Sean, one of our newest members, getting Vic students to do the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz”.

Each year, on the Wednesday of Orientation week, Victoria University has a Clubs Day in the quad. And since 2005 the Libertarianz Party have presented Vic students with a genuine political alternative. I may have left university at the end of last year, but I’m still organizing Libz on Campus (someone’s got to do it). Clubs Day is a perfect opportunity to set up a table, hand out pamphlets, advocate libertarian ideas and most importantly, recruit enthusiastic new members.

The day began well, but we had a minor setback involving me getting some verbal abuse from a Student’s Association bureaucrat who thought we had no right to be there and told me, rather forcefully, that we should just f*** off (Also, he accused me of being rude to him!). We cooperated by moving to his suggested spot in the library foyer, but that was fine because in some ways it was the better location. Shelter from the unforgiving Wellington wind is vital when you have a table covered in pamphlets, quizzes, samizdata and Free Radicals.

Luke was hungover tired and I was stressed out by my encounter with bureaucracy. I hate red tape, along with all forms of rules, restrictions and regulations. A typically libertarian attitude, but it does get me into trouble sometimes. Luckily we were rescued by two enthusiastic and very effective Libz activists, Mitch (editor of Samizdat) and Sean (pictured). Together we signed up a number of new members, collected donations, received several more expressions of interest and engaged quite a few people in debate and discussion. Not bad for a party which received 0.04% of the vote last election! Thanks Mitch and Sean, you guys are legends.

We are currently considering a regular meeting time, and developing ideas for further activism now we have some more new members.

Canterbury and Elsewhere

We also had a presence at Canterbury University (thanks to Rick for sending the full-size photo). As Rick Giles of Act on Campus describes:

Libertarianz Ben Morgan and his girl Jess. A hard worker, all on his own and signing up lots of names despite being a hard-talking no-shit tactless (but all in good spirit) typical Libertarianz libertarian. Did I used to talk to people like that?

Ben got 72 email addresses which he will follow up on. While that’s not the same as signing people up, it’s an amazing achievement for someone manning a stall single-handedly. Good on you, Ben! And Rick: perhaps it is because he is a “hard-talking no-shit tactless… libertarian” that he got so much interest? Just a thought.

The next opportunity to help us out on campus is next Tuesday at Auckland University, all day in the quad. Contact Daniel Aguilar, mexaguil@gmail.com, if you’re interested in doing some activism there. It’s fun and rewarding and I highly recommend it!

UPDATED: PC and Daniel Aguilar had a table at Auckland University on Thursday morning. They will also be there Tuesday next week for Clubs Day. Here’s a photo of Daniel:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Youth

Libertarianz education spokesman Phil Howison today slammed Helen Clark and John Key’s mirror-image plans to nationalise New Zealand teenagers.

“Forcing students to stay at school until they are 18 will cause unruly classrooms, bored students, stressed teachers and an increased burden for taxpayers” says Libertarianz education spokesman Phil Howison. “It is essentially an admission of defeat for state education. If eleven years in state schools leaves most students unemployable, what difference can adding two years make?” Howison asks. “Clark and Key have come up with plans combining the worst excesses of Nanny State. Add to it the plans to screen toddlers for ‘anti-social behaviour’, schools such as Westlake Boys High School which hold back even academically gifted students for a year if they have a ‘bad attitude’, and the threat of boot camp for students who refuse to comply, and you have the blueprints for unprecedented state control of New Zealand youth.”In her attempt to cram reluctant learners back in the classroom, Clark also condemns those who actually want to be there to disruptive and unruly classrooms. “Students who are hostile towards their compulsory schooling usually end up being disruptive and lowering the quality of the learning environment,” Howison says, pointing to Hutt Valley High School as a particularly grim example. He also laments the unnecessary stress that will burden teachers as they struggle with
classroom discipline, becoming babysitters rather than educators. “Forget about Key’s boot camps - schools these days seem to be just as rife with violence, bullying and substance abuse as the prisons. But all teenagers, not just youth offenders, are forced to attend!”

The extra $150 million of taxpayer loot that Clark is prepared to spend on turning schools into prisons will hit the taxpayer where it hurts again. “Clark’s scheme will take many young people out of the workforce where they are learning to be self-sufficient and productive, leaving them with no choice but to accept government handouts” says Howison. “And Key’s plan is no better. By supplying government funding to even more tertiary courses, he would extend government control of higher education, leaving a mere facade of private ownership while leaving the door open for waste and abuse.”

“The first step of the Libertarianz transitional education policy will be to lower the compulsory school leaving age to zero. In a free society, all interactions including the decision to stay at school must be voluntary. To help young people gain meaningful employment and encourage private apprenticeships, Libertarianz will remove minimum wage laws and make the first $10,000 of income tax free,” Howison says. “Libertarianz believe in the separation of school and state, allowing new methods, subjects and ideas to evolve in a free market system.”

“It’s enough to make you vote Libertarianz!”

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Phil Howison
Libertarianz Spokesman for the Deregulation of Education
Phone: 027 437 0308
Email: phil.howison@libertarianz.org.nz

Libertarianz: More Freedom - Less Government
www.libertarianz.org.nz

Having welcomed in the New Year last night, Kiwis woke up in 2008 to find their freedom of speech severely curtailed - even if they don’t know it. The curtailment in question comes from the Electoral Finance Bill which came into effect today.

“If ever there were a time to openly break a law, it is now. Bugger registering to have your say and bugger staying silent,”

- Peter Osborne

The immediate effect of the bill will not become apparent until the electioneering starts in earnest - that’s when we will see the parties start to use the draconian rules to shut down other parties’ advertising, gag competing interest groups, and get billboards removed. Labour, meanwhile, is allowed to use OUR money to advertise how much good Labour policies are doing for schoolteachers, recreational fishermen, model train enthusiasts and single breastfeeding mothers.

“In 2005 Labour flouted election laws by stealing public money to buy propaganda. In 2006, they abandoned all constitutional norms and retrospectively changed the law so that they wouldn’t be called into the High Court to answer for that action. This year the government has passed legislation allowing them to steal far more at the next election. Worst of all, the Clark regime is now trying to ram through legislation that would ban me from pointing out that they are behaving like tyrants and telling people not to vote for them.”

- Bernard Darnton

Remember, don’t vote Labour. Vote Libertarianz.

For the record, my name is Luke Howison, and my address is none of your business.

(Crossposted from Pacific Empire) 

Along with many other New Zealanders worried about the effect of the Electoral Finance Bill on our freedom of speech, we will be marching on Parliament tomorrow. 12:30 pm at Civic Square for anyone who wants to join us. The protest will be apolitical, organised by Act party member John Boscawen, and with broad support.

The previous protest in Auckland attracted over 2000 freedom fighters, and we expect a high turnout. PC has photos of the Auckland protest here, here and here.

Luke has explained previously why we at Pacific Empire want this bill dead:

The EFB is one of the most breathtakingly audacious things the Labour Government of New Zealand has attempted so far, exceeding even the 2006 retrospective legislation which legalised the theft of almost a million dollars of taxpayer money (and which the LIbertarianz celebrated by declaring Banana Republic Day). The Electoral Finance Bill will have a chilling effect on free speech, severely limiting an amazing array of activities which discuss or criticise almost any political issue. And the bill’s effect will occur exactly when we need to discuss politics the most: election year.

I’m looking forward to getting the “Down with Nanny State” placard out again. Last time Luke and I marched, we were pictured on the front page of Scoop, I was interviewed for the Hutt News and my placard was quoted in the Guardian, Fox News and the International Herald Tribune

More seriously though, this bill represents one of the worst threats to free speech in New Zealand for many years. Freedom-loving Kiwis must fight it without compromise. It cannot be watered down - it must be drowned!

The Human Rights Torch Relay is an international campaign that seeks to bring an end to all human rights abuses in China. The torch will travel the world during the run up to the 2008 Olympics and its coming to New Zealand in January.

The relay is being organized by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, a group that advocates that the Olympic games should be boycotted on the grounds of serious human rights abuses in China.

Falun Gong is a religious group that is being persecuted by the Chinese government, in particular the regime practises human organ harvesting on the Falun Gong.

Why China should not hold the Olympic Games

• China has a savage death penalty system.
• China has no freedom of religion.
• China has no freedom of speech.
• China has severe internet censorship.

Lets help the Chinese people get the freedom and civility that a human being is born for.

link: www.humanrightstorch.org

Here’s a slideshow I gave at the Libertarianz Conference 2007 to show off Libertarianz activism over the last few years.

You can play the slideshow while listening to my own dulcet tones telling you what’s going on, by downloading this mp3 (17 MB); my bit starts around 37:15.

You can also download the full-quality slideshow from this page on SlideShare.

Summary:

• Budget Day Protest
• Electioneering
• Election Night Party
• Burning The Census
• Hezbollah Counter-Protest
• Banana Republic Day
• Pro-Smacking Rally
• Save BZP Petition

Crossposted from Pacific Empire.