Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief moment, as the countdown moved to one minute to midnight, everything changed.
NEW ZEALAND POLITICS under the Lockdown will be played out in two locations. The Beehive: where Jacinda Ardern and her key ministers and advisers will oversee the national effort to eradicate the Covid-19 virus. Parliament Buildings: where the Epidemic Response Committee, chaired by Simon Bridges, will hold the Prime Minister, her government, and the country’s leading public servants to account.
So ‘he who will not be named’ had pleaded guilty and will not face a trial. Those involved are very relieved but also very slightly cheated. But he would have been mad to testify, so really there is little they missed out on.
With the COVID-19 pandemic now forcefully reminding the human family of our closeness, connectivity and interdependence, the Palestinian scientist and author, Mazin Qumsiyeh, has issued an appeal to the world.
The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government.
And a sigh, all tasks about complete, the pantry stocked, that we sink into our little bubble.
2020 started with an existential bang. Catastrophic bushfires, drought, international undiplomatic brinkmanship and now Covid-19, it’s felt like we’ve ticked off the full apocalyptic list.
As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home.
I will not be one of those people.
Many of us are rolling our eyes and tut tutting as women fight in the supermarket aisles over rolls of toilet paper.
There is a quotation often attributed to Lenin, in which it is said that when it comes time to hang the capitalists – they will fall over each other to attempt to sell their executioners the rope.