Today Aotearoa Workers' Solidarity Movement (AWSM) joined hundreds of mostly young protestors in Rotorua, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island in Aotearoa/New Zealand, who acted on the global call for a ‘strike’ in support of the climate.
Today AWSM joined hundreds of mostly young protestors in Rotorua who acted on the global call for a ‘strike’ in support of the climate. There were some positive aspects of the action. For example, the numbers involved was reasonable for a town where few political demonstrations ever take place. The fact that the local speakers and organisers were with one exception all rangatahi/youth, was also encouraging and some spoke eloquently about the problems the earth is facing. On the other hand, the protest operated within safe guidelines and made no fundamental challenge to the system which has caused the problem in the first place, industrial capitalism. Even the participants who had stronger criticisms saw the solution as ongoing symbolic protests and appealing to the politicians in some form or other, rather than committing direct collective action at the flaxworks level to take over control for ourselves. Hopefully as the futility of appealing to our bosses and masters becomes increasingly apparent, the young people energised by today’s action will take up this important challenge in the future.
Further photos can be found on our site: https://awsm.nz/?p=3630
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