Some good full-length docos available online about NZ capitalism and class struggle

[RHIZOMES]

New Zealand is a little-known, little-cared-about country in the world. Most peoples idea of NZ, one step beyond the "oh that's where LotR was filmed and where Flight of the Conchords come from" (which is truly the bottom of the barrel), is one of a nice little liberal paradise where race relations are harmonious and it's all nice and classless and fun full of rainbows and chocolate. Hooray!

In reality we suck just as much as every other advanced first-world capitalist country, here are some full-length docos which explain why and show the class struggle that has and continues to go on in our country:

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/some...s-country-1996

Someone Else’s Country looks critically at the radical economic changes implemented by the 1984 Labour Government - where privatisation of state assets was part of a wider agenda that sought to remake New Zealand as a model free market state. The trickle-down ‘Rogernomics’ rhetoric warned of no gain without pain, and here the theory is counterpointed by the social effects (redundant workers, Post Office closures). Made by Alister Barry in 1996 when the effects were raw, the film draws extensively on archive footage and interviews with key “witnesses to history”.

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/in-a...of-plenty-2002

The tagline runs: "The story of unemployment in New Zealand" and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, "as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed".

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/1951-2001

In 1951, New Zealand temporarily became a police state. Civil liberties were curtailed, freedom of speech denied, and the Government used force against its own citizens. This film tells the story of the infamous lockout of waterside workers and the nationwide strike which followed. The film won Best Documentary and John Bates was named Best Director, Documentary, at the 2002 New Zealand Television Awards.

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/patu-1983

Merata Mita’s Patu! is a startling documentary record of the mass civil disobedience that took place throughout New Zealand during the winter of 1981, in protest against a South African rugby tour. It staunchly contradicts claims by author Gordon McLachlan a couple of years earlier that New Zealanders were “a passionless people”.

[Optiow]

I know this is quite late, but I would like to thank you for putting information on this struggle out there.

Not enough people realize that New Zealand was under harsh National rule in 1951 (Waterside) and that unions not only in America were targeted but over here also. The fact we protested so gallantry against the Springbok Tour is also forgotten by other countries as well.

[Yazman]

Thanks for the information. New Zealand is definitely an overlooked country by many and I think deserves its time in our collective spotlight, and posting it here in the fashion you have helps to teach many. I know I have learnt from your post.