Too many casualties

Since I last wrote .

Roger Fox, a long time left-wing fighter, died the week before last. I knew him, of course I did, the New Zealand left is small. Anything I could write would reveal more about both me and him than I feel comfortable with. So I will just say that he was a dedicated comrade and freedom fighter. He deserves a much fuller tribute than that and I can't even remember when I last saw him. I was in Auckland last year and it goes without saying that he supported those arrested on October 15, but so much of that time is a stress induced blur. Instead I'll direct you to the beautiful posts on Reading the Maps and the post on indymedia. There are also some tributes in the latest issue of Communist Worker.

I was, I am still, shocked and upset by his death. But there were many people who loved him and have suffered a great loss. My love and solidarity goes out to them.

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I wanted to write about Roger Fox last week. But I didn't even have time for a short message like the one above, because there were more arrests.

At this late date anything I write about these new arrests fades into irrelevance. Maybe the police thought that if they arrested small numbers of Maori who lived somewhere in the middle there would be less outrage than if they also arrested Pakeha activists who lived in Wellington and Auckland. So I will state that these arrestees have my unconditional solidarity, as do the 17 arrested on October 15. If you want to read about the protests that have taken place against this latest round of arrests read indymedia.