1927: Driving tests and licences introduced by the Henderson Town Board
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Today in history: 92 Years Ago: Driving tests and licences introduced by the Henderson Town Board (5/2/1927) Car drivers licences had been compulsory since the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, came into force. Licences were issued by the Post Office. West Aucklanders who wished to have a licence must have had to travel into greater Auckland […]
Read more..February 5, 2019
1955: New Zealand Honey Marketing Authority
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
Political corruption over control of produce has a long, long, tradition in New Zealand. We’re a land of milk and honey and both of these are the prize in a never-ending mafia turf war for oligopolistic control. The New Zealand Honey Marketing Authority (HMA,) Established 1955 The HMA ruled honey for 30 years until Roger […]
Read more..February 3, 2019
1966: Decimal Coins
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
These initial designs were pretty damn bad. In January 1966 the crappy designs for the new decimal coins were leaked by the Evening Post. The man in charge, future Prime Minister Robert Muldoon who quipped as a reporter departed,.. “Of course, there are those who would say that it doesn’t matter what’s on the coins so […]
Read more..February 2, 2019
How The People Are Divided and Conquered
By VJM
The ruling classes, faced with the fact that they are outnumbered by thousands to one, have refined an array of techniques to divide the people into groups and set them at each other’s throats. This array covers all of the different aspects of human life, so that individuals are made enemies of each other at […]
Read more..February 1, 2019
Too much politics?
By Gekko
The current phenomenon of absurdly overblown social conflict over the most insignificant of incidents appears to be on the increase, from endless daily stories of micro-aggressions to the non-event of the smirking Covington pupil. One explanation as outlined in this article is that we have ‘too much’ politics in our lives. It makes the case […]
Read more..February 1, 2019
Electoral Consequences of the Rise of a New Blue-Green Party in New Zealand
By VJM
Much recent attention has been given to the possibility that a new blue-green party might arise to contest the 2020 General Election. A man named Vernon Tava has been interviewed outlining his vision for the putative movement, which is said to have some support. In this article, demographer Dan McGlashan, author of Understanding New Zealand, […]
Read more..January 31, 2019
VJMP Reads: Edward Bernays’s Propaganda I
By VJM
Fittingly, the Propaganda Ministry turns its attention to the granddaddy of all propaganda literature, Propaganda by Edward Bernays. This short book was written by Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, by way of explaining his own prodigious insight into the manipulation of mass consciousness in the America of 1928. He opens in the first chapter, […]
Read more..January 30, 2019
1908: Wellington State Monopoly, Chinks Only!
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
For over a century the Chinese have secured a special place in the New Zealand marketplace. In the C19th most, not all, of our Chinamen were peasants grubbing for gold others couldn’t even be bothered re-working to extract. Most of these returned to the Orient and were made very unwelcome by Liberals politicians such as […]
Read more..January 28, 2019
1930s: Whose News?
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
The State has a very long history of controlling the news media in New Zealand. Despite what some say, I don’t think the advent of the internet has caused the propaganda machine to lose its stride. Newspapers were mouthpieces for the state, usually in the pay of one or the other big party. Owners and […]
Read more..January 27, 2019
Government Place Names
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
I don’t cede sovereignty to a State Geographic Board to dictate or compel my speech or what names I may or may not use. I wont beg or plead them for the right to think or name things because then I would recognise myself a victim and they the masters who bestow names and definitions […]
Read more..January 26, 2019
1840: Wellington Anniversary
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
22 January, 1840, Aurora sails into Wellington two weeks before Treaty signed. First party of settlers of the New Zealand Company (Mark II). They had raced around the world seeking to defeat William Hobson and Willoughby Shortland and put down roots in New Zealand first. In other words, to beat the Crown! And they had […]
Read more..January 23, 2019
1960: Arise, Television
By Anarchist History of New Zealand
1 June 1960: New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZ BS, lol!) broadcasts the country’s first regular (non-experimental) TV transmission in Auckland. Wellington and Christchurch would soon follow. I think this is true, that the Lattice of entertainment has been gummed up and stuck together with the Lattice of the Sacred. As a society we require dignified […]
Read more..January 23, 2019
