Remember Waihi 1912: who now has the courage?

21 comments on “Remember Waihi 1912: who now has the courage? ”

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1. mickysavage 1

   12 November 2012 at 10:50 am

   Good post Karol and a poignant reminder of the reason for being of the Labour Party and the importance of its mission.  I get the feeling that the struggle is going backwards under the intensity of the power of international capital and the sophistication of the communication systems that it uses …
   • Draco T Bastard 1.1

     12 November 2012 at 11:39 am

     I get the feeling that the struggle is going backwards under the intensity of the power of international capital and the sophistication of the communication systems that it uses …

     And the politicians working with capital to save capitalism rather than admit that capitalism has failed the same way feudalism failed.
     • kiwi_prometheus 1.1.1

       12 November 2012 at 12:37 pm

       And the same way Marxism/Socialism has failed.

       [lprent: Is there any reason to change your e-mail? Should I shift them to your usual one? ]
       • Daveosaurus 1.1.1.1

         12 November 2012 at 6:20 pm

         Failed to the extent that Capitalist America now owes Communist China over a trillion US dollars. Some failure!
         • Colonial Viper 1.1.1.1.1

           12 November 2012 at 6:26 pm

           lol…47M Americans in the richest country of the world now on food stamps
       • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.2

         12 November 2012 at 8:41 pm

         The USSR failed the same way that capitalism is failing – a few at the top got all the benefits from the workers and everyone else got all the poverty and oppression (the bene bashing we get from the right is oppression). The USSR, and even China, isn’t commun1st – they were/are state capitalist.
         • Colonial Viper 1.1.1.2.1

           12 November 2012 at 8:52 pm

           In the USSR ordinary workers and ordinary people never had any say. Power was always held by some centrally appointed Political Commissar or other apratchik.

           That’s not Marxian, that’s just another form of alienating and separating everyday workers and ordinary people from the economy, from politics and from power.
     • kiwi_prometheus 1.1.2

       12 November 2012 at 12:38 pm

       And the same way Deconstructionism, Feminist ‘Theory’ and Cultural Studies have failed.
       • Uturn 1.1.2.1

         12 November 2012 at 1:33 pm

         Failed? If you want to expand on these ideas, take them to open mike instead of derailing here. I’m interested in hearing your perspective. Also your comment during the weekend about Newton’s Laws etc.
       • joe90 1.1.2.2

         12 November 2012 at 1:45 pm

         What k_p really thinks.
2. karol 2

   12 November 2012 at 11:22 am

   Just caught up on an informative Tweet from Sue Moroney. 

   Police wouldn’t arrest the Scarlet Runners because arresting women would have been a bad look in the yes of the public #RememberWaihi

    
   • Macro 2.1

     12 November 2012 at 2:26 pm

     Just found this I’m sure you will be interested 🙂 :

     from http://werewolf.co.nz/2012/08/100-years-on-the-waihi-miners-strike/
     “Chasing the Scarlet Runners – Women in Waihi
     The women of Waihi played an active and innovative part in the 1912 strike, often stepping well beyond the accepted bounds of female behaviour for that period. Some, known by the admiring name of the ‘scarlet runners’, acted as covert couriers for the strikers, often at considerable personal risk. This paper examines the place of women in Waihi during the most tumultuous events in the town’s history.
     Cybele Locke is a lecturer in history at Victoria University. She once played for a social netball team called the Scarlet Runners.”
     • karol 2.1.1

       12 November 2012 at 3:14 pm

       Thanks very much, Macro.  I have updated the post to include that article & quote.
3. kiwicommie 3

   12 November 2012 at 1:48 pm

   We live in a divided country these days, and media would paint any strikers as rouble rousers or criminals. Facing the facts, a large number of National party supporters are in fact Ayn Rand acolytes that live in total fear of the working class rising up or a Labour government ‘raising their taxes’; and many political commentators here [in the NZ Herald,etc] wouldn’t stand out from the American Tea Party.

   Then there is the curious situation of those that came from poor households, did well in education, and came back to bash those that didn’t do well as they did as ‘lazy’ and ‘burdens on the state’, don’t really need to mention those in the National government that meet that criteria.

   Even for someone like me who never watches tv and rarely reads papers, I can’t stand the bile that is repeated every day under the banner of austerity and returning to surplus.
   • karol 3.1

     12 November 2012 at 2:22 pm

     Well you may do well to not read some papers in the next few days.  It would be heartening if they gave the Maritime Union some fair coverage.

     RNZ is reporting that facilitation has failed, while MUNZ says more industrial action is possible. MUNZ press release explains, saying the PoAL workers remain united.

     He says workers will not sign a POAL contract that continues to contain a contracting out provision after what they have been through.

     Meanwhile NBR focuses on accusations and acrimony, and the POAL case for “flexibility”.  POAL had released a letter to the workers in breach of the law.  MUNZ says it will be issuing proceedings.
     • Nick 3.1.1

       12 November 2012 at 4:29 pm

       Karol, On the subject of this post and the Maritime Workers you might also have mentioned the only other NZ unionist killed in the line of protest (on a picket in Lyttelton not so many years ago by a car driven through the line). Chris Carruthers, a fabulous person and mother.
       • karol 3.1.1.1

         12 November 2012 at 8:45 pm

         Thanks, Nick.  I have added that to the bottom of the post.  All the sources I found named her as Christine Clarke.
         • Nick 3.1.1.1.1

           12 November 2012 at 9:26 pm

           Yes, Carruthers was an earlier name we knew her by, we met her through the local Labour party and same aged children. This link illustrates her character nicely, a truly community minded person. http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/93/10memor.htm (halfway down page).
     • kiwicommie 3.1.2

       12 November 2012 at 7:38 pm

       NBR just like most of the other business papers is nothing more than a mouthpiece for tired neo-liberal economics. They never raise a single new economic idea or academic paper. The ideas they spin are outdated in the rest of the world, but staying strong in New Zealand due to the stranglehold of the 1980s/Chicago Boys crowd over economic thinking in New Zealand.

       Their brand of thinking is holding NZ back economically, they see every problem in the economy as a result of high labor costs, protectionism, inflation,etc rather than as a direct result of a weak domestic economy (which comes from low wages, low incomes and increasing poverty and unemployment).

       The other major flaw in our economy is the failure to keep skilled NZ’ers here, by refusing to pay standard global salary/wage rates (the weird exception being top executives and CEOs). Businesses here pay peanuts and have large staff turnovers, they need to wake up and see that if they pay peanuts, their staff can just work for a few years, go overseas and get those global rates; leaving them without staff unless they can can con some foreigner into the ‘lifestyle’ thing. 😉
   • Wayne 3.2

     13 November 2012 at 9:20 am

     Well, I guess are correctly named if you think the Nats are the equivalent of the Tea Party Republicans
4. Macro 4

   12 November 2012 at 2:29 pm

   Waihi Drama Society have just finished season of a Play based on the book “The Red and The Gold”
   http://www.waihi.org.nz/events/the-red-and-the-gold-waihi-drama-society/

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