Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
AND SO IT BEGINS, the National Party’s simultaneous descent and ascent. Downwards, into the dark territory of “whatever it takes”. Upwards, into the glare of electoral victory. It’s happening because the party’s present leader has convinced himself that it is only the first movement which makes possible the second.
Does humanity grasp this: the brutal, but inescapable, reality that lies at the heart of the problem within the problem of Climate Change? That to come through the next 100 years, the human species will, somehow, be required to reduce its present population by nine-tenths?
Thomas Hobbes said in the 17th century that if the rule of law breaks down, then the life that it left is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Instead of being a fate we have escaped by democracy, this famous phrase, in the UK at least, is increasingly sounding like political prediction.
On the one hand, attempting to blame every little thing on “The Clintons” and/or some other, further elite conspiracy efforts … as hilarious as it can be, is often overtly ridiculous. On the *other* hand … Jeffrey Epstein somehow managing to kill himself *while on suicide watch* following his previous attempt, allegedly via hanging, suggests that *at minimum* there’s been some almost unbelievable incompetence by his jailers.
On 24 July this email was sent by Marian and I to our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: “The crimes committed…
We can take inspiration from the current occupation of Ihumātao and its reminders about the wider Treaty principles of tino rangitiratanga and kawanatanga, governorship and sovereignty. In fact, those principles, and occupation as an example of passive resistance, will be more important tools through time.
The signs of a new capitalist crisis of overproduction and its attendant financial crises and world recession are accelerating. US inventories are increasing significantly, German industrial production is declining, car industry layoffs are hitting all parts of the globe.
Capitalism is in urgent need of new leadership. The neoliberal model, tested in Chile between 1974 and 1978, and then rolled out in the UK and the USA between 1979 and 1985, has failed to generate the broadly shared wealth Capitalism requires if it is to remain politically sustainable
Watching the course of developments around Ihumatao over the past few months, it is hard to escape the sensation that something extraordinary has happened. What would, some decades ago, perhaps have been written off as a “Maori” issue by much of New Zealand – and consequentially, disparaged, denied, and turned into a pit of talkback-radio excoriation – has in fact managed to attain broad support from across the community.
THE DEEPENING CONFLICT between the United States and China is rapidly reducing New Zealand’s room for diplomatic manoeuvre.
