The Freedom Shop Aotearoa

Like many, I get a daily chuckle out of the news story that keeps on giving – the school lunches disaster. This was supposed to be an easy win for the free-market coalition: an opportunity to showcase how much better National and Act are at financial management, how wasteful Labour was and generally how everyone wins when you let competition and the free market rule. Except they picked the wrong target group. School kids. Had this been about meals delivered to rest homes, we would have never heard about the problems. The residents would have complained to the staff, some staff may have complained to management and management may have written a strongly worded letter to the food company. But the rest of us would never know and the government could have claimed the money savings as a success. But kids are different, in particular teenagers, who are very good at two things: complaining about how tough they have it and posting things on social media, especially pictures of food. Amplified ...

The presence of Chinese warships in the Tasman Sea has been a great boost to cheerleaders for the new arms race. Globally and locally, there have been calls for increased military spending from the whole range of the commentariat spectrum, from academics to Donald Trump. The British Labour government just slashed its overseas aid budget in order to have money to buy more guns.    Locally we are being told to increase our defence spending to two percent of GDP. We are told we’ve ‘underinvested’ in defence, and that a response is needed to the worsening ‘security situation’.   Defence minister Judith Collins recently said we have to “make up for the 35 years of feeling that we’re living in this wonderful world where nothing bad could happen”.   Contrary to the minister’s suggestion that we’ve been sitting on our hands, in the last 35 years we have splurged on new military gear including, but not limited to, two ANZAC frigates, a new amphibious and mi...

Planning for Plan B 2024 is underway and we need your help! Deflated Waihopai spy base, 2008 (art by Hannah) We've teamed up with  Wellington ZineFest  again and for 2024 we're commissioning twelve new original images from local creatives to commemorate key dates in this country's radical history.  To pay the artists we've set up a  PledgeMe  campaign. We want to be able to acknowledge their creativity and mahi and help them continue with their creativity - so check out the  Pledge Me . The funds raised will go directly to the artists, and anyone who donates will get access to preorders for Plan B 2024, plus zines, stickers and postcards for higher rewards. Plan B has been going for five years now; the first one we got out was Plan B 2019. From 2019 to 2022 it was solely done by the Freedom Shop and was a stapled A5 booklet but for 2023 we partnered with Wellington Zinefest and got more creative. Zinefest got funding and we created a ring-bound dramati...

Our latest book order has arrived. Apart from a view classics like Franz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth and texts that are relevant to the BLM movement, we also have more from local publishers Bridget Williams Books and Little Island Press . Here are a few titles.     

Our latest book order has arrived. Apart from a view classics like Franz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth and texts that are relevant to the BLM movement, we also have more from local publishers Bridget Williams Books and Little Island Press . Here are a few titles.     

Why Reject the Treaty When the lockdown is lifted, do you want the focus to be on building roads or would it be better to start building homes? Build a quality healthcare system? Abolish prisons? Kick capitalism into the gutter? The Shop is shut but here are some zines to help you plot and plan your way through the lockdown and envisage the communities that can come after the lockdown. The Myth of Passivity by Toby Boraman Prison Abolition Annette Sykes 2010 Bruce Memorial Lecture Anarchy by Sam Buchanan Are We All NZers Now by Ani Mikaere

Why Reject the Treaty When the lockdown is lifted, do you want the focus to be on building roads or would it be better to start building homes? Build a quality healthcare system? Abolish prisons? Kick capitalism into the gutter? The Shop is shut but here are some zines to help you plot and plan your way through the lockdown and envisage the communities that can come after the lockdown. The Myth of Passivity by Toby Boraman Prison Abolition Annette Sykes 2010 Bruce Memorial Lecture Anarchy by Sam Buchanan Are We All NZers Now by Ani Mikaere

APEC 2021 is coming with the first official meetings beginning in December 2020 in Wellington. But in the lead-up to that there's the APEC 2021 Bill going through parliament with submissions due 12 th February. This law is being passed to allow extreme security and surveillance from 1 July 2020 until 21 November 2021. Many local groups are calling for submissions to oppose the Bill, Auckland Peace Action has information on how do a submission. APEC's goal is global free market and trade liberalisation. It emerged in 1989 in the Asia-Pacific region after major trade blocks were established in Europe and North America. During the APEC 1999 summit in Auckland it was described as ' white knights of colonisation '. APEC's aim is profit at the expense of people and the environment.     APEC’s agenda worsens poverty and climate change     APEC’s agenda enables massive corporate sell-offs of land and resources     APEC increases the ease with whic...

APEC 2021 is coming with the first official meetings beginning in December 2020 in Wellington. But in the lead-up to that there's the APEC 2021 Bill going through parliament with submissions due 12 th February. This law is being passed to allow extreme security and surveillance from 1 July 2020 until 21 November 2021. Many local groups are calling for submissions to oppose the Bill, Auckland Peace Action has information on how do a submission. APEC's goal is global free market and trade liberalisation. It emerged in 1989 in the Asia-Pacific region after major trade blocks were established in Europe and North America. During the APEC 1999 summit in Auckland it was described as ' white knights of colonisation '. APEC's aim is profit at the expense of people and the environment.     APEC’s agenda worsens poverty and climate change     APEC’s agenda enables massive corporate sell-offs of land and resources     APEC increases the ease with whic...

It's that time of the year - the time to get your diary for 2020! And what could be better than having an organizer that lists you all the important dates for Aotearoa, produced right here by the Freedom Shop? Plan B 2020 is even bigger, brighter and better than the 2019 edition, and still only $10.  For those who are hooked on the traditional Slingshot diaries - they are on their way and will be here by the end of the month.

It's that time of the year - the time to get your diary for 2020! And what could be better than having an organizer that lists you all the important dates for Aotearoa, produced right here by the Freedom Shop? Plan B 2020 is even bigger, brighter and better than the 2019 edition, and still only $10.  For those who are hooked on the traditional Slingshot diaries - they are on their way and will be here by the end of the month.

Number 10 - the (very late) latest edition of AARGH (the Aotearoa Anarchist Review) is now available as a PDF online version here and imposed version here .  We began to produce this AARGH at the end of last year - the focus was the rise of the far right. We were waiting for a few more articles but then the attack in Christchurch happened, so over that weekend we wrote 'This is NZ', added a recipe, and then published. Please download and read.

Number 10 - the (very late) latest edition of AARGH (the Aotearoa Anarchist Review) is now available as a PDF online version here and imposed version here .  We began to produce this AARGH at the end of last year - the focus was the rise of the far right. We were waiting for a few more articles but then the attack in Christchurch happened, so over that weekend we wrote 'This is NZ', added a recipe, and then published. Please download and read.

A fundraising celebration of radical and independent publishing in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond! AK Press is a worker-run, collectively managed anarchist publishing and distribution company, in operation since 1990. On March 21st of this year, a fire in a building behind AK’s caught fire and the fire spread to AK’s warehouse. Two people living in the building died in the fire, much of AK’s inventory was damaged by water and smoke, and the city has deemed their building uninhabitable. While they have suffered a major blow they are carrying on and continue to publish and distribute anarchist and radical literature around the world, including to Aotearoa New Zealand. But they need all the help they can get and all money raised at this event will go directly to their fire relief fund. More information about AK Press and the fire can be found at http://www.akpress.org/ fire-relief.html Also a RadioNZ interview with Pip Adams promoting the AK Benefit. Confirmed so far: Jared...

A fundraising celebration of radical and independent publishing in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond! AK Press is a worker-run, collectively managed anarchist publishing and distribution company, in operation since 1990. On March 21st of this year, a fire in a building behind AK’s caught fire and the fire spread to AK’s warehouse. Two people living in the building died in the fire, much of AK’s inventory was damaged by water and smoke, and the city has deemed their building uninhabitable. While they have suffered a major blow they are carrying on and continue to publish and distribute anarchist and radical literature around the world, including to Aotearoa New Zealand. But they need all the help they can get and all money raised at this event will go directly to their fire relief fund. More information about AK Press and the fire can be found at http://www.akpress.org/ fire-relief.html Also a RadioNZ interview with Pip Adams promoting the AK Benefit. Confirmed so far: ...

Prisons - a serious crime This country has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world & that statistic doesn't include those serving a non­-prison sentence or waiting for a court appearance. As of 1 st Dec 2014 there were 8,641 people in NZ's prison. That's more than the towns of Foxton, Featherston and Martinborough combined. Of those people in prison, more than half are M āori & a quarter aged under 25. On top of all that, 70% of people imprisoned get another conviction within five years; the justice industry is a revolving system.   We are inviting speakers who have been involved with the prison system to give a short presentation on this theme, followed by general discussion for all. Come along and join in.   When: 7pm, Thursday, 1st October 2015 Where: 17 Tory Street, Wellington (formerly 19 Tory St)   What: Prisons - ­ a serious crime

Prisons - a serious crime This country has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world & that statistic doesn't include those serving a non­-prison sentence or waiting for a court appearance. As of 1 st Dec 2014 there were 8,641 people in NZ's prison. That's more than the towns of Foxton, Featherston and Martinborough combined. Of those people in prison, more than half are M āori & a quarter aged under 25. On top of all that, 70% of people imprisoned get another conviction within five years; the justice industry is a revolving system.   We are inviting speakers who have been involved with the prison system to give a short presentation on this theme, followed by general discussion for all. Come along and join in.   When: 7pm, Thursday, 1st October 2015 Where: 17 Tory Street, Wellington (formerly 19 Tory St)   What: Prisons - ­ a serious crime

The fourth edition of the Aotearoa Anarchist Review, titled ‘WAR’ can be downloaded here . It contains a bunch of articles, poems and a cartoon on, surprise, various wars - past, present and future - as well as advice on how to stay sane in a capitalist world, a piece on surveillance overload and other stuff. If you would like a printed copy, send us an email.