Reflections on Green Party AGM
I’ve been to all the MANA conferences and more Labour Party Conferences than I can remember but the last Green Party AGM I went to was when Nandor was still an MP and the radical politics being expressed then are a million miles away from the Green Party of today.
The first thing that strikes you when you look around at a Green Party AGM is just how white and middle class it is. I am talking whiter than white, I’m talking polar bear against a white back drop, I’m talking the diversity of a National Party front bench, I’m talking blizzard in Antarctica white, I’m talking KKK on laundry day. I’m talking a cocaine party in the Arctic, I’m talking Honkytown, Crackerville, I’m talking white bread on white bread on white.
It. Is. White.
Which helps explain the Greens utter lack of traction as a political party in a city as diverse as Auckland.
What was also prevalent was the deep seated frustration of not being in a Government. These people have deep held beliefs about the environment that border on the religious and they want that policy implemented believing that all else – welfare, economics, gender equality, identity politics and societal values will flow from that environmental policy The appalling manner in which the Labour Party have treated the Greens over the many years of MMP have generated a faction who want power regardless of who the other partner is.
It was this faction, made up of blue-green and Identitarians, who were pushing for a neutral strategic stance until the MoU was rushed through.
It is these deep seated beliefs that will be the most difficult part for the Greens and Labour leadership to reign in. The social media tracks of Green Supporters on Twitter verge on the inquisition side with ritual crucifixions for those who speak heresy and blasphemy, I understand why Labour wanted to come to the Green AGM based in the middle of no where, because mixing these two groups together is a recipe for combustion.
I was a guest speaker at the 1999 Alliance Conference that Helen Clark attended. The energy in that room heralded the demise of the National Government, this on the other hand was a far smaller, far more controlled event because there wasn’t any clear certainty of how the wider green membership would react.
It is the depths of these environmentally spiritual beliefs that will be the most difficult to negotiate for the leaderships of both parties while not alienating soft NZ First and National voters.
They have 18months to make this gel, and so far the Greens seem to have righted themselves after severe wobbles post Russel leaving.
Deeply questionable staff decisions (Ruminator as your strategist, FFS!), a weird state of the nation wonk idea that no one now remembers, Red Peak wankery and the audible groan when James Shaw, a past consultant to Coke, was elected all led to some truly wobbly moments there for the Greens. Those seem to have passed and that stability has led to the MoU.
If they can forge a shared policy platform and a list of electorates to work together on, they could well replace Key next year and that’s why Paddy Gower was so hysterical. You know what scares the Government by how frantic Paddy gets.
Good wrap mate, I came back to NZ in 1998 from 10 yrs in UK/US/Canada and joined the Greens during that time also when the Greens were actually a mix of professionals/hippie types with a fridge of us blue collar trades folks around the edge as we were.
But we noticed the urgency between both Greens/Labour to get an agreement in 1999 to roll the present National toxic cancer from Parliament then.
So it seemed good logical idea to us all then, and the plan worked as the Shipley National sell-out NatZ went out the door as NZ First/Greens/Alliance joined a coalition lead labour Government that lasted 9yrs.
I was asked to start our own movement fighting for public beaches, and other issues, that the HQ of the Green Party then said we should not use Greens as an alliance to.
Every Party is mostly run by their administration sadly and I do see why Winston wants to retain his fingerprint on NZ First here for this reason.
I sincerely hope history repeats itself now as it did back in 1999 because we need all three involved to eject this toxic regime from our shores as soon as possible. So this beginning is hopefully going to achieve this end result.
Paddy needs to see his doctor and get some anti depressants.
Or he could stop snorting meth
yes the Green Party has changed…personally I like my Greens rough around the edges ( roughage)…full of nutrients…not watered down crap neither here nor there…i like Greens that are real Greens and call a spade a spade and stop trying to woo the Nacts
Paddy Gower, Despicable Key’s bestie
mate– minionthought this analysis was particularly good
‘Why Labour-Green could be the next Government – 2016 Green AGM’
http://www.waateanews.com/Waatea+News.html?story_id=MTM3NzQ%3D&v=528#.V1Neckbkg5w.facebook
The Green Party is very welcoming to anyone who isn’t a white oldie. It’s like how nearly everyone who does conservation work is white and over 40. You can’t give them a hard time for being who they are.
The blue-Greens and Green-Greens can go vote for National. They can help Nicky Wagner plant a few trees and take selfies.
Everyone else who has a brain knows that environmentalism can’t be neutral on capitalism. The Greens are far enough to the right as it is
In which universe does this qualify as useful analysis? FFS! This column has to be one of the schizophrenic columns I’ve read in a long time, possibly ever.
Your obsession with the racial composition of a small and no doubt unrepresentative sample of the party’s full membership is bordering on Trumpian. Odd that you also ignore the fact that one of the party’s co-leaders isn’t white, but I guess that’s just an inconvenient truth and shouldn’t get in the way of a wee tanty and an analogy run.
I guess this column wan’t intended to be a contribution to mature conversation or particularly informative and in this respect it succeeded splendidly, or otherwise it really, really bombed.
In the interest of disclosure, I don’t work for the Green Party and am not a member although I have given them my party vote and made some donations over the years. I have never voted in any shape or form for National, NZ First, Act, United Future, Conservative or any of the other minnows, and have only ever given Labour an electorate vote if I felt the local candidate deserved it and personally had values that were aligned to the party’s main achievements during specifically the Savage and Kirk periods.
I was speaking with a local Green Party official today and was told there are deep divisions within the Green Party because the hierarchy has lost touch with the ordinary members. Indeed, certain individuals have attempted to bypass Green Party systems in order to promote particular agendas. Many members feel betrayed because Green Party policies have been leaked to Labour over a period of many months and Labour have then presented those policies as originating within Labour.
I was told Labour is a regarded as a joke, absolutely desperate to find something to hang onto to avoid irrelevance and obliteration at the next election but nevertheless dangerous because secret deals might be made to prevent local Green candidates from standing in order to allow certain Labour candidates a better chance of being elected.
It’s all getting very grubby in all political parties. No wonder such a large portion of potential voters no longer bother.
One thing these two parties agree on is to oppose the TPP. Labour finally came out against it and now it is time to walk the walk. One of the fastest ways to secure popularity but also to rescue NZ from the claws of National’s TPP is to state out-right that they will withdraw from the TPP before it comes in to force. This is the period after ratification but before it is active and is just after the election – a time when we can withdraw easily. The next election needs to be about the TPP and this is the one area these two parties can agree. I’d like to see some action there. It will give many hope. Including me.
YEP AMANDA, – “NO TO TPPA”.
That’s a real defining “LINE IN THE SAND” that will sort the men out from the boys, so to speak.
This would get the subject back on the front burner again where it should be again!!!!!
Middle-aged white man complains about lack of diversity at Green’s AGM
greens are very popular with the young if a coalition with greens gets them to the ballot box whats the problem
who wants a fucked up planet only a natact there is so much common ground acres of it