Tom Peters

Writer for the World Socialist Web Site,

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Transdev wants to cut 53 jobs from the Wellington rail network to slash costs and boost profits. #nzpol https://t.co/t6HRF3SGEn

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

New Zealand Green Party candidate Josh Jacobsen fought in SAS during Afghanistan war. He speaks proudly about his time in the military and defends this criminal war.
The Greens are a pro-imperialist party. #nzpol https://t.co/PaFqtaSeAZ

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

The horrific experience of Everlee Wihongi, who was kidnapped by ICE, underscores that nobody is exempt from the sweeping attacks on basic democratic rights by the Trump administration. #nzpol #ICEOUT https://t.co/DlaHFkv9p6

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Ministry of Social Development staff are being incentivised to prevent people in desperate circumstances from accessing emergency housing. https://t.co/dCtK5s7no1

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

The NZ Herald exploited the death of a young man in Ukraine to whitewash the fascist Azov Brigade and encourage others to fight and die in this imperialist proxy war. #nzpol https://t.co/wnlpB1l2O0

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

The New Zealand Green Party’s extremely mild proposal to tax the super-rich is aimed at promoting illusions that it can “pressure” the Labour Party to adopt more progressive policies. #nzpol

https://t.co/lQ0VRImXeY

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

"He Told Us" is a scathing critique of the 2020 Royal Commission of Inquiry, which declared that fascist terrorist Brenton Tarrant acted alone and that his mass murder of 51 people could not have been prevented. #nzpol https://t.co/BkboveMAIu

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Transdev, backed by the RMTU, has banned workers from speaking publicly about the June 6 train crash in Wellington, in which six people were injured. #nzpol https://t.co/WhJZx6WhQ0

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

UN Commission report finds Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, deliberately targeting children
https://t.co/kHNyNtb7lU

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Christopher Harder, a former criminal lawyer, has called for police to investigate the unlawful 2013 deal to drop charges against Pike River Coal's chief executive Peter Whittall. https://t.co/WAcIPciN9H

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

The Opportunity Party’s claim to be neither left- nor right-wing is a fraud. Backed by prominent capitalists, it aims to protect the wealth of the super-rich while maintaining New Zealand’s imperialist alliance with the US. #nzpol https://t.co/NwlAMIWc2g

[Tom Peters @TomP3t3rs]

The media is relentlessly promoting pro-monarchist Iranians who are hailing the US and Israel's murderous bombing of Iran.
Bahram, an Iranian in New Zealand, is speaking out against this pro-war propaganda and intimidation.
#NoWarWithIran #nzpol https://t.co/AKn5qIR6ow

[World Socialist Web Site @WSWS_Updates]

Stop the war against Iran https://t.co/UlmDf9PvKS

[Tom Peters @TomP3t3rs]

The PSA has pushed through a wage-cutting agreement for 12,300 allied health workers. This is fraudulently presented as a victory by the union bureaucracy. In fact it is an escalation of the govt's brutal austerity. #nzpol https://t.co/Xn0Ph5QjNL

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

David Farrar's proposal for NZ to join Australia reflects ruling elites' concerns that NZ may be sidelined by US and other imperialist powers in the violent redivision of the world.
Workers must counter with their own socialist anti-war program. #nzpol https://t.co/tzEcNd1079

[World Socialist Web Site @WSWS_Updates]

Stop ICE murders and repression! Build a rank-and-file movement for a general strike! https://t.co/fbQX4Plmyk

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Government promises of a transparent, impartial inquiry into the Mount Maunganui landslide should not be trusted, Bernie Monk, whose son died in Pike River mine, warns the victims' families. #nzpol https://t.co/OF8pSSEMl7

[Tom Peters @TomP3t3rs]

As an antidote to Varoufakis's self-glorification, I recommend this article by Chris Marsden, written shortly after Varoufakis' resignation. As finance minister, he played a crucial role in organising the betrayal of the Greek working class. https://t.co/Li6nUqQ2qe

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

On a personal note

Ten and a half years ago, as I was resigning Greece’s finance ministry, I knew I would be on the receiving end of slings and arrows sent my way by an irate European and Greek establishment. The reason? I was the only finance minister who dared say an unequivocal ‘no’ to yet another toxic eurozone bailout. Anticipating the vilification that was about to be unleashed against me, I wrote the following in my resignation letter: “I shall wear their hatred on my lapel as a badge of honour”. I have been doing so ever since.

My incessant character assassination, by the mainstream Greek media, was expected – after all, to their oligarch owners, I was an unpleasant reminder of that brief moment in 2015 when they panicked, feeling they had lost their control over the demos. There was, however, something else, something far more pernicious, that I had not anticipated: the manner in which my comprehensive demonisation by the mainstream media and politicians turned me into fair game for all comers.

As the abuse and the vilification aimed at me proliferated, suddenly, surreptitiously, subliminally, the impression was given to almost everyone that it is OK to take shots at me. To lie through the nose about me, without any fear of being exposed as liars. To treat me disrespectfully in my presence, without worrying that they would look uncouth. To attack me physically in public spaces, convinced that they would get away with it as the state could be counted upon not to lift its little finger to protect me.

And the worst? This licence to abuse me, which was initially granted by the establishment, was subconsciously welcomed by people on the left, on society’s fringes even. Former comrades from our days in government, the authoritarian Greek communist party, good people belonging to the extra-parliamentary left, even people who appreciated me – they all felt, deep down, that I could be attacked, insulted, mistreated with impunity. And many did take advantage.

Ten years later, after yet another scandalous incident earlier this evening on a Greek television channel, I felt the need to put down this experience, to commit it to the written record.

Thank you for reading.

Yanis Varoufakis

[Paul Sherman @Paul_wsws]

Asked Socialism AI What is fictitious capital. Received this very good response.

[Socialist Equality Group NZ @SEGNewZealand]

Today the International Committee of the Fourth International inaugurates Socialism AI, a transformative application of advanced technological development to the political education and mobilization of the international working class.
#SocialismAI https://t.co/PcsKjJXtho