Giacomo Bianchino and Rudy join Amal for an introductory discussion on New Zealand’s (Aotearoa in the Maori language) political economy, with a focus on how the country was settled and connected to the world market. We discuss the nature of the first settlements, the dispossession of the Maori, the Treaty of Waitangi and why it is a cornerstone of the myth of biculturalism, why the colonization process of the Maori was different when compared to the one in Australia and why New Zealand is an independent country. We continue by discussing the Maritime Strike and the origins of arbitration, the birth of the Labour party, the formation of the welfare state, the Labour party’s political degeneration and the 1951 Waterfront process. We finish by discussing New Zealand’s (sub-)imperialism in the Pacific and the 1999 voting reform.
References:
Rollo Arnold – The Farthest Promised Land: English villagers, New Zealand immigrants of the 1870s
James Robb’s series on the Origins of the Working Class in New Zealand (Pts 1, 2, 3), his history of the founding of the labour party, and the history of the Waihi strike (Pts 1, 2)
Towards a Socialist Polynesia (Spartacist League of New Zealand program of 1982)
Phillip Ferguson – New Zealand: Neo Colony or Junior Imperialist?
D. Bedggood – Rich and Poor in New Zealand A Critique of Class, Politics and Ideology
Te Ahu – The Evolution of Contemporary Maori Protest
E.S. Te Ahu Poata-Smith – The Political Economy of Maori Protest Politics 1968-1995: A Marxist Analysis of the Roots of Maori Oppression and the Politics of Resistance
Katjo Buissink – Socialists and Trade Unionists Led the Fight for Electoral Reform in New Zealand
