Willie JacksonGate – Maybe Labour activists might want to work together after a fourth term of National?

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
35
1

Are you kidding me with this shit?

I have been surprised by the fury aimed at Willie Jackson by Labour Party activists who have gone into meltdown online over his candidacy for the Labour Party.

It wasn’t just Poto Williams bewildering undermining of Andrew Little – despite promising Labour leadership she wouldn’t on the Friday before she posted – it wasn’t just the hijacking and destruction of Labour’s Waitangi Day media coverage and it wasn’t just the way it managed to destroy the perception carefully built over the last 30months  that Labour are united, it was the way Labor activists online had no concept whatsoever how all their outrage over Willie Jackson was causing.

Labour look damaged and divided now, and Labour activists can’t comprehend it’s their behaviour that is building that perception.

The Left once again look far more interested in tearing themselves apart than fighting National.

This is their mentality…

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

…it is beginning to look like the only thing that will force Labour activists to work together will be a National Party fourth term. Jackson, for whatever faults you want to scream at him for, can connect with urban Maori in a way Labour simply don’t. You get the feeling that some Labour activists would prefer to lose this years election than allow Willie Jackson to help them win it.

Bill English will be laughing his arse off.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

35 COMMENTS

  3. The irony is that the labour party activists are displaying their own form of bigotry – they’re justifying their own hatred by saying Willie was bigoted first so now we can come down on him like a ton of bricks. They’re every bit as un-yielding and closed minded as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and need to recognise that they’re operating from the same emotional place.

  4. For friks sake..its all such a side show, my only hope is that if Labour do lose they don’t put it all down to Potos grandstanding.
    I do not know if its a good thing or not, but every customer I’ve talked to today doesn’t seem to care one way or another about any of this. And I’m in a book shop, so I guess my customers are reasonably informed in their own special way.

    Which just goes to show what an echo chamber we are all living in.

    (Not a dig at TDB and TS coverage of this story, just an observation)

  5. To. Gain. Control. Of. The. Government. Benches. You. Must. First. Win. Them.
    This should be tattooed on the foreheads of any potential Labour/Green MP.
    Elementary politics.
    The Natz have practiced this for years. Present a united front, suppress dissent and keep the arguing for behind closed doors. Of course the Natz are a pack of a&$eholes, but hey, they win elections, and get to indulge in their neoliberal fetish.
    You can’t change things from the feckin’ Opposition benches, but that’s where the *Left will be yet again unless they start singing from the same song sheet.
    (*Left being used somewhat loosely, given we’re talking about Labour et al)

    • Tattooed on the foreheads? Backwards of course so they can read it every day in the mirror. Except for Williams’ head – she’s obviously backward anyway.

  6. The “weakness” of progressive movements has always been that they represent a spectrum of views. Conservatives don’t require free thought but blind allegiance to a faith whether economic, social or religious. Sometimes its easier to agree with your complete opposite than a close friend or other members of the political party you support. It’s like how Pete Townsend of The Who recently said he envied the Small Faces because they always looked like they were having fun and got on so well together to the point of their musical tastes whereas the members of The Who actually didn’t like each other’s favourite music that much. I expect they liked the same genre of music as each other but their specific tastes within those genre were quite different.

    On the other hand, as a member of a party, you do need to accept that your opinion is only one of many which requires knowing to tow the line for the greater good of your party.

  7. never mind Bill laughing his arse of he has his own problems. I can’t wait to see that smirk wiped of his face when he gets rejected in the elections

  8. When doing your powhiri you kind of talk about the marea you’re visiting amongst other this which is something every one gets wrong in the belief that my mana is greater than

    • “I’m not voting this year!”

      Great. Just what we need.

      Helena, you may abstain from voting, but hard-core Tories and middle class property-owners won’t. They WILL vote.

      What’s that old saying; “All that is necessary for Evil (or neo-liberalism in this case) to succeed is for Good Men (and Women and LGBT) to do nothing.

      300,000 children living in poverty want to have a quiet word in your ear.

  10. Has anyone asked them what it is about the opposition benches that attracts them so much?

    Maybe it’s a reciprocal of the the National Party’s ‘Divine Right to Rule’?

    Something like ‘Born to Oppose’…

    Do it scientifically if you like. How many elections have there been since Labour first appeared and how many of those elections have actually been won by Labour?

    QED…

    • Since 1935 Labour has been in government for 35 years and National for 47 years.

      Labour and National have both produced five governments.

      The big difference is in how long those governments lasted.

      New Zealand is essentially a conservative country…

  11. I dunno, Willie seems pretty polarising to me. Am I the only one that sees that? So he brings in the “urban Maori vote”, but at what cost to non-urban Maori voters? Is he a net win? If not, Little should drop him ASAP because getting rid of National should be the absolute and only priority as an opposition party (not that it will make any difference whatsoever for the poor and hasn’t done so for a good many years).

  12. Don’t blame Poto or others who objected. Blame Labour for selecting him as a candidate. What an unbelievably stupid selection. His views on roastbusters just aren’t going to go away. Not only will they put off potential Labour voters, they’ll be used by the Nats in their election advertising.

    Idiots.

    • Andrew Little has left liberal academic charlatans with out legs to stand on like fish. Poto Williams hasn’t backed down from her anti sexual violence stance and neither has Willie Jackson stopped learning the lessons.

      There are no men with guns chasing any one, it’s just I figment of academic imaginations

      • Agreed. Greg O’Connor will be pure poison to the Labour “brand”. If Labour’s ambition is to literally reinvent themselves as “The New National Party” (aka “The New Labour Party”, as it was known in Tony Blair’s Britain), then Greg is a goosestep in the right direction. I guess Labour (and the Greens for that matter) is very much in the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” mode as of late.

  13. This is not the way to win the next election. Its as if Poto is self sabotaging Labour. Can she not see it??? Not sure what her motives are…

    • Her motives are to stand for what’s right, I imagine. It’s a fantasy to expect people to pretend to stand for things they strongly disagree with for the sake of the party. Voters certainly won’t do it, and neither should she. Willie’s nomination was a stupid decision.

    • I think this op-ed in the Herald sums up where Poto Williams and the apologists for her bizarre own goal are coming from:
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11796975

      MacLennan is dead wrong BTW. “Identity politics” refers to the practice of taking a single-issue approach to campaigning for women’s rights, indigenous rights, immigrants rights, queer rights and so on, instead of an intersectional approach. The problem with the single-issue approach is that it replaces deep solidarity with opportunist alliances, where allies who also work on other political issues can be thrown under the bus for perceived gains for one’s own single issue. Obviously, this allows plays right into the hands of our opponents, who do think strategically across the full spectrum of political issues, and can use single-issue activists as wedges; divide and rule.

      Maybe Maclennan is right, and I’m only saying all this because I’m a pākeha man who wants to hold onto his privilege. I mean, it’s not like a middle class professional who gets op-eds published in the Herald could possible have any privilege to defend…

  14. Well maybe Labour should put their ideas/candidates out to their supporters before enacting/appointing them.

      • Frank,

        That doesn’t stop me trying to sell it to you again, if you’re naïve enough. 😉

        The point is that this was an organised and considered action against Little and tells us an awful lot about his support within caucus.

        This goes right to the core of the problem with Labour today: Little himself is a ring-in by the union movement and has not much credibility as a party member and activist.

        • ‘ Little himself is a ring-in by the union movement and has not much credibility as a party member and activist.’

          Only by the few remaining neo liberals in the Labour party , ANDREW. And it is also that ilk that has been causing all the factional infighting for so many years.

          It is time they are asked politely to either leave or accept lesser positions … they have caused nothing but destruction and disunity .

          New Zealand deserves better.

          It is time this neo liberal element is dealt with and purged so that once again we can have a true political alternative to the current hostilities of this anti worker and anti sovereignty government.

          And I would be very careful about claiming it will never happen here as well ,… we have seen BREXIT and we have witnessed what has happened in the USA – both cases being a demonstration that globally , – the public have had enough of these liars.

          • Wild Katipo:

            It’s always fun to watch the Left have yet another ideological purge. Be my guest: I’ll put the popcorn on.

            Whilst you’re busy purging, have you considered what you’re going to replace them with? Which particular version of ‘ideological purity’ do you have in mind?

            Hopefully not those recycled Alliance people, because they’ll drag Labour polling down toward 10%.

        • The private sector wanted to work with infrastructure NZ on the speghitti junction for decades but wanted things done there way and nobody signed the contracts, we dodged a bullet then 😉

  16. There is a 2000 year old fundamental truth from the New Testament that states … ” A house divided against itself will fall”.

    And that has been true time and time again whether it be the fall of the Roman Empire, the dissolution of the Mongol Empire after the death of Genghis Khan or the family tearing itself apart in the divorce courts.

    The only time there will be direction and cohesion in the Labour party is when by attrition its neo liberals are purged and / or marginalized.

    Until then , expect further divisive dissensions , factions , inappropriate and insubordinate actions by its members and MP’s.

    And that’s the reality and the truth of the matter in a nutshell.

    And Poto Williams is a prime example of it.

Comments are closed.