GUEST BLOG: Lizzie Cook – Labour – Reducing others to cinders to advance yourself
Greens do not ‘punch down’.
- It seems to me that Jacinda Ardern is threatened by other strong and charismatic women, especially, Metiria Turei.
- Shutting out Meteria Turei is punching down (another hit at Welfare Beneficiaries). I certainly cannot understand the voting uproar. In the scheme of cruelty to others, it does not even register. Her so-called ‘crimes’ are not those of Judith Collins. Why are Kelvin and Jacinda not punching up and keeping their focus on real dirt?
- Kelvin Davis (the blue Labourite) and Jacinda Ardern are clearly in politics for themselves and their own ambitions. If they were not, they would surely be standing solid with Metiria Turei to make a united front against the ‘baying hounds’ of the privileged.
- Yet again, Labour abandons a solid front ‘Left’ (as Cunliffe did in the last election by conniving against Mana in Te Tai Tokerau and distancing Labour from the Greens) and so Labour reveals itself for what it is, a centrist party. It does not represent a ‘Left’.
- Yet again Labour let down a Māori, in this case, Metiria Turei with vision for a better society, just as it has mostly let down Māori – the ignoring of Māori in ‘Labour’ held Māori seats, the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed legislation, the 2007 invasion of Tuhoe. But Kelvin is Māori, you say? Ah, yes he is. Well spotted! But that fact does not change the history of Labour, and he certainly does not seem to be helping.
- Labour and National are centrist. Does it really make any difference whether you vote for one or the other? Are you sure?
- If you really want a better Aotearoa, it is long-term vision you need to be voting for, not how many extra dollars you get in your pocket, today, gone tomorrow. Long-term vision for all New Zealanders is only currently being provided by Greens, Māori Party and Mana – except that Hone upset Mana prospects with his rather odd death penalty approach to ‘Asian’ drug crime.
Summary
Voting Ardern Labour is personality politics no different to voting John Key (because he looked like a nice man). What are the policies? What party has policies that are going to advance Aotearoa and New Zealanders as a whole?
Lizzie Cook is descended from White English, Irish and Welsh Settlers to Aotearoa in the time of Queen Victoria and the British Empire. She is a PhD candidate at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha/University of Canterbury. Her thesis has the working title: Pākehā Bliss of Cruelty.
Great stuff, spot on, Davis is known as a conservative, thanks Lizzie.
Labour might win this election due to Ardern’s personality, but where does that leave the left?
Another third-way Labour government will do nothing to address the root causes of our social ills. They will manage them better than National, until National come back in and strip it away.
It’s sad that social democracy is still considered radical today. Labour’s popularity since Ardern took over is disheartening – it will be nice to see National out, but what’s the point if it’s more of the same from the red team?
Very strange comments. So you want National to get back in to continue distroying Nz? Shouldn’t we be going for broke to change the government.
Well said Lizzie I liked that.
Thought provoking.
Jenny May
You are so correct. Most of those who comment on here want to be radical lefties- and in the process make sure that National continue to govern us forever.
The problem is the Lefties never do anything. They just whinge and moan and complain about Labour.
I think the Blog itself will have to decide whether it just wants to be a useless wailing wall – or a rallying post for people who have Democracy and Fairness at Heart. Namely Labour.
The Standard Blog suffers the same disease. Lefties on the whinge. Never doing anything just spewing out yards and yards of crap – rubbishing Labour.
Surely we can do better ! Can’t we ?
I have to say that I agree with every point Lizzie Cook made and personally I believe her point is in fact the same as yours, surely we can do better, can’t we?
Observer Tokoroa – do you remember traitorous Douglas, Prebble, Dunne and the rest of the mob? Don’t tell me they were focussed on democracy and fairness of heart. They destroyed this country, and those still in the party don’t seem to be wanting any changes. We can do better but not with Labour at the helm. Go the Greens.
I agree with all your points Lizzie, thank you for your succinct summary
Lizzy,
have a dose of realpolitik.
Jacinda was never going to win an argument about the right of beneficiaries to game a punitive system, even if those more familiar with the experience understand the push-pulls involved.
It was time to cut bait. This she did. The whole system needs to be refor,ed into the “Helping” agency it was meant to be, most on the Left get that. But first you have an election to win.
Insight and discipline. When power is near to hand, both are needed, even if they are of little value when power is a distant pipe dream.
To Maama
I agree that Sir Roger Douglas, Mr Dunne and other weak minds were responsible for shocking policy.
But these people were doing their horrible work back in the 1980s Maama.
The only people keeping all that alive is the Media. Every time you go back to the 1980s you make it hard for the Greens.
Get with the here and now. The Greens are good. So is modern Labour.
If Labour wanted to prove itself better than National, they had nine years in government in do so. We don’t have to go back to the 1980s to see how awful Labour is. Clark’s government ran year after year after year of budget surpluses and never increased welfare benefits.
Clark said paid parental leave would be intorduced over “my dead body” – she only ended up being forced to go along with it because it was part of the price the Alliance managed to extract.
That government gave us the 2007 ‘terror raids’ and Labour’s attempt to frame up 17 activists; even Ross Meurant, the former head of the police Red Squad from the 1981 Springbok tour, said it was a stitch up.
Clark enthusiastically joined in the invasion of Afghanistan and then sent NZ armed forces to help i nthe occupation of Iraq just in time for the deadline for NZ companies to bid on “reconstruction work”.
That Labour government spent a *smaller* percentage of GDP on health and education than the current National government. The current National government raised social welfare benefits, expanded free doctors’ visits for children and, while Key was PM they kept the retirement age at 65 while Labour bayed to make workers work more years of their lives.
More recently, Labour has been the more xenophobic/anti-immigrant of the two main parties.
The notion that Labour is somehow ‘left’ and so much better than National doesn’t hold up to even the basic scrutiny. It is one of those strnage things that ‘the faithful’ believe – like the virgin birth and water changing into wine. It bears no relation to reality.
Meanwhile, here’s a critical history of Labour up til the end of the last Labour government: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/the-truth-about-labour-a-bosses-party/