CAN WE REALLY DO THIS? As the euphoria of victory wears off, and the sheer enormity of the challenge confronting progressive New Zealand reveals itself, it would be foolish not to feel just a little bit daunted. We face an economic system without the slightest idea how to solve the problems created by its discredited policies and practices. Nevertheless, the Neoliberal Establishment remains very strong, and just as soon as it settles upon an effective strategy of resistance, the fightback will begin.
Two principle lines of attack present themselves. The first, sketched out in this morning’s NZ Herald editorial, is to paint the new Labour-led coalition as little more than a pink-tinted continuation of Bill English’s National Government.
The Herald’s leader-writer dismisses any notion that the new regime represents some sort of sharp break with Neoliberalism. He is at pains to point out that all the key elements of the “Open Economy” remain firmly entrenched. All we are hearing from Labour, he says, is the rhetoric of change. But, even the most cursory examination of the Labour-NZ First-Green Government’s priorities, argues the Herald’s leader-writer, reveals them to be little changed from those of the Clark-Cullen years: priorities to which both John Key and Bill English were more than happy to subscribe for 9 years.
This is a subtle strategy, directed principally at the new government’s most ideologically-committed supporters. Its purpose is to demoralise, antagonise, and inflame suspicion. At its heart stands the figure of Grant Robertson: Finance Minister and close friend of Prime Minister Ardern. As the prime-mover of the Labour-Greens’ self-limiting “Budget Responsibility Rules”, Robertson has already positioned himself as New Zealand Capitalism’s first line of defence against left-wing fiscal recklessness. By praising Robertson’s political moderation and economic orthodoxy, the Herald’s mouthpiece intends to divide and conquer the Neoliberal Establishment’s most coherent progressive critics.
The most obvious deficiency with this “demoralisation” strategy is that it leaves the Opposition with very little room in which to manoeuvre politically. If the Labour-NZ First-Green Government is really just a slightly pinker version of its pale-blue predecessor, then how can National attack it with any credibility – or success? To raise a political storm violent enough to reclaim the Treasury Benches requires the red-hot passion of the fanatic – not the lofty sneers of the neoliberal intellectual who recognises kindred economic spirits when he sees them.
That Richard Prebble recognised this in an instant is unsurprising. Few living New Zealand politicians can claim a better rapport with the dark animal spirits needed to rouse this country’s right-wing voters. It was Prebble who recognised the futility of Act attempting to sell pure free-market policies to an electorate that wasn’t buying them. It was only when he identified the party with law and order, crime and punishment, environmental scepticism, and the deep anti-Maori prejudices of rural and provincial New Zealand that Act was able to lift itself up and over the 5 percent MMP threshold. Like Rob Muldoon before him, Prebble understands that to make right-wing Kiwis angry enough to destroy the Left, you first have to frighten them out of their wits.
Hence Prebble’s outrageous claim that Winston Peters is guilty of mounting a coup d’etat against Kiwi democracy. It is not his purpose, and neither, I suspect, does he believe it should be National’s, to convince New Zealanders that they have nothing to fear from what, in all likelihood, will prove to be a pretty mild and responsible Labour-led Government. His aim, and almost certainly the aim of most of the National Party caucus (and their surrogates in the mainstream news media) is to splash as much red paint over Jacinda Ardern, Winston Peters and James Shaw as is humanly possible.
The Labour-NZ First-Green Government will be presented by these hard-line rightists as an illegitimate and dangerously anti-capitalist regime. Its anti-business and anti-farming policies, they will argue, are not only incompatible with genuine Kiwi democracy, but also constitute a direct attack on the sanctity of private property. As such, it will not be enough to merely oppose this far-left government; it will be necessary to fight it head-on.
Interviewed on RNZ’s “morning Report” this morning, Ken Shirley, CEO of the Road Transport Forum (and former right-wing comrade-in-arms with Richard Prebble and Roger Douglas in both the Labour and Act parties) reminded listeners of the massive truck-owners protest in the dying days of Helen Clark’s government. If Jacinda’s government went ahead with its plans to use the Road User Charges collected from the RTF’s members for purposes other than the maintenance and construction of roads, then similar protests could be expected.
Prior to the coup that toppled the left-wing “Popular Unity” government of Salvador Allende in 1973, the country’s economy had been made to “scream” by a nationwide strike organised by the right-wing truckers’ union and supported by the bosses of Chile’s biggest trucking companies. The ensuing shortages brought thousands of angry, middle-class “housewives” onto the streets, banging their pots and pans in protest. The right-wing newspapers maintained a relentless barrage of criticism against the “anti-democratic” and “incompetent” government of Chile’s self-proclaimed Marxist president. Calls for Allende’s forcible removal grew louder and more frequent until, on 11 September 1973, General Pinochet was obliged to overthrow the “communist dictator”.
A very similar project of economic destabilisation and political mobilisation was set in train by the right-wing opponents of the left-wing Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, in 2002.
As a strategy of right-wing resistance, it has proved successful in a distressingly large number of countries. Progressive New Zealanders would be most unwise to believe, even for a moment, that it cannot happen here.
‘The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand Russell.
As well as being essentially being fascists (by Mussolini’s definition), supporters of so-called neoliberalism are primarily fools and fanatics.
The fact is, capitalism is destroying any prospect of a sustainable future:
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/wp-content/plugins/sio-bluemoon/graphs/mlo_two_years.png
and neoliberalism is destroying society while it destroys any prospect of a sustainable future.
However, the fools and fanatics that comprise the National Party and the unseen forces that operate the National Party are imperious to facts and just carry on regardless, because short-termism is all they know.
Chris the right wing always uses “divide and rule” and the new Government must dismantle all the support from the national ‘cling-on’s’ that have been planted inside all government agencies now as “sleeping cells”
Two points come to my mind here.
First, the Natzski Herald is uncharactaristically implying that there was something wrong with National’s old model. Do they really feel that way or was it just sloppy editing? The latter most likely.
The other is the likelihood of an uprising, coup, or whatever you might like to call it.
The political right are like bears with sore heads at the moment so the hotheads are likely to be muttering treasonous words and their heads being filled with notions about “glorious revolutions” from history. In reality they are full of crock and their revolution would likely be not much worse than driving sheep through towns or driving tractors up onto parliament’s steps (as a National MP has done before). And even if they did organise a rebellion New Zealanders would be too darned apathetic to care, and they should know that, having relied on good old fashioned Kiwi apathy for so long to keep their cause going.
The real danger is behind the scene, the meetings where the disaffected get together to work out how they can sabotage the new government with citizens initiated referenda, complex legal challenges and of course asking their American corporate mates to try and internationally isolate New Zealand like they did in the 80s.
That’s why any opposition to the neo right must draw our primary industry away from the right and over to the fold.
The best way to crush the right is to financially castrate them. And only farmers can do that.
It’s so easy that it’s clearly invisible for it’s visibility.
What does anyone want from a job or business?
Money, right?
What does money buy?
Security against debt, right?
The thing that most city people don’t, either know or appreciate, is that farmers are, and have always been, caught between a rock and a hard place.
Speaking broadly, farmers are deliberately burdened by debt and will never be able to know what their income’s going to be. Add that to the fact that a farmer can’t switch his or her farm off then bugger off for the weekend which further keeps farmers on the hop, then all the Right has to do is feed them fear and foster ignorance. The framework for which you’ve illustrated above.
With no way of planning for expenditure coupled with rising costs and the certainty of increasing debt applied by a dominant, bullying banking ‘industry’ have farmers by what ever genital metaphor you can think of.
National are basically gaslighting farmers to acquiesce to Nationals agenda. And that is get in quick and make as much money as possible.
And National are gaslighting city people too. To mindlessly hate on farmers. The very hand that feeds us all.
Here’s a couple of links to the pathology of ‘Gaslighting’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
11 Warning signs of etc…
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/11-warning-signs-gaslighting-in-relationships
And this guy. Nobel Prize winner for the delicate art of psychological manipulation to sell an idea/product. A means to an ends. Freaky.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/09/nobel-prize-in-economics-richard-thaler
A final word of caution. If the ‘Lovely Three’ don’t aggressively bring farmers over from the Gollum’s Cave that is National, then we’re all fucked. I mean seriously fucked. Totally fucked. Beyond completely fucked. More fucked than six of the best fucked things on the International Fucked Things Day convention held in Balclutha, which is pretty fucked after the poor town’s had billy english and todd barkley go through it like a bad dose of the shits. Go there? Have a look? Keep the engine running. A bleak, windswept place where creativity goes to die of $-cancer. The Main Street looks like the long passage to a public toilet at an airport. A bleak, harsh little town completely devoid of warmth.
That town is the epicentre of agricultural primary industry enterprise on the South Island.
Has any one even checked to see if any is actually buying all that stuff loaded on trucks? Or are we just moving dirt around looking busy.
I suggest that you refrain from making comparisons between Chile, Venezuela and Aotearoa. As the Cuban Revolution was a product of its time, Chile also was, with military dictatorships taking over many countries in Latin America, with US support. Chavez’s attempt to imitate the Cuban Revolution while in many ways laudable, was not appropriate for the time, and has failed the Venzuelan people. With Maduro now interested in nothing more than retaining power, another dictatorship has been born, with nothing socialist about it. Brasil is in a similarly horrific situation with people advocating a return to military rule and military figures lining up to contest next year’s election. Military control of a country is never good for the people, and Chavez actually shared this with Pinochet, although their philosophies were distinct, they both utilised their influence in the military to retain control.
Over here in Aotearoa the neoliberals are at least as scary as any military dictatorship, their ability to brainwash 44% of the voting public is truly frightening, and we must do everything we can to educate the population that a human is a human and that a rich country is not truly rich until all it’s population is sharing that wealth. Nazional let that slip and introduced policies to increase the inequality that the new government, a truly representative government, will now have to work hard at to rectify. There is nothing wrong with red, it the colour of passion, of sacrifice, of love, of blood; all things that this Labour led government is capable of, while Nazional was a group of soul-less, corrupt, inept and ugly individuals, hell bent on individualistic gain and keeping the working people down. After nine years of shitting in our rivers, shitting on the working poor, and selling us down that shitty river to foreign entities, we have a government that actually represents our mighty nation. And if they do the good job they are more than capable of doing, re-election will be a matter of course.
Meanwhile when will the corruption investigation begin into John Key, a man who spent eight and a half years embarrassing the country with the sole end game of selling his house for an exorbitant amount of money to a non-resident?
Yeah let’s try socialism again: It only killed 100 million people in the 20th century!
AndrewO: I take it History wasn’t your strongest subject?
Socialism is behind such outrages as public hospitals, schools, libraries, transport, roading.
Greedy blokes who tap into fears about ‘others’ and know who to partner with to create the greatest mess for the greatest profit are behind the ongoing deaths of millions.
And they have their obedient, gray hench-persons who ‘just follow the rules’ and apply discrimination and fear at the local level. The ‘nice’ people. The ones who proudly meet quotas leading to death and holes so big the victims can rarely escape.
That, Andrew0, is the antithesis of socialism. Something else. Something dark and appalling and it emerges from the population whether it’s a socialist or fascist government in power.
Let that thought itch you like scritchy wool and a stiff garment label. Get below the comfortable mantras and (snigger) ‘fake news’.
Actually the welfare state was invented to respond to communism so people wouldn’t rise up and revolution. But when the Soviet Union became dead for all practical purposes in 1989. The pretext and the demise of the welfare state was sown.
Even now a great many people are unaware that we are fighting old battles. Against foes that don’t exist. And we are growing huge sums of money at these delusional power structures designed for war between two or more super powers when in fact the world has only one super power. Granted there are nuclear capable countries but only the U.S has the political lunacy to invent threats that don’t exist just so they can maintain a global interventionist force.
It’s a shame really. The U.S had all the discoveries. But they choose to snort coke instead.
Oops! Yet another brain fart Andrewo.
It looks like some shit leaked out with it this time.
Now where’s the toilet paper?
The right wing alongside of the Key family are truly delusional…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11936877
Ahhh yes, any time socialism fails a country its not socialisms fault its others/outsiders fault!
_______ insert reason here. Lets see, right wing or USA are the normal excuses but feel free to add your own.
It will work next time!! *snigger*
Every time neoliberalism fails it’s socialism’s fault. Every time National fails to win an election, insert *snigger*here_________________
L0L !
How true,- they’ve just spent the last 9 years blaming Labour for their own balls ups… including losing the election !!!
L0L0L0L !!!
Well , the way I see it , there are two groups who go to make up the PR machine for the Left or the Right.
There are those who work in the media, and there are those who work behinds the scenes. Covertly .
The latter is what concerns us. This is where the real power lies. In the case of the far right wing neo liberal in New Zealand , – these are spread out across a network of various organizations , such as bankers associations , business ‘unions’ and such like .
The premier elite of these groups , – and to which most others pay deference to , is of course, – the New Zealand Initiative. This is the group to keep an eye on. Because it was from out of their ranks that a majority of the original far right wing reports and influence’s , – indeed , even large cash donations for those stooges in the political party’s of their choice came from.
This is the engine room for generating much of the anti ‘ left’ sentiment and where much of it will come from.
The New Zealand Initiative.
Formerly known as the ‘ Business Roundtable’ .
You can see their anti democratic, unelected , unmandated and subversive influences right here:
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
Great site. Very informative.
WARNING :
It will create a rising feeling of anger and betrayal once you have read it , justifiably righteous anger , but anger nonetheless.
And again , this link will also give a good documentary / commentary of our recent past and how these far right wing groups hi jacked New Zealand’s economic and social order.
New Zealand – Somebody Elses Country Full Doco – YouTube
Video for New Zealand – Somebody Elses Country Full Doco▶ 1:47:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJQvKIHV6n4
So there you go.
See for yourself. Do some research into it , – the hard yards have already been done. For all those students of political science people , – or just those who wish to understand how we ever got into this mess, – have a watch and a read. Be armed. Know how these subversive groups operate so you can discern not only their motives in news articles, – but who REALLY is behind those articles and JUST WHAT their objectives are all about.
Because it sure as hec isn’t for the likes of you and me if we are both just average New Zealanders.
No way Hosea, – it never , ever was.
Well, Mr Trotter, I’ll look forward to you warning us when the time comes of the deliberate undermining of the New Zealand democracy by monied interests.
Thank you
What is going on in Venezuela is certainly something that we should be watching closely here in New Zealand. Independent journalists Abby Martin’s stories for TeleSur on Venezuela are really worth watching on YouTube. Most of the deaths in recent protests in Venezuela have been caused by the opposition protestors rather than the government, including burning one government supporter to death. A subtle technique has been for big businesses who have monopolies on the sale of essential items such as toilet paper and tampons reducing their supply in the lead up to elections to ferment discontent, However, there have just been a round of govenorship elections and the government supporters won most of these.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/10/venezuela-opposition-faces-divisions-elections-171019132458721.html
The things the UK Tories got up to in this years snap election campaign will happen here and is right out of Keys dirty tricks book.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2017/10/24/confirmed-the-conservatives-did-act-unlawfully-in-the-2017-election-but-theyre-being-let-off-the-hook/
Nothing new, Mr Trotter, this is how it always happens. To rid ourselves of the powers that be, me mere vote at the booths will never suffice.
The decline of Venezuela and Brazil shouldn’t be blamed on Socialism, but the global decline in the price of oil. Both countries had become overly reliant on income from a single commodity which then declined in value. Irrespective of whether Maduro has become a dictator or not the US is doing everything it can to undermine his government.
I am ready, when they come with their police, spies and other troopers, and cunning tricks, are others though, I wonder.
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