Waatea News Column: Let’s be clear – reopening the borders will kill Maori, Pacifica & the poor

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The pressure on the Labour Government from the business and capitalist class of New Zealand has finally pushed Jacinda into capitulation with her announcement last week to loosen border constraints so the rich can get back to making money.

The self-isolation mandates for business travellers look ripe for failure and the Delta strain alongside the even more lethal Lambda variant meanS that when the virus slips through these relaxed conditions, we are in trouble.

And who will the virus hurt the most?

Māori who have a genetic predisposition to respiratory disease, Pacifica overstayer communities and the overcrowded living conditions of the poor will bear the brunt of the virus so that the wealthy can continue to do business.

I find the idea of any relaxation of the border before we hit 80% vaccination to be one of the worst decisions this Government has made in its 4 years.

Our focus must be on mass vaccination and strengthening the borders NOT loosening them so businesses can get back to making money.

The communities that will pay the highest price of an outbreak are not the ones who will benefit from relaxing the borders. Why should the poor pay the ultimate sacrifice so that the rich can travel?

Labour have promised caution, but caution would be ensuring the most vulnerable had their interests placed above the rich.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

First published on Waatea News.

20 COMMENTS

  1. You need to tell John key that as he don’t care and is showing his true colours, its all about the money. In the mean time we still haven’t learnt the lessons as our DHBs and the MOH are f….n useless as they haven’t served Maori or PI well in Public health, yet they are in charge of rolling out and setting up the vaccination centers. And we wonder why we have such low vaccine rates and hesitancy.

  2. “so the rich can get back to making money” – they doin’ that already:

    “Pfizer, along with its German partner BioNTech , and Moderna have together locked up over $60 billion in sales of the shots just in 2021 and 2022.”
    https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-moderna-seen-reaping-billions-covid-19-vaccine-booster-market-2021-08-13/
    Here is what a billion in $100 notes looks like:
    https://i1.wp.com/academeblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/000-1-Visualing-a-Billion-and-a-Trillion-3.jpg?ssl=1

    The Pfizer “vaccine”:
    1. Does not prevent you contracting the virus.
    2. Does not prevent you spreading the virus.
    3. Is ineffective in 61% of cases (according to the Israeli Government.

    Covid 19 has an IFR (infected fatality rate) of around .15% – roughly equivalent to seasonal ‘flu.

    • Can you supply links for long term, lifelong side effects of covid, then compare them to the seasonal flu?

      • No, I cannot. I have yet to see any legitimate study that shows evidence for “long covid” as a separate condition unrelated to the patient’s immune response or general condition..
        Seasonal influenza behaves in precisely the same way – some individuals shake it off within a day or two, some (most probably with impaired immune systems) take longer and can become chronic. 300-500 die from influenza every year in this country (600 in 1997).
        I have never seen nor heard any medical practitioner distinguish “long influenza” as a separate condition unrelated to the patient’s underlying conditions of immunity or co-morbidity.
        The term “Long Covid” can be traced to Elisa Perego of University College London.
        She is highly qualified ….. in Archaeology.

        Here are the symptoms reported by people with long COVID:
        Extreme fatigue
        Long lasting cough
        Muscle weakness
        Low grade fever
        Inability to concentrate (brain fog)
        Memory lapses
        Changes in mood, sometimes accompanied by depression and other mental health problems
        Sleep difficulties
        Headaches
        Joint pain
        Needle pains in arms and legs
        Diarrhoea and bouts of vomiting
        Loss of taste and smell
        Sore throat and difficulties swallowing
        New onset of diabetes and hypertension
        Heartburn (gastroesophageal reflux disease)
        Skin rash
        Shortness of breath
        Chest pains
        Palpitations
        Kidney problems (acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease)
        Changes in oral health (teeth, saliva, gums)
        Anosmia (lack of sense of smell)[23]
        Parosmia (change in sense of smell)[23]
        Tinnitus
        Blood clotting (deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism)

        With the possible exception of Anosmia and Parosmia, I have had all of these. I do not have and have never had Covid 19.
        I do not think “Long Covid” is a meaningful concept but please post links to any contrary information if you have it.

            • No that’s why I asked you if you had the information, geez, it wasn’t a hard question, yes you have a comparison or no you don’t?

              From the ministry of health…

              “There is increasing evidence emerging on the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 (long COVID). Information about the ongoing health impacts of COVID-19, including questions and answers, will be updated over time.

              This is an evolving pandemic, unlike the “seasonal flu”. To compare a well known viral infection, to an ever evolving coronavirus disease by way of death statistics is disingenuous at best.

              • What part of “No I cannot” was difficult?
                Have you been tested for “Long Covid” Bert?
                Couple of the symptoms listed above are indicated in your posts.

  3. Don’t open the borders. Many businesses are doing great guns in NZ with the borders closed, it’s the exploiters, criminals and cheap arses braying for them to be open.

    Business in NZ don’t want to use Maori and Pacific Island labour because having people paying for a job from overseas, is very lucrative. Half the jobs don’t even exist. AKA good on the current Korean Society leaders to blow the whistle on the scam going on there for years with the fake job so that one of their foreign nationals can fraudulently avoid paying for education in NZ for their kids. Ever wondered why the classrooms/hospitals/roads are so full? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/korean-society-facing-era-complaint-over-alleged-work-visa-rort/3FU23ZPL2VKWEFT4KYP627PGAE/ Also why are all these organisations considered charities and thus don’t have to pay any taxes? https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/96742698/how-some-new-zealand-business-make-billions-and-pay-no-tax

    Sleepy hobbits!

  4. Keep the borders closed and fuck the riche crooks here and not in that good way.
    This is what I think we should do.
    Ban foreign bankers from operating in AO/NZ, effective immediately.
    Capture all foreign banker financial assets here then redistribute them to better utilise those (our) assets within our communities and societies beginning with AO/NZ’s most at risk then what’s left, if any, can trickle up all it likes.
    Write off ALL mortgage debt and ban retail loan sharking.
    Cooperate with farmers to create a matrix of nationally found peoples markets and undercut the supermarkets until they’re in receivership.
    Contact our traditional off-shore trading partners and inform them that there will be a ministry of Agrarian Trade formed here to enable a smooth trading flow unfettered by greedy, manipulative, middle people who pocket most of our primary industry funds while ‘allowing’ is to eat C grade produce priced higher than A grade produce in, for example’ Great Britain.
    Re nationalise electricity and rail and create a ministry of retail lending.
    And that can be just the beginning.
    Some of you will think I’m an idiot. Some of you won’t know what to think, some of you will agree and some of you won’t give a fuck.
    That, doesn’t change the facts.
    We don’t need foreign banksters, we don’t need riche swindlers, we don’t need supermarket duopolies but we do need to be safe, secure, happy and well fed.
    The only worthless, useless, well embedded elements getting in the way of [that] are foreign banksters, riche swindlers and supermarket duopolies.
    The reason WHY the above isn’t will never be implemented is because we’re way, way, way more corrupt than we can begin to comprehend.
    Aye Boys?

  5. If Jacinda had been truely sorry about the Dawn Raids she would have forgiven the current overstayers and said if they came forward we would give them visas if they got a covid shot. There are a large number of Maori in this government but they are very quite about telling their people to get the vaccine.
    This government need to step up the demand of no jab no job . This may get us to that 90 per cent vaccinated and no dole for 6 weeks if they lose a job because they were not jabbed.

  6. Here you are talking about something called Lambda our media seem to have missed out, all focusing on delta.
    The issue Im having about having the alpha vaccine is that it doesnt provide much protection against delta in fact its infecting half of israel, a country with 95% vaccination rates.

  7. ” but caution would be ensuring the most vulnerable had their interests placed above the rich ”

    Yes but this not a Labour government they are Blair neo liberal New Labour capitalist friendly alternative.
    They only represent money , rich middle property class and this county only functions for their needs not the poor , destitute or wage salves. If only there was a party who could harness their support.

  8. ” Labour have promised caution, but caution would be ensuring the most vulnerable had their interests placed above the rich ”

    Instead of Michael Joseph Savage’s portrait adorning the walls of LINO HQ why not a reminder of what they are there to do and that is look after the vulnerable and their children ( in other words those who are suffering wage related poverty) and that be at the forefront of every policy decision and have that as their desk top reminder every day !

    Caution is a convenient neo liberal excuse to not intervene or compromise the wealthy and their enablers ability to keep the boot firmly on the heads of the economic refugee.

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