Counterfutures
Journal
See below for contents and links to articles where available. All content published in the print issues of Counterfutures will be made available online over time. Please check regularly for new online content.
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- Beginning with an editorial from Jack Foster and Sue Bradford on expectations for Ardern's Labour for the next three years, issue 10 has articles on community organising, militarism and the historian Dick Scott, an interview with Roland Boer on Christianity and the Left, interventions from Auckland and the wider Pacific, responses to the pandemic, and reviews.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- Hard to Centre, Jack Foster and Sue Bradford
After a landslide victory for Labour in the 2020 general election, what can we expect from the second Ardern administration?
- Hard to Centre, Jack Foster and Sue Bradford
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- Community Organising, Mohan Dutta and Sue Bradford
Two veterans of community organising discuss their work co-constructing voice infrastructures at the margins. A critical interrogation of the tensions that emerge in the relationships between communities, activists, and academics, and lessons in the role of community organising in building socialist futures.
- Keywords: Militarism, Emalani Case
A treatment of militarism in the Pacific, tracing its interconnections with the structures of settler colonialism and white supremacy. Against the steady advance of US-led imperialism, Indigenous temporalities are positioned as the keystone of demilitarised futures.
- The Weapon behind the Woodpile, Mark Derby
A retrospective on the life and work of the late historian Dick Scott, author of the ground-breaking Ask that Mountain: The Story of Parihaka. Instinctive outsider and refuter of the high-polite style, a historian who relentlessly unearthed well-buried episodes from Aotearoa New Zealand’s past.
- Community Organising, Mohan Dutta and Sue Bradford
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- The Christian Question, Roland Boer
An interview with distinguished professor Roland Boer on his five-volume epic On Marxism and Theology. In a wide-ranging discussion, Boer illuminates the myriad connections between Marxism and Christianity and considers the contemporary struggle over the Christian legacy.
- The Christian Question, Roland Boer
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- Auckland's Inner-City Monuments, Murray Edmond
A fast-paced dérive through Auckland’s inner-city monuments. What messages do the monuments of Aotearoa New Zealand’s metropolis send out, and how can the frequency of these transmissions be altered?
- Towards a Left Secretariat for the Pacific, Tim Bryar
Prey to global warming, geopolitical competition, and class divisions, the Pacific Islands region is united by a shared experience of economic dependency and vulnerability. What might a Left secretariat in the Pacific offer?
- Auckland's Inner-City Monuments, Murray Edmond
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- Welcome Home, Prodigy, Murdoch Stephens
In light of a great repatriation, what emotional states might be provoked by returning New Zealanders? Written during lockdown, Murdoch Stephens looks to the history of the ‘coming home’ essay and song for clues as to how returnees could be productively drawn back into the collective.
- The Team of
FiveSix Million, Richard B. KeysChantal Mouffe’s reading of ‘Schmitt against Schmitt’ is employed to discuss the politics of the returnee. In an era punctuated by global crises, what does the figure of the returnee tell us about citizenship, sovereignty, and globalisation?
- Welcome Home, Prodigy, Murdoch Stephens
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- Imagining Beyond Decolonisation, Simon Barber
Review of Bianca Elkington et al, Imagining Decolonisation. An ‘ethic of restoration’ as a third way between Fanonian rupture and the exclusionary performativity of Pākehā overtures to decolonialisation.
- Making Socialism within Capitalism, David Neilson
Review of Jonathan Boston, Transforming the Welfare State. Techno-welfarism as a solution to Aotearoa New Zealand’s decaying social security system.
- Faustian Politics, Colin Barton
Review of David Renton, The New Authoritarians. With the intellectual exhaustion of conservatism and the mainstreaming of far-right ideologies, how should the Left respond?
- Imagining Beyond Decolonisation, Simon Barber
- Beginning with an editorial from Jack Foster and Sue Bradford on expectations for Ardern's Labour for the next three years, issue 10 has articles on community organising, militarism and the historian Dick Scott, an interview with Roland Boer on Christianity and the Left, interventions from Auckland and the wider Pacific, responses to the pandemic, and reviews.
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- Issue nine is a special issue on the question of housing in Aotearoa New Zealand. We draw together a range of views on the housing crisis, including decolonising and community engagement perspectives, a call for universal state housing, and investigations of the cooperative housing movement. Also included here are three online only responses to the Covid-19 crisis.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- The Right to Housing, Dylan Taylor, Sue Bradford and Jack Foster
An introduction to this special issue of Counterfutures.
- The Right to Housing, Dylan Taylor, Sue Bradford and Jack Foster
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- A Case for Universal State Housing, Vanessa Cole
Universal state housing as a practical solution to Aotearoa New Zealand’s trenchant housing crisis. Affordable, secure, and decommodified housing for all.
- Re-socialising Aotearoa New Zealand Housing, Mark Southcombe
A vision for a 21st-century cooperative-housing model for Aotearoa New Zealand. Cooperative housing as a third way between ownership and renting.
- Engaging Communities in the Design of Homes and Neighbourhoods, Rebecca Kiddle
Reflections on best practice for community engagement in urban-redevelopment projects. Empowering communities through effective, meaningful, and culturally relevant engagement processes.
- A Case for Universal State Housing, Vanessa Cole
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- Dispossession and Gentrification in the Porirua Redevelopment, Jasmine Taankink & Hugo Robinson
An account of the Porirua regeneration project from Housing Action Porirua. Community resistance to state-led gentrification.
- Dispossession and Gentrification in the Porirua Redevelopment, Jasmine Taankink & Hugo Robinson
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- Spatial Justice — Decolonising Our Cities and Settlements, Jade Kake
An argument for urban-planning reform and spatial justice. Implementing the kāinga model as practical decolonisation.
- Driving Through the East, Elyjana Roach
Reflections on effective community-engagement practices in Porirua. To provide suitable housing and neighbourhoods for Pasifika, architects and urban planners must expand their cultural kete.
- Spatial Justice — Decolonising Our Cities and Settlements, Jade Kake
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- Envisioning Regenerative Communities, Camia Young & Thomas Nash
Interviewed by Dylan Taylor, Camia Young and Thomas Nash imagine a new era of regenerative urban design.
- Envisioning Regenerative Communities, Camia Young & Thomas Nash
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- Setting the Scenes of Early Pākehā, Peter Howland
Review of Ian Smith, Pākehā Settlements in a Māori World. The archaeology of early colonial settlements in Aotearoa told in five phases.
- A Global Fix, Jack Foster
Review of Raquel Rolnik, Urban Warfare. A global panorama of housing policy in the era of footloose financial capital.
- The Path Home, Damian Sligo-Green
Review of Samuel Stein, Capital City. A critical account of the age of real-estate capital and the transformation of the city.
- Setting the Scenes of Early Pākehā, Peter Howland
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- Essential Services, Tim Corballis
Tim Corballis on what optimisms are possible at the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated state responses. Can it lead us to lastingly question what is essential?
- Wrong Way Round, Warwick Tie
Warwick Tie reflects on his face mask, and his reluctance to wear it.
- Essential Services, Tim Corballis
- Issue nine is a special issue on the question of housing in Aotearoa New Zealand. We draw together a range of views on the housing crisis, including decolonising and community engagement perspectives, a call for universal state housing, and investigations of the cooperative housing movement. Also included here are three online only responses to the Covid-19 crisis.
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- Issue eight of Counterfutures has articles on Māori socialism and Marxism, femininity, and the dairy industry in Aotearoa, as well as an intervention from Murdoch Stephens on the politics of emotional states, an interview with Catherine Healy on the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, and a range of reviews. Click below for details.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- Primitive Accumulation and the New Zealand Dairy Industry, 1814-2018, Matthew Wynyard
A history of primitive accumulation and the New Zealand dairy industry. The fifth National government and the enclosure and degradation of freshwater commons as the latest chapter in this long history.
- Māori Marx, Simon Barber
Mining the late work of Marx for its intersections with te ao Māori. Whakapapa as a central concept in the development of a Māori Marx.
- A Socialist Compass for Aotearoa, Danielle Webb
Extending Erik Olin Wright’s socialist compass to make a case for Māori socialism — a socialist economy in which tino rangatiratanga is formative.
- Feminine Praxis, Ciara Cremin
Lacan, Deleuze and Guattari, and the role of femininity in the class struggle. Everyday sartorial interventions as a tactical reification of femininity.
- Primitive Accumulation and the New Zealand Dairy Industry, 1814-2018, Matthew Wynyard
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- Pity, Hate, Resentment, Murdoch Stephens
How might emotional states be transposed to the political sphere? A psycho-political investigation of hate and its value for Left politics.
- Pity, Hate, Resentment, Murdoch Stephens
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- Catherine Healey, Sex Workers' Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand
Denise Blake and Amanda Thomas interview Dame Catherine Healy about the history of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective.
- Catherine Healey, Sex Workers' Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand
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- Can Deliberative Democracy Put and End to Neoliberalism in Settler-Colonial States? David Parker reviews Max Rashbrooke, Government for the Public Good
Deliberative democracy as a cure for the ills of neoliberalism in a settler-colonial state?
Max Rashbrooke responds to David Parker's review here. - Age of the Void, Chamsy el-Ojeili reviews Marco Revelli, The New Populism
A detailed account of the erosion of the liberal centre and the spread of populism across the United States, United Kingdom, and continental Europe.
- Imagining the Feminist Revolution, Carol Harrington reviews Victoria Margree, Neglected or Misunderstood: The Radical Feminism of Shulamith Firestone
A case for the enduring relevance of Shulamith Firestone.
- Censorship and Surveillance in the First World War, Ross Webb reviews Jared Davidson, Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand, 1914-1920
A history of state censorship, the New Zealand home front, and undelivered mail during the Great War.
- Can Deliberative Democracy Put and End to Neoliberalism in Settler-Colonial States? David Parker reviews Max Rashbrooke, Government for the Public Good
- Issue eight of Counterfutures has articles on Māori socialism and Marxism, femininity, and the dairy industry in Aotearoa, as well as an intervention from Murdoch Stephens on the politics of emotional states, an interview with Catherine Healy on the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, and a range of reviews. Click below for details.
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- In issue 7 of Counterfutures, members of our editorial community consider some of the wider questions the Left must face in the wake of the white supremacist terrorist attacks
on 15 March, which killed 51 people and injured 49 others at the Al-Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch. We also have an interview of veteran anarchist
Valerie Morse on the history, challenges and priorities of activist organising in Aotearoa; articles by Catherine Cumming on finance and Dylan Taylor on riots and strikes; and
reviews of books on neoliberalism, revolutionary metaphysics and the Industrial Workers of the World.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store.
- In issue 7 of Counterfutures, members of our editorial community consider some of the wider questions the Left must face in the wake of the white supremacist terrorist attacks
on 15 March, which killed 51 people and injured 49 others at the Al-Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch. We also have an interview of veteran anarchist
Valerie Morse on the history, challenges and priorities of activist organising in Aotearoa; articles by Catherine Cumming on finance and Dylan Taylor on riots and strikes; and
reviews of books on neoliberalism, revolutionary metaphysics and the Industrial Workers of the World.
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- In issue 6 of Counterfutures, Sue Bradford writes about the history and prospects for a universal basic income in Aotearoa;
Toby Boraman discusses the legacy of the 1968 protests in Aotearoa and internationally; and Campbell Jones analyses the practices of rent, profit and
interest in creating a finance-oriented world. We also launch our Keywords series on central contemporary issues, with Chamsy el-Ojeili’s piece on
Post-Fascism, and feature two interventions: Ti Lamusse on organising for grassroots activism; and Tim McCreanor, Frances Hancock and Nicola Short on
Save Our Unique Landscape’s campaign against Fletcher Building’s developments at Ihumaato. Finally, Dylan Taylor interviews social movement activist
and academic Laurence Cox, and Ozan Alakavuklar reviews Michael Hardt and Antionia Negri’s latest book.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store.
- In issue 6 of Counterfutures, Sue Bradford writes about the history and prospects for a universal basic income in Aotearoa;
Toby Boraman discusses the legacy of the 1968 protests in Aotearoa and internationally; and Campbell Jones analyses the practices of rent, profit and
interest in creating a finance-oriented world. We also launch our Keywords series on central contemporary issues, with Chamsy el-Ojeili’s piece on
Post-Fascism, and feature two interventions: Ti Lamusse on organising for grassroots activism; and Tim McCreanor, Frances Hancock and Nicola Short on
Save Our Unique Landscape’s campaign against Fletcher Building’s developments at Ihumaato. Finally, Dylan Taylor interviews social movement activist
and academic Laurence Cox, and Ozan Alakavuklar reviews Michael Hardt and Antionia Negri’s latest book.
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- In issue 5 of Counterfutures, we present a series of articles on the relationship between art and politics. Cassandra Barnett on how art
can navigate between Left and Indigenous identities; Amy Howden-Chapman interviewing Huhana Smith on responses to climate change from a
Māori perspective; Fiona Jack on the underrepresentation of women in the art world; and Matariki Williams on the need for more critical writing on
Māori art. We also have an interview with the Mata Aho art collective, and zine pages from Bryce Galloway. In other articles, Jonathan Oosterman
examines approaches to communicating for systemic change, and Georgia Lockie presents an argument to decolonise constitutionalism. Jenny Ombler and
Sarah Donovan, in a web-only publication, discuss the radical potential of transdisciplinarity in artistic responses to public health issues. See also book
reviews of new books by Steve Matthewman and Prue Hyman.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store.
- In issue 5 of Counterfutures, we present a series of articles on the relationship between art and politics. Cassandra Barnett on how art
can navigate between Left and Indigenous identities; Amy Howden-Chapman interviewing Huhana Smith on responses to climate change from a
Māori perspective; Fiona Jack on the underrepresentation of women in the art world; and Matariki Williams on the need for more critical writing on
Māori art. We also have an interview with the Mata Aho art collective, and zine pages from Bryce Galloway. In other articles, Jonathan Oosterman
examines approaches to communicating for systemic change, and Georgia Lockie presents an argument to decolonise constitutionalism. Jenny Ombler and
Sarah Donovan, in a web-only publication, discuss the radical potential of transdisciplinarity in artistic responses to public health issues. See also book
reviews of new books by Steve Matthewman and Prue Hyman.
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- This issue of Counterfutures aims to capture and continue the conversations had at the Social Movements 2016 conference, focusing on the tensions and intersections
between activism and academia. We open with an interview with Moana Jackson on influential figures and connections throughout his career. Articles from Marcelle Dawson,
Shannon Walsh, Gretchen Good et. al. and Campbell Jones address student struggle, the equality of intelligence, the labour of mothering disabled children and the
place of work in poltical action. We also have interventions from Gradon Diprose et. al., Murdoch Stephens (with an ONLINE ONLY reply from Lorena Gibson and Rachel Fabish) and Sian Torrington, and book reviews / author interviews from Leon Salter,
David Parker and Denise Blake. Social Movements 2016 Conference Proceedings are also available here, online only.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- Student activism against the neocolonial, neoliberal university: exploring a sociology of absences, emergences, and hidden fires, Marcelle C. Dawson
- What divides? The ‘academic-activist divide’ and the equality of intelligence, Shannon Walsh
- Social-model mothers: Disability, advocacy, and activism, Gretchen A. Good, Awhina Hollis-English, Ally Attwell, Anna Dickson, Anita Gibbs, Janice Gordon, and Joanna M. T. Taylor
- The value of work and the future of the Left, Campbell Jones
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- Community economies: Responding to questions of scale, agency, and Indigenous connections in Aotearoa New Zealand, Gradon Diprose, Kelly Dombroski, Stephen Healy, and Joanne Waitoa
- Pākehā as punisher—dominated conversations on dominant cultures, Murdoch Stephens
- Moving toward collective responsibility: Beyond Pākehā as punisher, Lorena Gibson and Rachel Fabish
- We don’t have to be the building, Siân Torrington
- This issue of Counterfutures aims to capture and continue the conversations had at the Social Movements 2016 conference, focusing on the tensions and intersections
between activism and academia. We open with an interview with Moana Jackson on influential figures and connections throughout his career. Articles from Marcelle Dawson,
Shannon Walsh, Gretchen Good et. al. and Campbell Jones address student struggle, the equality of intelligence, the labour of mothering disabled children and the
place of work in poltical action. We also have interventions from Gradon Diprose et. al., Murdoch Stephens (with an ONLINE ONLY reply from Lorena Gibson and Rachel Fabish) and Sian Torrington, and book reviews / author interviews from Leon Salter,
David Parker and Denise Blake. Social Movements 2016 Conference Proceedings are also available here, online only.
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- Issue three is our special issue on incarceration in Aotearoa, with articles from Warwick Tie, Mark Derby, Ian Anderson, Tracey McIntosh and Stan Coster,
and John W. Buttle addressing the issue from historical, radical and indigenous perspectives. We also have an interview with No Pride in Prisons on prison
abolition, and interventions from Pip Adam on teaching in prisons and Ronald Kramer on criminologist Greg Newbold. Also printed here are the responses to the
Trump election in the United States, published initially on our website in early 2106, and book reviews by Peter Howland and Naoise McDonagh.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- Feculent Hovel: Auckland’s first gaol 1841–1865, Mark Derby and Warwick Tie
- ‘Left Backs Working Prisons’: Cross-partisan production of criminal ‘nonpublics’, Ian Anderson
- Indigenous Insider Knowledge and Prison Identity, Tracey McIntosh and Stan Coster
- Imagining an Aotearoa/New Zealand Without Prisons, John W. Buttle
- Issue three is our special issue on incarceration in Aotearoa, with articles from Warwick Tie, Mark Derby, Ian Anderson, Tracey McIntosh and Stan Coster,
and John W. Buttle addressing the issue from historical, radical and indigenous perspectives. We also have an interview with No Pride in Prisons on prison
abolition, and interventions from Pip Adam on teaching in prisons and Ronald Kramer on criminologist Greg Newbold. Also printed here are the responses to the
Trump election in the United States, published initially on our website in early 2106, and book reviews by Peter Howland and Naoise McDonagh.
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- Anna Fielder on the historical tensions between Marxism and feminism; Brodie Fraser on equality for members of the LGBTQI+ community after
the Marriage Amendment Act; Keith Tudor on the recent flag debate (or lack thereof); Cindy Zeiher and Josiah Banbury on the rise
and demise of the Mana-Internet alliance; Warwick Tie on John Key's wide popular appeal. Sue Bradford interviews young Te Whanganui-a-Tara
activist Kassie Hartendorp on her work with young people in the LGBTQI+, Māori and Pasifika communities. Two
‘interventions’ from members of the Counterfutures editorial board also appear in this issue: Sean Phelan on the possible merger of the
Australian-owned media companies APN and Fairfax in the Aotearoa market; Tim Corballis on what is at stake – subjectively, collectively
– in seeking to think beyond capital. Recent books reviewed by David Parker, Dougal McNeill and (special online content only) Leon Salter.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information.
To purchase copies, see our web store. -
- Paul Mason, Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future, reviewed by David Parker
- Jennifer Lawn, Neoliberalism and Cultural Transition in New Zealand Literature: Market Fictions, reviewed by Dougal McNeill
- Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, reviewed by Leon Salter ONLINE ONLY
- Anna Fielder on the historical tensions between Marxism and feminism; Brodie Fraser on equality for members of the LGBTQI+ community after
the Marriage Amendment Act; Keith Tudor on the recent flag debate (or lack thereof); Cindy Zeiher and Josiah Banbury on the rise
and demise of the Mana-Internet alliance; Warwick Tie on John Key's wide popular appeal. Sue Bradford interviews young Te Whanganui-a-Tara
activist Kassie Hartendorp on her work with young people in the LGBTQI+, Māori and Pasifika communities. Two
‘interventions’ from members of the Counterfutures editorial board also appear in this issue: Sean Phelan on the possible merger of the
Australian-owned media companies APN and Fairfax in the Aotearoa market; Tim Corballis on what is at stake – subjectively, collectively
– in seeking to think beyond capital. Recent books reviewed by David Parker, Dougal McNeill and (special online content only) Leon Salter.
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- ‘Rediscovering Utopia' by Dougal McNeill, whose call to formulate utopian demands echoes our title. A strong history of independent Left publication
predates the arrival of Counterfutures, as shown in Toby Boraman’s ‘The Independent Left Press’. Patrick Ongley’s ‘Class in New Zealand’ draws
attention to class dynamics in Aotearoa and asks where they may lead. Building upon themes found with from Ongley’s article, Sam Oldham’s
‘Intersections, Old and New’ explores how union organisations intersect with the cooperative movement and asks how such
connections may lead toward deep economic change and offer solutions to the climate crisis. Connections: past, present, possible futures. Where
we’ve been, where we are now, where we might go together.
Click here for a PDF of contents, contributors and publication information. - Editorial
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- Rediscovering Utopia, Dougal McNeill
- The Independent Left Press and the Rise and Fall of Mass Dissent in New Zealand since the 1970s, Toby Boraman
- Class in New Zealand: Past, present and future, Patrick Ongley
- Intersections, Old and New: Trade unions, worker cooperatives and the climate crisis, Sam Oldham
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- Shamubeel Eaqub and Selena Eaqub, Generation Rent: Rethinking New Zealand’s Priorities, reviewed by Naoise McDonagh
- Jane Kelsey, The FIRE Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning, reviewed by Grant Duncan
- Chamsy el-Ojeili, Beyond Post-Socialism, reviewed by Colin Cremin
- Derek Wall, Economics after Capitalism: A Guide to the Ruins and a Road to the Future, reviewed by David Parker
- Patrick Bond & Ana Garcia (eds.), BRICS: An Anti-Capitalist Critique, reviewed by Karen Davis
- Colin Cremin, Totalled: Salvaging the Future from the Wreckage of Capitalism, reviewed by Chris McMillan
- ‘Rediscovering Utopia' by Dougal McNeill, whose call to formulate utopian demands echoes our title. A strong history of independent Left publication
predates the arrival of Counterfutures, as shown in Toby Boraman’s ‘The Independent Left Press’. Patrick Ongley’s ‘Class in New Zealand’ draws
attention to class dynamics in Aotearoa and asks where they may lead. Building upon themes found with from Ongley’s article, Sam Oldham’s
‘Intersections, Old and New’ explores how union organisations intersect with the cooperative movement and asks how such
connections may lead toward deep economic change and offer solutions to the climate crisis. Connections: past, present, possible futures. Where
we’ve been, where we are now, where we might go together.