Local news roundup

union busters picketed

sfta demo in Wellington

wellington s26 trial set for march

prague s26 activist speaks

Carter Holt Harvey offices and outlets around the country were picketed on December 1 in protest at the forest product giant's decision to use a non-union stevedoring firm to load logs at South Island ports. In Auckland, about 80 members of the Waterfront Workers Union and their supporters occupied CHH's head office before being evicted by a dozen police armed with long batons.

A similar number of picketers turned out in Dunedin. There the police response was less threatening, consisting of a single copper who warned the picketers not to obstruct pedestrians and then left!

CHH, which recently announced a 214% increase in net earnings for the six months to the end of September, is owned by the US multinational International Paper, which has a history of aggressive union-busting tactics. It makes a number of paper products, including Treasures disposable nappies, Softex tissues and Libra "feminine protection products".

sfta demo in Wellington

In early November, about 75 people braved the Wellington wind to demonstrate against Labour's new chapter of free market madness, the Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The wind was so strong that one couldn't hear the speakers, which was quite lucky as most of them were from the Alliance or Greens.

Labour has snuck through the SFTA with little public debate. Undoubtedly this is because free trade means more freedom for the rich to exploit us. If enough people knew that the SFTA will only really benefit rich capitalists, whether they are from Singapore or Aotearoa, and result in job losses here, then there would be a movement to oppose it.

The Labour Party is following a new strategy in its capitalist free trade agenda. It's basically following the dictates of the World Trade Organisation in trying to sneak through bilateral free trade agreements with individual countries because universal free trade agreements (such as the MAI) have been blocked. Labour is strongly rumoured to be negotiating further free trade agreements with Hong Kong and Chile. In this way, the international capitalist elite hope to enmesh us in a web of bilateral free trade agreements, and before we know it, we would have free trade written into universal law. Yeeech.

wellington s26 trial set for march

Seven protesters arrested during Wellington's Carnival against Capitalism on September 26 are scheduled to stand trial from March 13 next year. The seven are defending charges ranging from resisting arrest to assaulting a police officer and "disorderly behaviour with intent to incite violence". If you'd like to make a donation to help cover the expenses involved in defending the charges, make a cheque out to "S. Moran" and send it to S26 Defence Fund, c/o CEC, PO Box 9263, Te Aro, Wellington.

prague s26 activist speaks

Though the meeting on November 22 was small, the sense was that groups like this are right now all around the world discussing, analyzing, plotting… The Ernie Abbott room in Trades Hall has, dare I say it, an earnestness to it, but the talk and discussion was both informal and thought-provoking. From anecdotes to analysis, the discussion covered the protest's tactics, organising methods and aims.

The speaker was obviously affected by his experience of meeting other indigenous people from around the planet, who experience the full weight of capitalist globalisation. Adding to the internationalist feeling was a visiting U.S. anarchist - in town helping to organise a globalisation and logging conference - who talked of the tensions between pacifists and militants in Seattle and Washington. Mass, decentralized, anti-mass, non-violent, militant. No doubt the same questions are being raised all over the globe, and while "the movement" is confused on many questions, for the IMF and World Bank some of the answers are coming in loud and clear.