This is an edited version of a lecture given by WH (Bill) Oliver, professor of history at Massey University, Palmerston North, exactly 50 years ago, on 1 May, 1963. The lecture was in memory of a foundation member of the university’s teaching staff, Donald Anderson, who had died two years earlier. It is reproduced here, by permission of Bill Oliver, as an intriguing halfway point between the Maoriland Worker essay competition of 1913 and the current ‘Another World is Possible’ essay competition.

The Inadequacy of a Dependent Utopia

The label Utopia is one I am content to apply to New Zealand, not because I think New Zealand to be a perfect society but rather because I think that the experiment has been essentially successful. Here in New Zealand all may stay alive, all may aspire to the good life, and some will achieve it. That is about enough for any human society. However, our living, and our opportunities for a good life, do not depend upon ourselves alone. There are factors, influential enough to fulfil or frustrate our best endeavours, which are beyond our control: the condition of world prices and of export markets, the terms of trade and the conditions of credit. This condition is one of dependency. We may talk then of a dependent Utopia. The condition is patent enough in economic matters; but perhaps less so in those aspects of our common life we can properly, if vaguely, call cultural…

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The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism, edited by Levi Bryant, Nick Srnicek and Graham Harman (re.press Melbourne, 2011)

Review By Vaughan Rapatahana

Publisher: http://re-press.org/

Wow!

This is not a book for the ‘average’ reader. It’s difficult enough for the mythical ‘trained academic’ to digest some of the somersaulting phrases and dense terminology sprinkled throughout its over 400 e-book only pages (downloadable for free, by the way) – more so in some chapters than in others, for this is a collection of policy statements and concomitant rebuttals by over 20 very distinctive and quite idiosyncratic writers. Take – purely as random – this sentence from Reza Negarestani:
 

The exclusive stance of the organism in regard to its path to death is the very expression of the insurmountable truth of death within the organic horizon as a dissipative tendency which is supposed to mobilize the conservative condition of the organism toward death

My overall feelings – at times – after reading some such sections was best summarized by: ‘how can these guys write like this and stand there straight-faced’?

Now to be fair to the contributors also, there is a tremendous amount of clever and radical and worthwhile thought throughout this tome too and it is because of this I will attempt to summarize the overall tenor of this book, for there is no way whatsoever in which one can delineate the details of each and every piece involved, in a book review such as this. Rather it is a dip-into book, methinks: one delves here and there as much guided by the author involved as by the topic pertaining. Read more »

Another World is Possible” essay competition

In 1913 a young labour activist (and future prime minister) named Walter Nash ran a nationwide essay competition on the subject “What Socialism Is”. Forty entries were received and the winners were published in the weekly newspaper, the Maoriland Worker.

A hundred years later the Labour History Project Inc., which researches, records, preserves and promotes the history of working life in Aotearoa/NZ, is holding another essay competition to inspire debate on alternative futures. At a time when people internationally are turning against economic policies that further inequality, and when conventional political solutions are losing their authority, the Labour History Project (which is not affiliated with any political organisation) welcomes entries from progressive New Zealanders of all ages that offer visions and pathways for a fairer and brighter society.

And the Scoop Review of Books will publish the winning essays and any others that the judges deem to have merit.

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Waiheathens: Voices From a Mining Town by Mark Derby, with Paintings by Bob Kerr (Atuanui Press, $30)

Reviewed by Alison McCulloch

As the year of the Waihi gold miners strike centenary drew to a close, Waihi was still a town divided over mining. And while the times and issues have certainly changed, the wounds often run just as deep.

Waihi’s 21st century struggle bears little resemblance to the labour versus capital clashes of 1912. For one thing, this time the union is firmly on the company’s side. “We have a well-established respectful Union/Employer relationship with the Waihi Gold Company Ltd,” the EPMU said in a submission on Newmont Waihi Gold’s latest expansion plan, “and have considerable confidence that they will deliver what they say they will.” Read more »

August 16, 2012

By Steve Whitehouse

Shock Resignation Shakes NZ’s Literary Scene

New Zealand’s world of books is reeling today after the manager of the national literary team announced he was stepping down after the failure of any of the squad to make the Booker Prize long list.

At a packed press conference in Cambridge, C.K.Stratford said the development was “more than disappointing.” He believes “it is time to make way for new ideas to rejuvenate the team” which has received $2.3 million in lottery, Arts Council and government funding since 2009.

“The days when entries had to have correct grammar and make sense have passed,” said Mr Stratford. “What we need is new blood — possibly a post modernist. Also, we’re not quite sure where the money has gone” Read more »

By Scott Hamilton

In February and March of 1936, a young journalist and novelist named George Orwell left his adopted home of London and travelled through the northern counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, staying in boarding houses in Wigan, Sheffield, and Barnsley, tramping through the poorest streets of those cities, and meeting and interviewing miners, small businessmen, and unemployed workers. After returning from the slums and slag heaps of the north, Orwell wrote The Road to Wigan Pier, a book which considers the impact of the Great Depression on England’s working class with a mixture of sympathy, disgust, and anger.

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The wonderful, incomparable, Margaret Mahy is no longer with us. Here are just some of the tributes to have appeared so far.

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Alexander Cockburn was, if it’s not a contradiction in terms, an aristocrat of radical leftwing journalism. Cockburn described his dad, Claud Cockburn, as the 20th century’s most important journalist, and his brothers Andrew and Patrick are both accomplished journalists.

What follows is a tiny selection of the tributes to have appeared to date.

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Article – Jim Miles

This proved an interesting book to review for two main reasons. First it discusses a region that I do not have a strong background with, the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. Balancing that however is the second factor … Read more »

Next Monday will see four poets with collections published in the last twelve months reading their poems at Te Papa. Helen Heath (Graft) and Joan Fleming (The Same as Yes) are first-timers; Lynn Davidson (whose Common Ground mixes poetry and essay) and Harry Ricketts (Just Then) are both teachers of creative writing with longer track records.

The Scoop Review of Books is pleased to be able to bring you a sneak preview of some of the poems that will be having an outing on Monday 16 July between 12:15 and 1:15pm at the Marae, Level 4, Te Papa.

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