Time to be an intimidating protestor, AKA a singing deacon
Well, it sure has been a busy week at the posting factory. We have brand new troll tees up - supporting our hard-working teachers and nurses. Plus new ways to wear your support for Palestine. Let's go girls (gender neutral).
It's been an awful week for our friends in Gaza, on top of an awful, almost two years of brutal genocide. A friend of mine there has escaped again with her family, and as she walked along the beach of her homeland, she drew my name in the sand. I went to my beach and did the same for her.
Our friendship is deeply treasured. We talk about a future Palestine that is free, where there is no occupation. No genocide. No relentless violence and dehumanisation. A place where her children can grow unafraid and live as children should. Where joy can live again. Where they can mourn and bury their loved ones and heal. A place where Israel no longer terrorises her people. Justice and peace.
I hoped for that as the water washed away her name and carried my love to her family across the seas.
I farewelled a beautiful woman yesterday who was described as 'an artist of human connection'. Her beloved family talked about how she taught them to be a 'good ancestor'. My last conversation with her was about the mutual aid fund, and my last memory of her was watching her watch her granddaughter perform with my son. She was so proud. I was so proud to know her.
She is someone whose memory is a blessing to us all, and a lesson in how the way we choose to live our lives matters so much. How will we be remembered? Will we be remembered as people who gave more than we took from this earth? From each other?
I thought about how the deacons and clergy who chained themselves together and went on a hunger strike outside the offices of politicians who have so much more power than they do. Nicola Willis called them intimidating. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOp5G9fkbV1/?igsh=OHF1NGhjNGV5aDFkI think about what the great grand children of Nicola Willis will think about that. And the legacy of those brave enough to do what is right.
It's voting time!
Make sure you vote yes to Māori wards and tell your friends to as well. Here's an explainer just for you! If you're in Wellington, please don't vote for anyone under the godawful Bitter Wellington/Independent Together banner (Chung, Muollo, Ken Ah Kuoi, Michelle McGuire, Guy Nunns, Wong). Basically, anyone in yellow is part of the merry band of trolls who are desperately trying to bring back the R slur. I will be voting Alex Baker for mayor. With Little at number 2. Please, if you'd like to, share who you're voting for and why. And tell us if any candidates in your area are unhinged cookers.
Wear your support for Palestine!
Our mates at Cursive Craft (one of my fave places to buy naughty earrings) are running a fundraiser for the Aotearoa 2 Gaza mutual aid fund. You can buy Palestine Heart Studs, Large Watermelon Slice earrings, Small Watermelon Slice earrings and Palestine Heart Dangles.
Over at Troll Tees we have the Queers for a Free Palestine tees and a new tee to show your solidarity and support.
From the Sea to the River Palestine will live forever!
Strike! Back our teachers and nurses!
Teachers and nurses are striking and we have three lots of tee shirts up for you to buy over at Troll Tees. All profits will go to the striking funds for nurses and for teachers.
Back nurses, back teachers - Buy a Troll Tee.
Relationships education
Registrations are open for the Aro ki te Hā online programme. Aro ki te Hā is a free, online seven-week youth programme designed to support rainbow rangatahi to develop the tools and skills needed to navigate the challenging and beautiful world of relationships. Young people (aged between 16 and 27) meet once a week for around 1.5 hours with up to 10 others. The programme will start the week of the 13th of October, with the day of the week to be decided based on what works best for participants. You can register to attend here.
This lovely charity is having to leave their current space because the hotel they are using is renovating - if anyone local to Timaru can help them with premises?
Four things you can do right now to stand against the genocide
- Sign the petition calling on the NZ Government to sanction Israel now!
- Copy and paste an email to all your local body candidates. The letter and email addresses are here.
- Share your local event for this weekend’s Palestine solidarity action on your social media pages. Events are here on PSNA’s Facebook events page
- From 18-21 September it's the Global Week to Disrupt Complicity in Genocide. Palestinian civil society calls for escalating disruptive BDS actions now against complicit states, corporations and institutions, building up to mass disruption from 18 – 21 September, the UN General Assembly deadline for Israel to end its illegal occupation and apartheid.
Make sure Labour don't f*k up doing a CGT again
Call on Labour to support a proper, comprehensive Capital Gains Tax (CGT) like they should have done bloody forever ago.
From Tax Justice Aotearoa: You may have seen recent reporting that indicated Labour might be considering adopting a CGT policy that is not comprehensive and with exemptions that would undermine its revenue-gathering potential.
While we don’t know if this reporting accurately reflects Labour’s current thinking, this is a critical moment to show Labour that we support a CGT that will advance tax justice in Aotearoa!
Email ideas from Tax Justice Aotearoa:
1. It’s great that Labour is considering taxing the income from capital gains.
2. I support a comprehensive Capital Gains Tax and it is something that will influence how I vote.
3. I want a CGT that will:
- make a significant contribution to the revenue we need to resource our public services,
- improve the fairness of our tax system, and
- foster a more productive economy, by discouraging property speculation that drives house prices up.
4. To achieve this, I support a CGT that:
- is as comprehensive as possible, covering all forms of significant assets, but with an exemption for the principal family home,
- applies to individuals, companies and trusts that own assets,
- is payable when the asset is sold or transferred,
- taxes income from capital gains like any other source of income to mitigate the risk of tax avoidance which will happen if lower tax rates apply, because wealthier people are more likely to own assets which make taxable capital gains.
5. I want Labour to step up and show the necessary leadership to put a proper CGT before voters in the 2026 Election. This is a policy that will influence how I vote.
6. But a CGT is only one step towards a better tax system, and I want to see Labour advancing other tax changes that will generate the revenue we need and address income and wealth inequality.
Emails:
To: Chris.Hipkins@parliament.govt.nz
Cc: deborah.russell@parliament.govt.nz; barbara.edmonds@parliament.govt.nz
Lush has launched a limited edition Liberation Bath Bomb online and in stores across Aotearoa. 75% of the profits from sales will be donated to support Gender Minorities Aotearoa to provide nationwide information and support to transgender people and their whānau, alongside advocating for transgender human rights.
March! March! March!
On Saturday, Aotearoa is rising up for pay equity with a National Women's Day of Action. Across the motu there will be 22 events, with marches in Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Whanganui a Tara and Ōtautahi.
The Government has gutted pay equity legislation that would have eased the cost of living and lifted pay for 182,000+ people. They have cancelled claims set to boost the very services that make life possible – schools, libraries, hospitals, aged care, disability support, and more. Details of events are here.
Accessibility and safety for blind and low-vision pedestrians
Josaiah Fue is a blind New Zealander who has a Parliamentary petition calling for electric vehicles to have noise admitters.
"Silent electric cars are a serious risk to blind and low-vision pedestrians. Without sound, we don’t know the vehicles are coming. Other countries require warning sounds at low speeds — I believe that New Zealand should urgently do so too, before more lives are put at risk. In my view, sound emitters should be mandatory on new electric and hybrid cars so that current vehicle owners aren’t burdened with the cost. Sign the petition to add noise emitters to electric vehicles.
Stop attacks on young human rights defenders in the Philippines. Join Amnesty International in calling on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Philippine Congress to cease these attacks and keep young human rights defenders safe. Sign the open letter here.
There’s a bill open for submissions at the moment that amends the Summary Offences Act 1981 to create a new offence for engaging in a targeted and disruptive demonstration near residential premises. If it goes through, it would make some protests illegal. You can make a submission here on the Summary Offences (Demonstrations Near Residential Premises) Amendment Bill.
Arohatia Reo Māori
It's Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! Online you can find so many resources. There are also lunchtime webinars. There's also heaps of family-friendly community events.
Flash Fiction is a community of short fiction writers. They're uploading a Te Wiki o te Reo Māori reading series. The writers from the series are all from Short | Poto: The big book of small stories | Iti te kupu, nui te kōrero (Massey University Press, 2025), edited by Michelle Elvy and Kiri Piahana-Wong.
That's all for this week folks. I am so grateful you're here. Community is everything and I'm proud of the great community we have here. Share any upcoming events we should attend or kaupapa we should get behind. And as always, thanks for supporting me to do this mahi.
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Finally: Want to donate to the Aotearoa 2 Gaza mutual aid fund? The account name is PROSEAN PICTURES, and the account number is 06-0574-0906928-00.
