Two prominent US socialists are touring New Zealand during May and June.

Mike Davis, He's 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). He is an editor of New Left Review, possibly the world's best-known journal of socialist theory. He's been invited to NZ as a keynote speaker for a book festival.

Alessandra Moctezuma, She's a Mexican artist and labour activist. She did solidarity work in the recent big unionisation drive in Los Angeles, which for the first time organised supposedly unorganisable Latino "illegals".

Details of Wellington Meetings

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'Anti-capitalism in America - US Activists Speak'

Mike & Alessandra will tell how the anti-capitalist movement, born at the 'Battle of Seattle' in late 1999, is a serious challenge to corporate power in the heartland of capitalism.

Tuesday 12th June at Noon Room 3 (Under the stairs leading down from the bookshop), Student Union Building Victoria University

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'Building fighting unions: L.A & N.Z.'

Alessandra Moctezuma, Mexican labour activists and artist will talk on organising and campaigning amongst grassworks workers in Los Angeles. While her experience is far from the shores of NZ this will be a very relevant topic as the NZ Council of Trade Unions has been promoting the same principle in rebuilding union membership and strength.

Alessandra will be joined by Don Franks, NZ unionist/socialist, active in the Freedom to Strike Campaign.

Tuesday 12th June 7:30pm at Crossways, Elizabeth St. Mt Victoria

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Meetings hosted by the Socialist Workers Organisation and all are welcome

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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>>