Auckland Anarchist Network

reclaim the city...

2009-05-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

the state wants to recreate a city in it’s own image.
their city: undemocratic. unsustainable. privatised and corporatised. founded on confiscation.

people’s city:
participatory democracy.
ecological sustainability.
strong public services.
mana motuhake.

ka whawhai tonu matou struggle for a people’s tamaki makaurau

As anarchists we oppose the state attempting to steal power from the people, to deny the mana whenua, to consolidate corporate control over our city. We fight for a people’s auckland reclaimed from the corporate interests. We are communities/workers/students/tangata whenua resisting motorways, confiscation, budget cuts, privatisation, pollution and state power.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE OF TAMAKI MAKAURAU
www.indymedia.org.nz - www.akanarchists.blogspot.com

Show and Tell: Traveller's stories from the Pacific and beyond

2009-01-22T01:25:00.000-08:00

Come to the January Anarchist Assembly in Auckland

6:30pm
Monday, January 26
8 Mt Eden Rd

We will share a simple vegan and gluten-free meal and then hear inspiring stories from the recent travels of several local activists. These people have been learning about and participating in the struggles of the local and indigenous peoples of the Pacific, Asia and the Americas. There will be photos and video clips and plenty of room for questions.

Anarchist Assemblies are fun, informative, community evenings put on bimonthly in central Auckland and open to anyone who might be interested.

Anarchist Assembly: Focus on Prisoners - Nov 13

2008-11-05T16:53:00.000-08:00

It's too easy to forget the thousands of political prisoners across the planet. Ordinary people who stood up against injustice prepared to break the law and activists framed by the state. They deserve our support.

This months Anarchist Assembly will focus on the plight of political prisoners such as Rod Coronado, Jeff Luers, Mumia Abu Jamal.

Short films and presentations will be given followed by a letter writing session.

Don't forget- They're in there for us - We're out here for them

6:30pm
13 November
City Side Church,
Up the ramp at 8 Mt Eden Rd
Newton

forum anti-capitalism and anti-colonial struggles in australia and the pacific

2008-08-19T01:39:00.000-07:00

anti-capitalism and anti-colonial struggles in australia and the pacific

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

Date:	Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Time:	6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:	Clubspace, above the Auckland University Quad.
Street:	Corner Princes and Alfred Streets (By Maidment Theatre).
City/Town:	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 at the G20 neo-liberal economic summit held in Melbourne in 2006. Sina will be discussing her experiences in and perspectives on anti-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)

Anarchists meet in Magma City

2008-08-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

30 or so anarchists and fellow travellers attended the second Auckland Anarchist Assembly at the Trades Hall to hear presentations on organic gardening, October 15th Solidarity, the campaigns for ethical pension fund investment and against Kwila imports and on the Israeli anarchist movement. There was interesting questions posed on everything from the future of urban horticulture to the future of the Palestinian people. Was a great evening out for anarchists to get together and hear what each other was getting up to, so keep a look out for the next event coming soon to Magma City!

2nd Auckland Anarchist Assembly - Monday 11 August

2008-08-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Mon 11 August, 6.15pm

Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

- an informal evening of presentations and short films on what anarchists are up to in Auckland -

This month the speakers will be discussing:

October 15th Solidarity in Auckland – court update and how you can help show your support.

The Superfund Campaign – what the superfund is and how we will campaign against it

Israeli anarchist Kerum on opposition to the Israeli State and their occupation of Palestinian Land

Permaculture and Organic Gardening in Auckland – why we need community gardens and how we will get them

Organised by the Auckland Anarchist Network, an information-sharing network for Auckland anarchists: akanarchists.blogspot.com

Drunk and Disorderly: an anarchist social evening, Thursday July 17

2008-07-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 17 July the Auckland Anarchist Network is presenting "Drunk and Disorderly", an anarchist social evening.

Enjoy a beer or wine, discuss politics, activism and the state of the planet and have a game of pool or chess in a bar that doubles as a political museum.

All welcome!

When: Thursday July 17th, from 6pm
Where: Forde's Front Bench, 122 Anzac Avenue
(Near the Auckland High Court & just down from Auckland University)

akanarchists.blogspot.com
aspaceinside@gmail.com

Auckland talk: Searching for Black Power: African Americans and Africa, 1957-1976

2008-05-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Searching for Black Power: African Americans and Africa, 1957-1976

History Seminar by Fanon Che Wilkins, from Doshisha University, Kyoto.

Room 59, 7 Wynyard Street, History Department of University of Auckland. 1-2pm 6th June 2008. All welcome.

A major, yet neglected, dimension of the U.S. Civil Rights/Black Power movement of the 1960s is the history of solidarity with liberation movements, peoples and states on the African continent and elsewhere in the African diaspora. Black freedom movement activists in the United States evolved an internationalist coalition politics that embraced movements seeking to define and realize ‘Black Power’ in Africa, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and Canada.

The solidarity activity that grew out of the struggle to obtain Black Power globally cohered around material and political support for African liberation movements in the white settler-states of southern Africa and the Portuguese colonies. These transnational political movements played themselves out on an international stage in the epoch of African nation-state formation, shaping the terms of domestic U.S. and African debates concerned with race, class, ideology, and alternative models of economic development.

Friday: Action against Superfund Investments in Nuclear Weapons

2008-05-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

This Friday, there is a protest action against continued unethical Superfund investments in nuclear weapons as part of a global day of action on the International Women's Day for Disarmament. There are protests organised for Auckland and Wellington.

Every human alive now and over the next tens of thousands of years will carry radioactive elements created by nuclear tests, research and deployment, causing an increase - however small - in their lifetime cancer risk. Even the US government has finally acknowledged the link between nuclear weapons production facilities and elevated levels of at least 22 kinds of cancers in workers (at those facilities).

Even though the NZ Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act, 1987, states it is an offence for anyone to aid or abet "any person to manufacture, acquire, possess, or have control over any nuclear explosive device" within or beyond the NZ Nuclear Free Zone, the Fund has investments in companies involved in nuclear weapons production and deployment such as Lockheed Martin $21,850,772*, Northrop Grumman Corp. $22,490,337, Honeywell International $13,914,219, BAE Systems Plc $6,154,252, and EADS Co - $2,660,672 (*Fund investment at 30 June 2007, the most recent figures available).

After the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the destruction and pollution that resulted from the testing in Mururoa Atoll and the Marshall Islands:
The world says NO to nuclear weapons!

Where: NZ Superannuation Fund office, outside the AMP building, on the corner of Custom Street West and Albert Street, Auckland CBD.
When: Friday 23 May at 4.30pm
Organised by: Tamaki Makaurau Branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

(Followed by some social drinks, organised by the Auckland Anarchist Network)

All welcome to support

The Super Fund is invested in companies involved in nuclear weapons and cluster munitions production. We are asking them to divest from these insane weapons.

More info:
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/iwdd08.htm
http://investmentwatch.wordpress.com/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/peace/abolish-nuclear-weapon

Get better work stories

2008-05-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

Punk/anarchist zine published in Opotiki

2008-05-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

The third issue of Aotearoa punk-anarchist zine, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing, is out now, with interviews with a whole range of Australian and New Zealand punk bands, as well as zine reviews, a feature on medicinal plants in Aotearoa, an article on life inside Mt. Eden prison and a wide-ranging essay on anarchism, politics, primitivism and revolution.

Published by Nigel, a crusty anarcho-punk currently living in the sleepy North Island town of Opotiki . You can get copies by flicking him an email on crispycritter99(nospam)hotmail.com.

The Auckland Anarchist #3 Online Now

2008-05-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

Issue #3 of The Auckland Anarchist an irregular anarchist zine from Auckland is out now. Email aspaceinside@gmail.com for a copy or download it from here.

Featuring:

ACORNS! - Natures treat
Autonomous in Auckland? - thoughts on the direction of the movement
Street Medics - Providing first-aid at demonstrations and riots
The fight for freedom on prison grounds -the spectre of Mt. Eden Prison
L38Squat- Part 2 of the history of an Italian social center
Philippines photos - eyewitness to state repression
God Bothering: The case against Christian anarchy
God Bothering: A Christian anarchists response
Bogus conspiracy theories - Bullshit detecting

Shock Them Back: Resisting Disaster Capitalism and Subverting the Shock Doctrine

2008-05-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

The following is the transcript of a talk given by an activist of the Aotearoa Anarchist Network to a Socialist Aotearoa meeting @ Auckland University on Thursday (May 15).

As the state-terror raids in October 2007, demonstrated, and the subsequent government push to tighten the Terrorism Suppression Act and it’s refusal to sign the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the shock doctrine isn’t something only used in far off lands with funny names but is also a weapon of mass deception used in our own backyards. Now I don’t want to dwell to long on what the Shock Doctrine is, because Naomi Klein describes it a lot better than I ever will, so definitely go and read the book if you haven’t already, it is fantastic. What I am instead going to talk about is; firstly-shock resistance or how we can resist the shock doctrine, secondly- bringing the disaster home- or how activists in the rich world can effectively support peoples resistance to the disaster capitalism in places like Iraq and Palestine, and thirdly I want to discuss a tactic which I think could be used to great effect; I’ll call it “shocking them back”

So firstly, let’s discuss how we can resist the Shock Doctrine, how we can resist capitalist and state attacks on the public sphere, the welfare-state, the “commons”, the environment, on human and civil rights, on democracy and on our everyday lives, in the wake of large scale catastrophes: some of which have happened in this country in the past and may well happen again in the future: for example, stock market crashes and subsequent recessions-like the 1987 one that provided a window of opportunity to capitalists for the destruction of the New Zealand trade union movement via the Employment Contracts Act of 1991. With doom and gloom headlines scrawled across most of the financial papers and growing fears of an ecological meltdown, of peak oil and food scarcity, it’s more pressing than ever that anti-capitalists, anarchists and socialists prepare themselves mentally and physically for the elites to try and use the shock doctrine here. But I do want to stress hear that often times the shock doctrine isn’t used in countries like New Zealand. Cause as we are all glued to the global electronic spectacle flickering from our computer screens and televisions and ipods and play stations, the government can just as easily do what it likes in a low-key manner, and provided no one takes their eyes off America’s Next Top Model or stops poking their friends on facebook they can damn near well get away with stealing a country, or selling one off to the highest bidder, or whatever they want to do…

But in any case if the elites try and use the proverbial bulldozer of the shock doctrine to smash open the public sphere to free market competition or if they pull out the smallest screwdriver to loosen the regulations that control foreign investment, or Genetic engineering or how hospitals contract out services, we need to be prepared.

The easiest and most effective way to beat the shock doctrine is mass confrontational direct action. In the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami, the Thai government tried to clear the beaches of local villagers to make way for new 5 star tourist resorts. Pretty soon, they were met by hundreds of villagers returning home, refusing to be evicted they reoccupied their homes on the coast. In New Orleans as the water receded back through the broken dykes after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration started its efforts to use the disaster to clear out the poor and working-class people who call New Orleans home. But determined residents returned home, cleaned up their neighbourhood and told FEMA they were staying put, since then there have been a number of confrontations, some defeats but also many successes for those struggling for their communities’ very survival, as big developers want to demolish the public housing. In Argentina in 2001, millions of people took the streets forced the government from office and forced a default on huge loans racked up by the dictatorship to the International Monetary Fund. The people united and fighting for control of their country on the streets of Buenos Aires showed that if we want to smash the shock doctrine then we must take direct action, we can’t wait for an election or a magnificent leader.

Because whether we like it or not, to defeat disaster capitalism, we need to be our own leaders. One of the main things I took away from Klein’s book is how easily radical peoples and workers movements are demobilized because the leaders have been bought off, been kidnapped, or simply been killed. We need a movement of leaders, with every person committed to a post-capitalist society capable of leading that transformation in their university, in their workplace, in their neighborhood or wherever. We need to be prepared to learn as we go, because we all make mistakes and fuck shit up, but it’s only by being leaders now, will we ever be able to act like leaders when the shock comes. That means the basic skills of organizing, of mobilizing, of educating/agitating and all the rest of it need to be passed on to every activist, because the stronger each individual is, the stronger the movement is, the faster it grows and the quicker we can reclaim our planet from those intent on wrecking it.

We also need to be prepared intellectually. That means every activist, every revolutionary needs to be on the ball all the time. We need to be able to understand complicated stuff, everything from the emissions trading scheme to the provincial reconstruction team, and be able to communicate to people our ideas clearly and passionately without coming across as a lunatic or an ideologue or both. And communicating doesn’t just mean talking it also means listening. Listening to what is important to people, because when the shock comes, there isn’t any point trying to mobilize around saving snails in the south Island, when people can’t put food on the table.

The anti-Vietnam war activists of the 1960s had a slogan, “bring the war home”. And it wasn’t just an empty threat, by the early 1970s, students, workers, draft dodgers, mutinous soldiers and revolutionaries were making the US as ungovernable as Vietnam. Everything from pacifist non-violent destruction of military property and draft records and mass tax evasion right though to the Weather Underground style bombings of recruitment centers and military bases was used to bring the war home to America. And this tactic was remarkably successful. The war did end, partly as a result of this revolt in the heart of the empire.

Well, now we face as Klein says disaster capitalism, spreading across the world, turning war and disaster into a sweet way to make a buck. As Klein says, “we are losing the peace incentive” in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan. So as the people of those nations fight back, what can we do from Aotearoa in solidarity with their struggles? I’d say we can “bring the disaster home”. The people making a profit from these wars and conflicts have names and addresses. The tentacles of the war-machine reach right into this very city. Oscmar, in Mt. Eden makes weapons training simulators for the Israeli Defense Force, Rakon in Mt. Wellington makes oscillators for use in cruise missiles, the NZ Superannuation Fund, with offices on Customs street, is making a killing by investing your tax-payer money in among other disaster capitalism industries; nuclear weapons and cluster bombs producing corporations. It is really important that anti-capitalists take seriously our commitment to solidarity with all those fighting back against oppression and that means we need to bring the disaster home in Aotearoa.

So finally to conclude I’d like to suggest a strategy that I feel would be useful. It’s based on the premise that you fight fire with fire. So I want to suggest that we need to “shock them back”. If Milton Friedman is right and only crises, actual or perceived produce real change, and that the ideas taken up are those lying around, then we need to start shocking back. I think a good example was when Folole Muliaga was killed by Mercury Energy last year, and Solidarity Union organized very quickly to protest and raise awareness and help ensure that those types of tragedy never happen again. The results of this organizing and the public outcry was that even Labour Party MPs were discussing in reasoned tones whether putting the Auckland electricity supply back into the ownership of the council was a good idea. The neo-liberals had been shocked. It is these crises that produce change and these crises are common place in capitalism. Capitalism is continuous crisis; it is a million crises in a million places every day of the year. Learning how to use these crises to shock the system is our challenge, but it is I believe vital to the very survival of the human race. The tragedy in Burma is not just a time to extend sympathy to the victims but an opportunity for us to get the government to end investment in Total Oil and stop state owned telecommunications company Kordia from building cell phone towers for the junta.

Klein is right. It is crises that change the world and the shock doctrine has been at the core of the neo-liberal free market, free trade, and anti-human agenda for a long time. It’s high time that activists learnt the lessons of the enemy, and organize/educate/agitate and mobilize so when the shock comes, it’s the people and the planet that comes out better off.

Solidarity is a weapon...

2008-05-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

Solidarity is the heart and soul of anarchism. You could even say it flows through our veins. Which is why Aotearoa anarchists have been taking action in solidarity with two women on opposite sides of the planet. Anarchists in Wellington demonstrated at the German consulate in solidarity with Andrea Neff, presently serving 14 months imprisonment for her involvement in actions against Neo-Nazi demonstrations in Germany. [ More ] And why anarchists involved in the Auckland University Students' Association have been putting the pressure on the government to tell the Philippines that we aren't happy with them threatening the life of Glaiza Dimapilis, the 19 year old president of the Philippine Christian University student council. [ More ]

imminent rebellion #9 out now!

2008-05-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

from indymedia,

imminent rebellion #9 is fresh off the printer! (In fact we're still high off the ink) Weighing in at a staggering 108 pages, imminent rebellion is making a come back after 3 years of hibernation as an irregular anarchist journal from deep in the South Pacific.

Included in this issue are personal commentaries from some of those arrested as part of the October 15 'terrorist' raids, an overview of the police's Operation 8, a consideration of police treatment of activists over the last few years, critiques of NGOism, activism and identity politics, and more.

Read online or buy direct from our website: www.rebelpress.org.nz (or grab a copy from your local anarchist bookshop)

Rebel Press
info (at) rebelpress.org.nz
PO Box 9263, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand

Anarchism returns to Auckland

2008-05-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

30 people attended the inaugural Auckland anarchist assembly to hear presentations from Father Peter Murnane, recently out of a Blenheim police cell; Tyler on the upcoming Jesus Radicals conference; Simon and Ingrid, to show some photos of their trip to the Phillipines; MZ on the upcoming protests against ANZCART and the fur free ak campaign; Gilly showed some sweet films of Israeli anarchos and Palestinians smashing up roadblocks and pulling down fences in the Occupied Territories (here and here); Gary on climate sceptics; Miriam on the A-fem conference; and Omar on Danny's arrest. Heaps of yummy soup was eaten and chocolate and cake eaten and some $$ for Danny was raised.

Direct Action: Mother’s Day rescue, piglets saved from horror

2008-05-11T02:30:00.001-07:00

New Zealand Open Rescue has conducted an undercover investigation into an intensive piggery in Auckland, uncovering gruesome evidence and rescuing two female piglets.

“Our investigation revealed death, cannibalism and immense suffering,” says New Zealand Open Rescue spokesperson Deirdre Sims.

“We witnessed sows in farrowing crates anguished in extreme confinement. These mother pigs were unable to walk or turn around, let alone able to interact with their babies. Our team also documented many dead piglets, one of which had been severely cannibalized."

More: Open Rescue | Meat Free Media | Video

New Auckland Animal Rights Group Starting Up!

2008-05-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

A new animal rights group will be forming in Auckland to continue the struggle for animal liberation. We will be continuing some animal rights campaigns that have been running like the Fur Free Auckland campaign, but we are also wanting new ideas, new tactics and strategies while being direct action-based. A meeting has been called for Saturday 10 May, at 1:30pm, Alleluya cafe in St Kevins Arcade, K rd. So come along, bring your ideas and help continue the fight for the animals!

Auckland Anarchist Assembly #1 - Monday May 12

2008-05-06T02:08:00.000-07:00

- an informal evening of presentations and short films on what anarchists are up to in Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland City, all welcome -

When: 6pm-9pm Monday May 12,

Where: Cityside Church, 8A Mt. Eden Road, Newton

What: a forum for anarchists and interested people to discuss and share information on activism and organizing around the city and the world.

-- Short presentations on --

Eyewitness report on State and Paramilitary Repression of Unions in the Phillipines

Report on Fur Free Auckland Campaign and upcoming ANZCART Summit, (anti-Vivisection Protest)

Autonomous activism and organizing in Britain and Israel

Recent Climate Change activism in Auckland

Report on national Anarcha-Feminist Conference

Update on situation of Danny "Vegas" Wilson, former Auckland anarchist, now in jail in the US (please bring a gold coin or so, to help raise funds for Danny's bail bond, which is US$5000)

Organised by the Auckland Anarchist Network, an information-sharing network for Auckland anarchists.