Eleven Questions with AUSA Candidates from the International Socialist Organization

Disclaimer: Neither the author nor Craccum supports any specific groups or endorses any candidates within student politics. We strive to maintain impartiality in our reporting. All AUSA 2026 candidates have been given an equal opportunity to be interviewed.

Considering that this new issue of Craccum is based on Student Politics, I decided to head to a talk titled on the importance of student politics, headed by the International Socialist Organisation. I was surprised to find out that they seem to be the new player in this election game, so I decided to email them with eleven questions on politics and their point of view:

In your words, what is socialism?

For me, socialism is simple: it's about extending democracy into every part of our lives, especially our economy. We live in a parliamentary dictatorship where we can vote for a politician every few years, but we have no say over the most significant decisions that affect us. WE students don't get to vote on whether our landlord increases our rent, as housing is privately owned and managed. We don't get to vote when our employer cuts our hours or refuses to raise our pay. We don't even get to vote on how the University Council spends the $30 million directly from our pockets in the form of the student levy. This levy is allocated to a whole host of things like careers information, clubs, childcare, cultural activities, legal advocacy and a lot more, all very impactful for the students. Still, we don't have any say in what it is spent on or how it's distributed. Socialism means a society where these needs, from housing, healthcare and education, to our workplaces, are run democratically by ordinary people for human need, not for the private profit of a few. A system truly built by the people, run by the people, and for the people.

Why do you believe in socialism?

The statistics show that 66% of students can't afford the basics we need for a decent standard of living. I know that is a lived reality for many of us young people. Students are living in mouldy, overcrowded and/or poorly maintained flats. The number of young people who report high mental distress has increased steadily from 5% in 2011 to 21% in 2022. Our conditions damage our physical health, our mental health, and our ability to exist in a community; the current system is clearly failing the vast majority of us. This is not because of a few bad politicians; it's because the capitalist system is designed to prioritise profits over people. Believing in socialism isn't a utopian dream; it's the only logical and practical conclusion when you look at the evidence of the world around us.

Can we see evidence that socialism can/will work?

Evidence of socialist principles working is all around us, often in the things we take for granted. For all its flaws, our public healthcare system was born from a struggle for the socialist idea that healthcare should be a human right, not a commodity. When a union wins a pay rise for its workers, that's a small example of collective power working. On a larger scale, the whole of society functions due to the combined labour of every person engaged in highly specialised and highly social production. Socialism simply calls on people to invert the role of capitalism in the production process. Rather than work collectively to produce private goods for one person, work collectively to produce goods for every person.

Yet these political ends of collective management of production for social good don't just pop into existence fully formed; it takes time to understand what we are able to do collectively. Take the university, for example: forms of socialism exist everywhere. When we organise in student groups, construct schedules, allocate time, and put in effort to help each other to go through the intense exam periods, we have a form of socialism there. Same when we gather in clubs and collectively manage facilities, tools and timetables. Socialism isn't just a switch you flip; it's a process of fighting for and building collective, democratic control over our lives. The real question is, can we see evidence that the current system is working? For students facing record rents and debt, the answer is clearly no.

What kind of guarantee can you give to the students that will ensure that you remain loyal to your beliefs?

It's a pretty important point raised here. Especially for me, who claims to have such strong socialist values. It is important to remember that I am running for the undergraduate rep, and that role has a limited scope. I am not running as an individual. I am running as a member of the student body. I am running as a member of the International Socialist Organisation. I am running as a member of the student community. This work is in service to students. The ISO's politics and theories are not in AUSA. Socialist principles inform my approach, but the work in this position is for the students, with the students, for the students, and hopefully, by the students collectively. It is a service to my student community. I also fight to amplify your voice and give you a say in how AUSA, currently a bureaucratic and undemocratic organisation, is run. Relying on infallibility or promises means nothing. The way to guarantee I, or any other candidate, stays loyal to the students is to promote democracy and accountability inside AUSA, have public meetings to get students' opinions, and hold regular special general meetings to keep AUSA candidates accountable to the student body. This also demands utmost clarity and transparency of what AUSA is doing or planning at any one time. This requires a self-acting, self-interested student base, which can rally and hold to account anybody who puts the interests of students last. I am fighting to build militancy among students, so no matter who is in AUSA, it is the students rather than the individual who decides who represents them.

Words are words, actions are actions. What actions do you plan to take to make changes to the university and the causes you stand for?

• Don't reinvent the wheel: If services are already doing a great job, how can AUSA work with them to get what students need on campus
• Fight unapologetically for students when representing them
• Clarify what health insurance is available to international students and how they can access it.
• Boycott and divest from Israeli goods
• Accept only as much as the student allowance will pay me, and donate the rest to the student hardship fund.
• Build a movement of active students on campus to stand up and fight against deteriorating living conditions and quality of life on campus.
• Frequently meet with student clubs and groups on campus to understand their difficulties.
• Run regular meetings open to students to share what impacts us, and come up with possible solutions together.
• Organise a textbook recycling service so students who finish with their textbooks can sell them to AUSA, and AUSA can sell them back to students the following semester.
• Share clear infographics on how the internal structure of AUSA functions and how AUSA relates to the university.
• Advocate for frequent general meetings so the student base can hold AUSA accountable and alter the constitution to respond to student needs
• Provide easily digestible updates on what is happening in the AUSA executive and how/why it is relevant.
• Identify how AUSA can support students experiencing housing insecurity/homelessness, e.g. using unoccupied space in the university accommodation to house students.

The scholarships or visas of international students could be threatened for being associated with a socialist organisation. How do you plan to protect those students who want to join your organisation?

First, I am running for the role of undergrad student rep, not as a political activist, and I have no ambition to promote my organisation as part of this role and for students to join it. That being said, international students are among the most exploited on campus. They pay exorbitant fees and their visas are often tied to their enrolment, making them terrified to speak out. The best way to protect international students is to fight for a space where they can discreetly share their problems with other international students and make their issues known to representatives. Engaging collectively with AUSA allows international students to be part of the decision-making here at the University, while not exposing themselves individually, allowing them to access the best protection they can have; being part of a strong, united student movement where an injury to one is an injury to all. Fighting for all students creates a safer environment for the most vulnerable to stand up for their rights without fear.

How do your beliefs connect with mainstream politics in New Zealand? From my personal understanding, we don't have a socialist party in New Zealand.

I share a lot of the same concerns as parties like the Greens or Te Pāti Māori on climate change, inequality, and colonialism. We'll happily work alongside them and their supporters on specific campaigns. But there is a fundamental difference. Those parties believe you can fix the system from within; they are ultimately committed to managing capitalism. We in the ISO believe the system based on profit is the root cause of these crises. You cannot manage a house that's on fire. We believe that what is needed is not just a change of government, but a change of system, and that requires building an independent political party for working people, entirely separate from the parties which manage capitalism.

Do you plan on going beyond the university and into the politics of New Zealand?

It depends on what is meant by politics. If by politics you're referring to the institutional form, like being a party member, becoming an elected member of a council or even parliament, I am not too sure about that. I know that politics doesn't just happen in the Beehive; it happens every day on the street, in workplaces, and in local communities. That's why we organise weekly meetings (reading groups, open talks and discussions, etc.) to educate on fundamental principles of modern politics. But it's just the beginning. We are also taking part in broader social movements. In November last year, we joined the Toitū te Tiriti hīkoi across the harbour bridge to protest the Regulatory Standards Bill. More recently, we are assisting the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) in organising the solidarity movement in protest against the atrocious aggression against Palestinians in Gaza. We also try to support social and union movements whenever we can. The university is a 'crucible of struggle', where possibly for the last time, the very poor of society will work alongside the very rich. We must use that moment to convince people that the world can be different. We must learn to organise, build alliances, and win victories for the 400,000 students in this country. Building a student movement which persists beyond my university attendance is a dream of mine. This requires national coordination, and that can only be achieved with a nationally coordinated, politically cohesive organisation. We must then take those skills into our workplaces and communities to become union delegates, community organisers, and lifelong fighters for socialism.

When you go beyond university, and actually even in university, change requires money and other resources. How do you plan on gathering those?

Money and resources are 100% necessary. The ISO actually has a national dues structure (as we are a national organisation), so depending on your income, you pay between 1% and 3% of your income to the branch every week. That allows us to do things like printing, buying things for campaigns, flying in speakers, running conferences and educating members. Other than that, I wouldn't underestimate what can be achieved with determination, convincing arguments and the labour of many working together towards a common goal. 

With your efforts, what changes do you hope to see in the future?

As you imagine, there's only so much I can do in the position I will have if I am elected as AUSA's undergrad delegate. I want to increase undergrad student engagement in AUSA in the short term. I believe it to be the root of any sustainable change. In 2022, only 12% of the AUSA electorate voted for a candidate, and that was a relatively high turnout in recent elections. The immediate task at hand is to show students that politics is not a dead end of parliamentarianism. I hope to see us win small material victories like unoccupied flats being used by students as temporary housing. In the longer term, I hope to see a national campaign to bring financial control of student life back into students' hands.

For those just getting into socialism, what do you suggest they read? Or any videos?

Theory can be intimidating. I could recommend Capital: Volume 1, The Manifesto of the Communist Party, both by Marx and Engels, but also less esoteric books like The Meaning of Marxism by Paul D'Amato. But I'm not going to give you a reading list right now, because our next meeting is the most essential text you can read. Socialism isn't just an idea in a book; it's a living tradition of struggle. Come and discuss these ideas with us, get involved in a campaign, and see for yourself. That's the best education there is.

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The views and opinions expressed in Craccum are those of individual contributors and interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial team or the publication as a whole. While we aim to ensure accuracy and fairness, Craccum cannot guarantee the complete reliability of all information presented and assumes no liability for errors or omissions.