liberation

Pilger: Empire and Israel

John Pilger has been a bit quiet lately (as he seems to be in the middle of a US trip), but he's finally commented on the situation in the Middle East. His column on Empire and Israel is at times a bit waffley and all over the place, but it has some great points as well as including Pilger's usual well-put sense of outrage.

Pilger argues that the US role in supporting Israel's military assault on Lebanon falls into a pattern of imperial tyranny, where history is rewritten to suit America's needs while Europe stands cravenly by.

Inequality in NZ

Since the Labour Party came to power, the number of those in poverty has increased significantly. This is the finding of a recently released government report which comprises the most comprehensive study ever into New Zealand living standards. The Ministry of Social Development carried out their research in 2000 – shortly after Labour was elected to government – and again in 2004. The results show that there are now about a million New Zealanders living in hardship, while about 250,000 can be categorized as suffering ‘severe hardship’. Of the later category, there has been a significant increase – the proportion of the population that suffers 'severe hardship' rose dramatically from 5% to 8%. Severe hardship' amongst Maori rose from 7% to 17% in Labour’s first four years in office. If widened to the more general category of living standards, 40% of Maori are deemed by the Ministry to be experiencing hardship. For Pacific people, the level of ‘severe hardship’ has climbed during the four years from 15% to 27%.  More generally, 58% of Pacific people experienced some degree of hardship.

Labour signals tax cuts

The Labour Party is now signalling its willingness to shift further to the right and emulate National and ingratiate itself to the business community by cutting personal and corporate tax rates.

See: Labour signals personal tax cuts (Dominion Post - Vernon Small)

An attack on democratic rights: NZ man jailed for sedition

Following on from other state attacks on civil liberties, such as when Paul Hopkinson was convicted of burning the national flag, a man has now been jailed for two months for publishing a "seditious" document and conspiring to commit wilful damage. An good article on WSWS argues, this conviction is particularly alarming, as the state has 'set a precedent for prosecuting and jailing others who publish similar material'. This is the first time in 64 years that anyone in New Zealand has faced a sedition charge.

Tragic deaths of baby twins used to foment anti-welfare campaign

A few days ago the World Socialist Website published the following article on domestic violence and Maori, as brought up recently by deaths of the Kahui twins. I haven't followed this particular case, but the article makes a good argument about the issues. It says that the debate that has occurred around the deaths has avoided dealing with the deeper social causes of such domestic violence - the pervasive and intensifying immiseration' of recent years has exerted 'a deep corrosiveness on daily life' for many. It points out how the Treaty and 'ethnic empowerment' politics of the last two decades has played into this, and now the entire Maori political establishment lines up with the same essentially reactionary position on issues of violence and 'culture'.