FRIDAY evening 30 May

7pm Bullets and ballots: Babu Maharjan from Nepal gives a first-hand account of the mass movement for change.

8pm Vote socialist 2008: The Workers Party launches its election campaign with a view to being on ballot papers in every home.

SATURDAY 31 May

10am Revolution and Resistance: panel discussion
Dennis Maga (from the radical trade union the KMU) on the mass movement in the Philippines; John Minto (social justice activist) on the betrayal of the liberation movement in South Africa; Don Carson (a long-time campaigner for Palestine) on the relentless struggle for liberation; Mike Treen (unionist and social justice activist) on Cuba surviving encirclement; and John Edmundson (Workers Party) on Afghanistan’s long-running resistance.

11.45am New government, old problems? Anthony Main from the Socialist Party of Australia talks about the current situation

12.30pm Lunch

1.15 -3pm: 1968: The Year that Rocked the World – Mike Kay (Workers Party) on the tumultuous events of forty years ago.

John Moore (Workers Party) speaks with former Polynesian Panther Party member Tigi Ness about radicalism in Polynesian Ponsonby.

Short break

3pm- 4pm Building a Fighting Force -Matt McCarten (Unite Union) and Don Franks (Workers Party) on how to fight redundancies and build mass resistance

Short break

4-15pm – 5pm What is socialism? – Jared Phillips (Workers Party) gives an historical view.

Parallel session: Dialectics of nature vs nurture – Daphna Whitmore (Workers Party) looks at the dichotomy debate.

SUNDAY 1 June

12.30pm Sex and Socialism – Bryce Edwards ((Politics lecturer) brings two of the most interesting words in the English language together in a libertarian-socialist talk where discussion will range from pornography to prostitution, lesbianism to childcare, ‘raunch culture’ to abortion.

1.15pm Debate: That open borders bring freedom – Tim Bowron (Workers Party) argues the affirmative; Brian Van Dam (social justice activist) argues the negative.

2.30pm break

2.45pm The vital role of a revolutionary paper Don Franks (Workers Party, editor of The Spark)

3.30pm Who needs a revolutionary party? Philip Ferguson (Workers Party) argues essential need for a revolutionary organisation.

This week Helen Clark flew to Beijing to sign an “historic” free trade agreement with China. Reaction to the deal has ranged from euphoria among the business community to moral outrage from groups such as Free Tibet and the Green Party.

Let us know what you think by voting here in our special online poll.

Iraq and Afghanistan

It is now five years since the US-led invasion of Iraq and over seven years since the invasion of Afghanistan, which included NZ troops. Iraq has been virtually destroyed thanks to the invasion and occupation, while Western forces in Afghanistan are under increasing pressure.

Come along to this month’s Workers Forum, hosted by the Workers Party, and hear what’s really happening in both these countries and why workers in NZ should oppose Western intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

7pm, Monday, March 31, WEA, 59 Gloucester St

Documentary Screening; Chávez, Venezuela and the New Latin America

This documentary by Aleida Guevara (daughter of the revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara) explores Venezuela’s explosive revolutionary terrain post-April 2002 – when Hugo Chávez survived a coup attempt instigated by the United States.

Featuring interviews with Hugo Chávez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Jorge García Carneiro, newly appointed head of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, along with many others, this film affords a rare opportunity to glimpse through the blockade of information imposed by the United States and into a country rich with hope, dreams – and oil.

(2004, in Spanish with English subtitles)

5pm, Wednesday April 2 in the International Room, 1st floor UCSA Building, University of Canterbury

Fortnightly Tuesdays 6pm @ Auckland Trades Hall 147 Great
North Road:


April 1 The global economy – how deep is the slump?

April 15: US elections: choosing the best face for
imperialism


1968 + 40 series


April 29 1968 – the year that rocked the world

May 13 The French general strike

May 27 What is Situationism?


Download leaflet in pdf format here