It’s time for the NZ Left to be radical – we need a Jubilee Government
While the Government looks to exploit international students and cause gridlock to our underfunded physical and social infrastructure…
Government wants to grow international student numbers by over 30,000 in next nine years
…our own Kiwis fear returning because of student loan debt…
Overseas Kiwis struggle with massive interest, penalties on student loans
…it’s time for the NZ Left to be radical – we need a Jubilee Government!
Wipe student loan debt for those who agree to return to NZ and stay 5 years!
We must look at a radical reset for student loan debt and beneficiary debt, we must take the tax yoke off the shoulders of workers and place it on the mega wealthy.
I have been arguing since Bernie Sanders stood against Hilary that the only way to combat Trump’s (and the wider rights) negative populism is popular populism.
Not one poor family is sitting around the kitchen table cancelling each other for misusing pronouns, they are trying to work out how to pay the bills, and when the working poor turn to us on the Left for solutions and see only alienating identity politics dogma being served up as a solution, they turn away in anger at us.
I’ve only been pointing this other since 2016.
Meanwhile the planet burns.
If we’ve all finished alienating possible voters with pure temple politics, how’s about some good old fashioned Broadchurch class solidarity instead?
- Free public transport
- An Iwi back 3rd Supermarket chain.
- First $20 000 tax free
- GST off essentials
- Free Dental
- Free Health
- Free Education
Left Universalism is our goal, subsidising the biggest costs for the poorest people.
The NZ Left needs to move beyond the low hanging fruit of identity politics and the illusion of awareness…
Bregman says one antidote to that fear is “moral ambition.” It’s his term for people who blend the idealism of an activist with the ruthless pragmatism of an entrepreneur to make the world a better place. In his new book, “Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference,”Bregman uses the example of that German shipyard worker and other ordinary people to critique what he sees as a common failing of people on the left: They fall for the “illusion of awareness,” a belief that simply exposing people to injustice will inspire them to act.
“Awareness doesn’t put food on the table. Awareness won’t keep a roof over your head,” writes Bregman, a vegan who has spoken out against animal factory farming. “With awareness, you don’t cool down the planet, you’re not finding shelter for those 100 million refugees, and you won’t make a bit of difference for the 100 billion animals at factory farms worldwide. Awareness is at best a starting point, while for many activists, it seems to have become the end goal.”
…the manner in which social media school chambers have radicalised voters into Qanon militia speaks to a deeper wound and is reminiscent of the way global Muslim youth were radicalised in the 1990s and 2000s thanks to online Jihadist recruitment videos.
Citizens should feel angry and cynical at a system that is rigged in favour of the rich!
The Left should lean into that populism!
We need to focus on how to combat this terrible racist, anti-worker, anti-Treaty, anti-renter, anti-beneficiary, anti-environment Government who are selling out the common good for the interests of their donor friends.
We have to re-establish the egalitarian mission by promoting policy that directly challenges the capitalist status quo in meaningful ways.
Without vision, the Left is lost.
There are 4 magical pillars of the NZ economic ‘success’
1 – Stealing Indigenous land and never paying back the full value.
2 – Selling basic milk powder to China
3 – Selling each other houses and pretending that makes us rich.
4 – Addiction to a low wage economy.
The migration exploitation rules are garbage because NZ loves exploiting migrant labour!
We are addicted to it.
We say locals are too lazy for these jobs when really what we say is locals won’t allow themselves to be exploited as easily as migrant workers.
There is of course a solution here.
Universal Union membership for every migrant worker crossing the border.
That way domestic workers know they are not competing against exploited labour.
That way migrant labour can’t be exploited without the Union stepping.
That way the migrant worker and domestic worker are all protected by the solidarity of the Union.
We don’t want a solution to exploited labour, that’s why Universal Union Membership for migrant workers is ignored and non-solutions like this are promoted.
We need economic resilience, we need community resilience, we need radical reform to strengthen sustainability.
We need more Left Universalism.
We need to lift the tax yoke off working people, beneficiaries and the middle classes and we need to put it on the Banks, the Corporations, the Billionaires and the mega wealthy.
We need more Democratic Infrastructure, not less!
Why do we need these things?
Because the climate is shutting down and we face a bleak future where Billions will suffer and die thanks to catastrophic climate change.
This change will be forced upon us whether we like it or not.
This demands more connections, more bonds that bind us together to emotionally, socially, economically and politically survive what is coming.
Māori communalism is going to teach us a lot.
Here are some thoughts on what the NZ Left should be considering:
The Right to Strike: A 10 day nation wide national strike would achieve more for working people than a dozen elections. We don’t have the right to strike in this country for God’s sakes, stand on your feet or live on your knees!
Iwi backed new Supermarket: Bring in a 3rd player into the supermarket duopoly that is Iwi backed with a focus on cheap prices for consumers, best prices for producers and high wages and work conditions for workers. Take 30% of the Supermarket Industry by force (allowed under the Commerce Commission powers) and use this as the backbone for a new food security system.
Wipe student loan debt + beneficiary debt: Wipe student loan debt for those who agree to return to NZ and stay 5 years and wipe all beneficiary debt.
Mārae Civil Defence: Use Marae as the backbone of Civil Defence throughout NZ with resources based there alongside new building grants to strengthen those Marae.
Ministry of Green Works: We need to be able to build our own sustainable infrastructure, we need social housing builds and we need vast upgrading of the existing infrastructure to be adaptable to climate change.
New Mental Health First Responders: A whole new branch of first responders to deal specifically with mental health issues to talk people down and seek help rather than calling then Police and arresting people.
Artist Benefit: As part of a degrowth Capitalism model, pay Artists to make public art, use that art as a means to deal with the wondrous grief caused by the destruction of the planet.
Māori Parliament: An indigenous Parliament that amplifies Māori political voices.
Universal Student Union: Allow Student Unions to be the incubators for tomorrows politicians and stop students simply being cash cows for corporate education.
Universal Migrant Union: Stop migrant worker exploitation with universal student membership.
Retirement Village Unions: These scumbag retirement villages abuse their elderly and sick clients, universal Retirement Village Unions would stop them being exploited.
Pensioner Unions: Give our elderly a voice!
Sugar Tax to fund free dental.
Financial Transaction Tax to target speculators
Free Public Transport to lower emissions and make an impact on the wallets of the poor.
Wealth Tax aimed at the super wealthy
Inheritance Tax only realised after death
First $20 000 tax free for everyone
Lower GST to 10% to take the tax burden off the poor
Nationalise Early Childhood Education to lower the cost for working mothers and fathers
Parental leave: Expand to 12months.
Without vision the Left is dead.
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Importing unskilled people pretending to be students is not going to fix NZs problems .We cant even educate our own because we are too obsessed with saying we are dumb lazy people .We nned to educate and fully employ our own before worrying about other countries rejects .Its a bit dumb paying our own people to be on the unemployment benefit while allowing others to be trained or employed .We dont have enough teachers or lecturers to teach our own so we will just have second rate pretend trainers /teachers educating the 100k non english speaking students who are really here to be exploited by fellow country men .
No No No – to waiving student loan debt for the dishonest who skipped their responsibility. Why should those who stayed and paid, or are still paying, theirs off – like my grandson [despite being only able to get 27hrs/wk]. Only way this would be fair would be to also reimburse those who have paid. There is never a good reason for dishonesty to be rewarded – what message would we be sending? How many have paid even some of what they owe from their earnings overseas? I wager very few. Did they really think their Fairy Godmother would fly in, wave her magic wand and the debt would disappear? I would only support a reduction in the interest/penalties on these loans – nothing more!
Please don’t get locked down from movement because there is a piece that doesn’t fit at the moment. Adopt two or three stages and fight about each one as to whom this may apply! Please don’t scupper things because there is a fault in theory or value to some extent. Correct it until the idea fits.
Latest idea – TOPS Party is talking about Citizens Assemblies. Can we look at what they have come up with
Martyn. It might be our saving grace! Along the lines from the bible. Psalms 118:22 King James Version (KJV)
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 22The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
It’s time for the NZ Left to be radical – we need a Jubilee Government
By Martyn Bradbury
“….I have been arguing since Bernie Sanders stood against Hilary that the only way to combat Trump’s (and the wider rights) negative populism is with popular populism….”
Me too, I have been arguing the same since Zohran Mamdani stood against Rudy Giuliani, (and won}, that the only way to combat Trump’s (and the wider rights) negative populism is popular populism in solidarity with our huge and hugely taken advantage of migrant workforce.
Almost eight months on from the presidential election and it’s still unclear who is leading the Democrats and whether they’ll campaign from the center, the left, or the very, very, left. Well Zohran Mamdani may offer a clue, he’s a charismatic Muslim socialist who doesn’t believe billionaires should exist and he just won a stunning victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, the biggest city in the United States….
Can the Left beat David Seymour and ACT?
By Martyn Bradbury -July 3, 2025
“…..Currently ACT are skullfucking the Union movement. The Union’s response? “Please stop skullfucking me’. Problem is the Left have forgotten how to fight and because they aren’t really sure what they believe in ….”
When the unions are weak the left is weak.
The trade union movement in this country will always be weak as long as it tolerates a large proportion of the workforce as second class citizens, with less rights to healthcare, contracturally bonded to one employer. If the unions are not sure of what they believe in, maybe they ought to believe in this;
‘An injury to one is an injury to all’.
It expresses the principle of solidarity, emphasizing that the mistreatment of any worker can lead to the mistreatment of all workers, and therefore, workers should support and defend each other. The phrase underscores the idea that collective action and unity are necessary to achieve fair treatment and better working conditions for al
According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employmenthe the current percentage of trade union membership among employees is currently 10.48%, . This figure is based on the 373,967 union members as of March 1, 2023, representing the total number of union members as a percentage of the total number of employees in the labor force.
Solidarity with the most oppressed and marginalised is how Mamdani beat Giuliani.
In the US, New York Democratic mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani’s, courage in standing up against ICE and Trump in defence of immigrants proved to be a winner.
Donald Trump a Rightwing billionaire, built his MAGA movement on anti-immigrant bigotry.
(The Right beat the Left with divide and rule).
Zohran Mamdani, a Leftwing Muslim immigrant built his movement on inclusivity and diversity..
(The Left beat the Right with solidarity with the oppressed and marginalised).
In New Zealand, migrant workers (including all visa holders and recent residents) make up a whopping 14% of the workforce.
https://www.google.com/search?q=NZ+migrant+workers+by+percentage+of+workforce&sca
Fourteen percent of New Zealand workers are migrant workers, this is greater than the percentage number of New Zealand unionised workers, (10.48%),.
Fourteen percent, (14%), of the workforce vulnearble and unorganised with less employment rights and condtions, is a dagger poiinted straight at the heart the trade union movement. But rather than be afraid of these workers as a threat, as Donald Trump and other Rightwing demogogues want us to be, the union movement and the Left needs to see them as allies, just as Zohran Mamdani does.
According tot the New Zealand Productivity Commission, Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa;
New Zealand’s migrant workforce is one of the largest in the OECD …
Like the US and and other Western countries, including EU countries like France, have long relied on both illegal and legal immigrants as a large part of their labourforce for the simple reason that not being citizens and enjoying the full rights of citizenship, they are more vulerable to exploitation and abuse, and less likely to join unions and organise against their exploitation and abuse. If they are illegal, out of fear of punitive detention and deportation, If they are legal out of fear o loss of their temporary migrant work visas
Alongside this state repression and punitive immigrant enforcement, racism against migrants is cultivated by right wing populist politicians to cow migrant workers and keep them subservient to their employers and supervisors. Right wing demagoguery makes migrant workers vulnerable to racial discrimination and government profiling in securing housing and social services like healthcare, which though they pay income taxes toward our health and welfare system, just like every other worker does, they are not allowed to access it.
New Zealand migrant workers on temporary work visas are not entitled to free public healthcare. While New Zealand has a publicly funded healthcare system, eligibility for free or subsidized care is typically limited to New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.
Solidarity Forever
No 1. NZ Trade Union movement demand.
Universal access to the public health system for all income tax payers, not excluding income tax payers on temporary work visas.
The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is tied to a specific employer. This means that the visa is issued for a particular job with a particular employer and in a specific location….
No 2. NZ Trade Union Movement demand
End the system of bonded servitude to one employer and one location for workers on temporary work visas
AEWV (temporatry work visa) holders are required to leave New Zealand for 12 months before being granted another AEWV
AEWV (Accredited Employer Work Visa) holders are required to leave the country for at least 12 months before being granted another AEWV, after reaching their maximum stay duration on the visa.
After reaching the maximum stay, a mandatory “stand-down” period of 12 months outside New Zealand is usually required before applying for another AEWV.
No 3 Trade Union Movement demand
Abolish the requirement to leave the country to renew a AEWV, this requireent is an unecessary added burden and enforced expense and hardship on migrant workers.
The trade union movement in this country will always be weak, and the Left always divided, as long as we tolerate a huge proportion of the working population being second class citizens.
Having a migrant workforce with lesser rights than other workers is subtle form of modern bonded servitude. Like old time bonded servitude, (slavery), racism is an important component of the migrant worker system. Demagogues like Trump tap into this existing system of exclusion and racism to whip up hatred against migrants and increase their oppression and exploitation.
If people are good enough to work for us, they are good enough to deserve full citizenship rights.
If they are good enough to work alongside us, they are good enough to live alongside us as equals with equal rights.
Working people everywhere need to take their cue from New York Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and defend immigrants from unfair treatment and state discrimination, for as pastor Niemoller warned us, if we don’t, we will be next.
And for all you Centrists who think democracy begins and ends with elections, remember this:
Workers who fight Left vote Left, it is only in struggle that you learn what side you are on.
Venezuela, with a population of 27 million, has built more houses for workers than we have people in this country.
Actually building some housing for working people might be a good start.
We used to have more sheep than houses. And we had a quaint and endearing sense of humour too. Now it is all gritted teeth, narrowed eyes, hints of malpractice and sexual misdoings, tricks and meanness, manipulation of public thinking, artificial versions of artificial money which is replacement for valued articles on an artificial basis.
( Thinking abour JM Barrie’s 1902 play The Admirable Crichton which is about managing in real time when the class values of what is important are worse than useless.)
Here is a carefully produced piece of musical? trickery – from 1950s.
The Ashley Clinton Sheep’s Choir. https://www.google.com/search?q=Nyoutube+Z++music+listen+the+ashley+clinton+sheep+choir&sca_esv=2323f8d8c4d3b84c&sxsrf=AE3TifMdKk8RenaxTCFY4oqvGMMDBaLm2Q%3A1753000304963&ei=cKl8aOPBOvyE2roPnt-jwAk&ved=0ahUKEwjjud-Dg8uOAxV8glYBHZ7vCJgQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=Nyoutube+Z++music+listen+the+ashley+clinton+sheep+choir&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiN055b3V0dWJlIFogIG11c2ljIGxpc3RlbiB0aGUgYXNobGV5IGNsaW50b24gc2hlZXAgY2hvaXIyCBAAGKIEGIkFMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiiBBiJBUjtdlCwDFivc3ABeACQAQCYAfwBoAHWFqoBBDItMTO4AQPIAQD4AQGYAg6gAssXwgIIEAAYsAMY7wXCAgsQABiwAxiiBBiJBcICBRAAGO8FmAMAiAYBkAYFkgcGMS4wLjEzoAeQM7IHBDItMTO4B7kXwgcGMi0xMS4zyAdf&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f8a072e3,vid:Gs5cGVl-Zto,st:0
Sorry about that but can’t get access to it any other way and RNZ is altering nga taonga’s site as well??
And let’s keep this in mind. When we man/woman our lifeboats, only strong bodies, strong minds, and a sense of humour are welcome, and perhaps a comb for keeping hair tidy and then making music on, a tin whistle or recorder, a ukelele etc. And someone from the Kokatahi West Coast SI band who sings.
Great post Bomber…
Still frustrated not knowing how to effectively contribute to the vital
change in direction so fukn desperately needed.