Alliance Says It Is Not Merging With Maori Party

John Pagani’s announcement on National Radio today that the Alliance is merging with the Maori Party is nothing more than a politically motivated beat-up, says Alliance President Jill Ovens.

Pagani, who features on National Radio as a commentator “of the Left”, is a former Alliance press secretary now with the Progressives.

Ms Ovens says the Alliance supported the Maori Party as an important political development that should be encouraged.

However, it is one thing to assist in a by-election in which the Alliance was not standing and quite another to suggest that a merger is on the cards.

“The Alliance is a political party in its own right with members who are actively involved in campaigns to raise benefit levels, bring electricity back into public control, put affordable housing on the political agenda, oppose US imperialism in Iraq, and oppose racism wherever it occurs.

“Several of our members are standing in local body elections on joint tickets with Greens, Labour and even Progressive candidates.

“And we have members actively involved in the union movement in leading roles.” Ms Ovens says the Alliance is firmly on the side of working people and will do whatever it takes to ensure that a reactionary Brash-led Government is not elected in 2005.

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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>>