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Category Archives: education

Notes on the life of my brother: Andrew Robb, 1955-2022

May 24, 2022by James Robb 20 Comments

When we were very young, my mother was in the habit of dressing my brother and me in identical clothes, which often led people to ask us if we were […]

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education, Maori struggle, New Zealand history, working class history

How not to conduct a scientific debate: Royal Society, university split over matauranga Maori and science

April 19, 2022by James Robb 1 Comment

A long-running and tetchy argument over science education in New Zealand has polarised academics at Auckland University and shattered one of the central institutions of science, the Royal Society. International […]

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academic freedom, capitalist economy, education, evolution, Maori struggle, materialism, science, working class

How, why and when capitalism was restored in China

November 28, 2021by James Robb 3 Comments

Part 8 of China in the age of American decrepitude The overthrow of capitalism in China in the early 1950s took place under very unfavourable circumstances. From nearby Korea, US […]

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Bonapartism, China, Chinese revolution, communism, Cultural Revolution, education, frame-ups, Indonesia, Maoism, religion, Soviet Union, Stalinism, witch-hunts, working class

Is Science a social construct? – a response to Richard Dawkins

March 25, 2021by James Robb 1 Comment

With characteristic certainty and self-assurance, Professor Richard Dawkins recently tweeted his irritation with those who describe science as a social construct. “Science is not a social construct. Science’s truths were […]

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conspiracy theories, education, materialism, pandemic, petty-bourgeoisie, professions, racism, science, working class

If this is how you propose to defend free speech, then freedom of speech is in grave danger

September 29, 2019by James Robb 12 Comments

An open letter to Jan Thomas, Vice-chancellor of Massey University. Massey University in Wellington is the venue for an event on 13 November called Feminism 2020, organised by Speak Up […]

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censorship, democratic rights, education, freedom of speech, identity politics, violence against women, women's equality

Teachers in New Zealand take a step towards West Virginia, and ponder their next move

June 4, 2019by James Robb 3 Comments

A nationwide one-day strike by 50,000 teachers in both the primary and secondary sectors took place in New Zealand on 29 May. It was the first time in the history […]

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class struggle, education, Labour Party, professions, solidarity, strikes, unions, United States, working class

Young Harry Holland: the soapbox preacher

March 19, 2018by James Robb 2 Comments

Harry Holland and the early labour movement in Australia and New Zealand – Part 2. (For Part 1 click here). Little detail is known of Harry Holland’s childhood. Despite being […]

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Australia history, education, fiction, Harry Holland, morality, religion, working class history

What is a social revolution and how does it come about?

February 20, 2018by James Robb 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch Maestra, a short documentary about the 1961 mass mobilisation to eradicate illiteracy in the early years of the Cuban revolution.1 […]

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class struggle, Cuban revolution, education, movies, prostitution, revolution, sexual harassment, sexual violence, women's equality, working class, working class history

Balkans 1996

April 20, 2014by James Robb 1 Comment

I often have reason to complain about Facebook, but sometimes it ‘works’ so well, the way nothing in the past ever did, and I am grateful for it. A short […]

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Albania, Bosnia, capitalist state, class struggle, education, imperialist war, national self-determination, revolution, solidarity, Stalinism, working class, Yugoslavia

National myth-making – and a new antidote  

April 10, 2014by James Robb 7 Comments

April is the month when national myth-making goes into high gear in Australia and New Zealand. It was on 25 April 1915 that a combined Australian–New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) […]

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anti-Semitism, Australia history, capitalist state, class struggle, education, imperialist war, Ireland history, Maori struggle, New Zealand history, Russian revolution, unions, working class history

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