PUBLICATIONS FROM REBEL PRESS

by Tina Ngata

This book of critical essays sets out to examine the decision by the New Zealand government to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Captain James Cook and the implications of that decision both for Maori and for the wider global struggle against colonialism. Analysing these thinly veiled celebrations alongside the role of the Doctrine of Discovery while charting Cook’s crime spree of murder, rape and pillage, Ngata urgently calls for a practice ethical remembering that requires unlearning the falsehoods of “exploration” and “discovery” and coming to terms with the horrifying reality of ongoing colonisation.

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by Valerie Morse

In 2001, the United States launched the ‘war on terrorism’ in purported response to the September 11th attacks. With hasty process, the New Zealand government quickly signed up. But what is this war really about? The agenda of ‘the war on terrorism’ is very different to the propoganda we are being sold by politicians and the mass media. It is an agenda of domination and control over our lives and the extension of state and corporate power. This book details the agenda against freedom, from the legislative changes since 9/11 to the suppression of dissent and the media manipulation of public understanding, in order to provide an alternative view of what is happening and what can be done to stop the war.

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Compiled by Catherine Amey for the Animal Protection Society

Aotearoa New Zealand is often promoted as a peaceful land of blue skies, pure streams and rich pastures — a “clean and green” paradise. In reality, our society is based on the sounds, smells and blood of the slaughterhouse. Every year New Zealanders kill over a hundred million animals for food or profit. Over two million battery chickens are crowded into tiny, stinking cages, and thousands of pregnant sows endure boredom and frustration in cramped dark stalls. Animals suffer for our amusement in circuses, zoos, racetracks and rodeos, or are bred and hunted for sport. Hundreds of thousands of animals endure pain in laboratory experiments every year, while many more are trapped, shot, or poisoned because they have been defined as pests. This book explores the myth of New Zealand as a pristine and animal-friendly environment. Designed as a resource for animal advocates, it will be of interest to anyone concerned about animal suffering.

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edited by Valerie Morse

On October 15th, 2007 an estimated 300 police raided houses all over Aotearoa New Zealand and arrested people based on warrants issued under the Terrorism Suppression Act. Lives were turned upside down as the police searched for evidence of ‘terrorism’. This book is a collection of oral history interviews of people affected by those raids and the aftermath: defendants, family, supporters and other people subject to the state’s coercive power on that day. The case is the first ever attempted using the Terrorism Suppression Act, a piece of legislation enacted in reponse to the 9/11 events in New York and Washington DC. The terrorism charges were not brought, but people arrested continue to face a long journey to freedom as the state seeks to punish political activists and to reinforce the status quo.

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by Catherine Amey

Although New Zealand’s economy has long depended on the bodies and infant milk of animals, this country also has a hidden history of vegetarianism. While some early vegetarians were concerned with health, spirituality and purity, others took a broader view, speaking out on issues that included peace, feminism, animal rights, socialism, prison reform and the environment. Yet others set up cafes, organised picnics and wrote cookbooks. The Compassionate Contrarians explores the quirks of the vegetarian experience in the land of meat. More importantly, it acknowledges the hard work and courage of a group of idealists who dedicated their lives to creating a more just world for all sentient beings.

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