The colossal strategic blunder by the establishment Auckland Left to back a candidate as weak as Richard Hills is driven by two forces, the old loyalty over talent dynamics of the Left plus the new woke identitarianism.
Efeso’s intelligence and working class mana are a threat to the establishment Left’s demand for total subservience and his strong moral faith runs counter to woke identitarianism.
His desire to put the poor first is a Bernie Sander’s populism when all the establishment Auckland Left wants is a Technocratic, socially liberal management candidate who ensures correct pronoun use and Guyon Espiner level te Reo pronunciation.
Richard Hills is that candidate.
Phil says he’s not going to Washington as NZs ambassador, but he would say that right up until he’s there shaking Biden’s hand.
What’s most offensive about the desire to make Richard the candidate is that there is little change of him winning.
The establishment Auckland Left honestly think that with Goff’s tacit endorsement and a big smiling picture of Jacinda, that’s enough for Hills to win.
It’s not!
The push (which TDB started in October) is for a primary to select the Left wing candidate but the establishment Auckland Left are terrified Efeso would romp home over Hills.
The jealousy the establishment Auckland Left feel towards Efeso has been building for years and by throwing his hat into the ring he’s committed the most cardinal sin one can on the Left, self belief.
As this descends into a vicious backstabbing shit fight, Aucklanders will recoil in disgust.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
I’m one of what you consider death cult capitalists and I would vote for Efeso over Hills anyday, and Efeso over Vic Beck too.
I really hope Efeso stands, and wins …he could do it with the Pacific peoples vote alone…if this happens, Efeso winning as an independent, would leave a bad taste in the Pacific people’s mouths, who have been very loyal to Labour
Exactly!
Labour have arrogantly taken the South Auckland vote for granted for far too long!
Shona. Yes. I have never forgotten Labour’s Louisa W, representing a poor south Auckland demographic, saying that the most important thing in her life was for same sex people to be able to marry each other. That doesn’t feed hungry children, or provide homes for families living in cars, sheds, garages or aunty’s wash-house, cellar or carport.
“What’s most offensive about the desire to make Richard the candidate is that there is little change of him winning.”
I disagree. What’s most offensive about making Hill the candidate is what he stands for – he’s a wet-wipe wokester.
My reaction to hearing of Labour’s alleged current choice for post-Goff Auckland mayor was “Richard who?”
I’d definitely heard of Efeso, though. And I’d vote for him over any stale, soft neoliberal that Labour would push forward. We need a mayor who is strongly based in local communities. And we also need a mayor that has first hand knowledge of working class communities.
I do have some misgivings about Efeso’s past history re abortion, but less so about ‘gay marriage’. I’m a lesbian and never seen marriage as the most crucial issue for LGB issues – it was too much about being accepted on establishment terms and not enough on getting to the deeper causes of prejudice and discrimination against LGB people.
We do need people in power who stand against oppression of all females. However, the neo/liberals focus too much on fitting in with a masculine-devised system, and on the situation for middle and upper class women (bourgeois/liberal feminism) – not enough for all women, especially for those most oppressed i.e. low income, Maori and Pasifika women.
Sole mothers have been the most devastated group hit by WINZ’s punitive sanctions and the real decline in benefits, with Māori and Pacific women over-represented. NZ has a very poor record of it’s treatment of women in prison:
“Maori incarceration statistics go from awful to appalling when the rate of Mana Wāhine in New Zealand’s prisons is considered. Currently at 68%, it is the highest per capita incarceration rate of indigenous women in the world (3). Of the 530 female inmates currently, a staggering 45% (239) are on remand (2,4).”
https://womensliberationaotearoa.org.nz/when-will-the-caged-birds-sing/
Efeso also seems to be good at working with people who have opposing views, and at learning something from them.
So, of the potential candidates so far, and based on my limited knowledge of him ATM, I’d vote Efeso.
karolyn…I hate to break it to you but feminism going back to the suffragettes was always a project of middle class women seeking privileges’ for middle class women, that’s not to say good even some great things didn’t come out of it just that they were a by-product of the main project.
Funny though I was talking to my mates gay brother the other day, he said in a way he missed the days of ‘oppression’ because then there was a community united behind a cause now all the gay community do is worry about mortgages, like other folk….which I suppose is a good sign that gayness really isn’t an issue anymore and that’s how it should be.
gagarin. You are not very well informed about the history of feminism.
Maybe try reading a socialist feminist author like Sheila Rowbotham eg her book “A Century of Women” – focus on UK and US history in the 20th century.
Especially in the UK, feminism has some strong working class feminists and history.
https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/women-quite-unknown-working-class-women-in-the-suffrage-movement
Suffragettes internationally were the tip of the iceberg as regards 1st wave feminism – there were a variety of strands. But, of course, bourgeois feminists have always had a tendency to get the larger share of mainstream media coverage, while working class/low income women’s struggles find it hard to get similar mainstream coverage.
Alternatively labour movements have long been male dominated – something women were strongly challenging in the 2nd wave movement – and still we see loads of male lefties resisting, and refusing to acknowledge the traditional masculine-dominance of the left.
Hey another Auckland bun fight! Cool…
Will he dismantle Panuku? No. Will he Dismantle Ports of Auckland? No!
Will he bring back Public Service to the ‘Public Service’ within the council?
Will he remove all private companies from within Auckland Council?
Very good questions. Damn! Have you evidence he wouldn’t dismantle the first 2 organisations?
Also, the best advice I could give is. Don’t go ‘Woke!’
Don’t fall into the identity Politics trap!
Don’t get suckered into issues that serve no other purpose than to divide people.
There are heaps of issues, eg, Ak’s $10b of debt? Ak needs to reduce its population growth, not expand.
A long-needed salary review(and reduction) is needed for all those overpaid executives and minor executives.
Public Service needs to return to the Council.
Stop spending $274m paying a private company to provide Public Transport! And stop buying buses for them!
Bring it back in-house!
Reduce the scam agreement with Ak Uni for poorly educated inexperienced grads fuck’n up the decision making processes.
Look into Panuku’s directors who’ve too much influence as developers as a side hustle!
And there’s more, much, much more…
you would be surprised how many people i know in AKL who would vote for any idiot posing with the PM.
They would vote reflexively cause Jacinda. That is how far these people think. And that is why AKL is in exactly the shambles that it is. No one in this country has voted for the good of hte country for hte longest time. Everyone votes for a team and a head person who is somewhat appealing to the masses. Critical thinking is not needed and will not be applied, specifically by the educated university doodahs with bullshit diplomas and minimum wage jobs and blue or pink died hair and an issue with their sex.
There is a reason why Auckland is run by the people its run, and the reason is Aucklands educated and dumb as fuck elite.
Go Efeso!
He needs a campaign based on community organising like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez did in New York. Get to the working class and alienated, with a few middle class reach outs too. Who really needs another white coot in a suit, in the biggest Polynesian city?
–Emphasise voter enrolment
–Presumably it is a postal ballot again, so COVID permitting, encourage group fill outs of voting papers at Churches and other meeting places, assist with posting–given the dissapearance of public mail boxes
–Try and increase turnout from the decades long miserable low to how 30% range
Politically, Collins is probably closer to Eric Adams than AOC.
Don’t be a dick all your life, what I said was-Collins needs a “campaign” like AOC, not that he is like Alexandria.
“Who really needs another white coot in a suit?”
You have a problem with white people? How about focusing on the shortcomings of Hills’ policies, rather than attaching his identity?
Hill is a total drip. A protégé of Ann Hartley with zero leadership ability.
Cardinal sin of the left self belief.
Spot on the left always seem to want someone to tell them what to do.
Why that is I cannot fathom.
We need good leaders most certainly but not to the extent we forfeit the right of self belief.
Fucken bullshit. The only way to get out of debt and climate change is to make the poor as rich as possible, as fast as possible.
Yes I agree absolutely that’s my point.
seconde and….carried
‘Establishment Left’ is not Left to Bowalley Roaders and TDBers. The heirs of Roger Douglas, who somehow are still about running things, like the Labour Party for instance.
Establishment Left and the real Left know one another down to diseased toenails. They have the levers, we have the heart.
I think Goff overestimates his ‘clout’ and the supposed ‘Jacinda’ effect, which is wearing off fast anyway. Fees on is our man. We need something different, not worn out limp arse spineless jellyfish. Phil, run for the Hills, run for the Hiiiiiiiiills!
Sorry Efeso I meant. Bloody auto spell.
Comments are closed.