How you can help your community right now
The Call: Ways to come together and help each other
Welcome to The Call. The place where we come together to try to make things better. Everything feels overwhelming right now, like there’s too much pain in the world to ever make a difference.
We can all make a difference - even if it’s in just a tiny way. Here are some causes to get behind. I hope they help you to feel less helpless.
Support renters and keep families housed and fed
What is happening?
Average rent as a share of average household income has reached a record high of 22 percent. An OECD report released in April said that New Zealand was among the most expensive places to rent in the world, on a number of measures.
More than 25 percent of disposable income was going on rent for renting households, it calculated, ninth in the world. One in five people in Aotearoa are forgoing food and heating to pay their rent.
This government has provided $2.9 billion in tax relief to landlords since coming into power.
Where can I read more?
What can I do to help?
Sign the Greens open letter to the government about renting - it highlights how hard renting is in Aotearoa. Join Renters United today. It is free to join, and every member strengthens their voice and helps them to fight and win for renters.
Give your tax cut to Gaza
Families in Gaza desperately need your help to survive. This campaign is an independent fundraiser, with all proceeds going directly to ReliefAid.
First, they calculate your monthly tax cut based on your annual salary.
Then, you choose how much of your tax cut you’d like to donate each month, or if you prefer to make a one-off donation.
Once you’ve selected the amount, all you need to do is submit your payment details.
Support St Johns ambulance workers
What is happening?
Paramedics on the front line of health emergencies are begging the government to pay them fairly. The National-NZ First coalition agreement included a promise to "renegotiate the Crown funding agreement with St John with a view to meet a greater portion of their budget." They have not done this.
Where can I read more:
Strike: St John Ambulance Officers Vote For Withdrawal Of Labour
Thousands of ambulance officers to strike as sector in 'worst state' ever seen
Ministers ducking as St John ambulance service threatens cuts and wage freezes
What can I do to help?
Email Ministers Shane Reti (s.reti@ministers.govt.nz) and Casey Costello (Casey.Costello@parliament.govt.nz) from the National Party and New Zealand First and tell them you support a fully funded ambulance service. Your email can just say that and ‘I support the St Johns staff and value our ambulance service’. It’s just a way of letting them know where public support is. If you want you can change your Facebook profile picture to raise awareness too. Folks will scoff at that doing anything but then, lots of people don’t even know our ambulance service is not fully funded! So every bit of awareness helps.
Back Te Herenga Waka staff and students as they stand against scholasticide and genocide
What is happening?
Approximately $47,532 of the Victoria University Foundation's $109 million investment portfolio is invested in Israeli government bonds, which helps finance their military campaigns and their genocide against Palestinians. Not one of Gaza’s 12 Universities remains standing. This is scholasticide, funded by investments like Te Herenga Waka’s.
Where can I read more?
Te Herenga Waka has Investments in Israel - Where to From Here?
‘Divest from genocide’ - Victoria University students protest Israeli bonds
What can I do to help?
You can sign the open letter from staff, students, and alumni that has three demands:
Divest all funds held by the university and university foundation with ties to Israel
Implement a Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) policy, both financial and academic
Establish scholarships and fellowships for Palestinian students and academics
Or, you can email Te Haerenga Waka at info@vuw.ac.nz and tell them you support students and staff who are calling for a divestment of Israel Government bonds. You can just cut and paste the demands above and say - I support students, staff and alumni.
If you’re an educator - You can sign this open letter to the New Zealand Government from Aotearoa Educators for the learners of Gaza. They’re calling on the government to do three things:
Use diplomatic means to push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the 17 year blockade of Gaza
Increase funding and support to agencies which run schools in Gaza, including but not limited to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency), which runs 40% of Gaza’s schools
Condemn the deliberate and targeted bombing of schools and education infrastructure in Gaza as an attack on Palestinian children and society
Push back against racists
What is happening?
The New Zealand Herald allowed anti-Māori collective Hobson’s Pledge to publish a full page racist rant full of misinformation on their front page. Now, there are demands for the Herald and its parent company NZME to apologise to tangata whenua in all of their publications and radio stations, and to formally apologise for staff members and advertisers. There are also calls to review their standards including to create a robust plan to protect tangata whenua and a process for checking the accuracy of adverts.
Where can I read more?
Māori Journalists' Association call on NZME to review advertising standards
Hobson’s Pledge front page ad is propaganda disguised as news
What can I do to help?
You can make a complaint about the Hobson's Pledge ad in the NZ Herald with the Advertising Standards Authority. It’s super easy to do.
Step 1: Click here.
Step 2: On the first page you need to click "Yes, Proceed" four times before you get the "Next" button and can actually start your complaint.
Step 3: List the advertiser as Hobson's Pledge and the publication as NZ Herald Newspaper, Print, 7 Aug 2024.
Step 4: Save the photo of the front page below and attach it to your complaint.
Step 5: List the following principles the ad goes against:
- Rule 1(c) Decency and Offensiveness
- Rule 1(g) Fear and Distress
- Against Principle 2: Truthful Presentation
Then put in your details and you’re done.
Keep a wonderful community space going!
What is happening? Studio2 is a working art studio and gallery in South Dunedin. For the past 20 years it has provided an art space for people with a learning disability and members of the neurodivergent community. However, it's facing an uncertain future after losing Government funding.
Where can I read more?
What can I do to help? Donate to their Boosted campaign - Here’s what they say about their mahi - “Our kaupapa has always been driven by a belief that art is transformational. By revealing the ever-changing ways we see ourselves and the people and places that shape us, art is providing Tangata Whaikaha and others across the world with new ways of throwing light on ableism – as well as foregrounding what we bring to our communities. As artists, we stretch and shake-up the boundaries of art and inclusion, so work hard to keep our mahi toi in sight.” Support them here.
Other bits and bobs….
There’s a petition that calls for (among other things) keeping the permanent speed limit changes outside schools. Sign it here.
Have you signed the petition to withdraw NZ from US operation supporting Israel’s war on Gaza? Quick do it!
In Aotearoa New Zealand, 10 & 11-year-olds can be given life sentences. Our minimum age of criminal responsibility is 10. This is the age that kids can be prosecuted and punished for a crime. 10 sounds too young right? That’s because it is. Use this template to tell the Government you don’t support that nonsense.
Call on Christopher Luxon to leave New Zealand’s freshwater protections alone. Sign here.
Do you live in Oamaru? The wonderful steam and rail society in need of volunteers.
Te Rā Daffodil | Daffodil Day is coming up on 30 August. So make sure you volunteer or buy a daffodil. Sign up to volunteer here.
Become a member of the Public Member - Advertising Standards Authority Complaints Board! Diversity on these boards is so so important. You even get paid a meeting fee! And it’s online!
Excellent, practical list! I've already followed through on the Vic Uni one and will do more. As I was out rallying for Palestine on Saturday, I realised it is exactly 60 years since my first protests against our involvement in the Vietnam war. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose! Yet, we must keep on speaking up, working together to create a saner, kinder world.
Thank you so much for this Emily. This is a perfect way to see what actions we can take, or top up what we are doing. It’s easy to be so overwhelmed and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this list.