Two prominent US leftists have asked the Socialist Workers Organisation to organise a joint speaking tour of NZ.

One is Mike Davis, a socialist historian with a world reputation for books like City of Quartz (a sociological history of Los Angeles), Magical Urbanism (how Latino immigration is reshaping US cities) and Late Victorian Holocausts (a review of 19th century colonialism in India, China and Brazil). Mike is an editor of New Left Review, probably the world¹s best-known journal of socialist theory. He had been invited to NZ as a keynote speakerfor a book festival.

The other is his partner Alessandra Moctezuma, a Mexican artist and labour activist, who did support work for the big unionisation drive in Los Angeles, which for the first time organised supposedly unorganisable Latino ³illegals².

Their email address is - amoctezuma@earthlink.net

Mike's New York university phone no. is - 11794-4348

They would welcome interviews by the NZ media. Please contact them directly.

This tour will be hugely important for NZ¹s radical left. It should give real impetus to the anti-capitalist movement in this country.

Here is their itinerary (it's mostly set in concrete, though a couple of engagements have yet to be confirmed):

AUCKLAND Friday 25 May € 7pm at the Tango Bar, a Latin American cafe in The Mall, Onehunga (opposite the pub). Mike & Alessandra will be guests of honour at a left-wing welcome to Aotearoa. (Prior bookings are essential for this function. The media are welcome to attend, but since this function is designed to be very informal, all quotes are embargoed, and the function can only be used as a "backgrounder" by the media.)

AUCKLAND Tuesday 29 May € 1pm at Auckland University¹s monthly "Globalise Resistance" forum. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra. € 8pm at Trades Hall. Topic: Building fighting unions in LA and NZ. Speakers: Alessandra, unionist, SWO. € Elam Art School. Topic: Art & struggle. Speaker: Alessandra. (To be confirmed.)

CHRISTCHURCH Friday 1 June € Mid-day at university. Topic: The holocausts of 19th century colonialism. Speaker: Mike. We will ask for Mike to be given guest lecturer status. € 7.30pm at WEA. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra.

DUNEDIN Sunday 3 June € 2pm at Gresham pub. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra.

WELLINGTON Tuesday 12 June € Mid-day at university. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra. € Evening. Topic: Building fighting unions in LA and NZ. Speakers: Alessandra, unionist, SWO.

PALMERSTON NORTH Thursday 14 June € Mid-day at university's "Globalise Resistance" forum. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra. (To be confirmed.) € Evening. Topic: Building fighting unions in LA and NZ. Speakers: Alessandra, unionist, SWO. (To be confirmed.)

ROTORUA Monday 18 June € 1pm at Waiariki Polytech, starting with a Maori welcome at the marae. Topic: The holocausts of 19th century colonialism ­ India, China and New Zealand. Speakers: Mike, Annette Sykes, SWO.

HAMILTON Wednesday 20 June € Mid-day at campus. Topic: Anti-capitalism in America ­ US activists speak. Speakers: Mike, Alessandra. (To be confirmed.)

AUCKLAND, Socialism 2001, Friday-Sunday 22-24 June Mike and Allesandra will speak at these sessions of Socialism 2001, an annual conference hosted by the SWO: € Opening session: Globalised resistance ­ the challenge to corporate power. Speakers: Mike, Green Party, SWO. € Closing session: The politics of hope ­ anti-capitalist protests & workers¹ struggles. Speakers: Alessandra, SWO. € The holocausts of 19th century colonialism ­ India, China and New Zealand. Panel: Mike, Maori activist. € No human is illegal ­ unionising Latino ³illegals² in LA. Speaker: Alessandra.

If media people would like further info from the SWO about their tour, just ask. We will try to help.

Kia kaha Grant Morgan SWO secretary --------------------- (09) 634 3377 (days & evenings) gcm@actriz.gen.nz PO Box 13-685 Auckland ---------------------

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>