This pandemic is a universal shared experience, and with all universal shared experiences, it will have enormous unseen ramifications throughout our culture, politics and economy.
When this pandemic first erupted, the woke left attempted to hijack the issue and turn it into a virtue signalling competition that asserted any concern regarding the virus was really secret xenophobia and racism…
…meanwhile the Alt-Right Death Cult Capitalists were screaming for us all to get back to work to protect their wealth and privilege no matter the threat to the working class essential service workers those Alt-Right Death Cult Capitalists don’t care about.
TDB from the beginning stated this wasn’t an identity politics issue and that it was instead a public health nightmare and economic Armageddon and that we shouldn’t return to work to ensure the Death Cult Capitalists kept their wealth, but instead needed to rebuild the failed neoliberal capitalist hegemony that was now imploding.
Moving forward we need to appreciate there can be no new ‘normal’. The virus can re-emerge at any time and a heavy handed trace-track-quarantine infrastructure must be in place until a vaccine is available, and I say that acknowledging that there is no certainty of a vaccine nor how we would even manage to roll out what would be the largest mass medication program the planet has ever seen.
For New Zealand that means the borders must remain shut amputating migrant workers, international students and the tourism industry.
The economic depression this pandemic causes is the second wave of this tsunami after the lost loves. the Government has protected us from the first, it now must focus on the latter and that will demand a Labour Party brave enough to challenge the sleeping dogs of the neoliberal debate that almost destroyed the Party in the 1980s.
The foundations of the 35 year neoliberal experiment in NZ have been exposed an found to be cracked to their core, with the climate crisis demanding a radical change, this pandemic is the perfect time to challenge the religious orthodoxy of free market dogma.
While that is happening, there will be cultural reformation that will finally bury many of the neoliberal culture mantras.
Death of neoliberal cultural mantra – Individual responsibility & small Government
One of the driving myths of neoliberal cultural mantra is that if you have succeeded in life, then that success is completely yours, likewise if you are poor, you have chosen to be poor and as such your failure is your own problem. This mantra is deceptively seductive because it tells the successful individual that the bias and bigotry built into society has had no impact on their success, it eliminates those structural influences from the equation and concludes that personal responsibility is all that matters. Well, under a pandemic that renders personal responsibility to merely washing your hands, the level of individual success is meaningless because we all must rely on the State to protect us.
Likewise the Neoliberal myth of small Government is dead. In the week before lockdown, Simon Bridges and Paul Goldsmith held a press conference gloating over how much Government red tape they were going to burn in their never ending attempt to make Government microscopic. They utterly misread the mood of the nation who were not wanting a smaller Government, but a well funded buffer to protect them from this virus. With the shut down of so much old free market capitalism, the State has no choice but to step in as the largest employer and provider until a vaccine is available.
The end of Bennie Bashing
The hatred towards beneficiaries must now end because the vast majority of the population will be in one way or another a beneficiary.
The death of Globalisation & rise of the local hero artisan
Overstretched supply lines and exploitation of cheap labour have been the hallmarks of the neoliberal agenda and the cheek to jowl overpopulation of unregulated wet markets the perfect breeding ground for zoonosis. As global capitalism reorders itself local jobs and secure trusted supply chains will be far more important than the latest consumer toy from overseas. Increasingly we will see the rise of the local hero artisan who crafts local products aimed at a new practical and sustainable consumerism.
Community based power – Pakeha need to learn from Māori
The need for community reliance has never been so urgently highlighted than by this pandemic. Local communities must be given the resources and power to build resilience infrastructure and Pakeha have lots to learn from the communal values of Māori. Maraes, schools and community boards need to be empowered and resourced to take on this new challenge.
Inter-Generational warfare
Not all changes will be nice. As Millennials look at their own poverty and climate crisis future, being told to circumvent their own liberties perpetually so that boomers don’t die will, regain to build an enormous resentment. Propertied Boomers either start giving back something or risk an enormous backlash at the ballot box against their interests.
Why not rebuild it Green?
The need to rebuilt the economy demands the question, why not rebuild it Green and sustainable to counter the climate crisis as well? Increasingly this question will keep getting asked over and over again. Why rebuild if the new infrastructure doesn’t take into account the realities of the climate crisis that every day gets more extreme?
My next essay will be Fortress Aotearoa: What changes politically after the NZ pandemic? & Fortress Aotearoa: What changes economically after the NZ pandemic?
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Brahmin Left Bradbury and Colonazi Gary Lin parade down Queen Street in their PRC military uniforms, pissing on the homeless as they pass?
Yes Martyn- we boomers did grow up in a “post pandemic” era when war had ravenged the global economies after the 1930’s worst depression of our time till today.
We grew up then throough a fist born example of “egelitarianism” that NZ nurtured to make our lives full of hope.
We boomers all urge to see another time when egalitarianism retrurns and our best hope was when this new Government with Labour lead with partnership with NZ First and green paties poicies to move us closer to an egaliterian society again after the previous nine years of National Party “slash burn and sell-off of our public assets and this Government need three terms to achieve this dream we feel.
The only certainty is the Brahmin Left will do very well out the resulting changes.
Ada – Unfortunately there are no certainties in the social and economic dislocation ensuing from the effects of this tragic pandemic.
But if the left were to do as “well” as the exploitative, greedy, cruel and mendacious right has done under neoliberalism, then society as a whole will benefit enormously without the damaging divisiveness which has wrecked far too many lives from the cradle to the grave.
’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Unfortunately the merchant right still own MSM and the system.
If learning from Maori is important to us, why did Bradbury go with; “Fortress”, rather than; “Pa Aotearoa”? Sounds better to me with the assonance, than the clashing languages (though I haven’t bothered learning how to do macrons on an Android, so I can’t get too much on people’s case about Te Reo usage).
But Nigel Latta as an example of the woke left? The guy whose whole thing is spouting smug platitudes under the label of; “Politically Incorrect guide[s]”. I have had enough people try to foist his smarmy bullshit onto me as a parent, that I really can’t go along with that! Though I don’t follow Facebook or Twitter, so maybe he has a different persona there?
Otherwise; yeh. The future will be different to the past, and our actions in the present will help determine the shape of that future. It’s good to have goals, but just because others don’t emphasize the same ones, doesn’t necessarily make them enemies. Personally, I think environmental sustainability is the most important of those that Bradbury outlines.
As an aside, I thought that the Plan B mob’s name was incredibly poorly chosen. Given the pre-existing slogan; “There is no Planet B”.
No need to adopt any foreign mythical belief systems. We have far too many already. If anything, we need to purge ourselves of this kinda shite.
Its what divides and separates us.
As for the future, there is only one path to set out on if all the above were to be achieved, that is;
1.Denounce Capitalism
2. Remove Neoliberalism from our psyche and replace it with Socialism
3. Reconstruct the economy to become a domestic focus and priority
4. Do this now and every thing else will fall into place
Amene.
I am wondering – What is now happening with TPPA or whatever the new label it was signed through?
Does it have any significance now or will it be as dead as a doornail for all the signatories?
Damn good question.
Thank god it didn’t include the Yank’s otherwise we would be totally screwed .
With the agreement of the other 11 signatories the TPPA can be amended.
NZ didn’t have the bargaining chips Australia and Singapore used to get rid of there ISDS clause. Australia has mineral wealth, Singapore has the most sophisticated military in East Asia and these are unloved things in New Zealand.
There’s this message in the community that renewables is not very efficient and right wingers and even lefties like Weka push this false narrative. I mean when we burn fossil fuels it’s pumped into the atmosphere making recycling C02 extremely difficult. Where as renewables are at least 80-97% recyclable.
They say oh but cobalt and Quartz does this or that which is bad and science is like nah its objective not subjective meaning that anyone who whinges about engineering challenges doesn’t have the design skills to over come there IQ challenges.
Lets hope the other 11 signatories think wisely before tightening the noose around our necks.
“………….. and even lefties like Weka push this false narrative”
Just as well you’re on TDB instead of TS eh? or you’d be spending the rest of your life being challenged for proof of that assertion.
Look on the bright side tho’. It’s a real treat to watch, and often it shows why the ‘Left’ are so often their own worst enemy.
I hardly think not very bright authoritarian lefties like weka are of any consequence Tim.
Like with anyone who is ideologically driven they make claims they’ve got the perfect recipe and if it’s unpalatable then it’s everyone else’s fault for not following properly the perfect recipe.
CPTPP wasn’t as bad as TPPP (thanks largely to Trump throwing his toys out of the cot, so no USAn seat at the renegotiation table). As Sam points out, the removal of ISDS was a great improvement. But I still commend our Green members of parliament for voting against it.
This is a bit of a long read (and doesn’t cover all perspectives):
https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/cptpp/understanding-cptpp/tpp-and-cptpp-the-differences-explained
Yup and we’ve got APEC coming up next year and we just have to push for greater coordination among the Asia Pacific Nations and having more multinational military games with a strong kiwi presence will make everyone listen to us when we say to the rest of the CPTPPA nations we don’t want that ISDS clause. But we have to be willing to improve both military and economic cooperation to lay the ground work for improved information sharing. I call it the Micky Mouse Clause where creators intellectual property is backed by all the nations that sign up to the CPTPPA. It’s like with anything with a whole bunch of new acronyms they’re usually thing to smuggle in contraband. So Yknow the more we kiwis pay for our own security and intelligence the better our trade arrangements can be. Yknow Europ has Interpol and the European Central Bank and I don’t think APEC could create a police and bank of its own but we can still use the same technology as Interpol uses ect.
Community based power is absolutely essential.
Communities like Templeton where there is going to be a great big hole in the ground, despite the huge outcry from the local residents, Fulton Hogan have won the case to dig for shingle and transport it, they have an enormous number of restrictions put on them that are to be monitored, yeah right!
I am really pleased that we have had some great alternative responses to the business lobby
Greenpeace have come up with their ‘Green Covid Response’
Mike Joy and others have put together the ‘better futures forum’ (facebook)
Annette Sykes, John Minto and others have come up with a way forward ‘Redirecting the post Covid 19 government spend’ (facebook)
Egalitarian.
I’d argue a bioweapons attack by Deepstate against China, Iran and the home populations ushering in the draconian and dystopian surveillance state, requires a little bit more than the department of healing and hope can offer at the moment.
Advocating for a totalitarian surveillance police state as any sort of solution ignores history. The Germans got scared and wanted a strong government to save them. Oh how happy the people will be that we now have our very own Das Madchen as our beloved Fuhrer. Oh the Lovely smiles of the people happy in their safe embrace of the tech overlords monitoring their every move. Just in time for 5G connected to Waihopai and artificial intelligence so fast they will know what we are thinking and feeling before we even act. If you want the warm crushing embrace of totalitarianism to keep you safe then move to China. Don’t advocate to move China’s totalitarian 5G powered system to Aoteroa NZ. Freedom from tyranny comes at a price paid for by the courageous – safety is for cowards.
MM……..How does 5G feature for you.
This has been doing the rounds on social media.
Some of the bright sides to the current situation:
TRAFFIC has gone,
FUEL is affordable,
BILLS extended.
KIDS are at home with their FAMILIES.
PARENTS are home taking care of their CHILDREN.
FAST FOOD replaced by HOME COOKED MEALS.
Hectic SCHEDULES replaced by NAPS, REST, and RELAXATION.
The AIR seems CLEANER.
The WORLD quieter.
PEOPLE are conscious about HYGIENE and HEALTH.
MONEY doesn’t make the WORLD GO ROUND anymore.
DESIGNER clothing is pointless as nobody ever really needed it.
DOCTORS, SCIENTISTS AND NURSES are being praised and recognized instead of athletes and celebrities.
And WE now have TIME, finally,
to STOP and SMELL the roses
That is awesome SaveNZ. It has to go on our fridge. Cheers.
The Covid-19 HOAX can be seen in the way Covid-19 spread.
It spread to the whole world but jumped over the major Chinese cities.
You know Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, etc. On March 16, more than 3 weeks after the lockdown,
Beijing Municipality had 442 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (population 20 million),
Shanghai Municipality had 353 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (population 23 million),
Guangdong Province had 1,357 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (population 104 million),
Hong Kong Region had 141 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (population 7 million).
Get that… it didn’t appreciably spread (before or after the Chinese lockdown) to any of the major Chinese cities.
But it massively spread (before the Chinese lockdown) to Iran and Italy.
How’s that?
Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province.
The Washington Post reported that 5 million people left Wuhan between January 10, i.e., the start of the Chinese New Year travel rush, and the lockdown.
Get that… five million leave Wuhan for elsewhere, but do not appreciably spread the disease.
How’s that?
And what about Africa?
As of April 16, there were only 16,500 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in all of Africa.
Get that… only 16,500 cases in all of Africa.
Africa, which has seen massive Chinese investment accompanied by over a million Chinese workers.
How’s that?
http://www.preearth.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1184
I do love how much faith you have in the accuracy of Totalitarian Chinese statistics and uphold the figures as “proof” of anything. It’s naive to the point I would like to pat you like a good little communist doggo. Africa’s cases are obviously super low because they do not remotely have the resources for testing for the virus. This is not hard to understand with anyone who is paying attention. Hilariously bad take there Jack.
“Get that… only 16,500 cases in all of Africa. Africa, which has seen massive Chinese investment accompanied by over a million Chinese workers. How’s that?”
As Nitrium pointed out, African nations have fewer resources to test for the virus. Many of the states have few, if any ventilators.
So you’re whipping Africa because they don’t have our living standards/infrastructure?
The rest of your post makes no sense either except strongly suggest you keep away from some of those lunatic conspiracy websites. Honestly, they’ll do ya head in mate.
Jack your answer may lie in how China dealt with it and how the Chinese responded to the edicts put out by govt.
For example a 1000 bed hospital was built in Wuhan in ten days ready to go fully equipped and staffed. That was witnessed by many commentators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNFvJhUmYE
The virus that proliferated in Italy looks to be from a non China origin at this stage.
Hmmm, well I live in a predominantly Maori neighbourhood and have no interest in learning to be violent, dysfunctional, alcoholic or abusive to everyone and everything, get an aggressive dog and let it roam, get in seven cats and let them shit on every one else’s property, and constantly break lockdown bubbles and guidelines. This is the actual reality. I don’t give two shits if they live like me, without those things, but I’ll be fucked if I have to descend into hell for the sake of government stereotype. Wherever it is the mystical Maori mountain dwellers live in peace and harmony, it sure as fuck ain’t here.
If anyone asks me to carry a tracking card, i’ll tie it to the first pigeon I find. And no one is going to stop bashing beneficiaries. The reason they do it isn’t because they are beneficiaries.
After the earthquake in Chch I heard much talk of grand ideas of a new beginning as we rebuilt our city . Green buildings that would be a be an example for others to follow . A city where the people mattered and the use of a car was to be frowned on . We used public transport or biked to work . The CBD was to be full of homes with no garages occupied by a trendy set of people who whizzed around on electric scooters.
10 years on and I see none of this .The council spent a fortune on bike lanes that are underused and most residents complain about . The accomadation was built but we’re slow to sell and those that did sell were for Air B& B. Every building that went up
was earmarked for a restaurant or coffee bar many of which failed due to lack of customers .
At the last election just under half voted National so there were plenty of people happy with the way thinks were and I do not believe either of the main parties have the will or courage to make radical changes as we try a rebuild our lives
@Trevor, Christchurch was rebuilt in Brownlees image and now Labour are keeping his image alive. Including the many sports/events/conferences centres aimed at tourism, (in the face of climate change, earthquakes and now Covid – risky and stupid decision).
Like most construction projects in NZ, the actual ideas and pre build stage lasts for years and never built, the money is frittered away on land purchases and engineering, legal bills and design changes, just like NZ’s many construction projects.
Considering many projects are increasing rates for locals while down sizing their local community amenities for ‘think big’ projects that take a decade to build. (Pity those that live there during that time that have no community facilities as the grand plans are fought over and the locals rates increase!)
The CHCH Rugby stadium blueprint was started in 2012 and still not even built 2020. Meanwhile rugby has been declining in NZ since it is no longer aimed at grass roots rugby players, but the few elite.
“Sport New Zealand figures show active participation in sport and recreation has been in steady decline for decades, as demographics change and demands on people’s time grow.
A 1998 to 2014 trends report, published late last year, found participation in sport and recreation dropped by 7.7 percent over that 16-year period.
Participation fell by nearly twice that amount for people aged 18 to 24 and among those earning less than $40,000 a year.”
Apparently it’s nothing to do with the sports itself being greedy, not community focused and not located where people actually live, or being too expensive and the sports bodies out of touch, its the “Changing farming patterns and “lazy” parents are hurting club sport numbers even in heartland rugby territory, club administrators say.”
Membership at traditional sports clubs was down 11.1 percent , although gym memberships rose by 3.6 percent.” https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/334813/sports-clubs-tackle-decline-in-player-numbers.
Tourists don’t live in cities, locals do (Do tourists want to go to a place that is in the middle of nowhere (in terms of the world), has major earthquakes and is not prospering because all the government money is siphoned off for ‘think big’ projects) while people who actually live there keep getting nothing done with all the big ideas, are spied on, while not getting their house repaired, which has still not happened to some in CHCH a decade later.
Life in ‘Granny’s’ neoliberal NZ, through headlines.
Business as usual during Covid it seems!
All ok for business profits!
BNZ’s first-half result a bright spot as NAB raises A$3.5b
Revealed: The massive NZ store planned by world’s second biggest retailer
International tourism: When we might see overseas visitors again
Mary Holm: Why are more people buying shares than selling?
Mary Holm: Which share funds are best in a downturn?
Advice for the punters…
The best Auckland restaurant delivery options for level 3
Looking forward to takeaways? How not to squander lockdown’s financial gains
Eli Dangerfield: How 21 year old made first million ‘working from home’
Car crimes!
Incredible lockdown heist: 100 cars stolen from Auckland rental yard, says Jucy
Rentals
Tenants calling pest controller over daddy long-legs spiders win tribunal case
For those that want real change, you might have to fight for it, because the muppets have encapsulated our COL government and it’s not helping if this is the daily diet of NZ news!
Part of NZ’s bloodless, but possibly more effective, cultural revolution to expand the millions of resident peasants eking out a precariat living at the local fast food/supermarket/tourism venture/primary agriculture non value added, ruled by big business, rolling in!
The Labour Govt is Gambling with peoples lives.
All Travellers should not be allowed to enter the country.
“Lest we ‘not’ forget.” Winter is Coming- L3-C19
So given the business organization, National and Seymour all want to return to normal NOW, will they all be held accountable with gambling with people’s lives?
You know , …NZ and its neo liberal economy didn’t just magically drop down out of the sky one day after being dropped off with the well wishing of the aliens being complete with a new rendition of the 4th Labour govt in and every other govt since 1984…
You DO realize there were many, many millionaires in NZ before that time , don’t you?
And you DO realize that in 1968 we WERE ( despite the pseudo American political plants often found on this site ) the 6th wealthiest ( per capita ) country in the world after Denmark?
And that much of what M.Bradbury writes about ( though not all) we more or less practiced, don’t you?
That is ,of course, until the global elite ( 1% ‘ers ) complained to Ronnie and Maggie and they listened to dear Milton and his buddies over at the Mont Pelerin society in London about wanting a much , much bigger slice of the economic pie to slate their sense of self entitlement and to teach those useless consumer eaters a thing or two and keep them in their place…
Over in America they preferred the Chicago school of Economics , while in England they preferred having a Mont Pelerin agent just a few doors down from Maggie’s house. Far more sensible to have a cup of tea with and a short walk home. But it didn’t really matter much because both groups were basically the same thing – the 19th century teachings of Friedrich Hayek , – and as we all know hegemony ( esp of the rich) in keeping the populace poor and on the treadmill is the number one priority.
Over here , – we got the poor mans Milton Freidman ( Milt was a mate of Friedricks ), – Rodgy. Roger Douglas some call him. If they were honest they’d call him something else. I wont say what here for decency’s sake. He was just another board director among many of the Mont Pelerin society, a minion, a pleb – like Ruthy,… and another one that its best not to be honest about in devising an alternative moniker about.
Further reading just so as you know what I’m on about :
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
And all these people really , really didn’t like a guy called Keynes. John Maynard Keynes . They didn’t like him because he did meddling things like pull the world ( esp the west ) out of the Great Depression in 6 months. (”Far too short a time , old boy !”) They also didn’t like him because he encouraged strong nation states based on his economic plan.
(”Cant have that old chap !- Good God, – what are you thinking?, We cant have the plebs becoming wealthy, – we need them on the treadmill and we need our caviar, cash, assets and political power”!).
Another reason was Johnny Keynes encouraged a thing called protectionism. Maggie, Ronnie , Ruthy and Rodgy particularly didn’t like that at all… especially because it made it so much more difficult to get their hands on the peoples wealth. And for a born to rule and self entitled person, – that would NEVER do !!!
And so to make very sure they got the peoples wealth built up over the generations to which our self entitled hero’s deemed theirs,… they set about making up fancy names for new ‘policy’s’ they would bring in if they were elected. Things like ‘restructuring’, ‘efficiency’ ‘asset sales’ instead of utility’s, and ‘privatization’ – because we all know we all need our privacy , – especially when we don’t want other people to know what we are doing,… and a whole raft of other things which sounded nice but were,…well,… sort off lil’ white lies. Like them paying their fair share of the tax burden.
And so , with a few more lil’ white lies, – Maggie, Ronnie, Ruthy and Rodgy got what they wanted. The peoples wealth. Yours and mine.
Well for 35 years going on 36 years they’ve done pretty well out of it, haven’t they they just? Our self entitled, born to rule hero’s should jolly well pat themselves on the back. In fact , they should all have an annual mutual pat on the back session. You’re excluded, dear reader, of course. Invite only. Your too poor.
But to use an old cliche’ ‘Time moves on’, or, – another one which is actually a song – ‘All good things got to come to an end and its the same with the wild-wood weed’.
Jim Stafford Sings Wildwood Weed Branson, MO – YouTube
https://youtu.be/YyQi-1Z2tN8?t=2
Now it wasn’t Maggie, Ronny , Ruthy or Rodgy that coined what they were doing ‘neo liberalism’,… that was more us slow to learn consumer eaters who within our ranks contain some of those very intriguing and peculiar individuals who us consumer eaters call ‘economists’. (They’re the people who often work diligently for our heroic self entitled , born to rule hero’s – especially in lobby groups and political circles,… bless them ).
So now because Maggie and Ronny are both dearly departed, and because both Ruthy and Rodgy were always quite dead in the soul, (just like dearly departed Maggie and Ronnie) there’s simply no use adding the epitaph RIP after their names, as it appears that their lil’ white lies and what us plebs like to call ‘neo liberalism’ is too.
RIP , I mean.
Oops!
It is a dead parrot. It has ceased to be. It always was a dead parrot as it had no soul to begin with in the first place. There is and never was a need to waste ones time using the abbreviation ‘RIP’ to something that has never been alive in the first place. Its as ‘dead’ as say, a lump of granite. So I apologize for doing it in the short sentence before this paragraph.
Think of neo liberalism this way. I’m sure the pertinent message is best expressed in humour.
Monty Python Dead Parrot
https://youtu.be/vZw35VUBdzo?t=3
However, that said, humour has often been used to speak to the powerful. I mean dead. Very dead.
WK, what do we do if they take the parrot to a taxidermist – it may not speak, but it is STILLl THERE. We have to make sure they don’t get to the taxidermist. Love your example though.
‘Why not rebuild it Green?
The need to rebuilt the economy demands the question, why not rebuild it Green and sustainable to counter the climate crisis as well? Increasingly this question will keep getting asked over and over again.’
The whole nation needs to understand the difference between real green (permaculture and powerdown) and the phony green (futile and counterproductive ‘technologies’, predicated on the continued use of fossil fuel) which are promoted by corporations and politicians.
This recently-released documentary is a must-see for anyone who genuinely wants to become informed and genuinely wants to get themselves and the nation on the right track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE
‘Planet of Humans’ does tell people a lot of things they don’t want to hear, and by implication will be both a commercial and societal flop (as have numerous previous attempts by many others to wake people out of the collective stupor and sense of entitlement that are hallmarks of present economic, political and social arrangements.
The truth -that we are not going to engineer our way out of the energy predicament nor engineer our way out of the environmental predicament- hurts, and the truth will be avoided at all cost by many…especially those making money out of faux solutions.
Indeed, the adage that the chief source of problems is [technological] solutions has never been more true. Were microbiologists and virologists attempting to understand Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes (SARS) and find a vaccine or cure for SARS (or even AIDS) when they spliced together genetic material and inadvertently unleased Covid-19 on the world? Or did Covid-19 originate in bats and make the jump to humans via unhygienic conditions in overcrowded markets?
I suppose we can add that greed and stupidity are also major sources of problems.
I like the concept presented early in the ‘Planet of Humans’ documentary: How do we know we have gone too far -way, way, way, way, too far [in taking over the planet and disrupting or eliminating nature].
(No, we are not going to colonise Mars.)
In Mike Moore’s doco he reveals a number of green champions who have been bought out or were on a false track. McGibbon for example. The outlook is not good and Mike is now reflecting that.
How do you plan to get a neo liberal government to end neo liberalism? To my mind its like asking an arsonist to end forest fires.
Time to face facts mate. We need new parties and I believe civilised peaceful collective action from ordinary people to enact change.
I’ll add the latter is a lot more meaningful to me than anything we are seeing from politicians. Its ordinary people working to stop this virus and help from hospital workers, people operating food banks, to staff in super markets.
Dead right Sean K, We need to take the bull by the horns and get rid of these thieving greedy Neo Liberalists – they have had their time – they are out numbered – AND WE DO CARE.
Change away from neoliberalism will hardly start at the top.
The battle will be from the ground up – painful.
Parliamentary representation should be the path to change but in spite of what candidates say, they mostly are herded to follow the existing pressure from Business NZ, our rampant off shore capitalist cabal.
Much more rebellion is needed and rebel numbers matter in the house..
They colluded to get rid of Hone who would have been the last pro people rebel loner in the house.
Damn right they did, and I’m still disgusted in that little episode.
Look after yourself, Martyn. Put it first. I’ve gone wall-eyed over the last month. Date and do will see you through. Though I wouldn’t take that advice. Though I’m no recommendation.
Truth is immaculate. And force for it provides the rest.
It is one of the preferred pastimes for people. It is suggested to established a spending budget and bet only that a lot cash in the slots. The small blind is generally half the quantity of the large blind.
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