Mana, the Left and the battle for Auckland's future

Kia ora to all members and supporters of Socialist Aotearoa,

With less than three months until the Auckland Council elections and with the results of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election fresh in our minds it's time to consider how the left intervenes in the city council elections this year.

The potential of John Minto's mayoral campaign is to present a set of realistic policies that challenge the neo-liberal status quo in Auckland. Policies that speak to the need for affordable housing, the need for a living wage and the need for free public transport.

From the roaring surf of Piha where locals fight seabed mining to the rage in the streets of Glen Innes against gentrification can the left present a credible alternative to the vultures who run our city and country today?

The question the left must ask itself in the next few months is how does this campaign reach every underpaid, overworked, fed up with debt and traffic jams and casinos and junkets for the big wigs in this city?

What do we need to do to challenge Len Brown and John Key from the city to the sea? Join us Thursday with John Minto as we discuss the upcoming campaign to take back our city for the millions, not the millionaires.

Mana, the Left and the battle for Auckland's future - A Socialist Aotearoa Forum

John Minto will speak alongside a panel of other local campaigners.
When: 7.30pm, Thursday 4 July
Where: Unite Union, 6a Western Springs Road, Kingsland.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/289502527863189/

Upcoming gig: Secret Donations Scandal rocks Minto for Mayor campaign
John Minto's campaign for Mayor needs cash for billboards and pamphlets. So we've roped in the Mana Movements own Envioso, pulled in some radical folk punkers from Rotorua, The Prophet Motive and filled out the line up with Aotearoa's own Tom Morello - Myth of Democracy. Paul Brown, Scotland's finest folk export to Aotearoa joins the bill as well to warm up the audience with only the finest revolutionary anthems. $10 on the door and a cash bar and BBQ available all night.

We'll be collecting secret donations for Minto's election campaign all night. Bring your suitcases full of dead physicists, your stolen credit cards and your kids piggy banks.

When: From 7pm, Saturday 20 July
Where: Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/271261479681392/

>>>News and Analysis>>>

We’re all Brazilian in this Struggle
Saturday the 22nd of June was a typical winter Auckland afternoon with beautiful blue skies, frequent showers, howling wind, overcast conditions, and at moments a combination of all four. To be quite honest it felt pretty far removed from the images we are used to seeing of beaches, thongs, football, and parties that have become the western perception of Brazil. But on this typically Auckland day the Brazilian community of Auckland came out in force to demonstrate their anger and frustrations against the ongoing corruption, exploitation, and police brutality that has come to define the capitalist legacy of Latin America’s largest nation, and future torch bearer for corporate mega events, the World Cup and of course the financial black hole that is the Olympic Games.
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/were-all-brazilian-in-this-struggle.html

Behind the Silicon Curtain
Linda M. an IT professional and SA member discusses the recent revelations about US internet spying. Peaceful revolution ultimately brought down the Stalinist surveillance states of Eastern Europe and tore down the Iron Curtain. Now the challenge is to pull down the Silicon Curtain.
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/behind-silicon-curtain.html

Harry - Like a P pipe in the dark?
TV cop show Harry lit up the underbelly of the "P" or methamphetamine trade in Auckland like a "P" pipe in the dark. Brightly illuminating the trials police and criminals face in their daily war with each other but obscuring the wider social reality in which the pipe gets lit.
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/harry-like-p-pipe-in-dark.html

Brazilian Revolution - The writing's on the wall
It is hard to predict when something will ignite mass mobilisations but one thing's certain, the struggle in Brazil is the same one we face here in Aotearoa. The parallels are obvious; a rising cost of living, stagnating wages, increasinging unemployment, structural poverty and marginalisation from society, a non functioning public transport system, a history of land theft and the terrorising of indigenous communities. In neighbourhoods like Glen Innes we see people being evicted from their homes to make way for the rich. You only have to look at the National Party to see a corrupt government that funds sports events instead of deal with social problems. Our common enemy is neo-liberal capitalism.
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/brazilian-revolution-writings-on-wall.html

See you on the streets,
Socialist Aotearoa
www.socialistaotearoa.org

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