EXCLUSIVE: Campaign reflection, Laila Harré reaching out for radical minds

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Today I’ve announced that I will be stepping down from the Internet Party leadership in December. This will happen once options for the future have been developed for discussion and decision among members.

My absolute focus in this election was on achieving a change of government. Of course I wish Hone, Annette Sykes, myself some of our crew were in Parliament. But we are not, and the electoral system is heavily weighted against new entrants. Dependence on winning a general seat or 5% is a very high bar.

I believe that you should have confidence that you can win seats in Parliament if you are going to spend precious time, social capital and resources on building a political party. I had that confidence right up to Election Day, but now I think the balance of probabilities for the Internet Party has changed. A political party is naturally exclusive and competitive. If it is not in Parliament, or people don’t see it getting there, then it is easy for its ideas to be dismissed.

When I said yes to the Internet Party in May it was obvious that Labour and the Greens would not win enough votes to form a majority government. A change of government would require every single progressive vote to count.

That included Internet Party voters, and for that to be assured the deal with MANA was critical. To achieve it MANA needed to have confidence in the political leadership of the Internet Party. That’s how my name emerged in discussions between the two parties.

My decision to lead the Internet Party was made just a couple of days before the announcement of the Internet MANA agreement. Before the announcement I tried to meet both David Cunliffe and Russel Norman, getting only as far as senior staff.

I knew that the existence of the Internet Party and the potential for Internet MANA was highly inconvenient to both of them. However, I also know that the starting point for successful political strategy is your real environment not the environment you wish you were in. Indeed I suggested Russel talk to Kim Dotcom many weeks before he did, in an attempt to dissuade Kim from starting the Internet Party. Russel’s response then was that it would be a waste of time. I disagreed (and still do) but that was then, this is now, and by May it was certainly too late to stop the Internet Party. Accepting Internet MANA as allies in changing the government was the only thing that made sense.

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To a person, the Internet Party and MANA crews were uncompromisingly focused on a change of government.

To achieve that, there were always at least three things every “change of government party” had to do to be a credible alternative: (a) supporting Cunliffe; (b) building acceptance that a Parliamentary majority did not have to look like a single sun (National) with a few planets rotating around it; and (c) demonstrating respect for each other and sharing constructive feedback.

The spin that Labour and Green leaders have put on the impact of Internet MANA needs to be critically analysed. It was only the momentum created by the deal and then the growth of support during the road show that put Labour and the Greens within winning distance of government. We took the fight to Key in a way that they were not prepared to do, and for a while it paid off.

Later in the campaign our momentum fell off dramatically. Our own political mismanagement weakened our ability to respond to a full attack by the right, and the capitulation of other change the government parties to that narrative.

It was New Zealand First who capitalised on Dirty Politics.

Hopefully Labour’s post-election review will look at the impact of its desire to mirror National (never credible) and play boss party with everyone else (except with Winston Peters who they just seemed scared of).

And the Greens should reflect on the course they charted in early April. When they gave Labour an ultimatum on pre-announcing a coalition and then leaked details of those discussions I was still on the Green Party campaign committee. I thought the tactic was dangerous and would reduce the chance of changing the government. To me it signalled that competition with Labour would infect the Green campaign, and I’d been there and done that with Jim Anderton until the 1999 election and did not care for it. This was weeks before I talked to anyone from the Internet Party.

For Internet MANA’s part we stuck to the a, b, c above. But in the wake of the momentum building road trip we made some pretty basic errors in strategy and behaviour and in the context of an unrelenting attack we didn’t recover from them. That is another blog.

For now, a conclusion.

In this election, many of us worked with the idea that changing the government was like putting together a jigsaw. Yes, there were some wiggly pieces, but we could see a picture. I still firmly believe that jigsaw could have been completed with some co-operation.

Next time around I’d like to think we can do better than just a political jigsaw. To that end I am stepping away from the electoral focus for now to pay more attention to the “why” of the “Why we need change” question. The limits of the election discourse exposed just how much more deeply and widely we need to build acceptance of the need for social change.

I cut my political teeth at a time when not a single progressive person believed that user pays tertiary education was ok. I stood on platforms this year where all our potential partners in a parliamentary majority defended it as (at best) a necessary evil. I want to change the government in 2017. But I want things like that to change with it.

76 COMMENTS

  1. Agree with you all the way , the Labour party was scared out of teaming up with internet/mana,in fact they voted for the man who stole Hones seat, but I suppose that was the peoples choice.
    Its a long time to 2017 National can do much harm in that time,but I hope the so called left learn a lesson from the manipulations of Key ,it wont be Key as PM he will probably be long gone.but probably someone like him. good luck I hope you do what you set out to do

    • Elle, even though I know what you’re getting at, calling it “theft” when it clearly was the express wish of the people is a bit rich. As you say, it was their choice, nothing illegal or even underhanded going on. It didn’t pan out the way you wanted it, so what. Tough luck, be adult about it. It’s called democracy.

      • Whatever you think is your business,innercitydweller, the whole election in my view was a manipulation , by MSM and dirty politics , but you can be right in your opinion if you want , grow up .

        • @ Elle – you aren’t on your own in your opinion that the election was manipulated in National’s favour.

          When you think what was against National, through the exposure of the party, Key and Collins’ seedy activities in Dirty Politics, any other party under the same cloud would have been defeated! But not Key and National!

          Hone lost his seat through dirty politics, with other parties putting the pressure on TTT voters to vote for Kelvin Davis. Labour, National and NZ First should hang their heads in shame for the damage they did in this respect!

          Then there was msm pushing National and Key at every opportunity, while at the same time discrediting Labour leader David Cunliffe and the Greens, as well as Internet Mana, which I’m convinced the Nats saw as the ultimate threat to the government and Key’s stability.

          It all came down to corruption, squalor and muck raking giving Key and National a third term, with the worst aspect, enough NZers condoned that behaviour, by voting for more of the same for the next three years!

          Then there was WhaleOil’s involvement ….

  2. As a Mana member I personally felt so betrayed by Labour. Here’s a little story from the campaign trail in Whanganui. First,early in the campaign my partner and I went to a ‘Meet David Cunliffe’ evening hosted by the local Labour Party branch. It was good, we wore our Mana shirts, there were some Green ones there too, and the speakers acknowledged how good it was to see some of Labour’s allies in the audience. After Cunliffe’s speech, my partner sought an assurance from him that he would like having some left-wing people in Parliament brought in by Internet Mana, to which he said something along the lines of ‘I can’t say it publically, but yes I would love that’. We felt satisfied with that and so I started campaigning for him through my own channels as I felt assured he would be good to lead the Change The Government parties. But then something changed, I don’t know what. One day I went down to the Labour Party campaign office and offered to help (Mana at that point wasn’t running a local campaign except for pamphlet drops and we’d finished all that). I knew they’d seen me as Mana at various campaign events. They said they had loads of stuff that needed doing and they would be glad of an extra pair of hands. Then this woman who I didn’t know came up and said ‘Are you a Labour Party member?’ I said ‘No, I’m a member of the Mana Party’. Well, I couldn’t believe it. She actually put her hands up out in front of her in the sign of the cross, like she was warding off an evil spirit, and said with alarm ‘Oh, no, you can’t work here!’ To which I replied, ‘Hey, we all want the same thing don’t we, to change the government, and I’m not working so I’ve got loads of time and energy’. She looked shocked and said I couldn’t possibly contribute, and the other staff member who’d been about to give me a load of pamphlets to deliver hastily scurried away and put them back in the box. And it was then that I realised we were the Enemy. And it was all downhill from there.

    • There are weirdos in every party. I found the streets had plenty of lefties cooperating to push for a change of government. The odd ball out does taint the possibility of cooperation–I think you ran into one of those.

      • Something definitely changed in the way Labour related to Mana/Internet over the course of the campaign and this manifested in Labour’s co-operation with ousting Hone. I believe it must have filtered down? Might be wrong, but it certainly played out that way in the end.

  3. So Laila thought the Internet Party would hurt the left, but then led it and so helped maximise the harm caused. Thanks.

    • So where did she hint that knats??…what bollocks! She genuinely thought that TOGETHER they could change the Govt.

      thk you. Laila… I wish you were leading the Labour Party…could have made all the difference!!!
      l Look forward to your visit to Palmerston Nrth in the new year…we hpe to get a lot of good people together.

    • Wrong Kenet. I thought they were a threat to the Green vote and that Kim should look at other options to effect change. Once they became a reality then priority was to salvage the votes for a change of government. You know sometimes I am alarmed by how people can only seem to follow one step in a process. Once you fail on the first step you have to reassess options not just get stuck in a rut.

      • No, a bad idea is a bad idea. That someone just won’t get it and pushes ahead anyway is a truly awful reason to join them. I can follow the steps in the process. The next one if the Greens had embraced your fiasco would have been to go down with you.

        • Kenat, you really seem to have trouble understanding what Laila is saying. Perhaps entering a debate when you’ve already made your mind up is part of the problem.

    • ^ Soooooo….are you an embittered leftie that belongs to another party and want a scapegoat to blame ? , – or are you a Nat supporter with psychotic leanings who enjoy watching people struggle on low wages and seeing children grow up in poverty ? – and then moving to Australia for a better life to get away from the neo liberal creeps that have infected and ruined this once prosperous country?

      • Ad hom much? No need for scapegoats, as Labour would have failed no matter what anyone else did. So at least the Dotcom debacle occurred in a year when it wasn’t the deciding factor. I’m just a leftie who hates to see the left shoot itself in the foot, and hates even more when we refuse to learn the obvious lessons afterward.

    • Short-sighted, Kenat, and ignores the rightwing political and media onslaught against the left.

      Perhaps you should gain some backgrounders by reading these pieces. They might alert you to how the Left was under constant attack by the MSM;

      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/06/01/patrick-gower-losing-his-rag-and-the-plot/

      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/07/29/waiting-for-gowers-twittering-of-indignation/

      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/09/19/the-donghua-liu-affair-the-players-revealed/

      And isn’t it interesting that Patrick Gower – who made his partisan feelings crystal clear on Twitter on 29 May with this extraordinary outburst;

      “Lalia Harré – you make me feel sick by how you are rorting MMP http://www.3news.co.nz/Opinion-Hone-and-Dotcoms-grubby-deal/tabid/1382/articleID/346334/Default.aspx#ixzz334vE4jKO Same goes for your pals Hone, Dotcom, Minto and Sykes.”

      https://twitter.com/patrickgowernz/status/471881989302149120

      – is also the same one who interviewed Laila Harre today on TV3 on “The Nation”?

      Notice how Gower was very well behaved during the interview, when face-to-face with Harre?

      But once he was with the panel (Mike Williams and Matthew Hooton), the gloves and mask came off and his vitriol issued forth.

      It seems he lacked a certain inner fortitude to say the things he did to the panelists, to Harre.

      That is what “maximised the harm”, Kenat, an unrelenting onslaught against the Left.

      Why is it, for example, that Gower condemned the Internet-Mana alliance as “sickening” – but not the ACT-National deal in Epsom?

      Or the National-Labour-NZ First deal to endorse Kelvin Davis over Hone Harawira?

      Why was Dotcom’s funding of Mana-Internet such a big deal worthy of condemnation – but millionaires funding National and ACT is barely noted, in passing, if at all?

      Ask those questions, Kenat, and ponder the possible answers.

      • The Dotcom debacle was totally predictable, including the unfair media treatment. That’s why many on the left predicted it and stayed away from it rather than be tarnished themselves. Even Dotcom has admited as much. Those who can’t even admit this in hindsight are the ones who are truly shortsighted. Dealing with reality as Laila wants means developing strategies that accept we’re in a hostile environment and try minimise it rather than maximising it and complaining it’s all unfair.

        • “Even Dotcom has admited as much”

          KDC said that the last two weeks of the campaign his brand was poison. That’s not the same thing as you are saying.

      • Left disunity scuppered the boat in the end, Green vs Labour and everyone vs Internet Mana.

        Labour put a lot of resources into Kunning Kelvin’s West Auckland end of Te Tai Tokerau, and it was those particular votes that denied Hone and Laila in the end. Meanwhile Labour members have said that several general seat LECs were under resourced and not in good shape. Go figure.

        And the result would likely have been even worse without the “Get out and vote” campaign that Laila was involved with early on and the other enrolment initiatives.

        So well done in a tight time frame in very difficult circumstances Laila.

        • Yes, left disunity hurt. Next time don’t start a circus, I mean new party, in election year and expect everyone else to think you’re awesome (and maybe Labour could work with the Greens too). There is precious little evidence the Internet Party helped get votes out, and in particular that they got more than they chased away from the left. And Hone would still be in Parliament if he hadn’t joined the Dotcom fiasco.

          • This is the point you keep missing. Laila joined the party AFTER it had started in an attempt to make sure it did as well as possible. Only someone who relies on the MSM would call it a fiasco and it’s quite obvious that it put the shits up a lot of people on the right – by which I mean on the right of Mana.

            IMP became a test of who was prepared to defend the establishment, which is the first rule of being given power. Over the course of the election it became obvious that people like Kelvin Davis had their first loyalty to the status quo – over and above his probably genuine loyalties to the people of Northland.

            I think Cunliffe probably suffers from the same ‘problem’, which is why so many of his caucus colleagues don’t trust him. Any time you see people across the spectrum unite to get rid of someone then you know that you’ve got a person who genuinely puts the needs of those on the bottom of the heap above the needs of the establishment.

            It’s probably going to take a powerful social movement outside of parliament to get people like that into parliament, the question for everyone is: Do we want to join that movement when it is in it’s infancy or we do we want to join it when its ‘safe’ to join it.

            • Laila and Dotcom said their main if not only goal was to change the govt. Their chosen strategy to do this helped achieve the opposite. Many on the left warned this was the obvious outcome, but they said she’ll be right and then drove into the wall, unfortunately taking Mana out with them and setting back their whole cause.

              It’s perfectly fine to be unconcerned about anyone to the right of Mana, just don’t pretend you care about changing the govt, because you can’t have it both ways. To change the govt you need some of the centre. Laila knows this even if Dotcom doesn’t. So either her strategy was tragically off, or she’s not being truthful about changing the govt being her goal.

              Outside election years, we need to shift the centre to the left. During an election, we need to deal with the centre where ever it happens to be, not where we wish it was. If you can’t deal with that, you should put your efforts somewhere other than electoral politics, like the social movement you so rightly identify as important.

              Movements are critical because only people power can create the political space for parties to really persue progressive goals AND win enough votes to be in govt so they can actually implement them. Progressive social movements and smart electoral politics are both needed to make a difference, but they are not the same thing. They require different tactics for success. I think too many people don’t understand that.

                • I’m not bitter, and if I were about anything, it would be at Labour for being so unelectable. I do feel strongly the left needs to learn from this though, and I’m dismayed people won’t admit the IMP strategy was a shambles. I wasn’t even going to comment on this post, but then I read that Laila joined up despite thinking it was a bad idea. I still find that completely amazing.

                  • As do I. And in my opinion it all comes back to how so many people misread Dotcom. People who should have not better cuddled up to him when the only thing they had in common was their dislike of Key. Because of the distraction that was IMP, the Greens got no oxygen, and the rest is history.

                    • Social. Parties can’t be expected to shift public opinion entirely on their own. Social movements within the public sphere are critical to building the momentum needed to create a level of public demand that the political system can’t ignore.

          • Kenat was wrong in saying that the IMP venture was always a lost cause. From the time it started campaigning its vote rose steadily and if you had been at one of the road trip meetings you would have been impressed with the sheer electricity they generated.
            A few weeks out from the election IMP was polling 4% and looking good to get the necessary 5% (plus Hone’s seat which was safe if all the Left pulled together). The only problem was that Labour and Greens were holding back. In those last weeks I was writing comments regularly on TDB begging Labour to simply endorse IMP. It didn’t. I will NEVER vote Labour now.
            I dont remember ever seeing any comments from you then, Kenat. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?
            My main concern is what happens to the IMP members now. They are still ‘creating policy’ at this moment on the IMP web site. No-one from the administration has addressed them directly, not even to say thanks. They deserve better than that.

            • Nothing I’ve said depends on hindsight. It was said by many before it occurred. The only thing got wrong was that the actual outcome was far worse than predicted. But honestly, I don’t know what else to say if you really think the only problem for IMP in the last few weeks was the Greens and Labour.

              • Fuck the Greens. They are wedded to the market. They promise to solve all the enviromental problems and social issues of NZ but within the confines of the market economy. Like Labour they are part of the problem not the solution.

          • Dot Com did a good job in supporting the internet /mana set up , in my opinion he ruined it at Moment of Truth he should not have been on stage, the overseas speakers were definatly on to it , but Dot Coms loud nervous giggling,he irritated tv and live audience , it seemed to upset Leila as well, she seemed off kilter. Dot Com made the event about him , I think he realises that now. I believe he would be good for NZ but hes got a tough time to get through, too many big business greedies to overcome, but good luck Kim go for it .

              • Dotcom was convicted of some relatively minor offences (hacking and suchlike) when he was 19. There are plenty of Kiwis who went through their youth with episodes of drink-driving, marijuana and other drugs, and other petty crimes. (Many have police records for male homosexuality and prostitution – neither of which are considered crimes in our more enlightened times.) The vast majority grow out of them and become productive members of society.

                Since his youth, as far as is known, KDC hasn’t committed any crimes. The alleged copyright violations from Hollywood remain just that; alleged.

                Hardly an ” egomaniac with a trail of criminal activity in his wake”. I suspect you are more motivated by personal politics than by KDC’s real background.

              • I accidently voted a thumbs up for this media mind controlled drone outburst.
                Nehemiahwall, “thinking for yourself is the new black” something that Kim has in bucket loads … you appear bereft.

      • As regards National’s “onslaught”, that’s the business they’re in. Politics. Get used to it. They did nothing that Helen Clarke didn’t do previously. In fact they pretty much cruised to victory because the Left cannibalised itself.

        As regards the “media onslaught”, the Left deserved it. At every turn Labour was incompetent and earned a solid kicking by the press.

        The key point here is that unless you learn from history you will repeat it. If you go around claiming you were undone by an unfair media and a nasty National party, you’ll go into the next election as unprepared as you did in the last one.

        • You haven’t read ‘Dirty Politics’ have you? I think – yes – people on the Left will have learnt from this last debarcle but a media that is no longer there to inform and give people the oppotunity to make their own decisions made on information is subverting democracy and those who play in sculdugery and personal smears apon political – or any persons – they believe are against their plans while protecting political masters is also subverting democracy. I have never NEVER seen what I saw this election – if you have not seen this, open your eyes, evil happens when good men do nothing.

        • The question has been asked – have you read dirty politics? I thought the book would tell me nothing new – how wrong I was. Apart from those with a bent to see people suffer the way Slater enjoys, regardless of how you voted, I believe that the majority of NZer’s do not want their party of choice elected by these ‘filthy’ methods.

  4. I would have preferred a deal with Labour to trade off Waiariki for TTT. It is sinful that Flavell got in. Though I would have loved to see the top 4 on your list in Parliament.

      • And Annette Sykes or Rawiri Waititi could just as easily have been elected fair and square if you look at the numbers.
        In fact, if the electoral seats were decided by an actually fair method, i.e. preferential voting, rather than just who gets the plurality I suspect that Rawiri Waititi would have scored a narrow victory over Te Ururoa Flavell.

  5. The dirty politics release was successfully deflected back at the left with the help of the MSM including the smearing of KDC. The Guardian’s articles were of an entirely different light if you had read those . To many Jocks and Red necks in NZ media. The public didn’t like the idea of playing the man not the ball. As soon as labour got a wiff of the drop in InternetMana’s popularity they dropped the ball and that was the end of the game .

    • Yes,…and just look at alll the lies , distortions , and contraveneing of basic systems in place (think OIA / SIS /laws around surveillance of the public aka GSCB ) it took for Key to cover his miserable arse – the gutless wimp squirmed and fabricated and smeared his way across this election – and we the people will now pay for his subterfuge and deciet far into the future long after he’s gone .

      As will our children and their children. The mans an evil little lap dog of the global neo liberal cabal.

      Sickening.

      • The Corbet report says now it seems China is in collusion with the West to set up One World Government, that’s probably why Key is playing nice with China and increasing their presence in NZ. there is no end to this rotters perfidy.
        Makes one wonder if Russia is playing the game with the West as well.The elite pretends to have enemies but sells them weapons and colludes with their plans as they did with Hitler, now with China, the elite have made a ton of money from China.
        In NZ it seems the enemy is John Key.

      • My five employees with 10 children amongst them tend to disagree with you. The stability the Key government has created in our small to medium business’ has afforded them all bank loans to purchase their first house and predict a stable future for their kids that realise a good education. One of my employees is 30 years old and 3 years into his first job, and loving it.

        • There is a finality to outrageous borrowing to prop up a ponzi scheme. I predict they will all have lost their houses by next election … if there is a next election that is.

    • Shane 100% you got it so so right.

      MSM was the reason Labour opposition lost the election.

      The cards were stacked against any win here for the opposition.
      We have asked tome and time again for opposition to take Government to court to give half of the public media to the Opposition parties to retain control & operation of.

      National lead Government now tightly control & run all public media as their propaganda machine today and this must stop if opposition have any aspirations of winning the hearts and minds of the TVNZ/RNZ stable.

      Opposition please put this on your agenda as an urgent to do list!!!!

      The cost of freedom and liberty is constant vigilance.

    • Ha ha wild katipo, couldn’t,t have described our Teflon key any better he makes me want to smash my tv/radio every time I hear his voice…

  6. It’s tricky, I feel the media were ready to pounce on any mistake made by labour and the greens during the campaign with their classic showbiz “gotcha” tactics. Maybe this was why they were so tentative about having any link to InternetMana during the election.

    I also wonder with the Mana party, they could be seen as too militant to get that many more votes. Is another way forward for them to be seen as all about positive change (almost in a religious way) rather than being painted as aggressive and anti-government in their approach. The news recently about the party employing sex offenders is not great either.. Time for an overhaul on how the party portrays itself and some of its leadership?

    • The continued employment of an alleged child rapist really makes me think it was for the best that Hone got outed, regardless of whether he thinks his mate is innocent, because it sends such a contradictory message to what Mana was supposed to be about.

  7. Thanks for trying. Hopefully you’ll keep fighting in some capacity, because getting into parliament is not the be all and end all of our struggle.

    I wish Labour would just hurry up and merge with NAct. The differences between them are superficial.

  8. I’m sorry but Kim Dotcom scared off those voters who could have voted either way that you need to win and even he acknowledged that.
    You can analyse all you like but at the end of the day, if you scare the horses they are liable to bolt and that’s what those voters did.
    Funny thing but politics is all about, well, politics.

    • That’s it. For all the good intentions, lets be F**king robust about this.

      ‘Internet’ was a monumental error of judgement for the left.

      KDC. An utterly self indulgent uber-capitalist very obviously using his money to interfere in politics for purely selfish personal reasons, and who blatantly had not a single genuine connection with the Mana ethos, if not representing everything Mana stood against. As KDC himself so aptly put it, ‘Poison’.

      It is utterly astounding that in Mana only Sue Bradford could see the sell out for what it was. The king hit to any chance for the left.

      Dig that grave deep and stamp the dirt down hard. FFS, this is one zombie we don’t want to see again.

      • Sue Bradford and Georgie Bayer. Both women of integrity. Bet if they entertained the idea of a political party the momentum would be like a freight train ! Thank you both for your integrity. FD kiwis for sure..

        • Heart in the right place, brains in their arse. Attack the left during a election campaign is just so full of integrity and intelligence it goes right over my head. The one good thing is they are forever sidelined now in politics in Nz.

    • Aye…that it may be about politics is testament to the fact when KDC brought Greenwald, Amsterdam , and Snowden plus Assange by satellite link…it took ALL FOREIGNERS to spell it out to this sleepy little cynical backwaters just how pernicious a liar Key and his buddies are.

      AND STILL they choose to stick their heads down a dark hole and pretend it all didn’t exist. Really…it wasn’t THAT HARD to get the gist off …

      Surely the people can understand basic govt deviancy and corrupt political behavior when its been spelt out in clear terms….their not that thick , are they? …what more could of been done?

      For that at least we should be thankful for KDC…and stop blaming him,- and have we such short memories of all the things revealed in Hagers book?…should we be content that it is now being buried and forgotten by a Key – lead internal govt inquiry?

      Doesn’t make the headlines anymore ,now, does it?

      I find it incredible how dulled this country has gotten in 3 short decades – its a total headfuck !!!

      And still they voted the little shrew back in. Unbelievable.

      And what of Key advising HIS voters to vote for his largest opposition party’s Kelvin Davis? …doesn’t that tell you someones protecting someones agenda?…and what about Peters as well?…a total pack mentality going on….and so far NOT A WHIMPER from any one of them in parliament.

      Just what was it about IMP that scared the living shit out of all these parties so much they behaved in such a mob mentality….was it the truth about what KDC had shown us?…was it the feeding of the kids was so anathema to the neo liberals that they knew hot on that discourse would be questions about our low wage economy?

      Would Bill English be seen to be the vicious little snake he is who said a few years ago ‘We should be glad we have a low wage economy because it encourages foreign investment’ ?

      Was it because these people in these parties were in collusion with the idea of loss of civil rights to ‘justify’ illegal spying on 88 individuals including KDC?…changing the rules as Key went along , and getting caught out lying to the public when his story failed to add up?…eg: XKEYSTROKES?…..

      This country has alot of soul searching about laying down and being so collectively,disgustingly weak.

      Good on you Laila, Hone and Kim Dotcom. Well done.

      No matter how others may try to bury the truth, your time of vindication will come. And this generation will have to hang its head in shame for its gutlessness.

      You showed genuine courage, creativity and a sense of nationalist pride we haven’t seen for 3 decades.

      So thank you for that.

      • Hear Hear well put wild katipo, maybe its the fact that we only have 4+ million people and not all voting age, to stand up to Key who owns police, judges, spy agency, MSM etc

        It needs someone like Laila and Hone to lead the charge,everyone is waiting for someone to follow.

      • Worth repeating for the trolls shills and utter morons ….

        “Good on you Laila, Hone and Kim Dotcom. Well done.

        No matter how others may try to bury the truth, your time of vindication will come. And this generation will have to hang its head in shame for its gutlessness.

        You showed genuine courage, creativity and a sense of nationalist pride we haven’t seen for 3 decades”.

  9. Thanks Laila, I truly believe, you, and Internet mana opened the eyes of many New Zealanders, not just for the election gone, but for overall future thinking about ‘what sort of country do we want for ourselves and our future generations to live in.’ I only hope those New Zealanders, with opened eyes, will tell their friends, who tell their friends and so on and so on…..

  10. Thankyou Laila and all the rest of you in Internet Mana, I voted

    for your party in the last election,nobody else came close in integrity,

    and courage and genuine intention in creating a fairer society and a

    healthier planet.We are not a democratic country so it wasn’t an even

    playing field leading up to the election for Internet Mana,most of the

    NZ Media is not interested in printing the truth,look what they did to

    Kim Dotcom with their lies,they are a disgrace! The odds are stacked

    against any movement, struggling to create awareness and positive

    change on this planet during this time,but that’s what we are here for.We don’t have to have a seat in government to succeed.

  11. I voted Internet/Mana because they were a fresh radical party that actually seemed to want to change things and look at a over haul of how NZ is actually operating into the future.

    I was sickened by the attitude of Labour who seemed like a ‘bully boy’ worse even than the National party of working to take down themselves, Greens, Internet Mana even through it was not in their best interests for a change in government. While being handed an enormous amount of ways to attack the government into the election and before (pike river, dirty politics, Judith Collins, Cameron Slater, Corruption CH earthquake, illegal search of KDC, asset sales, Americanization of defense, etc etc) they instead ran a strategy of not mentioning any of that (vote positive). Not sure why any one who want to vote Labour feels positive – it was like a slap in the face of anyone living in the country. It was like saying let them eat cake. Totally out of touch with voters. By publicly slamming MOT and making it personal made their swing voters hanging in there vote for someone else or not vote at all. Nobody wanted a rabble in charge and Labour LiteBlue with more taxes and less integrity but more bullying (internal, external) did not really feel like vote positive.

    The Greens just felt so mainstream. Just taking a pay cheque. Even though they probably had the best policies they just did not look active enough to get anything done. People want change and asking a few questions in parliament is not enough after 6 years of the Nats. They need to actually radically rethink how they are engaging with voters and how they can get their policies through. NZ actually needs action and also ways to engage with voters who many have views but no way to share them. Get radical Greens! If Laila Harre wants a meeting – don’t have minders keeping those radical people out. Try and engage with them. Like Labour you spend to much time with each other and have lost touch.

    I will probably get slammed for these views but 1 million did not vote. Confusing people with personal attacks does not make people vote. You need inspiration, strategy and a goal. You have to work together.

    Yep Labour might want to distance themselves from the Greens and Internet Mana – but why make it personal and give National a free ride into parliament? That is not serving their goals either. All they had to say was they were ‘deeply concerned with the allegations of the Internet Party and Nicky Hager and once in parliament would have a complete enquiry about Dirty Politics as this is NOT what this country is about and they will ROOT OUT any Corruption once elected’. Instead Labour about KDC “I’m sick of that Guy” and the Greens ‘ they are distracting from the issues”.

    Actually Corruption is an issue for many NZer’s but I guess marginalizing the victims is a lot easier that getting to the truth. They could get Roger Sutton as spokesperson.

    Lets face it Internet mana only got 1.6% of party votes – they were not the cause of the huge failure of Labour and Greens – they are in total denial if they believe this.

    And poor KDC was supported in polls by the public. Most Kiwis in a herald poll believed him not John Key around the election. It was only when the other political parties put the boot in with MSM that he was considered a mistake.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/your-views/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501154&objectid=11325032

    Watch this space as the actual story of KDC is so Hollywood that I can totally see a movie about it – hopefully Taika Waititi is interested! I would certainly ”give a little” to see that one funded. This could get as much tourism as Lord of the Rings. Not sure how it will end – but his story is going to be told and think how many different versions there would be.

    KDC is also a product of an art installation in the Venice Bianale this year – much to the horror of one of the biggest art patrons in NZ herself an ACT supporter.

    So I feel the most sorry for KDC in all this and the people of NZ who have to live with the biggest political botch up in NZ history.

    • Ungrateful , fickle voting public regards KDC. Happy to watch the fireworks, happy to hold their hands out to let him in the country, and then when they’ve used him up …hand him over to the FBI to answer a CIVIL case not a CRIMINAL case.

      Couldnt care less about doing some basic research into the FACTS about how John XkeySCORE blatantly lied about KDC , surveillance , ….

      How about the illegality of the raid on KDC’s mansion?…how about the illegality of the spying on him by the GSCB ? How about the illegality of KDC’s arrest?…as there was NO LEGAL WARRANT ISSUED!

      And wasnt it kind of strange it took 84 cops in military style swat uniforms absielling down from helicopters to arrest 2 men , a pregnanat woman and 2-3 young children? – was it John XkeySTROKE trying to impress Uncle Sam , here?

      GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY !! if that doesnt stir the people of this country up , what does?!!?

      So going by this country -its ok to spy , impound , arrest , and imprison someone and it all can be done ILLEGALLY !

      But John XkeySTROKE is ‘comfortable ‘ with all that- he can simply change the law to make anything work for him…never mind he ballsed it up a lot and changed the law AFTER the fact !!! …Hell ,…even then ..he had to be proven he was lying before he would admit it to the public !!!

      And does anyone remember the excellent documentary put together by John Cambell about Ian Fletcher and Key?…..and the dodgy contrived nature of his ( Fletcher’s ) selection ?….the arrival of the NSA security official arriving in New Zealand ….and the timeframe used to entrap KDC in NZ?

      The good old FBI slaps on the charge of Racketeering (which has no bearing at all on the charges btw…) to try to give credibility to a CIVIL case and somehow help turn it into a CRIMINAL case…so very contrived.

      And Mr John XkeySCORE ( compulsive liar and truth twister ) – who screwed the actors union here and ‘conveniently ‘ changed the law to suit him and his mates in Hollywood , is the same liar that enabled Slater to be enabled by Collins, who was enabled by Ede…2 doors down from John XkeySCORES office.

      Oh yes….the ‘ office’….

      And isnt it that a certain board of directors from the movie industry draws up blueprints regards copyright and other related matters which is then passed onto the commerce commission equivalent in USA which is then ratified by Congress?….and passed as legislation?

      The same ‘laws’ being drawn up as the framework for the TTPA?

      The same TTPA that has a clause 301 – that has massive punitive sanctions against any country that bucks the system?

      As I said previously ….the amount this country’s changed in a mere 35 years of neo liberal , lying agenda…the dumbing down , the division, the acceptance of corruption …reminds me of some Eastern Bloc country during the cold war…with an apathetic , demoralised population to boot !!

      Totally disgusted.

  12. The biggest lesson for me from the behaviour of the other parties towards IMp, was the removal of any remaining doubt that both sides of the spectrum are now dominated by an office-seeking political elite, and anyone who challenges that regime will be eliminated.

    Our political parties fail to reach consensus on issue after issue for years, but within a couple of weeks can unite as one to ensure Hone loses TTT? Demonstrates pretty clearly what’s really important to them.

    • You are never, ever going to change that via someone like Kim Dotcom, not ever, not here anyway, and actually I am glad about that.
      Having said that I hope that Mana finds a way back, not so sure about Internet but that will be mainly because of the generational thing going on.
      And I hope if Dotcom does find himself in front of an American court that he gets a fair trial. It bothers me somewhat that I will not be surprised if he doesn’t

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