Disaster Capitalism Downunder
Capitalist disasters The common broad left response to disasters such as the recent Christchurch 6.3 ‘quake’ that has wrecked many buildings and will probably have a death toll of over 200 people, is… Continue reading
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RIP, SHIT, BUST: 29 Pike River miners find their Wealth in Heaven
The Runanga Miners Hall has emblazoned on its frontage 1908 The “World’s Wealth for the World’s Workers”. And below it “United we Stand, Divided we Fall”; but that was a century ago. Now… Continue reading
Talking about Suicide
The Tyranny of Silence When my son Bruno killed himself in January 2007 my first impulse was to talk about it. I, my partner, and the rest of my family, came up immediately… Continue reading
How the ‘Labour left’ sold out NZ workers in the 1990s
Book Review No Left Turn: The Distortion of NZ’s history by Greed, Bigotry and Right-wing politics By Chris Trotter. Random House, NZ, 2007 Part One: Keeping the social democratic torch alight Chris Trotter’s… Continue reading
Saint Jacques: Derrida and the Ghost of Marxism
From Cultural Logic, Vol 2, No 2, 1999 [PDF] Introduction For the bourgeoisie, the collapse of “communism” made the world-historic victory of capitalism seem certain. Yet the contradictions of capitalism immediately called the… Continue reading
Antipodean Marxism meets Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles (1999)
Hone Tuwhare and Poster of Karl Marx as Construction Worker Introduction Today the struggle of indigenous peoples in Australasia is becoming institutionalised in international law and the post-modern politics of multi-cultural ‘difference’. When… Continue reading
Lost in the Crowd? Hardt and Negri’s Empire and Multitude in Argentina
Introduction In their book Empire Hardt and Negri argue that today world capitalism has entered a new stage of development. ‘Empire’ is different from imperialism and is bigger than any particular country including… Continue reading
John Mulgan: A Modern Greek Tragedy
Review of Vincent O’Sullivan’s Long Journey to the Border: A Life of John Mulgan Penguin Books 2003 Introduction John Mulgan has a big name in New Zealand. He is portrayed in the literary… Continue reading
Situations Vacant
Marx and Engels looking forward This is a session on ‘Social Critics’ and ‘Public Intellectuals’. But what do these terms mean in the current context? What ‘Society’? What ‘criticism’? What ‘Public’? What ‘intellectuals’?… Continue reading