McCarten contests Mana by-election

Matt for Mana! Its time for a New Left

by Joe Carolan
from Socialist Aotearoa

In a daring and audacious move, Matt McCarten, General Secretary of the Unite Union, announced his candidacy in the Mana By Election in Wellington earlier today. Matt has had a quarter of century's experience fighting for New Zealand's poorest workers, and was a founding member of both the New Labour Party and the Alliance. Now standing as a member of the Independent Left, he would make an excellent champion for the thousands of low paid and unemployed workers in Mana.

Support for Matt has come in from many members of other trade unions, as well as most of the organisations of the socialist left, who worked hard together in last year's Campaign for a Living Wage Referendum push. That Campaign got over 200,000 signatures of support to raise the minimum wage in New Zealand to $15ph NOW, and then two thirds of the average industrial wage subsequently. It was also successful in getting the independent left out into the housing estates, markets and workplaces, co operating in struggle together.

Labour has had this seat since the 1930s and has done little to alleviate the poverty there. The escalating attacks on the working class in New Zealand requires the serious left to look for political as well as industrial solutions. The Labour Party just won't cut it. Under the leadership of Phil Goof, they'll be lucky to clear 35% in next years election. In the War of the Hobbit, they can't even decide which side they're on. They're a centrist, liberal party who lost the last election because they ignored their working class base - the kind of people who live in Mana.

Socialists will campaign hard for Matt and for the people of Mana in the next month- for decent state housing, for affordable public transport, for a living wage, full employment and a planned economy. The Free Market economics that people like Phil Goof unleashed inthe 1980s have failed New Zealand. It's time for a New Left. Matt for Mana!

Kia Ora Gaza - Breaking the siege of Palestine

The Kia Ora Gaza team and the entire Viva Palestina 5 convoy continues its way through Europe. Daily reports are featuring on the Kia Ora Gaza website.

I thought the following summary by Omar Hameed as Socialist Aotearoa was particularly pertinent.

It’s sickening to watch the Delhi Commonwealth games descends into utter shambles and absurdity with pampered athletes moaning about their (obviously unclean) accomodation in a country where the population of people living in slums is set to be 93.06 million next year.

23 times the population of Aotearoa living in houses without access to drinking water, toilets or drainage and yet the major story is that the building dust hasn’t been cleaned out of the bathrooms. For many Indians it would be nice just to have a bathroom.

On the other hand one Kiwi team we should be all cheering for is the Kia Ora Gaza crew, trekking their way across Europe on the way to break the siege of Palestine. With nearly $90k of their $100k target raised these activists have strengthened and demonstrated the support for the Palestinian people in this country.

As Chris Van Ryn, one of the activists on board the convoy described life on the road,

It’s hard. It’s stressful. It’s uncomfortable.

And it’s so worth doing.

We’re here to do a job, not have a party. Our focus is to supply aid to suffering people in Gaza and break the globally condemned Israeli siege. That’s the thread binding our convoy together. For a month we put aside our own needs for the much greater needs of oppressed Palestinians.

The closer we get to Gaza, the stronger our feeling for the one-and-a-half million people imprisoned on that small strip of land. We feel their plight.

Hundreds of determined people being supported by thousands of ordinary people around the world, united in their determination to rebuild international co-operation and solidarity between people through hard work and shared physical hardship. You won't find it at the Commonwealth games but you will find it with the courageous volunteers on the road to Palestine. This is one team to keep an eye on this spring.

Response to Socialist Aotearoa

Joe Carolan at Socialist Aotearoa has called for a “United Front on the Left” in response to recent attacks on unions and the threat of John Banks ruling the Auckland supercity.

1. Socialist Aotearoa would like to see the Campaign for a Living Wage achieve its target of 300,000 plus signatures to initiate a Citizen's Referendum to increase the minimum wage. 2. We would also like to see the struggles of the busdrivers, firefighters, telecom engineers, dairy workers and others unite in one union led mass protest on the streets -- joint strike action would send the National led government an even stronger message. 3. The need for the Left to overthrow John Banks and the right wing Supercity agenda in Auckland is also urgent. We would welcome debate and discussion from others on the Left and in the Trade union movements about these three theatres of class struggle.

I posted the following response on their blog, and encourage UNIYTblog readers to post your thoughts on both blogs.

Joe’s three points for unity are good ones, although they are not the end of the list. Here’s three more: * Socialist Worker’s Auckland branch has initiated a Bad Banks campaign, but is inviting others on the Left to join in. * Climate change threatens all who live on this planet, and a pollution market(whether the National-Maori Party version or the Labour-Green version) is a completely inadequate response. We need an eco-socialist alternative. * The Government is considering increasing GST, while Maori Party MP Rahui Katene is has put forward a Bill to remove GST from food. These events have RAM considering a revival of its popular campaign on the issue. It’s probably a bit optimistic to imagine that everyone on the “left” or even every socialist would unite around all these issues, but it should be possible to form broad coalitions around each issue. One thing that you would hope everyone who considers themselves “on the left” would be able to agree on would be supporting the various groups of workers currently under attack. The next question is how can socialists work together to promote a millitant response, such as united mass protest and strike action by unions, which may not necissarily be the prefered option of the union leaders involved?

Time for a United Front on the Left says Socialist Aotearoa

Joe Carolan, Socialist Aotearoa

See original post at the Socialist Aotearoa blog Our busdrivers are threatened with lockout. Our firefighters who risk their lives for us have to strike for a pittance. Our Telecom engineers are forced to give up their sick pay and holidays and become private contractors at the very time we need a decent broadband system. And those who work the hardest and dirtiest jobs are paid the lowest- hundreds of thousands of workers try to make ends meet on a minimum wage of $12.50, or not much more. The anger is building noticably in the last few weeks, and this time, it's not just socialists or revolutionaries or the usual suspects on the Left who are talking about it. There's a real mood in Auckland city to unite these struggles, and there's a lot of people talking to each other again about making something happen. Socialist Aotearoa activists have been out talking to people in other unions and in other parties of the Left. Initatives such as the Campaign for a Living Wage are seeing the beginnings of a United Front effort to organise the working poor. Of course, in a United Front, the different political and social organisations will maintain their individual identities and viewpoints. But the need for the Left to unite and begin organising the fightback against this rotten government and its policies takes precedence. 1. Socialist Aotearoa would like to see the Campaign for a Living Wage achieve its target of 300,000 plus signatures to initiate a Citizen’s Referendum to increase the minimum wage. 2. We would also like to see the struggles of the busdrivers, firefighters, telecom engineers, dairy workers and others unite in one union led mass protest on the streets- joint strike action would send the National led government an even stronger message. 3. The need for the Left to overthrow John Banks and the right wing Supercity agenda in Auckland is also urgent. We would welcome debate and discussion from others on the Left and in the Trade union movements about these three theatres of class struggle. Solidarity Joe Carolan, Socialist Aotearoa