The ISO shouted at me because I publicly advertised our group- as well as the protest- on the radio. They say we have not given a letter of resignation, "that's what political groups do". Well we thought we'd made it clear enough, not attending meetings and anouncing the creation of our new group.. to them... But some people are just too keen to read upto that last full stop, which is redundant
Here is my speech:
I worked a graveyard shift last night, I've only had three hours sleep but I'm still here. I and we shall not remain passive before these laws, we will not buy into these neo-liberal theories of trickle down effects or recessions.
While production rises, while we are forced to work more hours our wages effectively decrease due to gst and inflation.
I'm here as a student, a socialist, a worker and I find it hard to pay my bills. It doesn't matter if I'm young or about to retire, where I work or where I'm from I find it hard.
The truth of the matter is this [youth rates bill] fits into the system. It's here to divide us into age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. But we shall remain united... Only throughh unity can we achieve justice. Through union cooperation and worker's protests.
The truth of the matter is this [youth rates bill] fits into the system. It's here to divide us into age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. But we shall remain united... Only throughh unity can we achieve justice. Through union cooperation and worker's protests.
I do not want 30% less pay.I'm worth more than that and I earn more than I pay already!
Hi Dan,
ReplyDeleteI know I've been well out of the loop for some time, but I'm sorry to hear about this development. I understand that the non-violence issue has been a very long running point of contention between yourself, Joe and a few others, and the rest of the group. I respect you for standing by your principles, have even more respect for the very good work you have done for the socialist cause in Dunedin (and when necessary, Invercargil and elsewhere) over the last few years, and understand how you may have felt compelled to make this final step, but it still saddens me to see you part ways with the group.
However, just because I understand the motivation is not to say I think it is a good idea. I genuinely do not believe that complete non-violence is compatible with socialism on a wider theoretical, but more significantly I do not believe that the issue of non violence is of *practical* importance in the political situation in New Zealand, especially in Dunedin, right now.
Certainly it is something that will become an absolutely critical point of theory, and in turn practise, should New Zealand find itself in a similar situation to that currently being experienced in Egypt and Syria and Yemen, but we're not there yet. I would also argue that to describe the revolutionary movements in Egypt, Tunisia and Spain as completely pacifist is to largely misrepresent movements facing ongoing attack from police and soldiers, but that is a separate argument.
I hope that this split does not prevent yourself and your co-founders from working with the ISO on the vast majority of issues where your (seemingly) singular point of difference is not a barrier. In turn, I hope that pettiness and personal upset does not prevent remaining members of the ISO from working with OGNA. You don't need me to tell you that competition between the two groups is a waste of valuable resources (time, effort and money).
Best of luck,
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your comment. It definitely was a hard step to take, but we didn't feel that the issue was being given much attention nor proper debate. We will still keep close ties with the ISO of course; as you say, we share the majority of our aims and objectives. However I do think the issue of non-violence is important here and now. There may not be many struggles going on at the moment and for this reason any struggle that surfaces we will keenly be a part of, but if we do not look into the issue of [non]violence now, it may be too late by the time struggle appears. I think non-violence is compatible with socialism, what's more I think socialism is incompatible with violence. As I've said in the past, violence scares people away. I know we will be treated harshly by police, but responding violently will only give them the oportunity to excuse the way they treat us. A non-violent response will emphasize the brutal nature of the police force and capitalism as a whole.
Important issues will arise. I don't think the media will be as attracted to non-violent protesters unless it's a big issue. So non-violent groups will have to, in a sense, play with media logic. We will have to use symbolic actions the media can picture, but these actions must not just be aesthetically pleasing but emotive too. Actions, and we are planning some, are going to have to attract the attention of the public and the media, this way our point can get across to a much larger audience.
We will see what comes up, the past few weeks though we have continued to be a part of the protest movement in Dunedin and we will of course continue to do so. The ISO is a very important feature of the movement so we will not, or do we desire to, close off ties. The revolutionary movement can only succeed through debate and we feel OGNA will give important contributions to this debate.
regards and YFTR,
Dan.