JOIN THE RAT PATROL AGAINST UNFAIR DISMISSALS

From March '09 workers in small businesses will be able to be sacked for any reason, or no reason at all, in their first 90 days of employment. The RAT PATROL has been launched by unions and community groups to make sure no worker get unfairly dismissed under the new law. The Rat Patrol received a great response in Coyle Park last weekend, with hundreds of workers taking leaflets for the demonstration on 28 February. There is loads of anger in the community about the new law, and people love the idea of bringing the giant inflatable rat to shame their own rat bosses. Come along over the next few weeks to give us a hand with the leaflets and sign-ups:

SATURDAY 14 FEB - MANGERE MARKET. Mangere Community Law Centre have reserved a joint space for the Rat Patrol and the campaign to defend Community Law Centres. Meet 9am Unite Office or 10am at Mangere Market, Mangere Town Square off Waddon Place (meet next to the Maori Wardens building).

SAT 14 FEB - CROSS ST CARNIVAL - DETAILS TBC

SUNDAY 15 FEB - AVONDALE MARKET (MORNING) - DETAILS TBC

SATURDAY 21 FEB - OTARA MARKET (MORNING) - DETAILS TBC

Let us know which events you can can help out at, and which other events you'd like to take the rat to. The leaflet can be DOWNLOADED - you can use them anywhere, so sign up your friends and workmates, and send the names back in so we can keep building the RAT PATROL. If you can't find the rat when you get to the event, text me on 0210 358 513 and we'll try to locate you... Hope to see you all tomorrow, Nicola

REGISTER AS A RAT PATROL MEMBER to join the emergency solidarity pickets against unfair sackings. Our goal is to have several hundred people registered as willing and able to respond to appeals for help on short notice. Register with your email address and/or mobile number for text messages. To join email wewontpayforyourcrisis@gmail.com or

REGISTER ONLINE http://www.unite.org.nz/?q=contact
DOWNLOADABLE POSTER here:
http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/76759/index.php

anti-capitalism & anti-colonial struggles in australia & pacific

a public talk by Maori and Pacific anti-globalisation and solidarity activist Sina Brown-Davis

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
6:00pm - 8:00pm
@ Clubspace, above the Auckland University Quad.
Corner Princes and Alfred Streets (By Maidment Theatre), Auckland, New Zealand

Sina Brown-Davis, Melbourne-based Maori, Tongan & Samoan anti-globalisation and solidarity activist will be giving a public talk on revolutionary struggle and activism in Australia and the Pacific.

Sina works closely with Aboriginal Australians in a number of anti-racist and anti-colonial projects and campaigns. She runs uriohau.blogspot.com a news service for activists and revolutionaries throughout the Pacific.

Sina was one of two-dozen activists arrested in the wake of riots atthe G20 neo-liberal economic summit held in Melbourne in 2006. Sinawill be discussing her experiences in and perspectives onanti-capitalist and anti-colonial struggles in Australia and the Pacific.

Sina is visiting Aotearoa to build solidarity and support between indigenous and radical activists who on both sides of the Tasman are being targeted by state repression.

6pm - Tuesday September 2nd
@ Clubspace, above the Auckland University Quad, corner Princes and Alfred Streets. (By Maidment Theatre)
Brought to you by Auckland Anarchist Network and Socialist Aotearoa

Stand in solidarity! Global Day Of Action - Saturday 27th Oct, 12 noon

I'm banner making & baking sis, see you there.

Don’t forget to make yourself heard on Saturday. If there’s nothing on in your area, organise something!

I’m baking, stitching and painting!

• Everywhere: Any letters emailed to lettersforprisoners[at]riseup[dot]net will printed out and distributed to arrestees. Obviously don’t write anything that could negatively impact on you or anyone else! If you can help with processing these letters, please email the crew on the same address. For more information, see http://www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz.
• Auckland: Demonstration Saturday Oct 27th at 12 noon meeting in Aotea Square. [ Poster ]
• Hamilton: Protest Sat 27th, meet 12 noon @ Garden Place.
• Rotorua: Hikoi Thursday 25th Oct, meet 9am Apumoana Marae (by Blue Lake), hikoi to Rotorua District Court for bail hearings.
• Whanganui: Rally and march Saturday October 27th at 12 noon. Meet at the River Traders Market on Moutoa Quay (behind Taupo Quay).
• Wellington: Protest Sat 27th, meet 12 noon @ Midland Park. Bring noisemakers and rage [ Poster ]. Prisoner support meetings are being held at 128 Abel Smith St, 6pm, each Tuesday. A range of solidarity events are happening over the coming days. [ Upcoming events ].
• Christchurch: A solidarity rally and march will be held in Cathedral Square at 12noon on Saturday Oct 27th, followed by a picnic with live music [ Posters: 1 & 2 ]. A meeting to plan solidarity work will be held Thursday 25th, 6pm at the Otautahi Social Centre, 206 Barbadoes St. A benefit gig has been organised for Thursday 1st November at the Wunder Bar in Lytellton.
• Dunedin: Picnic on Sunday Oct 28th to discuss the Terrorism Supression Act, Tuhoe history and Parihaka. 12 noon - 2:30pm, Otago Museum Reserve.
• Sydney, Australia: Public meeting & demonstration on Thursday October 25th, 5:30pm outside NZ Consulate-General, 55 Hunter St, Sydney
• Melbourne, Australia: A solidarity demonstration will be held Saturday 27th in Federation Square, 12noon.
• London, England: Solidarity protest Saturday 27th, 12 noon @ NZ High Comission, 80 Haymarket, SW1Y, Westminster.

Donations can be made to the defence fund. See the Civil Rights Defence Committee website for details. Or if you’re coming to Melbourne, we’ll be collecting on the day to send over one big donation to cut down on paypal fees

http://radicalcrossstitch.com/2007/10/25/stand-in-solidarity-global-day-of-action-saturday-27th-oct-12-noon/

Omar Hamed is my Brother

Omar Hamed
Aged 19 - Student

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00390.htm

Profile By Joseph Barratt

Standing at the dock is a skinny 19-year-old boy, fluffy hair, wearing glasses and an old wool jersey, he gives a smile to his mother and friends.

Like all the defendants Omar Hamed is charged with firearm offences and police are still considering laying terrorist charges against him – he is one of the 17-arrested in the police raids last week.

Half-Palestinian, born in Greece but raised in New Zealand, he has campaigned for social justice from an early age. In the past he has told reporters that he gained his inspiration from seeing his mother struggling to stop National and NZ First attacks on social welfare.

He told them that once he began to get a better understanding of issues he started writing and educating others. He has written several pieces published on Scoop.co.nz in recent months.

An active member in Students for peace and justice in Palestine, Omar is also active in a range of causes in New Zealand, that include the www.Supersizemypay.com campaign aimed at raising the minimum wage, and Radical Youth.

He currently studies History and Sociology at Auckland University.

Maire Leadbeater the head of the New Zealand Indonesian Human Rights Committee and sister of Green MP Keith Locke has worked together a lot with him.

She describes him as someone who is, “very dedicated and committed to human justice.”

“He was one of the key people with an interest in the Superfunds,” she said. “He did a lot of research into the superfund investments.”

The Governments Superfund has come under pressure this year because of revelations of apparent unethical investments, it includes investments in arms manufacturers, nuclear technology, and Total- the French petroleum company that has operations in Burma.

He was “keen for everyone to work together [to raise the Superfund issue]” Leadbeater says, he even attended a meeting with Superfund director in August to discuss the possibility of ending those investments.

A friend and activist that has known him for 3 ½ years says he was an articulate speaker and also very passionate.

He went on to say that that some people come along to protests for the fun of it but he was really committed, he would spend hours researching and writing about the different causes.

“He is someone who cares about the issues, which stems from the fact that he cares about people,” the friend said.

Hamed was also instrumental in organizing the recent protests against the US-NZ Partnership forum and also lives and helps run A Space Inside Social Centre, an Anarchist collective on Symonds Street. It runs as a bike workshop, library, meeting room for discussion of ideas and holds film screenings and shows for anyone interested.

ENDS

PUBLIC ENEMY "Don't Believe The Hype"

Re: name revealed /Love to Bro

Omar has done awesome activism in Opposing the FTA with Amerikkka &
Neo Colonialism in the Pacific (amongst heaps of other solid things)

PACIFIC YOUTH HOLD FAST: WE CAN’T IGNORE COLONISATION

By Omar Hamed

http://www.justfocus.org.nz/articles/2006/08/11/pacific-youth-hold-fast-we-cant-\
ignore-colonisation/

Omar Hamed:A Citizen’s Guide To An Emerging Empire
Thursday, 9 November 2006,

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00170.htm

Selling out our neighbours and serving the empire

A commentary on Winston Peters Foreign Policy “Five Year Plan’
By Omar Hamed

http://snap.enzyme.org.nz/2006/03/selling-out-our-neighbours-and-serving.html

>
> Kia ora whanau
>
> Omar is a dear friend of our whanau, and gave us awesome tautoko when
> I was picked up after the g20 last year. Tautoko back at ya bro.
>
> Ana
>
>
> Another of 17 alleged terrorists rounded up in nationwide police
> swoops last week can now be revealed.
>
> He is Omar Hamed, a 19-year-old Auckland man facing three charges of
> illegal possession of a firearm.
>
> It is alleged Hamed - a Palestinian, born in Greece, but raised on the
> North Shore - was twice in possession of firearm in Tauranga between
> January 10 and January 14 this year, then was in possession of a
> semi-automatic rifle, in Auckland, between September 13 and
September 16.
>
> His lawyer Anthony Rogers last week failed in a District Court bid to
> prevent publication of his name and picture, but appealed Judge
> Josephine Bouchier's ruling to the High Court.
>
> However, the deadline for that application past at 4.30pm today.
>
> Hamed is currently in custody, awaiting an Auckland District Court
> appearance on November 1.
>
>
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501470&objectid=10472072
>

London Protest in Support of Urewera 17

#file_1#
please forward to everyone you know in London.
(looks like we're competing with an anarchist book fair, but people might take a break for lunch?!)

Article posted on UK Indymedia:
indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/10/384288.html

Demand release of Aotearoa/NZ Political Prisoners
Free the Urewera 17! Global Day of Action

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: NZ High Commission London
Street: 80 Haymarket, SW1Y, Westminster
City/Town: London, United Kingdom

17 political activists in Aotearoa/New Zealand are being held in jail and threatened with charges of terrorism. What they have in common is supporting tino rangatiratanga, Maori claims to self-determination. These arrests are political (new tougher terrorism laws are coming up for debate in parliament) and aimed at creating a climate of fear. Therefore we see these arrests as state terrorism and demand the immediate release of the prisoners. This event is in support of a global day of action called by supporters of the prisoners.

Meet at the New Zealand High Commission in London, 12 noon on Saturday 27th. Bring banners, placards, noise makers and friends!

send the call out far and wide. If not in London, have your own protest in your city!

background:
In a wave of massive state repression, 300+ Police, in many cases armed, raided houses around Aotearoa / NZ on October 16th making 17 arrests. Search warrants were carried out in Auckland, Whakatane, Ruatoki, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch. Police are also seeking up to 60 people for questioning. The arrestees are all activists in the Tino Rangatiratanga, peace and environmental movements.

Urewera 17 Wellington Court Video - 19/10/07

A video following a long day outside the bail hearing of the four arrested in Wellington as part of the nationwide police raids. The four were ordered to remain in prison, and to be transferred to Auckland for further hearings. The decision is likely to be appealed (more)

Our World Is Not For Sale

Between the 9th and 11th of September, 2007, Auckland hosted the second annual United States New Zealand Partnership Forum. The forum brings together representatives of the two governments as well as from major US and NZ corporations to work on tightening the economic and political links between the two nations.

See http://indymedia.org.nz/feature/display/71714/index.php and http://www.notforsale.org.nz for more information.

Film by Anarchia Films - http://anarchia.wordpress.com

US NZ partnership forum protest

"WE HAVE MAINTAINED A SILENCE CLOSELY RESEMBLING STUPIDITY"

the death of neil roberts and the bombing of the wanganui police computer

A GELLY PARTY AT WANGANUI

On November 18, 1982 at 12.35 a.m., Neil Roberts, a 22 year old punk anarchist, walked up to the entrance of the building which housed the Wanganui police computer. Two security guards in the building saw Neil approach with a carrybag on his shoulder. As the guard reached to activate a remote speaker in the foyer and ask him what he wanted, Neil bent over and there was a flash and a huge explosion. The blast could be felt for miles, and buildings were rocked up to 400 metres away.

Neil was killed instantly when the gelignite bomb he was carrying exploded. Pieces of his body were found up to 65 metres away. Nobody else was hurt, and damage was described as "confined to mangling the armoured glass main doors and the foyer of the building." But if Neil had in fact shut down the whole computer, we would of course expect to hear a similar story: "no damage, just ruined the front door", as they would be reluctant to let us know that it was so easy to take the computer out. The building was "designed to survive such a blast", and (according to the regime - and we know how accurate they are!), survive it did.

Before he died, Neil spraypainted a slogan on a public toilet block near the computer building: "WE HAVE MAINTAINED A SILENCE CLOSELY RESEMBLING STUPIDITY" followed by the anarchy is order sign (A circled by an O) and the words "anarchy - peace thinking".

SHOCK! HORROR! ANARCHY!

There was an atmosphere of complete shock throughout Aotearoa after Neil's death. This type of thing occurred overseas, not here in little old conservative NZ. Newspapers could not understand why Neil had managed to blow himself to pieces. They called it a "bizarre act of self-destruction." There was a fear that there was an "anarchist conspiracy" to blow up government buildings throughout NZ. In fact, this is what the Prime Minister, Muldoon, suggested on TV. Security was stepped up outside key government buildings. But it was soon realised that no such "conspiracy" existed, as Neil had acted alone.

Letters flowed in to the press. To some, it confirmed the stereotype that anarchism means bombs and pure negativity and destruction. The Christchurch Press claimed that Neil was "the misfit son of a rich Auckland family" and that anarchism was a "sad, flippant kind of nihilism." Many letters defended Neil and anarchism. One writer stated: "Anarchism is ... based on the belief that humans can live with one another without coercion... The young man was sad and undoubtedly despairing, but hardly flippant. Surely we should consider why he and so many other young people are in such angry despair, rather than trivialise and discount his action as that of a 'misfit'. When we see the number of people on the dole, the preparations for nuclear war, and other evidence of our rulers' crazy incompetence and our own apathy, is it really so hard to understand why young people shout in our faces, 'We have maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.'?"

THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST

There is some debate as to whether Neil attempted to kill himself or accidently blew himself up. It is certain that he planned the bombing well in advance. Neil had visited Wanganui two weeks before the bombing with a friend, and were noticed by many locals because they were wearing safety pins and razors in their ears. The day he left for Wanganui, he told friends, "I am going to Wanganui to do something frightful. If I should blow up the Wanganui computer, the cops will be around."

The government in an inquest came to the conclusion that Neil was a suicide bomber. It suited them to trivialise the incident, to make Neil seem like a sorry misfit rather than consider why he actually targetted the police computer. It seems the main evidence for this was a tattoo on Neil's chest: "This punk won't see 23. No future." The inquest was conducted without any evidence from fellow anarchist punks. One Aucklander who knew Neil claimed he wanted to die for his anarchist beliefs, and talked of suicide, and either taking the computer centre or Beehive with him. Another friend claimed that Neil had "talked of suicide for three years and he had every intention of doing it [a suicide bombing]. It was not an act of cowardice... it was making a statement with his life." The amount of gelignite Neil had was many, many times over the amount needed to blow himseolf up. It is possible that Neil intended to blow up the Wanganui police computer, and by mistake, through inexperience with explosives, could have set the bomb off accidently. Whether it was a suicide or accident, it will never be known for sure.

CREEPING FASCISM: MULDOON AND HIS POLICE STATE

It is important to put Neil's act in context. By 1982, there was a real climate of fear of a police state in NZ developing under PM Robert "Piggy" Muldoon. Muldoon was a complete authoritarian, a proto-fascist, a more rabid version of the ultra-conservative post-war generation that ruled NZ politics in the 1960s. Muldoon was the kiwi equivalent of Nixon in the U$A. What was scary is that he was popular with a large chunk of the population. Many people seemed to lap up his left-bashing, union-bashing, sexist, racist, law-and-order policies. Muldoon did things like dawn raids on Pacific Islanders (the accusation: "Over-staying"), and allowed the 1981 Springbok Tour by the apartheid South African rugby team to go ahead. The Tour (as it was known) was very brutal. Tens of thousands of kiwis got out on the streets and tried to stop the thugby games from going ahead, and the police beat many up in a massive operation. Many suffered severe injuries, including one actor, playing a clown in an effort to defuse tension between the sides, but who was severely wounded by police baton attacks.

In 1982, a year after the Springbok Tour and the climate of fear and polarisation that the tour had created, Neil targetted the police central computer at Wanganui because it held all the national police records: it was a symbol of the creeping fascism of Muldoon and sections of the ruling class at the time. In 1978, there had been massive protests against an attempt by Muldoon to increase the power of the secret police, the SIS. The computer had become a symbol of Muldoonist authoritarianism since it was first installed in the mid 1970s (when several protest groups including the PYM organised campaigns against it.)

Neil was part of the anarchist punk rock scene at the time, which was then in its infancy. A very loose community of anarchist punks throughout Aotearoa was being formed by the early 1980s, which was to flourish by the mid to late 1980s. Punk is often dismissed as negative and nihilistic, but in the early 80s it was a child of its time: not only a protest against the stifling and boring cultural conformity in Aotearoa, but also an understandably pessimistic reaction to the state of the kiwi society at the time. The recession in the economy from the 1970s created a new political mood that things in godzone were getting worse and worse. New Zealand slipped from being one of the richest countries in the world in the 1960s to one with unemployment and a recession and a severe authoritarian law 'n order government under Muldoon to boot. So Neil's reaction is more understandable in this context.

Should Neil be considered a martyr?
Did the bombing really achieve any constructive resistance to the system?
Does an individual action against a symbol of authority like the Wanganui computer lead to real, collective resistance against the system?
Will these anarchists ever stop asking questions?

http://cw178.tripod.com/neil1.htm

Riot 111 – subversive radicals

Anarchy in the Hutt Valley

Avalon television studios, at that time the nerve centre for local television, faced an unusual protest in 1982 over the alleged banning of a New Zealand music video.

One Thursday in July, staff rushed to the window to see punk rockers Riot 111 playing on the back of a truck, powering their home-grown buzz-saw sound with a generator.

The Wellington-based band were protesting Television New Zealand's (TVNZ) refusal to screen the video clip for their single 'Writing on the wall' on Radio with pictures, the only locally broadcast video show. The song included the line ‘You’re all waiting for 1984, but we all know it’s here’.

Featuring images of clashes between police and protestors during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand, the video was rejected for its ‘inference and recreation of police violence’. Riot 111 called the decision ‘stupid and dangerous censorship’.

As the band blazed away at high volume at the front of the Avalon studios, staff lobbed toilet rolls from upstairs windows. Punk supporters painted ‘Remember Riot 111’ in blue across the front lawn and hoisted the A for Anarchy banner on the flagpole.

Riot 111 had been closely involved with the Springbok tour protests. Their first single, '1981', borrowed from the famous 'Ka mate' haka and the 'Amandla' (Freedom) chant universally adopted by local tour marchers.

The band did its own recordings. Like those of other garage bands of the day, the quality wasn't the best. After the Avalon protest made the front page of Wellington newspaper the Dominion, TVNZ's head of entertainment said he would have screened the clip ‘if the music and sound recording had been of a higher standard’.



http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/riot-111-subversive-radicals

RIOT 111 was a New Zealand political punk band active from 1981 to 1984 often associated with anarcho-punk. The group was formed by two political activists, singer "Void" and drummer "Roger Riot", during the South Africa national rugby union team's infamous 1981 tour of New Zealand. The members of Riot 111 were Brown Squad protesters who were involved in running battles with the police's Red Squad outside the apartheid South African rugby games.

Void and Roger Riot recorded with guitarist Nick Swan and bassist Mark Crawford and their first song "1981" was based on the Haka of the All Blacks. It became an instant hit rising to eighteen in the national charts. This required the band to perform live, something they had not yet done. One of their first performances, in Wellington, caused a riot at Victoria University. This caused them to be banned from playing any commercial venues and forced the band to hire small school halls. Void was constantly attacked on stage by girls who would strip him of his clothes and left him to perform semi nude.

International touring acts asked Riot 111 to support them at New Zealand concerts, and through 1982 they played with The Birthday Party , John Cooper Clark and The Dead Kennedys. Jello Biafra wrote extensively about Void in US punk fanzines as an icon of anti-music imperialism. Riot 111 was one of the first bands to express Oceania indigenous culture through alternative post-punk rock 'n' roll rebellion.

Riot 111's EP Subversive Radicals was released in 1981. A music clip had been created to go with one of the EP's tracks, "Writing on the Wall", but it was refused airplay by state television on the only music channel. The band publicly protested the decision outside Television New Zealand's studio in the Hutt Valley.[1]

Subversive Radicals was followed by a tour of the South Island with a band called The First XV. This resulted in four of the eight tour members being arrested in Christchurch on the first day of arrival. They were also involved in a street battle with police outside The Star and Garter hotel which caused the closure the hotel for the year and led to more banning of the band. Such trouble with the police proved to be one factor that caused the band to fall apart. Other factors included continued violence from skinheads, the replacement of bassist Mark Crawford with Tim Ord, and a close friendship with Neil Roberts, an anarchist who died in an attempt to bomb a police computer database building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIOT_111

A Space Inside (Issue 1) Trailer

A video trailer highlighting the contents of the first issue of our journal. Contents:
How to Stencil (2 Stencils Included)
The Best Things in Life are Anarchistic
Learning from OCAP - Making Activism Relevant
An Interview with a Russian Anarchist
A Radical History of Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau

aspaceinside@gmail.com

Tent Embassy ki Tamaki

Last night protesters camped near the National Party conference in solidarity with Aboriginal Australians

http://indymedia.org.nz/mod/comments/update/index.php

Last night protesters spent the night camped in a Auckland park near to the National Party conference being held at the Langham hotel. The tent embassy was in solidarity with Aboriginal Australians whose communitys are once again under attack from a racist government. The protest was in response to Alexander Downer's the Australian foreign ministers upcoming visit to the national party conference this evening. Imaginative Action and Radical Youth the key groups behind the protest see the current actions by the Australian government against the Aboriginal population as a racist land grab and clear breach of Aboriginal rights.

The camp which was active throughout the entire night spoke to dozens of passers by with many stopping and over a dozen joining the camp for several hours. Virtually all attention was positive and the camp of about 30 was not disturbed at all by police. Local security were very supportive of the action.

Protests today are at 2.30pm outside the Langham hotel and 7pm. The tent embassy is expected to continue throughout the day.