Well done, everyone! With 14 days left in our campaign we are almost exactly 90% of the way there. Only $125 left to pledge (less than $10 a day!) to make sure Fightback puts out another four issues of analysis which challenges and provokes the activist Left, in Australia and in Aotearoa. We’re beginning to put together the research and writing for our “Fascism and anti-fascism” issue as we speak – and, for a little taste, we’d like to introduce you to a very good article which recently came out of the United States on the issue of fascist ideas spreading among the Left. https://hummusforthought.com/2018/03/16/the-multipolar-spin-how-fascists-operationalize-left-wing-resentment/

It’s noteworthy that in the last week we got (amongst others) one donation for $5, and one for $200. Of course, we’re desperately grateful, and a bit humbled, by the later. But as I said last week, the former is just as important. We assume that everyone who pledges is doing what they can. As socialists, we certainly don’t think the comrade pledging $200 likes us 40 times as much as the comrade pledging $5. In fact, the more $5 donations we get, the more it will show us that our base is wide. We want to know that our ideas and analysis are useful to and get buy-in from people on the edge, working people, students and beneficiaries whose need for ideas to fight with is no less than that of the academics or the “professional activism”.

Simply put – if you like what Fightback is doing, and you possibly can, give us a donation, no matter how small. It’s another “vote” that we’re doing something right.

Will we reach our basic goal within the next seven days? Tune in next week to find out!

in solidarity

Daphne Lawless

Fightback coordinating editor (Aotearoa-based)

PLEDGE HERE: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/5580-fightback-becomes-a-trans-tasman-socialist-website-and-magazine

Comrades and friends:

This is a great start! Less than 1 week into our campaign, we’ve reached a total of $610 in pledges – halfway to our basic goal of making sure that Fightback can continue, as a website and an e-publication.

However, we’re not there yet. And we’re even further away from the $3,000 we would need to continue as a print publication. Some might say that print is old hat, unnecessary in the 21st century. But many people still prefer to read things on paper. And it’s quite difficult to hand an e-publication to someone you meet on a picket line or a demonstration.

Fightback still thinks that print has a role to play. But it’s all down to funding.

The other issue is that we’ve got some big pledges from a few comrades. And believe me, we’re stupidly thankful for that! But what we’d really like to see is lots of little pledges, from workers, students, beneficiaries or carers who can’t afford much but still like what Fightback is doing and want to see us keep doing it.

For that reason, we’ve added a new reward – for a $5 minimum contribution, you get a complimentary copy of our first issue for 2018. (Projected theme is: “Fascism and anti-fascism.”)

So, if anything that Fightback has been doing over the last 6 or so years has appealed to you, excited you, challenged you, or in any other way you’d be sad to see us go… please contribute. Five measly NZ capitalist dollars would be much appreciated, if you can spare it. If you’ve already pledged, please forward our appeal around your circles, to anyone else you think might be interested! And if you can’t spare any money, but still want to help… please let us know.

In solidarity,

Daphne Lawless

Fightback NZ-based coordinating editor

Dear comrades and friends:

Since 2012, Fightback has produced media for the socialist and radical Left in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Our work has alsoreached outside this country; some of our material has been translated into other languages, and republished as far afield as Austria and Ukraine.

We’ve aimed to provide analysis and information which bridges the gap between the world of academic journals and the world of activists on the street. We’ve attempted to apply cutting-edge social justice theory to the everyday movements against capitalism and the capitalist, colonial, patriarchal state in this country.

We don’t uphold any particular ideological “dogma”. Instead, we have tried to synthesize the best that the Marxist tradition has to offer with the insights of the queer/trans, feminist, and tino rangatira literature.

In the past few years in particular, we’ve produced “special issues” (on Women, Youth activism and Pasefika activism in particular) which have not only solicited writing from outside the “usual suspects” of the Marxist left, but successfully fundraised so that contributors could be reimbursed for their work, something which is disturbingly rare even on the radical left.

But if you want all this to continue, it’s time to contribute. Fightback needs your financial support or we will cease to exist. It’s that simple.

Our most recent conference decided to make the push for Fightback to become a trans-Tasman journal of the radical and activist Left. In the modern era of free movement across the Tasman, “Australasia” is becoming a reality in a way it has not been since the 19^th century. So many New Zealanders (tauiwi as well as tangata whenua) now live and work in Australia – and decisions made in one country increasingly impact the other, as the inter-governmental controversy surrounding the Manus Island detention camp shows.

We wish to crucially engage socialists from both sides of the Tasman – in particular, socialists from Aotearoa living and working in Australia – to continue the lines of analysis and directions of organisation which we have being pursuing. Beyond the dogmas of “sect Marxism”; beyond national boundaries; towards a genuinely decolonized, democratic, feminist and queer-friendly anti-capitalism.

This will cost money. In New Zealand terms, we will need at least $3,000 to continue our schedule of producing 4 print magazines a year, including paying writers for a Special Issue on Accessibility. Our minimum goal – $1,100 – would cover an online-only media project including an e-publication, also paying writers for the Accessibility issue.

The financial question is a political question. If what Fightback has been doing since 2012 is of value to socialists in Aotearoa/New Zealand – and if our vision for the future inspires people on both sides of the Tasman – then our friends and comrades simply have to put their money where their sympathies lie. Otherwise, the project will come to an end this year. It really is as simple as that.

If you like what we do, please support our crowdfunding appeal, to the extent you possibly can. And if you can’t support financially – please, raise your hand to help us with writing, web design, proof reading or the thousand and one other little jobs that unpaid volunteers have been doing over the last six years. We really look forward to hearing from you.

In solidarity,

Daphne Lawless

co-ordinating editor (NZ-based), Fightback

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE HERE: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/5580-fightback-becomes-a-trans-tasman-socialist-website-and-magazine