Notes South from Nowhere
@notesnowhere.bsky.social
A hub for all my projects, from archives to airwaves. Currently bashing my head against a PhD. Writings on history, politics, and theory in (mostly) Aotearoa.
https://notessouthfromnowhere.com/
https://notessouthfromnowhere.com/
From a Stuff article on tomorrow's strikes in the public sector. The mood of those against industrial action seems to be annoyance more than anything, but the mood for it seems to be orders of magnitude more resolute. #nzpol
October 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
From a Stuff article on tomorrow's strikes in the public sector. The mood of those against industrial action seems to be annoyance more than anything, but the mood for it seems to be orders of magnitude more resolute. #nzpol
So, that new project I've been teasing? I'm pleased to present the Spectre of History Collective! We will be onboarding a few new readers before launching reading sessions in January 2026. Anyone interested in joining or learning more is encouraged to reach out through the email below.
October 17, 2025 at 6:24 AM
So, that new project I've been teasing? I'm pleased to present the Spectre of History Collective! We will be onboarding a few new readers before launching reading sessions in January 2026. Anyone interested in joining or learning more is encouraged to reach out through the email below.
I will also be hosting this in conversation with the rad @rosieoverell.bsky.social at the end of the month! We'll be discussing a wide range of topics orbiting around the core theme of social and political issues raised by/present in the heavy metal subculture.
October 16, 2025 at 12:55 AM
I will also be hosting this in conversation with the rad @rosieoverell.bsky.social at the end of the month! We'll be discussing a wide range of topics orbiting around the core theme of social and political issues raised by/present in the heavy metal subculture.
I will be involved with this & DJing alongside some great local talent. Do come along, as this sale represents one of the last words of the Black Star Books collective which was foundational for me and many others in discovering radically left-wing politics in #Ōtepoti. #dunedin #nzpol
October 16, 2025 at 12:45 AM
This one's largely for @historyiswhat.bsky.social's interest, a 1992 issue of Aotearoa anarchist periodical The State Adversary taking up the cause of the *now* (33 years later) recently released Leonard Peltier. No idea if anything else came of this, but an interesting footnote nonetheless.
October 7, 2025 at 8:48 AM
This one's largely for @historyiswhat.bsky.social's interest, a 1992 issue of Aotearoa anarchist periodical The State Adversary taking up the cause of the *now* (33 years later) recently released Leonard Peltier. No idea if anything else came of this, but an interesting footnote nonetheless.
My only contribution to the current #nzpol discourse is this photo of an anarchist demonstration at Jenny Shipley's house when she was the minister for social welfare in 1992. It even involved light property damage in the form of a torn flag. Last I checked, Jenny Shipley is fine.
October 7, 2025 at 8:38 AM
My only contribution to the current #nzpol discourse is this photo of an anarchist demonstration at Jenny Shipley's house when she was the minister for social welfare in 1992. It even involved light property damage in the form of a torn flag. Last I checked, Jenny Shipley is fine.
Today's reading in the waning sun
September 6, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Today's reading in the waning sun
Rob Muldoon was in a production of the Rocky Horror Show in 1986, and briefly presented the cult late night Sunday Horrors slot on TV2 as Count Robula.
August 20, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Rob Muldoon was in a production of the Rocky Horror Show in 1986, and briefly presented the cult late night Sunday Horrors slot on TV2 as Count Robula.
I need my non-Kiwi people to know how deep the "explorers from (insert) reached Aotearoa before (insert)" rabbithole goes. This book posits that among many others, Phoenician explorers reached Aotearoa 3000 years ago. This guy has published multiple books.
August 14, 2025 at 2:20 AM
I need my non-Kiwi people to know how deep the "explorers from (insert) reached Aotearoa before (insert)" rabbithole goes. This book posits that among many others, Phoenician explorers reached Aotearoa 3000 years ago. This guy has published multiple books.
This was a comment under an insta post by Chris Luxon, which comprised of a (partially?) ai generated video of the PM speaking Mandarin on an otherwise unremarkable subject. I'm in some respect glad these freaks are terminally online, because the forces arranged against it are woefully unprepared.
July 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This was a comment under an insta post by Chris Luxon, which comprised of a (partially?) ai generated video of the PM speaking Mandarin on an otherwise unremarkable subject. I'm in some respect glad these freaks are terminally online, because the forces arranged against it are woefully unprepared.
The apocalypse came for radical preacher Thomas Müntzer 500 years ago today, as his imprisonment for his role as a theological leader of the German peasantry amidst a year of revolutionary religious tumult ended with his execution on 27th May 1525.
May 27, 2025 at 4:52 AM
The apocalypse came for radical preacher Thomas Müntzer 500 years ago today, as his imprisonment for his role as a theological leader of the German peasantry amidst a year of revolutionary religious tumult ended with his execution on 27th May 1525.
A good friend is giving this presentation on the 25th, he's much smarter than me so I would recommend getting along to it! Probably the only electrician in the country with a keen interest in the German Peasant's War.
May 17, 2025 at 2:32 AM
A good friend is giving this presentation on the 25th, he's much smarter than me so I would recommend getting along to it! Probably the only electrician in the country with a keen interest in the German Peasant's War.
Pay equity rally in Ōtepoti|Dunedin right now. Several hundreds in attendance, The Exchange is full. Most notable local unions in attendance. As are Labour and the Greens. For left spotters, I've noted the Otago Socialist Society, International Socialists, and IBT. Light rain, undeterred. #nzpol
May 9, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Pay equity rally in Ōtepoti|Dunedin right now. Several hundreds in attendance, The Exchange is full. Most notable local unions in attendance. As are Labour and the Greens. For left spotters, I've noted the Otago Socialist Society, International Socialists, and IBT. Light rain, undeterred. #nzpol
People starting to gather in Ōtepoti for a trans rights rally, called in response to the NZ First binary sex bill. I'll be playing court photographer today, possible writeup soon.
May 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
People starting to gather in Ōtepoti for a trans rights rally, called in response to the NZ First binary sex bill. I'll be playing court photographer today, possible writeup soon.
May Day in Ōtepoti
May 1, 2025 at 12:34 AM
May Day in Ōtepoti
Moved into my new office today. I officially start tomorrow (at which point I'll also be lugging a pile of old periodicals over).
March 31, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Moved into my new office today. I officially start tomorrow (at which point I'll also be lugging a pile of old periodicals over).
After some thought, Notes South From Nowhere is going to undergo some major changes soon. These include a big update to the overall structure, folding the archive and blog into one website, splitting the feed such that individual posts can be organised better, and the addition of more material.
March 30, 2025 at 3:26 AM
After some thought, Notes South From Nowhere is going to undergo some major changes soon. These include a big update to the overall structure, folding the archive and blog into one website, splitting the feed such that individual posts can be organised better, and the addition of more material.
I love the left
January 26, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I love the left
Perhaps fittingly, it is as an insult that anarchism first gets uttered in a New Zealand paper. Specifically Assemblyman Jacques Clément-Thomas (a republican leaning former military man) accusing the popular republican leader Armand Barbès of being an anarchist during a scuffle in the Assembly.
January 15, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Perhaps fittingly, it is as an insult that anarchism first gets uttered in a New Zealand paper. Specifically Assemblyman Jacques Clément-Thomas (a republican leaning former military man) accusing the popular republican leader Armand Barbès of being an anarchist during a scuffle in the Assembly.
Prince Metternich, an Austrian diplomat who by the time of this particular uprising had been chancellor for 25 years, had been responsible for overseeing the suppression of Italian and Polish aspirations for nationhood and a republic. His letter frets at a vast nationalist conspiracy in Poland.
January 15, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Prince Metternich, an Austrian diplomat who by the time of this particular uprising had been chancellor for 25 years, had been responsible for overseeing the suppression of Italian and Polish aspirations for nationhood and a republic. His letter frets at a vast nationalist conspiracy in Poland.
Where socialism first appears more as a curiosity, communism first appears (fittingly) as a specter. In extensive coverage of the abortive Wielkopolska uprising in 1846, The Nelson Examiner reproduces a letter by none other than arch-conservative architect of the post-Napoleonic order - Metternich.
January 15, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Where socialism first appears more as a curiosity, communism first appears (fittingly) as a specter. In extensive coverage of the abortive Wielkopolska uprising in 1846, The Nelson Examiner reproduces a letter by none other than arch-conservative architect of the post-Napoleonic order - Metternich.
With that in mind, it's surprising that the first reference to socialism appears as early as August 1842 in the pages of the Gazette. It had run a story on the Bristol blasphemy trial of freethinker and atheist publisher Charles Southwell, back in the UK.
January 15, 2025 at 9:03 AM
With that in mind, it's surprising that the first reference to socialism appears as early as August 1842 in the pages of the Gazette. It had run a story on the Bristol blasphemy trial of freethinker and atheist publisher Charles Southwell, back in the UK.
A newsletter, a magazine, a newspaper, a journal - these all are part of an intellectual and political life worth living. Archives are merely part of the care to preserve that life. We want not for Palestinians to survive, but to live. Improving our capacity to fight so that they may do so is vital.
January 15, 2025 at 4:19 AM
A newsletter, a magazine, a newspaper, a journal - these all are part of an intellectual and political life worth living. Archives are merely part of the care to preserve that life. We want not for Palestinians to survive, but to live. Improving our capacity to fight so that they may do so is vital.