GUEST BLOG: Finn Jackson – F**k John Key- what the bystanders haven’t realised

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Everyone has been force-fed the line that the Internet Mana video of students chanting what we’re all thinking, “F*ck John Key”, is the product of a Nazi-style political rally of drunk and stupid students. I’ll leave it to Bomber, Frank and co to explain why this is completely wrong. What I want to write about is the underlying indications the video gives out, which no-one seems to have picked up on.

Let’s start at the beginning. Where was the video filmed? In Christchurch, where we’ve been living in a broken city for four years. That’s more than half of National’s time in office. That’s the whole of the last political term. We’ve been living in a city  filled with collapsed  and damaged buildings, liquefaction, and freezing homes. Then more recently, there have been massive areas of empty land, dotted with the not-so-occasional pile of rubble, and buildings still waiting to be assessed by engineers, four years after the September 2010  7.1 earthquake, three years after the February 22 6.4 earthquake.

Throw in nearly 15,000 aftershocks and the massive amount of bureaucratic organisations, such as CERA, EQC, ECAN, and those fucking insurance companies, and there’s a basic idea of what we’ve been going through.

But then remember the floods, the geography of our schools changing, a pretty much broke council (though of course they aren’t as bad as Bob Parker and Tony Marryatt), the fact that areas of Brighton now sink at high tide, the complete lack of a rebuild.

Now you can begin to get an idea of the financial, democratic and physical damage done to our city. But of course you don’t hear about that. What we hear about is the shiny new convention city given to us by that nice Mr Brownlee, and that stadium. Neither of which,  frankly, anyone gives a shit about at the moment, because we’re more concerned with our own homes and lives, our families and friends than we are about continuing the neo-liberal experiment of business, business, business.

Why should we have to pay for a rugby stadium, when the Rugby Union made a large surplus in the last financial year? And why should we have to pay for basically a giant mall in the old CBD, when everyone knows that that area is dead? The business districts have moved outwards, and the old area is only kept alive through Re:Start container mall (tourists), Ballantyne’s, and the bus exchange being there.

The feelings of anger and resentment are not limited to we angry, activist studenty types. The only people satisfied are the business owners, the Rugby Union, and the people in the richer suburbs where the repairs were all done quickly. The government made a massive mistake when they decided to help some of the rich first, and left the middle class to suffer. Because basically, most of us middle-classers are self-centered, what-can-I-get-to-make-my-life-easier types. A lot of us turned to National in 2011 because of the feeling of stability they offered. But now we’ve seen what utter dorks they are when tasked with the rebuild of a city. Nothing happens for ages. For a party that claims to hate red tape, they’ve done an awfully good job of creating new reels of it.

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It’s not just a few students who are feeling like this. It’s the vast majority of the city who would quite happily take to the streets chanting f*ck John Key, f*ck Gerry Brownlee, f*ck Steven Joyce, etc etc. We’re all angry, and no one realises it outside the city.

Come 20/09, there will be an electoral landslide to the left, unprecedented in it’s enormity. Tony Milne will win Christchurch Central, Christhurch East will stay firmly in the hands of Poto Williams, Meagan Woods will keep Wigram with an increased majority, and James Dann will give the Gerrypiller a shock in Ilam. Waimakariri is definitely going back to Clayton Cosgrove — National candidate Matthew Doocey was  whipped by Poto Williams  last year. Port Hills is more unpredictable: Nuk Korako is a very strong candidate for National, and Labour’s Ruth Dyson is a strong incumbent. This electorate is the only one that could feasibly change hands to National.

As for the party vote, Labour’s will increase dramatically, barring a smear campaign from National close to the election. The Greens will increase, but New Zealand First will be the big winner here. You can scarcely go anywhere without seeing one of their billboards at least twice. Same with the Greens, and Labour  has billboards everywhere. National have some billboards, but pretty much all of them are trashed.

Not looking encouraging for National, is it? F*ck John Key.

 

My name is Finn Jackson. I turned sixteen this year. I was born into a family of journalists who were very involved in politics. Since birth I have been surrounded by talk of Mayoralty Campaigns and election stratergies. This has influenced my entire life, and has prompted me recently to join the movement for change.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Can I just say I realise it, and in fact saw it coming (as did many others). The government’s response to Chch is a catastrophic mistake, drip-feeding funding like a national disaster is just another annoying cost to be managed, favouring buddies to do the work, but not funding the need; telling Chchers they are wonderful and resilient when they put up with it, and disgruntled troublemakers and ungrateful when they are not. Was amazed by the Chch vote last election, I don’t think I will be this time.

    • Drip feed? It’s not like governments can just Print money!

      Oh, hold on, that’s exactly what they do.

      So why has Christchurch not been fixed?

      Fuck knows!

      • Probably all in with the global plan to eliminate the middle classes which was supposed to start in the Northern Hemisphere in the winter of 2014.

        John Key is Americas boy “Down Under” where America goes John will take NZ

  2. Great article gave me hope. Now could we please organise an earthquake in Auckland with the epicentre in Epsom?

  3. An old fart here who remembers crowds chanting JFK in the US 1960 elections, when it seemed like the dawn of a hopeful idealistic and generous new era. Perhaps now we can do the same with FJK, and have a similar step-change.

    • Well written Finn. Bet you wish you could vote this year. I wish you could vote this year!

      @Tony:

      Yes Tony.
      And what if someone does to FJK, the same thing they did to JFK!?

      Opinion.

  4. Seriously, what did you really expect ? A wee shufti through the pages of history would have told you what to expect from a nazional gubmint. Their priorities have always gone something like this :
    1. Sort out a big juicy payrise with plenty of under the counter perks
    2. Get together with their mates and divvy up the low hanging fruit, appointments to various quangos, consultancies, Government Departments (GCSB anyone ?)… These days it seems State Housing has been particularly lucrative….
    3. Dismantle as much as possible of the social legislation that Labour has put in place
    4. Dispossess the workers of any workplace and negotiating rights without looking too fascist…
    5. Blame every cock-up and corruption on the previous Labour Government

    The Christchurch Rebuild has been an absolute gift… chaos and a multi-multi million dollar slush fund for them to wallow in.
    How are the thousand dollar a day “experts” working out for you Ch-Chers ?

    The standout for me has been the handling of the asbestos risk. Surely some of the most carcinogenic substances on the planet being carted around, the dust contaminating the air and every surface it touches, a ticking timebomb for eons to come. It took a lowly digger driver to bring the health and safety threat to the publics attention, didn’t it ?

    How’s Bat Fasthead the woodwork teacher doing making sure that hazardous materials are disposed of safely ? That the vulnerable and powerless are looked after ? Making sure that people get a fair deal from the EQC and the Insurance Companies ? That the rebuild workers are getting their due ? That the materials and the construction methods are up to the mark ?
    Or that there are plenty of non essential edifices being built that can have big brass “Opened by” plaques of self aggrandisement put upon them ?

    Oh yeah… Whuk John Key and his pack of ravening mongrels !!

  5. Finn

    You and the young of this land are our future, and are getting ignored by this callous Government that steals from all of us to prop up their rich mates and will soon be gone be sure of this.

    What seaweed summed up is the absolute truth.
    these NATZ are carpetbaggers and don’t care about the 95 % of the country’s folk because we don’t represent any benefits to them.

    We admire you for your care for our future, and we ask you to send messages to al the young folk of voting age to get out there and vote to get rid of these opportunists please.

  6. What we hear about is the shiny new convention city given to us by that nice Mr Brownlee, and that stadium. Neither of which, frankly, anyone gives a shit about at the moment, because we’re more concerned with our own homes and lives

    Oh man… you guys have got stadium problems too? I’m in Dunedin and we built a stadium for 1 world cup game (yes one originally planned). We ended up with 3 games precisely because of the damage to the Chch one in the earthquake… but now it’s a noose around the city’s neck. The DCC is going to be broke for a generation because of it… and the closest city Chch now has a stadium they don’t need either!? When will this madness stop?

    • That stadium in Dunedin is an eyesore – all such stadiums are. Just like your’s looks out of place and will cost ratepayers for many years to come, so there are other eyesores around the country. We did well in the cycling at the Commonwealth Games but does that justify the horrible looking Velodrome that looks an absolute blot on the Waikato landscape near Cambridge. Ratepayers should NEVER have to fund such monstrocities. Ratepayers should refuse to contribute and responsibility for the debt should fall on the individuals who signed for the loans to build such selfcentred eyesores.

  7. It may surprise you Finn, but the vast majority outside of Christchurch, DO know the anger you feel towards the government – because they feel it to. FJK.

  8. Fuck John Key, Fuck Gerry Brownlee. fuck Bill English, Fuck Hone, Fuck Laila Harre, Fuck Kim Dotcom, Fuck John Minto, Fuck Jamie Whyte, Fuck Colin Craig, Fuck the Pope

    In fact, Fuck everyone.

    I think that just about sums it up?

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