Fight for a better world PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 28 November 2009 05:33
In the last month or so, the International Socialist Organisation has put a lot of effort into building the Campaign for a Living Wage, which was launched by the Unite, New Zealand’s newest and most dynamic union. Why have we chosen to work on this campaign, when there are so many other issues at the moment? The most pressing is the campaign to provide relief to the Pacific islands which were hit by a lethal tsunami. That campaign has attracted widespread support as New Zealanders recognise the close ties between us and other Pacific islands. Another campaign we have supported, although not as strongly, is the campaign against cuts to ACC which will protect rapists by making it harder for victims of sexual abuse to access support. The biggest campaign is the international day of action on climate change. The scale of environmental damage poses a threat not just to working people, not just to NZ and the Pacific, but to the whole of human civilisation. Why then do we not throw all of our weight behind this campaign?
The basic reason is that none of these challenges can be faced without a serious political perspective. Tackling climate change requires more than a change in individual consumption. While events like the Spring Food Festival organised by the 350 organisation raise awareness, they urgently need to move past that to develop serious political alternatives. The ACC cuts threaten the start of a whole scale attack on public health. It’s not enough to make good arguments. We need to find the forces in society that can defend public health and arm them with ideas that can win. Finally, the devastation in the Pacific is symptomatic not only of climate change but of the third world dependency maintained by a world order which privileges New Zealand and Australian business at the expense of Pacific people in the islands and in Australasian cities.
The campaign to raise the minimum wage is not just relatively privileged NZ workers asking for more money.  It’s a world away from the politics of greed. We are building the unite campaign because we see working people, organised in democratic trade unions, as the most generous and potentially the most powerful force in society – a force that has an interest in public health, in protecting the vulnerable, in international solidarity, and in preserving the planet. This campaign is first and foremost about raising the political consciousness and organised strength of workers so we can build a mass movement that can solve all of these problems in a rational way.