Linky Love - Volume 21

Standard intro - Linky Love is basically a cobbling together of posts I've noticed around the traps that have set off little tiny sparkles inside my head, and which I would possibly write about or comment on if I didn't need to sleep, eat, work, that kind of stuff. I usually put Linky Love volumes up weekly. I hope you like it.

As always if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight, please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Anarchia - A lack of language, an abundance of masks - Asher writes about mental illness and the difficulty of communicating about it with friends to get the support he needs.

Auckland's Burning - Photos from tent embassy - John has pics of the protest aimed at visiting Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, underway in Auckland.

Born on State Highway One - Chomsky Lite, with a Scottish accent - Ryan looks at the background to George Galloway's visit to our little nation, and comments on the Voices of Peace forum Galloway spoke at recently.

Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty - Stand Down Margaret - Maia writes eloquently about how Margaret Thatcher still influences her nightmares, and the negative effect she had on hundreds of thousands of lives.

Contradiction - Actions and moral concepts - George reflects on how politicians seem to make their moral decisions.

eggs benedict and two flat whites - Reasons why it's good to live in NZ - Sandy asks for your top five reasons.

Feministe - The Disney Princess Industrial Complex is coming for your soul! - Vanessa writes about the heavy gendering of children's toys, from the perspective of a mother with a toddler-age daughter.

The House of Ghetsuhm - In ur internet, bringing u weird shit - Ghet has a truly absurd picture that I heart.

LAANTA - More and Better Aid - Terence provides his speech notes from a debate on whether the 0.7% Overseas Development Aid target will actually help.

The Legal Soapbox - Portrayal of the accused and the law - Legal Eagle writes about newspaper sketches of defendants and how they might influence public opinion of the merits of their case, against the background of the Haneef case in Australia.

Roger Nome's Progressive Politics - RN has a series of posts on why NZ needs its unions back, 1, 2 and 3.

Women's Space/The Margins - What Have You Done For a Girl, a Woman, a Female Person? - Heart asks her readers to share their stories of what they have done, as radical feminists, for other women. Comment thread at 52 and counting.

Previous volumes of Linky Love (1 - 20) can be found over here.

(Pic Via)

Locked Out but not down

I've been itching to write about the Spotless lockout at hospitals around the country but haven't had time. Luckily the following bloggers have:

• the gossip - when industrial action initially seemed likely, Spotless begins its lockout, and Finsec lends its support
• Capitalism Bad - Maia has written heaps of good stuff, including embedding footage of the pickets. Earliest to latest, her posts are here, here, here, here, this fantabulous post on why the lockout matters, and her most recent update here.
• No Right Turn - analysis of the situation as an example of the shortcomings of contracting out, commentary on Mark Gosche turning up to a picket, and details on the Pledgebank I/S has set up
• Anarchia - the feature Asher has written for Indymedia
• And binary heart has produced the fab badge on the sidebar, also adopted by Tony Milne, Terence, Idiot/Savant, Maia

I've written before about the stupid undervaluing of cleaners, and their consequent low pay. In this case these factors are exacerbated by a particularly nasty employer who has a history of testing the law to its limit, trying to find a way around legislative improvements made in recent years (e.g. the introduction of relevant daily pay plus time off in lieu for working a public holiday). Cleaning companies are not known for their generosity to their workers - but all the rest have agreed to a national collective agreement and national pay standards. Spotless had to derail that deal, and now they are making it even worse by locking out their own workers - leaving them with no pay at all until the company decides otherwise.

What can you do to show you care?

1. Join up with Idiot/Savant's Pledgebank here
2. Put binary heart's badge up on your blog, code here
3. Make a donation to the locked out workers by calling 0900 LOCKOUT ($10 per call), or making an electronic transfer directly to 02-0264-0294110-000 (BNZ Newmarket, use the reference LOCK OUT).
4. Keep up to date with progress on the SFWU's website and post your message of support there.

These workers are staunch and it is great to see their strength. Long may it last.

(Pic Via)

Linky Love - Volume 18

Some of these are pretty old, but worth it! Hopefully this is the return of regular Friday Linky Loves.

Standard intro - Linky Love is basically a cobbling together of posts I've noticed around the traps that have set off little tiny sparkles inside my head, and which I would possibly write about or comment on if I didn't need to sleep, eat, work, that kind of stuff. I usually put Linky Love volumes up weekly, on Friday mornings, although sometimes I sneak them in on Thursday for various reasons. I hope you like it.

As always if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Alas a Blog - What Kinds of Help do Abused Men Need? - Ampersand brings together a variety of comments on the very topic mens' rights activists often accuse feminists of ignoring and shows that patriarchy hurts men too.

Anonymous Lefty - That's not an argument, it's just contradiction - Jeremy has a worrying post about the Australian WorkChoices legislation and how it is being interpreted.

Capitalism Bad - Review: Rosita - Maia contributes an interesting run-down on an intriguing film about an 8 (eight) year old trying to get an abortion in Latin America.

Ethical Martini - Three cheers for Hone Harawira - Marty adds his views to the debate about Hone calling Howard a racist over his treatment of aboriginal communities.

Feministe - Morans - I just really like the pic that accompanies this brief post by Jill.

House of Ghetsuhm - Once upon a time... - Ghet wrote a great post a while back about Labyrinth, which I totally heart (the post and the film) but have only just got around to linky loving.

LeftAlign - The Vocabulary of Protest - LA writes about the way protests are reported in the media and how this can skew perception.

Maramatanga - Objection - The best damn round up of the objections to the proposed electorate boundary changes. Much more interesting than I am making it sound.

No Right Turn - It's the jobs, stupid - Idiot/Savant writes about careers and studies in the Sciences.

The Reading Room - On Fairy Tales - litlove looks at the adult themes in the children's stories we tell.

Sparkle*Matrix - porn and the cathartic relationship - s*m examines the idea that access to porn reduces the amount of sexual abuse and rape as it allows a less harmful outlet (for want of a better way to put that).

Well Urban - Toytown - Tom does some digging about what is happening to the houses affected by the Wellington City Bypass.

Previous volumes of Linky Love (1 - 17) can be found over here.

(Pic Via)

Linky Love - Volume 16

Standard intro - Linky Love is basically a cobbling together of posts I've noticed around the traps that have set off little tiny sparkles inside my head, and which I would possibly write about or comment on if I didn't need to sleep, eat, work, that kind of stuff. I usually put Linky Love volumes up weekly, on Friday mornings, although sometimes I sneak them in on Thursday for various reasons. I hope you like it.

As always if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Alas, a blog - Things You Learn About Race From a 7 Year Old - Rachel S on some revealing conversations with her partner's 7 year old son.

Brainstab - "Mortgage" means "death pledge" - Josh shares his thoughts on the endless treadmill of debt repayment he's now stuck on for all eternity.

Brainstab - STEP AWAY FROM DA LIGHT... - Apathy Jack reflects on Hoodrat High as his time working there comes to an end.

Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty - What I actually think about voting - After ending up in an odd debate about the Democrats with a bunch of American feminist bloggers, Maia explains her views on elections.

DagCentral - The word is "Mexican" - In which the author talks about Mexicans as actual human beings, not the sub-humans the LAPD seemed to decide they were on May Day.

The Ex-Expat - The dark side of Asia - Musings from a Kiwi recently returned from living in Asia, and pointing out a few key points to consider when considering the fate of Cho Seung-Hui, formerly of Virginia Tech.

Feministe - AutoAdmit's Anthony Ciolli Loses Job Offer - Jill reports on what seems to be the final play in the nasty online harassment she faced on a law student bulletin board in the USA.

The Gossip - Measuring sustainability and happiness, not just growth - A guest post from CTU Economist Peter Conway about other ways to measure our success besides the purely economic.

Maramatanga - Draft electorate boundaries - Maramatanga has the best damn run-down of the draft changes that I've seen yet, handily broken down into parts of the country so you can find the area you care most about with ease.

No Right Turn - A victory for freedom to protest - Idiot/Savant reports on the Brooker decision and what it means for activists.

Pandagon - Systematic racism is over - Someone should tell the system - Auguste has a great post, beginning with a great cartoon, that points out the absurdity of the concept that traditional racist power structures have already been turned on their head.

Red Diaper Dharma - My Good Abortion - Parenting writer Ericka Lutz shares her story.

Sir Humphrey's - Das Alles Verdanken Wir Dem Fuehrer - Psycho Milt has a powerful post about the victims of war who aren't shot or injured on the frontlines, but raped in their own homes.

Stanselen - Answering to yourself - jo has a great post about being a woman and being a mother and staunchly not feeling she has to justify either.

Previous volumes of Linky Love (1 - 15) can be found over here.

(Pic Via) (And this is my favourite Linky Love pic to date!)

A Fair Go for Fair Trade

This Saturday, May 12th, is World Fair Trade Day, and this year the theme is Kids Need Fair Trade. Joanna has already blogged, at the start of Fair Trade Fortnight on April 28th, about how to find local fair trade coffee in Wellington.

Fair trade kind of sounds like one of those really earnest causes lefties harp on about, but one of the things that has struck me about these campaigns is the slow but steady success. We now have fair trade goods in places other than Trade Aid - some supermarkets, upmarket retailers, and many cafes. Yes, it's still small, but I believe the fact that's this change is growing is significant.

When I was in the UK briefly last year there was a small town* which had started to build a fair trade community, emanating from the local Anglican church. Nickname Pending was quite inspired by this and he's slowly slowly building up a similar concept in his parish. It takes a long time to succeed, but they are already selling a lot of fair trade products within their congregation (including to my pantry) and now they are starting to promote it in the broader community at a low level. This church is quite literally loving their neighbours, even if they aren't quite next door.

Many of us work in offices or similar environments where we could probably push for fair trade coffee** to replace whatever management is currently supplying. It's a small, but real, difference we could make.

Fair trade products might cost us a little more but potentially the benefits to those producing the goods, and their families, is significant. We pride ourselves on being a country that's all about giving people a "fair go," and many New Zealanders say they sincerely believe in treating others as they would wish to be treated ourselves. Buying fair trade goods when possible is an opportunity to walk that talk.

* Unfortunately I forget where but I'll see if I can find it in my journal.

** And tea and hot chocolate. I can personally vouch for the extreme yumminess of the Trade Aid Dark Hot Chocolate.

(Pic Via)

Subway subtract worker's rights

When a Dunedin Subway manager fired Jackie Lang for sharing a staff drink with a friend and then laid charges with the police for theft I'm not sure he quite realised what a dick he would look. I hope the Subway chain realises how silly it's making them look, and thinking about how they might make it all go away in a manner that leaves Lang feeling happy...

One of the key principles of natural justice is that the punishment fit the crime. This applies in employment law, as it does in any other legal arena. It seems that in this case not only were there major issues around the disciplinary procedure for this Subway worker, there was also a massive over-reaction from the manager concerned.

What worries me is that a manager who would do this may also be acting unreasonably towards other employees at that Subway. If the culture in this workplace is to unfairly dismiss someone for something so minor, and lay charges with the police when they try to enforce their legal rights, then there should be a big red light flashing in people's minds: Workplace Bully Alert.

Big ups to Jeremy for firing Young Labour and nz pol bloggers into action! Perhaps John Key, Helen Clark, Sue Bradford and Peter Dunne have set us all a good example ;-) In the 'sphere, Maia also has a good post looking at the willingness of the police to prosecute this over other situations that are far far worse.

And good on the Autonomous Workers' Union for getting stuck in - they've also launched a "Paper Cup" fundraising effort to help cover the legal costs for their member and you can pick up the bank account number from this EPMU article on the case. There will be a picket in Christchurch on Saturday 12th May outside the High St Subway from 1pm - 2pm too.

Finally, all power to Jackie Lang, for standing up for her rights. It's not always easy, even when you know you have a strong case and you have the support of a union.

Clean dirtiness

As our world warms up, and the debate about how to address it gets even hotter, our power companies have come up with diverting strategies to exploit the impression of a clean, green New Zealand to benefit their own public images. Pukeko and pohutukawa are recruited in 30 second sells which shy away from showing us smoking stacks or coal mines.

Greenpeace have come up with a humdinger of a spoof of Genesis' most recent advert, pointing out the hypocrisy of these commercials. Many of these companies use methods that are unsustainable - the way they generate power is a threat to the very clean streams, unscarred countryside and luscious native bush they film to sell their electrons to us. The Clean Energy Guide lays bare the true dirty nature of much of our electricity generation, and points out the simple changes we can make to start the clean up while still putting juice in our laptops and lightbulbs when we need it.

A while back Make Tea Not War decided to make the switch to Meridian, which is NZ's only carbon neutral power supplier. I was a bit reticient about hopping companies myself, as I've had a few nightmares with utilities in the past. Right at the moment I (pathetically) need to know that there will definitely be a hot water bottle to hug at the end of the day. But Tea reports good things from her change, so I'm going to take the plunge this month too.

Yep, I'll only be making a small difference, but it will be an improvement nonetheless.

(Sl)ac(k)tivist

Like Maia I was a bad leftie yesterday and didn't do a May Day post (the April Bloggage doesn't count by any stretch of the imagination). Here's a poster I rather like in lieu.

Luckily brownfemipower has up an amazing array of protest posts, Our History of Protest. Also the gossip blogged about the difference between May Day in Europe and the way that New Zealanders celebrate workers' day - it's as if we were on opposite sides of the planet! Oh, wait.

Anyhoo, I missed the Auckland May Day march, managing to get there just in time for it to be all over. I did go to the CTU Hollow Men forum though, with Nicky Hager, Raymond Miller and Laila Harre, and hope to blog on that some time in the next week or so. Some very stimulating speeches and discussion, although I just shut up and took notes. Nice to also to put some faces to names and catch up with some old friends.

(Pic Via)

Work shouldn't be a death sentence

Today, April 28th, is International Workers' Memorial Day. As I'm sure you already know, it's the day when we remember all those killed or hurt on the job, and also highlight the importance of health and safety in the workplace because so many of those incidences are in fact preventable.

What's that? You didn't know? But it was all over the papers! On every telly station they covered the alarming number of workplace deaths and interviewed talking heads about the need to take health and safety seriously! Oh, wait...

Well, it's on the Council of Trade Unions website anyway. And it looks like it's a much bigger deal overseas.

So it should be. People deserve to be safe on the job. Obviously there is some work that is going to be dangerous no matter what, but every precaution that can be taken should be. Bosses should not be making choices between profit or safety and the role of Government is to ensure this through passing appropriate legislation and enforcing it. Where the State's machinery is lacking* unions should take on the leadership role in lobbying for improvements and monitoring it themselves, not to mention organising around these issues.

When I was at school I had a friend whose father was a wharfie. He had a big family - she was the youngest of nine kids. He was killed on the wharves a few weeks before retirement. All my working life, starting at the age of 13, I've worked in jobs that most people would consider "safe". But there have always been hidden risks. Even when I worked in a bookstore I had a close call - a shelf fell down from a high-up storage area, missing my head by about an inch. If it had brained me I possibly wouldn't be typing this now. It hadn't been properly secured, everyone just thought it would be ok. Luckily it was.

I worry too about the invisible risks and the damage we can't see - in particular the stress that we now seem to see as an accepted part of modern mahi, and the mental illness which is always explained away by non-work related factors. I read once that the life expectancy for school principals after they retire is about six months. I have no idea if it's true, but if it is then that is shocking. I wonder about the rates of cancer, strokes, heart disease, depression and other illnesses exacerbated by stress. Not to mention Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related conditions - those affected often seem to have lived lives saturated in stress.

Workplace danger, be it overt or covert, seems to me to be a part of our system that we can't completely expunge. In Aotearoa we have brought in a democratic structure around the issue, but my perception is that it hasn't really been adopted outside of those industries commonly seen as perilous. Unions haven't always taken advantage of the opportunities health and safety issues give to organise and achieve positive change. And I can understand some of the reasons why - for example, workplace bullying, which I see as a leading cause of illnesses caused by the work environment, is not illegal and is difficult to fight. Ultimately the system we work under isn't one that can eliminate all the preventable illnesses and deaths - because actually money comes first.

Maia asked in one of her recent posts about Anzac Day why we don't have a memorial day for those killed in the workplace. The answer is we do, we just don't remember it.

* So basically everywhere, all the time. To be honest I don't think we can rely on governments to do this stuff for us - as workers we need to look after ourselves, together.

(Pic Via)

Hate something? Change something!

And so it has come to pass that there is an internal political battle within the youth wing of one of New Zealand's political parties. Because that never happened before, in the history of Aotearoa's politics, it is being reported and discussed far* and wide.

Many moons ago, when I was up to my ears in student politics, I knew a really quite nice young man who was a Young Nat. For some time I didn't know of his political affiliation, I just knew that he was very concerned about the environment which I thought admirable, and a bit sexist which irritated me. He certainly didn't seem like the National type, even Old National. When I found out that he was a Young Nat I remember being very surprised indeed, and blurting out this shock in the form of a question, quite possibly surrounded by swear words which I have erased from my memory. I asked him why and he responded with a statement that has always stuck with me in sentiment if not the exact words.

The gist of it was that in order to change something you need to be involved in it. I couldn't really argue with that, although I did wonder after that if perhaps he was in fact more politically conservative than he liked to portray in front of me. Time bore out that he was, but his point still stands.

It's one of the reasons I've stuck with some of the political groups I've been involved with even when I've been unhappy - because I can't change them from the outside.

Political parties, and activist groups, are often tough environments. They attract people who are interested in debate, and in power, and feel passionately about their causes. There are others who join for more social reasons - because their friends or family are involved, and they find belonging to the group socially rewarding. Still others may care vaguely about the broad principles of the party but actually are really looking for a group to do volunteer work for, and political parties certainly provide plenty of outlet for those who relish the achievement of organising good fundraisers and the like.

When you put all of these people together in a room some will fight. I think debate within political parties is healthy - it shows a party organisation that is vibrant, attracting new people, and not afraid to challenge old ideas (either to prove their worth or replace them). I remember several times in my varied political involvement when I've thought I was going to lose an argument or a vote, but I said to my allies, let's do it anyway. Because I thought having the debate was almost as important as winning - and we couldn't win now, or in the future, if we shied away from the political confrontation forever.

If I didn't think change could happen I would have given up political activism by the end of my second year, and my blog would have died two years ago. Persistance is a necessary characteristic in anyone who wants to make change. The ability to be resilient and return to the fray when you are ready is what has put many of our most successful people where they are today, and not just in politics either.

I don't believe that a single person can make a difference to the culture or outlook of a group, but by working with others you can make change. Even bad changes happen because the person with destructive behaviour wins others over to their cause - if they were alone and ignored they would be sidelined and their attempts rebuffed. Collectivity is the key.

I can understand the frustration of trying to make change and losing, especially if you are trying alone. But if we all packed up our kit bags and moved on every time we lost an argument then we'd never get anywhere. We would never have made homosexuality legal, never changed our society's attitude towards drink driving, and we'd never make up with our parents or partners after a fight. Rape would still be legal within marriage, Maori cultural practices still outlawed, and left handers would be having their writing hands tied behind their backs by sadistic teachers as I type.

Sometimes it is time to walk away, but until then - you need to be playing the game to win it.





* Why precisely people trust and believe the writings about this kind of thing from someone who has a strong interest in making Labour look bad is quite beyond me. Look for the agenda here folks! Read the comment thread for more accurate re-tellings from people who were actually there.

(Pic via)

Please pledge

Idiot/Savant has started a pledge-bank for lobbying the Government in favour of the repeal of sedition. You can read his original post here, or you can just go straight to the pledge-bank and sign up to write a letter to the relevant Government Minister, Mark Burton.

What a fine idea, I haven't exercised my political letter-writing muscles for a while!

(Pic Via)

Union Myths #6 - Unions just go on strike all the time

We've all heard it, at some point in our lives, possibly from our parents or at our workplaces; all those bloody unions do is go on strike all the time, bunch of useless troublemakers.

Well I beg to differ. (Don't act all surprised now.)

Unions, and union members, do a lot more than strike. There are many unionised workplaces who probably haven't been on strike in the last decade. In fact, the gossip reports that work stoppages (i.e. industrial action, including strikes but also other tactics) fell by nearly a third from the previous year. Not only were there less stoppages in 2006 than in 2005, there were less work days lost, despite the 25 day lock-out of union members at Progressive Enterprises.

Here are a few other things unions do:

• lobby and campaign for the democratically decided policies of their members
• represent members when their employment agreement is breached or they are treated unfairly
• negotiate and organise union member deals and discounts, such as insurance, retail savings, and more
• train and develop union members, delegates, activists and leaders
• debate and decide the direction of the organisation, and the way it will spend its money
• support and advocate for members who are in trouble in their job
• negotiate collective employment agreements, constantly seeking to improve the pay and conditions of members
• get involved in supporting broader union and social justice campaigns that their membership think are ka pai, sometimes off their own bat, other times through organisations such as the Council of Trade Unions, or Labour Start.
• provide specific member benefits and services, like union health centres, bereavement payments for the families of union members who die, scholarships for members and their children, and hardship funds
• engage in professional issues, and industry wide planning, for the sectors they represent
• and much much more!

All of these aspects of unionism, and strikes too, are membership activities. A union is its members, and although some are bureaucratic and daunting to the newcomer all give their members a voice - within the union as well as to the outside world.

Yes unions strike, when they need to. It's a tactic of last resort in most cases, although sometimes you have a pretty good inkling before bargaining starts that you'll probably have to look at industrial action. There are strict legal rules around striking, or taking other forms of industrial action, and actually the legal windows when you can strike are quite limited. Long gone are the days of being able to down tools because you don't like the tea, if they ever existed in the first place.

Workers don't get paid when they are on strike, and while it can be a very exciting and invigorating time it's also a hard slog for everyone involved. In my experience union members don't vote to strike lightly. Most of the time workers aren't on strike, they're just doing their jobs, and being union in other ways entirely.



Previous posts in the Union Myths series:

• Compulsory membership (so 1980s) (#1)
• All unionists want to be Rick Barker (#2)
• Unions are just like businesses (#3)
• Unions just protect the incompetent (#4)
• Shortland Street tells it like it is (#5)

(Pic Via.)

The Anzac Spirit

anarchafairy has an interesting post up entitled ANZAC Day must be opposed. He is of the opinion that Anzac* Day is a celebration of the NZ military and a source of growing nationalism in our country. I can understand his points, but I guess it's just not what I see in Anzac Day.

When I hear the words "lest we forget" I do think of the violence and destruction that characterises war. I can't help but visualise the young men suffering in the trenches of WWI and the many women who are inevitably victims in times of conflict. Maybe it's just me, but I'd actually formed the impression that one of the reasons turnouts were swelling was a view in Aotearoa, held by many, that the price of war is too high, and it must be avoided. That we gather on Anzac Day to acknowledge past sacrifices made, but also to remind ourselves that we do not want to go there again.

As for the growing nationalism, to be honest I feel as if New Zealand has become less nationalistic in the last decade, not more. Perhaps that's reflected more by the people I hang out with now, and my own change away from being mindlessly proud of our little slice of the landmass? My perception is that as we become more multicultural, both in terms of our population and our surrounds, we are slowly breaking away from thinking something is always better for being Kiwi. I think we have more to fear, in terms of growing nationalism, from the All Blacks winning the World Cup, than we do from Anzac Day.

anarchafairy writes:

It is a bizarre situation, then, that those on the left, even those claiming its
radical margins, are unwilling to oppose in any meaningful way the ceremonies of
ANZAC day. They fear offending those mercenaries of the State in attendance.
They fear disrupting what is in fact a near-sacred national ritual. They,
apparently, lack an ability to compare an act that merely offends with
systematic and legitimised murder, armed patrols, nightly curfews, military
checkpoints and all the other associated tactics of the New Zealand military.

I won't oppose Anzac Day ceremonies because for me they aren't about glorifying war, they are about facing the grim reality of it and not sweeping that under the carpet because it is so gruesome and seems so far away. I feel that this is a motivator for many who attend, and particularly those who take their children along.

I don't fear the mercenaries of the State (although perhaps that's because I'm not sure who they are) but I do agree that April 25th ceremonies are becoming near-sacred. They are a time when we respect those who have fought, but don't necessarily agree with the reasons for the conflicts. For me at least, it is a time of remembering that in at least some of the wars NZ has taken part in the politicians have not always been honest about the reasons for engagement, and have often followed immoral strategies to encourage the country to sign up to war. On many occasions (if not all) those who have enlisted, and those who have supported the wars at home, were victims too.

On the issue anarchafairy raises about recognising the "enemy", I agree, we do ignore them. We also ignore the war had within NZ too. I would like to see that change. When I visited Gallipoli last year I had the embarassing realisation that I hadn't really thought before about who we were fighting, or the horror they had faced too. This was reinforced at St Martins in York. The church was almost completely destroyed in a bombing raid during WWII and yet it had been rebuilt as a chapel centred on forgiveness - primarily of those who bombed it. I am not a religious person, not at all, but in that church I could almost say I felt the presence of something god-like. To me it was a radical notion, this forgiveness of the invisible, dehumanised enemy**, and one I hope I can make a part of me, to replace that blind Kiwi pride I used to hold so dear.

This Anzac Day I may not make it to a ceremony - I haven't since before I got sick. But I will reflect on war, and the tragedy that it is. I won't glorify it, and I won't support it, and I won't forget.

Taken by the author at one of the Turkish memorials, Gallipoli.

* I know it's an acronym but I always feel like it shouldn't be.
** Something we pol bloggers could all learn from I feel.

Linky Love - Volume 13

Standard intro - if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Alas, a blog - Roundup of posts about Gonzales v Carhart - Amp gives us all a link farm all about the recent Supreme Court decision in the US to undermine a woman's right to choose.

Aucklander at Large - Racial predisposition - a@l uncovers some weird theories about the Virginia Tech shooting on the Herald Readers' Views site. Winston Peters would be proud.

Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty - But we've got a world cup to win! - Maia writes about Sivivatu's discharge without conviction for domestic violence, and why that had more to do with his Silver Fern than anything else.

the gossip - Smashing stuff with the people's hammer - uncovering the radical union activist that is Spongebob Squarepants.

I Blame the Patriarchy - Some notes on revolution - Twisty puts the case that our society is a patriarchy and why it sucks so much.

Joe Hendren - Peaceful WTO protesters win $1 million compensation - Joe has the story that no doubt won't get anywhere near the coverage the original misrepresentations of the so-called "Battle of Seattle".

The Kiwi Herald - TV presenters to multitask - john puts a humourous spin on the lay-offs at TVNZ.

Larvatus Prodeo - Labor's "pragmatic" national industrial relations platform - Guy looks at Australian Labor's possible answer to John Howard's much loathed Workchoices. It looks like Kevin Rudd may have caught NZ (and British) Labour's Third Way disease...

Pandagon - The main downside is it's one more thing to dust - Amanda Marcotte gives her view on the Rapist #1 action figure furore, which is not what I had expected I must admit.

Parrot on Policy - Saving for Retirement: Sorry, too busy paying off debt - Policy Parrot writes about some of the barriers to retirement saving and some ideas to counter them. Good to see student debt on the list of barriers!

Policy Matters - Putting 'public' back into public policy - Grant Duncan discusses the different parties' approaches to these matters and asks for feedback on how we now conceptualise "publicness" in public policy.

Shakesville - Iraq's homosexual communities cries out for help - wkw reports on what sounds like a violent campaign against gays and lesbians, exacerbated by the US Occupation.

WellUrban - Whose lane is it anyway? Tom has an interesting post about public transport developments in Windyton.*

Your Dirty Answers - (no title) - Audra Williams with the pyjamas you never knew you needed. Paul from The Fundy Post, this is for you!

And don't forget, previous volumes of Linky Love (1 - 12) can be found in their own shiny category.

Stuff to go to in Auckland

Making a Song and Dance about Freedom, April 21, 7:30pm, at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall.
Tickets are available from Ticketek for just $20 each (service fee charge will apply). The evening's line-up includes performances by Caitlin Smith, Tama Waipara, The Shades, Banda Latina and Latin Fever dancers, Tango Tiempo dancers accompanied by a tango sextet, a Flamenco duo, Bollywood and Bellydancers, Opera and Barbershop singers. MCs for the evening are Jorje Sequieros and Tandi Wright. To book, phone (09) 307 5000 or book online at http://premier.ticketek.co.nz/. Organise a group of friends and get your tickets today. All proceeds go to Amnesty International (who have organised it)

And...

When Freedoms Collide, 8th May*, Panel: Religious Diversity in NZ with Church Leaders chaired by Sir Paul Reeves, 7:30pm, Auckland Cathedral, 446 Parnell Rd
Dr Lois Wilson will provide an inspiring and thought provoking talk on social justice and religious understanding. She will challenge us to think creatively about the inevitable challenges and conflict faced by people in our ever changing and diverse society. Wilson has been involved with the United Church of Canada, through her years of international service as President of the World Council of Churches, and appointed to the Senate of Canada,and has worked passionately as a defender and promoter of human rights. Admission is $10 to cover costs. Organised by NZ Diversity Action Programme.

Plus (added 10.40am, April 17th)...

The Hollow Men: Our Democracy or Theirs?, 1st May (May Day), 7.30pm, in Auckland University’s ‘Lower Lecture Theatre’, behind the University Clocktower building on Princes St, near Old Government House.
Following on from the successful panel in Wellington in March, Nicky Hager will be joined by Dr Raymond Miller, head of Political Studies at the University of Auckland and NDU secretary and former Cabinet Minister Laila Harré and they will natter about election campaign funding and related topics.

Hat tip to Idiot/Savant for the idea.


*Wilson is also speaking in Orewa, Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Waikanae and Dunedin - I have a pdf poster with the details if anyone wants to know more, you can email me if you so desire spanblather at gmail dot com.

Linky Love - Volume 12

Hard to believe Linky Love has been going for nearly 3 months now! Any feedback welcome either in comments or by email.

Linky Love is a few hours early this week because I won't be at a puter again until Saturday probably. This is the third week in a row that it's been on a Thursday, so maybe that should be the new day. We'll see how I feel next Thursday I guess!

Standard intro - if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Andrew Falloon - Jim Anderton's Progressives, Post-Jim - Andrew has an interesting article on the possible involvement of the Progs in local body elections in Christchurch later this year, and what this might bode for their strategy in coming general elections.

Bloggreen - Crafty coolness - Kakariki has some fantastic links and pics of radical craftiness - beautiful and political at the same time.

Capitalism Bad - Geeking out - Maia ranks her five most, and five least, feminist episodes of Buffy, and why.

from the morgue - Psychological violence - morgue contributes to the debate on s59 with a post addressing the nonsensical claims that time out is as damaging as smacking.

The Legal Soapbox - No excuse - Legal Eagle gives her thoughts on how media phenomena like reality television and YouTube are normalising bullying and sexual offending.

Make Tea Not War - Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion - MTNW gives her thoughts on Dawkins' book and offers a place to discuss your own conclusions about his theories on religious delusion.

No Right Turn - Still failing the poor: Why NZ needs to give more aid - Terence Wood does a guest spot with a great column putting forward three strong arguments for Aotearoa to give more aid to others.

Shakesville - Feminism Benefits Us All - Mr Shakes decorates the new home of the Shakespeare's Sister team with a great post about why men should be into feminism too.

Shakesville - Sexism posing as science - brynn looks at some dodgy science about women's sexual responses which heads in the direction of claiming rape is naturally part of a woman's lot.

The Strategist - Negotiating with the Taliban - In which the Strategist examines debate emanating from German Social Democrat leader Kurt Beck's call to negotiate with moderate parts of the Taliban.

Tales from the Reading Room - A Code of Blogging Conduct - litlove writes about the discussions burgeoning in blogospheres overseas in the wake of the persecution of a female blogger in tech circles (covered in a previous Linky Love). Interesting that the timing of this echoes similar posting and commenting in NZ. (Che Tibby, this one's for you!).

Walking with Ghosts - Naturally I'm not the first to make this comparison... - Phoenician in a time of Romans compares militant evangelical youth movement Battlecry's propaganda with that of Hitler Youth.

And don't forget, previous volumes of Linky Love can be found in their own shiny category.

Debating s59 - striking a blow for positive social change

There has been some comment, even from those who support the repeal of s59 like Chris Trotter and Bryce Edwards, that Sue Bradford's bill should be withdrawn because of the anti-repeal lobby. I completely agree that the political management around this piece of legislation has not been the best. The lack of a public campaign to galvanise (and simply show!) the true level of support has been a critical failure, which others have identified too.

I suspect part of this has grown out of the expectation that this Bill would never pass. After all, Laila Harre tried to pursue the repeal of s59 back when Labour-led meant Labour-Alliance coalition, not Winston Peters as Foreign Minister. I got the clear impression then that there was no way the new Labour dominated Cabinet were prepared to go there, and that their caucus wouldn't have backed a Member's Bill either.

Those opposed to the repeal of s59 cut their teeth on previous liberal legislation this Government has passed - law reform around prostitution, and the passage of civil unions into our statue books. They have used similar networks, and similar tactics, to whip up opposition and it has taken sometime for the Greens and other supporters of the law change to respond. In the meantime the public perception of what the bill will actually do has been replaced by an alternative reality where children will dob their parents into the dreaded CYFS* for a tap on the hand, and every parent in the country will become a criminal overnight. Tony Milne has been writing some great stuff on what the repeal of s59 is actually all about, for those looking for a bit of accuracy about the matter.

Many worthy organisations that have a great deal to do with parents, families and children have put their support behind repeal, yet this has been lost in the fray. Other groups, usually with "family" in their name and often with God allegedly on their side, have dominated the discourse, and the media has been slow in pursuing the balance required of the Fourth Estate in a democracy. If I hear the bill referred to once more as "the Anti-Smacking Bill" I may have to hit the presenter of that news item myself (of course I will do so lightly on the bottom in a loving yet correctional manner).

The debate has been portrayed by many as cold, childless elitists (their Uber Example being, quite unfairly, Helen Clark) vs ordinary lovable parents (who could see Simon Barnett as anything but a tender father?). This has given those on the Right of the equation yet another chance to have a go at the parental status of our Prime Minister**, despite the fact it is still not relevant to her ability as a politician and legislator, and wouldn't even be a factor if she was a man.

But actually there are quite a few ordinary parents who have stood up for repeal, not agin it. Some of these people I wouldn't normally agree with about much, but Deborah Coddington, Russell Brown, Katherine Rich, John Roughan, Tapu Misa, and Matt McCarten, are all parents and they are all supporting the repeal of s59, along with some of the parents who commented on my last post about this debate. A significant number of those in this Scoop article have children too (Added 2nd April 10.15am). Not to mention the parents in the Labour, Green and Maori Party caucuses, and no doubt amongst those from NZ First, National and United Future who are also voting in favour. Sue Bradford herself has children, but that seems to have been overlooked in the leap to brand those opposed to hitting children for correctional purposes as People Who Can't Have Any Idea How Hard It Is To Be A Parent.

This is not to say that all those who are opposed to the Bill have been this extreme in their opposition. Certainly it does rather seem to be a small but very vocal minority who have dominated the debate and polarised the issue into interfering know-nothings (aka loving parents) vs loving parents (aka child-beaters). It's not really very helpful is it? And it doesn't bode well for an electoral contest sans senseless dog whistling in 2008.

And so Bradford, the Greens, and the Government find themselves in an odd position. They have the numbers in the House, but the perception is that they don't have the numbers in the nation. I agree with Tony's advice, I wouldn't be rushing this Bill through or making it a Government Bill instead. I think the talk of urgency was a bad mistake, and one that only gave those in fervent opposition more hook to hang their hat on.

Time is now on the side of those who support repeal. We can take this debate back, and we must. It's going to be hard work indeed, but together I hope we can do it.




* Is anyone else wondering about the timing of the establishment of the CYFS watch blog?
** Those particularly apt to froth about this may want to check out some of the comments in this recent thread about infertility and then think about shutting their traps next time they feel the desire to attack someone because they don't have children.

Linky Love - Volume 10

Ok this is published a day earlier than usual, cos it's full and cos there are some other admin type things I need to put up tomorrow morning. Enjoy.

Standard intro - if you have a post of your own, or some else's, that you'd like to highlight please feel free to add it in comments, or to discuss the above posts, or indeed most anything else.

Adventures in Lame - Realization: I'm An Angry, Humourless Feminist - Reb delivers the rant that has many times sat just above my own heart at the hearing of yet another dumb "joke" that isn't actually funny.

DagCentral - Kiwis in Amurrica: nau mai, haere mai... - DC covers the recent Clark-Bush tet a tet, from the point of view of a leftie American who hearts NZ.

Feministe - Why Feminism Is Still Necessary - zuzu exposes one particular case of harassment against a woman blogger, but riffs on the general theme as well.

The Fundy Post - The dog ate my homework - wherein Paul Litterick eventually recreates a recent piece he wrote for Craccum and thus reveals to us all how hard it is to be a tory.

Larvatus Prodeo - WorkChoices one year on - Mark looks at the impact of the Australian employment laws brought in last year by Howard. Two word summary? Not good.

Liberation -The farce of democracy on the Representation Commission - Bryce Edwards writes about the bias of the Representation Commission (which decides electorate boundaries) and the irony of David Caygill representing Labour on it.

New York Times - Why I Was Fired - One of the US District Attorney's fired for "performance related" reasons (said "performance" being the loyal Bushie role he neglected to play) writes about the scandal.

Pandagon - Fighting the system - Sheezlebub follows up her post on the cost of our economic system (listed in Vol 9 of Linky Love) with some practical suggestions to challenge it.

Pandagon - As motherhood slowly changes into a choice - Amanda Marcotte writes in response to a Guardian article looking at three generations of women and the changes in attitudes to motherhood, birth control, and assorted related matters.

PunkAssBlog - On Trolling and PunkAssBlog - A damn fine post on what is, and isn't, trolling.

Sparkle*Matrix - Second Life: Rape games ~ update - Some pretty sick news about online role-playing game Second Life, brought to us by sparklematrix.

Tales from the Reading Room - Sleeping With The Enemy - litlove contributes her thoughts on reviewing a manuscript for a publisher, something every aspiring writer should check out.

WIMN's Voices - Top Model's beautiful corpses - Jennifer Pozner covers the America's Next Top Model scandal. Yes, I tend to agree with Pozner (and incidentally many others who have posted on this in US feminist circles) that taking photos of models made up to look like they died violent deaths trivialises violence and even dehumanizes women.


And don't forget, previous volumes of Linky Love can be found in their own shiny category.

Supporting repeal

Further to my two recent posts about the repeal of s59 of the Crimes Act, and removal of the defence of parental discipline, Just Left has the skinny on a website where you can show your support for Sue Bradford's Bill, cunningly entitled Repeal Section 59.

What's telling for me is the long long list of reputable organisation on the supporters page. I rather think that Plunket, Barnardos, the Children's Commissioner and the Families Commission* have a considerable collective clue about child abuse in our country and measures that can help eliminate it. These are organisations that are full of parents, full of people who have children of their own and deal everyday with the children of others. And yet they strongly advocate repeal of s59.

Even The Body Shop seems to be on board the locomotive steaming towards Repealville - how long until Family First** calls for a boycott of their stores?

The only form of action advocated by the site so far is writing to MPs, and it provides a wizard to do this with ease. I hope that in the future it may list events at which people can show their support for repeal, and thus powerfully express their desire to change our culture.

I fervently believe that twenty years after this legislation has passed we will look back and wonder why we ever thought it was ok to assault children in ways we would never countenance with an animal or adult. Just as we have looked back in shameful wonder at our society's bigotry before homosexual law reform and our school's legal violence before corporal punishment was revoked. The sky will not fall, but maybe, just maybe, there will be less abuse of children. And that has to be a Good Thing.

* Yep, the Families Commission was created by part-Christian party United Future.

** Don't let the name fool you, this is a pro-smack group. As I've already said in two past posts, yes I do think smacking is hitting.

A little more on s59's repeal

Further to my post on the weekend about the appeal of repeal, a reader emailed me with the list of MPs that Family First* is targeting their lobbying efforts toward. If the forces against the Bill think these are the wavering parliamentarians, then those for the Bill should definitely get their views in these ears too.

Labour - presumably people who might be convinced to vote against
Clayton Cosgrove, Sue Moroney, David Cunliffe, Damien O'Connor, Harry Duynhoven, Mahara Okeroa, Mark Gosche, David Parker, George Hawkins, Mita Ririnui, Dave Hereora, Ross Robertson, Darren Hughes, Dover Samuels, Winnie Laban, Maryan Street, Nanaia Mahuta, Paul Swain
(Labour are whipping MPs to vote in favour of this Bill, so for an MP to vote against would probably mean major ructions)

NZ First
Brian Donnelly, Barbara Stewart, Doug Woolerton

United Future
Peter Dunne

National - presumably people currently voting for
Paula Bennett, Simon Power, Jackie Blue, Katherine Rich, Paul Hutchison

You can find contact details for all of these MPs here.[PDF]

The Family First list also included the Maori Party but I can't see them going back on their promise to support Sue Bradford's bill now. I do wonder about the potential of Labour's Maori MPs voting against, given that it could provide them with a point of difference with their Maori Party opposites in contested Maori seats in 2008, but I suspect no Labour MP won't break ranks. Tim Barnett, Labour's Senior Whip, is not only highly respected (and by many sides of politics) he's also clearly very good at his job. He must be pretty glad he doesn't have to herd Taito Philip Field anymore!

Many of those on the Labour list surprise me (particularly Maryan Street), but it comes with no shock, not even a sliver of an eyebrow raised**, to see the usual suspects for conservatism: Cosgrove, O'Connor, Hawkins, Robertson, Duynhoven and Samuels.

I have no idea why the National MPs who are voting against have decided that way but I note that both Jackie Blue and Paul Hutchison are medical doctors and Katherine Rich has little children (I think she had one just before or after she was elected?). Has anyone asked John Key his views? Other than where he'll put his actual vote? Links in comments most welcome.

It seemed like this vote was all sewn up last week, with the Maori Party's announcement they would cast 4 in favour, but now it's seeming less secure. Which I guess was the point of Field's attempt at filibustering, so at least he's achieved one thing as an independent, even if it's not something I like much.




*Who you might expect to be against violence towards children, but they are Pro-Smack.
** Except perhaps sardonically. I do love a good sardonic arched eyebrow.