The Greens have now dropped down to 5% – seeing as they over poll there is a very real chance they could slide under the threshold – who is going to accept responsibility in the leadership for this?
As TDB has warned for over 2 years now, the woke middle class identity politics posturing is deeply alienating to the wider electorate off Twitter and it is haemorrhaging support.
The Greens polled 6.4% last election, the Greens main issue of climate change has been THE only issue and with student marches reaching 170 000 the Greens are still dropping!
How can they be dropping when there is a cannabis referendum?
The fucking Antarctic is 20degrees – where the hell are the Greens?
Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record
The Antarctic has registered a temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the first time on record, prompting fears of climate instability in the world’s greatest repository of ice.
The idiotic strategists in the back room are failing, the MPs are too busy getting retweets for fringe woke virtue signalling and the online Green Party activists mange to exclude and alienate using fringe Identity Politics issues rather than find common cause.
If your starting point as a woke Green activist is that all white people are racist, all men are rapists and anyone supporting feee speech a Nazi, you might want to sit this one out as you are doing more damage than good.
The Greens need a dramatic change of direction.
Radical action on universal grounds, not from the woke fringes.
Chloe Swarbrick should become leader proposing real left reform of the economy, real championing of cannabis referendum, lowering voting age to 16 and real climate crisis legislation.
The Greens need a hail mary the way Labour did gaining Jacinda months before the 2017 election, putting Chloe in as leader could do that.
Otherwise they risk slipping below the 5% threshold and the green dream dies in 2020.
They shouldn’t be in this position, that they are is a utter failure of the strategists and the current Leadership.
The joke here is that if they do get flushed out and come under 5%, they won’t see their own messaging as the alienating factor, oh no, it’ll all be the hetcis patriarchy’s fault.
My eyes can’t roll any further back into my head.
So Labour are forcing those in emergency housing to pay 25% rent?
NZF are handing photos of journalists over to right wing hate blogs?
& the Greens woke identity politics is so alienating it’s making them politically irrelevant?
How did it get to this in less than 3 years?
I know so many people 50 plus like me who used to vote for Greens because they grew up with the Values party and beyond era and actually are very worried about climate change for their kids and grandkids.
No more. The day the Greens went full on woke, started calling out white males and Chloe added to it with her OK boomer quip it was obvious the party no longer needs white males and older people. So they have left. The 2 per cent Greens lost in the latest poll has gone to Labour. If only they would listen to you Martyn -and also get the f off Twitter.
I think they (the Greens ) need to look for a new leader. I think the current one is too soft, a very nice person but too soft and nice people don’t win. We only have to look at the nasty gnats despite soimon being a cunt who cant even speak properly his party is still polling high. And what does this tell us? to me it shows the downside of diversity. We have never been more culturally, ethnically, politically, religiously, socially and economically divided and who let all these people in? Who always votes in our country, the rich and the elderly well we need to change that. I see soimon has come swinging for these votes firstly by using divide and conquer tactics secondly by bashing our poor NZers and Maori and thirdly by playing on peoples fears using the gang situation to gain leverage. Yet his party had no problem giving millions of our tax dollars to the Saudis. The Saudis committed a horrific murder of an American citizen and got of scot free. This is bloody hypocrisy. Lets hope Winstone comes out swinging he needs to remind the NZ public that national didn’t care about them and they didn’t cart about many of our towns and small communities, they didn’t care about homelessness cause they sold of state homes and land and have always done so, they didn’t care about too many immigrants impacting on our infrastructure and jobs and quality of life we pride ourselves on in our country.
Blame the mainstream media we all know they are bias. At the moment its Winstones turn again.
The greens are in a bubble as is labour.
They breathe the same stale oxygen of a small subset of urban liberals.
Jacindamania! Woke moral goodness!
Deplatform the patriarchy!
Being so insulated in the Wellington progressive bubble they can’t even see the train approaching.
The Greens need a hail mary the way Labour did gaining Jacinda months before the 2017 election, putting Chloe in as leader could do that.
Otherwise they risk slipping below the 5% threshold and the green dream dies in 2020.
Totally agree.
They shouldn’t be in this position, that they are is a utter failure of the strategists and the current Leadership.
we don, it was only a Colmar Brunton poll and we all know they like to poll known National voters
Denial de biggest river in Africa?
Fingers in your ears is why the the greens are circling the drain.
You just carry on being right over there in the corner by yourself.
(Alternatively there is the self selecting “the standard “ where healthy debate abounds as long as you agree with the echo chamber).
It’s worth bearing in mind that only about 20% of NZers are on Twitter.
Bomber, your misunderstood admiration and constant championing of some of the worst new members of the Green Party seems to be part of the problem.
The new Greens are the middle class identity politics posturers that you talk bout to be deeply alienating to the middle class, who if you knew any that were not identity posturers (you may have to get out of the Grey Lynn One hundred zone) you would know, the middle class hate the new greens and not because they are young, but because they are blaming of others and self absorbed and totally divorced from the environment.
Bear in mind that anyone with a tertiary education has essentially made it into the middle class realm no matter what identity you want to identity with.
If you want the Green Party to survive you might want to look at other people’s impression of Chloe… in particular woman’s impressions…. they are not sold by the good looks on Metro mags, and Chloe’s post career was nothing to do with activism but opening a cafe in Mt Eden. Not exactly working class, not exactly understanding poverty, not exactly giving back to her community, no sign of her lobbying when Auckland university closed the specialist libraries…
If anything, what the Greens need to survive is new blood, and people who have actually done something for the environment. What was that other young one, Sarah Thomson who at least works at a community law centre and took the government to task over climate change. Even better would be someone who is not ‘socially’ bound but has ‘environmental’ activists credentials…Lucy lawless on steroid types.
Someones impression of Chloe!
“Atwood, Swarbrick and an expensive waste of everyone’s time
Chlöe Swarbrick was more interested in herself at the Civic last night than engaging with her guest Margaret Atwood, writes Paula Morris.
Part of the issue was Chlöe Swarbrick, who seemed more interested in talking about politics and herself than in interviewing Atwood about her “diverse range of works”. I was not convinced that Swarbrick had read any of Atwood’s books, or even recognised the titles. ”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/02/12/1031945/atwood-swarbrick-and-an-expensive-waste-of-everyones-time
Or get the old Greens list MP’s that Greens voters like, to come back and take over and get them back to 10%+. The pale, male, stale former Greens MP’s included…
Meanwhile in Western Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUpNYegii9k
In times like these, seeing the NZ Green Party vote drop is a deeply worrying signal that should call for very serious reflection within the Green parliamentary caucus and the Green Party as a whole.
One must be afraid that the required party-internal review and revision process will not take place or not analyze the roots for this negative trend (which is opposite to global trends).
Certainly it is not sufficient just to talk about the individual team members of the present parliamentary set-up. More importantly, the main subjects, ecological reasoning and political justification for the presence of the Greens in the national parliament need to be re-established.
The Green Party in parliament has to maintain the balancing act of demonstrating practical achievements without giving up the radical fundamentals of system opposition in the light of climate change and social and environmental destruction.
One cannot simply blame leadership for the present malaise.
The results of recent local elections are positive, probably because of increased general environmental and climate concerns of common Kiwis, this may finally also benefit the national level (at present partially hidden in the 17% share of the ‘don’t know’ respondents).
The ‘Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’ is not the project of the today’s parliamentarians but the result of sincere engagement of tens of thousands over many decades, everywhere in the country, over a wider range of social, economic and ecological subjects. (Probably including many who write or comment in this blog, or read the articles.)
As I see it, the relevance in the TDB blog comes from the willingness to strategically support this joint Green project, and not from over-sophisticated speculations on the possible kindness of Ms Jacinda or the assumed transformational preparedness of the Labour Party.
So.
Let TDB support the Green Party in 2020 by helping her to reform.
….or establish another alternative socio-ecological platform for breaking the political status quo.
Climate Resilience. System Change. Now.
Meanwhile: see video link above.
or establish another alternative socio-ecological platform
There is not time for that before the 2020 elections. If that is the way to go, then begin it after these elections. For now, if there is to be any significant impact, we have to work with what we’ve got. This means, – sort out the best, what is working, who is active, and work with that. Voting is just a few months away, it’s on our doorstep.
Thanks; sure, Kheala, I see that, too.
But.
….the famous ‘buts’….
The needed ‘transformational change’ means a change of the structure, an adaptation toward a different system. And this to happen under serious, serious, very serious time constraints.
But 1: the reality of the existing parties’ set-up.
Not considering presently unforeseen incidents, some results of the 2020 election can already be predicted: neither the national-led bloc nor the labour-led bloc will or can lead to the required fast responses and structural steps.
How could they? Let’s be realistic.
The best that can be expected are some fringe benefits (which, naturally, can make an important difference in individual cases, no doubt about that).
But 2: time is not on our side.
Certainly, this small-scale type of gain will not be enough to speak of climate resilience, socioeconomic equality, or a ‘green new deal’ in AONZ.
Wasting time on chasing 2020 election imaginations?
Working on a functional radical, ecological and social platform for fast climate adaptation across all sectors NOW must not contradict any 2020 voting intentions.
and
But 3 ….how did this happen?: ’Sinn Fein’ February 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY4szD0ILHM
Green Party members should ultimately take responsibility. Like the other Parliamentary parties the members end up subservient to the Parliamentary wing, ‘real politik’-or power mongering-nearly always over rules principle.
Tiger Mountain – With due respect, I am more than happy to take some responsibility for the demise of the Greens.
I contributed to those falling little autumn leaves – I enabled them – I voted for them; and when winter came and took away their pretty colours, I told people that they were cunts. Mea culpa #Me too.
They never wanted me anyway, and the feeling is now mutual.
…say no more
The Greens are losing votes precisely because climate change and environmental issues are mainstream. That used to be a point of difference, but now all parties say they agree with the science, and just disagree on the best way to sort the issue, so now their political market is people who like their particular plan, not everyone who votes on consett change.
Funny I thought, and still think Shaw is the problem.
He is your typical corporate slime bag. Says all the right things, whist shafting working people while he makes himself a quick buck.
Last election the greens got screwed over from the right, over and over. And Shaw sat there and did nothing, not a Goddamn thing. Shaw is a hopeless windbag. He won’t defend his own pollies and he’s done sweet bugger all. The bill he put through as environment minister was a sad joke.
I hope the greens fall below 5%, because their leadership team is fubar and needs changing.
NZ is now the world’s toilet and the government seems to be reluctant to hold polluters to account and instead panders to them with more taxpayer money!
RioTinto for example is allowed not only massive corporate handouts, driving up the power costs for everyone else, but also gets to pollute the local towns and not be forced at their own costs to clean it up! Where is work safe and environment court because dumping toxic chemicals (through third parties) should be a crime! But in 100% fake, clean, green, (that’s now money, not environment) NZ it is now not!
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/mataura-asks-govt-act
Part of the issue is that NZ regulation bodies are now run by neoliberal supporting the polluters put in by the Natz!
EPA’s ‘inappropriate’ reaction to student’s speech
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117378375/epas-inappropriate-reaction-to-students-speech
NZ Government Secretly Funded Water Bottling Companies
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1904/S00055/nz-government-secretly-funded-water-bottling-companies.htm
Foreign companies supported by NZ’s neoliberal government agencies are plundering our country and being paid handsomely to do it!
While I am beginning to loathe COL’s inability to have quickly got onto the problems, the Natz have set it up for this to happen and if COL do not make it back, will make things for the environment thousands of times worse, likewise Natz punishing beneficiaries!
If Greens want to survive they might want to get some of the Boomers and Gen X out of retirement (Bernie Sanders in his late 70’s) (Russell Norman, Kevin Hague, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Sue Kedgley, even the socialists of old were better and more likeable, Sue Bradford and Metiria Turei. They need to get more list members who have a history of supporting the environment against polluters and neoliberals, not collaborating with them due to naivety and ignorance!
+100 saveNZ
However Metiria Turei is NO vote winner amongst those formerly sympathetic to the Gweens or real beneficiaries
…and Australian Russel Norman who was shoe- horned into the Gweenie leadership is sus over his opposition to Dotcom and the Internet /Mana Party …as well as his advocating of NZ printing money… and exactly how well has Green Peace done under his leadership?… as regards donations?…also imo he sunk the Labour /NZF coalition and gave us 9 years of Jokey Nact by dumping on Winston Peters three days out from the General Election( over the Owen Glenn affair which later proved to be an false flag by Nactional)….so no I wouldnt trust the Australian further than I could kick him…and I would not vote Gween with him back in the leadership
I have had dealings with the party hierarchy recently and yes from what I have seen they regard it as every body else’s fault. There is no self-reflection or soul searching going on just a witch hunt for heretics and heresy. While it is tempting to look elsewhere and have had Jim Anderton momements of I am not leaving the Greens the Greens have left me. I have decided to ride it out and look forward to all these incompetent career politico MPs and staff being made unemployed after the election. Then there will be the opportunity to re-build the Greens as a more activist-radical centred party like it was in 1999 to build towards the next election.
The alternative is a whole new co-leadership at the AGM – Russel Norman & Sue Bradford are you reading this?
But they got rid of one way plastic bags.
not the single use water bottles, with free NZ water for polluters to boot!
The Greens need to adopt Socialist Policies! They need to start talking about building homes, review the tax system, put all plastic bottles back to glass, nationalise the power companies and rubbish CCO’s and restart a Ministry of Works!
If they keep supporting the neo-liberal ideology of the Labour Party they will vanish in this coming election!
I fear they will vanish this election, even if a hand full of MPs may get in. They will be totally powerless in Parliament should they just get five percent.
Most NZers dont even recognise the Gweens anymore…they are not real environmentalist NZers…they are pretenders and usurpers of the Green brand
‘Fish and Game’ are the real NZ environmentalists…backcountry men and women…they oppose 1080 which is killing/ driving to extinction our birds like the Kea…they also fight for NZ rivers and waterways
‘Fish and Game ‘is affiliated with vote NZF which wants a referendum on 1080
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