Mana-Internet Roadshow hits Wellington

29
1

.

internet mana

.

Wellington, NZ, 4 August – The Mana-Internet Roadshow hit Wellington on a chilly Monday evening, with the event scheduled for the waterfront venue at Mac’s Brew Bar,  in Taranaki Street. The first sign of the event was the eye-catching bus, decorated in Mana-Internet livery, parked outside the old brick, brewery building;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

Inside, Mana-Internet activists were busy setting up for the 6pm start, arranging chairs, speaking podium, party merchandise and leaflets, etc. It was a hive of quiet, determined, activity. Note King Kapisi (middle image) at work on his board;

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

Party paraphernalia had sprung up throughout the hall;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014 (91)

.

Videographer, Gerhart, chatting with Mana Party Leader and MP for Te Tai  Tokerau, Hone Harawira;

.

 KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

.

Mana Party President, Annette Sykes, and the world’s first transgendered elected representative, Georgina Beyer – pausing from their chat to pose for cameras;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

Mana Leader, Hone Harawira, and Mana candidate for Rongotai, the dedicated Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

Eager young Mana-Internet activists on the main door, answering questions from members of the public;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

Interestingly, contrary to some bullshit being spun on social media, there was no “door charge” and neither were members of the public offered “freebies” of any description. The lies from certain individuals illustrates their desperation to undermine Mana-Internet’s credibility.

Meanwhile, former broadcaster and Alliance MP, the extraordinary Pam Corkery, and Internet Party leader, Laila  Harré, catching up and enjoying a quiet moment;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

Glenn McConnell, from The Beehive Mandate, interviewing Internet Party candidate, for Wellington Central, Callum Valentine (camera-person – off shot – Saeran);

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

During his speech later in the evening, Callum said,

“Throughout the ’80s we saw a rise of stark individualism, and I think from my point of view what my generation is trying to piece back together is a sense of community…”

Interesting, how the young folk understand the price we paid for neo-liberalism.

The public meeting was due to “kick off” at 6, and at 5.30, the hall was still mostly empty.

This blogger asked several activists if they were worried that the turnout would be low.  Without exception, every single Mana-Internet volunteer smiled or grinned with confidence and replied “wait and see“.

They were either hopelessly over-confident – or their experience on the road, travelling around the country had given them just cause to be confident.

They were not mistaken. By 5.50, the main part of hall looked like this;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

The rear part of the hall  filled quickly as extra chairs were laid out. By 6, there was standing room only;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

 

.

There have not been very many public political meetings where a minor party has drawn such numbers. These people were not political activists from the Left. Instead, they represented ordinary New Zealanders of all ages and ethnicity.

If this meeting had been publicised with a full page ad in the Dominion Post, this blogger believes that the Wellington Town Hall would have had to have been hired to cater for the numbers that would have attended. There seemed a feeling of  anticipation on the faces of many.

If  every hall in the country where the Roadshow has stopped was filled in the same way, then little wonder that John Key and certain right-wing Labour MPs are worried at the spectacular rise of Mana-Internet.

No wonder Mana-Internet cannot expect allies in any part of the political spectrum. This alliance of two tiny little parties has sprung from the fertile soil of discontent, and is quickly becoming a very real threat to the established political status quo of this country.

And it is little wonder that they are so hated by the mainstream media commentariate; they simply  don’t ‘get‘  why Mana-Internet is so popular.

As the hall filled to capacity (250-300, according to Brew Bar management), singer Matiu Te Hoki set the mood with several songs – including a few with audience participation. The response was enthusiastistic support  from most of the crowd;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

Internet Party candidate, Chris Yong, mc’d the event, and introduced guest speakers as they made their way up onto the stage;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

Wairangi Koopu (L),  professional rugby league player for the Pt Chev Pirates, and hip hop recording artist, King Kapisi (R), entertaining the crowd;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

.

Mana Party leader, Hone Harawira, spoke with wit, humour, and passion;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

Hone began  by explaining Mana’s fierce determination to fight the current National government. He said,

This country is being driven to poverty. That too many of our people are being driven to homeless. Too many of our young people are being driven into unemployment. A lot of them just get on the plane and go to Oz… simply because this government is committed to maximising the wealth for their friends. It’s not a society that I want, it’s not a society that Mana wants.”

He then gave a brief background into how the idea for an alliance between Mana and the Internet Party had come about;

So as we moved closer towards this election, I started thinking about how we could lift our game. How could we raise our voice. How could we engage with wider audiences. How could we get our  our message out to a greater public.

Now, I didn’t know how to do it. I was struggling with the ideas – watching, of course,  while all sorts of other people were trying all kinds of deals. Then I was sitting down and talking to some young fellas at my Kura at home and one of them, a 17 year old, says to me, ‘You know this Kim Dotcom guy? Do you mind if I left Mana and joined the Internet Party?’

I walked away and I had a really good think about it. And then I came back to him, and sat  down and talked to him some more. And what I realised was that our kids, Maori kids I’m talking about, and I imagine all kids, they’re ready to ‘fly’. They’re ready to chase that internet dream. And yet politics was stuck in a quagmire. Much of a muchness. Sameness after sameness. Nobody being prepared to to step outside the box and do something different.”

He said, “that young fella basically challenged me to do something about it“.

So I thought to myself, I’ve been getting these calls from this guy, lives up in Coatsville. Big mansion up the road on the North Shore. Might be time to take that call.

Took the call.

We sat down. We had a bit of a korero. Well I’ll tell you, he talks like nobody I’ve ever met met before.

Hone added, to audience laughter,

Not just because he’s German, either.”

Hone described Kim Dotcom’s credibility by the way he spoke on certain issues, and how those same issues mattered to young people that Hone listened to.

Hone then went to to relate the reaction of Mana Party membership when he disclosed to them that he had been in discussion with Kim Dotcom. He said he knew there was a big risk in what he was considering. He described their reaction;

Mate, the response was almost universal. 99.5% – ‘what the —- do you think you’re doing! But as they heard more, as they learnt more, they realised that there’s something happening here.

He explained how such a strategic alliance would be the catalyst to “lifting our game”.

Hone then went on to describe the necessity of finding a leader for an Internet-Mana alliance,

So when it became possible  that that leader might,  just might be Laila Harré, I’m thinking to myself, ‘If we could pull this  off, this could go down  as the biggest strategic move in politics in 2014‘.”

Many in the audience clapped enthusiastically at that point.

Hone said that “we either got Laila, or else there would be no deal“.

So when we signed a deal between Mana and the Internet Party for the creation of Internet-Mana, I knew what the rest of the country didn’t know was that the deal was going to be done because I  have a comrade standing alongside me that I could be proud of, that I would be proud to stand on any front line with, and will be proud to sit back and let her do all the driving.”

Hone added that whilst Mana-Internet might not have “all the right things to say“, that people wanted change. He was adamant that was why Mana-Internet was enjoying packed halls around the country.

Where we are now, everybody, is we’re  in a position  to take politics to a whole different world. We’re in a position to completely change the way people view politics.”

After strong applause, Hone introduced the next speaker…

Kim Dotcom – one of the freshest things to hit New Zealand politics since the Green Party’s Nandor Tanczos – addressed the audience with his usual waggish, cheeky style. (One of the reasons Dotcom might be so popular with ordinary folk? He possesses a strong streak of that  Kiwi trait of anti-authoritarianism, that ferments just below the surface of our docile sheeplike-veneer, and which  was cleverly epitomised in the 1981 iconic classic movie, ‘Goodbye Pork Pie‘.)

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014-631.jpg

 

.

Kim gave his greeting in Maori and welcomed those in attendence;

“Very nice to see so many people show up here tonight, in Wellington, in the ‘belly of the beast’! Isn’t this exciting?

We have had this happening every night for the last four weeks. There is something happening in this country. There is an appetite for this.”

With his trademark humour, and wry jabs at the establishment, Kim said,

“Because we are in Wellington tonight, I want to ask every staff member of the GCSB, please raise their hand… I know there are a couple of them here. Alright, so let me address you first.

Please don’t worry even though we’re going to shut you down, we will find you guys jobs.”

Kim then related the lead-up to the creation of the Internet Party. He referred to the Holloywood-style raid on his property; the closing down of his business; the illegal aspects to the search  of seizure of his property; the spying on eighty-eight other New Zealanders by the GCSB; and how he and his wife, Mona, had been supported by many of his neighbours. He said that with the seizure of all their assets, they survived on the generosity of neighbours who brought them food, and one even loaned him a car to use.

Kim said the this support increased massively after his interview with TV3’s John Campbell.

He described the government’s closing down of his business, Mega-Upload, as an “over-reach” carried out without a trial.

Kim explained how his now-defunct business, Mega-Upload operated, and that in effect it was similar to a very big external hard-drive. He said people could upload their files for storage or to share with others. It was not a pirating service, he explained, though some users did carry out such activities. He likened his business to the old VHS video tapes which Hollywood at one time tried to curtail, because they could be used to copy commercial movies.

Kim also explained why current practices by Hollywood played into the hands of movie-pirates, by delaying release of movies by several months in different parts of the world. This, he said, was done to maximise profits. The consequence was,

“So they are actually responsible for the creation of the piracy problem, simply by the way they are doing business. Because even if a New Zealander wants to access a movie legally and is happy to pay for it, [they] can’t find it, and the only way to find it is on Google and through an illegal  download. Well then that’s really a problem Hollywood should solve and isn’t really a problem for service providers like myself or the users.”

Kim then changed tack and described a “total lack of vision” when it came to the digital economy. He berated the lack of cellphone coverage in many areas of New Zealands and asked, “is this Zimbabwe or New Zealand?”

He condemned a focus on primary production as limiting our economy, and failing to “take this country forward”.

Kim digressed at one point and outlined his previous criminal convictions in Germany. He said he was 19 when he had hacked NASA because he was curious if they knew of the existence of aliens.

This drew loud laughter from the audience.

“I didn’t find anything”, he lamented. The laughter from the audience increased.

He then hacked Citibank to make a donation of $20 million to Greenpeace because he thought the organisation deserved a donation because “I thought they were good for the environment and stuff”. More laughter from the audience, and some clapping.

After which he hacked a credit rating agency to set the credit rating for the Prime Minister to zero, “because I didn’t like the guy”. This drew even more laughter, cheers, and a round of applause.

Kim said that at his trial, the judge pointed out that he should use his talents and knowledge for the benefit of society. What followed next could only happen in a civilised society with a brilliant sense of humour.  The judge said Kim should use his skills to improve on-line security for businesses, to protect them from other hackers;

“To make their networks secure. I thought that’s a good idea so I wrote a business plan. I went to my government and I said I’ve just been convicted, can I please have a million dollars for my new business. And they gave it to me.”

The audience laughed with delight.

“So they gave me a million dollar loan, 20 years interest free. Didn’t have to pay anything back for 20 years. Within a year I had fifty staff and in another year later I already paid it all  back.

We don’t have anything like this in New Zealand.

There are a lot of young people here with great ideas. If they had programmes like that, we would would have in ten ten years down the road a much better, a much bigger workforce; more jobs.”

Kim said many other countries also had such programmes which invested heavily in the minds of young people.

The right wing and some in the media commentariat have no hesitation in pillorying Dotcom’s misguided youth. But when they condemn a person for his illegal actions as a 19 year old, you just have to wonder where their heads are at.

Kim then told the audience of something else that bothered him; the New Zealand tertiary education loan system. He said that the Mana-Internet Party would remove all fees and provide free tertiary education for all students.

That announcement was greeted enthusiastically by the audience.

“Let me explain why. Because what’s currently happening is that we are asking our future, our [human] capital of this country, to study and get brighter and smarter and be able to create and build something with that knowledge. But we are putting them in a position where they have their first mortgage before they even started their professional life. They are indebted so much that  they are looking for jobs abroad that are usually paying a bit more than in New Zealand. They are leaving this country; they build a network of friends there. Some start a family there and they never come back.

And how is that smart for this country if you send our best people – our biggest chance to increase our market share in the digital economy – away. It makes no sense at all… Why not make that investment in you for you to stay here and use your capacity that you have up here [indicated head], to make life better for all of us.”

Kim then turned his attention to Hone Harawira, seated on-stage beside him, and told the audience that the Mana Party leader was committed to resolving inequality in New Zealand. He said that we had a huge problem in this country and that our society was not fair.

Kim said that we needed to re-establish a social fairness contract, making sure that those who had the least were supported and looked after.

He thanked Hone for the partnership between them.

Kim turned to Laila Harre and described her as “an amazing source of power”. After the Mana-Internet alliance had been announced, Kim said that the media attacks on her were vicious. He said,

“But she stood her ground and she said, ‘so what?'”

He thanked Laila for her participation and taking the movement to a “whole new level”.

Kim then paid tribute to Mana-Internet’s young candidates as the best at their fields. He said that they did not “think like politicians“, they thought like the many young people in the room.

He said that young people would be instrumental in the growth of the internet economy and the growth of GDP.

Kim said we could take our market share in the world economy and lift our standard of living for all. He said this would increase incomes so people could afford housing and other consumer goods to make their lives better. He said all other industries would also benefit from a tech-boom.

Kim said that South Korea had already transitioned to a tech economy. He said the South Koreans had had an economy similar to New Zealand’s until they made the conscious decision to turn their society into a high-tech society, with high-speed broadband into every home. In the process, they went from unemployment at over 10% to 2.6%.

Kim said there was “no secret” to achieving such a transformation. He said it could be done, and New Zealand could do it.

He said,

“We are in a position in New Zealand where we have so many smart young people that are hungry for an opportunity like that, so let’s give it to them with Internet Mana this year.”

Kim was followed by another well-known New Zealander.

She might be sick and in the midst of medical treatment, but the vivacious Georgina Beyer was a firebrand, speaking with  powerful  determination, and  attacking the Foreshore and Seabed Act, as well as the current government.

Georgina described the intense pressure that Labour’s Maori MPs had come under to vote for the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. One by one, except for Tariana Turia – who she paid tribute to – they folded. When she requested that she be allowed to abstain from the Bill, the Labour Party caucus howled her down.

She expressed her deepest regret that she had voted for the Foreshore and Seabed Act. She said,

“I committed a great shame under the Helen Clarke, Labour-led government; the Foreshore and Seabed [Bill]. That was the greatest Treaty breach in modern history…it did an absolute injustice to Maori.”

It had been the pivotal moment when she could no longer stomach being a member of parliament, and resigned shortly thereafter. Georgina said that Labour did not deserve to win back the Maori seats, because of the way they had abused their Maori MPs.

Joining the Internet-Mana campaign, she said, was her way of attrition for her mistake.

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

[Note: apologies for heavy red-tone to above image. My camera did not “like” some of the overhead spotlighting, from certain angles. – FM]

.

After Hone’s stirling introduction of Georgina, she described the  “despair and desperation” that was impacting on many people in this country. She illustrated by launching into a furious condemnation of the 90 Day Trial period for new employees, outlining how she had lost her job to an unsympathetic employer,

“When I did get a job at [employer’s name redacted] in Masterton, the goddamn 90 day fire-at-will clause got me sacked! Why? Because I wanted to practice democracy in the 2010 mayoral democracy.”

She added, “Watch out when I get back there [to Parliament] – it’s [90 Day Trial Period law] going!”

Georgina said that the Unions needed to be strengthened after being decimated the last couple of decades. She said that when people are employed, that they should feel safe and be paid properly.

Georgina described walking into the WINZ office as “de-humanising” and must be changed. She accused Work & Income’s previous CEO, Christine Rankin of creating a climate that was more like a correctional facility, complete with security guard(s) at the door.

Paula Bennett’s figures for reduced numbers on welfare was treated with derision and  challenged,

“Paula Bennett sits in Parliament, rabbitting away about the wonderful figures of the employment rates coming down. She’s shifting them around!

I’ve chaired the social services select committee for four years. I know the ‘jiggery-pokery’ that goes on, and the goddamn fiddles to make them look good. She’s telling you porkies!”

Georgina said Bennett wanted everyone to think “everything was going well, under this rock star economy“.

She added she was seeing the “hurt and the hate” that was being created in communities, and said there was little wonder that society was stressed and resulting in growing violence and abuse.

Georgina recounted her recent trip to Christchurch where she had been handed a report by Te Puawaitanga Ki Otautahi Trust  on social problems affecting that city. She described the report as sobering;

“It’s about whanau housing, post-earthquake, down in Christchurch. Just one thing I’d like to share with you which I just think is atrocious, and it may well be happening in other areas around New Zealand, South Auckland, Northland, where-ever like that. Women are terminating their pregnancies because they don’t want to bring a child into the shit, crap places that they’re living in.

They’re cold, they’re damp, they’re rat infest[ed]. Now Christchurch, yes, is an exceptional situation right now. But you’d think after nearly two or three years they would’ve got those sorts of problems sorted,  while making crap deals with Skycity and convention centres in Auckland, [and] building roads of national significance around the country…

… building stadiums that really aren’t necessary while people in our country are going cold, and tired, and starving, and children who are getting skin diseases…”

Georgina demanded to know,

“Is this the New Zealand we want to live in?”

When the audience replied “no!” in loud unision, Georgina responded that the government had to change, as well as people’s attitudes about our growing social problems.

If her strength that night was anything to go by, once her health improves she’ll make the ‘Energiser Bunny’ look like a wimp in comparison.

Georgina was followed by Annette Sykes, Rotorua lawyer, activist, and champion for  Māori independence;

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

[Note: apologies for heavy red-tone to above image. My camera did not “like” some of the overhead spotlighting, from certain angles. – FM]

.

Annette opened by saying she was proud to be part of a relationship that was built on mutual respect between both parties. She said,

“It’s important that we make choices that are wise, choices that can be reviewed, but [also] choices that aren’t just good for Maori but are good for all of this country. And that is why I’m really proud to be part of a relationship agreement that is building on those fundamentals; mutual respect. A desire to see all sectors of society, the poor and the rich, making a  contribution [and] also receiving a benefit from their participation in this government.”   

Annette confirmed Hone’s description of how his suggestion for an alliance between Mana and Internet was received by the membership;

“I was [part of] the 99.5% at Mana. I was the one that Hone had to persuade the most. I was really suspicious about the relationship. But I had to take my hat off to Mr Dotcom, because there’s very few pakeha that would dare to walk into the Mana AGM, and subject themselves to the kind of cross-examination that Mr Dotcom did. And I can tell you it was without mercy.

He was asked [about] everything. How would he feel about our first policy of course, [which] is to tax the rich? How would he feel about us promoting quite candidly policies that stopped the $1.4 billion of benefit cuts that are being taken from the poor, and reversing the tax cuts on the rich and then substituting them with things like  a Universal Basic Income?

Substituting them with a Capital Gains Tax? Substituting them with a tax on the toys that boys like to play with; you know, fast cars and flash boats.”

Annette continued,

“And he handled it. He handled it with an aplomb. I see a number of my socialist comrades here, and they will testify for the questions that he stood up to. And weren’t any easy questions, even for the most, I think, weather[ed] politician like Hone. They are real fundamental questions, like did he agree that we should stop foreign sales like the kind that are going through the back door at Taupo? Right now, as we speak?

Should we be putting in safeguards to protect [us from] the  privatisation of our most fundamental assets from going offshore? And in all of those questions he came up with the single answer which is Mana policy. We have to take the power back from the National Party. We have to put the power back into the community where it belongs.”

Annette had a message for the mainstream media which seemed obsessed with Kim Dotcom, Mana, and the Internet Party;

“When he enters a room, yep, he’s got plenty of money. Stop talking about his money, please. He’s a man with a mind and a mission. That’s really important. The mind of the man, the intellectual largesse that he brought into our meeting house at Ngati te Arere, is what we saw.”

She gave this parting advice,

“Stop listening to the TV [and] start listening to your hearts.”

The next speaker was another well-known New Zealander; Laila Harré. She explained her reasons for joining the new Mana-Internet alliance;

.

mana internet party roadshow - wellington - 4 august 2014

[Note: apologies for heavy red-tone to above image. My camera did not “like” some of the overhead spotlighting, from certain angles. – FM]

.

With obvious pride in her voice, Laila told the audience;

“…From the the north of the North Island we have filled halls in Kaitaia, in Kaipoi, in Kerikeri, then we ran out of towns starting with ‘K’ in Northland so we filled the hall in Whangarei.

We went back to “K” and with a full hall, pouring with people, in my political turangawaewae, the Kelston Community Centre in West Auckland.

And onwards from there to Rotorua, where Annette Sykes rocked the town with one of the biggest political meetings to have been held there, in a generation.

On to Hamilton, then to New Plymouth, on to Whanganui, yesterday in Palmerston North, and now in Wellington. And we are reaching thousands and thousands of people through these direct communications, in the halls, and town halls, and school halls of New Zealand and we are changing politics!”

Laila was ‘working’ the crowd with a voice that was soft, yet steeled with  determination. She had a message she wanted to give, and nothing short of Wellington’s ‘The Big One’ would get in her way.

She told the audience she was the recipient of two extraordinary gifts. The first was Kim Dotcom’s gift, to those New Zealanders who felt disconnected and disenfranchised from the established political system. She spoke of the Internet Party building a new movement that would create a new voice in politics.

She said the second gift was the alliance of the Mana Movement  with the Internet Party. Laila spoke of votes counting as people voted for the Internet-Mana alliance, and predicted that Hone Harawira would win Te Tai Tokerau for a fourth term.

There was an outburst of applause when she said that, and again when she predicted that Annette Sykes would win the electorate seat in Waiariki.

The crowd erupted into louder applause when Laila took a swipe at coat-tailing media commentators (commentators who seemed to focus primarily on Mana-Internet . With defiance, she said,

“I have no shame at all in going into Parliament on his coat-tails and on her apron-strings!”

Laila also sent a message to her colleagues in the Trade Union movement. She said,

“My message is this. Progressive politics is about constantly building and inventing and reinventing the way that we enghage the people and make a difference on their behalf. Progressive politics is about alliances and this alliance and the the Intertnet Party’s developement gives us the opportunity as progressive New Zealanders to connect a whole lot of people to the power of progressive politics who have become disillusioned with it, or who have seen their only opportunities  being to give in to the craven individualism promoted by the New Right in this country, because nothing else has looked better or more attractive to them for a long time. And the trade union movement has always been about strategic alliances; about clever politics; about being brave and standing up for what we see as fair and just, and this alliance has the capacity to change the government in September. And that is what the working people and the unemployed people of this country need to happen desperately.”

Laila then “sent a message” to Wellington, and it was simple and to the point;

“We don’t have a rock star economy!”

She said that the Mana-Internet roadtrip had visited many communities and told the audience, “you would be horrified at the propaganda by this government sold to New Zealanders over the last six years“!

The disgust in Laila’s voice was apparent. She expressed her horror at the loss of decent, affordable health services, especially in the regional communities. Laila’s exasperation was evident when she said she had believed many critical health problems had been solved – but instead many poor families and young mothers  faced prohibitively high medical, doctor’s or prescriptions charges. She said,

“When they fêted Tony Ryall when he finished his term as Health Minister, they weren’t  fêting him for improving our public health system. They were fêtinghim for keeping the horror stories of  our health system off the front page of our newspapers for the last six years. And I want to know why the Opposition has been asleep on the job, because I have heard stories in the last four weeks that I was hearing fifteen years ago at the beginning of the health services crisis in this country, that I believed to be fixed. And I’m going to raise those issues in Parliament, in Wellington in [drowned out by applause and cheering].”

Laila added,

“We have an inequality crisis in this country. And it is a crisis that has been building and growing for thirty years. Now 285,000 children live in houses with incomes below the poverty line.

That’s almost become a cliche, hasn’t it? In the circles that we mix in – just an accepted reality. 285,000 New Zealand children whose parents don’t have a large enough income to provide for the very, very, most basic necessities of life. It’s a disgrace!

And if we think that we have an inequality problem now,  let’s just look twenty years ahead, at what that time bomb means for the capacity of New Zealand to cope and to lead in the digital technical age.”

She said it was a disgrace that over 200,000 New Zealand school children had no internet access in their homes, saying it deprived them of knowledge to lead our economy in twenty years’ time.

Laila explained,

“Internet-Mana represents a very different kind of politics and there’s a few people out there including some of our friends, who are finding ourt new kind of politics quite confusing. It’s like ‘did we give you permission to do this’? Well actually, we don’t need permission to participate in the democracy of our country and neither do you,” pointing to the audience.

Laila said that Mana-Internet took away the sugarcoating, to dress things up, to spin things, and to pretend there is nothing really wrong with this country. She said Mana-Internet would lift the responsibility from the shoulders from all those burdened by the way things were in New Zealand.

She said she was giving  fair warning to the National Party and mainstream media, that she would be attending the Helensville electorate meeting on 11 August, where John Key would be making his one and only public appearance (how very ‘big’ of him, I thought). As the rapturous applause died away, Laila grinned and said matter-of-factly,

“I know it’s a long shot.”

She said she would be fronting to John Key, to engage with the Prime Minister on his record, and how he had abdicated his responsibility for a decent future for this country’s children.

Laila said she would demand that he bring along the text of the secret TPPA document, so we could know in advance which rules and laws we would be allowed to pass, and which ones we were not.

She asked, “wouldn’t it be kind of decent” to know what we were signing up to?

Laila then announced clearly and succintly,

“We are not going to support a National government, that’s for sure. But we’re also not going to support Labour to sign the TPPA!”

The audience cheered and clapped loudly at that policy announcement. It was clear that there was no public support in that hall for the TPPA, or that it was held in secrecy by the National government.

Laila also said she was going to ask the Prime Minister “to give us just a little bit more information” than what he gave to the Auditor-General on his conversation with SkyCity which
completely gutted normal rule of law and procurement processes“, and which changed the laws surrounding gambling to suit the corporate agenda of the casino in Auckland.

Laila called SkyCity “the biggest corporate pariah” in the country.

She said,

“I want to know what went on, and we do not stand committed to that [Skycity convention centre] contract.”

Laila said that the pokies that had been gradually eliminated from Auckland would now be returned to SkyCity. She said that the convention centre deal was funded on the backs of problem gamblers.

Laila said she would be asking the Prime Minister what really happened with respect to to Kim Dotcom’s permanent residence application, and,

“… did he really not know about Kim Dotcom until one day before the raid?”

She would be asking the Prime Minister to account for the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom and eightyeight other New Zealanders.

Judging by Laila’s powerful combination of fierce intellect, wit, and passion, Key would be in for a ‘bumpy’ ride that night.

In parting, Laila gave the audience a message to which they seemed very receptive;

“You can make that happen on September 20th… This is an opportunity to put some honest, brave, and smart voices into Parliament and to deliver a new kind of message and a new kind of politics to this country…

…we can change not just government, we can change politics forever.”

She added,

“Whatever the polls are telling us, the outcome of this election does not depend on the people who vote National. The outcome of this election will depend on those people who don’t.”

.

Postscript 1

Going by the lack of media (except for a sole Radio NZ reporter)  coverage of the Roadshow event in Wellington,  one thing seems clear; the mainstream media has no idea how to deal with the Mana-Internet alliance.

Is it a passing fad? Something fleeting that will vanish like so many other small parties have come-and-gone over the years?

Or is it something new? Something that is a radical step-change in politics in the 21st Century?

One thing that struck me was the age of most of those involved; they were young people in their late teens and twenties.

It is my belief that politics in the 21st century belongs to a new, younger generation… and they are slowly awakening.

The msm has no idea of what is coming. And if they do, they have no idea how to frame it.

The Rule Book on Politics has just been chucked out the window.

Postscript 2

This is Leo…

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

After the roadshow, we had dinner at Wellington’s iconic Green Parrot Cafe, a block away from the Brew Bar

We met Leo, one of the hard-working staff at the Green Parrot. He casually enquired if we’d just come from a gig and we replied that we had – the Kim Dotcom Roadshow ‘gig’.  Conversation turned to what Dotcom was trying to achieve with the Mana-Internet Party; to shake up the political system.

Leo said he had not taken much notice of politics, but he had heard of Dotcom and the hassles he was having. Even though he was entitled to vote, he hadn’t last time.

I replied,

“Well, if you don’t vote, you’re letting someone else decide your future.”

Leo got that immediatly and we chatted more. He said he wasn’t sure who he would vote for – but was adamant “it won’t be for that guy, John Key“.

The more we chatted, the more we realised that Leo was the archetypal young non-voter. He said politics didn’t seem very relevant in his life.

I encouraged him to check out the Mana-Internet or Green parties, as he might find relevance with either one.  Whoever he chose, it was important that he cast his vote. He said,

Yeah, I’m going to look into it…

One of the ‘Missing Million’  –  may no longer missing.

.


 

References

Maori TV: Internet Mana roadshow meets Kaitaia

Radio NZ:  Internet Mana takes aim at Labour

The Beehive Mandate

Rotorua Daily Post: Internet Mana launches campaign in Rotorua

TV3: King Kapisi sent out to rally young voters

Te Puawaitanga Ki Otautahi Trust: Housing survey

Mana Party:  Annette Sykes to launch campaign for Waiariki Annette Sykes, MANA candidate for Waiariki

Related

Fairfax media: Te Tai Tokerau tangles

Fairfax media: PM quiet on Dotcom’s ‘f*** John Key’ rally

Previous related blogposts

Labour’s collapse in the polls – why?

The Mana-Internet Alliance – My Thoughts

The secret of National’s success – revealed

Political Identification Chart for the upcoming Election

The Media will respond to Kim Dotcom’s up-coming revelations professionally, impartially, and with all due diligence

Patrick Gower – losing his rag and the plot

Other Blogs

The Daily Blog:  No Cookies! But maybe the balance of power. Why Kelvin Davis and the Labour Right are so scared of Internet-Mana.

The Daily Blog:  Cunliffe on Internet MANA, how ungrateful is Kelvin Davis & how we know Labour’s vote isn’t collapsing

 

.


 

.

vote mana labnour green

Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes

.

.

= fs =

Judging by Laila’s powerful combination of fierce intellect, wit, and passion, Key would be in for a ‘bumpy’ ride that night.

.

Postscript 1

Going by the lack of media (except for a sole Radio NZ reporter)  coverage of the Roadshow event in Wellington,  one thing seems clear; the mainstream media has no idea how to deal with the Mana-Internet alliance.

Is it a passing fad? Something fleeting that will vanish like so many other small parties have come-and-gone over the years?

Or is it something new? Something that is a radical step-change in politics in the 21st Century?

One thing that struck me was the age of most of those involved; they were young people in their late teens and twenties.

It is my belief that politics in the 21st century belongs to a new, younger generation… and they are slowly awakening.

The msm has no idea of what is coming. And if they do, they have no idea how to frame it.

The Rule Book on Politics has just been chucked out the window.

Postscript 2

This is Leo…

.

mana-internet-party-roadshow-wellington-4-august-2014

.

After the roadshow, we had dinner at Wellington’s iconic Green Parrot Cafe, a block away from the Brew Bar

We met Leo, one of the hard-working staff at the Green Parrot. He casually enquired if we’d just come from a gig and we replied that we had – the Kim Dotcom Roadshow ‘gig’.  Conversation turned to what Dotcom was trying to achieve with the Mana-Internet Party; to shake up the political system.

Leo said he had not taken much notice of politics, but he had heard of Dotcom and the hassles he was having. Even though he was entitled to vote, he hadn’t last time.

I replied,

“Well, if you don’t vote, you’re letting someone else decide your future.”

Leo got that immediatly and we chatted more. He said he wasn’t sure who he would vote for – but was adamant “it won’t be for that guy, John Key“.

The more we chatted, the more we realised that Leo was the archetypal young non-voter. He said politics didn’t seem very relevant in his life.

I encouraged him to check out the Mana-Internet or Green parties, as he might find relevance with either one.  Whoever he chose, it was important that he cast his vote. He said,

Yeah, I’m going to look into it…

One of the ‘Missing Million’  –  may no longer missing.

.


 

References

Maori TV: Internet Mana roadshow meets Kaitaia

Radio NZ:  Internet Mana takes aim at Labour

The Beehive Mandate

Rotorua Daily Post: Internet Mana launches campaign in Rotorua

TV3: King Kapisi sent out to rally young voters

Te Puawaitanga Ki Otautahi Trust: Housing survey

Mana Party:  Annette Sykes to launch campaign for Waiariki Annette Sykes, MANA candidate for Waiariki

Related

Fairfax media: Te Tai Tokerau tangles

Fairfax media: PM quiet on Dotcom’s ‘f*** John Key’ rally

Previous related blogposts

Labour’s collapse in the polls – why?

The Mana-Internet Alliance – My Thoughts

The secret of National’s success – revealed

Political Identification Chart for the upcoming Election

The Media will respond to Kim Dotcom’s up-coming revelations professionally, impartially, and with all due diligence

Patrick Gower – losing his rag and the plot

Other Blogs

The Daily Blog:  No Cookies! But maybe the balance of power. Why Kelvin Davis and the Labour Right are so scared of Internet-Mana.

The Daily Blog:  Cunliffe on Internet MANA, how ungrateful is Kelvin Davis & how we know Labour’s vote isn’t collapsing

 

.


 

.

vote mana labnour green

Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes

.

.

= fs =

29 COMMENTS

  1. Many thanks for this commentary Frank. It’s a pity msm can’t get over itself and do its intended job of attending and reporting objectively on the political campaigning of ALL parties, instead of running with FJK and his piddly mob of miscreants.

    Without your input here, those of us outside Wellington wouldn’t have known anything about this meeting. Well done IMP and Frank.

    I’m sure the emergence of the IMP alliance, has FJK and the right on edge, giving them some sleepless nights! Good!

    A question Frank. Will you be in attendance at the Helensville electorate meeting tomorrow evening, where Hone and Laila will challenge FJK? If not, I hope TDB has someone there to report on the proceedings, because I expect msm will spin its usual pro FJK lies and BS!

    That meeting should be a firecracker!

  2. Thanks for the comprehensive report Frank, I see the Roadtrip https://www.facebook.com/InternetPartyNZ/events
    is going to some places many MPs and not just Tory ones, wouldn’t like their car to break down in–Porirua, Lower Hutt, Gisborne and Whakatane along with a few Nat enclaves as well such as Tauranga.

    I went to the West Auckland Kelston Community Centre meeting, great atmosphere there too at the elevated Westie venue. Slightly older and browner crowd though. In contrast to “you know who’s” Kumeu Baptist Church candidates meeting tomorrow (Mon 11) you can mention anyones name and even ask live unvetted questions of Mr Dotcom!

    Politics as it should be.

    • Cheers for that, Tiger.

      It was a ‘marathon’ to put that piece together (had to leave out so much good stuff).

      I think you’ve hit it on the head; Internet-Mana is connecting with people at places that MSP (mainstream politicians) normally leave out.

      Maybe the real reason why citizens don’t pack halls out anymore isn’t that they’ve “lost interest” – but that there’s no message being offered they can resonate with.

      I’m thinking that there’s a fair chance IMP can achieve 5% this year…

  3. Fantastic write-up Frank!

    Just a couple of small points; you have repeated your postscripts & references. Also, I imagine Beyer wanted to show; contrition, rather than; “attrition for her mistake” in voting for the Seabed & Foreshore bill.

  4. A great event and great reporting Frank.

    I wonder though if Kim Dotcom should not cast his net a little wider than youth – I’m thinking of U3A, which is very popular in my home town, a large community of older people who often took up the internet to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren abroad. The folk I’ve met from this group would be pretty receptive to his ideas, and they might have a few ideas for him too.

    • Thanks, Mistery. And yes, I agree, I think we’re seeing some very new in our political scene. It’s like our political processes and internet culture are finally beginning to merge…

      When a whole bunch of young people can get passionately engaged in slagging off our much beloved (*cough*) Dear Leader, then something new is happening.

      No wonder the Hootons, Farrars, Gowers, Cosgroves, Robinsons, etc, of the establisment are upset, perplexed, and in a tizzy… they don’t understand what is happening.

      Then again, I’m trying to get my head around it as well. The closest I can come to is the Youth Culture of the 1960s and ’70s, but without the Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out aspects.

      Maybe call it the Digital Age Youth Culture, when young people act collectively in a kind of quasi “hive-mind” to attack the Established Order which Baby Boomers have left them – user pays, high education costs, student debt, unaffordable houses, massive private debt, cut social services… and perhaps most importantly, a disconnected feeling from society.

      Remember how our parents (of us Baby Boomers) railed against the “young folk of today with their protest movements, free love, anti-establishmentarism [spelt without Google!], wars, etc”?

      Well, it’s happening today. Here is NZ.

      The Hootons, Farrars, Gowers, Cosgroves, Robinsons, etc, are right to be fearful and threatened. The youth of today, they are a rebellin’. And more still,

      …the times, they are a changin’…

  5. Frank.

    Can you please help me to find the list of candidates by electorate for this election.

    I have been looking and cannot locate one.

    The one I did find doesn’t even list IMP as a Party, and I cannot find any IMP candidate for the Nelson region, or many other regions.

    I think IMP may have cut themselves short on candidates?

  6. I was there too Frank. Well done, brilliant review of proceedings, strange to think that a few years ago the ability to publish your review and have me read it would not have been possible but there ya go, the times they are a changin….

  7. “Throughout the ’80s we saw a rise of stark individualism, and I think from my point of view what my generation is trying to piece back together is a sense of community…”

    I have so much hope via the millennial generation in NZ.

    They do seem to be more community focussed than prior generations. Its exactly what NZ needs!

    Now to just get them out and voting! There are about the same number of millennial’s as baby boomers! They could really change the face of NZ not just politically, but our whole society!

  8. Frank, this is an amazing effort on your part. So many of us are too old to get to these meetings, but it is so heartening to read what is being said by these amazing candidates.
    At the end of the day we should be thankful that Key and Banks kicked KDC in the guts, because it was their treachery which opened his eyes to this corrupt government and what they do when the big guys pull the strings.
    This kind of puts KDC in the same picture as the Tuhoe people, but the difference being that he has money to assist others who may be next in line when the GCSB comes calling. Kia Kaha Internet Mana.

  9. Brilliant Frank! …. that’s what I have noticed too…. the people they are reaching along the way … all ages, all walks of life…. the kiwis who have had enough! (including me). Exciting times!

  10. Wow outstanding. Lets get the dinosaurs that live in their square, privileged entitled, corrupt boxes out of ‘ the belly of the beast’, I love that quote, and give the power back to the people. Nationals pontificating of IP reminds me of a previous statement made by a dolly the sheep lover, they will be the last taxi off the rank. We all know how that worked out.
    we are now directly challenging their old boys club mentality. What they thought was irrelevant and a joke now has the power to throw them out. We watch and support you with bated breathe : )

Comments are closed.