By making the referendum on cannabis binding, Andrew Little has thrown the Greens a lifeline for political relevancy for the 2020 election.
Strategists inside Labour are concerned that the Greens current woke middle class identity politics phase is toxic and alienating, so much so that their internal polling keeps seeing the Greens slip under 5%.
Apparently there was a lot of head banging on desks when Marama took to twitter demanding white bros delete themselves.
The fear is that the Greens might sink altogether making it impossible to get a Parliamentary majority in 2020, by giving them a binding referendum, Labour strategists are hoping that will be enough to keep them above 5%.
Chloe Swarbick’s statement to ‘give 3 ticks to the Greens’ sums up the thinking behind this.
Let’s all pray to the Gaia Goddess that the Greens can just shut up enough to get them back into Parliament. The less they say, the more people will like them.
“The less they (Greens) say, the more popes will like them.”
So bloody true Martyn, 100%
I was a Green Party member when in 2001 the Green Party was a solid entity with very smart activists who were considered main stream politicians and very well respected by all parties and they were aggressively targeting the dirty industries such as the road transport industry advocating for freight rail and were also targeting many other industries emitting toxic chemicals around our country.
we now see that the Green Party are so very quiet about today’s labour Party still embracing “dirty road freight transport industry instead of advocating for active campaigns to get public owned rail back running at least 50% or half of our NZ freight again!!!!
The Green party are so very silent on the the pittance of only 6% rail freight as rail has lost much ground during the last nine years, no thinks for the silence of the Green Party.
It seems to me we should be discussing the Greens’ authenticity rather than their potential role in keeping Labour in power beyond 2020. And we should also be discussing Labour’s authenticity.
Sure, a few more breadcrumbs will fall off the table and into the mouths of the less-well-off under Labour than under National.
That said, if there is one thing that unites all political parties then that is surely their silence on the fundamental issues and their continuing pretence that, with a little tweaking, the globalised economic system can keep going decades into the future -even as the alarm bells signalling catastrophic failure ring ever louder.
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Firstly “woke middle class identity politics” does not appeal to the middle class so it’s probably a confusing reference. The problem is that somehow the Green Party MP’s have somehow become the woke middle class, representing just themselves and the 1% (if that) of NZ. Even with the cannabis they need to stop and take a reality check.
Labour has the leash too tight on issues like TPPA to the Greens so Labour are also part of the problem by smothering the Greens identity and ability to stand alone.
Dont forget the Greens gave their speaking rights to National ?…so they seem to have given away their “identity and ability to stand alone”
(…the National Party the arch supporter of laissez faire, free enterprise, Capitalism and the biggest trasher of the environment)
https://climateandcapitalism.com/2015/02/01/liberal-attack-on-naomi-klein-and-this-changes-everything/
Let’s just remember that it is only the Green Party that is serious about legalising cannabis. Was, is and will be. A vote for any other party is a vote for prohibition. Was, is and will be.
The Greens came very, very belatedly to this
…and after NZF stood on a an Election policy of a national referendum on Cannabis
the Greens came to their Cannabis stand extremely late in the piece
… and well after NZF stood for a national referendum on legalising cannabis
( so yes they do take the most definitive stand for legalising and the best one …but because it was so late in the piece, was it a matter of principle or expediency for them ie to beat NZF on a vote winner)
the Greens sold their soul on the Waka jumping bill.Now they are hang their hat on legalising marajuana at the same time as supporting the smoking ban and wanting to bring the road toll down . Doped up drivers are no better than drunk drivers
Oh please God, would someone consign the jargon “woke” to the fires of hell. I’m so sick of it.
I think I could cope with ‘woke’ better if I knew what it means. Can some one define it in a few simple words? And if you can, why not use those words instead?
I’m going to run with an assumption that links cannot be posted in a comment. What I suggest Dennis, if you can be assed, is take a gander at a youtube channel entitled – AwakenWithJP look for the video ‘How to tell if your woke…’ . There a comprehensive guide takes you through what ‘woke’ is, plus there’s a quiz to find out how woke you are.
It has the same meaning as PC, but is also used by those on the left, rather than just those on the right. It is mostly used to mean I’m a good person OK and not even a conservative, but they are just too damn liberal for me.
The problem the Greens have is that they can either support Labour or act to effectively keep them out of power. That’s not exactly a great choice for those that love Green policy but don’t much like Labour (let alone National, who get in if the Greens decide to not openly support Labour or if they drop below 5%). The Greens just aren’t relevant anymore – “keeping them honest” simply isn’t the selling point it used to be.
In the real world
1. the referendum, rather than a parliamentary vote, is the requirement of NZF.
2. the 2020 timing is of a design to allow the conservative centre to vote against legalisation, while voting for Labour and or NZF.
The Green Party would do better with just one leader.
Other than setting up a new Party with sufficient clout to reach 5% ( which is nigh impossible) we have no other option but to vote Green. No other Party attracts me at all, and I do think the hooch ref may get more people out to vote. My biggest disappointment has been Marama because she had so much potential but has turned out to be a total loser and should really be moved on after the devastation she has caused.
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