Welcome to the June 2013 issue of Fightback, publication of Fightback (Aotearoa/NZ). Fightback is a socialist organisation with branches in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.
On Queens’ Birthday Weekend, 31st May-2nd June, Fightback held its annual public conference in Wellington. In this issue we include the text of two presentations given during the conference, Grant Brookes’ “Workers, Unions and Class Struggle Today” (page 10) and Daphne Lawless’ “Green is Red: The case for eco-Marxist politics (page 20).
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory, and Fightback actively supports workers in struggle. From pages 10-15 we cover the struggles of unionised McDonald’s’ workers for improved pay and conditions in Aotearoa/NZ. This includes an overview of the campaign, a response to homophobic bullying by management, reports on a Wellington strike and a report on a Fightback action supporting the campaign. The struggle against capital is international. Therefore we also reprint a report from a union campaign against McDonald’s in Detroit, USA.
In May we highlighted the role of mainstream political racism in fostering working-class racism. In an article originally printed in an Australian paper The Socialist, Jared Phillips reports on the appointment of Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner for Aotearoa/NZ, and argues the need for solidarity in overcoming racism.
Fightback member Polly Peek suggests mental health advocacy and radical politics can be mutually complimentary.
Finally, we cover local government issues in Auckland (page 23) and the need for workers’ action to overcome the failings of the Health & Safety system (page 24).
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