultuous, ardent, violent, anarchical, drawing in hundreds of thousands, even millions of participants — the succession of these demonstrations marking the advance of the revolution. “Every street corner was a public tribune. In railway trains, street cars, always the spurting up of impromptu debate, everywhere ... What a marvellous sight to see the Putilov factory pour out its 40,000 to listen to Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, Anarchists, anybody, whatever they had to say, as long as they could talk.” This is how US socialist John Reed, the author of the famous eyewitness account Ten Days that Shook the World, described the excitement of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Student elections: Workers Party beats Labour and Act Workers Party member Joel Cosgrove has been elected president of the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA) for 2008. Joel will be the second Workers Party member in this role, Nick Kelly being the first in 2006.
http://www.wgtn-chamber.co.nz/defaul...
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