Central Otago-born Doug Jolly served on the front lines throughout the Spanish Civil War and in WW2, developing innovative systems for treating patients as soon as possible after they were injured. His systems were widely used by UK and US surgeons in WW2 and later wars, and their influence can be traced today in the…
The Otago Socialist Society is thrilled to be presenting this guest lecture for our October 2024 monthly event. Chris Lam is a recent graduate of the English programme at the University of Otago, having completed their master’s degree this year. Their research focuses on horror, alienation, and the weird in fiction. ———————————–Of Parasites and Plagues:…
The Canterbury Socialist Society is pleased to confirm our 2024 Fred Evans Memorial Lecture. For this lecture we invite a speaker to present on a topic related to working class politics and history in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Fred Evans was a prominent unionist during a pivotal moment in New Zealand labour history – the Waihi Miner’s…
Coming to us all the way from Chile, Pablo Abufom is the Sunday keynote speaker at the Second New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies National Conference – Labour Weekend 2024. Pablo will speak to “Resisting neoliberalism in Latin America: The 2019 Chilean revolt and the struggle for constitutional reform.” Please note: the Sunday keynote is…
The Saturday keynote panel of the Second New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies National Conference – Labour Weekend 2024 brings together experienced Tino Rangatiratanga activists Catherine Love (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Ruahinerangi), Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), and Dougal McNeill to speak on “Te Tiriti and the struggle for socialism.” Wellington City…
Today the climate crisis and humanity’s broader relationship to non-human nature are among the most important questions for the Left to grapple with. However, even among socialists the Marxist theory of ecology is not widely known or discussed. This session will seek to introduce people to the ‘Theory of the Metabolic Rift’ and its application…
Indigenous resistance in Palestine and in Aotearoa responds to the violence of settler colonialism, and it is initiated in both cases by British colonialism. There is a common whakapapa. But indigenous resistance has a commonality beyond what it fights against. The commonality exists in indigeneity. This panel of young, indigenous activists from Palestine and…
There have been three periods of major transformation in Aotearoa’s political economy: the 1890s, the 1930s, and the 1980s. Founded in 1916, the Labour Party was responsible for the latter two transformations, while the Liberal Party – in many ways the precursor to Labour – was responsible for the first. Aotearoa’s right-wing parties have never…
“Precisely the defeated man must try the outside world again” – Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope (1954). It is easier to imagine the end of the world, than the end of capitalism. This phrase has become something of a shibboleth for the contemporary left, a diagnosis of our present condition and a bleak indictment of our…
The Canterbury Socialist Society is thrilled to be able to host this guest lecture for our August event, 2024. Berkay Koçak is a political science doctoral researcher from Türkiye, currently based in New Zealand, specializing in political theory and Marxist political economy. Berkay completed a PhD in the Political Science and Public Policy programme at…