April Spark online

April 11, 2012 by

Editorial: Byron Clark

Recently I stopped at the Occupy Christchuch site (which had the previous day agreed with the local council to end the camp) to help clean up a bit and pick up a banner I had provided. The banner read “We won’t pay for the failure of their system!” and had been hanging between two trees for the last few months.

The banner pre-dated the campsite and had its first public outing when it was unveiled at the Christchurch Town Hall while John Key spoke at a so-called ‘jobs summit’. The two activists who held it up were swiftly trespassed from the building- although the series of earthquakes Christchurch has experienced since then has made this punishment somewhat redundant.

The banner has such staying power because a common theme of struggle since the global financial crisis has been a refusal to take concessions on wages, welfare and standard of living. This issue looks at a number of those situations. One of the biggest situations is with the Ports of Auckland workers who are refusing to give up their hard-won union contracts in exchange for casualised jobs. With significant welfare reform on the horizon beneficiaries are also being told they should tighten their belts. Whatever situation you are in- at work, out of work, unable to work, now is the time to say that you won’t pay for the failure of a system that does not work for the majority of people.
Kia Kaha

Spark+April+2012

Filed Under: Print edition PDFs

Interview: Marika Pratley on An Unfortunate Willingness to Agree

April 10, 2012 by

Workers Party member Marika Pratley was nominated for an award for composition in the play An Unfortunate Willingness to agree which ran at the Fringe Festival from 27 Feb 2012 to 2 Mar 2012. The production won a Fringe award for Best Dance and received an honorable mention for Sound Design. The Spark interviewed Marika about music and politics.

The Spark: What attracted you to this project?
MP: An Unfortunate Willingness to Agree was an opportunity for me to explore writing music for a contemporary dance show that was concerned with exploring political themes. Oliver Connew (director) was interested in ideas relating to social alienation, for example what caused things like the London Riots and Occupy movements, and how distanced people are from what happens in politics (i.e. the government) and the mainstream media. I was attracted to exploring these ideas in an artwork so applied for the job.

The Spark: How did you get into music in the first place?
MP: I started learning piano at kindergarten. It was not until high school I got into writing my own music, which was more avant garde focused and influenced by many genres, especially Greek and Classical music. I decided to pursue a Bachelor of Music majoring in Composition when I was in my final year of school and involve myself as much as I can in many different musical communities. Since then my style has evolved quite a bit and I have become more interested in sonic arts, i.e. weird noises and abstracted work.

The Spark: How do you think your politics intersect with your creative work?
MP: This particular case was my first ‘go’ at writing music with a political theme. Political music work is something I have shied away from in the past. I think this is partly because institutions are more concerned with you developing aesthetic related technique than concept-related ideas of music. Also my style is not usually dealing with text or lyrics, so in order to make a political point I would need to work with images or another art form. I am quite keen to take up the challenge and explore this further though.

The Spark: What other projects have you got coming up?
MP: One of the dancers asked me to collaborate with him on his choreography work which will premier at Te Whaea in May, but aside from that I am mainly just focusing on band work. I am hoping however to start work soon on a Palestine themed exhibition with a sound-based component. This is still in its early stages though and I am trying to find other artists to collaborate with. I also have a side project for fun that is inspired by sloths.

Filed Under: Theatre

US and New Zealand: The struggle for access to abortions and contraception continues

April 8, 2012 by

Vita Bryant, Workers Party, Wellington

In the heat of the campaigning for the Republican Primaries, Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown, a well-respected Catholic university in Washington DC, applied to make a submission to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The committee had convened to discuss whether or not to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which would allow employers to opt out of providing insurance coverage for contraception on religious grounds – in other words, regardless of an employee’s religious belief, their employer can mandate whether or not their insurance will cover access to contraception. In a country where the costs of medicines are largely covered by private insurance arrangements, such an amendment could leave the contraceptive choices of hundreds of thousands of women in the United States to the whims of their employers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Women

Defending the Domestic Purposes Benefit

April 6, 2012 by

This article was contributed to The Spark by Jessica Ward

The Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) was fought for by our mothers and grandmothers. Before the introduction of the DPB women raising children were entirely financially dependent on a partner. Women in abusive relationships that wanted to leave their husband would be forced to also leave their children. The DBP was formed through Social Security Amendment Act in 1973 with the first payments starting in May of 1974. The DPB was originally set at a level that enabled solo mums to care for their children as a full time job without having to enter the work-force. Unfortunately now this is not the case. National’s proposed benefit cuts mean mothers on the DBP will be required to start looking for part time work when their child turns 3 and full time work once their child turns 6. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Women

Movie review: The Hunger Games

April 5, 2012 by

Ian Anderson

While far-right US commentators target venom at “Marxist” childrens’ films including The Muppets and The Lorax, number one blockbuster The Hunger Games should cause them more concern.

Adapted from a young-adult series by Suzanne Collins, the film portrays a dystopian future in which kids are sent to fight each-other to the death, as a reminder of the Capitol’s power. Collins says the original book series was inspired by channel-surfing between coverage of the Iraq war and reality television: “I was tired, and the lines began to blur in this very unsettling way.” This narrative, of young adults co-opted into a showcase that destroys many of its ‘heroes,’ could be extended into many areas; the sports industry, the record industry, or the Hollywood studio system which produced this adaptation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews
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